Yoga Shala Pinhais

18/10/2025

TOTD!

17/10/2025

16/10/2025

Toes Spreading for Yoga Alignment and Balance
In yoga, every posture begins from the ground up — and that means your feet play a crucial role.

👉 One of the most overlooked yet transformative actions is spreading the toes.
Here’s why this small adjustment matters so much:
1. 🌿 Creating the Arch
By lifting and spreading your toes before placing them back down, you awaken the inner muscles of the feet. This creates or enhances the foot’s arch, which is especially beneficial for practitioners with flat feet or low arches.
2. ⚖️ Balancing and Stability
Spreading the toes makes you more aware of how your weight distributes between the inner and outer edges of the foot. A well-formed arch supports even pressure through the legs and feet, giving your posture natural balance and strength.
3. 🧘 Correcting Misalignment
Some students respond to “spread your toes” with unnecessary tension elsewhere — opening eyes, jaw, or fingers. The key is mindful spreading: energize the toes without gripping or forcing.

✨ In summary: Conscious toe spreading = stable base → balanced posture → aligned body.
Master this subtle art, and your entire practice will feel more grounded and expansive.

👉 Pause your scroll, lift your toes right now… Feel that?
📌 Save this post for your next practice session 🧘‍♀️



🌍 https://www.bksiyengaryogashala.com/

15/10/2025

Why Sitting Bones Matter in Meditation & Asana

Before the spine can extend and the mind can quieten, the body must root itself correctly. In seated postures like Padmasana, Virasana, or Sukhasana, the first step is adjusting the sitting bones.

Here’s how to establish a steady foundation:
1️⃣ Grounding the Seat
On an exhalation, release tension into the pelvis. This anchors the body and prepares the spine for lift.
2️⃣ Activating the Feet to Align the Seat
At the beginning of the adjustment, gently press the balls of the feet (frontal metatarsals) to help shift and anchor the sitting bones—especially when the legs are extended (as in Virasana) or when moving from the initial leg position.
3️⃣ Even Weight Distribution
Sit in the center of the buttocks. Avoid rolling the shoulders back (which drops the abdomen). Instead, allow the trunk to lift, knees to relax outward, and tension in the inner thighs to release.
4️⃣ Lift from the Base
With the seat grounded, lift the trunk upward from the buttocks, allowing the spine to lengthen effortlessly.
5️⃣ Re-adjust as Needed
If the mind drifts, return to your foundation: sitting bones steady, spine rising.

🌱 Lesson: The seat is not passive—it’s the living root of your practice. Every upward lift of the spine depends on how you ground the sitting bones.

Does your posture feel different when you adjust the sitting bones? Drop your reflections below.

🌍 https://www.bksiyengaryogashala.com/

14/10/2025

08/10/2025

Preparation for Backbending
This practice uses the arms to connect with the shoulders and upper back, promoting thoracic lift and flexibility. A strap supports the shoulders as they draw upward, while the calves—anchored through Nanda's setup—provide length and grounding. These coordinated actions create a strong supportive structure that opens the upper back and safely prepares the body for deeper backbends.

30/09/2025

Power Starts at Feet

In yoga, every pose begins from the ground up — and nowhere is this more evident than in Tāḍāsana (Mountain Pose), the “foundation āsana.”

🔸 Feet as Your Foundation:
Your feet are your roots. In Tāḍāsana, the part of the body that connects to the floor is the foundation.
When you stand, aim for maximum contact of your soles with the mat.

🔸 How to Establish a Steady Base:
1️⃣ Balance the Weight: Evenly distribute weight between right & left foot, inner & outer edges, front & back.

2️⃣ Press Down Firmly: Press the feet down to awaken your legs—watch your kneecaps lift as the thighs engage.
3️⃣ Specific Foot Actions: Lift all 10 toes, spread them wide, then place them back down creating visible space between them.
4️⃣ Leg Engagement: As you press the feet down, move the upper leg (knee to hip) back to activate support and stability.

🔸 Why the Foot’s Structure Matters:
Think of your foot like a dome—the arch distributes weight from heel to toe mounds. Standing correctly allows this arch to function; when it collapses, weight and alignment are thrown off.
What you learn in Tāḍāsana translates directly into other standing poses, like Vīrabhadrāsana II, making your entire practice stronger and safer.
When you master your foundation, you build steadiness, confidence, and alignment for every pose to come.

🌍 https://www.bksiyengaryogashala.com/

30/09/2025

30/09/2025

25/09/2025

A student reflects
In a recent class, a teacher brought awareness to how the clutter of thoughts can keep us trapped there and stop us from creating a sense of space, preventing the mind from coming to stillness. I witnessed this when doing Janu Sirsasana in which I became attached to the idea of being able to do more.

As I focussed on the fact that I couldn’t perform the pose on that day as well as I usually could, agitation and frustration arose in me. I was trapped in thoughts of ‘Why am I so stiff? Why is the pose so difficult for me today? Why can’t I easily access the twist like I normally can? I normally do better.’ Remaining in this reactive state, instead of focussing on the breath to release the resistance, I came out of the pose early as if giving up. This teaching along with performing the asana, exposed in me a tendency to always want to improve and to not accept where my body is in any given moment. Being busy in thoughts, I was unable to practice Vairagya which prevented me from creating stillness in my mind and finding ease in the pose.

https://study.yogamandir.com.au/courses/y-01/