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| Whats yout favourite / least favourite pose and why?
Favourite:- Shoulderstand cycle including plough and wheel- love thestrength and fluidity involved in the postures.
Least:- Fish- really ackward on the neck until I learnt a modification.
Balances I find a little challenging, but that doesn't stop me from re-attempting them again. |
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| My favorite is probably the plough. The plough just feels great on my shoulders! I've actually been doing this one since childhood... (I have no idea where I learned it). I just found out it is a yoga asana this year. :-) Imagine that!
My least favorite has to be Sun Salutations! I get too dizzy up and down and up and down. :-P I either want to be up or down and stay there for a while. (Has something to do with my low blood pressure I'm sure.)
Yogi-boy - I'm having trouble with the Fish pose as well. Can you attempt explain your modification? Maybe I'm havig the same problem.
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| Favs:
- fish! Yes 
- SS
- tree (left leg better than right leg)
- all kinds of forward bends
- the boat
- triangle(s)
- warrior(s)
- headstand
- DD
- updog / cobra
- catstretch
- dancer
- lotus (only short though)
- locust
- horizon
- parsvottasana (I can't do it well but like it nonetheless)
- prasarita padottasana
- baddha konasana
- malasana
- paschimottasana
- supta virasana
- plough
The least favs:
- ALL back bends!!!
- shoulderstand (strange, since I just love the plough and headstand)
- eagle
- the maricy(s)
- uphavista konasana
- setu bandha sarvangasana (the dreaded bridge)
- child's pose (sad but true)
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| Great Thread! What fun!!!!!!! Can we put another category in? Postures that we LOVE but are not very good at...
FAVS: triangle, plough, half moom, warrior 2, camel, and pigeon
GRUNTS:
least favorite of all time is standing head to knee (my version should be called the albatross)
revolved triangle
and come on let's face it...chair pose (fierce pose)
POSES I LOVE BUT NEED MUCH WORK
handstand
Amy |
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| favs : any forward bends, supta virasana ( my fav )
least favs : any backbends, also parsvakonasana ( don't know why but I have never liked this pose ).
Wish list of poses that I wish I can do but can't : handstand, mayurasana, anything involving trying to put foot behind head.
Edited by bomberpig 2005-02-11 5:47 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 517
Location: New Jersey | My favorite postures are:
Trikonasana
Reverse Trikonasana
any forward bends
Twisting postures
Tree Pose
Least favorite:
Back Bends
Chair Pose
Fish (me too!)
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| Favorite:
Any backbends & chataranga followed by cobra
Hated:
Savasana without a doubt. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | Oooo, fun. Let's see, I had a rotten day, so I'll start with what I hate:
Yuck Poses: All standing poses other than Bow Pulling, Parivrtta Trikonasana,
Parivrtta Parvokasana, and Virabhadrasana II.
Yum Poses: Handstand, Viparita Salabasana, Ardha Matsyendrasana III,
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana I and IV, Padangusta Dhanurasana and Gherundasana I,
Eka Pada Khoundinyasana II, Urdhva Kukkutasana, Durvasasana, ...most of my practice,
for that matter....god, yoga is fun!
Current Passion Poses: Buddhasana and Vrshchkasana II.
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| I love sun salution, all the balance pose but warrior 3
I dread warrior3 or any poses I feel "weak in" I am trying to really attack thoughs poses so I will not want to avoid them. My r hip is way off from my L hip so I am really trying to get them more in ballance |
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| least faves-
(mostly poses that require a combo of hamstring+ hip flexibility)
all prasarita padottanasana's
uttithita hasta padangusthasana
upavista konasana
navasana
faves
all virabhadrasana's
marichyasana A& C
all twists/binds for that matter
camel
urdva dhanurasana
pigeon & king pigeon
utthita/parivrta trikonasana
baddha konasana
love but still struggling with:
inversions
hand balancing poses |
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| i had problems with fish too!
i was first taught fish by putting your hands in place upder your bum/low back, arching the spine and then lettting my head fall back. this immediately pushed by shoulders up next to my ears, crunched my neck and made it very uncomfortable. i've since learned that in order to free up the neck, you've got to pull shoulders down and pull your shoulderblades together.
nowadays to get into the pose, i put my hands under my bum ( my arms are long) and let my breastbone pull up into an arch first- as if someone where pulling me up with a string to the ceiling. ( this pulls the shoulderblades together) then when i can't go any further i bend the elbows, which lifts me up & gives my head lots of room to gracefully fall back & (hopefully) rest with the crown on the floor. much easier! |
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| Hated Poses:
Well, I usually hate all really challenging poses until I "get it" but the ones requiring abs - navasana, etc I really hate. I also dislike bow pose. and any backbends
Loved Poses:
Tree, marichyasana series (though I suck), ardhra chadrasana (a former hated pose), vassisthasana |
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| hey, I'm a messageboard lurker, but this thread was too good to pass up.
fave asana: modified headstand. just because I haven't been able to successfully bring the legs up yet. Unfortunately, it's fear alone that's keeping it modified. also, pretty much anything inverted. shoulder stand, plough, wheel, etc.
unfave asana: locust. I loathe the locust. Mainly because I'm weak in my lower body. |
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| Glad the topic "outed" you Alisha--welcome aboard to the boards. |
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| Oh, goodness.
Delicous Asana:
Absolutely anything involving a deep, juciy, long-spined forward bend;
Absolutely anything involving deep, long hip openers
Repugnant and evil asana:
Anything involving shoulders. Anything.
If there's an arch in the spine? Add it to this part of the list.
John Shumacker (sorry if I murdered that spelling) once said in class that the difference between a beginner and an advanced student is that a beginner moans, "No, I can't do that; I HATE that."
An advanced student says, "Oh, that's hard, but let's see how it goes today."
The latter, thank goodness, is my attitude towards backbends and shoulder openers. They're painful and depress me, but I have hope each day that something different will happen. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| >>a beginner moans, "No, I can't do that; I HATE that."
An advanced student says, "Oh, that's hard, but let's see how it goes today." <<
How true!
I hesitate to post here because I have trouble choosing favourites and am somewhat past the "hating poses" stage. I used to hate down dog because I couldn't hold it very long - I was well into Level II classes before I could hold as long as we did in Level I - but now I relish the beautiful stretch and length it gives. I have also learned to love parsvakonasana though I still have trouble holding it for a minute, which I have to learn to do this year for assessment. Shoulder stand I think will be my nemesis for a while yet. Can't quite get and hold that lovely straight line from ankle to shoulder longer than a brief moment to demo in class.  |
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| Mine are probably fairly typical.
Favorites: Sirsasana, Urdhva Dhanurasan, Dwi or Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana, Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana, Virabhadrasana II, Chaturanga Dandasana and good old fashioned Vrksasana.
Least Favorite: Anything that requires a high degree of shoulder rotation such as Sarvangasana, Gomukhasana, even Setu Bandha. Too many years of gym work have left my shoulders lagging well behind the rest of my body in flexibility. Oh yeah, and anything beginning with the word Marichyasana. I think whoever developed these poses to honor Marichy secretly hated him. |
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| I see a real trend here, Love forward bends, or Love backbends. I'm the backbend type myself. Love bridge pose, urdva danurasana, up dog, and even the baby backbends.
Most frustrating pose. Garudasana without a doubt. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 517
Location: New Jersey | I take back what I said about hating backbends. I did both bow pose, and camel pose during my session last night, and it felt alot better than is usually does.
Samantha |
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| Strange thing with the backbends is that I don't hate all of them. Probably cause of lack of core strenght I rather like the ones where the bending is done passively, like updog, cobra, bow. Only when I actively have to bend back, like in bridge or camel, that's where the problems are. At least in camel I now manage to rest one hand on the foot while the other hand is still dangling around uselessly. I'm slowly getting the hang of it though.
Yah, and probably the worst asana ever is garudasana! Hateithateithateithateit...........
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| i wonder why the tendency is that if you find forward bends easy your tend to find backbends hard- & vice versa. is it a posture thing? a psychological trait? an anatomy pattern? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Physical tendencies, I think. I am with Stefan - I like updog etc and all the gorgeous Iyengar style supported backbends (viparita dandasana on a chair - yummy!) but any where shoulder opening is required - ack! I remember my father teaching me upavista konasana with my head on the floor when I was 5 years old so I know I could forward bend then and still can get the head down on a good day. I work with little kids and can see physical tendencies at VERY early ages. 2 siblings have the exact same outward hip rotation as their parent who was in my class and this was apparent by about 6 - 7 months of age so I doubt it was "learned" definitely in the body inately. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
That's really interesting about the familial hip rotation!
But I'm not with you on the chair supported backbends. I find them totally
uncomfortable. In the sequences of backbends I like, I do the arm supported
ones first, mainly to open the chest, and then go the leg supported ones,
then on the belly (have we decided for or against that word...?). |
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| Bay Guy - 2005-02-19 3:40 AM
belly (have we decided for or against that word...?).
What's wrong with the word 'belly'? I'm only the poor foreigner here who always thought belly is just the translation for the german word 'Bauch' which is absolutely unjudging and ultimately anatomical and political correct.
I thought a little deeper about why I don't like some backbends and found out the problem is not in the spine but it's my shoulders/chest. I can't manage to get my elbows tucked in far enough to give some real support in the bridge. They're sticking out to the sides and it hurts very much if I rest my full weight onto them. Same in shoulderstand, that's why I prefer plough and headstand.
Also one must not forget that I carry around some 40 pounds too much at my belly, that's a huge mass to be lifted up. Makes it easy to collapse in bridge or camel. The spine is not to blame for it since it bends quite fine in both directions.
There you have it, I'm a fat sucker with much too weak abs! My wife might find me sexy but nevertheless I'm not a good role-model as a yogi. 
Edited by afroyogi 2005-02-19 2:07 PM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Stefan - several of us didn't use the word belly as children. I think it was considered just a little impolite or not exactly "nice" but not quite rude, either. We said "tummy" which was very cute for kids. But times have changed and I think we can all be grown up and a tiny bit uncouth when the situation calls for it  |
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| Uncouth??? You sure we're talking about the same part of the body here? Belly, tummy, it's all the same isn't it? The area starting roughly somewhere underneath your rib cage and ends slightly over your pubic area, at least in my case where there is an actually visible 'bump'. So, no matter if male or female, the area in question is not involved with any sexual organs. What's uncouth when referring to it as belly?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Stefan - you must remember that "polite" society in North America for our generation was modelled after Victorian England, whose influence is finally fading, thank goodness! See Christine's posts about not passing gas The Victorians, at their zenith, used to put skirts around the legs of pianos for "modesty". They had expressions like, "horses sweat, gentlemen perspire, ladies 'glow'" so you can imagine the area from ribcage to *ahem* pubic bone was simply not discussed in decent society. It wasn't quite like that when we were kids but the mentality was still there in a quiet way. |
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| My dad grew up on a farm so there are some distinctions we used to have to do that may be fading.
You Rear Kids, but you Raise Animals.
When you had chicken, or turkey you always ate the white meat, or the dark meat. Definitely didn't use the B____ word, and rarely could you get away with saying leg or thigh around my Grandmother.
I also used to get corrected with Horses have Bellies, but people have Stomachs.
Of course it still carries over today. When someone says that he has a beer belly he's not being flattering.
Edited by MrD 2005-02-20 1:47 PM
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| Afro, When it comes to shoulder stand, it sounds to me like you may need to modify your shoulderstand like I did when me neck was weaker. The viniyoga shoulderstand doesn't rock straight up. It stays on the shoulderblades, and the legs are not straight up, but rather you bend at the waist.
It doesn't hurt the neck, and puts less pressure on the shoulders.
Some also call it Viparata Karani, or Ardha Sarvangasana. Here's some variations.
http://yogadancer.com/Pages/Sarvangasana.shtml#Salamba
Edited by MrD 2005-02-20 2:17 PM
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| Now I'm confused even more. Isn't a belly what is visible from the outside while stomach is the non-scientist term for the intestine?
Although some of the shoulderstand variations on Christine's site look very nice it's not my neck that gives me problems but rather my elbows. My shoulder is not open enough yet to bring them close together behind my back so they stick out sidewards. That puts all the pressure onto the "funny bone" (in lack of the correct english term) and hurts quite a big deal. To be honest it already hurts by just touching it. So, even if I don't straighten out my legs the weight is still on the elbows. As soon as I take my legs further over my head (to reach plough) they are relieved and everything is fine again. Let's not forget that I carry some extra weight around the center of my body that needs to be supported by the elbows.
I hope that by practicing some extra shoulder openers I will soon be able to do better.
Thanx
Edited by afroyogi 2005-02-20 5:32 PM
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| Hiya Dragon,
This is late response to your question on: Least & favourite yoga position." Its been a while since I checked the site, bit I reckon better late than never!
Usually with Fish, we tuck our hands under our butts and try lower ourselves down. I find this most uncomfortable and sometime difficult to execute evenly.
I prefer to lie flat on my back, arms tucked in a straight line under my body with my index fingers meeting just under my buttocks. Upon inhalation I pull my weight up through my fore-arms and gently relax back so the crown of my head rests on the floor. It takes a little while to get used to but is much easier than the former version. I always stress in my classes that yogis do not rest their full weight on their heads, rather just rest your head on the floor, but maintain the connection in your forearms and abdominal muscles.
Let me know how it works for you, or even if it deifferent from what yr already doing.
Namaste!
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| yogi-boy - 2005-02-11 1:00 PM
Whats yout favourite / least favourite pose and why?
Downward Facing Dog is probably my absolute favorite pose. I just love it, and all it's variations. Nothing feels quite so good to me.
I'm also fond of hip openers especially Pigeon.
Tree makes me a crazy person though. It's the only pose I actively dislike doing. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| CGG - I too have serious issues with tree pose and feel deeply humbled by how easily some folks do it. I have a secret fear I'll be asked to teach it in my upcoming assessment for teacher certification   |
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| tourist - 2005-03-14 9:50 AM
CGG - I too have serious issues with tree pose and feel deeply humbled by how easily some folks do it. I have a secret fear I'll be asked to teach it in my upcoming assessment for teacher certification
It seems to be one of those postures that comes easily, or is a constant struggle. There doesn't seem to be an in between with it. Good luck on your certifation BTW. |
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| Lately I love ardrah chadrasana (sp - you all know my sanskrit sucks) . I've been nailing it like there's no tomorrow.
I still hate handstand. I'm trying to come to terms with it, but I hate it. Only way I can do it is to push off from the wall, or let my teacher drag my fat butt up into it...  |
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| Gruvemom - 2005-03-16 10:41 AM
Lately I love ardrah chadrasana (sp - you all know my sanskrit sucks ) . I've been nailing it like there's no tomorrow.
I still hate handstand. I'm trying to come to terms with it, but I hate it. Only way I can do it is to push off from the wall, or let my teacher drag my fat butt up into it...
well, i am with you on the handstand sister...my problem - the walls in my flat are so thin that when i practice handstands i am certain the neighbours think there is a domestic violence situation
you know last year i really hated utkasana and purvottanasana...sometime in december i just got over disliking them and they seem to be so much better than before...i actually like doing them now 
this year i will trade all of my dhanurasana, parsva dhanurasana, urdhva dhanurasana....(it an ongoing theme!) for all of bruces savasana - me no likey.....
i am enjoying the entire shoulderstand series that i do especially karnapiidasana and eku pada sethu bandha sarvangasana...love those two at the moment
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| I can't find a wall at home to pracise my handstand. It's a real impediment.
A funny thing's been happening. I hate parsvakonasana and always dread doing it. but everytime I do it in class my teacher compliments me on it. Weird huh.
Still working on my down dog. Maybe I will get the alignment right when I am 80. Just discovered I have knocked knees too, guess that explains the shin splints when I try to run. |
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| I can't find a wall at home to pracise my handstand. It's a real impediment.
We cleared a wall in the house so I could work on mine. I'm very new to hand stand, but I enjoy the heck out of it. |
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| Hehehe, I don't have a wall to stand on either!
And barely room to put out pillows to work on headstand - but I did it the other day and mentally it helped immensely! It's slowly becoming one of my favorite asanas to work on, even if I don't quite have it yet.
For a time Janusirsasana was killing me - it induced a near panicked state - but once I gave in to that panic it eased up and now I enjoy it more. Still not a favorite, but sometimes it's even likeable.
Pigeon remains a favorite, though, as does vrksasana - I love llove love them! |
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| In the short time I've been practicing, I've noticed that I have started to warm up to poses I HATED when I first started. For example:
Warrier I & II: these literally would piss me off, but now i like how strong I feel in them!
Shoulderstand: as I've gotten stronger this pose has become a nice finishing pose that I look forward too!
Though,I still hate:
utah plutihi (sp??....its the one where you hold yourself up in lotus...UGH UGH UGH)
Reverse Triangle
Kurmasana (mostly because I can't do it...it hurts!)
But I LOVE:
Surya Namaskar A (B is growing on me)
All the poses in the Primary Series after Supta Kurmasana!
Especially Chakrasana...so fun!
(Fun thread, BTW!!)
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| Tigrsunam, I find the same thing... I once hated... triangle pose! Now, I don't mind it so much. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| To all those with wall space problems - try practicing behind or in front of a closed door. Just be sure all other residents of the space are aware and don't come barging in and crash you inot a heap Where there's a will, there's a way. |
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| I don't have doors either! Well, I have a front door, but it's in this weird little tuck-away that I can only assume they did to make it seem like you have a hallway into the studio apartment - it's only as wide as the door itself, and if I go hands over I come down into the entertainment center - ouch!!! I'll stick to headstand for now, and work in handstand at the studio! But someday I'll have my very own yoga room. Wait and see! |
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| I LOVE flower. Its so simple, and FUN! I think it's pretty too. I also like downward dog. I always picture my heart 'resting' lol.
Hmmmm..... Im not a fan of the crab pose. Probably a few others that I can't remember esspecially right now. Ill get back to that ;)
I like hearing others perspectives on the different asanas. It's neat. |
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| Flower and crab poses? Do you know what the Sanskrit names are as I'd love to look these up as I'm always keen to try a new pose.
Thanks,
Fee |
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| Orbilia - 2005-03-16 4:33 AM
Flower and crab poses? Do you know what the Sanskrit names are as I'd love to look these up as I'm always keen to try a new pose.
Fee
Never heard of them either. Is crab maybe reverse table? |
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| Huh, well I couldnt find a true example online. Im a little embarassed to say, our instructor teaches also to children, and this pose (flower) is one she uses for the kids, haha. Thats why it is fun.
I can explain: You start off in butterfly pose, then, place hands under the ankles so that it is your wrist directly under (palms up). Gracefully tip back to balance on tailbone. Hold, then gently release. Hope that makes sense.
As for the crab, it very well could be reverse table. I couldnt find a pic, and since Ive never done one, perhaps the teacher calls it crab pose instead. |
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| Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like a flower opening  I like some of the kids' poses. Frog's fun.
Fee |
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Favourite & Least Fave Asanas?