Sunday Stretch #26 Saddle

When you first see this pose, you might think, 'uh no WAY, Sandra!'  However, there are many modifications as you will see, and thus, it may be more accessible than you think! In Yang style yoga, this pose is known as Hero or Thunderbolt pose, aka Supta Virasana, sitting on the heels, or Supta Vajrasana, sitting between the heels, respectively. Yin uses different names to indicate that we approach the poses differently, easing into them, and holding them for several minutes as opposed to several breaths.

Let's get started. I did these poses in regular clothes to show you you do not have to get into yoga clothing!

Watch a group of young children, and you will invariably see several of them plop down into this pose effortlessly. What happened to our flexible hips?  Life.  Stress.  Not living on the floor. Sitting on chairs. We sit a LOT in a chair at our sewing machines, more so if you have your pressing centre set up so that you just swivel your chair or your body over to it and then go back to sewing. Consider moving your pressing centre across  the room so that you do have to get up, walk a few steps over to it, which is so good for your body, period.

If sitting like me there makes you think, 'ain't gonna happen, Sandra' then here are some variations.

First, check in with your knees and ankles, as this puts a lovely stress on your ankles, but it can be too much for some people. Remember, I have said that the feet are the first place where we start to tighten up, so anytime we can stress our feet, we are helping to offset, or prolong the aging process. You may find that simply sitting back on your feet as you see above, is plenty for now. You can sit on the floor, or you can place a rolled up towel or small quilt beneath your ankles if it is too much for them just now.
If that is simple for you, try the next stage, sitting between your feet.

This gives us a nice inner rotation in our hip joints, something we don't tend to do a lot of in yoga or in life. Check in with your knees when you do this. Here are some suggestions as to how to modify if you have any knee pain at all:

1. Try rolling up a quilt and placing it behind your knees, and on your calves. Rest back on it. This reduces pressure on the knees.

2. Alternatively, if the pressure is too great using a rolled up quilt, try sitting on a block, or if you don't have one, as I don't here in Florida, how about a few quilt books or fat novels?! This will lessen the pressure on your knees and hips. Work on removing one book at a time over the course of several weeks or months.

3. If the knee is not coming to the floor, then be sure to rest it on something, either another block or another rolled up quilt (so many uses for our quilts!) or a cushion so that you can relax your quads.

4. All right so you've got yourself into your variation of the pose, a variation that gives you some tugs, or 'comfortable discomfort', to quote Bernie Clark. Stay here for 3-5 minutes, or, if you want to approach the full pose, then place your hands behind your feet and start to lean back, arching your lower back (great extension for the low back!) and maybe letting your head drop back, as long as you have no neck problems; if you do, then keep your head facing forward.

To safely drop the head back, first tuck in the chin to lengthen the back of the neck, and then slowly allow the head to drop back. This is great for the cervical spine, and stimulates the thyroid gland, as well as gives a lovely stretch to the ligaments in the front of our neck, which tend to be shortened with aging, (think stooping) and with heads bent over our sewing, and also with heads bent over our devices, (iPads, phones, laptops, etc).

Keep the chest lifted, and arch your back. Again, set your timer and stay in the pose, breathing steadily and slowly to a count of 3 or 4 on each inhale and exhale, for 3-5 minutes.

5.  If you are feeling super-comfortable, and you are not needing the modifications above, feel free to lean back as in #4, easing your way down to the floor. The rule is that if the knees start to lift off your mat, stay there; don't go any further back. This tugs into the quads quite intensely but deliciously. It also is quite a strong backbend in the arch of the back. You can even raise your arms over your head which gives a nice stretch for the upper chest, something really nice for us quilters!

Full pose; note my arms and elbows don't rest on the floor because of tight shoulders and a couple of whiplash injuries. They will get there one day, as I like to say when I teach, maybe this lifetime or the next; it just takes time.

6. Another modification is that you may like to ease back onto a bolster, a cushion, rolled up pillow, or rolled up quilt. You can place it in two ways, first, lengthwise under your spine. Keep the arch in your low back. It won't be as intense as with no support, but it should still be there. This feels quite wonderful.

Or place the rolled up quilt perpendicular to your spine, under your shoulder blades, and let your head go back to the floor. This is LOVELY for opening the upper chest, and pulls nicely across the pectoral muscles too. I particularly love the pose like this.

7. Now, if it is one knee that won't allow you to do this pose, you can do the Half Saddle, where you do any of the modifications above or not, but keep one leg straight. It is probably best to sit up on a cushion or rolled up quilt if you are doing this variation. Be sure to do both sides.

You can sit up, as I am doing, or lie fully back, depending on what I said above regarding modifications.

Remember, "If you're feeling it you're doing it," and, "You want to feel sensation, but don't make it sensational." Wise words from Bernie. Stay in the pose as I've said for 3 -5 or more minutes.

How the heck do you come out?
"Call 911" or "Rent a crane or a forklift" are options that Bernie gives, LOL. The second option, if you are lying fully back, is to roll very slowly to the side, coming off the rolled up quilt if you had it under your spine, straightening out your legs if they were bent, and making a pillow for your head by bending your arm and resting your head on it. Be still for a minute or so. You can then lie onto your back and either hug the knees into the chest, keeping your back flat on the floor now, or you may want to do a few leg raises, legs bent or straight, as a Yang pose to further release. Be sure to place your hands under your bum, palms down to protect your back and keep it flat.

A third option is to come out the way you went in. It is very important to protect your back, so tighten your abs, using your core. In other words, pull in with your tummy and pull up on the pelvic floor at the same time. Push into your forearms and elbows, leaving your head back as you slowly come up, head coming forward last. Keep going forward, coming onto your hands and knees, resting quietly on all fours, observing the sensations of warmth, coolness, tingling, buzzing, 'a spearmint feeling,' as one of my students has coined the sensation of coming out of these long held poses.

Next, stretch out your legs coming into Crocodile or plank pose which helps to release the knees, and is a good Yang pose to do, holding for maybe 30 seconds, pulling your tummy in.

Then lie down on your tummy for a minute until you feel ready to either go into another pose or get back up (slowly) and into your sewing chair!

Bernie Clark gives a lot of information and a couple of demos on this pose here.

Remember that registration is now open for

If your blog is more than 2 months but less than 3 years old, please consider joining this most worthwhile event, which will run over April and May, 2 weeks in each month. Lots of discussion happens, as well as learning, and many friendships made. You can find the original post with more information here.

The #30quiltdesignschallenge2018 is on! Click on that hashtag and you will be taken to a 'pool' of original designs that the challengers are submitting. It works out to making about 3 designs per week.
Here is the second design I submitted this morning:

I did it in my Quiltography app, a terrific, reasonably priced app for iPad that is pretty user-friendly if you take a little time to play with it. You can even take a photo of fabric and input it into the library to use in colouring in your quilts. Here you see a couple photos of 'Paradiso' fabric along with fabrics already in the Quiltography library. For all the details on this challenge, click here, or click the button in the sidebar. I am not an affiliate of Quiltography, just so you know!

Okay that's it for me; I am going to take a couple of days off the blog with any luck, and hunker down and sew beginning right now. The only part of the Super Bowl I'll be watching is maybe the odd fabulous play, or running out to see some great commercials.

Sunday Stretch #24 Frog

We spend so much time sitting in chairs or on couches here in the West and not sitting on the floor where our hips can rotate healthily in our hip sockets, that our hips lose their range of motion.  Our hip joints are the largest joints in our body, so lots of tightness happens here from this lack of rotation. There are lots of issues buried deep in the tissues of these joints too. Hip and knee replacements in the West are off the charts, especially as compared to those in the East. Living on the floor is a good thing!

Even if you can't quite get to the full pose of Frog, spending some time in Tadpole will most definitely help tightness in your hips. I have the cutest model for this pose for you today!

Benefits of this pose

• lovely pull along the inside lines of the legs, which is where the Liver, Kidney and Spleen meridian lines run (acupressure points for these energy lines)
• works deeply into the groin, and adductors
• there is a slight backbend, so good for the low back, especially after sitting hunched over a sewing machine or cutting fabric for long periods of time
• if your arms are outstretched, this stimulates the upper body meridians: the Lung, Heart, Small and Large Intestine energy lines; also a lovely stretch across the shoulders for same reasons as previous bullet
• aids in digestion
• helps to relieve cramps, both menstrual and digestive

Getting into the pose

It's best to get onto a yoga mat or a quilt, even a couple of quilts, or a folded quilt beneath your knees. This provides padding and helps the knees gently slide apart as gravity works its magic! Brady has a quilt I made for Brianne 11 years ago (before he was born!) doubled up and then his Halloween quilt I made him folded under his knees for extra padding.

Tadpole or Half Frog

Spread your knees apart as wide as they will go with just a slight tugging feeling. Keep your toes together. Stretch your arms out in front of you, draping your chest towards the ground. You can roll another quilt up under your chest if you like to rest on, or, if you have just eaten or want to relieve cramping in the lower abdomen, allow your belly to hang suspended. This is great for aiding digestion but also helps relieve cramping. Stay here for 2-3 minutes. 

If you'd like to go into the full frog, go to this next stage first. Raise your hips so that they are directly over your knees. This increases the backbend in your lower back. See if your knees may like to come further apart.  If you are okay here after several breaths, then proceed to full frog. You can't quite see how Brady is resting his forehead on his right forearm, but you can see his left arm fully extended.

Frog

Turn your feet out, Charlie Chaplin style. Allow the knees to slide apart, letting gravity do the work. Your job is to surrender to that pull, relaxing into this intense tug.  However, as Bernie says, you want to feel sensation. Do not make it sensational! 

If your nose gets squished (ask me how I know this) or it is too intense to rest on your chin, then rest your forehead on a forearm. Just be sure to switch arms part way through. The tug you get along the backs of your arms, into your shoulder blades, and in the lower back to some degree, is quite delicious. And then there's the pull into the groin and hips. Lovely. Stay here for 3 minutes or more, breathing slowly in and out through your nose, keeping relaxing as much as you can to get into the connective tissues.

Now.  How to get out?!

Easy.  Just slide forward onto your tummy.  Extend one leg at a time by tucking your toes under, lifting the kneecap to straighten the leg and pushing into the heel. Do the other leg. Be still and feel.  It can be fairly intense.  You may want to groan as you come out!  But. Notice. Breathe.  Then maybe rock over the pelvis a few times, or bend your legs at the knees and wave the lower limbs back and forth windshield wipers style to release.

Remember you can find tons and tons more information on Frog and all things Yin Yoga at Bernie Clark's website, Yin Yoga.

Sunday Stretch #23 Bananasana

Don't you just love the name of this pose?! I believe the name of it was coined by Bernie Clark. This is a side bend done while you are lying down.  Therefore you remove the balancing part of the pose, and can relax into it to get a deep tissue stretch.

After sitting sewing for long periods of time, when you stand up and take a few hobbling steps (lol) do your hips 'talk' to you? This pose works deeply into the sides of those hips. Specifically, it works the IT (ilialtibial band). It also gives a lovely stretch into the armpit area and even the back of the upper arm.

Lie down and cradle your head with your hands as if you were lying in a hammock. If keeping your head in your hands like this starts to cause tingling in your arms or shoulders, then move your arms apart with the elbows bent, as in goal post position. Slide your cradled head along the floor, to the right, imagining your elbow will touch the outside of your right ankle.  Then slide your legs along the floor, keeping your hips level. In other words, keep your butt cheeks in contact with your mat or the floor. Stop when you feel a nice tugging along the left side of your body.

See? No need for yoga clothes for this one! (thanks to Dayna for being coerced into taking this shot ha)

Relax your shoulders.  Breathe slowly and steadily to the count of 3 or 4. After 30 seconds or so, try crossing your ankles. It doesn't matter which ankle on top.  Take a few breaths there, noticing how that changed the tugging tension.  Then cross your ankles the other way, and notice the sensations while you take a few breaths.  Finally choose the leg position that gives you the best pull, ankles crossed, or maybe not crossed at all if that feels best. Maybe bend a little more to the side if you want to increase the tugging and then relax into it, breathing steadily and evenly. After 3 minutes, ideally, inhale back to centre and exhale. Bring your knees to your chest and give yourself a hug, maybe rock over your back, massaging it.

Then do the other side.

Take the time to take care of your hips; are you remembering to sit cross-legged, being sure to alternate which leg is in front, or on top if you are doing half-lotus, when you're watching TV in the evenings? You can sit cross-legged on your couch, doesn't have to be on the floor....your hips will thank you and you will hopefully avoid a hip replacement.

Might want to not avoid some of the sales at two places where I am affiliate... Craftsy is having every single class on sale for less than $20US, and Connecting Threads has several ongoing sales, the most recent one on kits and samplers, up to 50% off. Where can you get a lap quilt kit for under $27?

Batting, thread and books are all still on sale too!

Remember if you've had one of those chasing squirrels moments this past month, you can link a post about it or a photo from Instagram or Flickr to the DrEAMi! linkup in this post.

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #22

With only 25 or so Yin poses, Sunday Stretch is coming to an end. Something that I always start every Yin class with is meditation and breath work. It is so important to just breathe, slowly, steadily, in and back out, through the nose, as we do in yoga, paying attention to the way our ribs move: expanding and contracting in all four directions (yes!) fronts, backs, both sides lifting and opening to make room for the beautiful pink lungs, virtual sponges that fill up the majority of your chest cavity, to expand and contract in those same four directions...

It's truly amazing how much calmer one can feel just by taking a few or several minutes and breathing calmly and steadily and with attention. Your breath is such a powerful tool that can help you deal with stressful situations; it definitely has helped me. Like anything, we get better at meditation with practice.

Today I give you a YouTube video meditation that I think you might like, from Ashtangi Kino McGregor. Less than 10 minutes seated comfortably, led by her, and I'm sure you will feel incredibly at peace.

Namaste.

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #21 - Melting Heart

This pose is known in Sanskrit by Anahatasana.  Say it slowly, emphasis on ahh (what you feel after doing it😉: Ana--hah--tah--son--ahh....  Asana, the last part of most yoga pose names, simply means pose.  This is also known as puppy pose; see Yoga Journal.

Bernie Clark states in his book, p. 246 "The Indian yogis noticed a correlation between our bodies and our heart. Don't be surprised if, during a deep yoga practice, emotions start to surface."  I often say in my classes that we have issues in our tissues; therefore, applying tension to deeper areas of our bodies such as within our hip joints, or in this pose, within our chest, spine, shoulders, arms, can stir up emotions, past memories, and thoughts. I love what Sarah Powers says, and I'm paraphrasing her, that the beauty of Yin is that we can allow these emotions to surface, we can experience them fully, without feeling the need to act out because of them.  And then.... (my own words), the magic happens: this deep-seated emotional baggage can leave the body, over time, probably not in one 3-5 minute hold however(!) and, you are then lighter, happier, more at peace.

Lake Erie, from my new vantage point, a few days ago

This pose inverts and 'melts' your heart, which, in the Daoist beliefs, is considered the supreme manager, overseeing all the workings of the body-mind. Sarah Powers writes, "Its radiance spreads out to every cell and expresses itself in our creativity, interactions and capacity for communication." Here's to a healthy heart and healthy heart chi (energy).

After hours of sewing, you may feel tight in the shoulders, along the arms, perhaps a stiffness in the wrists and definitely in the hips and knees, usually a tightness or stiffness across the pecs and collarbones... Sound familiar? Anahatasana can help with all of this.  Yup.  So get out of your chair, fold a quilt for under your knees and come down onto all fours. If you have trouble getting back up, do this by your sewing chair so you can use it to lean on to help you get back up.

Stage 1 Once you are on all fours, walk your hands forward, keeping them shoulder-width apart if possible, coming to rest on your forearms at first, keeping your bum high in the air and over your knees. Think of a right angle formed at the back of your knees by the backs of your thighs and your calves.  Maybe this is where you stay, letting your belly relax and hang, feeling an arch in your lower back. Toes can be tucked under or you can rest on the tops of your feet. Head can be in line with your spine, or perhaps you can rest it on one forearm. Breathe slowly, counting to 3 or 4 on the inhale and the same slow steady count on the exhale. Always come out of this pose on an inhale.

Do you see our new granite countertops?! ADORE!! Toe-kick under the cabinets still needs to be installed (and ordered from IKEA) as do the side panels to finish off the ends of the cabinets. Oh, and the backsplash tile too...  Oh, and install the dishwasher now... Just a few 😉 more items for MacGyver!

Variation: You may like to rest your upper body on another rolled up quilt or two, and this modification may allow you to extend your arms. You may either rest on your forehead (Take your glasses off! Ask me how I know...) or on your chin, but that is fairly hard on the neck.

Send your butt backwards; here mine could go back a little more.

This pose works into the upper back, the shoulder blades and across the front of the chest. So, see if you can stretch both of your arms right out, palms flat, fingers spread for good energy flow. However, as I mentioned, you may find you need to rest your forehead on one forearm, leaving the other outstretched; just remember to switch arms at the halfway point. Relax your spine, your belly, and you will feel how this starts to tug on the tissues across the front of the chest, along the upper arms, mainly in the triceps, (back of the upper arms), the shoulder heads, and between the shoulder blades.

Hold for 2-5 minutes. Careful. Maybe at first just 1 minute per outstretched arm is enough. This pose could put strain on your neck, so be mindful; any pain or too intense sensations, back off, or try resting your forehead on a block, cushion, or an extra rolled up quilt. Same with tingling in the fingers or hands: this could indicate a nerve being compressed, so lower the arms to the goalpost position, or perhaps skip this and try Fish pose, which is similar for opening the chest. Any pinching in the back of the shoulders, adjust your arm position as noted.

If getting down onto and back up off of the floor is an issue for you, don't give up!  Don't give up on keeping trying to get down and back up, because it is so good for your body, and don't give up on doing a variation of this pose. Try this in a doorway:

I learned this from a massage therapist. Here, you put your arms on either side of the door, goalpost position, and slowly lean forward into the doorway without moving your arms. You won't quite get the backbend you get by doing Anahatasana, but you certainly do get a lovely pull across the front of your chest and a bit of a bend in the upper spine as your shoulder blades come towards each other. It doesn't look like I'm leaning much, and it certainly didn't feel like it, but holy Hannah, it sure felt strong in the arms and shoulders! Watch the head position; I am, ahem, leaning a little too much with my head here! It's not about your head going forward! Sorry about that, but there, you see I'm in need of tweaking all the time too.

Remember that Yin yoga works with the meridians, the energy highways in the body, those same meridians and trigger points used in acupuncture and acupressure. Therefore, a little pressure into your pointers will hit a trigger point on the Large Intestine meridian, into the thumbs, the Lung meridian, the pinkies, the Heart and Small Intestine meridians.
After you've held the pose for 2 to 3 minutes (work up to 5 over time), then either rest back in child's pose or lie down on your belly. If you've done it standing, maybe sit down and be still for a minute or so, noting sensations, breathing.

Ahh! That's better!  Have a good drink of water, and you're good to go for some more sewing!

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #20 Square

Sunday Stretch on a Monday again, oops... We square our quilt blocks as we go, section by section.  Then we square our quilt tops, and after quilting, square the quilt sandwich.  Lots of squaring goes on in quilting; here's a pose called Square in Yin that is one of the best poses for us Westerners.

I did these photos again using my timer on my phone. I am not in yoga clothes because I wanted to show you that you don't have to be in order to do these poses.  Just hop out of your sewing chair, and take a few minutes to tug on your hip sockets, and they will thank you, as will your back if you lean or round forward.

Square

Sit on a quilt to elevate your hips. This pose can aggravate sciatica but elevating the hips will help avoid that, as well as take a bit of pressure off the knees.

Bend in your left leg, bringing your shin parallel to your torso, and sending your knee to the left of your left hip joint, flexing your foot to protect that knee.  Ensure that your left foot is away from your right hip; we aren't keeping it close to the groin as we would for sitting cross-legged.  However. If you are feeling plenty of sensation in your hip sockets simply by sitting on the floor in cross-legged, then for now until your hips loosen up, that is your version of square!

Now bring in your right leg to match the left, squaring this shin to line up parallel to the left and to your torso, sending the right knee to the outside of the right hip. Flex the right foot.

See how my feet are by my knees, not by my hips?

Look down.  You should see a triangle shape formed, the point being your groin and the base being the calf of the left leg.  Both lower limbs are 'squared' to your torso, as in parallel to it, and both feet are several inches, depending on your knee health, away from your hips.

If this doesn't pull much in the hips, then try the full expression of the pose.  Bring your right leg on top of your left, aligning the right knee over the left ankle, and the right ankle resting on the side of the left knee.  If there is a lot of space between the right knee and left ankle, use a block between to rest your knee.

Yep, I am feeling rather goofy doing these selfies....😝

Now lean forward, rounding if it's okay for your back, or, if it's not, keeping the tummy pulled in and leaning from the hips.   You might find as you hold and breathe and relax, that after a couple of minutes you can pull out the block, and the knee will come close to or rest on that left foot.

Hold for 3 -5 minutes.  Eventually you may end up with your head on the floor and both arms in front of you on the floor.  However, that is not the goal.  If you're feeling it, you're doing it.  This works deeply into your hip sockets, so it is intense.  Remember that you are holding for 3 minutes, so studies have shown gentler sensations held for longer give greater improvement: in healing, in mobility.

To come out, slowly rise up on an inhale, exhaling when you are all the way up, ensuring your head comes last if it was dangling forward.  Undo your legs slowly, setting the foot soles down and lean back on your hands, enjoying the 'ahhh' feeling as you come out and the blood rushes into the compressed areas.  You might like to do windshield wiper motions back and forth with your bent legs to rotate the hips in their sockets.  Then do the other side.

My first Yin teacher, Gillian, for whom I made the heart quilt, (she's still recovering, fighting hard after 2 years now from being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer) anyhow, she always said that Square and Shoelace, which we did last month, are the two best poses for us Westerners because of our tight hips.  Why do we have such tight hips as compared to Easterners?  Because we don't live on the floor; we sit in chairs, on toilets, on couches.

Homework for the month:  watch 5-6 minutes of one of your TV shows each day sitting cross-legged.  It doesn't have to be Square, but it could.  Or Shoelace. Or just sitting cross-legged.  Do 2.5-3 minutes  each side, which means alternating the leg in front or on top.  Your hips will thank you, and hopefully you will avoid a hip replacement, the numbers of which are astronomical as compared to those in the Eastern world.

It's done!  I will post about this finish next! Had to seize a moment between showers and thunderstorms and put it on Instagram, so here it is for my readers.

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #19 - Shoelace

"Two of the best poses for us in the West are Shoelace and Swan." My first Yin teacher, Gillian, who spoke in a soft South African accent, always used to tell us this.  At first I did not like either of them.  My body did not like either of them.  Now?  They are still intense, but oh boy, do I love how they massage deep into my hip sockets.

Quilty things first, though: look what shoe rack hack (see what I did there?!) I did the other day that is pretty sweet!

Note the 'in colour order' from top to bottom 😉

I had gone on a bit of a hunt for some solids to use in a second Hands2Help quilt... No luck yet, because the loft is more chaos of a different kind than ever as MacGyver started to get the longarm set back up.  My cutting table kind of collapsed (not as well-made as IKEA) when he went to shuffle it aside, and well, I won't type the string of fancy words and phrases that flowed out of his mouth...  Enter cutting/pressing table design number 2, thought up by me!  I have lived with it and worked with it all week, and I'm liking it, but for the very difficult access to the loft storage under the roof and behind it.  Still, MacGyver has a plan to fix that issue.  Now that I know this works fine, he will finish setting up the longarm and I can get some quilts quilted!

Shoelace

This will make you sit on the floor, which is always a good thing, trust me.  Have a chair handy to help you get down and back up again if need be.  Shoelace is going to give you a great outer rotation in the hip joints, adduction in the inner thighs as you stack your knees atop one another, as well as give you a good tug on the outside of your hip joints.

Note that if there is any kind of knee pain, do Eye of the Needle instead.

To come into Shoelace, sit your sit bones on the edge of a folded up quilt. If you suffer from sciatica, elevating the hips so the knees are below the hips will help avoid aggravating the condition.  Elevating your hips also helps give your pelvis a forward tilt; we tend to have backward tilting pelvis in the West since we do not live on the floor, but sit in chairs.

Sit with your legs in front of you, and take your right foot and knee into your hands, maybe rocking the leg back and forth a little just to feel the movement inside your hip joint.   Then bring the right knee over the left, just like you were sitting in a chair crossing your knees, but your lower limb is going to rest on its side, foot also on its side.

IF this puts too much strain on your left (straight) back of the knee, slide your hands palms down, beneath it to  lift it a bit, which will take the pressure off it.  You could even slide another quilt under it if you like.  If it's okay for your back, lean forward, rounding, or not; a flat back is fine and will protect your low back if you should not be rounding forward.  If you do round, you will feel a nice decompression in the low back.  Leaning forward adds compression to your hip joints, which are already nice and juicy with the outer rotation and adduction happening!

If there is a large gap between your knees, use a block there on which to rest your right knee.

You don't have to lean forward much in the beginning.

If your knees are healthy, and your hips a bit more flexible, you might like to match the bottom leg to the top one.  Lean back and see if you can fold in the bottom leg in, still keeping the knees on top of one another.

Again, use a block between them in the beginning if they are fairly far apart; we want our quads soft and squishy and relaxed so the tugging feeling and tension is all in the hips.  Note where my feet are, forwards, not tucked in close to my hips.  In the beginning they may want to be closer to your hips, but as you practise this pose, and it doesn't feel as intense (and this may take months or years), then start to move your feet away from your hips.

You can fold forward as much as you like over the 3-5 minutes you hold this, breathing slowly and steadily maybe to a count of 4 or 5, letting gravity do the work.

A tip from both Sarah Powers and Bernie Clark is to gently push into your hands even as you fold forward, so the weight stays off your knees and back in your hips.  Your work is to relax and breathe and allow the tug/tension to go deep into your connective tissues.

To come up, inhale and straighten slowly back up, head last if it was dangling.  Undo your leg or legs, set the foot soles down, lean back on your hands and take a couple more breaths enjoying the 'spearmint' feeling as the blood rushes into the compressed areas, both nourishing the tissues, and removing toxins.  You might like to do a few windshield wiper movements, side to side to put some motion into the hip joints.  Remember to do the other leg!  Man I love the iPhone's timer feature so I can take these pics even when MacGyver is MacGyvering away inside! 😊

Also remember to take advantage of Craftsy's weekend classes special (affiliate links here) where all classes are under $20US aka $26.87CA.  I've taken advantage of these deals more than once!  You can check out my reviews of two of Angela Walters' classes here (I may own every single one), her Feathers one and Machine Quilting: Small Changes Big Variety, and I highly recommend her Dot to Dot one,  and Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting.  I still haven't found the time to finish Natalia Bonner's class Free-Motion Motifs for Classic Blocks, and review it in its own dedicated post, but so far it's just terrific and I highly recommend it.

Okay, now to write up a quick post for OMG for May, and set up the link up party for showing off all 20 of your Freefall blocks!  That party will open Monday, May 8 and run all week.

Linking up
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for

because I am happy that I made myself write up this post, even though it is a week late!  I feel so strongly about taking care of our bodies, specifically our hips and spines as we spend so much time hunched over our machines, cutting mats and pressing tables.  H2H linkup is today--sadly I have no more progress than a bit more work on the scrappy blocks I showed on Instagram earlier this week:

Although I didn't find my solids, I did find this lovely rich red that has languished for years, and it makes me happy thinking it will go to a Syrian refugee family in this bright and happy quilt!

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #17 - Dragonfly Variations

First please accept my apologies if I don't respond in a timely manner to your comments on my last post...eeep! where I was published in Modern by the Yard.  We are on the road for a few days here, heading back home so I have limited access to wifi.

Last month we did Dragonfly. At the end of the post I said I'd give some variations on it for this month, variations that feel SO GOOD after hours in a car, ha, or at your machine.

Dragonfly Variations

Sit as we did before, resting your sit bones on a quilt to elevate your hips and help tilt your pelvis forward.  Check this post for more detail.  Rmember you do not have to have your legs straight; you can bend your knees as much as you need to.

Variation #1 Upright twist

A twist is one of the best favours you can do for your spine.  Twists release tension.  Orient your body over your right leg, inhaling as you twist.  Place one hand on either side of your thigh, and turn your head, looking over your right shoulder. You can make this an eye exercise by looking as far as you can out of the corner of your eye.  Then let your eyes fall softly shut and relax into the twist; don't pull; find the 'yin-side' (get it?!) of the twist.

Remember we are concentrating on working our connective tissues, not the muscles, so feel and enjoy that tug.  Where is it? How does it differ along the length of your spine?  the sides of your waist? your hips?  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Hold here for 1.5 - 2 minutes.

Inhale as you unwind coming back to centre.  Exhale.  Inhale as you twist now to the left.

You can keep your hands on either side of your thigh or you might like to wrap your right arm behind your waist as you twist to the right, placing your left hand on the outer edge of your thigh.  This is taking the twist a bit deeper; as long as you aren't using muscles to pull or push yourself further into a twist, then you might like this.

Variation #2 Side bend

Once again inhale, first of all lengthening along both sides of your spine.  Then start to bend to the right, feeling how the connective tissues are getting a lovely stretch all along your left side.  Think of bringing your ear to your shoulder, and notice how this brings a great stretch along the side of your neck.  You can wrap your left arm behind your waist.  Your right arm rests just inside your right leg, either on the floor or on a block.

Alternatively, you may like to rest your left arm on the side of your head, as shown below.  This gets nicely into the triceps and underarm, and is very good for the lymph nodes.

Remember your breath, counting to 3 or 4, even inhales and exhales.  Relax as you exhale, not forcing your arms lower, just letting gravity have you.

Come up on an inhale.  Exhale.  Take another inhale and exhale in the centre if you need to, noting the sensations.  Then repeat on the left side.

Variation #3 Chest Expander
A final incredible stretch for the shoulders and arms, and probably a favourite of mine, is chest expander.  You can do it standing upright, lifting your arms away from your spine, but I like to add the forward bend with my legs apart.

I had a coach during these photos!

Clasp your fingers behind your sacrum (low back) and lift your arms up and away from your spine.  If you are doing it as I am here, then gravity does pull in a most delicious way on your arms.  As Kino MacGregor says, "Don't fight with your body."  I like to say let gravity do the work.  You just need to breathe.  This one isn't a Yin pose but it sure is a good 'un!  Hold here for 5-10 breaths, and come up slowly on an inhale.  I love this stretch; I have been known to do this upon getting out of a vehicle after a several-hour stint of travelling, much to the embarrassment of my family...😂

Travelling...here's a shot I put on Instagram.  You know I have a thing, a profound thing, for trees, and I love quilts in trees.  Well, as MacGyver said, "We drove an extra 80 miles for a freaking tree..." with a wink at me, and yep we did.  Not just any tree.  This tree.

This is the Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island just outside of Charleston, South Carolina.  It is truly wonderful, awesome, breath-taking.  The things this tree has witnessed, sheltered, housed, the air it has cleaned over the centuries, give pause for reflection.  That it has withstood 400-500 years of weather, humans, pests, human pests, ha, war...it boggles the mind.  It was quite the zen moment to be able to see it and take in some of its majesty, wisdom and just 'being'.

A note about the DrEAMi! linky: it is the last Saturday of the month, which was yesterday, but since A) I am travelling and B) there are another 6 days left in the month, I will have the linky next Saturday, April 1.  If you are new here and wondering what the heck is a DrEAMi! then click here.

Sunday Stretch For Sewists #17 - Dragonfly

Yin Yoga names the poses with a lot of animal and insect names, this one no exception. It is also known as Straddle and as Upavistha Konasana which means wide-leg forward bend.  Begin by sitting on the floor.  This pose can aggravate sciatica, so be sure to elevate your hips by sitting on a folded up quilt or even a cushion. This helps tilt your pelvis forward, so if you have tight hamstrings, you may find raising your hips in this way helps.  Open your legs as far apart as you can, optimally until the point where you feel that tugging sensation we always look for in Yin.  Lean forward, feeling your pelvis lean towards the floor, and letting your back round, if that is okay for your back.

These are Capsules, Letters and Low Volume

Wait a second.... That is not a yoga pose!  Ooh, but it is sure some pretty eye candy, right?!  I was so happy to get my second installment of my Christmas gift from MacGyver, a fat eighth club of Art Gallery Fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics.  We are supposed to get 20, but I guess because there was only 19, I got extra (like half a yard!) of the one. I'm thinking I may have to order some more of a couple of these, the one floral in the bottom row, third from the left, in particular.

Okay Dragonfly.  You know, just being able to get down and back up off the floor is something.  Do not think, 'forget it, ain't happenin'; take your time and you can do this! I've said it before here and I say it pretty much every class I teach: you will be amazed at how this simple act of getting down onto and back up off of the floor can help increase your mobility.  My friend Pat sent me the July issue of Prevention, with a cute bookmark marking the article she knew I'd be interested in.  You will be hearing more in my Sunday Stretch posts about personal trainer Katy's theories of maximizing movement, one of her main ones being live on the floor.  In other words, get off the chair as often as you can, and onto the floor, put your computer or iPad on a stool and use a nice big pillow to sit on or lean against while you read or work, put your coffee cups in the cupboard above your head so you have to reach up on tiptoes to get one every morning, and so on.

I have a yoga student who is in her late 60s, doing her best to avoid knee surgery, overweight, and who wouldn't come to yoga for several months because of embarrassment at how awkward she may have looked while trying to do this very thing.  I encouraged her not to stay away, telling her Yin is in a low light room, go in the back row, no one cares because our eyes are closed or heads are down the majority of the time.  So she tried again, and now has been coming regularly, and is so amazed and happy at her improvement! We modify stuff where her knees can't handle it, and she is able to go through the class just fine!

This pose will work your hips, low back and those knees.  Before we go any further, I must also interject a quick thank you to Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl, for doing a feature on my Yoga Poses monthly post on her Tuesday Tips and Tutorials.  Gee whiz! I was tickled that she'd do that. 🙏

If you have low back issues where you should not round, then keep your tummy pulled in to protect your low back and lean from the hips.

What if this pulls too intensely on the backs of your legs (hamstrings) or you have an aching, healing knee? No problem! Use a cushion to support that healing knee:

This will take the pressure right off it!  If this still pulls too intensely, then either engage your quads which will, in turn, lift or engage your kneecaps to protect the joint, or plant your foot soles on the yoga mat.  Yin is quite different than the Yang, active, warm, use-your-muscles style of yoga.  I have a group of marathon runners who come regularly, and several of them do this pose in the following fashion:

Say what? Legs bent up that much? You bet!

Even if you are flexible and not bothered in the hamstrings, you might like to try this.  You will see how it still gets right into the groin and inner thigh area.  Notice I am doing it with my back flat but that is just to show you that you do not have to round.  Perhaps you slowly start to let your legs straighten, either over the 3-5 minutes hold, or over several weeks of doing this pose

Relax!

The key to Yin is to relax your muscles.  We get into the connective tissues, that white stringy stuff, aka gristle, you see in a package of meat.  If you are a meat-eater, it's a pain to cut through, right?  That, my friends, is the connective tissue of the animal, and we have that webbing throughout our entire bodies, into the very cells themselves.  This webbing tightens up with stress, with repetitive stress (think sewing many hours at a time), with aging, with injury, and with surgery.  Scar tissue? That's connective tissues, which are mostly elongated fibres, a few criss-crossing, but in injuries or surgeries, they criss-cross big-time and mass around the injured area, protecting it, immobilizing it.  This is scar tissue.  It's great while we are healing, not so great when it's time to mobilize.  Yin can help to break that down and give you more mobility!

Breathe!

In any style of yoga, the breath is paramount.  So it is with Yin.  Breathe in and out slowly and steadily to a count of maybe 3 or 4, even 6 or 8, as long as it is not forced.  Kino MacGregor, Ashtangi extraordinaire, says something so beautiful at the closing of the Ashtanga Primary Series, on Cody, something to the effect of "Let every inhale carry with it the memory of the exhale, and let every exhale carry with it the memory of the inhale."  So beautiful, and so flowing and so in the moment.

Hold here for 3 minutes.  Use a timer; close your eyes and go within. Notice where you may be holding onto something: is it your shoulders?  your jaw? your tummy?  Let go... feet are floppy...

If you have a yoga block, you may find you can set it on its end and your forehead may come to rest on it, or maybe you rest your forearms on it as I am on the cushion here.  If you don't have a yoga block, use a cushion as I am.  DO NOT PULL.  Relax.  Have patience here; you can hurt yourself seriously if you pull.  Let gravity do the work; your work is to breathe, to relax and to surrender.  Listen to your heart beat.  Listen to your breath.

To come out, rise back up slowly on an inhale, letting your head come up last if it was dangling.  Take in a couple more breaths and then lean back on your hands without moving your legs. Take a couple more breaths.  Fold in your legs, one at a time to a loose cross-legged seat, and arch your back, looking up, for another couple of breaths.  Ahh! Enjoy the release as the blood rushes through the constricted areas.  This works much like massage therapy to remove blockages, release toxins, and give you more space, more ease of movement.  Be sure to have a drink of water once you head back to your sewing machine.

Possibilities

Yoga is for everyone. Truly. All body types, all ages.  It can do amazing things, on a physical level, yes, but on a mental and spiritual level as you quieten your mind and go within.  If your head and/or chest comes to your mat, you may like to turn it to one side (be sure to do both sides), spread your arms apart so your hands come by your feet.  This feels incredibly good in the shoulders.

Remember to take your glasses off...

It took me years to get to this point, and I've put it here to show you there is always somewhere to go, and there is hope for everyone to see change, for the better.  I think I was about 50, maybe a bit more, when I got my chest to the floor.  Although I'd been practising Ashtanga Yoga for years, I thank the long holds of Yin that allowed my connective tissues, the ligaments, tendons, etc., to slowly give, and allow me to do this with no pulling.  Every time I start to think, meh, I'm (choke) getting too old to ever be able to do that, something happens and I see the possibility.  Be open, I guess, and I admit I am not always, to that growth, that change...those possibilities!

Acupressure

Yin combines Chinese theories of acupressure and acupuncture with the East Indian yoga theories.  We tug on areas and therefore stimulate acupressure points.  The Chinese, like the East Indians, treat the body as a whole.  I tell my students to think in this way: every cell has a Liver component (detoxification), or a Urinary Bladder (elimination) component to it.  This helps us Westerners to understand.

With that in mind then, this pose affects the Liver Meridian as it flows up the inner legs and into the groin.  You may feel some frustration or even anger surface while holding this pose; just try to breathe through it, knowing that something is being released.  Issues in our tissues, remember?  It also affects the Urinary Bladder Meridian as it flows down either side of the spine, and down the backs of the legs.  Maybe fears arise...  The Kidney Meridian is affected also along the inner legs and groin, and the Spleen Meridian if you feel tugging on the insides of your knees.  All this means is that you are stimulating these organs and energy highways and quite possibly removing blockages, if there are any, so energy will flow better.  You, in turn, will feel better, by having better energy flow and better range of movement!

Next month we'll take a look at a couple Dragonfly variations you can do that will help release tension in your back, and in your shoulders while still working the legs

Design Challenge News

The third bi-weekly draw for the #30quiltdesignschallenge2017 happened Friday night, (144 designs in the hashtag pool!!) and Abigail at Cut and Alter was the winner! She won a gift certificate to The Red Hen Shop.

I hope you'll take a moment to visit Melody's shop and give her some support. She has some lovely fabrics, at reasonable prices, and has been so very generous in supporting the design challenge.  The final draw is on March 15, a gift certificate for $50!  Here is Abigail's design.  Along with shadow quilts that I've been playing a lot with since Windfall, I love transparency quilts.

Isn't that cool?!

Now.
If you suddenly find yourself dropping the projects, the commitments, ignoring the emails mounting, refusing to cook - 'you're on your own!' words coming out of your mouth to your family, because you just have to make Abigail's design (with credit to her of course, right, and not selling it, right) then you've been hit by a DrEAMi!  February's link-up was yesterday, but it runs through the end of the month, so, until Wednesday morning. 😉  If you already had a DrEAMi! moment or episode, then you can link it up there!

I'm off to sit on a floor and lean forward for a bit here; although I wrote some of this while sitting on the floor, I still spent too much time sitting in a chair writing this post! You can join me if you've been reading blogs for too long!  Don't forget to check out Craftsy (affiliate link) sometime today though: along with another great supplies and kits sale, they also have a ton of free stuff, classes and patterns, yep, free!