Cupcake Chaturanga

Here I go again about Chaturanga (read my first post on the subject, Chaturanga Cowgirl). It's hard to believe after all these years of teaching yoga that I get most excited about this pose. You'd think that by now I would be waxing poetic about an asana like scorpion. Not so, because I really don't care if you ever do scorpion. However, I do care if you do chaturanga properly, especially if you practice vinyasa flow yoga.

I've noticed how excited I get about the second yoga class on my retreats, when I typically troubleshoot chaturanga, and offer do's and don'ts. We do lots and lots of chaturangas. I am not satisfied unless everyone is sore afterwards. Because the best thing for being sore from yoga is...more yoga. One of last weekend's Cowgirl Yoginis went to our massage therapist right after the retreat ended, and told her, "On the first morning, Margaret..." She didn't even finish her sentence when Vi knowingly said, "Chaturanga".

It's not that I want everyone to be sore. Although I do believe in a good sort of sore, when you know you did something to wake up your muscles. I want to offer something that people can take home with them to improve their practice. And I've decided that chaturanga do's and don'ts are it. So, I recently wrote an article about it for the Athleta Chi. Even if you don't join me on retreat, you can still take the chaturanga challenge.

My favorite do: practice cupcake chaturanga. Imagine there is a cupcake on the floor in front of your yoga mat. This may be the most effective chaturanga motivation ever.

Namaste.