14-Day Yoga Challenge: Day Two
Intermediate II
In day two, Fiji takes time with each yoga pose to ensure that you are doing them properly, as you progress through the fourteen days. Slowing down the vinyasa flow, spending more time in poses like plank, chaturanga, trikonasana and bridge pose allows her to cue the muscles that should be active, creating a more solid pose and preventing injury. Click here to go to Day Three.
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foundation basics
Great class on the fundamentals Fiji, thank you. One thing I always have a problem with is I can't get a good visual or muscle memory feel for tucking the tailbone, possibly because I have a neutral pelvic tilt anyways. When the instructor says tuck the tailbone (which many seem to in standing or table top poses) are there some other muscle groups I can work on to get the desired effect?
Thanks again Fiji. This is a great session. The pose and posture explanations are super helpful, you offered many small alignment details that I was never aware of.
I always come back to this challenge when I've let my yoga practice fall by the wayside. I love that doyogawithme has kept this series free over the years; I've been using it since college! With COVID-19 keeping all of NYC indoors this month, I'm happy it's here to help me get back in the swing of practicing at home. Thanks Fiji!
WOW, such great alignment cues, which I know over the years of practicing I forget. Coming up into warrior one you really helped me align my back leg by engaging my quad and it felt so much better. thank you Fiji for all the gifts you share with this series and Do Yoga With Me. Namaste
I am a 60 year old man who has been doing yoga for about 5 years. Along with swimming and long beach walks here in Costa Rica, it is my primary form of exercise. I used to be a gym rat lifting weights all the time and faking my way through cardio. When we first started doing yoga together, my wife (who's been practicing yoga her whole life), would suggest doing a "Fiji" video and I would be resistant because I found them too challenging/tiring/exhausting. Now, I crave them. I absolutely love your videos, they have helped me lose 25 pounds which I've been able to keep off. I'm going to take my first surf lesson as soon as we're done with this awesome 14 day challenge. Thanks so much Fiji. You're a life changer.
I love these stories! Thank you for sharing, yoga can be transformational and you are living proof! I hope you enjoy surfing and all the other great adventures that are coming your way.
Great class, as always!
I find that when I move into warrior 1 the 45 degree angle foot causes a lot of stress in my calf and ankle. Sometimes I'll just point it out the same was as warrior 2 because it tends to build up tension and pressure doing it the "right way"
Does anyone else have this problem? Should I try to ease into the 45 degree angle over time or is this one small compromise I can make to listen to my body?
Hi Krystle,
This is a tricky question! One of the reasons that the foot is turning forward is so that the pelvis can begin to turn forward. The anchor of the back heel make it so that the pelvis is never exactly square to the front of the mat but the edge you reach is opening the groin and hip flexor. If you turn the back foot out as in warrior 2, then try to square the pelvis to the front of the mat you would put too much pressure on the inside of the knee in that back leg. We don't want the accomodtion to remove you from discomfort to lead to more discomfort! On the other hand the tightness in the calf and ankle may be because of how the that joint is put together in your body and that bone is hitting bone in that angle of flexion. You could try to ease into the 45 over time as you were thinking, to see if you can open the connective tissue, keeping a good deal of pressure in the outer edge of the foot to protect the knee. The other option is to lift the back heel up like you would in a high lunge.
Hi Fiji,
Thank you for the well thought out response, I'm going to try to work my foot towards the 45 angle. I'll be mindful of potential pressure in my knee in the back leg with the toe in warrior 2 position as I work it forward.
These sort of body cues are exactly why I love your classes, by the way! It's so great to have something concrete and specific to think about while I do my classes, especially as a primarily "at-home" practicer. I live in Zürich and yoga classes are just too expensive for me here.
Thanks again!
This is such a nice class of proper foundation and alignment no matter how long one has been doing yoga! It is also challenging in the poses as there are some long holds!! I really benefited from this class. Thanks Fiji for day 2 fo the series!!
I had no idea I'd let my form get so lax until I started through this workout. I had a shoulder injury early in the year that required me to make some adjustments to my yoga routines, and I noticed today that I'm still doing some of those shifts in my form. And, then there were the places where I was just lazy with my form. This brought my attention to where it needed to be even when I wanted to protest. As I breathed through my protests I discovered new strength and flexibility as well as just how well my shoulder has healed. Great routine. I'm going to make a note of this one to return to whenever my form gets a bit lax!
Great tune-up for poses that I do all the time and have gotten a little sloppy with. Fiji's instructions are precise and easy to follow and I immediately felt a lot more stability. Loved the cues about forward folds - wow, what a difference I felt! Thanks!
I really appreciate the detailed instruction with some of these poses we do so often, especially chaturanga, which i clearly needed to correct. Thanks Fiji.
I loved this gentle but challenging class. I really appreciated all the back stretching .
I love your classes figi!!!!!
Hi Fiji,
I took about a month off from yoga, unintentionally, just due to other commitments crowding my days, and guess what ... I felt worse by the week. I am returning via the 14-day challenge and I am so happy to see you. Thank you so much for sharing your practice here.
Namaste,
Lisa
Smiling
Great guidance working through each pose!
I really appreciated the work on fine tuning the poses. It was perfect for today--I've been doing warm and heated Dharma which is wonderful, but also strenuous, which can lead to slipping in form. I love working with you in the morning to start my day! Namaste.
Lisa
I really appreciate re-establishing the basics in this gentle session. I will be coming back to this one because there is so much value in the simplicity. Thank You Fiji
thank you! ♥
Thank you, Fiji! I have never had the biomechanics of the basic poses explained so thoroughly. This is so helpful in moving forward safely! Great foundational session!
Fiji, I just love your classes! I'm old school in that I like the cues for alignment no matter what level. It seems I always find something new to pay attention to.
A wonderful class for any level.
Excellent instructions, thank you!
I am really enjoying Fijis classes and so glad I made time for this today. I am having trouble with boat pose as since I started with the 30 day yoga challenge, my coccyx has become very sore. Any ideas or advice for this would be appreciated. Many thanks x
I also can't do boat pose without pain/irritation on coccyx. Ever since the birth of my third child, who was posterior facing, my coccyx protrudes much more and as the skin over it is quite thin, I find boat pose almost impossible. Though I would love to do it I end up doing other core exercises to fill the time when it moves to boat pose :(
I did this to myself during a sit-up challenge - basically you need to allow it to heal by not putting all your weight on it. Then when you feel better and are ready to start doing the boat pose again, you need to make sure you have more than adequate padding. I use two yoga mats together now, and that gives me that extra padding I need. Good luck!
"THIS THIS THIS!!! If you have ever done yoga, have ever wanted to try yoga or "think" you are doing your poses correctly, this explanatory practice, at an intermediate, but fine for most athletic beginners level, is fantastic! you hear Fiji's calm explanations to ensure you are creating a strong foundation for all your vinyasas, practices, poses. ENJOY A WONDERFUL CLASS and only 30 minutes too!"-- that is what I posted to FB and I wish everyone would take time for this practice to make sure they are doing the other practices correctly. It should be added as a separate class listing as something like "Strong Foundations" or "Essential Poses for Strength". Thanks!
Well said!
Great to do the basics again. Very good, clear instructions. Plenty of time to adjust each pose. Love it. Thanks
No matter how long I've been doing yoga, and no matter how much I think I know, it's great to restart. This really helps to shake off bad habits and examine why we do what we do. I feel grateful.
Thank you, Fiji. That was marvellous. Invigorating, yet peaceful. You took me through all the steps with a positive energy, all the while focussing on safety. Thanks again!
I loved Day 2 of my challenge! I am feeling energized and relaxed! Thank you, Fiji! See you tomorrow for Day 3!
really enjoyed learning the more technical aspects to all these movements - thanks!
Really enjoying my second time through - great refresher.
Cool beans Fiji! :)
A wonderful refresher for how to hold poses, which is just what I needed. Thank you.
I really enjoy every detail of the poses and helps a lot! Thank you Fiji. Just completed day 2 and looking forward for next class. I wish I can do everyday but I also do other strength classes and try to fit yoga in my week schedule.
Really good to re-visit technique. I realised my hop was something to work on, as well as a number of other adjustments in the way I transition through poses. Thank you Fiji
always love slowing down and going back to the basics! thank you :o)
After yesterday's introductory practice, this class really helped me understand how to enter and exit poses. Fiji explains everything in such a clear way that it lays the foundations for the subsequent classes, while also hopefully ensuring I don't make mistakes that risk injury. Roll on tomorrow's class...
Thank you Fiji, I really enjoyed this class!
I am looking forward to practicing with you everyday the coming weeks!
Lots of love,
Niki
This is a great practice so far. This class made it easier for me to transition into upward facing dog. Somehow the whole 90 degree thing has never come up! Love it. Keep up the great work Fiji!
Great, simple class to build confidence for the next days of the challenge - and very interesting cues on proper alignment, particularly for triangle pose. Thank you!
Thank you again for a much needed day 2! I found it so beneficial to slow it down and remind myself of the fundamentals. Although savasana was interesting with the additional help of my cat using me as a sofa! ;) and a brilliant message for life to just slow it down, do it properly and have patience. Thank you :)
Glad you are all here on day 2! This class is a fundamental class focused on the most visited poses in vinyasa yoga and how to do them safely and with power. We get so accustom to moving in and out of these frames that we can get careless overtime. In a chalenge such as this doing poses that are not aligned well or done with strength and structure can lead to injury. I want you leaving this challenge felling amazing not injured so I dedicated this class to remembering the importance of the basics!
I have been doing a 31 day yoga challenge starting January 1st and this class was great to visit all of the poses we use so frequently. It was great to check in and strengthen these fundamentals! Beautiful class!
I've just completed day 2 and i'm so glad I decided to take part in this challenge. Fiji always explains everything so clearly, she's such a great teacher. Looking forward to day 3 :)
This was such a wonderful and beautiful reminder class. I loved it.
Not boring at all!!!! This was a great second class. Different pace than the first but static poses gave me the opportunity to really focus on the details and alignment . Thank you Fiji for the time and energy you put into each class!