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Intermediate I
Rachel takes you through a more challenging sun salutation, focusing on alignment principles and breath. Her clarity, precision and good nature will help you through this class, and you may learn a few things too!
Equipment:
- Strap
- Block
Intensity:
Vigorous Yoga Videos
Style:
Comments
Existing Comments
This is a great class to revisit as a reminder of proper body positioning.
Thank you Rachel.
Enjoyed!
Thank you
This is a class I will be doing at least once a week. It helps a lot to do the yoga poses correctly. Thank you Rachel!
Very interesting and a good challenge! One to come back to again soon I think!
Well that was amazing! Great instructions and so helpful. Thank you Rachel :-)
The lightbulb went off so many times during the class. So this is how this should feel?! I love this journey of learning. Thank you!
Oh how immensely I have enjoyed Your class, really clear simple explanation through asanas to help awakening appropriate muscles to do their work.
sweaty and wonderful :)
Wow! What a difference engaging the inner and outer thighs made to how I felt in the poses. Especially in eagle, I noticed the increased stability. What a wonderful feeling of strength throughout this class!
Hard but so good!! I really felt the increased support with the newly activated muscles, particularly in the planks. Thanks, Rachel!
Would be wonderful to have a Part II of Empower your Boundaries! Whenever I take this class, boom: there is something new I
discover in my body. Rachel, I do thank you for all the guidance and your remarks. Yoga can be fun!
It was easier the second time around, once I got the hang of how to use the props!
That was pretty tough for me but thoroughly loved it, thank you Rachel.
After all most 20 years of vinyasa practice, I did indeed learn from Rachel's excellent instruction. Just a point of interest: I could never could build up the strength to hold chair poses for any period of time, but after training with free weights for the past four years I can hold the pose with ease, which enables me to concentrate on my form.
Yoga is a never ending learning process for me. This class has shown me what I am able to do if guided properly. Thanks, Rachel. I am glad I graded myself up to Intermediate I.
Always a pleasure to "Do Yoga With"...Rachel. She is a master explainer, which is what is most needed from an Online teacher.
This video blacks out when using Safari. Works perfectly on Firefox. Just what was needed for today. Thanks Rachel, and Namaste.
Beautiful class. I love your cueing, Rachel. The guided focus on specific muscles really helps me feel and become totally absorbed in my practice. My mind is so busy thinking about the inner/outer thigh, that it doesn't have time to go through all the things I have to do today - a beautiful feeling, to be fully focused on what my body is experiencing!
So glad that you enjoyed this! :)
excelente clase! me encanto
Thank you, Rachel. That was fun. Towards the end of the class though, about 35 m in, my low back started to hurt, and I was wondering if I was missing some subtle motion, engagement, or release. Any idea? (I do have chronic pain in L5S1 because of an injury and discectomy, so it complains sometimes but usually once I engage my core, align, or do upward facing dog, it calms down). Maybe it was the bending
Rachel is a wizard of motion.
LOL - thank you so much, I think that's the best compliment I've ever received!!!
Tips, tips and more tips. I love it. I also find that having the block in between my knees for all the sun salutations seems to actually support my knees which is great for this used-to-be runner. Maybe it's just because I am focusing on other muscles with the help of the block.
Hi Mary Rose!
So glad that you enjoyed the class - yes!! I feel that knee support too and find it helpful as well :)
I am trying to help out my back and was told by my PT that I had to learn to engage my inner and outer thighs so they would take some of the strain off of my back whenever I bend/lean forward and try to then straighten up. The steps Rachel took us through made me be more aware of using these muscles and to consciously apply them to my regular daily movements, lol rapidly bending down to pick up our teacup yorker whenever a dog bigger than it approaches.
AMAZING CLASS!!!!! such a great challenge for the whole body & mind.
Rachel does a great job explaining each pose and transition so clearly.
Looking forward for the rest of the challenge.
This class is amazing. Thank you, Rachel!
The block squeezing helps a lot. Placing my feet together is not comfortable..big thighs. I just get my feet as close as possible and squeeze in. I think this creates the same feeling of ‘zipping’ things up as described.
Loved this practise with the props, which i'm not usually a big fan of as I sometimes find them a bit 'faffy', but they really helped me feel everything in all the right places. Biggest surprise was that it made such a difference in my planks and lowering towards chaturanga, I always thought that my upper body was the issue but engaging the legs really helped
That is a great insight about the legs!! You'll find that the legs are huge helps in backbends like updog, cobra, and wheel, too. :)
I see that we do many practices 2 or 3 times in the ongoing inter. program. Doing this the second time was good. My fezz did pop out a few times when jumping to the front or back of my matt and I got a laugh out of that.
Lots of great technical advice and tips in this practice. Jumping up to the tops of my feet from down ward dog with the block in between my knees was kind of interesting. but I get what this practice is trying to achieve. I love how the block gives me that leg strength.
This was so amazing! I ended up needing to pause it to warm up my body a little before proceeding, but once I was a little more awakened I learned so much in this short hour and felt so supported in the poses. Thank you!!
Namaste, thank you so much.
So grateful to learn a practice to face, redirect, elevate energies and empower boundaries
For others who have low back pain during flexion, it MIGHT be safe to substitute extension, like upward facing dog and triangle pose instead of down dog. But when in doubt, do what you‘re confident will not be unsafe
Take care & stay aware =)
Thanks for the tip - my lower back usually seizes up when I do more than one or two sun salutations so will substitute an extension.
is there a modification for the block between the thighs? the way my anatomy is, my feet are like double hips width apart and I can't get them closer. not sure if it's the shape of my legs or the thickness of my thighs, but this feels more like strain than strength building.
Hi Tanvi!
Great question. I'd slide a something thin and durable between the thighs (for the feeling of firm resistance). It could be a thin, large, hardcover book or even a cutting board. The idea is to get the feeling of some hard resistance back so the body goes, AH, I feel that! You can also squeeze the legs together, but I like getting something firmer in there for the feedback. You can just do that in tadasana, and then once you've got the feeling of it, take it out. Let me know how that goes!
Nice way to warm up then cool down now to get ready for work
Thank you
Fresh clear mind
Searching “empower” on do yoga with me, I found “empower your boundaries”...
Thank you for watering strength in spirit
Drinking light
Sludge falls away
“Heart melts forward”
No longer chained back
Shiva’s fire cleansing
Death and fear fall away
Bhrama’s breath
Carries her ash
Krishna in Eagle
Circles and washes the pain
Circles and waters new growth
Circles and rises to light
Interesting work with block and strap. It helps remind you to keep focused on the mid-line.
Thanks and looking forward to this my second challenge since becoming a member.
This class was fascinating and it is definitely one that I will repeat. I need more work on the outsides of my hips for sure!
Really nice class. Time FLEW by and I really enjoyed this first of the 21 day get strong challenge!
Deeply grateful for this wonderful class.
Wow, the tweaks! I had no idea what I'd been missing out on. Thank you, Rachel!
Nice class to understand more about the inner and outer aspects of the legs in poses.
Highly recommend especially as you progress in your practice.
Wow! What a way to use all of those muscles!
Thank you, Rachel!
Really fascinating to engage muscles like this
What an amazing class! I learned so many technical things about using the smaller muscles in my inner and outer thighs. I love the use of props in this class. By far one of my favorite classes, and I will be doing this class at least once a week! Thank you!
Rachel your hair looks amazing in this video too! (I am sure you always get compliments on your superior instruction, but had to say this too. )