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I don’t have any regrets on the subject of my yoga path. Even with all of my injuries, disappointments, missed opportunities, and failures, I wouldn’t change a single breath or pose.

I don’t regret saying yes to teaching jobs that didn’t work out. How persistently over my fifteen-year profession did I pick up a category time that either didn’t construct or that dwindled after I took it over? My first instinct was often to take it personally or assume I had failed, but looking back I see that if those opportunities had worked out, I can be on a wholly different path today.  I don’t regret doing poses that likely contributed to my repetitive stress injuries. It has been through injury, motherhood, and aging that I’ve really been in a position to find out about non-attachment.

I don’t even regret blindly following teachers who ended up falling off their pedestals and hurting me indirectly. Experiencing disappointment with a teacher or mentor was an enormous opportunity for me to learn to do things otherwise. It helped me see where to attract boundaries and methods to manage my energy more appropriately in my very own  relationships.

Let’s Try That Again

Although I haven’t any regrets about these moments, I do appreciate the thought of having the ability to reset and to start again. I don’t necessarily desire a do-over—not in an erase-the-past, blank-slate form of way. Fairly, I would like a do-again-better.

Once I start teaching a recent class or learning a recent pose or studying under a recent teacher, I would like to undergo these experiences otherwise than I did before—employing the wisdom I gained from my previous experiences, but in addition aware that it is a fresh start. That is time to reset, relatively than redo.

On this sequence, we revisit familiar poses from a fresh, perhaps wiser, lens. I hope it reminds you of the numerous possibilities available to you and helps you clear any old attachments or hurts.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

1. Balasana (Child’s Pose)

Is there any pose that represents recent beginnings greater than the fetal position? This pose represents a literal starting over—a return to after we were born. On this variation of the pose,  we’ll leave the arms by our sides, but keep our palms facing upward as a logo of embracing recent possibilities.

Methods to: Come down onto your knees. Bring your big toes together and separate your knees  apart. Shift your bum back to your heels and rest your tummy on or between your thighs. Place your brow on the ground or a block, then drape your arms back by your sides. Turn your upper arm in order that your palms face skyward. This internal rotation of the upper arm can result in excessive rounding of the upper back, so keep your shoulder heads lifting from the ground. Rest here for ten breaths. Then slowly, as when you were going for a swim through honey, reach one arm then the opposite in front of of you.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

2. Marjaryasana and three. Bitilasana (Cat and Cow Pose)

The dynamic sequence of Cat/Cow allows us to witness that each breath cycle could be a possibility to start many times. We often deal with spinal extension (arching) and flexion (rounding) in Cat/Cow. On this variation, we’ll move our body in circles. This rotational movement helps to create space within the ball-and-socket joints of the hips and shoulders. Circling a technique then switching directions symbolizes starting over.

Methods to: From Child’s Pose, inhale and are available to Tabletop. In your next inhalation, take your chest forward in order that your shoulders are ahead of your wrists and arch your back. Then shift your shoulders and hips to the fitting and back. Exhale, coming through Child’s Pose together with your back rounded after which circle your hips and body to the left, coming around the opposite side transitioning into Cow pose as you inhale and convey your shoulders ahead of your wrists. Proceed on this direction for 3 revolutions, then switch directions.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

4. Low Lunge Twist

There’s something about wringing yourself out, very similar to you’d a sopping washcloth, to assist release old energies. But wringing out doesn’t mean totally drying out. Some moisture stays but it surely helps to remove the surplus stuff we are inclined to hang onto.

Methods to: Ranging from Tabletop, step your right foot between your hands. Keep your left hand on the ground under your shoulder or on a block. Inhale and lift your right arm up toward the ceiling. Exhale and twist your torso open toward your front inner knee. In case your neck is sensitive, proceed to look down or to the side. Otherwise, you might look up at your raised hand. Try to not crank yourself into the twist. As a substitute, let every breath take you somewhat further. Inhale, lengthen your spine from crown to tail; exhale, twist yourself somewhat further. Do that for five breaths. Release your right hand down and are available back to hands and knees and arrange for side two.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

5. Bhujanagasana (Cobra Pose), variation

To start again, we regularly have to re-open our heart. Lifting and lowering on this mild backbend, which is typically called Seal Pose, is a delicate solution to tease the center back open after a disappointment.  On this pose, we’re on the ground, so there’s a component of grounding, but pressing up adds an energy of re-emerging.

Methods to: From Tabletop pose, curl your toes under, lift your shins, and reach your hips up and back into Downward Facing Dog. Inhale to return forward right into a Plank, then lower yourself to the ground, coming to your knees first if vital. Place your palms under your shoulder heads and separate your legs and feet hip-width apart. On an inhale, press away from the ground, extending your arms halfway toward straight, and peel your chest and tummy off the ground. Your elbows will remain barely bent. Slide your shoulders away out of your ears. On an exhale, lower back to the ground. Repeat this thrice. Consider lengthening your spine every time you lower, so each round informs the subsequent. After your last round, curl your toes under and press back to Downward Facing Dog.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

6. Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1 Pose), variation

Warrior 1 gets a rep for being a little bit of a push-pull throughout the body. For instance, your back leg firms toward straight and pulls back, but then your back hip wraps forward. And we’d not have the option to create space in our lower back were it not for our back foot firmly planting. This pose represents the resistance we regularly feel to starting over and starting again. But it is usually a possibility to create space  to grow from our past.

Methods to: From Downward Facing Dog, inhale and lift your right leg as much as the sky. On an exhale, step your right foot between your hands. Turn your left toes out and hop your foot to the left barely until each feet are a cushty distance apart. We’re going to keep our chest down today. Take your thumb to your right thigh and hip region and gently draw your hip back. Keep your right foot anchored into the mat. Now hover your torso one inch off your right thigh and reach your left arm forward. In case your lower back feels spacious and stable, consider reaching your right arm forward, too. As much as your arms reach forward, anchor your feet into the ground and pull your hips back. Hold for five breaths. Exhale and convey each hands to the bottom and step back to Downward Facing Dog. Prepare on your left side.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

7. Ustrasana (Camel Pose) variation

Let’s proceed with this theme of observing push-pulls within the body, but this time, the pull can be to arch back while we work on keeping the energy moving forward. This variation is typically called Ardha Ustrasana (Half Camel Pose). It’s a hybrid of a lunge shape, which shares a whole lot of the qualities we just explored in Warrior 1 and Camel Pose.

Methods to: From Downward Facing Dog, inhale your right leg up and back. Exhale, step your right foot forward and lower your back knee to the ground. Lift your torso upright and pause. Place  your left palm flat onto your sacrum together with your fingers pointing up or down. Inhale and reach your right arm as much as the sky. On an exhale, begin to arch back. Your left hand may slide further down your left leg toward your glute, thigh, or shin. As tempting because it is to go all the best way back, keep your deal with lifting your chest and drawing your torso toward your front knee. Hold for five breaths. Ground into your back shin, inhale and convey your torso upright. Lower each hands on either side of your front foot.  Step back to Downward Dog.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

8. Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose)

Twists also represent coming in toward ourselves before reaching out to the world expansively. It’s as if we must first do a heart check before we are able to open ourselves up. Twists are a few of the very best prep and counter poses to backbending.

Methods to: Come to a seated position. Stretch each legs straight in front of you. Sit on a blanket or block if that helps you sit upright without rounding. Bend your right knee and cross the foot over your left thigh. Your right knee will proceed to point skyward. Now bend your left knee and pull your heel just outside of your right bum. On an inhale, reach your left arm up. On an exhale, twist your torso rightward. Wrap your left arm across the front of your thigh or attempt to hook your left elbow on the inside your right knee for more leverage to twist. Select whichever variation lets you broaden your chest and breathe fully. Turn your head to look toward your right shoulder. Hold for five breaths. Turn your head to the left first, then release the remainder of your body. You’ll notice the body unfurling organically. Stretch each legs straight and repeat in your left side.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

9. Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose)

Often what is required to start again cleanly is a shift in perspective. Going the wrong way up can offer us that. Viparita Karani also has a restorative element to it as you’re held by the wall and floor. This represents the give up vital in starting over, too. Now we have to trust that we’re held and supported as we return to a spot we once were, but anew. This pose represents trust, rest, and recent beginnings.

Methods to: Come to a wall and sit sideways next to it. Lie down and swing your legs up the wall so your sit bones are touching the wall and your sacrum is flat on the bottom. You could need to slide a skinny, folded  blanket underneath you, resting it comfortably within the archway of your lower spine. Let your arms rest by your sides. Close your eyes or allow them to rest on a soft gazing point. Remain for five minutes.

Coming out can be just as necessary as getting in here: Bend your knees and slide your feet down the wall once more. Roll to a side and pause on this curled up position. Take your time, press yourself up to sit down slowly, letting your head come up last. This represents that we are going to enter this recent phase leading from our inner self and heart. Find a cushty seat and pause in the potential for this moment.

More Practice Rx Sequences:

About Our Contributor

Sarah Ezrin is an writer, world-renowned yoga educator, popular Instagram influencer, and mama based within the San Francisco Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along together with her innate wisdom make her writing, yoga classes, and social media great sources of healing and inner peace for many individuals. Sarah is changing the world, teaching self-love one person at a time. She can also be the writer of The Yoga of Parenting. You may follow her on Instagram at @sarahezrinyoga and TikTok at @sarahezrin.