Find balance with some old favorites

When I'm practicing alone, as I often do, I have a tendency to stick to the same poses in my practices, depending on whether I'm focusing on backbending or hip-opening or restorative poses. The same ones stick in my mind, often in similar sequences.

Lately, I have been trying to incorporate some of my old favorites that I simply hadn't done because they weren't flowing into my brain as the next best pose for me. Sometimes, I throw them all together, and sometimes I break them up into different portions of my practice. Again, it still depends on what I'm focusing on that day, which is always determined by what my body is saying I need at that time.

Evidently, with everything that is happening lately, my body and mind are telling me that I need to find balance. Most of the old favorites I had pushed aside for so many months are about balance. No surprise there for me. It is how I find not just my physical center, but my emotional and spiritual center as well.

Poses I've missed

Warrior III: From a high lunge (back knee off the floor, leg pressed straight back, and right knee aligned over the right ankle), take a deep inhale and then gently press off your back leg, keeping your right knee slightly bent. Come to balance on your front leg. I like to do this pose with my arms out to the sides. It's my Superwoman pose. You are focusing your energy down the inside of your front leg, which you straighten. Your back leg reaches straight back, pressing out through the heel. Try to make your whole body, from the crown of your head to the heel of the back leg, straight as an arrow. If you're feeling brave, try to extend your arms straight forward, reaching out through the fingertips, palms facing one another.

When you are ready to come out of it, bend the standing leg and reach back through the toes of the back leg to return to your lunge. Then do the same thing on the other side. Keeping your body straight and focusing your energy on the standing leg will help you maintain balance.

Eagle pose: This is a great balance, and it is also wonderful to ease headaches. Standing with your feet together, lift your right knee up in front of you and then try to wrap your right foot around the front of the left leg, twisting your legs like ropes. Try to hook your right foot on your calf — it is one less thing to worry about. Then reach your arms out like airplane wings, and swing your right arm under the left, again trying to twist them up like ropes, or strands of DNA. If you can, grab on to a thumb or even press your palms together, if possible. It is the twisting arms that open up the space between the shoulder blades and ease tension there, the birthplace of most headaches. Sink as deep into the pose as your knees allow. Try to keep your standing foot pointing straight forward, and try to align you fingertips above your elbows above your knees, above your toes. That's hard for everyone, but why not try it. The worst thing that can happen is that you fall out of the pose. I won't laugh. I promise. Again, you want to do this on both sides. Just remember: Whichever leg is on top, its corresponding arm is on the bottom. Try to come out of this slowly. Rushing your knees is never a good idea.

Half-moon pose: Again, from the high lunge, press off the back (left) foot and allow your right hand to come to the floor in front of your right toes. How far in front your hand goes depends on the length of your torso. In this pose, having a block to place underneath your hand can be crucial. Try to stack your left hip on top of the right, totally opening your hips up to the left. Extend your left fingertips toward the ceiling. Breathe. If you're feeling saucy, bend your left leg and try to grab on to you left foot with the left hand to stretch the quadriceps. I recommend keeping your hand on the floor or block so you can gently return to the lunge. Switch feet, and do the same on the other side.

We, as humans, are generally way out of balance. Yoga is one way to try to equalize not just body strength and flexibility, but also to center your thoughts and feelings. I know that when my mind is a total disaster area of swirling thoughts my balance is always WAY off when I first get on the mat. But it gets better.

And if I fall down and someone laughs (you know who you are), what do I care? There are worse crises. Go forth, and center.

Suzanne Gannon is a yoga instructor in the Charleston area. Reach her at suzygannonyoga@yahoo.com.