Siggy had been taking private yoga lessons from me for a couple of years, but when she came to my apartment on this day she had a problem. The issue was that she wanted to do yoga more often—specifically, on the weekends when she was at her country house. The previous weekend her husband had told her that she was being very crabby and he begged her to go into the other room and do some yoga. Even though he did not practice yoga himself, he had noticed that yoga made Siggy nicer to live with and she knew he was right. So she went into the other room, bent in half, took a few breaths in and out, then lifted her leg and put her foot up on the windowsill. Then she stood there and said to herself, “Now what the heck should I do?”
That was all the motivation I needed to start drawing yoga sequences for students to practice on their own. The only problem was that I didn’t really know how to draw. So I did my best, coming up with simple stick figures that worked well enough to communicate the shape and energy of each pose.
After these stick figures were turned into a couple of books—OM yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice and OM yoga Today—people often asked me if I made the stick figures because I wanted to show people that anyone can do yoga. That’s not why I started doing them but it’s one of the reasons I continued drawing yoga stick figures.
It’s pretty easy to feel intimidated by photos of goddess-like yoginis with one leg over their shoulder, doing postures that seem out of reach and out of the question for a normal person with an average body and modest yogic aspirations. These stick figures are meant to cut through any tendency to compare yourself to another person, especially if that person is a professional yoga expert/model.
So, here is a gift to you from me: A basic yoga practice that can be done by almost anyone of any size and shape and experience, including absolute yoga virgins. I hope it will help you connect to your body in a friendly way that is not about how you look but always about how you feel.
Directions for the OM yoga Warm-Up Sequence:
Take a comfortable cross-legged seat on a small cushion or folded blanket.
Inhale slowly for 4 counts.
Exhale slowly for 4 counts
Repeat this 3 times, always breathing in and out through your nose.
Begin the warm-up sequence by inhaling and alternate exhaling with each position.
1. Inhale, interlace your fingers and reach your palms up to the ceiling.
2. Exhale, bend your elbows, place your hands behind your head and look up, opening your chest.
3. Inhale, reach your palms back up to the ceiling.
4. Exhale, round your back as you press your palms forward, away from your chest.
5. Inhale, arms up next to your ears, fingers reaching to the ceiling.
6. Exhale, twist to the right.
7. Inhale, arms up to the ceiling.
8. Exhale, twist to the left.
9. Inhale, interlace your fingers behind you and lift your chest up to the sky.
10. Exhale, release your arms forward as you fold over your legs.
11. Inhale, round up through your spine, lean back, and balance on your sitting bones with your fingertips on the floor behind you (the seed of the John F. Kennedy Fitness Club pose!).
12. Exhale, sit tall with your hands in prayer in front of your chest.
Repeat three times.
