I am watching construction of a house by one man - it’s not a huge house; probably 1200-1500 sq. ft. It began with preparation of the land it is situated on, then came concrete pillars for the foundation.

Soon, steel beams created framework for floor, walls and roofline.

Pipes began to be installed to house plumbing and electrical (I think).

Today, the first wood appeared on the floor.

I drive by this house at least 4 times a week and each day there is a new feature to observe.

Today, as I drove past, I reflected on how I teach yoga. In particular, how I break down poses. Friday, it was chaturanga dandasana (CD) - the position between our plank and cobra or up dog poses (see pic below).

I broke the pose down for students, including how to get in and out of it, using the following steps:

1. From down dog, move to a knee-down or knee-up plank.

2. In this plank, push the floor away and use your legs (VERY important).

3. Draw your chest forward as you continue pushing the floor away and lower into the shape shown below.

4. Elbows and shoulders will be in line with one another (my shoulders are a little high in the pic), and the drawing forward will line hands up under your upper chest / armpit area. (This, by the way, is chaturanga dandasana - a pose by itself, albeit a transition pose.)

5. Now is the moment to move to your cobra or up dog pose, as you continue to draw the heart forward.

6. Once complete with your cobra or up dog, you can return to down dog by moving through table, or lifting your body in one sweeping action back to down dog.

As I demo’d the movement to this group of students, I also demo’d leaving out #3 above. What happened?

a) My hands ended up under my shoulders which left me little strength to move into cobra or up dog, and

b) My shoulders ended up scrunched alongside my ears.

Contrast is a great teaching tool and one that reminded me why we do #3 - drawing the heart forward BEFORE lowering — it is ergonomically more efficient for our body, in particular our arms in support of the remaining movements.

Not quite building a house but that’s it — that’s the reason I love teaching Yoga Basics and Aligned Yoga. I teach AND I learn.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the women of importance in your life, be they Mothers or not.