Learning Yoga – Week Four

Hello everyone, welcome back to my yoga journey!

I had so much fun working on The Headstand (Sirshasana) pose last week and found working on my balance very gratifying – so I will still be focusing on my balance this week but instead of working on The Headstand pose, I will be practicing The Crow (Kakasana) pose. 

Physical Benefits: 

-Strengthens arms, wrists, and shoulders. 

-Increases flexibility.

-Expands the chest and increases breathing capacity.

-Revitalizes the nerves and muscles of the hands, the wrists, and forearms. 

Mental Benefits:

-Demands a high level of concentration.

-Nourishes awareness.

-Creates a feeling of inner balance and prepares the mind to meditate. 

Instructions:

1. Come into a squatting position with the feet flat on the floor and the arms between the knees. 
2. Place the palms flat on the floor with the fingers spread out and directly below the shoulders. 
3. Bend the elbows to rest the knees on the upper arm. Rise onto your toes.
4. Practice focusing the eyes on one point in front. Gradually shift the weight forward onto the hands. 
5. Shift the balance entirely onto the hands and practice lifting one leg. Breathe deeply and slowly lift both feet off the floor. 

Common Problems: 

• Head is dropped forward.
• Hands are in wrong position

I downloaded iMovie on my phone to document my progress this week. I instantly began reminiscing about my childhood when I would spend HOURS making/editing videos.  

I decided to record the video in my backyard, which was a good idea until my dogs saw a squirrel and wanted to say hi…(aka bark very loudly). I thought I was going to have to completely redo the video but instead I was able to mute certain parts of it! I found it very helpful and efficient to be able to adjust the speed on the clips too. The original clip of my yoga video was 40 minutes long and the edited version I posted on YouTube was only 3 minutes long.. and they both have the same amount of knowledge! I always found videos frustrating and time consuming because I would make a mistake and completely restart from the beginning, but the beauty about using I-Movie is that you can cut out any embarrassing parts you don’t like without having to completely retake the video! I really enjoy using iMovie because it‘s a free video editing app and is very simple to use.

Here is the link to my video: https://youtu.be/ym6473vNHqQ

Using iMovie in the classroom is a great way to promote engagement and culture collaboration among all students. Students can create book reports or digital story telling by forming a presentation that includes photos, text, and sound. This can improve their verbal fluency and communication skills. iMovie is also a great tool to use in the classroom for creating tutorials and guides for students. Teachers can create a how-to video with instructions by uploading the video into the classroom blog where students can access the video at any time. This is a great way to help students who were unable to attend class or wanting to practice at home.