Mysore Yoga Strap: Soaring to Great Heights

Fasten Your Seatbelts For a Wild Ride

Mysore Yoga Strap: Soaring to Great Heights

Meghan Loggia who demonstrates this next sequence is not your average yoga teacher. She is also a trapeeze artist and trained aerialist. There is little wonder that she can do things I will never be able to do and it would be unsafe for me and quite possibly you to attempt. This material is for your entertainment and information only. Some poses are easier than others. Always know your limits and be careful.
     That said, Meghan does some things that are beautiful to look at and great exercise. Please enjoy this visual seminar in Advanced Mysore Yoga Strap Flying. Familiarity with the material on these pages will enhance your experience on this page. Basic Mysore Yoga Strap Moves and Intermediate Mysore Yoga Strap Flight Plans

Mysore Yoga Strap: The Goddess of Flight Welcomes You!
Yes she greets you and like any goddess worth the name she teases and taunts you with impossible goals. It took me days to figure out how she managed to get into this posture and now that I know how I'm still too timid to try it. Hail to the goddess may she forever soar.

MysoreYogaStrapGoddessPose
MysoreYogaStrapBabyGoddessNamastePose

Mysore Yoga Strap: Namaste Pose

This pose is sort of advanced intermediate. Once you are very comfortable on the strap you may want to attempt it. There are two or three tricks that help. 1) Put the tops of your feet into the strap, not your toes. 2) Pull your upper body through the strap carefully. Too fast or far and you will tip forward and that could get ugly quick. 3) Once safely through feel the exquisite balance as your feet, thighs and arms lock you into place. 4) Don't forget to smile. Namaste.

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Power Crunch

In the Suspended Power Crunch, once you've figured out the balance of the strap behind your calves, reached to just below your knees and curled up, you get to the hard part. Having enough fortitude left to come down slooowly. And you better take it easy since your head will be the first thing to suffer if you don't!

MysoreYogaStrapPowerCrunch

MysoreYogaStrapForwardBendWithOneLegUp

Mysore Yoga Strap: Forward Bend with One Leg Up

One way to do this pose is to start with a regular Backward Hang or Forward Hang . Once you are comfortably hanging entwine what will be your upper leg in the strap as firmly as you can, then bring your other leg through the strap and down by your face. If this sounds too complicated or scary you are not ready for this pose.

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Head to Knee Pose

This is another advanced intermediate pose. From a regular Forward Hang reach one leg up and entwine it in the strap, then reach the other leg down toward your face and pull it in. There is a high degree of safety since both legs are on the opposite side of the strap from your body. Still, entwining the upper leg takes some getting used to and great flexibility is need to make this pose look as lovely as Meghan does. For those that do get here the benefit is a fully floated forward bend with no annoying gravity on the leg or back ;--)

MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedHeadToLegPose

MysoreYogaStrapFlyingBoat

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Boat Pose

It is sometimes challenging to find equilibrium when your pelvis or waist is resting on the strap. That balance and the fact that raising your feet sends your head down is what this pose is about. The trick is to find enough balance to reach back and hold the strap with your hands before raising the legs and head.

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended T Position

This is a grea pose for developing arm and shoulder strength and flexiblity. It is advanced not because it is hard to get into nor dangerous to do but try holding it for more than a couple of seconds. Are you still smiling? If so you may be ready for the next pose!

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MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedBridgePose

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Bridge Pose

Strength, flexibility and endurance are all required to reach back and grab your feet from the supported T position to create this Suspended Bridge. I hope you are still smiling. If not go back and start over. ;--)

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Inverted Bow Pose

This is another advanced intermediate pose. Once you are doing a Forward Hang you are practically in this pose. Your legs are already on the outside of the strap. You just have to bend them a bit and then let your hands leave the safety of the floor to reach up to the feet, while your face is inches from the rug. Your attention needs to focus on your waist and thighs to make sure the strap is firmly in place. If you have any doubt this is for you, it is not.

MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedInvertedBowPose

MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedInvertedSplit

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Inverted Split

Do not try this without your hands in place. It is our old friend Backward Hang with one leg coming forward and the back leg dropping. This makes the strap less firmly attached. Holding the strap in place helps.

Do Not Try This At Home - For Experts ONLY!!!

Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Inverted Flying Split Pose

I looked away for a minute and the next thing I knew Meghan was upside down with no strap support at all except the grip of her two strong hands. Yikes. Hail to Meghan, Goddess of the Strap.

MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedInvertedFlyingSplitPose

Mysore Yoga Strap: Unimagined Uses Await You

Between the webpage on the Yoga Life Style site, the intermediate pose blog and this advanced pose blog I've shared over 2 dozen ways to employ the Mysore Yoga Strap. On our Facebook Page there are albums with even more. Always remember, it is not how you use it but how you feel when you do it that matters. I'll let Meghan sum it up as only she can.

MysoreYogaStrapFunNamaste
For basic flight and purchase information.

Mysore Yoga Strap Intermediate Flight Plans

Once You Feel the Wind Under Your Wings You May Want to Try These Poses

Mysore Yoga Strap: Intermediate Flight Plans
Meghan Loggia, yoga teacher at the Living Seed in New Paltz, NY, aerialist and radiology student, shows us some ways to use the Mysore Yoga Strap that will help you to experience these poses as never before. For this blog to make complete sense familiarity with the material on this webpage helps.
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Mysore Yoga Strap: Backward Hang with Legs Extended
Like a bird leaving the nest for the first time the pose above does not go far from the standard backward hang. Simply spread your legs to let this flight begin. Stretching the big muscles in the legs and buttox while tractioning the spine is an awesome combination for lower back health!
MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedPigeonPose Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Pigeon Pose
What a pleasure to stretch the thighs, hips and psoas without the pressure of gravity. You can really choose the degree of stretch and not have to work so hard ;--) Again starting with a standard backward hang simply let one leg drop back and reach for it with your hands. If you can only reach the foot with one hand that is OK too! This is a beautiful pose as you emulate a proud peacock who is happy to be flying upside down.
Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Scorpion Pose
Starting from a forward hang reach down and walk the hands forward. Be careful not to push up too much with your hands or you may start to slip out of the strap. Of course you are in a position where you can gently glide down if that does happen. This is a wonderful pose for working on your backward bend and your upper body strength at the same time.
MysoreYogaStrapSupportedScorpion
MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedFullForwardBend Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Full Forward Bend
Starting from a forward hang with the strap set higher than it would be for scorpion, reach down and grasp the legs. You will find it is a completely different stretch than when there is gravity on the legs as in the standing version or weight on the buttox as in the seated verstion. Full Forward Bend Suspended floats in a way this normally very grounded pose has always wanted to.
Mysore Yoga Strap: Angled Rotation Flight Simulation
One of the things I most like to do on the Mysore Yoga Strap is to lean my weight into it and let it support me, close my eyes and just glide around. It really feels like flying and is exhilirating and soothing at the same time. Many of the poses can be enhanced by rotating as you do them. I'm not sure why but that soaring feeling is sweet and spinning is just plain fun.
MysoreYogaStrapAngledRotationFlight
MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedTriangle Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Triangle Pose
It is sometimes challenging to find equilibrium with one limb supported by the strap. It adds a whole new dimension to balance poses. Another variation from this position is to bring the hand by the foot up to the strap on the side opposite the first raised hand. Now the hips and torso are squarely forward. Here you can work on your split while being able to adjust your weight going into the stretch by how much or how little you pull up on the strap.
Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Chataranaga
Flying Crocodile was never like this before. One way to get into it is to slide through from a Forward Hang. Another is to do a jump back into the strap. The higher the strap the more the challenge!
MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedPushUp
MysoreYogaStrapSupportedShoulderstand Mysore Yoga Strap: Supported Shoulderstand Pose
In Supported Shoulderstand the Mysore Yoga Strap takes some of the weight off your shoulders. It also lets you work on your Angled Shoulderstand with less weight on your arms. This angle is also easier on the neck than traditional Shoulderstand. Get into it by doing a Shoulderstand and leaning the legs in or by doing a Back Hang and oozing down the floor before forming your Shoulderstand.
Mysore Yoga Strap: Suspended Relaxation Pose
What could be better after an hour of working out on the strap than to bend your knees and land for a few minutes while gaining many of the benefits of inversion that include iIncreased blood flow to the heart and brain, reduced pressure in the legs and feet, immune boost from stimulating the lymphatic system and the mental stimulation that comes from the world being upside down.
MysoreYogaStrapSuspendedRelaxationPose
Mysore Yoga Strap: Suggestions For More Advanced Poses
What bored already? Just kidding. You don't really have to be yawning to be excited to see the road ahead. I was with Meghan the whole time she was on the strap but there are poses in this next set that I can't even remember how she got into them, much less can I explain them. It is lots of show and very little tell. I call it. Mysore Yoga Strap: Soaring to Great Heights
For basic instruction and purchase information please go to the Mysore Yoga Strap page at Yoga Life Style.