Tamar Samir: Yoga

Many students ask about a yoga sequence to practice daily, at home or while traveling. Especially this month, when Jivamukti Yoga’s focus of the month is on establishing a daily asana practice.

The “Magic 10″ is a short asana sequence designed by Sharon Gannon, co-founder of the Jivamukti Yoga method. She recommends it as a way to cultivate a daily yoga practice and keep the spine supple. It only takes 10-15 minutes. You can read an interview with Sharon speaking about the “Magic 10″ here.

Here’s the “Magic 10″ sequence, with explanations and options for modification:
1. Downward dog—10 breaths
2. Standing forward bend—10 breaths
3. Squat—10 breaths (feet and knees wide apart and parallel, hands in prayer)
4. Teepee twist—5 breaths each side (seated on floor with knees bent, feet on floor, twist right for 5 breaths, then twist left for 5 breaths)
5. Seated spinal twist—5 breaths each side (similar to teepee twist, just with legs crossed, twist right first, then left, see picture here).
6. Table top—10 breaths
7. Handstand—25 breaths (practice against wall, hop up with straight leg, bent standing leg pushes off floor OR L shaped handstand at wall)
8. Standing posture alignment—5 breaths (stand in tadasana, clasp hands in a fist behind back and lift clasped hands away from body, as high as possible, let neck and chin relax)
9. Standing side bends—1 breath each side 4X (reach arms overhead in fist, bend to the right stretching out side body, then bend to the left)
10. Standing spinal roll—16 breaths (from standing in tadasana, roll down to a forward bend, 1 vertebrae at a time and then roll up to stand one vertebrae at a time)

This sequence is designed to keep your spine healthy and flexible. You can do it as a warm up and then add some sun salutations and other poses, or just do it as a stand alone practice.