Helpful yoga poses?

[Meli]

Does anyone have any suggestions for yoga poses that they find particularly helpful for skating purposes?

[Loops]

Warrior 1 and 2 (my mantra is IJS sit IJS sit), the chair pose (same reason).  Tree, Warrior 3, and 1/2 moon for balance (think spiral).  The frog for opening of hips....and several others I can't remember the names of that are basically hamstring and quad stretches.  The more I think about it, the more poses I think of that are great for skating.....if you can get into a class you'll be a happy camper it's all about flexibility and strength.  Not to mention the meditative aspect of it.  All highly relevant to our world.

ETA: I have the book "light on yoga" by BKS Iyengar. It's useful and probably worthwhile getting if you're serious about yoga. But nothing replaces an actual teacher correcting your poses.....

[dlbritton]

Warrior 1 and 2 (my mantra is IJS sit IJS sit), the chair pose (same reason).  Tree, Warrior 3, and 1/2 moon for balance (think spiral). 

When I was taking chair yoga classes as part of my rehab, I commented how the Warrior poses resembled a spiral on skates. However when I demonstrated a spiral pose the instructor said it is bad on the hips to raise your foot above your hip and that none of the yoga poses to that. However, my physical therapist said it is fine to raise the foot above the hip as long as it doesn't hurt.

Anyone have opinions or feedback regarding spirals and hip/back issues?

[Loops]

When I was taking chair yoga classes as part of my rehab, I commented how the Warrior poses resembled a spiral on skates. However when I demonstrated a spiral pose the instructor said it is bad on the hips to raise your foot above your hip and that none of the yoga poses to that.

I don't know if it's bad or not to raise the foot over the hip, but it's true that few yoga poses do that (scorpion is an exception). I still like the warrior 1/2 moon for balance though. In particular I have a terrible time with the 1/2 moon. I fall over constantly....Given that you're supposed to keep the foot level in all those poses I have to really pay attention to my leg placement...the added awareness is a good thing.

[FigureSpins]

Anyone have opinions or feedback regarding spirals and hip/back issues?

This isn't really yoga, because I don't like Yoga.  I do stretch, though.

What not to do: sharp, uncontrolled leg lifts behind their heel, usually hard and fast.  They can strain the lower back muscles something awful.  The "plop your ankle on the wall" stretching is also useless for spirals if the skater can't extend and lift behind; they typically open their hip to the side and half-roll into the front-to-back split position later.

When stretching, hold each position for 30-40 seconds.  I have my skaters sing the ABC song or use music.

Squats (start with wall squats)
Spiral extensions (use a sturdy chair or counter/barre at first)
Butterflies
Planks, Side Planks (add leg lifts at 45° angle later)
Bridges (especially with ankle crossed over leg - works the hip flexors)

[Ethereal Ice]

In addition to those mentioned I like pigeon position for low back stretch, opening the hips and you can add a twist to pigeon to also improve the flexibility in that direction. Triangle is nice for gentle twisting as well (can you tell I have upper back flexibility problems? King dancer is also good for balance , hip and quad stretch.

[nicklaszlo]

Child pose helped me a lot with the painful spasms I had in the muscles of my back.  I am unsure if that had anything to do with skating, though.

[Doubletoe]

Doing several repetitions of downward dog--cobra--child's pose (in that order) right before and after skating has really helped loosen up my lower back, hamstrings and psoas muscles.  You don't know how much you rely on your psoas until they start tightening up!

[Neverdull44]

Downward dog for stretching alot of my back of leg skating muscles, achilles tendon, and plantar fascitis.  Upward cobra for strengthening my back and really stretching out those lower leg/ankle muscles.   Camel for laybacks and spirals.  Happy baby when my back is sore from layback spins & catch foot spins.

I just got the DVD, "Power Yoga for Every Body" and I love it.  It's an old standard, and has many different yoga routines, varying time lengths, difficulty levels, and time of day.