Heard on Your Mat

Ever feel like your CorePower Yoga teachers or omies are speaking a different language? Let us break down some common sayings for you. 

Open Your Heart

When you’d hear it: When your teacher is cueing a backbend.

How you might hear it: “Mountain Pose with cactus arms, open your heart towards the ceiling.”

What it means: Lift your chest up and forward as you move your shoulders back and down. 

Ujjayi

When you’d hear it: When your teacher guides your breathing.

How you might hear it: “Activate your ujjayi breath.” 

What it means: Audibly inhaling and exhaling through your nose with the muscles at the back of your throat slightly constricted. 

Ground Down 

When you’d hear it: When your teacher wants you to settle in and find stability in a pose.  

How you might hear it: “Ground down through your feet.”

What it means: To find support and stability from the floor or your mat beneath you by evenly distributing weight across the part of your body that is connected to the ground. 

Soften

When you’d hear it: When your teacher wants you to consciously relax a part of our body.

How you might hear it: “Soften your shoulders away from your ears.” 

What it means: Relax your muscles in order to release tension from an area of the body. 

Square Hips

When you’d hear it: As a reminder from your teacher to keep proper alignment in your lower body in a pose. 

How you might hear it: “Square your hips to the front of the room.”

What it means: Keep the left and right sides of your pelvis even - front to back and up and down. 

Be on the lookout for more posts like this! Ready to hit your mat with your new knowledge? Find your closest CorePower studio.