New Year Yoga: Asana Flow for Core Balance with Dominika Kojro
It's not always easy getting back into exercise after the excess of the festive period. So we've brought you a short asana flow video to work the core and heat the body, and get you moving again....
- Get down on your hands and knees – placing the hands directly under the shoulders / knees under the hips.
- Lift the knees a few centimeters above the mat and with control move back and forth - watch out for the hips and shoulders to be stable.
- Stop in the starting position and raise your right hand and left leg, feeling the energy pulling to the opposite directions - change sides.
- Get down to your knees and rest your glutes on your heels: child’s pose.
- Move your hips up to create an upside-down V shape: downward facing dog.
- Smoothly flow the spine in to upward facing dog, come back and forth few times to feel the waves of energy cascading through your body.
- Go to the plank pose - activate the abdomen, slightly cat the back to feel the strength from the core and gently touch the left arm with a right palm. Change the side and make sure the hips are in line.
- Begin to walk on the forearms and climb up.
- Go to Malasana and open the ribcage to one side and the other.
- Sit and go to Navasana boat pose. Hold a strong core, with your sit bones on the mat, spring the legs up, try one at the time, then maybe try both. Make sure that your spine is not collapsing - even if you have to bend your knees.
- Go down into low boat - keeping your legs active and off the floor. Take a deep inhale and exhale back to Navasana.
- Repeat this action one more time and then close the flow resting in child's pose.
About Dominika Kojro - Warsaw, Poland
Dominika Kojro is an actress who, seeking the balance and quietness in life, began her journey on the mat in 2010, with Iyengar Yoga. Having previously certified as a pilates trainer, she very quickly fell in love with Ashtanga, which took her at the feet of world’s most respected teachers of the method, including Manju Jois, Lino Miele, and Kino MacGregor.
Dominika continues to act and dives into her creative projects with passion, but Yoga itself – which was only meant to serve as support system in the busy lifestyle – became a whole new way of living.
Yoga is freedom, she says. And that freedom-seeking has recently taken Dominika into surfing. “Surfing gives yogis an external experience of yoga. And yoga gives surfers a leg up when they’re on the board ” – a quote she came across feels like the perfect summary of her experiences. Inspired by the freedom found in the waters, she began to teach Yoga for Surfers, and actively collaborates with a surfing camp in Portugal.
She feels the need to travel and does it often, finding bliss in the beloved wilderness of Asia. Staying close to nature connects her back to that sweet balance of life, and the beautiful Polish region of Warmia, where she comes from, serves as her favourite escape. Even a day in the presence of trees and lakes can recharge her batteries and create more space. More space means more freedom.
Recently she fell in love in fucional training and animal flow. She’s mixing those forms with yoga to give her students the best fusion:)
You can practice with Dominika in Warsaw at the Stan Skupienia, Yogabeat studio and Joga Studio Saska Kepa. Catch her before she wanders off again, she’s already packing the bags!
Video by Andraé Love