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Cole Youngner (he/him) - 200 HR Certified Yoga Teacher

@deepspirityoga

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Pose of the Day

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spent an hour on the mat with my dear one cole this morning via facetime. exploring groundedness & sidebody love, it was a beautiful & expansive practice. stretching me out in all the ways i needed most. direct, & explorative curing made space for me to find the practice i was looking for. no vinyasa, slow & intentional, a great way to start the day with a friend!

#yogaeverydamnday #homeflow #yogawithcats #yogawithfriends #sidebodylove by @deepspirityoga

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5 months ago

enjoyed a fabulous 75 minutes or so this morning online with my dear one, cole. it is such a wonderful thing to practice with other teachers… to be trusted as the guinea pig for new classes… not to mention it’s just plain fun to see & practice with friends, even if it’s online. little dharma talk at the beginning, a beautiful flow that both strengthens & lengthens, & a quick chat after. all in all, a lovely morning. also, please practice.

#yogaeverydamnday #yogawithcats #yogawithfriends #alwaysastudent #pleasepractice by @deepspirityoga

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7 months ago

had the honor of taking a class from my dear one, cole, this morning. so happy that tho he’s on the other side of the country, we can still find time & ways to practice together (even if i already feel sore!). being the student of a friend is always so fun… bouncing ideas off each other (check out the new shape for me!), playing with transitions, & inspiring new sequences is such a joy. thank you again my friend! looking forward to squeezing you soon, & i was happy to see your smile the the interwebs today!

#yogaeverydamnday #flowwithfriends #alwaysastudent #turning #yogawithcats by @deepspirityoga

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7 months ago

Grateful to continue guiding Friday Noon Hot Yoga at @atrium.pdx in SE Portland through the winter.

Come for some inspiration, perspiration, respiration, AND the connective word contained in all 3: spirit

AND perhaps stay for the Japanese psych and dub, shoegaze, dream pop, and ethereal metal tunes.

Grateful for the 📸 as always @swahilikeeleyphotography by @deepspirityoga

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10 months ago

my dear friend cole sent me a class he recently taught & i decided to give it try! lots of fun, with some challenging shapes (those same side balancing tigers are no joke, nor are the planks with tree legs!), & lots of giggles, i really enjoyed my time on my mat this morning! thank you for sharing, sweet friend, & thanks for pushing me outside of my usual practice! 💜 now if only i can figure out how to get him back to atlanta to do my upcoming 300 hour next year… 🤔

#yogaeverydamnday #homeflow #jadeyogamat #yogawithcats #yogawithfriends #practicetogether by @deepspirityoga

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10 months ago

POSE = SUGARCANE

SANSKRIT ~ ARDHA CHANDRA CHAPASANA

A more literal translation might be: Half Moon Bow Pose. Per teachers Douglas Brooks (who offered the name for this pose, it is not necessarily a traditional pose name) and Amy Ippoliti, the Chapa refers to the goddess Lalita’s bow which was made from a sugarcane stalk.

Goal is not to lift your top leg and hip as high as possible and bend so far sideways that your fingers or hand touch the ground. I would offer its finding the unity in a possibly disorienting shape that blends a sense of inversion, standing balancing, back bend, heart opening, and hip opening and extension.

AND amidst all this complexity, can you find focus or softness, holding multiple things at the same time.

One final tip per my teacher @darrenrhodesyoga is to keep right hand under shoulder as you back bend, which may involve moving it out slightly the more you back bend.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #yogaphilosophy #sugarcanepose by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE = HALF MOON

SANSKRIT ~ ARDHA CHANDRASANA

Standing balancing pose that is very expansive and exploration in length and space.

Goal is not lifted leg as high as possible or bottom hand touching floor. Instead, guides are: stability, stretch, and strength. Solid foundation for these = strong standing foot actively pressing down through left and right and all toe mounds + more weight into hand than you might expect so the standing leg isn’t doing all the work. The block helps you ground through bottom hand - also recommend turning your fingers of bottom hand out slightly about 30-45 degrees to broaden and stabilize bottom arm and shoulder which can help open and lift heart and chest and spine.

Other tenacious tendency I often notice is hand planted more inside foot and shorter than you might think to get hand directly under shoulder and thus shoulders stacked. This is a pose that can benefit from a practice partner or mirror to see where you tend to plant your bottom hand. I find a foot in front of your standing foot in line with outside edge of foot is a good starting point to calibrate from.

Resemblance shapes for sequencing: triangle, Supta or Utthita padhagusthasana 2, side plank with top leg lifted.

Looking down can be more doable for balance, looking out or up can be more challenging but assist with turning torso and stretching in all directions more.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #halfmoonpose #ardhachandrasana by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE OF THE DAY = DANCING YOGI

SANSKRIT ~ NATARAJASANA

Be in the spirit and sensation of the pose rather than the aesthetic, should, supposed to look like of the pose. Lots of ways to make this shape. Explore the variations to meet the practice so that it can meet you and best serve and work for you here and now. BKS Iyengar was a great teacher and student, and the Light on Yoga is a great guide, but your body does not have to resemble his in the light on yoga to make this shape. As my teacher @darrenrhodesyoga taught me, modifications are a must rather than making yoga into a problem, so meet your body where it’s at to let the practice meet you and your body in the moment.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #dancingyogi #dancerspose #portlandyoga taken in Portland, Oregon by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE OF THE DAY = EAGLE or SAGE GARUDA’s POSE

SANSKRIT ~ GARUDASANA

All credit to @unruined — Greg Tinkle for the cue: hug skin to muscle to bone. I love how that invites awareness to both INNER and OUTER body, which so aligns with the hugging in of this shape that helps you find balance.

Another Greg-ism for refinement. “Stability is within you and along your midline.” The hugging in of arms and legs here is an embodiment of finding center and stability. You can cultivate finding stability and strength within you through the practice.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #eaglepose #garudasana by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE OF THE DAY = ELEVATED PIGEON

SANSKRIT ~ UTTHITA HINDOLASANA

First note — in lifted leg, flex your foot and flare your toes, please! I forgot to mention this; it’s second nature to me from learning it that way. This will help engage back of leg, hamstrings, and muscles around knee joint and provide more stability for your knee in lifted leg.

To paraphrase my teachers and yoga & Sanskrit scholar Dr. Douglas Brooks “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”. Calibrate to your capacity with the options and then 70-80% in this pose. This one requires some warming up as well. Doing some seated or standing figure four shapes, hip and knee circles in table-top, plank, and downward dog at a minimum. Explore the more doable versions first. If teaching in a class, you could offer the seated version first and then add the standing option.

Yoga can also offer us a container for challenge, that while not entirely risk free, minimizes harm and injury, and holds space for us to intentionally challenge ourselves. Be it for growth, exploration, or inspiration for others. Elevated pigeon invites us to explore or challenge balance, our hips and pelvis, and playing with the push-pull of yoga where we gather strength in and face constriction, but use that to find expansion, which Dr. Brooks also offers as an interpretation of pranayama “boundary expansion”. As a Zen proverb says “the obstacle is the path”.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #yogaphilosophy #elevatedpigeon by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE OF THE DAY = TREE POSE 🌲🌳🎋

SANSKRIT ~ VRKSASANA

In yoga and meditation we develop balance, awareness, and returning to present by losing them or wandering off. Through the wobbles, falls, losing the foot, or mind wandering, do we get the chance to return to the shape, to presence, to what’s whole and home within us. Tree pose is a great opportunity to cultivate and explore these inner and outer journeys.

This is a bit long, but I wanted to offer what I feel are all of the core, foundational cues, we could probably dig into tree pose for 5-10 more minutes. Your hips may be a little unlevel or unsquared, but I want to emphasize the inner engagement, strength, and then length rather than perfect alignment (which doesn’t exist in my opinion).

I like to think of this shape as, standing foot and leg as the roots, length in the hips, core, torso, chest as the trunk, and arms as the budding branches. Without first gathering that strength in, there can be no extending out.

To paraphrase my teacher Darren and one of his favorite Frank Zappa quotes “Without deviation from the norm, there can be no progress… without a norm, there is nothing to deviate from”

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #treepose #vrksasana by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago

POSE OF THE DAY = UTTHITA EKA PADASANA

SANSKRIT ~ EXTENDED ONE FOOT POSE aka LEVITATING SAGE

When I was 25 I had a sports hernia, where I tore my groin and hip flexor muscles on left and right sides. It took about 4-6 months of PT to recover. My hips have needed strengthening ever since. I probably experienced the injury from some combination of genetics/body and chronic overuse, aka constantly dialing it up to 11 without stretching and strengthening groins, hips, and the muscles around them.

Today’s pose is a great shape to strengthen hips and especially hip flexors. It’s a challenge for me because my quads are also tight. Flexing your lifted foot in the pose or keeping top leg bent can take some of the effort out of the quad and move more of it to the hip flexor.

I have often seen this pose taught as part of medley or flow, and I suggest practicing it on its own, as a pose in and of itself. The muscles can fatigue quickly here if doing this pose after Utthita Pada Gusthasana or Bowing Sage. I would offer practicing this pose first in a sequence and then working in those poses. This can be a great activator for the core and hip area muscles that could then support engagement, strength, and stretch in other shapes that tend to be more difficult than doable.

#pleasepractice #yoga #poseoftheday #asana #hathayoga #yogaphilosophy #levitatingsage by @deepspirityoga

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a year ago