Frog pose is an inspired pool yoga pose, and maybe one you’re inspired to do because it’s hot outside… or reminded about an aqua blue Olympic size pool… or pool blue and frog green strokes…
Where the frog stroke is one you can do in the cool pool water without exerting much energy (unlike the crawl or breast strokes). 🏊🏻♀️
But in frog pose strokes you are getting exercise like in water polo that look effortless on the water surface, but OH MY! is a workout.
…I remember when I was younger, I was invited to play water polo for fun and was wondering why the net wasn’t on the shallow end.
Then I quickly learned that half the sport is done under the water, keeping the body afloat while trying to score points… it’s not a leisure sport.🏐
You need your team athletic mojo and active frog legs.
And if you want to keep it easy on yourself and score yoga points today… you can do the active solo frog pose on dry land on your mat.
It’s one you could have discovered in a Hatha yoga class along with the classic frog yoga pose where your legs and arms are laying on the mat in traditional frog layout.
It’s also one pose that resembles the name and you won’t mistaken for another identity. 🐸
We all know what a frog looks like.
As amphibians, like us primates, frogs have a backbone.
Amphibians in human form would look more like Spider Man ♥️💙climbing up a building. 🕸️
But frogs have been around way longer than modern super heroes.
They were named creatures that plagued our nations back in Biblical times.
And as part of our sustainable environment, frogs help to clean up our food chain. Frogs eat pesky insects so we can stay anti-annoyed, helping us keep our Pitta cool and calm. 😌
And in gratitude, doing a yoga frog pose helps you get a good stretch up your mid-back.
Most of us can use a good daily reminder to take care of our backs that will long-term take care of us.
You’ll know if you need a dose more of healthy back stretching if you feel tension in the pose.
You can easily start off in a Downward Dog or a Dolphin pose.
Then lift arms or keep arms lifted off the floor, so that palms are flat on the floor. Check your fingers. Usually one or a few are not flat unbeknownst to you. 😉
…Sometimes we don’t know what our body parts (like our right or left hand) are doing, but when we use our eyes 👀 they’re off doing their own thing.
🌟 That’s a metaphor for aligning ourselves in our mind and body that are part of us.
Next bend your knees slightly and let the soles of your feet lift off the mat so only the toes and palms of hands are on the mat.
Your knees are bent and can be as high as somewhere between your palm and elbow height, to whatever feels good to you… because yoga is about feeling good in the stretch!
When you’re in that proper swimming frog pose form, move your bent knees in toward each other and then swim or move them out away from each other (without lifting your planted palms and toes off the mat). Do that a few times.
That’s active or swimming frog pose.
You can do this anywhere without getting wet… or breaking a sweat!
🌟Transitioning from wet to dry is a metaphor for changing seasons of life. And specifically, your leap changing seasons.
We go from summer to fall, even if the weather hasn’t changed, so we can feel off because of our internal Ayurvedic balance signals… where our bodies are feeling one way and our minds are in another place.
But often we roll with the punches and move along, adjusting as needed. Sometimes that’s what we need for our healthy growth and sometimes that can drain us and cause stress.
Most of us know what it’s like to go from relaxing seasons where nothing is happening… to EVERYTHING is happening all at once, like starting a new dynamic job or going full-throttle back to school. 🤹
…Once it starts, it’s a whirlwind until the end of the season.
The art of living in balance as I know it, is going in and out of these two opposing seasons with ease and peace.
…I remember the days in my over 2-decade long corporate work when I wished that I could take summer holiday vacation time off, and when event planning was counting down the days until the winter holiday event season ended. You may have a similar grind.
And when those work seasons ended, I got all my time back. It was all or nothing with no balance in between.
Work life balance was what you made it… and 40 hours a week was the best there was in that world. But your head was still spinning full of the busy go-go-go work theme, even on the night and weekends with an emphasis on work busy.
While in those corporate work seasons, I couldn’t see that start-and-stop seasons were good and helpful.
I was looking for a type of work-life-balance that didn’t exist. 🤔
But over time and wisdom gained, I could see that Life was actually doing me a favor…
Work heavy one season and life focus in another season IS Life balance.
When looking back, there’s a blend of both that’s all the past…
Both slow and fast paced seasons are useful and where growth is.
In the slow season, you can get clear headspace, catch your breath, and catch up on needed sleep. 💤
You recharge and reflect back to find what breakthroughs you’ve made on your journey and experiences.
And slow seasons are where you discover what growth you’ve made, lessons learned, and want to keep growing and pivoting.
And the hard charging, fast seasons with busy schedules is where you’re productive, gaining skills, and experiences that’ll be useful for the next leg of your future journey or next transitions.
💡Transitions are simply next steps… and nothing more or less.
Looking back.. I still remember picking out a first-day-of-school outfit. Funny because no one remembers what you wore and even the outfit you wore on school photo day that’s captured on camera.
…None of that ends up mattering as you get further away in time, even though at that time it feels like the most important thing in the world (in mindfulness).
And for my breakthrough, it was these accumulated small nostalgic memories and feelings that served as metaphors for this day and moment as fleeting… here today, gone tomorrow.
So don’t worry about what happens so much… and try not to worry at all (as worry is a time suck, and it sucks as a past time, yes?)❗️
Replace worry with trusting the future using your past as proof that all things do pass. And replace worry for bold living.
You can wisely pause and ask yourself: what did I do boldly today? Remember that old adage: life is not a dress rehearsal.
Life is about today, so no need to be crushed if your plans don’t work out because they will be the past soon enough.
You’ll transition into the next step that turns into your better step.
I know this in my life because most (…and maybe 99%) of my half-baked plans never panned out the way I thought or hoped.
…And I’m thankful for that.
🧡…Because that taught me that the hidden gem is in the process of what you’re doing and who you’re growing into that’ll create your life of meaning and purpose.
Meaning and purpose is the dream that’s not easy to describe or manifest quickly, but are the highest worth pursuits… and you’ll know inside when you’re on the right track.
Because you’ll feel good inside for starters.
And that’s all that’s needed to keep you balanced and growing… and that’s how life is healthy productive, happy, and meaningful.
It’s usually not the life you thought you wanted in your 30s, because everything changes and wanes in excitement, and the biggest change is: you change.
So frog leap forward in your day and life (with frog pose as a metaphor)
Make your today transition steps about:
…making myself better than yesterday
…improving older habits
…keeping healthy patterns even with schedule changes
…loving myself
…finding joy
…making new healthy supportive friends
…And staying true to what I know I can do and be. And trusting what I’m doing, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it (among the endless number of other options I could be doing).
Maybe that’s where you are.
And if so, while you’re there, keep going and growing with where you’re at.
In my daily wheelhouse where I’m at, an anti-inflammatory healthy food list is a helpful must and maybe for you too in your busy growing season. 😎
