Deepen your practice by focusing on one particular pose per daily for an entire month to explore. By the completion of each month, you will find a new "depth" for that pose both physically and mentally. The poses selected are difficult, so progress as needed. Utilize the videos for further guidance. Be sure to follow the pose of the month on FACEBOOK as well, to share with others your triumphs and tribulations throughout the experience.
January - Triangle Pose - Trikonasana
Triangle pose is known as Trikonasana in Sanskrit—tri meaning three and kona meaning corner. Triangle is a therapeutic pose that provides many benefits including strengthening of the core and legs. Done properly and consistently, there are many benefits to triangle pose:
- Stretches legs, muscles around the knee, ankle joints, hips, groin muscles, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, chest and spine
- Strengthens legs, knees, ankles, abdominals, obliques and back
- Stimulates function of abdominal organs
- Improves digestion and constipation
- Helps to alleviate back pain and symptoms of menopause
- Used therapeutically for anxiety, infertility, neck pain and sciatica
February - Shoulderstand - Salamba Sarvangasana
Shoulderstand is one of the most beneficial asanas in all of Hatha yoga. In Sanskrit, Shoulderstand is Salamba Sarvangasana, literally, whole-body support. It puts your whole spine into a unique and invigorating stretch. Perhaps the most accessible of all inverted yoga postures, Shoulderstand provides the benefits of inversion to those who are not yet prepared for Headstand, Handstand and the like. For an amazing enumeration of these benefits I will refer you to the Hatha yoga classic Light on Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar (pp.212-213). Some of these benefits include: strengthening of the muscles all along your spine, as well as your abdominals, improved whole-body awareness and control, improved circulation, greater strength and flexibility through your shoulder region and a wonderful sense of relaxation. For all of these reasons and more, Shoulderstand is a traditional ending to a daily yoga routine.
Coming out of the pose, it is strongly recommended to practice a counter-pose to Shoulderstand's deep forward bend in the neck. Fish Pose is perhaps the most traditional counter-pose, and an amazing asana on its own. ~ Juli Rathke
March - Chair Pose - Utkatasana
OOT-kah-TAHS-anna)
utkata = powerful, fierce
Do any variations you like, change it up doing one leg at a time. Find stillness in the midst of chaos. Do this 
every day for the month of March to strengthen your legs, glutes, to find center, to increase circulation, to find stillness. Try it at the market, in the lift line, or at work to challenge you further.
Step by Step
Stand in Tadasana. Inhale and raise your arms perpendicular to the floor. Either keep the arms parallel, palms facing inward, or join the palms.
Exhale and bend your knees, trying to take the thighs as nearly parallel to the floor as possible. The knees will project out over the feet, and the torso will lean slightly forward over the thighs until the front torso forms approximately a right angle with the tops of the thighs. Keep the inner thighs parallel to each other and press the heads of the thigh bones down toward the heels.
Firm your shoulder blades against the back. Take your tailbone down toward the floor and in toward your pubis to keep the lower back long.
Stay for 1-3 minutes. To come out of this pose straighten your knees with an inhalation, lifting strongly through the arms. Exhale and release your arms to your sides into Tadasana.
April - 1-Legged King Pigeon Pose - Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
The full pose, which is suitable for intermediate students, will be described in the Full Pose section below. First we'll practice the leg position only, which should be accessible to most experienced beginners.
(aa-KAH pah-DAH rah-JAH-cop-poh-TAHS-anna)
eka = one
pada = foot or leg
raja = king
kapota = pigeon or dove
Step by Step
Begin on all fours, with your knees directly below your hips, and your hands slightly ahead of your shoulders. Slide your right knee forward to the back of your right wrist; at the same time angle your right shin under your torso and bring your right foot to the front of your left knee. The outside of your right shin will now rest on the floor. Slowly slide your left leg back, straightening the knee and descending the front of the thigh to the floor. Lower the outside of your right buttock to the floor. Position the right heel just in front of the left hip.
The right knee can angle slightly to the right, outside the line of the hip. Look back at your left leg. It should extend straight out of the hip (and not be angled off to the left), and rotated slightly inwardly, so its midline presses against the floor. Exhale and lay your torso down on the inner right thigh for a few breaths. Stretch your arms forward.
Then slide your hands back toward the front shin and push your fingertips firmly to the floor. Lift your torso away from the thigh. Lengthen the lower back by pressing your tailbone down and forward; at the same time, and lift your pubis toward the navel. Roll your left hip point toward the right heel, and lengthen the left front groin.
If you can maintain the upright position of your pelvis without the support of your hands on the floor, bring your hands to the top rim of your pelvis. Push heavily down. Against this pressure, lift the lower rim of your rib cage. The back ribs should lift a little faster than the front. Without shortening the back of your neck, drop your head back. To lift your chest, push the top of your sternum (at the manubrium) straight up toward the ceiling.
Stay in this position for a minute. Then, with your hands back on the floor, carefully slide the left knee forward, then exhale and lift up and back into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose). Take a few breaths, drop the knees to all-fours.