Naomi combines playful, powerful movement practices with the science of habit change to make it easier for busy moms to get moving every day. She frequently writes about the intersection of mom life, feminism, diet culture, and the unrealistic standards we hold ourselves to as women. Naomi is passionate about helping moms move more freely in their bodies and feel more at home in their skin.
Movement Snacks: My number one tip for vasisthasana
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Hey Reader, I have a very quick tip for you today. It has to do with vasisthasana, also sometimes known as side plank. Not sure what pose I'm talking about? It happens to be the exact pose illustrated in the image at the top of this email. Vasisthasana is one of my favorite poses. It's sometimes considered an arm balance, since you are balancing on one arm. And often, I hear folks complain about shoulder pain as a result on balancing on that one arm. The cool thing is that for many of those people, there is a relatively easy solution. This leads me to my Movement Snack this week. Movement Snack this week: The biggest contributor to shoulder and wrist pain in vasisthasana is how you get into it. And some of that comes from vasi's other name, side plank. Fun fact: Vasisthasana is named after a sage named Vasistha, not a plank. And yet, the westernization of this pose has us thinking it's related to plank pose. But it's not. Instead, vasisthasana is more connected to downdog -- in the angle of shoulders to wrists, as well as hip elevation. Because of this, it's a lot easier on your body to transition into vasisthasana from down dog than plank pose. I show you how and why in this quick, 3 minute video: Vasisthasana happens to be the pose of the month for May in my online studio, MOVE with Naomi. All month long, we'll focus on shoulder stability, core support, inner thigh squeeze, and big side body energy. If you want to spend a little more time with this pose, there are a few ways for you to join in: You can join MOVE and do live practices with me M-Th. These practices are 30 and 15 minutes long, depending on the day. I do strength training plus a little yoga on Mondays (30 min), a short, energizing flow on Tuesdays (15 min), a longer more complex flow on Wednesdays (30 min), and a shorter, mellow practice on Thursday (15 min). You'll also have access to my monthly pre-recorded 15 minutes classes, a calendar of daily movement practices guiding you through the month, and access to my entire online archive. You can join MOVE15 and do 2 live classes with me during the week (T/TH), as well as having access to those 15 minute pre-recorded classes, and my online archive of 8 minute flows and 15 minute classes. You can do drop-in classes with me on Wednesdays. These are a pay-what-you-can and you can join whenever your schedule allows. In order to access these drop-ins, you need to get on the list here -- I send a reminder email every Tuesday giving you a chance to sign up for class the following day. See you on the mat, soon! Question of the week: What are you reading right now? I look forward to hearing about what you're reading and hopefully seeing you on the mat soon, too! Warmly, Naomi Want to stay in touch during the week? Here are a 2 easy ways: Follow me on Bluesky, where I share daily movement practices as acts of resistance, connection, and strength. Follow me on substack, where I write about the intersection of movement, motherhood, and the culture that we are all moving through. Or better yet, subscribe so you have immediate access to regular essays, including my most recent substack which is my monthly What Moved Me offering in which I share about the books I've read, the music I've listened to, and other things that I've enjoyed or found interesting in the past month. One more quick writing note: I recently published a piece about the importance of strength training for women over 40. This is something that several women have told me they were completely unaware of. Many women even thought they were supposed to avoid heavy weights and strength training in favor or calcium and other supplements. If you'd like to read this article, you can find it here on the Fit Bottomed Girls platform. |
Naomi Gottlieb-Miller
Naomi combines playful, powerful movement practices with the science of habit change to make it easier for busy moms to get moving every day. She frequently writes about the intersection of mom life, feminism, diet culture, and the unrealistic standards we hold ourselves to as women. Naomi is passionate about helping moms move more freely in their bodies and feel more at home in their skin.
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