Jaime Flowers is one of 12 students sharing their yoga experiences in honor of Evergreen Yoga’s 12th birthday. I hope these stories energize you to keep growing, trying new things, and watching what happens.

Happy reading!

Jaime Flowers

Q&A with Jaime:

How long have you been doing yoga?
Since 2003

How long have you been coming to Evergreen?
Since 2009 or 2010

Why did you start yoga?
For self care in a non-aggressive fashion

What is your favorite pose?
Viparita Kirani variations right now. Favorite poses change from year to year.

What else would you like to share about yourself?
I’m 42. I’m a pharmacist. I enjoy attending ballet performances, international travel and attending music concerts with my husband, Tim.

I’m married to Tim Flowers and we have pug and a pug mix, Nicolas and Zoe.

Jaime and I had a great afternoon taking pictures and talking yoga!
She regularly attends the Saturday morning Level 2 class, where we work on inversions.

Here, she practices Ropes Sirsasana. The ropes make it possible to invert without bearing weight on the upper body, and can release the neck and back. There are many of the benefits of the other inversions in this ropes version.

Jaime’s standing pose below, Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon) demands focus and concentration in order to balance. She demonstrates this pose at the wall, even though she can do it well in the center of the room. The wall enables her to work a little harder on the actions in the pose that create stability.

When she focuses on strength in the standing leg and extension of the top leg, her focus becomes fixed on the strength of feet and legs so she gets to work on something other trying not to fall down! The top arm acts like a polestar to bring a sense of direction, buoyancy and lightness in this standing pose.

Here is a restorative version of Supta Virasana.

Using supports like bolsters, etc. helps bring a sense of quiet and stillness in many poses. This pose can also be done in a more active way with fewer props. It stretches the front thighs and pelvis to prepare for backbends like the one below.

It’s an antidote to sitting all day. With regular practice, the pose brings flexibility to the feet and the ankles, and can be invaluable for runners, cyclists as well “sitters.”

Supta Virasana is a good warm-up for other poses — like backbends. Working on poses in a sequence, you can build pose-by-pose up to a “final” pose toward the end of your sequence that day.

Resting version of Supta Virasana (Reclining Hero Pose)

Jaime’s backbends keep improving — and as you can see her Ustrasana (below) is beautiful!

Ustrasana (Camel Pose)

For inspiration, take a look at the other 4 student profiles and view even more photos on Leah’s Blog here