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GamePigeon is an iMessage extension which features following games: 8-Ball Poker Sea Battle Anagrams Gomoku More games are coming very soon!

1. Spot the Pigeon is an extended play (EP) from the English progressive rock band Genesis, released in May 1977 on Charisma Records. Its three songs were originally written for the group's eighth studio album Wind & Wuthering (1976), but were not included in the final track selection.
2. Why can't we use machine translation? What can't you do? Why can't Tom come? Why can't he come?

Yoga handles stiff hips in a variety of ways, but most directly through a family of poses that are known loosely as “hip openers.” Some hip openers increase the external, or outward, rotation of the femur bone in the hip socket. Others lengthen the psoas muscle, a primary hip flexor connecting the torso and legs that gets chronically shortened in our chair-bound society. Pigeon Pose is an extremely effective hip opener that addresses both areas, with the front leg working in external rotation and the back leg in position to stretch the psoas.

Pigeon is actually a variation of the advanced pose, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose). The two poses share similar alignment in the hips and, more important, an imperative to be approached thoughtfully and consciously. Most practitioners recognize that One-Legged King Pigeon is an advanced backbend that requires precise alignment. Yet many of us are likely to thoughtlessly fold into the forward-bend variation of Pigeon, which can put a lot of stress on the knee and sacrum. To avoid injury, I approach Pigeon by first doing variations that will open the hips gradually and safely. Once your hips are open, you’ll be able to craft a well-balanced Pigeon that benefits your hips and lower back. If you practice it consistently, you’ll notice more ease in your lower half as you sit, walk, and stand.

Pose Benefits:

• Increases external range of motion of femur in hip socket
• Lengthens hip flexors
• Prepares body for backbends
• Prepares body for seated postures such as Padmasana (Lotus Pose)

Contraindications:

• Knee injury
• Sacroiliac issues

Why Can't I Use Game Pigeon Night

1. Thread the Needle

One of the best ways to open the hips and prepare for Pigeon is through a supine modification called Eye of the Needle (sometimes called Dead Pigeon). I teach this pose to first timers and practice it myself on a regular basis. As you move through this and the next variation, and then toward the final pose, make sure that you alternate sides so that your body can unfold evenly and progressively.

To begin, come onto your back with your knees bent and your thighs parallel and hip-distance apart. Next, cross your left ankle over your right thigh, making sure that your anklebone clears your thigh. Actively flex your front foot by pulling your toes back. When you do this, the center of your foot will line up with your kneecap rather than curving into a sickle shape, which can stress the ligaments of the ankle and the knee.

Maintaining this alignment, pull your right knee in toward your chest, thread your left arm through the triangle between your legs and clasp your hands around the back of your right leg. If you can hold in front of your shin without lifting your shoulders off the floor or rounding the upper back, do so; otherwise, keep your hands clasped around your hamstring or use a strap. The goal is to avoid creating tension in the neck and shoulders as you open the hips, so choose a position that keeps your upper body relaxed. As you draw your right leg in toward you (making sure to aim it toward your right shoulder and not the center of your chest), simultaneously press your left knee away from you. This combination of actions should provide ample sensation, but if you don’t feel much, try releasing your pubic bone down away from your navel toward the floor. This will bring a bit more curve into your lumbar and should deepen the hip stretch.

2. Boost Your Bird

This variation moves more in the direction of the final shape but uses blankets to help maintain alignment. Come onto all fours with your hands shoulder-distance apart and about a hand span in front of your shoulders. Bring your left knee forward and place it on the floor just behind and slightly to the left of your left wrist, with your shin on a diagonal and your left heel pointing toward your right frontal hipbone. Now bring your attention to your back leg: Your right quadriceps should squarely face the floor so that your leg is in a “neutral” position—you want to avoid the common pitfall of externally rotating the back leg. Establish this neutral leg by tucking your right toes under and straightening your right leg so that the thigh and knee come off the floor. Lift your right inner thigh up toward the ceiling and move your right frontal hipbone forward so that it is parallel to your left frontal hipbone. You want to have your hipbones square toward the front of the mat. As you roll your right hipbone forward, draw your left outer hip back and in toward the midline of your body. Its natural tendency will be to swing forward and out away from you.

When the hipbones are parallel in Pigeon, the sacrum is less likely to be torqued, and you can practice the pose without straining your low back. Maintaining this hip alignment, shimmy your right toes back slightly and then point them so that your right thigh releases to the floor. Move your left foot and shin toward the front of your mat, aiming for your shin to be parallel to the front edge, and flex your foot the way you did in Eye of the Needle to protect your knee.

Now observe your left outer hip. If, after you square your hips, the area where your thigh and buttock meet doesn’t rest on the floor, you need to add a blanket or two underneath. This is crucial to practicing the pose safely. If the outer hip doesn’t have support, the body will fall to the left, making the hips uneven and distorting the sacrum. Or, if the hips stay square but your left hip is free floating, you’ll put too much weight and pressure on the front knee. Neither scenario is good!

3. Get Even

Instead, use your arms for support as you organize your lower body. Adjust so that your hipbones are parallel to the wall you’re facing and your sacrum is even (meaning one side hasn’t dipped closer to the floor than the other) and place however many blankets are necessary to maintain this alignment beneath your left outer hip.

Place your hands in front of your left shin and use your arms to keep your torso upright. For the final version, keep moving your left foot forward, working to make your left shin parallel to the front edge of your mat. Make sure that in doing so you maintain the alignment in your hips and sacrum, continuing to use blankets if necessary. The left leg will be in external rotation, the right leg in neutral—each position giving access to a different type of hip opening. The right leg will stretch the psoas and other hip flexors, and the left side will get into the group of rotators in the buttocks and outer hip.

It’s common to experience intense sensations in the left hip as the femur rotates outward in the hip socket. (For many people, this is in the fleshy part of the buttock; for others, it’s along the inner thigh.) Some feel a stretch along the front of the right hip as the psoas lengthens. You do not, however, want to feel any sensations in your left knee. If you do, this variation is not for you! Return to Eye of the Needle, where you can safely open your hips without strain.

If your knee is sensation free (hooray!), extend your torso forward across your left shin, walking your arms out in front of you and releasing your forehead toward the floor. Fold forward only after you’ve spent time checking your alignment and paying attention to your body. Your left knee will be to the left of your torso (with the left thigh on a bit of a diagonal), and your flexed left foot will be just alongside the right side of your rib cage. As you fold forward, turn your attention inward. We tend to hold this version of Pigeon longer than more active postures, so see if part of your practice in this pose can be to stay mentally focused once you have settled in. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali defines practice as “effort toward steadiness.” In these extended, quieter holds, you get to explore this idea, tethering your sometimes scattered attention by following the breath as it moves in and out, finding stillness as you open and expand.

Natasha Rizopoulos lives and teaches yoga in Los Angeles and Boston.

Racing Pigeons. Exercising Patience with Training Young Birds.

Why Can't I Use Game Pigeon Play

I’ve been opening the loft the past few nights trying to get these 2012 Young Birds loft flying. I’ve started this year with about 62 Young Birds in the pigeon loft. As I’ve stated before, I really wish I had the new loft to a point where I could fly the birds from earlier in the year. Some of them should have been loft flying for a couple of months now. I was very fearful that many of these pigeons would be too strong on the wing and fly off.

I released the young birds for the first time last Saturday night. I simply opened the gates on the loft and let those who wanted to venture out on their own do so. I was pretty devastated when by the time it was dark, there were over 25 birds missing. There were a few who came back and trapped in on Sunday morning and when evening came I repeated the process.

Monday evening I was pleased when I counted the birds and had 60 young birds back in the loft. Once again I opened the loft and let out those birds who would come out on their own. Only about half of the pigeons came out time and very few took flight. They wanted to stand on the roof of the loft and the roof of my house. Calling the pigeons in to my whistle didn’t seem to work. They should have been hungry but they were enjoying being out. As darkness came, almost all of the birds trapped and I counted the birds at 55. Yesterday was Tuesday and I was pleased to find that I had 58 birds in the loft and another 3 which were out on top of the loft.

I am completely amazed that through all this, I have only lost one bird. Some of these young birds were banded back in January and now the end of May, I was finally able to let them out of the loft. I deserved to have fly-offs and losses of birds, I expected it. Not being able to complete the young bird section on my loft until just 4 days ago should have been disastrous. I am so pleased that just the opposite has happened. Luck? Who knows, I do feel lucky. I also feel that part of this was the fact the the loft was very open and the birds were flying up and down and perching on the roof trusses. This kept the birds in good condition and not just sitting around getting fat. The fact that they had an open view to the surroundings outside was also a plus. Good news is that I won’t have this same loft problems next year.

I considered a few options before letting these older young birds out of the loft including soaping wings and pulling flights. In the end I just decided that I should just let them do what they were bred to do and not force anything on them. I have been very patient with these birds while they are learning to loft fly. I have not pushed them out of the loft or scared them off the top of the loft to make them fly. I just open the loft and let them venture out when they are ready. I let them fly when they are ready.

Here’s an example video from last night several minutes after I opened the loft…

Young Bird Racing Pigeon Disaster?

There was an interesting thing that happened a little while after shooting this video. By this time many of the young birds had found there way to the roof of the loft. Some as in previous times out, were making a few laps around the area and coming back to land on the loft. The neighbor’s dog barked and this scared the majority of the birds off the top of the loft. They scattered everywhere and were flying in every direction. I had planned ahead enough to put my own dogs up so that they wouldn’t be able to catch and eat any unsuspecting and trusting young birds. What I hadn’t counted on is the dog next door mucking things up.

It was a sight to behold. Many of those birds flew out of sight. Some of them kept circling above and the interesting thing was the incredible altitude. They literally flew so high that the specks in the sky disappeared. I have only seen my birds at that kind of altitude one other time, and I assume they had been chased by a hawk. I lost birds that didn’t ever return that day. Once again these birds surprised me. By dark I had 50 birds back in the loft. There were 3 or 4 sitting on top of my house. Sometimes we’re lucky and sometimes pigeons are forgiving. Whatever it is… I’ll take it. I hate losing birds.

The main point I wanted to illustrate with this article is the importance of being patient with young birds and not forcing them out of the loft or off of the loft into flight. I feel it is of the utmost importance to let them decide to take these early flights on their own. As you can see from my experience, sometimes the outcome of this is not as we desire (neighbor’s dog). But we can try to control the situation to the best of our abilities. Put away the dogs, ask the kids to play in the front yard, watch for decent weather conditions etc…

Be Patient! Control the the variables you can, and good things will come.

-Rob

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