Salamba Bhujangasana is an excellent posture to practice for the spine health required to hold your seat. This posture strengthens and lengthens the spine, stretches the chest, abdomen, and shoulders, stimulates digestion and abdominal organs, and can strengthen the entire back body dependent upon engagement. Sphinx pose is an excellent pose to practice for better posture, to counter the tendency to hunch forward, and to prepare for deeper back bends.
Read MoreMeditation is the method of which Pantajali, the author of the yoga sutras, tells us is the vehicle to the goal of yoga: to reside in one’s own nature or svarupe vasthanam. Makarasana is especially aligned with this goal as its’ shape lends to the improvement of good posture and the alignment of the spine with emphasis placed on the breath.
Read MoreIn general Ananda Balasana stretches the outer hips, inner groins, hamstrings, glutes, chest, and shoulders. It helps to lengthen the spine and release tension in the low back as well as potentially strengthen the arms. The posture is primarily practiced to address the above stated, however it can also be a preparatory posture for crow pose (bakasana), squat (malasana), lizard (utthan pristhasana), and half squat pose (skandasana).
Read MoreThis posture primarily stretches the muscles of the lower back and hips as well as places pressure on the abdomen. This pressure results in a massaging of the digestive and reproductive organs and increases blood flow and circulation. Sometimes this pressure can also alleviate excess gas hence the name: wind relieving pose.
Read MoreThis posture primarily lengthens, relaxes, and re-aligns the spine as well as massages the abdominal organs. Twisting encourages the flow of blood to the digestive organs, aiding in the wellness of your entire digestive system. Other potential areas of benefit are the neck, chest, shoulders, hips, glutes, and IT band.
Read MoreThis posture has the potential to strengthen the entire back body, improve spine alignment & flexibility, open the heart & chest promoting lung function and circulation, stretch the belly & hip flexors aiding in digestion, menstrual & menopause symptoms, as well as increase energy levels.
Read MoreIn general Supta Baddha Konasana improves flexibility in the groin, the hips, the inner thighs, and the knees. It is a great posture for digestion and circulation and one of the few postures recommended after eating as well as for menstrual cramps and menopause. Similar to Savasana, Supta Baddha Konasana stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and physiologically speaking slows our heart rate, our breathing, and lowers our blood pressure.
Read MoreSavasana might be the most “known” yoga posture, one that is sometimes even equated with yoga itself. Yet, how much do we really “know” about it? Each posture has a Sanskrit name ending in asana. Asana means seat or posture. Sava or the first half of the Savasana means corpse. Another less known term for savasana is: mrtasana. Mrt means death. Savasana is a posture that represents a corpse and symbolizes death. The first written record of this posture dates all the way back to the 15th century in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Savasana is practiced in most practices, schools, and lineages of yoga for it introduces the importance of attaining the skill of stillness.
Read MoreImagine all of our universe as a massive piece of magical fabric. This fabric is prakriti, or all that has become manifest. This ever-changing, ever expanding, extraordinary piece of fabric is woven together with fiber and the fiber is of three colors. We can consider these fibers the gunas. The guna fiber of tamas is black, the guna fiber of rajas is red, and the guna fiber of sattva is white. Dependent upon the amount of fiber guna used is the color that you see or the guna that is dominant, yet all three are always present and always movin and groovin in the creation of this fabric or existence. The fabric, the fibers, and the weaving is neither good nor bad, it just is. And of course we have preferences of colors and patterns of which are also always moving and groovin right along with the journey of our lives. Today we consider in depth the white guna fiber or that of sattva.
Read MoreToday we will investigate rajas. The light side of rajas qualities are described as being: active, passionate, energetic, driven, determined, and dynamic. The dark side of rajas can be described as: selfish, greedy, egoic, restless, compulsive, never satisfied, and attached to outcome.
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