Strengthen Your Lower Back By Sharon Tanenbaum By toning the muscles in your back, you can relieve and prevent pain. The Routine If the phrase “Oh, my aching back” is part of your vernacular, you’re not alone. Back pain is the second most common neurological ailment in adults (only headaches top it). Yoga Poses for Beginners: How-to, Tips, Benefits, Images, Videos The Yoga Poses for Beginners library serves as a comprehensive intro guide to the most popular yoga poses and sequences. Becoming familiar with and learning these poses should get you through a class in any of the types of yoga styles. Please keep in mind, these are just some of the most common poses to look at (and not necessarily practice). Seated Yoga Poses - Grounding and calming, these poses provide some of our deepest muscle opening and twisting. Standing Yoga Poses - Good for strength, balance and focus. Arm Balances - These yoga poses are good for strength, body awareness and focus, providing some fun challenges for every body. Backbends - Opening up in the spine and chest feels great and strengthens our connection to intuition. Inversions - Good for balance and concentration, as well as circulation. Core Poses - These poses will strengthen your core and get your abs beach ready! Yoga Poses for Weight Loss - These poses will help you shed unwanted pounds!
12 Great Reasons To Start Alternate Nostril Breathing “I rest well. I sleep peacefully, and I awaken with joy” Louise Hay Your nose is exceptionally clever. Another interesting fact about your nostrils, is that you don’t breathe through them equally all the time. Left nostril for calming – right nostril for energy: Your nose is directly linked to your brain and nervous system. Breathing in through your left nostril will access the right “feeling” hemisphere of your brain, and breathing in through your right nostril, will access the left “thinking” hemisphere of your brain. Yogic breathing, the perfect relaxation tool: I happen to believe alternate nostril breathing is up there, as one of the most therapeutic calming rituals. 12 benefits of alternate nostril breathing: 1: Revitalizes you: A few rounds of alternate nostril breathing is a quick pick me up if you are feeling flat, tired or even stressed. 2: Improves brain function: When you mind is dull – concentration and clarity is poor. 3: Cleanses your lungs: 4: Calms an agitated mind: Caution:
Yoga Routines Yoga invites you to connect with your breath as you move through a variety of poses. This inner connection calms your mind, relaxes your body, improves your mood, increases flexibility, builds strength and reduces stress. As you practice, keep the sides of your mouth slightly lifted in a smile for an instant uplift. Settle into your practice by sitting in easy pose, with your legs comfortably crossed. Gently close your eyes and become aware of your inhalations and exhalations. Notice any areas of tension in your body and focus on taking full breaths and relaxing. To warm up your spine, come onto your hands and knees and practice cat/cow pose. Exhale and come up into downward-facing dog, focusing on the stability and support of your hands and feet to stretch your arms, legs and torso. After plank pose, exhale and lower down to your mat. Walk your feet toward your hands and, as you inhale, lengthen your spine forward. Sit with your legs straight in front of you, slightly apart.
10 Yoga Poses to Fight Depression and Anxiety The mind, body and spirit are all connected and when a person suffers from mild depression or anxiety, the body is out of balance. Yoga is a series of stretches that helps bring balance to the body; not just focusing on the body’s health, but also on the mind and spirit. Always consult a physician or counsellor if you are having ongoing feelings of depression or anxiety and before trying any new exercise program. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. & 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Slowly wake up the body, wiggling the toes and fingers. Focusing on breathing and practicing yoga poses can calm momentary anxiety and depression by giving the mind a peaceful focus and re-energizing the body. More Yoga Poses for Weight Loss How to Meditate - Guided Meditation Techniques - Buddhist Meditations
7 Kundalini Yoga Postures to Clear the Chakras “Men of great knowledge actually found out about the chakras – their workings, their petals, their sounds, their infinity, their co-relationship, their powers. They found that the life of a human is totally based on these chakras. They developed into a whole science. The human body is a complex system encompassing vast energy systems that are not immediately perceptible with our limited eyes. Asana,or postures, are positions of the body used to activate and direct energy to open both a physical and an energetic position in the body. 1) First Chakra, the Root Chakra (Muladhara): Foundations, fear, survival Asana: Crow Pose 2) Second Chakra, the Sacral Chakra (Svadisthana): Creation, desire, relationships Asana: Frog Pose Keep the heels together and the fingers on the ground. 3) Third Chakra, the Solar Plexus (Manipura): Will, action Asana: Stretch Pose Lift the head and the feet six inches off the ground. 4) Fourth Chakra, the Heart Chakra (Anahata): Love Asana: Camel Pose Asana: Cobra Pose