Paschimottana Asana (Seated Forward Bend Pose)

Paschimottan means fully stretched spine. In this asana, the back will be stretched completely to bend forward, so it is called Paschimottana. This asana plays an important role in reducing obesity and pot belly. By doing this asana, the spinal cord will become more flexible. For women, it corrects irregular menstruation and cures all the diseases relating to monthly periods

Yoga for pregnant woman

Pregnancy is a major life event in any women’s life. It transforms her physically, mentally, spiritually & socially. The nine months of pregnancy are accompanied by a roller coaster ride of hormones & emotions for a woman.

In addition, due to the accompanying changes in her body, she brings about many lifestyle changes at a personal & familial level. Yogasanas & Pranayamas prove to be beneficial for pregnant women as they help her cope with the mental & Physical transformation that pregnancy ensues. They also help a woman in preparation to endure the pain associated with childbirth. Some of the Yoga practices that can prove beneficial for pregnant women are as follows.

Yoga for pregnant woman

1. Sukhasana: Also known as the easy-sitting pose, Sukhasana entails sitting on the ground with legs stretched out followed by gradually folding & tucking the left leg inside the right thigh & the right leg inside the left thigh. Keeping the spine erect & hands in your lap, deep relaxing breaths can be taken to calm the mind. It is a comfortable pose and useful while performing pranayamas & meditation. It is also useful for meditators who due to stiffness in hips cannot sit in Padmasana.

How-To-Do-The-Sukhasana

2. Butterfly Pose (Ardha Titali Aasan &Poorna Titali Aasan): The butterfly is a very comfortable and useful pose for pregnancy. It prepares the woman for delivery.

Butterfly Pose

The Ardha titali Aasan or the half butterfly pose can be done by stretching out your feet in any sitting posture, slowly bending one of the feet & gently resting it on the other thigh. This is followed by gently raising the knee towards the chest and lowering it towards the floor to the lowest possible distance.

The Poorna titali Aasana or the full butterfly pose can be done by outstretching feet in a sitting position. Keeping the spine straight, bend the knees gently in a way that feet are togehter. Then, bring the soles of the feet together and join them. Comfortably, attempt to bring the soles close to the groin. Holding your feet with both hands, make sure that the knees are pointing at the opposite direction. Then, press the knees slowly towards the floor. you can comfortably continue your practice. Ensure that you are pressing your knees softly. Do not make any sudden and harsh movements. Touching the floor is not essential, ensure your safety & comfort at all times. Then, slowly press your knees up and repeat again.

3. Neck exercises: Neck exercises can help relieve the additional stress on the neck due to the increased body weight during pregnancy. To perform a neck stretch, sit up straight in a supportive chair. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, then gently tilt your head to one side and let it slowly drop toward your shoulder. Raise the shoulders to meet the head is not required. Holding for three to six seconds, switch sides. Repeat three or four times. Gently bring your head forward, letting the chin relax on the chest. Roll the cheek to the right toward the shoulder, without any force and hold for three to six seconds. Switch sides and repeat.

Neck exercise for pregnant woman

4. Ujjayi Breathing: Also called “the psychic breathing”, this Pranayamas practice is useful in increasing the length of your breathing . To breathe using Ujjayi, breathe in and out deeply through the nose.When you breathe in, contract your glottis muscles and there will be a hissing sound. As you breathe out, release the contracted glottis muscles.

Ujjayi breathing

5. Bhramari Pranayama: Practice of the Bhramari Pranayama during pregnancy strengthens the endocrine system and aids in childbirth. To perform Bhramari Pranayama during pregnancy, sit in the Sukhasana, close the eyes and breathe deeply. Next, close the ears lid or flaps with the thumbs. Place the index fingers on your eyes, middle fingers at the sides of your nostrils, ring fingers just above the upper lip and the little fingers just below the lower lip.

The inhalation and exhalation will be through the nose , concentrate the mind in the third eye area between your eyebrows. When you exhale, keep the mouth closed and breathe out through the nose while making a humming sound of honeybee. While performing this Pranayama, experience being connected to all the positive energies of the universe.

Bhramari Pranayama

The inhalation and exhalation will be through the nose , concentrate the mind in the third eye area between your eyebrows. When you exhale, keep the mouth closed and breathe out through the nose while making a humming sound of honeybee. While performing this Pranayama, experience being connected to all the positive energies of the universe.

6. Cat Pose: This pose helps relieve back pain during pregnancy. To perform it sit on your hips and place hands directly under the shoulders. While inhaling look up between the eyebrows, while gently raising the head. While exhaling, round the back bringing the chin towards the chest. Press the hands on the floor and push the centre of the back towards the ceiling enhancing the roundness of the back.

Cat Pose

7. Mountain Pose: The mountain pose helps to maintain the posture & in concentration during pregnancy. Stand with your feet hips distance apart on the ground (this can be assumed by placing the two fists between the feet). Place the feet so that the outer edges are parallel. Feel your feet support your body. Stand with the pelvis slightly tucked so that there is a slight engagement in your belly, and avoid sticking your bottoms out (thereby putting strain on your lower back).

Tadasana

Imagine the two shoulder blades reaching towards one another on the back, creating strength in your upper back as well as opening up the chest. Align the head by holding the chin parallel to the floor and slightly back to create one straight line moving from your back all the way up through your neck. Let the arms come down by the sides, palms facing inward, or reach your arms up to the sky (if it’s comfortable) for extra strength and power.

In addition, yogasanas & pranayamas like Trikonasana, Veerbhadrasana, Shavasana, YogNidra and Anuloma- Viloma can also be practiced during meditation. Yoga is a great way to balance the stress in the body & mind and help a woman cope with all the changes that pregnancy entails. The practice of Yoga also strengthens &prepares a woman for child birth.

In the end, I would like to advice, that always do yoga in the presence of a certified yoga instructor or first learn properly under the guidance of a competent teacher & then you can do it yourself as well.

Benefits of Supported Shoulder Stand

The Many Benefits of Supported Shoulder Stand:

The supported shoulder stand (Salamba Sarvangasana) is a type of a supported inversion yoga asana that benefits every part of the whole body right from the head till the toes. This is one asana that most of us practice frequently during our childhood & it is a huge contributor in keeping our energy & happiness levels up during that phase of our lives.

To practice it, lie down on the floor with your arms on the floor, palms down and bend your knees towards you. Flip off your legs overhead so that the back is off the floor. The shoulders remain on the floor and you use them to balance your entire body. Make sure that your shoulder blades are tucked in underneath you and that your elbows are close together. This can be done by interlacing the fingers underneath you and pulling the shoulders and elbow together. Simultaneously, bend your arms at the elbow and bring them in to support your back, with your fingers facing up towards the ceiling. Use your pelvic floor muscles to help support your neck and back.

Beginners can come into half shoulder stand by placing your knees on the forehead. For the complete pose extend the legs up towards the sky, while supporting the back. Eventually, the body should be at a 90-degree angle to the floor with the balls of your feet pointing towards the ceiling. Hold for at least 20 breaths, breathing in and out through your nose.

To release the supported shoulder stand, extend the legs back over your head and roll out of it slowly and gradually. Once the whole spine is flat on the floor, you can release the feet back down to the ground.

The Salamba Sarvangasana inverts the body and consequently facilitates blood flow to the upper part of the body. This way it improves brain function and perception. It also helps reduce anxiety & depression. It also infuses the abdominal region with freshly oxygenated blood. This greatly benefits the digestive & urogenital organ systems. Increased blood flow in the lungs rejuvenates them & improves their function and this helps alleviate the symptoms of and eventually heal respiratory tract ailments.

The heart expends a considerable amount of energy pumping oxygenated blood and sending it to the leg areas. This supported inversion pose relieves the heart of this strenuous activity for the duration of the pose & consistent practice of this Yogasana strengthens the heart muscles.

This yoga asana also helps see life in a completely new light as it turns everything in this physical body to its head.

It also helps relieve the symptoms of menopause. It is useful in reducing fatigue and alleviating insomnia. It is a therapeutic yoga asana for asthma, infertility, and sinusitis.

However, certain conditions dissuade the practice of this Yogasana. These include Diarrhea, Headache, High blood pressure, Menstruation, Neck injury. If you are an experienced practitioner of this pose, it can be performed during pregnancy. However, as a beginner, do not initiate the practice of this Asana after you become pregnant.

How to Turn your Stress from 100 to 0 by Practicing these Five Simple Yoga Poses!

The value of this sequence of relaxation poses cannot be overemphasized,they must be done in advance than and after the yoga session and at any time when the body turns into worn-out. The asanas in this group seem very easy and handy in the beginning, but to do them correctly is a little complicated because the anxiety in all the muscle companies of the frame must be consciously released. The muscles usually seem to be absolutely comfortable but, tightness nonetheless remains. Even throughout sleep, relaxation is elusive. The asanas of this group provide the body the relaxation it so longly wishes. Consistent postural abnormalities put extra stress on the muscle tissues of the back which hardly get hold of correct relaxation within the traditional supine role.

The stress of any kind is not good for the body and Yoga is the only form of art which heals the body not only at the physical level but digs deeper to the cellular as well as emotional level, which is essential for holistic healing.

Let’s get that stress out by simple practicing of the below-mentioned asanas :

1) Savasana : I have mentioned about this magical asana in my earlier posts as well, Savasana ,unwinds the entire psycho-physiological framework. It is advised to practice it before rest; before amid and after asana rehearse, especially after element works out, for example, surya namaskara; and when you feel physically drained. It creates body mindfulness. At the point when the body is totally casual, the consciousness of the mind expands, creating pratyahara. It is also called as corpse pose , one just needs to lie down in corpse position and let your mind enter the state of meditation by simply focusing on the breathing. Unwind the entire body and stop all physical development. End up being mindful of the characteristic breath and permit it to end up cadenced and loose.

2) Advasana : This is a very simple asana but requires a lot of focus to not let the mind wander,lie on the stomach. Extend both arms over the head with the palms facing downward The brow is supposed to lay on the floor. Unwind the entire body in an indistinguishable path like savasana. On the off chance that there is trouble breathing or a feeling of suffocation is encountered, a pad might be set under the mid-section. Relax in a common and cadenced manner. The quantity of breaths might be included as savasana while tenderly pushing the guts against the floor.

Advasana is highly recommended for people with slipped disc or stiff neck

3) Jyestikasana : Lie level on the stomach with the legs straight and the brow laying on the floor. Interlock the fingers and place the palms on the back of the head then again neck. Permit the elbows to lay on the floor. Unwind the entire body and get to be mindful of the breathing procedure as depicted for savasana. Breathe Naturally and rhythmically. Feel the mitigating warmth of the palms liquefying without end the pressures in the neck and related ranges.

This asana is useful for every single spinal dissension particularly cervical spondylitis and hardened neck or upper back.

4) Makarasana : It is also called as (crocodile posture) Lie level on the stomach. Raise the head and shoulders and rest the button in the palms of the hands with the elbows on the floor. Keep the elbows together for a more professed curve to the spine. Isolate the elbows marginally to assuage abundance weight on bite the dust neck. In makarasana the impact is felt at two focuses: the neck and the lower back. On the off chance that the elbows are too far in front, pressure will be felt in the neck; on the off chance that they are attracted excessively near the midsection, strain will be felt more in the bring down back. Alter the position of the elbows so that these two focuses are similarly adjusted. The perfect position is the point at which the entire spine is similarly casual.

This asana is exceptionally compelling for individuals experiencing slipped plate, sciatica, or some other spinal issue. They should stay in this asana for augmented time frames as it empowers the vertebral section to resume its ordinary shape and discharges pressure of the spinal nerves. Asthmatics and individuals who have some other lung afflictions should practice this straightforward asana routinely with breath mindfulness as it permits more air to enter the lungs.

5) Matsya Kridasana : Lie on the stomach with the fingers interlocked under the head. Twist the left leg sideways and convey the left knee near the ribs. The right leg should stay straight. Swivel the arms to one side and rest the left elbow on the left knee. Rest the right half of the head on the law breaker of the right arm, or somewhat assist down the arm for more solace. Unwind in the last stance and, after a few time, change sides. This position takes after a fluttering fish. This asana empowers digestive peristalsis by extending the digestion systems and evacuates obstruction. It diminishes sciatic torment by unwinding the nerves in the legs. Individuals with spinal pain, for whom the act of forward twisting asanas as is most certainly not prescribed, may rehearse matsya kridasana as a counterpose after in reverse twisting asanas. In the later months of pregnancy, lying on the back may bring about weight over major veins and piece the course. In such conditions, this stance is perfect for unwinding, dozing or honing yoga nidra. The bowed knee and the head might be upheld on a pad for advance solace. This asana additionally redistributes overabundance weight around the waistline.

Hasta Utthanasana

Hasta utthanasana is the second and the 11th step of the sun salutation series of asanas.

Position: Raise and extend both arms over the head. Keep the arms isolated, bear width separated. Twist the head, arms and upper trunk in reverse.

Breathing: Inhale while raising the arms.

Mindfulness: Physical – on the extend of the belly and development of the lungs.
Spiritual – on vishuddhi chakra.

Mantra (Optional): Om Ravaye Namaha, greetings to the sparkling one.

Benefits: This pose extends all the stomach organs and enhances digestion. It helps in toning the arm and shoulder muscles, conditions the spinal nerves, opens the lungs and expels overabundance weight. It extends and conditions the muscles of the guts. It grows the mid-section and the rib confine bringing about a full admission of oxygen. It helps in using the lung limit to its full capacity.