Yoga Poses

Yoga Pose Of The Day: Cow Pose

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English Name: Cow Pose

Sanskrit Name: Bitilasana

Yoga Level: 1

Benefits: Stretches the front torso and neck and provides a gentle massage to the stomach and spine.

How to do it: Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Remember, you previously started Cat Pose this way. Again, make sure your knees are set directly below your hips and your wrists, elbows and shoulders are in line and perpendicular to the floor. Relax your head and look at the floor.

Ready? Okay, as you inhale, lift your sitting bones and chest towards the ceiling, allow your belly to sink toward the floor. Lift your head to look straight forward. Smile. Cow pose is great for opening up the chest and releasing all of the tension that might be there. Okay, now exhale. Come back to the neutral, tabletop position on your hands and knees. Repeat this ten to twenty times, you can do it!

This pose is often paired with Cat Pose (the previous yoga pose of the day).

Yoga Pose Of The Day: Cat Pose

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English Name: Cat Pose

Sanskrit Name: Marjaryasana

Yoga Level: 1

Benefits: Stretches the back of torso and neck, provides a gentle massage to the stomach and spine.

How to do it: Start on your hands and knees, relax your neck. This is called tabletop position. It’s important that your knees are set directly below your hips and your elbows, wrists and shoulders are in line and perpendicular to the floor. Relax your head and look down.

Take a moment to feel the earth beneath you, make sure you feel sturdy and then exhale. Round your spine towards the ceiling, make sure you keep your shoulders and knees in the same position. Release your head toward the floor, but be careful not to force your chin to your chest. Once you have done this, you then take a deep breath in, coming back to the neutral tabletop position.

Ideally you hold the pose for ten seconds, but do whatever you are comfortable with. Once you have succeeded with this pose you can pair it with cow pose (this will be the pose of the day tomorrow). When you pair cat pose with cow  pose you can create a gentle and flowling vinyasa.Yoga Vocabularly: Vinyasa – movement between poses in yoga, typically accompanied by regulated breathing.

Yoga Pose Of The Day: Boat Pose

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English Name: Boat Pose

Sanskrit Name: Paripurna Navasana

Yoga Level: 1

Benefits: Strengthens the abdomen, hip flexors and spine,
stimulates the kidneys, thyroid and prostate glands and intenstines,
helps relieve stress and improves digestion.

How to do it: Start by sitting on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing toward the feet, make sure you have nice strong arms. Don’t curve your back, keep it nice and straight. Exhale deeply and bend your knees. Lift them up, make sure that your thighs are at a 45 degree angle from the floor, lengthen your tailbone. If you can, slowly straighten your knees. Raise the tips of our toes slightly above the level of your eyes.

Do what feels comfortable for you. If you can only do it with your knees bent then that’s perfectly fine. Next, stretch your arms out, parallel to your legs. Spread your shoulder blades across your back and reach out through your fingers. If you find this difficult then keep your hands on the floor beside your hips and hold onto the back of your thighs. Try to keep the lower belly relatively flat. Breathe easy.

Press the heads of the thigh bones toward the floor to help anchor the pose and lift the top of the sternum. There you have it. Boat pose. Stay in the pose for about ten to twenty seconds. Gradually increase the time that you stay in the pose and you will get stronger and better at it in time. When you are ready to leave the pose,  release your legs with an exhalation and inhale as you sit upright.