Author: Megan (Page 2 of 4)

This is the first step to mastering (the following) full back bend. Please only do it when you have thoroughly warmed up since the muscles can be damaged severely when doing such bends with cold muscles. 

How to: Kneel down and place one hand on your foot. Lift the arm parallely to the head. Look up and breath in firmly through the nose and out through the mouth. Since this is an intermediate Yoga pose don’t overdo it and start small with 1-2 breaths and then loosening the pose again. In the next step, you might want to try it out with the other arm.

I have come across this pose in my life Yoga classes, so no link that I provide you with this time.

This is an Asana on the intermediate Yoga level. It requires prior stretching or warming up. Please don’t do this pose if you haven’t warmed up thoroughly before and don’t feel confident enough. For me this exercise took a lot of practice before I was able in the slightest sense to master it. Since this is one of my current personal achievements, I was keen on sharing this one with you.

How to: When having thoroughly warmed up, get down on your knees and place one hand after the other on your feet. These are either upright for balance or if you are flexible enough they can lay completely on the floor. This makes the Asana more challenging. Lean your head backwards as much as it is comfortable for you. You might feel at the same time that you’re body pushes forward a little bit. It happens to me sometimes. Breath in firmly through the nose and out through the mouth. At the beginning, you might just be able to hold the pose for a breath or two. That’s completely normal. I, after having it done regularly for weeks now manage around 3 to 5 breaths. In this exercise your whole upper body, including hips and shoulders, will be activated. You might be feeling a slight tension on the front body.

Here it is important to listen to your body and not overdo the exercise since it consequently can cause severe damage. I have come across this exercise in my personal instructed sessions. So, no link this time.

In this Yoga pose you will stand with your feet a fair bit apart. Move down with one hand along the same sided leg and lift up the other arm to create a vertical line. Look up to the ceiling/ sky or whatever will await you looking upwards. Stay in this position for about 5-8 deep breaths (in through the nose and out through the mouth). If you concentrate on your breathing, you’ll find it easier to keep the balance, reach your foot and create the vertical line and there the Trikonasana.

Information retrieved from: Yoga-Welten.

No. This is not the real name of this Yoga pose. I am actually not 100% sure how it is called since my resource rather describes it as well. I named it “Angel of the North“ due to its similarity to the statue located in Newcastle, one of my many homes around this globe. Anyway, let’s get to the posture.

How to: The Asana looks quite easy. Tbh, it is. You stand firmly with the feet firmly on the ground and lift up the arms to align them at 180° horizontally. You take in three really deep breaths (in through the nose and out through the mouth), lower your arms towards your body again and repeat the movement for around 2 to 2.5 minutes. Focus on your breathing while doing this exercise. This Asana is good for the lower back.

Information retrieved from Liebscher-Bracht.

A nice and easy exercise to engage with the left and right part of your upper body is stretch to both sides

How to: Stand with your feet a good bit apart. Don’t overdo it though. Place your hands on the upper leg of the side you want to stretch to and slowly move down along your leg. Should you feel like you are losing the balance, you can keep the hand at a certain point of your leg. There is no necessity to reach your feet.  As indicated in the pictures above, I for example feel more comfortable and confident on the one side, but not on the other. Parallely, lift the other arm above your head and stretch it to the side for as much as its comfortable. One thing, that I personally like to do is to close my eyes and grab for a non-existing pole (if this makes sense somehow). I imagine pulling this pole towards me. Breath firmly in through your nose and out through your mouth. Here, it is quite nice to reflect on your body. How do I feel? Where is it tense? I recommend to start this exercise with 3 repetitions á 5-8 breaths.

Information retrieved from Liebscher-Bracht.

This is a simpler form of the exercise down below. In this exercise you have two options: doing one form after another or combining them as one.

Shall you be more of the type “One step after another” you start with either of the two poses indicated above. In the picture on the left you place your hands on the lower part of your back and lean in as much as it’s comfortable for you. You breath in firmly three times (in through your nose and out through your mouth) and get back in an upright, straight position. You repeat this movement for about 2 to 2.5 minutes. Then you go over to the next pose. Placing your hands on the front part of your thighs and leaning in forward in a comfortable position and for 3 breaths, get in the upright position and repeat for 2 to 2.5 minutes. In this exercise try to focus on your breathing.

Shall you be the “Let’s get it over and done with” type of person alter the two movements described above for about 2-4 minutes.

Information retrieved from Liebscher-Bracht.

 This is an exercise I do in between every single lecture. It’s quick and easy but very good after having sat in the same position for a long time.

How to do it: grab your fingers and open your shoulders to reactivate the upper part of your back. If you feel like it lean back a little bit to also work with the spine and lower part of the back. Important is to firmly stay on the ground. As always in  Yoga, breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. The deeper and more conscious the breath, the more you’ll be able to immerse into the Asana (Yoga pose). Try and think of something that evokes a positive feeling in you and engage with that thought through your breathing. Do 3 reps (repetitions) each lasting around 10-15 seconds.

Since I am a licensed Yoga instructor I feel the urge to always give the source I have retrieved the information from: https://www.redbull.com/at-de/die-besten-buero-uebungen-gegen-langes-sitzen