yoga poses

Yoga Poses for Beginners:

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.

1. Seated Yoga Poses – Grounding and calming, these poses provide some of our deepest muscle opening and twisting.

2. Standing Yoga Poses – Good for strength, balance and focus. These energetic poses provide a straight line to shaping our best body.

3. Arm Balances – These yoga poses are good for strength, body awareness and focus, providing some fun challenges for every body.

4. Backbends – Opening up in the spine and chest feels great and strengthens our connection to intuition.

5. Inversions – Good for balance and concentration, as well as circulation.

6. Core Poses – These poses will strengthen your core and get your abs beach ready!

7. Yoga Poses for Weight Loss – These poses will help you shed unwanted pounds!

8. Restorative Poses – These yoga poses are great for winding down and connecting to our breath.

9. Yoga Poses for Back Pain – Whether the origins are some acute injury or long-term stress, there are a few simple poses that can help with back pain.

10. Yoga Sequences & Moving (Videos) – How we move and breathe is much more important than the exact shape of our poses, for clearing our bodies and minds and creating our own best health.

Source: mind body green

The Health Benefits of Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose)

As you perform Bridge Pose, you will become more alert in both body and mind. This rejuvenating backbend will open your chest up and keep your spine flexible. While beginners can practice it safely, skilled practitioners can still experience its many benefits. Setu Bandhasana will also help to prepare you for more intense backbends.

This posture is relatively simple and quite exhilarating. If you find it difficult to hold the lift in your pelvis, slide a block or bolster beneath your sacrum and rest the pelvis on it for support. In contrast, if you are looking to deepen the stretch, lift your heels off the floor once in Bridge Pose and push your tailbone up towards the pubis. Once the tailbone is lifted, stretch the heels back to the floor.

Getting Into Bridge Pose:

Lie flat on your back with arms at your sides, palms down. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Keep your feet hip width apart, parallel to each other, and as close to the buttocks as possible. Simultaneously, press your upper arms and feet into the floor and begin lifting your hips towards the ceiling. Try to distribute your weight equally on the inside and outside of your feet.

Now, move your breastbone towards your chin, keeping your chin lifted only slightly as not to flatten the back of the neck. Firm your tailbone in towards the pubis and move your pubis slightly towards the belly. In order to keep the lower back extended, keep the knees over the ankles, perpendicular to the floor. Your buttocks should be firm, but not clasped.

Lift your hips as high as you are able without breaking position. If you are having trouble holding posture, you can clasp your hands behind your back and firm you arms into the floor, shoulder blades shifted down along the spine. Hold this pose for 5 to 15 breaths.
To come out of Bridge Pose, release on an exhalation, rolling your spine slowly down onto the floor.

Benefits of Bridge Pose:

  • Stretches the chest, neck, spine, and hips
  • Strengthens the back, buttocks, and hamstrings
  • Improves circulation of blood
  • Helps alleviate stress and mild depression
  • Calms the brain and central nervous system
  • Stimulates the lungs, thyroid glands, and abdominal organs
  • Improves digestion
  • Helps relieve symptoms of menopause
  • Reduces backache and headache
  • Reduces fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia
  • Rejuvenates tired legs
  • Relieves symptoms of asthma and high blood pressure
  • Therapeutic for hypertension, osteoporosis, and sinusitis

Source: CNY Healing arts