How to Wash Your Yoga Mat

By Donna Raskin

If your mat is lightly soiled, use a spray bottle, damp sponge, or terry cloth rag to apply a solution of two cups of water and four drops of dish soap. Rub the soiled areas. Wipe the mat with clean water; then rub with a dry terry cloth towel. Hang to air dry.

If your mat is heavily soiled, submerge it in a solution of warm water and mild detergent; use very little soap as any residue may cause the mat to become slippery during future use. Thoroughly hand wash the mat and rinse in clean water. After squeezing out the excess water, lay the mat on a dry towel and roll the mat and towel together. Stepping on the rolled up mat will squeeze more moisture out of the mat and into the towel. Then unroll and hang to air dry.

The Purposes of Yoga

By Douglas Brooks

lthough the ancient yoga masters taught that we must integrate minds and hearts and be able to give a full account of our thoughts and feelings, we might ask ourselves if this requirement is still relevant to our practice. Our answer depends on what we think yoga is for, what purpose it serves in our lives. Do we practice yoga primarily for physical exercise? Or do we practice yoga for more spiritual reasons? The ancients created the paths of yoga because they believed these were the best ways, indeed the only ways, to realize our full human potential. No one makes this any clearer than Patanjali, the second-century author of the Yoga Sutra.

Patanjali states that yoga has two distinct purposes or goals. In Chapter II, verse 2 of the Yoga Sutra, he states that yoga's "purpose or goal is to cultivate the experience of equanimity [samadhi]" and "to unravel the causes of negativity." Patanjali tells us, in effect, that yoga will help us figure out and eradicate the reasons why we suffer, even as it leads us to feel the deepest of human experiences.

Because Patanjali describes yoga's two distinct projects-cultivating true equanimity and unraveling the causes of negativities-he suggests that yoga creates two different but yet connected results. A practice that leads to deeper equanimity empowers us to bring our joy to others as well as to ourselves. In this way, we become free to act for a higher purpose. (At the same time, we need to uncover the causes of negative experiences so that we learn to avoid them and thus to become more free from the sources of negativity.)

Becoming more free to live with ourselves confers on us a greater sense of empowerment and joy. Our actions become more meaningful because we know their true purpose. "Freedom to" gives perspective and depth, the feeling that what we do does matter. The world's everyday indignities bother us less, and from our more grounded experience we naturally act more decisively and compassionately. In a complementary way, as we unravel or attenuate the causes of negative experiences, we will feel free from them because we understand more deeply how our experience has evolved. To give a simple example, we learn from experience that touching a hot stove will cause a painful burn, and so thus we learn from understanding the cause how to avoid the effect. "Freedom from" gives us a clear sense of the relationship between past experience and what we might expect in the future. Yogis strive to become free to live life from true equanimity and free from the causes we know will bring us suffering. Our experience of freedom is not "irrational" or anti-rational but rather is rooted in more deeply understanding our relationships: with others, the world, nature, and ourselves. Over time, what is logically true becomes experientially true for us, and each type of experience complements the other.

Yoga and pilates - similarities and differences

by fitnesshealthzone.com

Both yoga and Pilates have distinctive approaches to fitness and can provide significant benefits for the strengthening and conditioning of the body.

Yoga was developed five thousand years ago in northern India. Yoga was practiced and refined by Vedic priests, who documented the practice in their writings.

Yoga approach to exercise and conditioning focus on overall health. From its Hindu philosophical origins, yoga practice involves body, mind and spirit, and encourages you to seek balance in the way you live your life.

Yoga is the best time tested path to physical and mental well-being known to mankind. While some of them think that yoga is simply a physical exercise, it is actually a complete system for overall health and well-being. It includes personal hygiene, healthy diet, premeditation, physical postures, breathing and relaxation techniques.

Yoga asanas effectively stretch and strengthen your body. The benefits of yoga asanas come from the internal systems of the body. By stretching, twisting, flexing and bending in various postures, the oxygenated blood flows through the internal organs of the body.

Yoga asanas tone and soothe your nerves and regulate the endocrine system, which is responsible for the production of hormones. Yoga also improves your digestion and elimination, tone the reproductive organs and strengthen the respiratory system.

Yoga has produced a multitude of varieties that range from kundalini to iyengar to tantric though hatha yoga is the most popular form in the united states. The best candidate for hatha yoga is a person who appreciates time to slow down, meditate, and spend some time with oneself and does not become immediately discouraged by failure to master a pose.

Yoga requires patience and this can be developed through practice. The good thing about yoga is it does not require any extra equipment except yoga mat.

Compared to yoga, Pilates is a spring chicken in terms of age. Joseph Pilates, who was born in Germany and suffered frail health as a child, created the program. Pilates overcame his childhood sicknesses through exercise and began to create a system of physical development that would later become his legacy to the world.

Pilates are easier to understand and does not have any complicated movements. Pilates are usually straight forward. The movements tend to build strength quickly and you can see the results sooner than in yoga. Pilates focus mainly on cultivating core strength in the body and lengthening the spine.

If you are a pilates practitioner, you should be able to discipline yourself to complete your routine every day, which is a large part of the method. Attending classes is a great way to start but for good results, the method should be practiced daily to benefit your body.

Pilates does not require too many accessories but advanced practitioners add machines or tools to their collection in order to maintain a high level of fitness.

After a pilates workout, you may feel the difference in your abs, backs and legs. Pilates is an ideal workout for athletes recovering from injuries, pregnant women, or older people who may not have energy to do strenuous exercise. The benefits of pilates include assisting in aligning your body, strengthening your body, helping in rehabilitation of injuries, weight loss and increased energy levels.

Guidelines for practice of Pilates and yoga:

Since both forms of exercise utilize your mind, you are engaged throughout the entire routine. Whoever has practiced both exercises, they discovered that the exercises helped them increase focus and effectively strengthen their muscles.

• Practice yoga asanas on bare foot using a yoga mat or non slip surface for standing poses.

• Firm padding will be provided if you use a mat, rug or folded yoga blanket.

• Yoga postures such as inversions should not be done on full stomach. You may feel uncomfortable if you practice certain poses soon after eating and drinking.

• Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely to perform asanas.

• If you feel weak or unsteady in a pose, come out of it. Slowly you will build up your strength and be able to hold the pose longer.

• The room should be well ventilated. You should have enough space to extend your arms and legs in all directions.

• You should focus on your breath, inhaling and exhaling completely through your nose, throughout your workout. Breathing balances and regulates energy within the body, strengthening your internal organs and boosting your resistance to any disease.

Learning Focus and Concentration Through Yoga

By Keith Edwin Renninson

For many of us today, focus and concentration aren’t difficult by virtue of necessity, for others however, it is an unbearable task to achieve either.

Ancient, and modern day yogis, taught yoga as a way to gain focus and become one with yourself and the universe. Being grounded is a major goal of many westerners because, to them, it is so illusive.

Occupations, family, avocations, addiction to multi-tasking and caffeine, goal achievement, and cultural pressures are among the reasons that people in the west suffer from the lack of a focused and grounded mentality.

Yoga offers a solution that few programs can.

Whether performed in a class at a studio or quietly in your living room, yoga’s meditative quality causes your level of focus and concentration to heighten and strengthen with each session.

Here's why; our brain functions at four levels of brainwave CPS Cycles Per Second) activity:

1. Beta 13-40 CPS: Fully active, alert, thinking and engaged with your life at that moment.

2. Alpha 7-12 CPS: A much slower rate of cycles per second; that dreamy state just before you fall asleep, the creative and thoughtful level.

3. Theta 4-7 CPS: Elusive meditative floating state before deep sleep.

4. Delta 0-4 CPS: Unconscious deep sleep.

Performing yoga enables you to decrease your brain’s activity from Beta to Alpha, to focus on the poses and your breathing. The Alpha state by it’s very nature is quiet, calm and concentrative. Your body reacts to the poses more efficiently; stretching properly and slowly revealing your inner, grounded self for confidence and strength.

In the end, isn’t that what we are all after? To discover our positive and confident inner self, to become focused, to calm the chaos, gain overall strength, balance and poise.

Concentration and focus are just two of the benefits of yoga which will come quickly to the dedicated novice, and they will become even more enhanced for the seasoned veteran. You gradually notice the advantages of a calm and focused mind in virtually everything you do at work, at home or at play. Enjoy.

Practice dharana, the sixth step in yoga, to conquer the ego

by Shameem Akthar

Dharana is the sixth step in yoga. Unfortunately, it is the most neglected one. Unfortunately also, all your asana practice and dhyana (meditation) practice will tote up to nothing if you are weak in dharana. Yet, yoga instructors and practitioners routinely skip this sixth step of dharana, or focus and concentration.

Indologist and yoga expert David Frawley points out that dhyana practice must be developed only after the foundation of dharana has been well-established. It shocked me into realising how often I have myself bypassed this for the more exotic asanas or more self-gratifying dhyana. Asana is physically exciting, and can be rather an ego-booster. Dhyana practice is equally an ego-booster, because we use it to evaluate our spiritual growth. Since dharana is a mundane step in between these ego-boosters, we don’t bother about it. But to cut out the flab of ego in our asana and dhyana practice, we must use the sharp knife of dharana.

Dharana is mundane precisely because of this: to focus, we must put aside our egos. We neglect dharana practice, because setting our egos aside is so tough. Instead, we busy ourselves with our ego-boosters in our daily sadhana.

In sadhakas, the ego reinvents itself so subtly that it is even more urgent that we strengthen our dharana practice to save ourselves from losing our way forever in the web that our ego spins. The web it weaves is so fine that we fail to see it, even as it tightens around us. Increasingly, this is the danger of most spiritually inclined people. That is why some self-proclaimed seekers are more dangerous than rabid trouble-makers.

Now that we have agreed upon the danger of the ego, how do we incorporate dharana in our daily yoga practice? The reason why asana practice has incorporated a breath sequence is precisely to marry this element of concentration to our practice. Each asana has a breath sequence. Only some schools actively promote this. Also, while I do not subscribe to the purists who run down all fusions that yoga has acquired, I would advise against pop versions, which bypass certain elements of classical yoga, such as attention to the breath sequence. Other dharana elements in your daily yoga practice are: the precision of alignment that you must make in your pose; the deliberate relaxation you must introduce in your body after assuming the final pose. If you have advanced well enough in these, then you must shift your attention to the major chakra that is activated in the particular pose.

In case you are confused about breath sequences, I will give you a simple tip. In all movements where your head looks up, you inhale. In all movements where you press down or look down, you exhale. Again, as you twist, you exhale. And while returning to the centre, you inhale. This is the most classical of breath sequences you need to remember. Remember that this simple focus is what will muscle your sadhana like nothing else!

Nasikgraha mudra (nose-tip meditation)
This is a dharana practice. Sit in a meditative pose. Spine erect. Eyes shut. Focus your attention on the movement of breath at your nostril. Feel the flare of the nostrils, the soft feel of the breath, its temperature (it is warm as it comes out, cooler as it enters). As the mind wanders after just a few seconds, bring it again back to this breath awareness at the nostrils. Keep bringing the mind back. After a few minutes, open your eyes. Initially, do this only for a few minutes. Increase the time span as you gain more discipline.

Points to Note
Avoid it, if you are introverted or depressed. It helps with mental focus and concentration. When these are strengthened, not only does your meditation improve, but your health blossoms. Where the focus is clear cut without emotional distractions, as happens in dharana, the body and the mind relax completely, giving birth to perfect health. Most people do not realize that this is the most important and easiest secret to attain absolute health.

The Eight Limbs Of Yoga

	The practice of Yoga does not only focus on physical postures to improve the body, but deals with all the aspects of our being and our lives. C.E., Patanjali who is considered the father of Modern Yoga compiled 195 aphorisms which are called the Yoga Sutra. In the Yoga Sutra, he described the eight aspects of a Yogic Lifestyle and called it the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The limbs are practical guides to a person's personal development to achieve the harmony of the mind, the body and the spirit which leads to Samadhi or enlightenment. Yamas Yama is your attitude towards others and the world around you. There are five Yamas: 1. Ahimsa or non-violence. This Yama does not only mean not doing harm to others in thought and in deed, but also to practice acts of kindness to other creatures and to one's own self. 2. Satya or truthfulness. Satya is the Yama that is about living a truthful life without doing harm to others. To practice Satya, one must think before he speaks and consider the consequence of his action. If the truth could harm others, it might be better to keep silent. 3. Asteya or non-stealing. This Yama is not only concerned about the non-stealing of material objects but also the stealing of other's ideas and other forms of possession. Using power for selfish motives or telling someone else about confidential information you had been entrusted with is against Asteya. 4. Bramacharya or non-lust. Bramacharya means to move toward the essential truth or to achieve self-control, abstinence or moderation especially regarding to sexual activity. It is about not giving in to our ego's excessive desires or taking nothing in excess. 5. Aparigraha or non-possessiveness. This Yama is about living a life free from greed or taking only what is necessary and do not take advantage of someone or of a situation. It is about using our powers correctly and appropriately and not exploiting others. Niyamas Niyama is how you treat yourself or your attitude towards yourself. The following are the five Niyamas: 1. Sauca or cleanliness. This Niyama is concerned on both the outer and inner cleanliness. The practice of pranayamas, asanas and Yogic cleansing practices to detoxify and cleanse the physical body are necessary to achieve inner cleanliness. The mind must also be kept clean or pure. Outer cleanliness, on the other hand, means to keep an clean environment or surroundings. 2. Santosha or contentment. Santosha is to practice humility, modesty and finding contentment with what you have and who you are. 3. Tapas or austerity. This Niyama refers to keeping the body in good condition. Tapas is practiced through disciplining the body, speech and mind like eating only when hungry and maintaining a good posture. 4. Svadhyaya or study of the sacred text and of one's self. This involved studying one's self, self-inquiry and self-examination and other things that can help you get to know yourself more. As your knowledge about yourself grows deeper, so is your connection to the higher power and your union with all things. 5. Isvarapranidhama or living with an awareness of the Divine. This Niyama encourages us to let go of our false sense of control and to connect to the Divine or that which gives us the sense of wholeness and sacredness. Asanas or Physical Poses The Asanas are designed to free our mind and body from tension and stress. It relaxes, rejuvenates, and energizes the body and aims to bring the body and the mind into a harmonious union. Asanas should be done with comfort, ease, alertness and steadiness, achieving a balance between ease and effort.
	Pranayama or Breathing Exercises Pranayama is the control of breath. The breath is regulated and controlled through the practice of breathing exercises. The duration of inhalation, retention, and exhalation of breath is regulated with the aim of strengthening and cleansing the nervous system and increasing a person's source of life energy. Pranayama practice also makes the mind calmer and more focused. Pratyahara or Withdrawal of the Senses This occurs during meditation, pranayama or asana wherein you are so focused and immersed on your Yoga, Meditation or Breathing Pose that you become unaware of outside situations. Your focus becomes inward and you are no longer distracted by outside events. Dharana or Concentration Dharana is training the mind to focus without any distraction. To achieve this, you can focus your mind into an object at a time. This can also serve as a preparation for meditation. Dhyana or Meditation Meditation is the practice by which there is constant observation of the mind. It means focusing the mind on one point, stilling the mind in order to perceive the Self. It is an uninterrupted flow of concentration aimed to heighten one's awareness and oneness with the universe. It is also an important tool to achieve mental clarity and Health. Samadhi or Enlightenment This is the ultimate goal of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. It is characterized by the state of ecstasy and the feeling that you and the universe are one. It is a state of peace and completion, awareness and compassion with detachment. The practice of Yoga does not only deal with developing the body but also covers all the aspect of a person's life as stated in the Eight Limbs of Yoga. It is concerned about the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of an individual as well as his environment and relationship with other creatures. Real practice of these eight principles leads to deeper self-knowledge, love and respect towards other people and creatures, cleaner environment, healthy diet, and union with the Divine. Article courtesy of www.abc-of-yoga.com

Gate Pose - Parighasana

by Yoga Journal

Step by Step

Kneel on the floor. Stretch your right leg out to the right and press the foot to the floor. Keep your left knee directly below your left hip (so the thigh is perpendicular to the floor), and align your right heel with the left knee. Turn your pelvis slightly to the right (so the left hip point comes forward of the right), but turn your upper torso back to the left. Point the kneecap toward the ceiling, which will require you to turn your right leg out.

As you inhale, bring your arms out to your sides, parallel to the floor, palms down. Bend to the right over the plane of the right leg and lay your right hand down on the shin, ankle, or the floor outside the right leg. Contract the right side of the torso and stretch the left. Place your left hand on the outer left hip and push the pelvis down toward the floor. Then slip the hand up to the lower left ribs and lift them toward the shoulder, creating space in the left waist.

With an inhalation, sweep the left arm over the back of the left ear. The side bend tends to drop the torso toward the floor. Without pushing the left hip back (continue to roll it slightly forward), turn the upper torso away from the floor.

Stay in this pose anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute. Come up as you inhale, reaching through the top arm to draw the torso upright. Bring the right knee back beside the left, and repeat with the legs reversed.

Full Pose
Full Parighasana is a deep side bend. From the starting position described in Step 2 above, lean to the side over the straight leg. Lower the underside of the torso as close as possible to the top of the straight leg. Press the back of the lower hand on the top of the foot, then sweep the top arm over the back of the ear and join the palms. Finish as described in Step 4 above.

Yoga and Ego

stanford.wellsphere.com

Do you identify too much with the term yogi? Is your yoga practice an obsession or a bragging point (your friends/family will think you're cool because you practice the ever-popular yoga or they'll be impressed that you can stand on your head)? Do you feel superior to others because you're a yogi? Do you often work the fact that you're a yoga practitioner into a conversation as a way of increasing your sense of self worth?

How do you approach your yoga practice -- do you push your way through or do you flow by allowing your body to be as it is? Do you feel the need to "keep up" or do a certain type of practice to satisfy your ego?

That pesky ego of ours tends to follow us around. The question is -- it is on the yoga mat with you; or worse, is it calling the shots in regards to your yoga practice?

Why do we practice?

By Richard Rosen

Most beginning students will tell you they got into yoga to alleviate back pain, relieve stress, or become more flexible—fairly simple responses. I started my own practice after reading that yoga asanas are the best form of exercise ever devised; that belief kept me going for several years.

But the reasons you practice might not be as straightforward as they seem. It's entirely possible that after closely examining your innermost motives, you'll find nothing more than a hankering for looser hamstrings—but don't bet on it. Yoga is full of surprising twists and turns.

It's no secret that we often do things for reasons we're totally unaware of; sometimes our unconscious motives become clear only after a good deal of self-reflection. So it's important to realize that questioning the intent of our practice inevitably leads us to inquire about the meaning of our life as well. We could just as pertinently ask: Why am I really alive?

At the outset, it's natural to assume that our practice and our life are totally separate, that we practice for an hour or so a day and then forget about it. But after a while, the two inevitably begin to merge. As Sri Aurobindo, the great 20th-century Indian sage and progenitor of Integral Yoga, reminds us, "All life is yoga."

In Aurobindo's view, yoga is threaded through the warp and weft of our very existence, and in effect it chooses us. We practice yoga because we really don't have any other choice. Of course, we do decide what form our practice takes—we can go off and live alone in a cave and meditate, or we can stay at home, raise a family, and root for the Yankees. Performed with the proper attitude, each of our everyday actions can be an asana, each breath a pranayama, each thought (or space between two successive thoughts) a seed for meditation.

We may have been gifted with the life-enhancing tool of yoga, but for what reason? The clue is in the Sanskrit word yoga itself, which as you no doubt have heard means "union." For our purposes, though, it might be better to define it as "wholeness," a word etymologically related to both healthy and holy. So why do we really practice yoga? Because life wants us to be whole in the widest and truest sense of the word.

Richard Rosen, who teaches in Oakland and Berkeley, California, has been writing for Yoga Journal since the 1970s.

All Shook Up

By Richard Rosen

Muscles are made up of many fibers. When a muscle is used, not all the fibers contract at the same time. Some rest while the others work, and then they trade places. When the muscles are really challenged, the changeovers can get a little ragged.

Beginning yogis often shake quite a lot. As muscles get stronger from regular practice, the fibers learn to trade off between firing and resting with smoother coordination. Eventually quivering often subsides (though there will always be teachers who turn students into yoga jelly, independent of their strength).

To calm the body, try to hug the quivering (contracting) muscle against its underlying bone and press the bone into the muscle being stretched.

Quivering is not necessarily bad, but it may be a sign that the body is overworked. Several years ago, when slugger Mark McGwire was mired in a terrible slump, a sportscaster asked Mac's hitting coach what the problem was. The coach opined that McGwire was trying too hard, and needed to "try easier."

Tune into the brain, the eyes, the root of the tongue, and, most of all, the breath. If any of these areas feel hard or constricted, take the coach's advice: Try easier.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Photo; yoga-guru.info

By Kate Tremblay

Perhaps the kindest of the lot, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana is a passive arch for the back; it allows the back muscles to completely relax as the front body opens, with the legs and hips taking on most of the work. To come into the pose, lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor hip width apart. Press into the feet to lengthen the lower back, bringing it into contact with the floor. Continue pressing through the feet as the knees reach away from the shoulders, lifting the buttocks and increasingly more of the back from the floor. Remind yourself that this is a pose in which your back muscles can actually relax while your legs do the work of opening the front body. By keeping the effort at 50 percent, you'll find space to enjoy the drape of the back from the pelvis down toward the shoulders, relaxing into the force of gravity.

Let the arms remain passive on the floor or, if your chest is flexible enough to permit, bring them under your back, interlacing your fingers and straightening the arms as much as possible. Either way, reach the arms, like the legs, toward the floor to support the arch of the pose. Once you're situated, settle into a rhythm of breathing in as you extend the chest toward both ceiling and chin and breathing out as you lengthen the lower back. Try reaching strongly through the heels, contracting the hamstrings to pull the sitting bones toward the back knees. As the hamstrings contract, the lower back is pulled long from below.

This is a wonderful action to call upon in any backbend. When you are able to lengthen the lower back by tugging the back of the pelvis down with your hamstrings, the front body becomes more available to lengthen and open. If you struggle with the comfort of your lower back in backbends, however, you may still find the most comfort by continuing to stabilize and lengthen the lumbar spine at least partially through the contraction of your abdominal muscles.

When you are ready to come out of the pose, release the arms out from under you and slowly return the spine to the floor, one vertebra at a time. Rest a moment with the knees bent and the feet on the floor to observe new sensations and to relax.

Utkatasana

By Kate Tremblay

Salabhasana is quite challenging for those who have a long torso, a stiff front body, and weak back muscles. If this is the case for you, try Utkatasana instead. Like Salabhasana, Utkatasana is an active backbend. It can challenge the back muscles to develop strength, but it does so using gravity, which makes it easier for weaker backs. To come into the pose, stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), with your feet parallel and hip width apart. On an inhalation, raise the arms overhead. On an exhalation, bend your knees as if to sit in a chair as you bring your hands to the thighs. To keep your knees safe, be sure they track directly forward in line with the toes. The closer the thighs come to parallel with the floor, the more challenging the pose, both for your legs and your back. Remind yourself to work at 50 percent so you have plenty of space to make subtle adjustments.

On each inhalation, lift the chest away from the thighs, pulling the apex of the curve into the thoracic spine. On each exhalation, gently contract the abdominal muscles, tucking the tailbone under and lengthening the lower back. Stabilize the pose by reaching into the four corners of each foot, most strongly into the inner and outer edges of each heel to encourage length in the lower back.

If your body calls for more opening and a stronger surge of energy, bring your arms straight out in front of you and parallel to the floor. For an even stronger position, reach the arms overhead. Keep adjusting the depth and apex with each position change. When you are ready to come out of the pose, return to Tadasana, releasing your arms down to your sides, and take several breaths.

Salabhasana

Photo from speakingoffaith.publicradio.org

by By Kate Tremblay

Salabhasana involves an active contraction of the back muscles to open the front body. This feels delicious when the back is strong and the front body is not overly restricted. Remind yourself that the primary purpose of backbends is to release tension along the front of the body, helping you feel more movement of breath and energy in those areas. As an active backbend, Salabhasana also offers the promise of strengthening muscles along the back of the body. In service of these intended benefits, try lifting your body only 50 percent as high as you comfortably can. Use the reserved energy and the mental space created to stay a few breaths longer than you might be able to if you were really pushing yourself. Then use the extra time to observe sensations and to maneuver within the pose.

To come into Salabhasana, lie facedown with your forehead on the floor and your arms alongside your body, palms down. Exhale and lengthen the lower back by drawing the belly gently toward the spine and pressing the pelvis and thighs toward the floor. Hold a subtle tension in the belly as you inhale and lift the chest and head. Exhale and again lengthen the lower back, drawing the belly gently toward the spine. Inhale, expanding the chest forward and at the same time pulling the apex of the arch from the lower back up to just behind your breastbone.

Stay in touch with your level of exertion and any signs of resistance in your lower back. Resistance doesn't necessarily mean you should stop what you're doing, but it is a reminder to slow down and pay attention to what is happening. Lower the chest a bit to slow down and observe. Find space to move within the pose, to work the chest forward on your inhalations and lengthen the back on your exhalations.

Once you've mastered the action, begin to experiment with deepening the backbend, taking care to honor your own comfort level. Is there enough ease in your lumbar spine (in the lower back) to offer it a little more arch? Ideally, you want the lumbar spine and the cervical spine (in the neck) to arch without overcompressing and without compromising your ability to open the front of the thoracic spine (in the middle and upper back).

If you've lifted the apex of the curve upward and your lower back feels fine, release a little of the abdominal contraction at the end of your next inhalation, letting the lower back move a little farther forward. Work to keep the apex of the curve drawing upward, and support the lifting heart from underneath by bringing the shoulder blades firmly against the rib cage. Mirror the action of your chest with the base of your skull, extending it upward on an inhalation so the neck comes to its full length. Then look forward and up with the chin still slightly tucked, as if you were arching up and back over a large ball. The entire spine should lengthen and open into a long graceful bend, with no single part receiving a disproportionate share of the backbend. This feels glorious. Savor it.

If you want to move more deeply into the pose, add your legs, lifting them and stretching back through the heels. Every time you move, take only 50 percent of what is possible. Know that as the body opens, you can take another 10 percent—and another, and another. If you are still comfortable and want a bit more chest opening, lift the arms off the floor too. Keep them by your side and turn the palms to face each other, or interlace your fingers behind your back and stretch the knuckles back toward the heels. Just be sure to keep some extra wiggle room for observing and responding—the ultimate yogic conversation between body, breath, and mind.

Whenever you take all that your body will give, the question of when to come out of the pose never emerges. You come out when your body gasps "uncle." By contrast, working as you are here, and as the Yoga Sutra advises—balancing sthira (steadiness) and sukha (ease)—there is room to observe cues that the quality of your effort is beginning to wane and it's time to rest. Do you have less control over the subtle actions of controlling depth and apex? Is your breath beginning to lose its smooth, easy rhythm? When your resistance to remaining in the pose overpowers the conversation of your body, it is time to come out. Lie down slowly, turning your head to one side and resting your arms alongside the torso, palms rolling up toward the ceiling. Listen to the echoes of the pose reverberating throughout your body. Enjoy the total release of effort and observe the new quality of your energy. After a while, push back into Balasana (Child's Pose).

Do the Twist

When performed properly, twists have a host of physical and emotional benefits.

By Claudia Cummins

Twists penetrate deep into the body's core, offering potent benefits to the muscles and organs of the torso while encouraging the breath to grow deep and full. Practicing these postures regularly can create a suppleness and freedom in your spine that in turn brings a spring to your step.

Like any yoga posture, though, twists should be practiced with mindfulness and care. Remember the following principles as you move through your daily dose of them.

ELONGATE BEFORE YOU REVOLVE. To create freedom and spaciousness within, lengthen the spine before you twist by extending upward through the crown of the head and downward through the tailbone. Imagine the space between your vertebrae becoming as vast as a clear blue sky, and maintain this spaciousness as you spin.

LET THE BREATH BE YOUR GUIDE. Because twists tend to compress the diaphragm, they leave you with little breathing room. But there are ways to let your breath support and guide you through your twisting explorations. Here's one approach: As you inhale, lengthen the spine; as you exhale, revolve gently into your twisting posture. Pause and lengthen again on the next inhalation, then rotate farther as you exhale. Continue breathing and moving in this wavelike fashion until you feel you've nestled into the very depths of the asana. Breathe as steadily and rhythmically as possible for several breaths, then slowly unfurl out of the pose.

STABILIZE THE LOWER SPINE. Stabilize the lower spine as you move the upper. To avoid injury while twisting deeply, some part of you must be firmly anchored (typically the pelvis, the lower back, and the neck) while another part revolves (usually the upper spine). The irony is that the neck and lower back (just beneath the rib cage) usually spin more freely than the other parts of the spine; without mindfulness, these areas often bear the burden of revolving actions. Each time you move into a twisting posture, be conscious that you don't overtwist in the more mobile areas. Instead, try extending the movement into some of the more resistant areas of the spine.

PRACTICE EVENLY ON EACH SIDE. Practice evenly on each side. Because twists are asymmetrical postures, it's a good idea to spend equal time revolving in each direction to promote balance. That said, if you know that one side of your body is tighter than the other, you might try doing a twist twice on that side.

TAKE CARE. Take care when combining twisting actions and forward bends. For some, these combined movements create a significant strain on the back. If you know your lower back or sacroiliac joints are strained or challenged, seek the guidance of an experienced instructor before exploring forward-bending twists.

ENJOY THE AFTEREFFECTS. Enjoy the aftereffects. Moving into a twist feels a little like wringing out a washcloth. Don't miss out on the opportunity to enjoy the sensations of clarity, vitality, and ease once you've emerged from your favorite twist.

Working on Standing Forward Bend

I am working on standing forward bend. I can place my hand flat on the floor, but I cannot get my head and legs to meet. It feels as if my legs hyperextend.

—Victoria D. Malone

Roger Cole's reply:

Forward bends teach patience. It takes a long time to enter them deeply. Enlightenment does not necessarily occur when the head reaches the legs, so there is no need to get it there soon, if ever. The realization of yoga is to be fully conscious, present, and content at whatever stage of the practice you have attained. Paradoxically, when you are truly satisfied right where you are, your pose often opens up and you can easily move forward.

The physiological explanation for this may lie partly in the stretch reflex. This reflex causes a stretched muscle to automatically contract in opposition to the stretch. If you try too hard to bend forward, you trigger stretch reflexes in your hamstring muscles. You feel stretching pain and cannot bend further into the pose. Pushing yourself deeper into the pose just makes matters worse. The more pain you feel, the stronger the stretch reflex.

One way around this is to stop moving deeper into the pose as soon as you feel a slight challenge, long before you reach the point of pain. At this point, hold your position constant for a long time, without pushing into or backing out of the pose. Keep your knees straight and don't lose your pelvic tilt. You will find that, without moving, you get more and more comfortable right where you are. This most likely means that the stretch sensors (muscle spindles) in your muscles are getting reset, so that what formerly felt like a stretch to them now feels neutral. At this point, you feel comfortable in a position that previously felt like a challenge, so it's easy to feel satisfied where you are. The paradox is that by maintaining this sense of neutrality, your stretch sensors will most likely become ready to allow you to move deeper into the pose (without causing pain or a strong muscle contraction). You are ready to move to a new point of challenge and wait there, repeating the cycle.

The most important alignment points in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) are to fold as much as possible at the hip joints (tilt the top rim of the pelvis forward) and to lengthen the front of the body as much as you can, so the spine only rounds over a little. If you pull the head toward the legs without tilting the pelvis or lengthening the spine enough, the spine rounds too much and you can injure your lower back or sacroiliac joints. Even folding at the hip joints has its dangers-if you push too hard, you can tear a hamstring muscle or tendon.

Regarding hyperextension, if your knees straighten past 90°, you don't want to force them any further. However, forward bends pull on the hamstring muscles, and this tends to bend the knees, providing some protection against hyperextension.

If you are in good physical condition and your alignment is good, one way to progress in forward bends is to vigorously practice standing postures, with a strong Uttanasana between each posture. Standing postures like Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose), Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose), and Virabhadrasana I, II, and III (Warrior 1, 2, and 3) work well. Do each standing posture twice on each side. Hold each pose (including Uttanasana) for 30 seconds to one minute. But don't do this practice six days a week-three or four is plenty.

Again, don't be in a hurry. I know one yoga teacher who struggled with forward bends for about 20 years with little progress. Past age 60, she eased up substantially on her practice and her forward bends suddenly progressed dramatically. She still cannot put her head on her legs, but she is happy. Which is more important?

Yoga Poses For Lengthening the Spine

By Elise Browning Miller

When beginning to practice yoga, the most important movement is lengthening the spine. This movement will create more evenness in the spine and ribs and release tension in the muscles of the back.

Cat/Cow Pose. At the start of a practice period, loosening the spine with the breath is important to prevent injury, particularly at the apex of the scoliosis. Kneel with the hands below the shoulders and the knees below the hips. Inhaling, lift the head and tailbone, making the lower back concave. Exhale and tuck the tailbone, rounding the back and releasing the neck. Repeat at least 10 times.

Vajrasana (Child's Pose). After completing the exhalation in the Cat/Cow Pose, stretch the hands out in front. Inhale deeply into the back, particularly the concave side where the ribs are compressed. Exhale and move the buttocks back halfway toward the heels. Inhale, and stretch the arms and the pelvis away from each other, with the upper back following the arms and the lower back following the pelvis. Breathe into this position, feeling the intercostal muscles stretching between the ribs and the spine and back muscles lengthening. To help stretch the compressed ribs on the concave side, move the arms toward the convex side, keeping the arms shoulder-width apart. Notice how this movement makes the back more even. Mter breathing into this position for a minute, move the buttocks all the way back to the heels and relax the arms by your side. Relax the entire body.

Three-Part Bar Stretch. This pose may be done at a dance bar or at home on a porch railing, sink, or wherever you can grab onto something and pull.

1. Grab onto the bar with hands shoulder-distance apart and walk the feet back until the spine is parallel to the floor and the feet are directly under the hips. Now bring the heels forward to the position where the toes were and hang backwards, bending from the hips and stretching the buttocks away from the bar. Keep the neck in line with the spine, not allowing the chin to lift up. Feel the entire spine being lengthened by the pull.
2. Bring the feet in a few inches toward the bar and bend the knees into a right angle, with the thighs parallel to the floor and the knees directly above the heels. Continue to stretch the buttocks down and backwards. This particularly stretches the mid-back below and to the sides of the shoulder blades.
3. Walk the feet forward a few inches farther to allow the heels to remain on the floor. Let the buttocks move down toward the floor in a squat. Now pull back, keeping the buttocks down, and feel the lower spine being stretched.

How can I ensure that my students don't injure their backs in forward bends?

by Aadil Palkhivala

Forward bends are as soothing to the mind as they are injurious to the lower back.

Backward bending is an extension of the spine, and forward bending is a flexion of the spine. Extension increases space between the vertebrae, while flexion decreases the space. The only way you can ensure that your students don't injure their backs in forward bending is to make sure that they are extending their spine while they are bending forward. This requires opening the hamstrings and lifting the bottom of the belly.

Therefore, for students with stiff hamstrings, it is definitely dangerous to do forward bending. While doing forward bends in class, make sure these students in particular hold a belt wrapped around the foot of the extended leg, and tell them to pull on the belt to keep their spine erect while the rest of the class folds forward. If you have a wall rope, have your stiff student do forward bends with feet on the wall, using a belt around the middle rung to pull on, thereby creating traction in the spine and increasing space between the vertebrae.

When you look from the side at a student doing a forward bend, the sacrum should be tipped forward, or else the lower back will suffer strain. The lower back should never be rounded but should remain straight or, ideally, concave. To repeat, the two critical actions in forward bends are the lengthening of the hamstrings, created by moving the sitting bones away from the heels, and the lifting of the bottom of the belly to bring a concavity into the lower back.

Parvritta Trikonasana (Revolved triangle)

Sometimes our lives get twisted. We feel tied up in knots, constricted, bound up. Unsure of which way to go, we often collapse into our effort and lose our ground. It’s in these moments constriction where we often fall off balance. We succumb to what is distorting our vision, and we forget that we are always right here in this moment, supported by the ground beneath us and surrounded by infinite potential and the ability to grow.

It is in this place that we often find ourselves when practicing Revolved Triangle (Parvritta Trikonasana). A pose where we often get tangled up, confused, and lose our direction. It is easy work so intently on our twist that we loose our foundation and tighten into a ball of resistanceand barely able to stay upright. But, if we slow down and approach this asana with awareness, we can use the restrictive nature of this pose as an opportunity to increase our strength, steady our balance and expand with ease toward our greatest height.

Sometimes, what our constriction compels us to do is step back and reevaluate. In revolved triangle pose, we often have to come out of the pose in order to see the potential we have within it to expand and grow. At times, it calls for just the slightest adjustment of our feet or a prop to expand our reach, but in other moments, parvritta trikonasana requires a completely different approach like changing our stance completely or modifying the asana in a way that may not live up to our expectations of what it should be. In these moments, we may have to redefine the way we view the asana completely. These moments of allowing our preconceptions to fall away can be very scary but also very liberating. Once we give ourselves permission to explore our boundaries and move from internal direction instead of external judgment, we may find that the greatest gift this pose has to offer is in the entanglement. For only when we are forced to see ourselves as we really are, do we willingly choose to be all that we can be.

Parvritta trikonasana directs us to find strength in our roots by trusting our internal guide, that source of balance that is always present when we slow down and pay attention, and to open ourselves to our expansive nature, even when we feel constricted inside. So the next time you come to your mat, take a moment to revel in the twisted moments of our lives, for it is in those moments that we can choose to strengthen our balance and rise to our fullest potential.

—Kelly Golden

Revolved Triangle (Parvritta Trikonasana) works to increase the flexibility of the backs of our legs, hips, spine and to improve our sense of balance. There are two ways to do this posture that will give you a very different stretch and therapeutic focus in the body.

The first way is to keep the hips level as you twist, the sacroiliac joints stay even and parallel to the floor. If the hips remain level the twist originates in the mid to low back. By bringing the twist into the thoracic spine, the posture becomes a mid back and shoulder opener. This can be a huge benefit in working with increasing mid and upper back mobility and for opening the chest and shoulders.

You can also come into this posture by unleveling the hips, allowing the front hip to rise. Once the hips become unlevel, the twist is brought into the hips. As the front hip rises, you are bringing the hip into a position of flexion, adduction and internal rotation. This position of the hip elongates the muscles of the outer hip, the Piriformis and Gluteus Maximus. This version of the posture brings a more therapeutic effect to the outer hip and may help decrease outer hip tightness that can lead to back pain.

Both ways of doing this asana are correct, but there would be different reasons to do each. If your focus is on stretching the back of your hip, you would want to allow the twist to start with the pelvis allowing the hips to become unlevel. If your focus is thoracic mobility, then you would want to keep the hips level as you twist. If you have sacroiliac pain or low back pain, it would be better to keep the hips level and allow the twist to come more from the thoracic spine.

This posture is also a great challenge to balance and proprioception. Our brain knows where our body is in space from the sensory receptors in our feet and throughout the muscles of our body. As we twist and turn in the different ways that this posture calls for, we experience a challenge to the input of our body’s position to the brain. This posture can bring about a greater sense of balance and awareness of our position in space that can help us in our daily lives.

—Marlysa Sullivan

Plow pose - halasana

by Yoga Journal

Step by Step

From Salamba Sarvangasana, exhale and bend from the hip joints to slowly lower your toes to the floor above and beyond your head. As much as possible, keep your torso perpendicular to the floor and your legs fully extended.

With your toes on the floor, lift your top thighs and tailbone toward the ceiling and draw your inner groins deep into the pelvis. Imagine that your torso is hanging from the height of your groins. Continue to draw your chin away from your sternum and soften your throat.

You can continue to press your hands against the back torso, pushing the back up toward the ceiling as you press the backs of the upper arms down, onto your support. Or you can release your hands away from your back and stretch the arms out behind you on the floor, opposite the legs. Clasp the hands and press the arms actively down on the support as you lift the thighs toward the ceiling.

Halasana is usually performed after Sarvangasana for anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. To exit the pose bring your hands onto your back again, lift back into Sarvangasana with an exhalation, then roll down onto your back, or simply roll out of the pose on an exhalation.

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