Inspirations: Inversions

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana~Bridge Pose

Lie on your back, bend knees, bring feet to buttocks.  Make sure feet remain hip width and parallel.  Placing a block between the thighs is very helpful. Inhale, curling tailbone up, lifting the spine, and extending it toward the knees.  If you feel tight or weak, curl spine and hips up and down gently several times, awakening Kundalini energy asleep in the spine. Once you are fully extended, keep hips high, clasp hands under the back, move shoulders closer.  As this is an inversion, keep eyes open. This is an active backbend, energizing, strengthening, invigorating.  Backbends increase prana, helping the emotional body with anxiety, and depression.  With Bridge, the endocrine and nervous systems are supported, which promotes healthier reproductive organs, and eases issues around elimination, PMS, menopause and menstrual cycles.   Do not do backbends with headaches, or nauseas. In this position, the kidneys, a source of vitality, are stimulated as they release from compression, and can be drawn deeper into the abdomen.  Since kidneys work with the adrenals, and stagnation, metaphysically, we are supported in releasing what is old, stagnant, and no longer supports life. As A Supported Pose:  Use a folding chair, and set up in the same way you did for Viparita Dandasana, with legs through back of chair, and bolster or other support under head and shoulders.  With Bridge, add a second chair for your feet as they extend out from back of first chair.  As you did in Viparita Dandasana, grab back of chair, and release back until your shoulders and head rest at the same even level on the bolster, or support.  Back of chair is under upper back, allowing abdomen to relax and extend.  Hold 3-5 minutes, breathing mindfully.  To come out of pose, bend knees, place feet on floor, and gently pull… Read more »

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Viparita Dandasana~Inverted Staff Pose, supported

This pose opens the chest, expands the thoracic, and brings blood to the brain. The supported version of Viparita Dandasana is done with a folding chair. First, place a bolster, and if needed, blocks or pillows at the foot of the chair, where your feet would normally be.  Sit in the chair backwards, extending legs through chairback. Grab back of the chair and slowly extend torso backward over the seat.  If this is uncomfortable, add a blanket or cushion to chair seat.  Middle of back should be supported by chair, legs are straight, and crown of head rests on the bolster.  Hands can move down to back legs of chair, allowing chest a greater opening. Remain 2-3 minutes and breathe into your crown chakra, the Sahasrara~ the thosand petaled lotus, ‘seat of the supreme soul.’  Braincells are not only bathed with blood but metaphysically this is our connection to everything. Visualize a white or clear light cleansing the pituitary and pineal glands. When ready to come out of pose, bend knees, plant soles of feet on floor, and gently pull torso upright, pause before moving on.

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Salamba Sarvangasana/Shoulder Stand

This is a ‘Mother of a Pose,’ according to Iyengar, as it supports and nurtures the entire body.  Begin by lying on your back, bend the knees and pull them into the stomach as you exhale.  Lift hips up off the floor on the next exhale, supporting hip with your hands if needed.  Continue lifting legs and hips straight overhead, pulling the elbows in line with shoulders, hands in middle of back, keep weight off the neck.  Exhale, extending legs and feet strongly, connecting the abdominal support to legs for added extension.  Remain for a minute at first, working up to five, then ten.  Keep breathing even and soft.  When ready to dismount, either bring knees in to chest and roll down the spine, or take feet over head into Halasana/Plow. Salamba Sarvangasana is a pose supporting harmony within.  It can be used as a panacea for many ills as it supports the endocrine system, which absorbs nutrients in the blood, secrete hormones.  It relates directly to the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the neck area, soothing the nerves, helping with headaches, nasal congestion, asthma, breathlessness, colds and throat ailments, as well as insomnia, anxiety, and hypertension.  In going up side down, it supports proper elimination, freeing toxins that create constipation, therefore giving the body greater energy.  It also aids urinary and uterine disorders, menstrual issues and hernia.  It may help in relieving epilepsy and anaemia.  Clearly spending a few minutes a day in this ‘Mother of all poses’ will repair and heal much of what modern life tears down. To make Salamba Sarvangasana a restorative pose, place the hips on a bolster, or block, and extend legs in the air.  Or place the bolster or block against the wall, sit sideways, with legs up the wall, and roll up onto… Read more »

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Matsyasana

Fish Pose If you have a dicey neck, the full pose is not for you,  begin with Fish prep.   Lie on your back, legs strongly extended. Inhale, lifting hips up enough to slide palms under buttocks, fingers pointing toward feet. With buttocks resting on back of the hands, pull forearms and elbows close behind torso and into ribs. Inhale, pressing forearms and elbows against floor, lift torso up and head back.  With a dicey neck, keep head forward, chin down.  Open the chest to the sky and breath. For full pose, lie on back, inhale, lifting chest up, keeping buttocks and crown of head on the floor. Hands can come into Namaste mudra on chest, or can be extended overhead at 45 degrees.  Keep legs firm and strongly extended, lifting chest  to minimize weight on head.  Lengthen neck, don’t crunch it. If the back is strong, lift legs at 45 degree angle. Health Notes:  This is a wonderful chest opener for asthma,  and other lung- issues.  As in all chest openers, helps enliven the body, throwing off depression and lethargy. Strengthens spine and neck, and emotionally, presents a quiet moment to open the heart, feel expansive, willing to do the right thing.

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Ustrasana

Camel Pose Begin pose from a kneeling position, knees hip width, with thighs slightly inwardly rotated.  There are many variations on hand placement, but a good start is to place hands on back of the hips, with thumbs pressing down toward tailbone, a reminder to keep moving tailbone toward pubis. Lift thighs and keep them forward, along with the hip bones, inhale and lift heart, take head back as far as your neck is happy, do not crunch and close back of neck. Head and neck continue the extension and alignment of the spine. Keep shoulders down, shoulder blades dropping.  If you have neck issues, keep chin down and lift chest up.  For more advanced work, lift arms up and back, grabbing heels, but maintain lifted, forward hips and thighs, maintaining a long spine. Do not push through hips and shorten lumbar spine. Stay and breathe easily for 5-10 breaths.  This is an inversion, so eyes must remain open.  So often in inversions the desire is to disappear by closing the eyes. Your point of view will never change if you do this.  Be alive to viewing the world up side down. To exit, lift chest first, then the head, come to neutral position and move into hare if you wish. Health Notes: Ustrasana stretches hip flexors, psoas, strengthens spine, opens chest and lungs,assisting with respiratory imbalances.  It is helpful for mild back issues, menstrual discomfort, and tiredness.

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Camatkarasana

Wild Thing Pose This is a pose we all love and know as, ‘flipping your Dog.’  Enter from Adho Mukha Svanasana-Down Dog, lift R leg up and bend knee, keeping thigh and knee high and open.  Bring weight onto L  hand as  R foot comes down behind L hip, as close to hip as possible. Knee can remain bent, but try to keep R leg extended,  pressing down into feet,  lifting hips and heart as high as you can. It feels like you unfurl into a one sided back bend.  Let head and  R arm extend back and up. A small note to help maintain high hips after flipping, look under L arm at L foot as long as possible, until the R leg is over and almost down.  To return to Down Dog, flip back the way you came, bringing L arm over to floor, returning R leg back to mat.  When you become advanced, you can take this pose into Urdhva Dhanurasana- back bend. Health Notes: As with the chest and heart openers, helps with depression, and fatigue.  Strengthens arms, legs, and back. keeps spine flexible.

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Urdhva Dhanurasana

Upward Bow or Wheel Pose Setting up a strong preparation is 90% of accomplishing a back bend.  Lie on back, bring feet in as close to buttocks as possible, place them parallel, hip width.  Put a block between them to keep that parallel mindfulness in place. Place hand 3-4 inches from ears, fingers toward feet, forearms perpendicular to floor if possible.  If elbows splay, place a strap around upper arm, above elbows to maintain parallel power in arms. Take a breath, exhale into feet, lifting hips up, take another breath and on exhale press hands down and lift chest, placing crown of head on floor.  Open shoulder girdle, and press  shoulder blades into back as you lift.  If this is your first time, remain here, breathing.  Come down the same way you went up, ie lift head and release neck, chin down, come onto upper back, then hips.  Congratulate yourself…a lot. If you are fine moving on from here, continue to press inner feet into floor, and rise up like a lotus from your muddy waters.  Bring chest toward the hands,  not the feet. Work the hamstrings, not the buttocks muscles.  The softer the buttocks, the more space you create in lumbar area,  lengthening tailbone toward the knees.  Work the arms outward, as parallel as possible, with most of weight at base of index fingers.  Let head hang. On the first back bend, it’s nice to rise onto tiptoe, which offers more space to the shoulder girdle, once opened you can lower the heels. If and when breath becomes labored back off the pose.  Take it in small bites, not one big gulp. Health Notes:  Don’t work with this pose if you have carpel tunnel, headache, high blood pressure, or serious back issues.  Otherwise it’s a fabulous pose to fight… Read more »

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Halasana

Plow Pose This pose usually follows Salamba Sarvangasana, Shoulder Stand, although you can easily roll back into it from a seated position.  If coming from Shoulder Stand, exhale and lower legs down toward the head, keeping torso as upright as possible.  Do not take chin toward sternum, if anything, allow  sternum to move toward chin.  With toes on floor, keep lifting tailbone up, use hands to support lower back if needed, or clasp hands and extend down onto floor.  Keep weight off the neck.  But if it bothers the neck ,y fold a blanket under the shoulders and upper back, leaving neck free. Hold as long as you can, and when ready to exit, lift legs up into Shoulder Stand, or grab behind the legs, pulling them toward face and slowly roll down spine, getting a good hamstring stretch on the way. Because this is a softening pose, it’s often nice to follow it with Savasana. Health Notes: This is considered a folding pose, therefore it calms the body and brain, reduces anxiety and stress, helps with insomnia.  It helps stretch the back, and is good for mild backaches, but if you have serious back or neck issues only do this under hands of a good instructor. It stimulates thyroid gland, helps relieve menopause symptoms, and sinusitis

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