I have been practicing yoga for over 10 years now and just this past year I was certified as a yoga teacher. When I first started out, this physical practice was not as widely accepted as it is today. However, yoga is no longer just a trend - it’s a movement. The physical poses that you embody in yoga promote natural healing, as well as space to transcend limiting beliefs that lead you to experience more peace and harmony in your daily life. The truth is, you don’t need a mat to experience the benefits of yoga. Yoga begins when you connect with your body - no matter where you are. Just by understanding the various benefits of each pose and creating the time each day, you cultivate the opportunity to receive all the benefits of this practice. An easy way to begin your yoga journey is to start with a sweet and simple routine that will get you ready for a good night’s sleep.
Uttanasana: Standing Forward Bend Pose
Stand up straight with two feet planted on the ground. Then lift your hands up over head into a prayer position and then bow down through the front of your mid line all the way as you allow your torso to hang over your thighs. Place two hands in front or beside your feet. It may also feel really nice to grab both your elbows with the opposite hands and sway gently from side to side.
Benefits:
- Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
- Stretches the hamstrings, calves, and hips
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause,
- Reduces fatigue and anxiety
- Relieves headache and insomnia
- Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, infertility, osteoporosis, and sinusitis
Janu Sirsasana: Head-to-Knee Forward Bend Pose
Sit on the floor with your buttocks on the ground (or if you have a sensitive lower back, sit under a folded blanket) and put your legs straight in front of you. Bend your right knee, and draw the heel back toward your perineum. Rest your right foot sole lightly against your inner left thigh, and lay the outer right leg on the floor, with the shin at a right angle to the left leg (if your right knee doesn't rest comfortably on the floor, support it with a folded blanket). Take a deep inhale while you raise you arms to the sky and then fold forward as far as it feels comfortable for you.
Benefits:
- Stimulates the liver and kidneys
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Relieves anxiety, fatigue, headache, menstrual discomfort
- Therapeutic for high blood pressure, insomnia, and sinusitis
Viparita Karani: Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose
This is one of my favorite poses that is also that promotes great circulation throughout the body. It might be nice to put 1-2 blankets (or a bolster) under your sacrum up against a flat wall. Get your side hip as close as you can to the wall and then shift your legs up the wall, while laying your back on the floor. Allow your shoulder blades to come together under your shoulders and give space for you neck to rest easy. Flip your palms face up to the sky with your arms sprawled open by the sides of the body.Benefits:
- Regulates blood flow
- Alleviates menstrual cramps
- Relieves swollen ankles and varicose veins
- Helps testicular, semen, and ovarian problems in men and women respectively
- Improves digestion
- Improves problems of the eyes and ears
- Relieves mild backache
- Helps keep you young and vital
- Calms anxiety
- Relieves symptoms of mild depression and insomnia
