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KURMASANA ~ TORTOISE POSE

Now here's a real forward bend, one that will make you respect what being a turtle is all about. Kurmasana strongly stretches the spine, back muscles and inner thighs, opens the hips, stimulates the abdominal organs, and calms the nervous system, so the mind becomes clear and free of emotion. In fact, Light on Yoga says a tortoise drawing itself into its shell is used in the Bhagavad Gita to represent pratyahara, the withdrawing from external sensations. And the pose is named for the Tortoise Incarnation of Vishnu in which he dives to the bottom of the ocean (think of your inner depths) to find the lost nectar of the gods. So kurmasana helps to prepare one for meditation. Because the legs pull down on the arms in this pose, the spine is stretched more strongly than in other forward bends, creating more space between the vertebrae, increasing circulation and improving metabolism in the vertebral discs. The result is a refreshing release of tension that eliminates fatigue and boosts energy. So when you do decide to come out of your shell, you'll be ready for anything.

Practice Tips:

Because kurmasana gives the back, especially in the lumbar area, such a strong stretch, you may want to take a pass on it if you have disc problems or find less intense forward bends, such as paschimottasana, difficult. But if your back is healthy, this pose can help keep it that way, increase flexibility, and produce all the benefits mentioned above.

Start by sitting on the floor with your legs a couple of feet apart and your knees slightly bent. Take your hands down between the legs and slide them out under your calves. As you do this, work the arms under the back of the knees. If you're new to this pose, you might want to start with half tortoise, in which you reach forward to grab the soles of the feet from the outside. Roll the thighs in to get the knees pointing straight up. Then gently push your feet forward as you pull on them to elongate the spine and stretch forward.

As you stretch, be sure to keep pushing the groins down and lifting the lower abs in and up to prevent straining your lower back. Also, gaze several feet ahead and elongate your neck as you rotate in the hips to deepen the forward bend. Go out, not just down, as if you were taking your sternum (breastbone) across the room. Hold for eight to ten calm and deep breaths, then slowly come up out of the pose.

If this seemed ok for your back, you might want to go into the full pose by pushing the arms out to the side under your knees, then back at an angle (this helps prevent strain on the elbows and shoulders) with your palms down as you bend forward and work the back of the knees up the arms toward your shoulders. Be careful not to have the backs of the knees over the elbows, because the pressure of your legs there can hurt them.

Start to push forward through your heels to extend the legs. Keep extending the spine and performing the other actions describe above. But instead of pulling on your feet, push the arms back against your thighs to help elongate the spine. You might also want to pulsate in the pose as Dona Holleman's suggests: Elongate the spine from the groins while you inhale and activate mula bandha. Then elongate the legs to bring the spine further down as you exhale, eventually getting your forehead, then your chin and finally your chest to the floor. Remember to roll the inner thighs down and try to loop the shoulders back (they'll come forward, but looping will help stretch the spine and prevent over stretching the shoulders or crunching the collar bones). Also, keep the arm muscles toned and pulling in towards the shoulders to prevent straining the elbows. Instead of pushing into the pose, stretch gently and mindfully into it. After all, there's really no place to go except where you are. After eight to ten breaths, come out slowly.

If you want an even stronger stretch, you can try the more intense version of the pose known as supta kurmasana or sleeping turtle. Start as before, but after extending the arms out to the side, turn the palms up and push the arms back so they are along your hips. (To do this, I find it's helpful to bend the knees a bit and rock from side to side as you wriggle the arms back.)

Work the shoulders further under the knees and the feet toward each other as you bend the elbows and (ideally) clasp the hands over your lower back. If that doesn't happen , hold onto a strap or towel and try to work the hands closer to each other behind the back. Then cross one ankle over the other and lower your forehead to the floor between your shins * or perhaps just to your ankles, if the full pose is not possible or too intense. As those of you who take Ashtanga classes know, it can be very helpful to have a teacher or partner assist you in clasping the hands and crossing the feet in this pose.

After you come out of any version of kurmasana, you might want to sit cross-legged and gently arch and flex the spine a few times and twist gently to each side to relieve any tension there. Then take a moment to notice how calm, centered and at ease you feel, like a turtle on a log sunning happily in a quiet pond.

Natarajasana ~ The Lord of Dance Pose

When done full-out, this is an very demanding asana, requiring great flexibility in the shoulders and spine, tremendous openness in the chest, groins and front of the thighs, and great strength in the standing leg. So it’s not surprising that of the 200 asanas B.K.S. Iyengar talks about in Light on Yoga, this is number 199, followed only by savansana. The very name of this pose signals that it has to do with something lofty and noble. Nataraja, which means Lord of Dance, refers to Shiva, the all pervasive Supreme Consciousness, whose dances both create the world and destroy it in the eternal rhythm of life.* But don‘t let all this keep you from practicing this exhilarating combination of balance and backbend. There are less intense versions that everyone can do to some degree and experience the wonders of the Dance -- as well as the many physical and mental benefits of this beautiful pose. These include opening the shoulders, spine and chest, strengthening the upper back, stretching and strengthening the legs, increasing lung capacity, and improving concentration and poise. So -- shall we dance?

Practice Tips:

Like any good dancer, make sure you warm up before attempting this pose. Sun salutations, shoulder openers, and backbends such as setu banda sarvangasana (bridge), ustrasana (camel) or eka pada rajakapotasana (pigeon) are good ways to get ready for Natarajasana, which in its most advanced version is like another intense backbend, ekapada viparita dandasana, done standing up. And unless you’re blessed with great flexibility, it helps to work into the full pose gradually. Here are some steps to follow in mastering this awesome dance.

First, easy dancer. Start by standing tall in tadasana (mountain pose) with your legs firmed up. Shift the weight to your left foot, bend your right knee, and reach behind with your right hand to grab the top of your right foot. If you can’t reach your foot, put a strap around it and hold the strap. And if balance is a problem, be near a wall so you can support yourself with your left hand. Once you‘ve found your balance, rest your left hand on your hip (or against a wall) and take inventory of your alignment. Keep your heart lifting, your shoulders looping up and back, your tail down and in, and your shoulders and hips square to the front as you gaze at a fixed point in front of you. Stay here for a few breaths as you stretch your right knee straight down out of the pelvis to open the front of the thigh.

If you want to go further, energize your left arm as you inhale, loop your left shoulder up and back, and stretch your arm up, keeping the top of the arm bone anchored in the shoulder socket. (Alternatively, you can stretch the left arm straight ahead, parallel to the floor.) With an exhale, scoop your lower abs in and up, and push your right foot back against your right hand as you stretch up and forward with your heart. As you push the foot back, work your right hip and shoulder forward to keep your hips and shoulders square and the knee under your right sitting bone, not flaring out to the side. Hold the pose for five to eight breaths, drawing energy in and stretching up as you inhale, and pushing your foot back more and expanding your heart forward more as you exhale. Max out the pose with one more inhale, then with an exhale release the right foot and go back into tadasana. Pause for a breath or two and notice how you feel, then do the other side.

If you were steady and comfortable holding your foot with one hand in easy dancer, you might want to try holding it with two hands as you stand tall, extend the arms behind you, and push the foot back and up against both hands. This version helps to open the chest more and work the lifted leg more. As before, make sure you keep the hips and shoulders square, the knee of the raised leg in line with the sitting bone, and the standing leg straight and strong.

In the full-out version of Natarajasana, you’ll want to have your arms stretching up and back, rather than back and down, to hold your foot, first with one, and eventually with both hands. This is extremely difficult for most people to do, even with one hand. To start working toward this version, loop the end of a long strap around your right foot and hold the strap with your right hand two or three feet up from the foot. As you bend your right knee and raise the right foot up, stretch your right arm out a bit to the right, then rotate the shoulder externally (up and back) as you bring the elbow forward, in towards your torso and then up past your ear while you push back with your right foot to extend the raised arm behind you.

If you’re holding the strap too far up to get much stretch in the arm or leg, release and try the pose again, holding the strap closer to your foot. If you’re holding it too close to comfortably get into the pose, hold it farther away. Once you get the strap right, square off the hips and shoulders, and push your right foot back against the strap as you pull against it with your right hand. Extend the left arm up (or forward), keeping your tail in and performing the other actions described above for easy dancer. Your goal is to get your right thigh parallel to the floor with your right shin straight up and down (ankle directly over the knee). After holding for five to eight breaths, release and do the other side.

Once you can comfortably hold the strap close to the foot, you can try doing this one-handed version without a strap. To do so, bend your right knee, lift your right foot up and turn it slightly out. Rotate your right shoulder, arm and hand externally so the palm faces up. Reach back and loop your middle and index fingers around the top of your right big toe (the fingers will go to the inside of the big toe, with the thumb to the outside of it). Bend the knee more so the foot comes in near your hips. Then, lifting the right leg higher, rotate your right shoulder externally and bring the elbow forward, in towards your torso and then up past your ear as you as you push back with your right foot to help extend the raised arm behind you. Your fingers will roll more around the top of the toe as you do this. Square off and perform the actions described for the previous version.

If holding the big toe seems too difficult, try holding the top of the foot with your right hand. To do this, lift your right foot and rotate your arm and hand as above. But instead of looping the big toe, rotate the palm externally even more so you can bring the fingers from the outside of the foot around the top of the foot, with your thumb on the sole. Then, lifting the leg higher and pushing back with the foot, rotate the shoulder externally more and bring the elbow forward, in and up, as you slide your fingers more around the top of the foot so they curve around to reach the inner arch. Square off and complete the pose as described above.

Once you’ve mastered this one-handed version of the full-out pose, work on holding the foot with two arms extended up and back. Again, it helps to start by using a strap, gradually working the hands down toward the feet until you can hold the top of the foot with both hands, keeping the lifted thigh parallel to ground and the shin perpendicular to it, with the knee and ankle in line with your right sitting bone. Then, if you want to go all the way, tilt your head back and bring the raised foot in to touch the top of your head.

After this strong backbend, which, like all other backbends opens the nadis on the front of the body and really makes the energies dance around within you, it’s a good idea to do a forward bend as a counterpose and perhaps lie a while in savansana to let things settle and balance out. As you do, reflect on the miracle of the Cosmic Dance, in which you play a small yet infinitely important part.

In her book Dancing the Body of Light, Dona Holleman (who also ends her discussion of asanas with Natarajasana) notes that the full two-handed version of this pose looks from the side like a wine glass ready to be filled with the Universal Force. And when the foot is placed on the back of the head, with an empty and transparent mind, the human embraces the Divine in the ecstasy of enlightenment. Sounds like a dance worth doing, doesn’t it?

Pashaasana ~ Noose Pose 

Ever wonder what it would be like to do a squat, forward bend and twist at the same time? Well, here's your chance. Pashasana gives you an awesome twist because it's done in a squat, which allows the pelvis to drop lower than it does when you?re seated, enabling the lumbar spine to stretch more and therefore twist more. By stretching the muscles connecting the vertebrae vertically as well as laterally, this pose increases flexibility in the torso and stimulates circulation in and around the spine, promoting the health of the many nerves that connect with it. Plus, because in the finished pose the abdomen is against the thighs, as in a forward bend, there's strong compression in the abdominal area, thereby intensifying the effects of the twist on the liver, kidneys and intestines.

The benefits of putting yourself in this noose are many. Like other twists, pashasana wrings out the body, releasing tension and thereby increasing circulation and beneficial energy flow. When the compressed area is released, blood rushes back in, cleansing and nourishing tissues and organs. So you feel refreshed, relaxed and more alive. Noose pose also stretches the Achilles tendon and back of the calves, and makes the ankles more flexible. It frees the shoulders, opens the chest, tones the spine and abdominal organs, rejuvenates tired legs, and improves digestion. And if that's not enough reason to do this pose, it also reduces fat around the abdomen and waist. So come on baby, let's do the twist!

Practice Tips
Pashasana demands great flexibility in the ankles, hips, spine and shoulders, as well as stretch in the hamstring and buttock muscles. (I think that's one reason why it's in the Ashtanga intermediate rather than primary series.) So you'll find it helpful to loosen up those areas with squats, twists and forward bends before working on noose pose. Squats like Malasana, twists like Maricyasana C or Ardha Matseyendrasana, and forward bends like Marciyasana A or even Pascimottasana can all help to make Pashasana easier. It also helps to warm up with a sun salutation or some standing poses before you try to put yourself in The Noose. And you might want to skip this pose or not go fully into it if you have bad shoulders, ankles or knees, or spinal problems.

If you have the required flexibility, the pose itself is relatively simple. You squat down with feet and legs together, with your torso against your thighs and your pelvis close to the heels (but not on the floor). Then twist from your belly to the right, extend your left arm, and bring the upper arm to the outside of your right knee, with the armpit into the thigh. Turning the palm down, bend the elbow and wrap the forearm down around the right shin. Extend your right arm up and sweep it around in back so you can grab the right wrist with your left hand. (It helps to look to the right as you do this to allow the right shoulder to open back more. If you can't grab the wrist, hook the fingers or use a strap to close the gap.)

You're now in the noose. To deepen the pose, use the arm against the knee as a lever to twist more to the right, turning your gaze (drishti) infinitely to the right. As you do, pull your shoulder blades towards each other and down the back, keep the outer hips firm (mula bandha helps this), and keep pressing the heels more into the floor as you descend the sitting bones toward them. On the inhale, lift the sternum and lengthen out through the top of you head. On the exhale, twist a little more, leading with the left ribs. After five deep breaths or so, untwist and do the other side.

But if you're like most of us, you won't have all the required flexibility, and Pashasana will be a real struggle. So you might want to approach in stages, using props to compensate for stiffness in ankles, hips or shoulders.

For starters, you might want to just go into a shallow squat, with your hips a foot or more above the floor, and, twisting right, take your left arm to the outside of your right knee and place your fingertips or palm on the floor to the outside of the right foot. Use your arm as a lever to deepen the twist, perhaps reaching the right arm up and around to catch the left hip or inner thigh for more leverage. Keep looping the shoulders open, lengthening the spine and descending the sitting bones toward the heels (try to get them at least parallel to the floor) as you do this prep.

If you're trying to go further in the pose but your heels don't come to the floor when you squat fully (back of thighs into your calves), or they barely touch and you fall down to sit as soon as you try to twist, place a folded blanket, a block or a rolled mat under your heels for support. Or let the heels stay up and keep both hands on the floor as you twist to the right, perhaps again stretching the right arm up and back to catch the left hip or inner thigh as a lever point to open the shoulders and deepen the twist.

If the heels are grounded on the floor or some support but you can't wrap the arms and clasp the hands, you can take the left elbow to the outside of the right knee and press the palms together to deepen the twist. Or try taking the left arm between the legs to the inside of the left knee and wrap and clasp in what you could call 'half noose' pose.

You can also work with your right hip near a wall so you can twist to the right and place the hands on the wall with your left elbow against the right thigh, and use the elbow and wall as fulcrums to lever yourself more into the twist. Then, using your right hand on the wall for support, you can begin to wrap the left arm down around your right shin. And if you rest your buttocks on a block to help balance (either near a wall or not), you might be able to swing the right arm behind and clasp. Of course, having a teacher or practice partner to help you with the pose can enable you to go much farther into it than you might by yourself.

Even though I still can't do Pashasana full out, it's one of my favorite twists, because it works the body in so many ways at once to release tension, stimulate energy flow, open tight areas and rejuvenate you both physically and mentally. The Noose is definitely a pose to hang out in often.

Below mentioned  are some of  the few Idealism that  we associate with  is  Gandhi is  far from dead. It lives on in young people. They just don'nt know him anymore. And that's the problem.

• "In whatever incarnation of God we belive, to me the most important is Daridranaryan, that is God in the avatar of the poor."
• "The weak can never forgive. Forgivness is  the attribute of  the  strong."
• "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
• "Freedom  is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."
• "Faith must be enforced by reason. When faith becomes blind it dies."
• "I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill."
• "Non-violence is not a garment to be put on or off at will. Its seat is in heart, and it must be inseprable part of our very being."
• "We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends behave to us." -Aristotle
• "Function of Wisdom is discrimination between good and evil."
• "Love never claims, it ever gives"

The phone rings....
.
There are priests in India who at wedding ceremonies recite stanzas from holy books like the Vedas without ever understanding them.

They begin by reading them, and then over a period of time some priests realize that there could be something more to them in the inherent knowledge that they possess.

So you have a choice, either you can turn it into a career, learn how to shoot professionally and forget about it or you can use it as a tool for self-learning and discovery. Depending on how you perceive life in general.

The most vital aspect of creativity is to be original. It is enough to convince others of great work but at the end of the day you should be able to look at yourself, and ask your soul if it was your best effort.

Salamba Sarvangasana ~ Supported Shoulderstand

Sarvangasana literally means "all limbs pose," and that says a lot about what's involved in doing this wonderful inversion. While the shoulders and arms provide the base, you need a strong upward thrust of energy through your legs and core to lift fully into shoulderstand. For this reason you might think of it as "rocket-launcher pose." The benefits of sarvangasana are so many it could also be called "The Great Healer." This pose stretches the neck, shoulder and upper back muscles, strengthens the legs and upper body, and opens the chest. It increases circulation to the head and upper chest while draining used blood and toxins from the legs, pelvis and abdominal area. Consequently it helps treat colds, digestive problems, menstrual disorders and respiratory ailments. Shoulderstand stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows the heartbeat and calms the mind. So it counteracts nervousness, tension headaches and insomnia. And this asana has a special connection with the visuddha or throat chakra, where the thyroid and parathyroid glands are located. By promoting the balanced functioning of these glands, which control metabolism and hormonal activity, salamba (supported) sarvangasana gives you a calm energy that nourishes body and soul. For this reason, it is known as the "Mother" pose, the Queen of the asanas. Whenever you need a lift, put yourself in this healing inversion and let the Great Mother take care of you.

Practice Tips:

Shoulderstand requires a lot of flexibility in the neck and shoulders. Therefore it's best to first warm up with shoulder rolls, spine flexes, forward bends, twists and perhaps a sun salutation. If you have injuries or structural problems in the neck or shoulders, you'll want to avoid this pose and instead try an alternative. These include half shoulderstand (hips resting in the hands with legs extended overhead at an angle), tranquillity pose (balancing on the upper back and shoulders with the legs overhead and supported by extended arms), or viparita karani (lying with the hips raised on a block or bolster and legs extended up against a wall). Also, because it is a rather strong inversion, shoulderstand is contraindicated if you have high blood pressure, heart problems, or eye problems like glaucoma or a detached retina. And you should not do this pose while menstruating or if you feel uncomfortable pressure in the head, ears, eyes or chest while practicing it.

If you're new to shoulderstand or tight in the neck and shoulders, you'll find it helpful to practice with the shoulders elevated a few inches off the floor. You can do this by using two or three stacked blankets, gym pads, or other broad yet firm surface that's at least as wide as your shoulders and deep enough so your elbows fit on it too. This will cause less stress on the neck, help you to keep both the shoulders and the elbows grounded, and make it easier to lift the neck vertebrae (especially C7 - the knobby bone at the base of the neck) and thoracic spine away from the floor. This in turn will enable you to better align the shoulders, hip joints and ankles in a vertical line, and that will enable you to hold the pose longer with less strain.

Beginners will find it best to ease into this pose by working with a wall. Lie on the floor with your legs up the wall and your sitting bones against it. Note where your shoulders are. Then stack your blankets or pad so the front edge is the same distance from the wall as your shoulders. I like to sandwich my mat between or under the blankets then over the top so I have a smooth edge where my neck will be and a non-slip surface to keep my arms and elbows in place. You might want to put a towel under your head rather than a sticky mat to provide more comfort and to keep the head from getting stuck and jamming the neck as you lift up.

Once you've set up your "launching pad," lie on it so your shoulders are on the support but the back of the head is off it, and have the soles of your feet on the wall. Pull the shoulders a bit away from the hips so they are level, not sloped down, and at the edge of the raised mat. Lift the hips a bit, extend the arms (interlacing the fingers if you can), roll the shoulders under and wriggle the shoulder blades toward each other. With an inhale, tuck the pelvis, press the feet into the wall, push your arms down and lift the hips up until they are above the shoulders. Walk the feet up the wall to where the shins are parallel to the floor. Keep stretching the tailbone up, lifting through the torso, rooting the shoulders down, and lifting the cervical vertebrae away from the floor as the top of the breastbone comes toward your chin. Take three to five deep breaths, then lower the hips down.

If that felt ok, you can take it up a notch. Otherwise, try lifting the hips less high next time and hold there for a few breaths, or do one of the alternative poses suggested above. If you're going further, after you lift the hips to vertical as before, walk the feet up the wall until the legs are quite straight. Press the toes into the wall and lift the heels away as you stretch the tailbone toward the toes. Bend the elbows and bring the palms of the hands to your back with the fingers pointing up, taking care to keep the elbows from splaying out. Press the upper arms down evenly from shoulders to elbows and keep lifting the spine as you relax the neck and draw the palette (roof of the mouth) back away from the chin. Hold for five to eight breaths, then release the hands and lower the hips.

After a few resting breaths, if you feel like going on, check your position on your base to make sure everything is where it should be. Then lift up and align as you did the first time you went up, with the shins parallel to the floor. Bring the hands to the back, keeping the elbows in line with the shoulders (you can use a strap around the upper arms if you can't keep the elbows from splaying). Keeping a strong lift through the spine, take one foot away from the wall and extend it straight up. Make sure you keep pulling the abdominals in and rooting the tailbone in and up to keep the pelvis from tipping backward. Contract the buttock and thigh muscles to lift the back of the pelvis up. Then extend the other leg up. Let the legs separate a bit and turn them strongly inward (inner thighs rolling to the back of the legs), then stretch the tailbone up and squeeze the inner thighs together. Keep stretching up strongly through the spine, hips, inner legs, heels and balls of the feet - keep launching your "rocket" - as you ground down through the shoulders and elbows. After eight to ten deep breaths, bend one knee at a time to bring the feet to the wall, then release the hands and lower the hips. Roll off your base to the right side, and rest for a few breaths.

Once you're comfortable holding shoulderstand for a minute or two (10 to 20 breaths), you can try getting into it away from the wall. Position your launching pad farther away from the wall, lie on it with the shoulders aligned as before, lift the feet off the floor, then flip them up over your head as you lift the hips up so your legs hang back over your face in an easy plow pose. Interlace your fingers and roll the shoulders under, then bring the hands to your back, and "launch your rocket" by lifting your feet up to the sky. Keep grounding down into your base and lifting up through the torso and legs as you work the upper arms toward each other. The upper palette in the mouth is the energy center for sarvangasana. So as you draw the palette back and work the pose, you might want to think of yourself as a fountain shooting energy back up from the roof of the mouth and out the soles of your feet.

Because shoulderstand compresses the front of the throat and upper chest, it's advisable after you've held the pose a while to do a counter pose to open those areas. Fish pose (matsyasana) is typically done after sarvangasana. A simple version of fish is to lie with the feet extended, lift the hips a bit, and place the hands palms down under the buttocks. Then, keeping the legs strong, press into the elbows and lift the chest and head up. Drop the head back to open the throat, then ease the head back and down so you are pressing into the back or top of the head, your elbows, and sitting bones as you open your heart center to the heavens. After five to ten breaths, lift the head a bit, tuck the chin, and lower back down to lie flat. Alternatively, you can sit in an easy cross-legged position, place your hands behind your hips with the fingers pointing forward, arch the chest up and stretch the head back. Or you can come into an easy forward bend, place your hands on the shins, and lift the head up as you pull the shoulders back and the chest forward.

Because shoulderstand is so calming, it's great to then lie back in savansana (corpse pose), rest, and let the healing benefits of this soothing pose take effect.

SALAMBA SIRSANSA ~ SUPPORTED HEADSTAND

Aahhhh! Hail Headstand, King of the Asanas! This pose is truly majestic. By reversing the flow of blood and lymph in the body, it floods the brain with oxygenated blood, stimulating the nervous system and clearing the mind. This also activates the pituitary and pineal glands in the head, which rule the endocrine system that controls the body's chemical and metabolic processes, thereby improving mental and physical functions. By draining venous (used) blood from the legs, pelvis and lower torso, headstand rejuvenates those areas. And by reversing the pull of gravity on the organs, especially the intestines, it helps to cleanse them and overcome problems of the liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines and reproductive system. Sirsasana increases gastric fire and produces heat in the body. Mentally, it helps us overcome fear and develop focus - if your mind wanders in this pose, you'll be out of it in a flash. Structurally, it strengthens the back, legs, shoulders, arms, diaphragm and abdominal muscles. When done properly, headstand helps the spine become properly aligned, improving posture, facilitating good breathing and reducing muscular stress. In other words, it's very good for you! Practice it daily, and you'll feel positively royal.

Practice Tips:

Since headstand is such a strong inversion, it's best to be warmed up (but not tired) and to prepare for it by first doing a less intense inversion, such as downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana) or dolphin pose (hands in headstand position, head on the floor, hips lifting, but toes still on the floor). Headstand is contraindicated if you have high blood pressure, or problems with the heart, neck, or eyes, including glaucoma or a detached retina. And you should not do this pose if you are menstruating or feel pain in the neck or uncomfortable pressure in the head, ears, eyes or chest while practicing it.

Begin on your hands and knees. If you're new to the pose, you might want to practice near a wall to reduce the fear of falling forward over your head. With the palms turned up and forearms parallel, place the hands and forearms on a sticky mat or towel so they don't slide apart and there is some padding for your head. Make sure your elbows are directly beneath your shoulders (many people start with the elbows too wide) and in line with each other. Interlace the fingers tightly (right up to the webbing) and bring whichever little finger is on the bottom in to be parallel with the other little finger, so it doesn't get crushed. Let the tips of the thumbs touch each other. Place the crown of the head (just in front of the bump at the top of your skull) on the floor, with the back of the head against the thumbs. Make sure the bones of the wrists are on top of each other, and that the wrists are not rolling in or out. This is the base of your pose.

Before you go further, lift the triceps and pull the shoulders vigorously up away from the ears and back as you bring the heart forward. Hollow the armpits by pulling them toward the hips and bring the shoulder blades toward each other as you dig their inner edges into the back. Keep this action going in the arms and shoulders the whole time you're in the pose. Lift the knees, straighten the legs and walk the feet in toward the elbows until your torso is as vertical as you can get it. When you go up into the pose, you'll want to have your weight distributed about two-thirds into the arms and one-third into the head (even less if you're just starting out), so keep pressing the inner elbows, wrists and fingers down as you lift the shoulders up. Stretch up strongly through the spine and hips, then pause.

Check to make sure you haven't splayed the elbows, dropped the shoulders or rounded the upper back. If you like, you can stop here and hold for a few breaths, then drop the knees, stack the fists under your forehead (to get the head above the heart), and rest back in child's pose. Or you can stay in position, energize the legs, and try to lift the toes a bit off the floor a few times - even if it's only for a second - then come out and rest. You might want to repeat this preparation a few times until you're comfortable with it.

If you feel ready to lift into the pose, come to where the torso is vertical and your toes are on the floor. Maintain the lift through the torso and hips, bend the knees, and with an inhale lift the feet up to where the thighs are horizontal. Then continue raising the thighs to vertical, with the feet hanging back toward the hips. Keeping the arm and shoulder actions mentioned before, contract the abdominal and buttock muscles, take the kidneys back and bring the tailbone in and up to stretch through the lumbar spine. To avoid arching the lower back, pull the ribs in toward the spine while you bring the spine in and up.

If this is enough for you, release after four or five breaths, bringing the knees toward the chest and the feet to the floor so you can come down and rest in child's pose. If you want to go all the way, stretch the legs up, soles of the feet toward the sky. Rotate the thighs inward, take the groins back, and bring the tailbone and sacrum forward. Squeeze the thighs together and stretch up vigorously through your core, from the top of the head up through the spine and inner legs, then out the heels and balls of your feet. Shoot a stream of energy up like a fountain from the upper palate of your mouth (the energy focal point in this pose) as you ground down through the arms and head. Let your gaze be soft, looking at the floor or just past the tip of your nose. Keep the ankles, knees, hips and shoulders in line. When you find the right alignment and balance, you'll feel light and easy in the pose. Hold for five to eight breaths, then come down and rest in child's pose.

Eventually, you'll want to hold the pose a minute or two (10 to 20 breaths) and even longer. And once your back muscles get strong, you'll be able to lift up and come out of the pose with straight legs. When that becomes easy, you can begin to experiment with the many variations of headstand, such as that with the legs opened wide to the side (upavista konasana), with the soles of the feet together (baddha konasana), or with one leg extended forward and the other back (hanumasana). (See Iyengar's Light on Yoga for more about headstand variations.)

When you're upside down in headstand, it can be difficult to know whether you're aligned properly in the pose. So it helps to have a practice partner or teacher give you feedback. You can also practice in a corner so you'll learn if you're tilting to one side or another, dropping the shoulders, or arching the back.

Because sirsasana is so stimulating and requires a strong contraction in the neck and shoulder muscles, it's advisable to practice shoulderstand after you do headstand. Shoulderstand helps to calm the nervous system and release the neck and shoulder muscles, so you'll be feel more balanced and happy, instead of tight and firey. Like Shiva and Shakti, headstand and shoulderstand are a divine couple whose union produces the fullness of being. Give homage to the king and queen of asanas, and they will bestow great blessings upon you.

SETU BANDHASANA ~ BRIDGE BUILDING POSE

Like a true construction project, bridge pose has various stages of completion. This enables almost everyone to do it at some level. In the initial stage, called dwi pada pitha (two-legged platform pose) it's a wonderful way to open the front of the thighs, hips and shoulders, stretch the inner thighs and abdomen, and relieve tension in the lower back. In the finished stage, with the legs fully extended and the hands supporting the lower back (setu bandha sarvangasana), this is an intense backbend requiring great strength in the legs and buttocks, much openness in the chest, abdomen and shoulders, and great flexibility in the back, wrists and thighs. And because it is a mild inversion, in all stages this asana improves circulation and energy flow, strengthens the back and thighs, stretches the neck and tones the nervous system. So let's lie down and get to work.  

Practice Tips:

Begin by lying on your back, bending your knees and bringing the heels under the knees with your feet parallel and hips-width apart. Wriggle from side to side and roll the shoulders under to flatten out the shoulder blades, taking care to keep the shoulders square and not pulled down toward your hips. Extend the arms alongside the torso, palms down. Tilt the pelvis slightly forward to hollow the groins and get a slight arch in your lower back. With an inhale lift the hips up a bit and stretch your tailbone toward your heels. Press down into the front of the heels and begin to stretch your knees toward the wall in front of you as you lift the thighs. Keep the energy moving forward from the upper palette (the energy center for this pose) through the knees and tailbone as you lift the hips higher. Make sure the knees don't splay out and that you don't press the back of the neck down, losing its natural arch.

In the initial stage (dwi pada pitha) stop when you've built a diagonal platform from the knees to the shoulders, with the knees higher than the pubic bone, the pubic bone higher than the navel, and the navel higher than the sternum. Take 5-8 deep, smooth breaths, then lower the hips down. If that felt good, do it again, this time perhaps stretching your arms overhead, shoulder width apart and palms up, or with elbows bent and in line with the shoulders, forearms perpendicular to the upper arms. These variations help to open the shoulders and collarbones.

If you'd like to go further, start like before, then begin to lift the chest up and toward the chin as you raise the hips higher. This will start to create a bridge-like arch in the back. Again, hold 5-8 breaths, then lower the hips. To intensify the back-bending work, once you go up to the initial stage you can lift the heels and walk the feet back or walk the shoulders forward a bit. Keeping the shoulders rolled under, interlace your fingers behind your back and press the hands down into the floor, or simply grab the ankles. Press the shoulders, arms and inner feet down as you lift into a higher arch, trying to bring the pubic bone and navel level with each other. So you don't overarch the back, stretch into this backbend by bringing the sternum toward your chin as you take the shins forward. Lower after several breaths.

If this is comfortable, you can go a little deeper by supporting the back with your hands, thereby deepening the stretch on the abdomen and upper back. To do this, lift up to the previous stage, then shift your weight to the left side, bend the right elbow, and bring the hand underneath the right hip, with the fingers out to the side. Then shift to the right and bring the left hand to the left hip. You may have to lift up on you toes to create enough height to do this. Keep the elbows working toward each other as you press the shoulders and feet down. If this is easy, bring the hands from the hips to the lower back, with the fingers up toward the hips. Breathe into the stretch, keeping the energy moving forward and up. If you want more work (go easy - this can be hard on the lower back and sacral joints) lift one knee and extend the foot toward the sky. Then switch. Come back to the pose, then lower and rest.

To go to the final stage, come to the position where your hands are supporting the lower back. Begin to straighten the legs by inching them forward one at a time and pressing strongly into the inner feet. Eventually you'll bring the feet and legs together. To come out, walk the feet back a bit, remove the hands, and lower down.

An alternative way to get into the final stage is from shoulderstand (see description for this asana). Keeping your hands on your back, drop one leg toward your face as you lower the other one forward, bending the knee and placing the foot on the floor. Then lower the other leg. (You can lower both legs at a time, if you prefer.) Lift up on the toes, stretch the hips and spine forward, and, if necessary, reposition the hands and elbows for good alignment. Then lower the heels and stretch one leg forward at a time, as above.

To keep the knees from splaying out and to stretch the inner thighs more as you practice the initial stages of setu bandhasana, place a block between the thighs and hug it as you go into the pose. Similarly, if the shoulders splay out too much, you can place a strap around the arms above the elbows

When you're done building your bridge, you may want to do a counter-stretch for the lower back, such as tucking the thighs toward your chest. Dropping the knees to one side, then the other, in a simple reclining twist also helps release the lower back and hips. As a counter-stretch for the neck and upper chest, you may wLike a stop at a desert oasis, camel is a wonderfully refreshing pose. This exhilarating backbend, which resembles the hump of a camel, is a powerful opener for the front of the body, especially the chest, shoulders and throat. It therefore improves breathing, increases circulation and helps to lengthen the spine. Also, because ustrasana requires the muscles of the legs, hips and back to work hard, it strengthens these areas while stretching the thighs and groins and releasing tension in the upper back. The result is a strong flow of energy that wells up through the legs and shoots out of your heart center like a fountain dancing toward the sky. Plus, with care, almost everyone can do camel to some degree. So if you're feeling a little bent over or down from dealing with the dust and heat of life, ride this invigorating pose to a renewed sense of wonder and well-being. ant to do some version of fish pose (hips and head down, heart up). When everything feels comfortable, lie back and enjoy the connections you have built between your feet and your head, your lower spine and upper spine, the mundane world and the sacred.

USTRANSANA ~ CAMEL POSE

 Like a stop at a desert oasis, camel is a wonderfully refreshing pose. This exhilarating backbend, which resembles the hump of a camel, is a powerful opener for the front of the body, especially the chest, shoulders and throat. It therefore improves breathing, increases circulation and helps to lengthen the spine. Also, because ustrasana requires the muscles of the legs, hips and back to work hard, it strengthens these areas while stretching the thighs and groins and releasing tension in the upper back. The result is a strong flow of energy that wells up through the legs and shoots out of your heart center like a fountain dancing toward the sky. Plus, with care, almost everyone can do camel to some degree. So if you're feeling a little bent over or down from dealing with the dust and heat of life, ride this invigorating pose to a renewed sense of wonder and well-being.

Practice Tips:

Start by kneeling with the knees hip's width apart, shins parallel, and tops of the feet on the floor. For greater comfort, you may want to do this on a doubled yoga mat, blanket or thick rug. Energize the legs by drawing the muscles toward the bones and pulling that energy up into the pelvis. Rotate the inner thighs and groins back and bring the lower abs in as you pull the navel up. Keeping the groins hollowed back, firm the buttocks, stretch the tailbone down and move the sacrum in. Draw the thighs toward each other (without actually bringing them together) and press the knees, shins and tops of the feet firmly down. These actions will provide the base or "legs" needed to support your camel hump.

Keeping the legs and hips active, lift the shoulders up and back, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and bring the hands to the back of your hips, fingers pointing down. Keep the shoulders opening back and the elbows moving toward each other. With an inhale, stretch up out of the pelvis, and as you exhale, start to arch up and back, leading with your sternum or heart center. Keep the spine long by pushing down into the knees while lifting up from the crown of your head. Work in the pose for four or five breaths, pushing the thighs forward to keep them as vertical as you can. Then lift up with an inhale by pressing strongly down into your knees and feet. With an exhale, bend the knees and sit back on your heels, or fold forward slowly into child's pose, resting your forehead on stacked hands.

If this felt good, you're ready to go deeper. If it was difficult or hard on your lower back, try lifting up more out of the pelvis and arching back less when you try it again. If you want to intensify, one way is to work kneeling up against a wall. Keep pressing the thighs and pubic bone into the wall and drawing the thighs toward each other as you lift up and arch back. This will really make the legs work hard.

Another is to start as before (or up against a wall) and go into the back arch. When you've gone as far as you can with the hands on your hips, begin to gradually slide them down the back of your legs so you can increase the backbend. Just be sure to keep your tailbone down, your sacrum pressing forward, your groins moving back, and your legs squeezing toward each other. This will help you keep the spine long so you don't collapse and strain the lower back.

Again, after five breaths or so, lift up and out of the pose and rest. If you feel now like you want to go all the way into the pose, start like before, but this time slide your hands all the way down to put your fingertips or palms on your heels. If they easily reach that far, push down into the hands to help lift your heart toward the heavens. If the hands are almost there but not quite, try curling your toes under to lift the heels higher and bring them more in reach. Alternatively, try turning a little to one side, so you can look at the foot there and reach down to take hold of it. Then turn back to center and reach down with the other hand, which you will now probably be able to get all the way to the foot.

Once you're in camel pose, keep the kidneys moving back and up as you press the spine into your back and pull it out of the pelvis to prevent overarching the lower back. Lift your head so it's facing straight up and stretch out from the knob at the base of the skull to pull the hyoid bone at the front of the throat back and up. Then, sliding the sides of the throat back, open the throat and stretch the head back as much as comfortable. Pressing into your knees and hands, and keeping the thighs moving forward, let the energy spring up higher and higher through your heart. After five breaths or so, come up as before, rest in child's pose, and enjoy the revitalizing flow of energy within you.

GOMUKHASANA ~ COW  FACE  POSE

When you first look at this pose, you might wonder, as I did, what its name has to do with crossed knees, a lifted elbow and hands clasped behind the back. But if you use a little imagination, you might find not just one, but two cow faces in it.

You can see one of them from the front, especially in the version where the feet are close together and the hands are placed in front on the top knee rather than clasped behind. The pose then has a triangular form, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom, like the face of a cow. The crossed knees might even look like the lips of the cow's mouth. A classical Indian instrument, the gomukh, shares a similar triangular shape and name. You can see the other cow face by looking down at your legs when you sit in the version where the feet are out to the side, in what is sometimes called samkatasana or tight pose. Then the knees look like the top of the cow's head with your legs and feet as its horns or ears.

Whatever its relationship to the face of a cow, this pose is one of the best stretches you can find for the outer thighs, hips and buttocks. And because it's one of the few that stretches the piriformis muscle of the outer hip, which lies on the sciatic nerve, it's very effective at alleviating sciatica caused by having a tight piriformis press the nerve. Gomukhasana also relaxes the abdominal muscles, tones the lower pelvis, and alleviates hemorrhoids and constipation. And when the hands are clasped behind the back and the elbows are raised alternately, the pose expands the chest, frees and stretches the shoulders, and makes breathing easier. So make this "face" with your body, and you'll feel open and relaxed, like a sacred cow enjoying siesta.

Practice Tips:

Since gomukhasana has several versions requiring different degrees of openness in the hips, knees and shoulders let's start with the "easy" one where you sit between the feet. To get into this position, start on all fours, lift your left knee, and bring it behind the right. Slide the left foot out a little to the right as you slide the right foot out slightly to the left. Sit between the feet, with the right knee on top of the left and the heels in as close as comfortable to the hips. If necessary use a block or folded blanket to elevate the hips so both sitting bones are grounded and there is no strain in the knees or hips. If you prefer, you can get into the pose by first bending the left knee back, then bringing the right leg around and bending it back so the right knee is over the left.

Once you're seated between the feet, you can simply rest your hands on your knees with the right hand on top of the left, sit tall, and let the sitting bones be heavy. Lift the shoulders up and back, drop your chin to your chest and breathe in the pose for five to eight breaths. With the arms in this position, the pose is called gomukhasana A in the Ashtanga second series.

Alternatively, you can lift the right arm up, bend the elbow, and walk the fingers down the middle of your back, as if you had an itch you wanted to get to but couldn't quite reach. If you're stiff, you can push the right elbow back gently with your left hand to help stretch the triceps and armpits, so your right hand goes further down the back. Next, extend your left arm out, turn it strongly inward to pronate it, and reach down and back as you bend the elbow and bring the back of the hand up the middle of your back - ideally to where you'll be able clasp the right hand or wrist. Then sit tall, look straight ahead, and gently stretch the elbows away from each other by pulling on the clasped hands. This is version B of the pose in the Ashtanga series. (Note that in the Iyengar system, the left elbow would usually be lifted if the right knee were on top.)

If you can't hook the fingers or clasp the hands, have a strap or towel over your right shoulder. Then you can hold it and pull on it to stretch the elbows away from each other. Also, you might find it easier to clasp the hands behind the back if you first pronate your left arm and bring the back of the hand up the middle of the back. Then reach back around with your right hand to grab the left elbow and gently pull it toward the center of the back as you stretch the hand further up. Try to keep the shoulders square, the top of your arm bones back, your shoulder blades on the back, and the upper arms rotating externally. Also, keep lifting the heart and expanding internally as you breathe mindfully in the pose.

Whatever you do, be careful with these arm movements, especially if you have rotator cuff tendonitis, bursitis, or other shoulder problems. But if the arm stuff is easy and you want more stretch, pull the stomach in and bend forward, chin toward the knees or beyond them, keeping the hands clasped and elbows pulling apart. This position helps to open the nasal passages and alleviate headaches, but for most of us, it's quite intense.

If you want more stretch in the hips and thighs, start as before, but sit with the left heel between the buttocks. Bring the right foot as close to the left thigh as possible. Then do either version of the arms. For still more stretch, do the full out final version with the legs. Start by bringing the left heel under the right buttock, toes pointing straight back. Then bring the right knee over the left and draw the right foot close to the left, so the right heel is under the left buttock and the toes as straight back as possible. Sit on the heels (or try to - when I attempt this, the stiffness in my knees and thighs keeps me from sitting fully down). Again, do the arm thing. After you're done with the pose on one side, do the other, with the hands or elbows in the opposite position.

Because cow face pose stretches a lot of areas in a way you may not be used to, you may want to do a downward dog after each side to even things out. Alternatively, come to all fours and stretch one leg back at a time, first flexing the foot, then twirling it in and out a few times. Then just sit for moment and let your mind and body - as well as your face - become as open and easy as the face of a happy cow.

URDHIVA DHANURASANA ~ UPWARD  FACING  BOW

Because urdhva dhanurasana is so strenuous, it is not recommended for people with heart problems, high blood pressure, detached retina or glaucoma, or severe headaches. Also, those with spinal, shoulder or wrist problems should avoid this pose. And because up-bow requires considerable openness in the shoulders, front of the thighs, and hips - as well as lots of flexibility in the spine - it's best to warm up first with asanas that gently stretch and open these areas. Sun salutations, shoulder openers and less intense backbends such as bhujangasana (cobra), setu banda sarvangasana (bridge), ustrasana (camel) or dhanurasana (bow) are good ways to get ready for this strong backbend. 
Practice Tips:

Once you've warmed up, lie back, bend the knees and draw the feet toward the hips so the ankles are under the knees. Make sure the feet are parallel, with the heels and knees about hips width apart. Take your arms up overhead, bend the elbows, and place the hands palms down (fingers pointing toward your hips) at the top of the shoulders. If you're just starting out, you'll find it easier to have the hands somewhat wider than shoulder width apart. Just make sure the index fingers are parallel. Tilt the pelvis forward a bit so you have a natural arch in your lower back and so the groins drop down and in. Then, scoop your tail bone forward and up toward the pubic bone without losing the arch.

With an inhale, press into the front of the heels (about two inches from the back), push the top of the shins forward toward the wall in front of you, and let the hips rise up a bit. Pull your arm pits back and in toward the ribs. Still pressing into the front of the heels, push into you hands and lift with an inhale to the top of your head. Pause. If it was a struggle to get this far, stay on the top of the head and press into the hands and feet for several breaths, or lift up as much as you can. To come down, tuck the chin, lower yourself onto the back of the shoulders, then lower the hips. Take several resting breaths, then repeat - or not, if that was enough.

If getting to the top of the head was easy, you can try lifting into the full pose. Before you do, check to see that the arm pits are still pulling back and in. Then with an inhale, press into the hands and extend the arms to lift up into the bow. Instead of simply pushing up, however, try to lengthen up so you don't crunch and strain the lower back. To help the spine stay long, keep the top of the shins and tail bone moving forward while taking the sternum toward the chin and the wall behind you. Breathe deeply and smoothly, drawing energy into the center of your pelvis as you inhale, and extending out through the spine, legs, arms, toes and fingers as you exhale.

As you hold the pose, keep pulling the armpits back and working the shoulder blades together so they stay on the back. Slide the sides of the throat and upper palate back to keep the hyoid bone (the floating bone in front of the throat) in. This helps maintain good alignment and facilitates the flow of organic energy that makes it easier to hold the pose. Keep the elbows and shins squeezing toward each other, and keep lifting the thighs, sacrum and back of the body up as you lengthen the sides of the torso. If you can, straighten the arms fully and bring the pelvis and ribs to the same level. Hold for three to five breaths, then lower down, rest and breathe. If that felt good, do the pose two or three more times, perhaps lifting up directly into the bow in one move without coming to your head first, or staying up for an extra breath each time.

If you get to the top of your head all right but can't seem to get much higher, try using blocks. With one end of your mat against a wall, place a firm yoga block lengthwise against the wall with the outer edges of the blocks on the outer edge of the mat. You might even want to tilt each block on a diagonal so the back edge goes up the wall a bit. This will make it easier to place your palms on the wider face of the block instead of the edge and will lessen the degree to which you have to flex the wrists back, making the pose easier if your wrists are stiff. Place the hands on the blocks and lift up as before. The extra height of the blocks makes it easier to get more fully into the pose.

When you do urdhva dhanurasana, take care to keep your knees from splaying out. If they do, you'll put more pressure on the lower back and lose the power of the legs. To prevent this, keep the tail bone stretching actively forward, the thighs working toward each other, and the groins working down to maintain inner spiral. You might also find it helpful to practice by placing a block between the.thighs just above the knees and squeezing it as you perform the pose. Using a block will also help to strengthen the inner thighs.

Also, if lifting up with an inhale doesn't feel quite right, try doing so with an exhale. Donna Farhi, whose writings on the breath and on backbends are some of the most thorough I've seen, teaches this approach. Lifting on the exhale goes with the natural tendency of the inner body to expand and extend energy through the limbs on the exhale. (Think, for example, of how you tend to inhale and crouch down then exhale and spring up when you want to jump up for something.) Extending and lifting on the exhale helps you keep the spine long as you go into a backbend, especially one as strong as urdhva dhanurasana.

After doing this intense backbend, you will probably want to do a counter stretch to release tension in the back and hips. One way is to bend the knees, lift the feet off the floor, and let the knees open about shoulder width apart. Take your arms around the back of your thighs and grasp one hand with the other or hook the fingers of one hand into those of the other. Pull the thighs down toward the ribs and hold for several breaths. Then release the hands, bring the knees together, and interlace the fingers over the shins. Gently squeezing the knees, draw the thighs toward the ribs, hold a few breaths, then release the feet back down.

You might also want to do a gentle twist to further release the back. If so, take the arms out to the sides and with the feet on the floor, drop the knees first one way, then the other, as you look in the opposite direction. Tuck the knees up one more time, then lie back and enjoy the vibrant energy of the bow dancing within you.  

DWI PADA VIPARITA DANDASANA ~ TWO-LEGGED INVERTED STAFF POSE

Now here's a real heart opener. This powerful backbend fully expands the chest, opens the thoracic spine, and vigorously stretches the legs and front of the body. Viparita dandasana stimulates the adrenal, thyroid, pituitary and pineal glands, opens the lungs and massages the heart, improving circulation and respiration. As a result, it calms the emotions and soothes the mind while strengthening the heart and invigorating the body. It also increases flexibility in the spine, strengthens the legs and shoulders, and releases tension in the lower back. Plus, this asana relieves indigestion and menstrual pain and helps treat the symptoms of menopause. So if you want to give your heart a real thrill, just lie back and get ready to lift it up toward the heavens, where a whole new realm of consciousness awaits you.
Practice Tips:

Like urdhva dhanurasana and other strenuous backbends, dwi pada viparita dandasana is not recommended if you have heart problems, high blood pressure, detached retina or glaucoma. You should also skip this pose if you are pregnant, menstruating or suffering from a migraine, severe headache, constipation, diarrhea or insomnia. Also, those with neck or back injuries should avoid this pose or do it very carefully. And unless you find backbends easy, you'll want to be thoroughly warmed up before you push up into this demanding asana. Sun salutations, shoulder openers, and less intense backbends such as setu banda sarvangasana (bridge) or urdhva dhanurasana (up-bow) are good ways to prepare for dwi pada viparita dandasana.

Once you've warmed up, lie back, bend your knees and draw your feet toward your hips so your ankles are under your knees, with your feet and legs together (or at least as close as you can and still lift up). Take your arms up overhead, bend your elbows, and place your hands palms down (fingers pointing toward your hips) near the top of your shoulders. If you are tight in the shoulders and chest, you may want to place your hands slightly more than shoulder width apart, with the index fingers parallel, so you can keep your elbows in line with your wrists. Be sure your pelvis tips forward a bit so you can keep the natural arch in your lower back (you'll be able to slide one hand under if you do).

Take a big inhale, drawing your armpits into your ribs and gathering energy into your core. With the exhale lift up your hips and shoulders and come to the top of your head. Take one hand behind your head and press the elbow into your mat. Then take your other hand behind your head and interlace the fingers of both hands, as in supported headstand. Keep the elbows firmly grounded, the shoulders lifting up and back, and the shoulder blades digging into the rib cage and pushing it forward. Take another big inhale, and with the exhale lift the hips higher, keeping the sacrum moving in and up and the tail in and toward the knees. Move the chest forward and the shins in the opposite direction as you squeeze the legs together and open the armpits. Hold for five big breaths -- or longer if you like.

To come down, unclasp the hands and one at a time place them palms down, fingers pointing toward the feet as you had them before. Push into the hands, lift the head a little and tuck the chin. Then lower the shoulders and hips down. Alternatively, unclasp the hands, push into the elbows to lift the head and tuck the chin, then lower the shoulders, sliding the hands back over head as you lower the hips.

If this was fairly easy and you want to go fully into the pose, go up as before. Then straighten the legs by taking the feet forward one at a time. Try to keep the feet and legs together. Roll the thighs in and draw them toward the hips as you press into the heels and lift the thighs, calves and hips higher. Keep extending as you lift. After several breaths, walk the feet back and lower down as before.

Because it's often difficult at first to keep the elbows pressing down enough so they don't slide back as you lift more into the pose, you might want to practice where you can place the elbows against a wall. This will enable you to move the chest higher and toward the wall without the elbows slipping. Alternatively, place the feet against a wall and have a friend press your elbows down so you can lift higher without sliding one way or another. If you have difficulty getting your elbows down at all, try practicing the pose with your feet on blocks or a chair placed against the wall. By elevating your feet, you'll find it easier to keep your elbows down and open your chest without straining your lower back. When you're just starting out, you may also find it easier to get into the pose if you have your feet and knees hips-width apart.

If you don't feel ready for this strong version of dwi pada viparita dandasana, try the preparations for it that involve bending back over a chair to open the chest and stretch the legs without requiring so much effort. While there's not enough room here to describe these preparations, you can find excellent descriptions of them in Yoga the Iyengar Way by Silva, Mira and Shyam Mehta; and Yoga: The Path To Holistic Health by B.K.S. Iyengar. Or work with a teacher trained in Iyengar-style yoga.

After you come out of a vigorous dwi pada viparita dandasana, you'll find doing some twists will help release any tension in your spine. For example, try a version of jathara parivartanasana (reclining twist) by lying back and bringing your feet in near your hips, with your feet and knees together and your arms out to the side. Lower your knees together to one side, then the other -- maybe extending your legs out to the side as well -- as you look the other way. Or do a simple seated twist out of sukhasana or dandasana. Then lie back in upward facing child's pose, where you lift your feet off the floor, clasp your hands together over your shins and draw your thighs toward your ribs. Or do regular child's pose. In either one, rest and notice how your breath is easier, your mind and emotions quieter, and your heart more open and happier.

UPAVISHTA KONASANA ~ SEATED WIDE-ANGLE POSE

This is a wonderful pose for connecting to the earth and getting centered — while giving your hamstrings and inner thighs a powerful stretch. It also opens the hip joints and back of the knees, frees the spine, and stretches the lower back and hip area. Upavishta konasana therefore relieves sciatica and other spine-related disorders. Another benefit is increased circulation in the pelvis, which stimulates the ovaries and helps prevent or alleviate premenstrual, menstrual, menopausal, and prostate problems (but it‘s not recommended during menstruation). Plus, this asana aids in the breakdown of body fat, thereby trimming the legs and torso. Best of all, by moving energy down from your head into your pelvis, it cools the body and calms the mind. So it’s great to do toward the end of your practice or as a mini-yoga session all by itself when you want to chill a bit. There’s something about bringing your head and heart down toward the earth with your legs spread and firmly grounded that’s very soothing — as if you were opening yourself to Gaia’s supportive energy and offering your heart to her. So take a wide-legged seat and settle into what I think you’ll find a deeply satisfying forward bend. 

 Practice Tips:

Sit down and open your legs wide — but not necessarily as wide as you can. According to John Friend and some other teachers I’ve studied with, the optimal opening is between 110 and 120 degrees. In other words, there should be more than a right angle between the legs but not such a wide angle that the legs form almost a straight line across (180 degrees). That’s a different pose, called samakonasana, which is done sitting straight up, not bending forward. Also, by keeping the legs around 120 degrees, you’ll get more stretch in the hips and lower back and find it easier to keep the pelvis from rotating forward too much and causing a painful (and sometimes long-lasting) tear in the tendons that connect the hamstrings to the sitting bones.

So, once you have the legs where you want them, lean forward a little, reach underneath one buttock at a time and pull it back and out, pushing your groins down and wriggling your sitting bones back as you do. Then, with one hand on the inside of a thigh and the other on the outside, roll the flesh so the inner thigh descends and the outer thigh lifts up and out. Do the same on the other thigh. These actions will help the sitting bones and thighbones ground down firmly. It will also help get the floor of the pelvis level. That’s where both sitting bones are rooted down, and the pubic bone and tail bone are even with each other.

If you’re stiff in the hamstrings and lower back, and the pelvis stays tucked under (with the pubic bone up and the lower back rounded) no matter how much you pull on the buttocks or push the groins down, try this. Sit on a folded blanket or folded mat to elevate the pelvis. This will enable it to tip forward more and better align the spine. Or bend the knees a little, perhaps even placing a rolled towel under them so the legs can ground down without tugging the back of the pelvis under or straining the knees. Because upavishta konasana gives the hamstrings, back of the knees, inner thighs and groins such a strong stretch, be very careful (maybe just sit tall with the legs active) or skip this pose if you have an injury in those areas. If you have asthma or are in the later stages of pregnancy, do the pose sitting with your back against a wall and forget the forward bend part.

Rotating the thighs inward should have brought your toes and kneecaps straight up. If it didn’t, make that happen. Firm the legs by drawing the muscles in toward the bones and up from the feet into the pelvis. Then extend through the heels, press out through the balls of the feet, and spread and extend the toes. With you hands behind your hips, push down into the sitting bones, back of the thighs, and heels and lift up out of the pelvis. Loop the shoulders up and back and lift the sternum (breastbone) toward your chin as you stretch up through the top of your head. Take a breath or two here while checking to see that you are sitting tall wide and open, with your shoulders over the hips, your sacrum moving in and up, and your tailbone in and down.

If your spine is straight, you can start bending forward from the pelvis, keeping the front of your spine long, with your sternum pulling away from your navel. If your back starts to round and your shoulders hunch up, you may be going too far. Just stay sitting tall or maybe bending forward a little and work with the breath, lifting up and extending on the inhales and bending forward a micron or two on the exhales. You might even want to press into you hands to push yourself gently up and forward.

If you can bend forward easily while keeping your spine extended, bring your arms around in front and put your finger tips on the floor, with the arms shoulder width apart. With each inhale lift up a little and bring the sacrum forward, and with each exhale, bend forward a bit more, spider walking your hands a little further out in front of you. Make sure your spine stays long and your shoulders broad and looping up and back as your heart opens down toward the earth. Keep your tailbone stretching down and in to free and lengthen the spine so you can bend forward more deeply without collapsing it. To help the tailbone stay down, lift your belly away from the thighs and wrap the outer thighs back and down as you stretch forward and down.

If you can go at least half way down without hunching over, you may want to grab your shins, loop your big toes with your middle and index fingers, or grab the outside of your feet and pull yourself deeper into the pose. Gaze forward, not down, to help keep the spine extending. Stay in upavishta konasana for five deep breaths — or more if you really want to settle into this comforting asana. As you breathe in the pose, keep your leg muscles toned and your heart soft. With each inhale draw energy into your pelvis and take the pubic bones, thighbones and groins down some more. With each exhale, root your tail back and stretch forward and down more, pulling on your toes or feet or clawing the floor with your finger tips or palms to help lengthen the spine.

To come out, lift up slowly with an inhale, releasing your hands if you were holding your legs or feet, and keeping your legs strong and spine long as you come back to sit tall. Bring your hands in prayer pose in front of your heart and take another breath or two before you release and rest, thanking the Earth for supporting you so well in this and everything else you do.

JANU SIRSASANA ~ HEAD TO  KNEE POSE

If you had to design a seated forward bend that strongly opens the hips and groins while deeply stretching the legs and back, you’d be hard pressed to come up with anything as good as janu sirsana. Because this pose requires the pelvis to turn into the extended leg while tipping forward, it stretches the hip joints and groins in several directions at once. And because the back of the extended leg and the front of the spine must lengthen to go deeply into this forward bend, it’s very effective at stretching those areas. This asana also tones the liver, spleen and kidneys and stimulates the pelvic organs and sex glands while cooling the body and quieting the mind. Iyengar recommends it for an enlarged prostate gland or chronic low fever. Instead of getting your head to your knee, however, the goal in the pose is really to extend way beyond the knee as you lower your navel to your thigh, your heart to your knee and your chin to your shin. But even if your head gets nowhere near the extended leg, you’ll benefit a lot from practicing janu sirsasana often.

Practice Tips:

Begin by sitting with both legs extended in front and bend your right knee up a bit. Place your right hand under the inside of your right thigh near the knee and pull it out and back as far as comfortable. Still pulling the thigh back, grab the ankle with your left hand and bring the right foot in against the left thigh, with the heel as close to the right groin as possible. If this won’t happen, have the heel close to the left groin.

If your knee hurts when you bring the foot in or it won’t flex back very far, you can put your right foot up higher near the left knee. Or place a block under the right shin near the knee (and perhaps a rolled cloth behind the knee) to relieve strain. To better align the legs, reach underneath one thigh at a time and pull it and back and up so it rolls inward a bit and the groins descend. Do the same with the buttocks, wriggling them back to get the floor of the pelvis level.

As you opened the right knee out, you may have turned the pelvis a little to the right, so you are facing between the knees rather than over the left leg, where you want to be. To position your torso so your sternum (breastbone) is in line with your left leg, inhale and sit tall, and with an exhale strongly turn your pelvis and torso to the left, leading with your right hip and ribs. To help the pelvis turn, you can push your right hand against the front of your right knee for leverage. Or you can lean forward and take your right hand to the outside of your right leg or foot as a lever point, maybe even twisting to the left to help the pelvis turn that way. As you do this, keep pulling your left hip back and bringing your right hip forward.

Make sure you have the left sitting bone firmly grounded and that both sides of the rib cage are extending evenly, so you’re not collapsing on the left and bowing out on the right. If you are, shift the ribs to the left to get them in line, and keep pulling the right ribs down and toward your left leg when you bend forward.

Before you do, energize your left leg by flexing the foot and drawing the muscle energy in toward the bones and up the leg into the center of your pelvis. Make sure the toes and kneecap are facing straight up, and extend the leg bones out through the heel. Keeping the heel extended, push out through the ball of the left foot and spread the toes. Push the left heel and thighbone down, and press the right foot against the left leg, spreading the little toe into the floor. Keep both legs active by hugging the muscles to the bones and working the shins toward each other as you pull the inner thighs into the pelvis and push the thighbones out. Now you’re ready to start bending forward.

To do so, with an inhale push down into the sitting bones and extend up through the crown of the head to keep the back of the neck long. As you exhale, stretch up and begin to fold over the left leg. Keep the sternum pulling away from the navel and the shoulders lifting up and back as you bring the heart forward and the dorsal spine (upper back) in. Stretch the arms forward to hold under the knees or calves, or perhaps around the ball of the left foot. With another inhale loop the shoulders back, extend some more through the spine, and pull back on your left hip. As you exhale, begin to fold more over left leg, leading from the right side to keep the rib cage even. Try to bring first your navel to the left thigh, then your sternum to the knee, and finally your forehead or chin to the shin.

If you’re tight in the hamstrings and hips, it may not be possible to go forward very much without rounding the back and hunching the shoulders. So you’ll work more productively if you take your hands behind the hips, with the fingers pointing back, and push into the fingertips to lift yourself up and forward. This will enable you to keep the spine long and stay open across the collarbones as you work the pose. When you can keep the spine long and bend forward enough to bring the shoulders a foot or so in front of the hips without rounding, you’re ready to shift the hands forward. You can then either spider walk you hands along your left leg or grab the shin or foot and use that as an anchor to pull your spine longer.

If you’re bending forward enough to hold the left shin or foot — or perhaps even enough to grasp your right wrist with your left hand in front of the foot — keep the elbows lifting up, forward and out as you pull the shoulders up and back. Rotate the forearms inward and the upper arms and deltoid muscles outward and back as you slide the shoulder blades down toward the hips. These actions will help you extend the front of the spine forward and keep the shoulders square (it’s easy to let the left one drop as you work the pose). Also, lift the lower belly back and up and root the tailbone down and in to engage the bandhas and further deepen the stretch.

Hold the pose for five to eight breaths or more (I find janu sirsasana very meditative and one that I like to hold for at least eight to 10 breaths). As you work the pose keep the left leg strong and grounded, the spine long, and the breath full and smooth, extending more and going a little deeper with each exhale. When you’re ready, release the hands and lift up with an inhale, perhaps extending the arms up overhead and stretching luxuriously before releasing the pose and doing the other side. When you’re done, just sit and notice how calm and easy this wonderful asana makes you feel.

ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA ~ (DOWNWARD FACING DOG POSE)

If you had to limit your yoga practice to just one pose, down dog would be a great choice. It's absolutely my favorite. Down dog strengthens the arms and legs, opens the hips and shoulders, stretches the entire back of the body and gives you a mild inversion, since the head is below the heart. Because it distributes the weight evenly though all four limbs, the pose feels very balanced and solid. That's amplified by the fact that the heart chakra, at the base of the breastbone and in the middle of the chakra pole, is the energetic center for this pose. There's something about facing down toward the earth that's also very centering, and I find this pose both calms and energizes me. It's no wonder that down dog is both an integral part of the Iyengar restorative series and the Ashtanga flow series - where it's done more than 50 times!

So here's one way to enjoy this wonderful asana, based on  Anusara Yoga Universal Principles of Alignment.

Come to your hands and knees. Bring the wrists under the shoulders, with the creases of the wrists parallel. Spread the fingers wide and root the finger tips, base or ball mount of the fingers, and the heels of the hands into the mat.

Hug the muscles of the hands and arms to the bones and draw the muscular energy up the arms and into the heart chakra at the base of the sternum, drawing the shoulder blades together on the back and rolling the shoulders up and back. From the heart center, shoot the organic energy back through the bones, expanding them and stretching them down to anchor the hands, especially the ball mounts of the index fingers. Keep a tiny "2 micron" bend in the elbows so the "eyes" of the inner elbows look at each other rather than foward.

Lift the ribs and kidneys up and stretch the tailbone back and in so the lower back does not sag, but instead the spine stretches evenly on both front and back sides. Draw the armpits onto the rib cage and broaden across the collar bones.

With the feet hips width, take the knees back 2 inches, curl the toes, and lift the knees. First stretch the sitting bones as far away from the hands as possible, while continuing to roll the shoulders back away from the ears and towards the hips. Lift and spread the toes, straighten and energize the legs by hugging the muscles to the bones, and draw the muscular energy from the soles of the feet up the legs to the pelvis and then to the bottom of the heart. Draw the groins and inner thighs back, root the tail bone in, then shoot organic energy from the heart center through the bones, taking the sitting bones back and up and the heels back and down.

Lengthen out through the neck and top of the head. Keep lifting the front of the body up into the back of the body as you bring the spine more into the body. Resist the top of the shins slightly forward to not hyperextend the knees and take the thigh bones back and up. Press into the ball mounts of the big toes and the outer heels. Work with the breath. As you inhale pull the muscular energy up and into the heart center. As you exhale, shoot the organic energy through the bones, infinitely stretching in two directions from your heart center.

After 5-8 breaths, on an inhale bend the knees and drop them to the mat, on the exhale flatten the tops of the feet and rock back into child's pose, sitting bones sinking toward or into the heels, forehead resting on crossed hands or on the mat with the arms relaxed forward, alongside the head, or with palms up by the heels. Rest and enjoy the breath.

GARUDASANA ~ EAGLE POSE

This is a great pose for relieving shoulder tension, opening the upper back,stretching the outer hips and thighs, and strengthening the legs. According to Iyengar, it's one of the best for relieving leg cramps, and I know from personal experience that it alleviates sciatica. Plus, because balancing in this pose requires considerable concentration, it definitely focuses the mind. The pose is named after Garuda, the mythical king of birds and powerful opponent of evil that carries the great god Vishnu and his consort, Lakshmi, through the universe. I find it interesting that Vishnu means "The Pervader," the inner cohesion through which everything exists. You will definitely need this inner cohesion to become steady in Garudasana. So get Vishnu on your back and get ready for a truly divine asana

Practice Tips:

Here's one way to get into Garudasana that is  stand with the feet about two feet apart. Extend your left arm straight in front at shoulder height. Swing your right arm undeneath the left so that the right elbow is just behind the left. Bend the left arm at the elbow and bring the backs of the hands toward each other. You can keep the hands in that position (holding a strap if necessary to keep the hands close) pressing the elbows together. Or you can grab the left wrist with the right hand, interlace fingers and fold them down, or press the palms, interlace the thumbs and keep the little finger side straight forward, not skewed to the right.

Keeping the arms in that position, bend the knees several inches. Then, shifting your weight to the left foot, lift the right leg high and swing it over the left. You can either rest the right toes on the floor to the outside of the left foot and work there. Or you can twist the right foot and hook it behind the left leg just above the ankle. If you can't get the toes all the way around, just get them to the back of the leg.

Gaze at a focal point on the floor or wall and stretch the elbows forward and up while you take the sitting bones down. The energetic center for this pose is the center of the pelvis. So as you breathe in the pose, sink down from the center of the pelvis, and from the center of the pelvis extend up. Hold for about five breaths, max out the sinking and lifting on the last exhale, then inhale up and untwine as you exhale. Follow the same steps for the other side.

For me, one of the hardest parts of this pose is trying to keep the hips and shoulders even with each other and facing in the same direction I started. When I hook my right foot behind the left leg, I tend to rotate my pelvis to the left. So I have to consciously work the right hip back to keep the pelvis aligned. It helps to notice which way you're facing before you entwine the legs, then see if you can continue to face that way as you work the pose, and not end up twisting to the side.

To give more stretch to the hips and more work to the legs, try this variation. After you are in the pose, bend forward, keeping your back straight, and rest your right elbow on your right knee. You'll have to bend the knee of the standing leg more to do this. Great stretch! You can also try crossing the arms the other way. That is, with the right leg over the left, have the right arm over the left instead of under it. Notice how the stretch changes, and fly like an eagle to greater awareness.

BHUJANGASANA ~ COBRA POSE

Done carefully, this basic backbend is a wonderfully energizing pose.It opens the chest and shoulders, stretches the thigh, front hip and abdominal muscles, stimulates the kidneys, thyroid and adrenals, increases lung capacity, and tones the digestive and reproductive systems. It's a great preparation for more strenuous backbends - and it feels great. Done too aggressively, though, cobra can really put a crimp in your back. So take your time, and like the snake it's named after, wait for the right moment to strike before you do the pose fully.

Practice Tips:

The following will guide you safely into and out of cobra pose. For more on this asana,

Lie prone with the hands underneath your shoulders, your forehead resting on the mat, and your feet hips width apart. Starting with the toes, hug the muscles of the feet and legs to the bones and draw the muscular energy up the legs into the center of the pelvis. Keeping that energy flowing up, extend energy down from the pelvis through the bones, stretching back through the toes as if you wanted to reach something just beyond their reach. Root your tailbone down and in to pin the pubic bone to the floor - and keep it there. Rooting the tailbone down and in is key to doing this or any other backbend safely.

Lift the shoulders up from the floor and roll them back towards the hips. Keep the elbows stretching in and back. As you inhale, pull slightly down and back with the hands to pull the sternum forward and up. Stretch out through top of the head and back and down through the toes as you lift. Keep bringing the spine in, the shoulders rolling up, the chest puffing forward, and the shoulder blades sliding down toward the hips. Use mainly the back muscles at first to come up, not the hands and arms. With the exhale, stretch forward and down through the top of the head and back through the toes as you come back down to rest the forehead on the mat. Repeat up and down three or four more times.

Then come up and hold, keeping the legs strong, the tailbone in, the pubic bone pressing down, and the heart lifting forward and up. If you back feels ok, you can begin to gently press down and back with the hands to bring the chest more forward and up. But if you begin to feel any pinching or strain in the lower back, ease off or come out of the pose. Try to bring the curve as much into the upper back as the lower back, so the heart center is the apex of the arc. Keep the pubic bone in contact with the floor at all times, and work with the breath - stretching forward with the sternum and back with the toes on the inhales, digging the tailbone down and lifting the heart up on the exhales.

Gradually, you can bring the hands back more towards the hips before you come up into the pose and straighten the arms. This will increase the curve on the back and the intensity of the pose. Alternatively, you can take the hands forward a bit in front of the shoulders to straighten the arms and help keep the shoulders rolling up and back without stressing the lower back. And you can stretch up and back through the top of the head to take the chin up and gaze at the sky through your third eye between the eyebrows. Another way to intensify the pose is to bring the feet and legs together before you go up in it, stretching back through the inner heels as well as the toes, and resisting the shins toward the floor.

After any version you do, slowly lift up to hands and knees then back to child's pose for the counter stretch. Go easily, giving your lower back time to open up as you lower the sitting bones toward the hips and stretchthe tailbone back. Rest your forehead on stacked hands, on the floor with the arms relaxed in front or alongside the head, or back by the heels with the palms up. Breathe fully, exhanling through the lower back to loosen it up, and coil back down like a snake at rest.

VIRASANA ~ HERO POSE

While it looks simple, sitting in this pose is truly a heroic feat for many of us who have stiff hips,knees and ankles, because it can give those areas quite a stretch. But for that very reason it is one of the best for opening the hips to rotate more internally, loosening the knee joints and stretching the quadriceps as well as the front of the shins and ankles. This pose helps develop arches in the feet, so it is good for flat feet. And because it increases circulation at the bottom of the pelvis, virasana also promotes reproductive health. Once you get comfortable in the pose, it is very solid and grounding. This, plus the fact that it facilitates aligning the spine and shushumna (central energy channel), makes Virasana an excellent pose for meditation.
Practice Tips:

So try these steps for becoming a hero. And for more on preliminary exercises that will make this pose easier, Kneel on a soft surface (doubled mat or blanket) with the knees together. Take the feet slightly wider than hip's width apart (to the edge of the mat if you're using one). Reach behind the knees and press the palms on the calf muscles to pull them back and slightly out. Holding the calf muscles down, sit between the ankles so they are alongside the hips.

If you're stiff like me and there's no way the sitting bones will get to the floor or the stretch is too intense on the knees, sit on a block or rolled up blanket to elevate the hips. You may also find it helpful to put folded washcloth or sock behind each knee before you come to sit. If the stretch is too intense on the ankles, put a rolled up towel or mat under the tops of the ankles, or sit so the tops of the ankles are on the edge of the blanket you're sitting on, with the toes off it. You may also let the knees separate a little to alleviate the stretch there if it's too intense.

Check to see that the tops of all the toes are on the mat, blanket or floor and that the ankles are not falling inward. If they are, you might find it helpful to put your fists between the heel and the hips and encourage the feet to line up parallel.

Whether your sitting bones are on a block, blanket or the floor, push down from the center of your pelvis and root them down into your base. Roll the inner thighs down and the groins down and back to promote the inward opening of the hip joint. Then from the center of the pelvis, extend up, having the spine rise up like the stem of a flower that blossoms at the crown of your head.

As you sit, make sure you're not jutting the ribs forward. Instead, take the lower ribs back and the kidneys up while bringing the spine in, so the spine stretches evenly front and back. To help align the pelvis, bend forward a bit, pull the flesh of the buttocks back and out, then sit straight and root the tail bone down. Roll the shoulders up and back and lift or lower the chin so the head balances lightly and evenly at the top of the spine.

Rest your hand palms down on your thighs or palms down on your feet. Breathe evenly, rising up on the inhales, rooting down on the exhales, and become a true yogic champion, heroically overcoming your limitations to connect more fully with Supreme Consciousness.

To come out of the pose, lean forward and come to your hands and knees. Stretch one leg back strongly through the heel, then rotate ankle inward three times and outward three times. Do the opposite leg, then lift up into "lazy dog" pose - bend one knee and push the opposite heel down, then bend the other, also bending the elbows and pushing out into the shoulders and hips to take out the kinks so you feel like the champion you are.

ARDHA CHANDRASANA ~ HALF MOON POSE

While this asana may look like a half moon floating in the sky, doing it feels to me like a star softly radiating energy in all directions. Ardha Chandrasana strengthens the ankles, legs, back and buttocks, opens the hips and chest, and stretches the calf and inner thigh muscles. It provides a mild inversion, alleviates gastric disorders, calms the nervous system and develops balance. Simply put, half moon pose makes you feel heavenly. I find it wonderfully restorative whenever I feel tight or tired. There's something about balancing sideways that changes your perspective on things and brings you back to your center. In fact, connecting with your core and grounding down through the standing leg is key to doing this pose. Once you experience the lightness, openness and quiet energy of Ardha Chandrasana, you'll look knowingly at the next half moon you see - and smile.
Practice Tips:

Because Ardha Chandrasana gives the inner thigh muscles a powerful stretch, it's advisable to first do some poses, such as Utthita Trikonasana (triangle), Virabhadrasana II (side warrior) or Parsvakonasana (side angle pose), that stretch the inner thighs less intensely. For that reason, and because this is a lateral pose in which the hips and shoulders stack over each other as they do in triangle, half moon pose is often done out of triangle (but not necessarily, as we'll see in a bit).

So if you know triangle pose, get into it, legs firmly grounded and arms extended up and down. Then bend your front knee, reach forward with your bottom hand and place it (or just the finger tips for starters) about a foot in front of and slightly to the outside of your front foot, so the thumb and little toe are roughly in the same line. Looking down at your big toe, with an inhale lift your back leg as you straighten the standing leg. Stretch back through both the heel and ball of the lifted foot, and press down through the heel and big toe of the foot you're standing on. Stack the shoulders and hips, and stretch up through the raised arm. Root your tailbone in and extend out through the top of your head. If you're steady, you can turn to look up at the thumb of the raised hand.

Balancing in the full pose can be tricky, especially if you don't keep the legs energized and the torso open and extended. To do so, keep grounding into the supporting foot and directing the rebound energy out through your spine and limbs. Let your core stay mobile and pulsing with the breath, so you don't become rigid and restrict the flow of energy through the pose. Keep the knee and foot of the standing leg facing straight forward, not turned in, and make sure the sitting bone of the standing leg stays in the same vertical plane as the heel, so it doesn't fall to the outside and torque the knee inward. Also, keep the ribs back and the heart open in back as well as front, so the spine stretches evenly front and back and you don't jut the ribs or collapse your center.

Perhaps most important, stay connected with the breath, letting it move you more deeply into the pose. As you inhale extend, and as you exhale expand, "exploding" gently from the center of the pelvis and shooting energy through your spine and limbs like a pulsing star. Lift the raised foot higher as you extend. Say "wow" with your body to clarify the lines of energy, and note how much steadier you become. After 4-5 smooth and even breaths, bend the front knee, lower the back leg, straighten the front leg into trikonasana for a breath, then come up with an inhale.

If your legs are tight and you can't both straighten the standing leg and keep the hand of the supporting arm on the floor, rest the hand on a block, at whatever height works for you. If your legs are weak and you keep collapsing the torso, practice with your hips and back against a wall. In fact, doing the pose against the wall really helps you focus on opening the chest, shoulders and hips, improves alignment, and increases the stretch on the standing leg. I highly recommend it - at least from time to time - even if you are adept at doing the pose in the middle of the floor.

A less usual way to do Ardha Chandrasana, but one that I actually prefer, is to simply do it. By that I mean starting by standing with the feet about a yard apart. Rest the hand of the top arm on your sacrum at the small of your back and use it as a lever to pull your top shoulder back and open across the collar bones. Then bend the front knee, reach down to place the hand, and lift the back leg as you straighten the standing leg, as described above. As you lift and extend, revolve the torso open, root the tailbone in and roll the top hip up. Keep drawing muscular energy in and shooting pranic energy through the bones with the breath, following the alignment tips mentioned. After several mindful extensions of breath energy in the pose, lower the raised arm to the small of your back, bend the front knee as you lower the back leg, and come up to stand. Take a moment to savor the wonderful feeling of having floated in the heavens from your base on the earth.

SAVANASANA ~ CORPSE POSE

Aahhhh! Sweet surrender. Time to lay your burden down. Whether you do it at the end of your practice or as a mini-yoga session of its own, savasana is wonderfully restorative for both the body and mind. Lying on your back enables you to totally let go of all muscle tension yet keep the spine aligned. This calms the nervous system and helps energy to circulate freely and evenly throughout the body. The heartbeat and respiration become smooth and easy, and your whole being is brought into balance. Closing your eyes and letting go of thoughts and worries frees your mind to enter a deeper and happier form of consciousness. The result is a state of blissful peace - your true nature. So give yourself up to Mother Earth, dissolve into the breath and let it softly carry you back to the loving stillness where you began.

Practice Tips:

Because savasana lowers the blood pressure and body temperature, you may want to put on socks and sweats or cover yourself with a blanket or towel when you lie back, especially if the space you're in is cool and you'll be in the pose for more than a few minutes. It also helps to have a blanket, double mat or other cushioned surface to lie back on comfortably. In addition, you may want to lower the lights or use an eye bag to help the eyes rest.

To get into this pose, I like to first sit with my knees up and feet on the floor about hips width apart. Holding on to the back of my thighs, I gently tuck my chin and tail bone and let the back round. Then I lay one vertebra at a time on my mat as I ease myself down. I slide the legs out and slightly more than hips width apart (this enables the diaphragm to move with maximum freedom and ease) and let the arms come down to the sides, hands palms up and about a foot away from my hips.

To loosen my legs, I flop the feet gently from side to side and then let them fall to the outside, letting my legs fall off my pelvis. Pushing into my elbows, I raise the chest a bit to get the shoulder blades off the floor, bring them toward each other to open the collar bones and heart, then gently let the torso back down. Lifting the arms about an inch off the floor, I spread the fingers and stretch them away from the shoulders. Keeping the stretch, I pull the shoulders toward the ears about an inch to level them off and then roll them down to open the upper chest. I next let the hands and arms float back down, letting go and letting the fingers curl as they like. Finally, I lift the head a tiny bit, bring the chin down to neutral, and stretching back through the crown of the head, I lower it back down, coming to rest on that knob (occipital lobe) at the base of the skull. (If you find your head drops back and chin juts up, you'll be more comfortable if you put a rolled mat, pillow, or something else under your head to raise it to where the neck is level.)

However you get into savasana, once you're there you might want to take a big breath in and release it with an audible sigh to help release tension. Do this a couple of times if you like. You might also want to open the jaw wide and yawn, then let it hang gently open. Check to see that the throat and neck are relaxed and that you're not clenching your teeth or trying to control the breath. Let the eyes rest behind gently closed lids, falling back into the eye sockets and maybe even rolling up to "look" through your third eye between the eyebrows. Let the roof of the mouth dome up and soften, the inner ears open and the whole "back" of the face - the sinuses, the muscles around the eyes and mouth, and the teeth and gums - relax. Let the tongue lie silent and soft at the bottom of the mouth, and let the root of the tongue relax and slide down your throat and through the torso into the center of your pelvis, energetically releasing everything along the way.

To deepen your relaxation, you might want to do a body scan or a progressive relaxation exercise. I like to think of a warm, soft light falling first onto the crown of my head, then spreading slowly down my face, shoulders, torso, pelvis, legs, feet and out my toes. As it flows down, it "melts" tension away. The muscles fall away from the bones, and the bones fall away from each other, creating space for the breath energy to move freely and deeply through the body. The ribs spread apart like the pages of a book, the inner organs relax and lie happily on each other, and the heart softens and opens. The breath becomes very soft and quiet - so quiet that if there were a downy feather in front of your nostrils, it would barely flutter as the air moved easily in and out.

As the breath quiets, your mind becomes clear and still, like the surface of a pond reflecting the beauty of being around you. With no place to go, nothing to do and no one to be, you become what you really are: peaceful, loving bliss.

While it's good to do savasana for at least five minutes, it's great to do it for 10, 15 or more. To come out of it, slowly start to deepen the breath into bigger, fuller inhales and longer, more complete exhales. Start to move your fingers and toes, then circle your wrists and ankles a few times in and out. Bring your feet together and point the toes, and stretch your arms up overhead, back of the hands on the floor and fingers spread and stretching toward the wall behind you. With a big inhale stretch the fingers away from the toes, and with the exhale release. You may want to do this a couple of times.

Then with an inhale bend the knees one at a time and draw the feet in toward your hips, ankles and knees together. With an exhale, let the knees drop to your right side and let your body follow along so you're lying on your right side, resting your head on your hand or arm and breathing softly. When you're ready, use your arms to slowly lift up and come to sit for a moment, savoring how wonderful it is to feel "reborn." Then take that feeling of peace with you wherever you go and share it with everyone you meet.

PARIGHASANA ~ GATE LATCH POSE

Like a bar or beam (parigha) used to latch a gate shut, the arms in this pose lower down over the extended leg to secure a intense side bend. As a result, the back of the extended leg gets a strong stretch, as do the outer hip, torso and abdomen. And because there's a mild twist required to keep the shoulders stacked and the rib cage open, you'll also feel it in the groins, which open to keep the body facing forward as you bend to the side. Gate pose is wonderful for people at all levels because it can be worked to different degrees of intensity, depending on how far over you go. (A strong version of it is part of the Ashtanga intermediate series.) At any level, it tones the abdominal area, frees the hips and gives you an awesome stretch - one that will definitely make you say ahhh.

Practice Tips:

Parighasana is a beautifully simple yet powerful pose. Start by kneeling hips width apart (on a blanket, folded towel or doubled mat if a regular surface is hard on your knees). Extend your right leg straight out to the right side, and turn the foot to point to the right. As you press the right toes down onto or toward the floor, engage the quadriceps and pull up strongly on your right kneecap. Keep the quads pulling up the whole time so you don't jam into the back of the knee and hyperextend it.

Extend the right arm to the right. Energize it by gently spreading the fingers and drawing the muscles in toward the bones and up the arm into your center as the bones stretch back through. Turn the palm up and lower the back of the right hand to the top of the right leg. Extend the left arm, energize it, turn the palm up, and lift the arm straight up so it's by your ear. Now you're ready to latch the gate.

With an inhale, stretch up out of the pelvis, and as you exhale stretch up and over to the right as you turn to look up past your left upper arm. Keep the left shoulder back so it stays in line with the right one, not in front of it. With each inhale stretch the spine and top arm out and turn the rib cage more to the left. With each exhale stretch over more to the right and down over the leg, sliding the right hand more toward the foot. Keep the right leg strong with the top of the right thigh pulling into the hip. And keep pulling the left hip back to the left so the left thigh stays vertical. Remember to remain open in front with the left shoulder and ribs opening to the left and back, not dropping forward so you can get lower (this is cheating).

Your goal is eventually to bring the palm of the left hand on top of the right, with both arms extended. If this is easy (it's not for me - I'm not quite there) try this. Keeping the quads pulling up, lift the toes and stretch out evenly through both the heel and the ball mounts of the right foot. Turn the right palm more to the right and grab the inner right foot with the right hand, then grab the outer foot with the left hand (or just keep stretching the left arm toward the foot). Using the arms as levers, twist up more to the left. (This is something like parivrtta janu sirsana, if you know that pose). No matter where you are in gate pose, work it for 5-8 breaths, then stretch up with an inhale, and switch sides.

In the Ashtanga version, you would start with the left leg extended along the floor, and the right leg bent back, with the knee and top of the foot on the floor, and opening away from the left leg. You then bend sideways over the left leg, either extending the arms and opening up or grabbing the left foot with the hands and twisting up as in the other version.

As the name implies, parighasana makes you steadfast. The kneeling leg is like a post to which the bar or latch fastens, holding the gate of the torso in place so you can get the full benefit of the stretch. I find this pose a wonderful prep for triangle (trikonasana) because it opens many of the same areas - some even more intensely - without putting as much strain on the legs. So next time you're feeling a little stiff in the hips, swing the gate open and closed a few times, and you'll be ready for anything.

UTTHITA TRIKONASANA ~ EXTENDED TRIANGLE POSE

Triangle is for me the quintessential standing pose. It requires strength in the legs, openness in the hips and torso, good alignment, and the extension of energy through the spine and limbs. Consequently it strengthens the arches, ankles, legs (especially the quadriceps) and buttocks. Trikonasana also stretches the thighs, spine and sides of the torso. And because it releases the hips and spinal column and opens the abdominal area, this pose can relieve back pain and improve digestion and elimination. Triangle even strengthens the neck by making the muscles there work to keep the head aligned while it's in a horizontal position. Not bad at all for a single pose! Plus, because it requires a firm grounding through the feet, trikonasana builds a sense of steadfastness and fortitude you can take with you to other parts of your life. Like the pyramids that share the triangle's power, you can then remain strong, stable and tranquil no matter what happens around you.

Practice Tips:

Start by taking a wide stance - you can jump into it if you like - with the feet facing forward, roughly one leg's length apart (3½ feet or so) and the arms extended horizontally to the sides. Lift your left heel and take it back so the foot turns inward a bit, without letting your left hip turn in (keep resisting it back and open). Pivoting on the right heel, lift your right toes and turn them out until the foot is facing 90 degrees to the right. As you do this, rotate the right leg out from the inner side, and make sure your right knee turns out too so it faces the middle of the foot. Your right heel should be in line with the arch of the left foot. This is the base of your triangle.

Take a big inhale and open your heart. As you exhale, soften and release your weight down through your legs into your feet. Feel the whole bottom of each foot in contact with the earth. From this base (the soles of your feet) inhale and draw the muscles gently in toward the bones and up along them into the center of the pelvis. Be sure to lift the arches, calves and kneecaps and resist the top of the right shin forward to keep from jamming into the back of the knee. (I like to think of this as a tiny two-micron bend in the knee.) With an exhale, extend energy from your pelvis down through the leg bones, rooting your feet more firmly into the earth. Press down the ball mount of the right big toe and feel the energy come out the outer edge of the left foot. Keep your legs humming with energy, but not so hard you tire out before you get into the pose.

Energize your arms by opening the hands and drawing muscle energy along the bones from your fingertips into your heart center. Then exhale energy back through the bones, expanding them and extending them through the muscles like a hand through a glove. Keep the front of the armpits and collarbones rolling up and back and your heart open and lifting. Staying open in front, take the ribs and sides of the waist back and open the heart in back as you bring the spine and tail bone in. (When you come into the pose, your ribs may want to jut forward, so keep resisting them back.)

With an inhale lift your heart and extend the spine up out of the pelvis. With an exhale pull the left hip back (I like to think of it as a hip-check to the left) and indent the right groin as you stretch sideways over the right leg. If you're flexible, bring the right fingertips or palm all the way to the floor outside your right leg, with the forearm against the shin (or loop the big toe for the Ashtanga version). Have your right arm perpendicular to the torso and in line with the left, which extends up in the opposite direction. If you're less flexible, rest the right hand on a block or on the ankle or shin. Roll the right shoulder back to stay open across the collarbones, and with the neck level (you may need to tuck the chin a bit to get it there) turn to look up at your left thumb, which should be in line with your mouth. You're now more or less into the pose.

To fine tune your alignment, make sure the shoulders are in line with your hips (not in front of them) and stacked over each other, and that your right sitting bone has not gone back out of line with the right heel. If so, root the tailbone in more and bring the shoulders back and hips forward. Keep your right ankle, knee and sitting bone in line, with the knee facing forward over the foot. Also, make sure that you have not collapsed the lower ribs and arched the top ones up in a bow shape. Keep lengthening the right side of the torso from the hips to the armpit and bring the left ribs down to keep both sides of the rib cage even.

Now go inside. Rotate the belly, heart, lungs and core to the left and upward. As you inhale draw the energy up from your base to the pelvic energy center. As you exhale, shoot it out through your spine and limbs. Press the heel and outer edge of the back foot down and extend out through the crown of your head. Push into the right hand and shoot the energy out your left fingertips. Let the breath do the pose. The more grounded and connected you become, the more open, light and peaceful you'll be.

When you're ready to come out, press into the right foot and with an inhale let your left fingers pull you up. Turn the feet to center as you exhale, lower the arms, and release. Take a breath or two, noticing how you feel. Then do the other side, reversing the instructions. For starters, 5-8 breaths in the pose will probably be enough. Eventually you'll actually want to hold trikonasana for a minute or two and enjoy how stable and free this pose makes you feel.

PINCHA MAYURASANA ~ PEACOCK'S TAIL FEATHER POSE

Before a peacock fans his tail feathers, he proudly lifts them upright to prepare for his strutting dance. Pincha mayurasana is named for this energetic tail lift, and you will definitely have to lift your tail to do this pose, which is also called elbow stand or forearm stand. While the tailbone plays a key role in this inversion, you'll probably feel it most in the shoulders, which have to open and vigorously lift to hold the pose.

Therefore this asana is excellent for releasing tension in the shoulder girdle, opening the chest and strengthening the shoulders, upper arms and upper back. It also tones the abdominals, as it requires a lot of ab work (uddiyana bandha) to keep the ribs in and the lower back from arching. And it strengthens the legs and buttocks, because their muscles have to firmly contract and stretch upward as the tops of inner thighs squeeze together. Like all inversions, pincha mayurasana brings blood to the head and invigorates the entire body. When you learn to balance well in this exhilarating pose, you'll understand why peacocks like to strut their stuff.

 Practice Tips:

Because pincha mayurasana requires a good degree of both strength and flexibility in the shoulders, it's best to develop that before you try to launch your peacock tail. Otherwise you might collapse and strain them (or your ego). Therefore, you may find it helpful to take a phased approach to this asana.

First, try a preparatory pose called elbow dog, so named because it's like downward facing dog pose adho mukha svanasana), but with your elbows on the mat. To do elbow dog, come to your hands and knees, with the wrists underneath the shoulders, the knees hips-width beneath the hip joints and the toes curled under. Lower the elbows down and turn the palms up to ground the outside of the elbows. Then turn the palms down, making sure the forearms are parallel, the fingers spread, and the palms, forearms and outer elbows pressing down. Look forward just past your hands and pull the abs in and up. With an inhale, push into the elbows, forearms and hands, lift the hips up and push them back with the legs strong. Take the upper back in and the shoulder blades together as you push your heart back while stretching the spine up and keeping the ribs in. Hold for 5-8 breaths and release. Then try this pose again, seeing if you can hold it longer - maybe 10-12 breaths (roughly a minute).

If you can hold a straight line from your elbows through your shoulders to your tail in elbow dog for a minute (ask a friend to check your alignment or have a mirror on one side), you're ready to try the next phase - otherwise, keep working on elbow dog. (Because this next preparation and the full pose are more intense inversions, they are not advised if you have high blood pressure, heart problems, glaucoma detached retina, or you are menstruating.) You'll need a solid wall for this phase.

To find where to place your elbows, sit for a moment facing the wall and adjust your position until your feet are against the wall with your legs extended straight ahead. Note where your sitting bones are - that's where you want your elbows to be. Now, facing away from the wall, come to your hands and knees and lower your elbows to the spot where your sitting bones were. Position the arms the same as you did for elbow dog, pull in your abs in and up, lift the hips, then walk the feet up the wall until the legs are parallel to the floor. Push into the hands, forearms and elbows and lift the hips up as you try to take your chest to the wall but keep the ribs back. Wow, strong stretch! Hold for a few breaths, bring the feet down, and rest in child's pose for a bit.

If you're feeling ready to try elbow stand, you can move to the next phase. You'll use the wall again. There are a couple ways to do this. I'll first describe the more common method, then the one recommended by Donna Farhi, which I think is better for learning the correct alignment (see her book, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit). Try each and see which you prefer.

The typical way is to come to all fours facing the wall, and place your hands shoulder-width apart with the fingers spread and the tips of the middle fingers touching the wall. Turn the palms up to ground the outer elbow. Check to see that the forearms are parallel and grounded, the palms and fingertips are pressed down, the shoulder blades are on the back, the abs are pulling in and up, and the shoulders are lifting toward the hips. Arch the neck a bit and look at the wall. Lift the hips into elbow dog, walk the feet in toward the wall, and bend one knee. The bent leg is your pusher or springer, and the other leg, which stays straight and strong, is your lifter or swinger. Bend the knee a little more, and with an inhale push off with the bent leg as you swing the straight leg up and toward the wall, following immediately with a straightened left leg. Be careful not to swing up too vigorously, or you may damage the wall (or hurt your foot). If you're new at this, first try a couple of easy test springs and swings to get the timing and gauge the amount of energy you'll need to get up without crashing into the wall.

Once you have the legs up against the wall bring the upper back and the sacrum in, the ribs back, and push down into the elbows, hands and forearms as you squeeze the legs together and stretch them strongly up. Vigorously lift the shoulders and hips while you keep your tailbone stretching up and in. Hold for 3-5 breaths at first, then lower the legs one at a time and come down.

If your shoulders splayed out, you may have slid the hands toward each other, rolled to the inner part of your elbows, collapsed the shoulders inward and pulled the shoulder blades off your back. To avoid this, keep your weight on the outer edge of the forearms and elbows and keep opening the shoulders back. If you're still splaying out, it helps to place a block between the hands, with the thumbs in front and the index fingers along the sides, to keep the hands apart. Also, use a strap around the upper arms just above the elbows to keep them shoulder-width apart. If this is too intense, or you can't keep the forearms down, you might want to work more on the preparatory phases

Ideally, in pincha mayurasansa the elbows, shoulders, hips and heels are all in the same vertical line. That's hard to do with the legs extended and the feet against the wall because the heels will be behind the hips. This makes it difficult to engage the abdominals and keep the torso in line. Therefore Donna Farhi recommends placing the elbows a shin's length away from the wall (you can measure it by kneeling with your feet against the wall and see where your knees are; then, when you face forward to lift up, your elbows should go where your knees were).

When you're well positioned and aligned as described above, swing the legs up as in the previous version, but then slide both feet down the wall to where your shins are perpendicular to it. This will enable you to use your abdominal, pelvic and hamstring muscles to bring the pelvis away from the wall and into an upright position, with the knees, hips, shoulders and elbows all aligned. To do this, lift the tailbone actively, contract the abs and bring the pubic bone toward the navel to bring the ribs back and lengthen the spine. Keep the forearms grounded. If your alignment is good, you can try taking one leg straight up. If the balance and energy are there, you can then stretch the other up, too, squeezing the tops of the inner thighs together. After about 5 breaths, come down as in the other version.

Gradually increase the length of time you stay in the pose, working on your balance and alignment. Of course, you'll eventually want - and be able - to do pincha mayurasana in the middle of the floor, kicking up one leg after the other. Then like a peacock you'll definitely have something to strut about.

SALABHASANA ~ LOCUST POSE

When you look at a locust or grasshopper, one of the first things you see is a set of steely back legs raised diagonally and ready to launch the insect into space with a powerful spring. In locust pose, you'll need the same kind of power in your back and legs to lift into this energizing asana. While it looks simple, salabhasana requires a surprising amount of effort and strength - especially in the advanced version. Because the lower back, buttock and leg muscles have to contract vigorously to achieve this pose, it is excellent for strengthening these areas. It also stimulates the cardiovascular, endocrine and digestive systems, benefits the bladder and prostate gland, and increases flexibility in the spine. Like all backbends, salabhasana opens the nadis or energy channels along the front of the body, boosts the heart rate and improves the absorption of oxygen. As a result, you'll feel pumped and ready to jump about like a grasshopper after you practice this invigorating pose.

Practice Tips:

There are two main versions of salabhasana, and several variations of each, so don't be surprised if people do or teach this pose differently. All versions share the strong lift in the legs, require a lot of work in the back, and open the front of the body, so the benefits are similar. We'll look first at the version where the pelvis stays on the floor and both the upper body and legs are lifted. Then we'll look at the more advanced version, where the chin, upper body and arms are kept on the floor and the legs and pelvis are lifted.

For first version, lie prone, resting on your chin with your hands palms up (or palms facing the thighs) along your sides, with the legs together. Energize the legs by drawing muscle energy to the bones and gently pulling it up from the toes into the center of the pelvis, then extending the bones back. Hug the legs together and root your tailbone down with a slight pelvic tuck. Energize the arms by drawing the muscle energy in and up and stretching the bones back through. Roll the shoulders up and back as you slide the shoulder blades down and in. With an inhale, stretch from your inner body out through the head, feet and arms as you lift them up, using your back muscles to arch up. Keep the neck level, the legs strong and gently squeezing together, and your tailbone in. After 4-5 breaths, lower with an exhale. You can rest with your forehead on stacked hands, with your toes out and heels in (downward facing corpse pose), or on one side of your face with the hands palms up along the thighs and the toes in, heels out. Repeat the pose once or twice more, perhaps trying one of the following variations.

There are many variations of this version. For example, in the Ashtanga second series, salabhasana A is done with the hands kept on the floor, palms up, as you lift up. For salabhasana B, slide the hands forward, palms down, until the forearms are 90 degrees to the floor. In other variations you interlace your fingers behind your back and stretch back through the knuckles as you lift, or hold the opposite elbows behind the back and pull them back and up as you lift the head, chest and legs. Or you can extend the arms forward and lift them as you lift the legs and stretch them back. Also, notice the difference between lifting on an inhale and lifting on an exhale, letting your inner body expand as you exhale. Experiment with different variations and notice how they change the pose, and pick the ones you like best.

If your back felt fine doing the version with the pelvis on the floor, you might try the one in which you lift the pelvis and legs up while you keep the head, arms and chest down (viparita salabhasana). Because this version creates pressure in the heart, head and lungs and brings a lot of blood to the throat and brain, it isn't recommended for people with heart conditions or high blood pressure. So just do the first version, or go very easy with this one, just lifting one leg at a time or keeping the pelvis on the floor and simply stretching back.

Start by lying prone as before, but with your arms underneath your body, your hands in fists against your thighs, with the back of the hands on the floor. (Alternatively, you can put the back of the fists against your thighs, or have the fists thumb-side down along the thighs). Energize the legs and arms as in the previous version, legs together. Ease into the pose by first stretching and lifting one leg, raising it on the inhale higher and higher for 3-4 breaths, then lowering it and doing the same with the other. Then, with an inhale, press the arms into the floor and lift both legs up, trying to also lift the pelvis as the legs stretch back and squeeze together. Hold for 1-3 breaths, then release.

If you didn't get very high, don't worry - that's normal. This version of salabhasana requires tremendous back strength and lots of flexibility in the torso. So if you even got the pelvis up a little bit, congratulate yourself and try it again after a rest. If you want more work on the arms, place the palms flat on the floor with the arms close together underneath the pelvis and thighs before you lift up.

Whichever version you do, you'll find salabhasana a real upper. Just take it easy, letting your breath return to normal between repetitions. When you're finished, bring your hands under your shoulders and slowly and carefully lift up to your hands and knees, then fold back into child's pose, sitting bones on your heels, forehead on stacked hands or the floor. Breathe softly and glow happily, reflecting on the lessons you've learned from the locust.

BADDHA KONASANA ~ BOUND ANGLE POSE / COBBLER POSE

For some people sitting in this pose is no big deal. They, like Indian cobblers who hold their work between their feet, simply put the soles of their feet together and their knees fall completely open to the floor. For others, like me, getting the knees anywhere near the floor is a major accomplishment. It all depends on how loose your hips, groins and inner thighs are - or how much you've practiced this "cobbler" pose, which is excellent for opening the groins and hip joints and stretching the inner thighs But even if your knees open easily, sitting in baddha konasana will help tone the pelvic area, stretch the spine, alleviate menstrual symptoms and prevent or treat urinary and prostate problems. It is also recommended during pregnancy. And if you take it into a forward bend, you'll stretch and strengthen the back and stimulate the abdominal organs. So make like a cobbler and enjoy the benefits of this basic but important pose.

Practice Tips:

Sitting on your mat, bring the soles of your feet together and draw the heels in close to the pelvis. If you're stiff and the heels don't come in very close, you might want to put your hands on the floor behind your hips, lift the pelvis and bring it closer to the heels. Interlace your fingers around the front of your feet and sit tall, chin level. As you push the outsides of the feet into the floor, gently pull up on them with the hands to create resistance that will help you lift the sternum, bring the chest forward, and open across the shoulders. Keep stretching the top of the head away from your tailbone as you root the sitting bones down.

If the ribs jut forward, lift the kidneys back and up so the ribs come in. Press the soles of the feet together, stretch out through the inner thighs and bring the knees toward the floor. Descend the sitting bones, groins, inner thighs and outer hips as you lift the perineal area and draw the lower abdominals in and up. Hold the pose for a minute or two (10 to 25 deep breaths), longer if you like.

If you're stiff, sitting tall and getting the knees toward the floor may seem like mission impossible. So you might try sitting on a block or a folded blanket to elevate the hips. This will make it easier to level the pelvis, which usually tips back and under when you're stiff, making it difficult to stretch the spine straight. You might also (or instead) work the pose with the hands on the floor behind the hips. Pushing down and back with the hands will help you lift the chest up and forward and keep the shoulders open as you rotate the pelvis forward and down to try to level it off.

Alternatively, you can sit in the pose with your back against a wall and keep the shoulder blades and back of head on the wall as you press the feet together and open the knees down. Whether you're sitting by the wall or not, if you want a more powerful stretch, you can put your hands on the top of the thighs near the hip joints, with the thumbs facing in and the fingers on the outside of the thighs. Press down and roll the thighs out and back to help open the hip joints. You might even place a sandbag on each upper thigh near the hips to help open that area. But if you do, be very careful not to overdo it and strain the ligaments.

According to John Friend, one of my favorite yoga teachers, keeping the floor of the pelvis level and the sides of the pelvis evenly open in this and other asanas is important to maximize the energy flow, increase the benefits of the pose and minimize the risk of injury. Therefore, in baddha konasana he recommends a balanced action in the feet, which translates into evenness in the pelvis. If you open the feet so the soles face up, you get too much outer spiral in the legs. This causes the front of the pelvis to lift and closes the back of the pelvic floor. If you press only into the heels, the same happens. So he recommends pressing evenly into the heels and the balls of the feet, and evenly down along the sides of the feet from toes to heel. Descending both the groins and the sitting bones will then keep the pelvic floor level or working toward that. But don't be surprised if other teachers, especially in the Ashtanga system, have you open the feet like the pages of a book. Try these different ways and see which works best for you.

If sitting tall with the knees on or near the floor is fairly easy, you might want to stretch forward into a bound angle forward bend. You can pull gently on the hands to deepen the stretch, provided you don't collapse the front of the spine or round the shoulders forward and toward the ears. If that happens, you might want to place the hands behind you and push your torso forward and down. Keep lifting the sternum toward your chin, pulling the armpits back and stretching through the crown of your head to keep the spine long. If your arms are long enough, you might even press the elbows into the thighs as you bend forward to help them open and descend. Just try to keep the floor of the pelvis level. For a few hyperflexible folk, this might mean taking the tail bone down more and lifting the pubic bone a bit to keep the back side of the pelvis down and open. Lift out with an inhale after 10 breaths or so.

How close you get the knees to the floor in the upright pose or how far you go down in the forward bend doesn't really matter. What does matter is how mindfully you work in the pose and how open and lengthened you keep your energy core from the floor of the pelvis to the crown of your head. If you do baddha konasana with care and patient awareness, you'll cobble together a real work of art.

When the time came to choose a symbol for Yoga on High, we were of at least two minds. The asanas, the yoga postures, are so beautiful, and they represent transformation, joy, and all of the mysteries of embodiment in the physical world. We thought we might choose one of our favorite asanas. And yet, as wonderful as the postures are, Yoga is so much more than the physical forms. We wanted our Yoga center and programs to be epitomized by the biggest, most spacious representation of Yoga. And so it was a simple choice in the end. We chose the sacred symbol Om.

Om is represented by the pictograph encircled in our logo. “Most spiritual authorities regard Om as the vocalization of an actual “sound,” or vibration, which pervades the entire universe and is audible to yogins in higher states of consciousness.”1 The symbol is sometimes used to represent Hinduism, but it actually refers to an immense concept of God that encompasses all belief systems. Om is a sound and symbol for what the Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes as the Word. Om is the symbol of absolute reality, the Self or spirit.

Although it is only one syllable, Om is said to be composed of the letters “A”, “U”, “M” and the nasal humming of the letter “M.” “A” corresponds to the waking state, “U” corresponds to the dream state, and “M” corresponds to the state of deep sleep. The humming at the end – the aftersound – represents ultimate reality. The sounds of these letters represent the whole of the Sanskrit alphabet. If you chant Om, you can feel these four aspects of the sound in the body. The sound “A” arises from the belly and can be felt from there up through the throat. “U” reverberates from the chest into the mouth. The delicious hum of “M” can be felt within the head as its vibration travels right out through the crown. The next time you chant Om or hear it chanted, notice whether you feel the aftersound vibrating your whole being.

Om is also the oldest, best-known, traditional mantra. A mantra is a powerful, vibrant sound that gives an individual direct access to its specific qualities. These qualities are enhanced within a person through regular repetition and practice in meditation. The word mantra may be also be defined as “prayer.” It is said in the Yoga Sutras that chanting Om helps to clear away obstacles and to focus the mind on truth, on the true nature of reality. Om doesn’t just mean truth. Repeating it can actually lead to spiritual experiences and insight.

Most of the teachers at Yoga on High chant Om at the beginning or end of class for a number of reasons. Its powerful vibrations are calming and centering, and they help us focus on the present moment. It also knits the class together as a group as we create one large sound from many sources. As a sacred sound, it marks the beginning of what to us are sacred practices. On a purely physical level, it feels wonderful, and the whole body eventually vibrates with it like a subtle internal massage. It is always interesting to feel how much more vibrant the Oms feel at the end of class when the body is more relaxed and the mind is calmer. These Oms become a powerful confirmation of the profound change brought about by practicing Yoga.

An ancient, sacred scripture, the Maitrayaniya-Upanishad, conveys the meaning of Om for the yoga practitioner. “It is by means of this numinous sound that the yogin focus his attention to the point where he can transcend the finite consciousness in its entirety. The aforementioned Upanishad likens the body to a bow, the syllable Om to an arrow, the focused mind to the arrow’s tip, and the ultimate Mystery as the target.”2 This scripture also observes, “Just as a spider climbing up by means of its threads finds open space, so indeed the meditator climbs up by means of Om and finds autonomy.”3

I am often asked, “To what do you attribute the incredible growth in the popularity of yoga?” My usual response is that it works! In my long experience of teaching I have seen people start yoga for a wide variety of reasons, fulfill their original goals, and find new reasons to practice.

You should expect to feel better after even one yoga class and, with regular practice over time, you may find that some problems disappear without your even noticing. After many years of having severe daily headaches, I began doing Yoga and they stopped. I have one retired student who regularly proclaims that she will do Yoga until she dies because the pain of her arthritis goes away when she practices. I have another student who is undergoing a year of experimental chemotherapy, which requires a dreaded weekly blood draw. When she goes to her appointment after Yoga class, the nurse can draw blood while she sits up. Otherwise, she must lie down and has a hard time relaxing. Several yogis I know simply feel happier in their lives because of Yoga. How many things that feel this good are also good for you?

While all of yoga’s benefits are not measurable, many studies worldwide document the physical, psychological, and biochemical benefits of Yoga. Here are common benefits for someone with a regular Yoga practice. Yoga increases cardiovascular efficiency, decreases blood pressure, and lowers the pulse rate, making it an important factor in reducing heart disease. Practicing Yoga slows the respiratory rate and increases respiratory efficiency including total lung capacity and gas exchange efficiency.

Sleep and digestion generally improve, sensitivity to pain decreases, endocrine function normalizes, and immune system function increases. Physical strength and endurance increase; flexibility and joint range of motion increase; and balance, hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and fine motor skills improve. In one study, people with episodes of severe back pain rated what helped them the most; yoga topped the list. Yoga’s biochemical effects are impressive and indicate that it has a powerful anti-stress and antioxidant effect, important in the prevention of degenerative diseases. Most importantly, yoga allows the parasympathetic nervous system, the system that is associated with relaxation, to take dominance over the sympathetic nervous system, the system that responds to stress overload.

Other documented benefits include an increase in body awareness, an improvement in mood and subjective feelings of well-being, and an increase in self-acceptance and self-actualization. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and hostility decrease, and social adjustment increases. Yoga also stimulates improvements in attention, concentration and memory.

One personal benefit that has changed my life considerably is this – I now know what it feels like to be totally relaxed and at ease in both my body and my mind. These days I notice much more quickly if something I am doing, or the way I am doing it, create tension. With this knowledge, I can make choices that support a relaxed experience of life. This does not mean that I spend my days lying on the couch. It does mean that even during a busy day, I find ways to relax moment to moment, and I support that ability with a daily practice. While all of these benefits and abilities help us to lead happier and healthier lives, events do not always unfold as we want and life is difficult. The skills we learn in Yoga can help us through the most challenging life experiences with a bit more ease and grace.
 
   

In the classical yoga tradition, hatha yoga is practiced as preparation for seated meditation. So over time, you might naturally find yourself drawn inward toward more contemplative practices.