Guest Post by Sarah Cummings
There can be a common preconception that yoga is all about twisting your body into all kinds of strange, pretzel-like shapes, and you need to be a super-fit, legging wearing Instagram star to be good at it!
Fear not, for this simply isn’t the case. The beauty of yoga is that it is so inclusive of all types of builds and abilities, and you don’t have to sweat in acrobatic positions to see the benefit from it either. What’s more, yoga is a great way to relax your mind and body.
If you are looking for natural ways to enjoy a calmer mind and unwound body from the stresses and strains of your hectic day-to-day life, then you can learn about these om-azing yoga poses to help you achieve your goal!
Child’s Pose
Child’s pose is well known as one of the most respected and enjoyed yoga poses that effectively help to relax your body and calm the mind. The profit here is the reduction of stress and tension in your body.
Not only does child’s pose tick the boxes for relaxation and calmness, it’s also superb for improving your lymphatic and nervous system. Anxiety sufferers, people with back pain, stress, and/or high blood pressure can all use child’s pose for a solution.
To execute child’s pose, have your body facing the floor in a fetal position. Keep your knees and hips bent, with your shins remaining on the floor. Your chest can either be rested on the knees or you can open your legs up and allow the chest to sit between the knees.
Have your head stretched forward towards the ground, allowing the forehead to touch the ground if you’d like.
Finally, stretch your arms forward in front of the head to complete the pose. Alternatively, you can place your arm stretched backwards towards the feet.
You can team this with advice from The Sleep Advisor, who offers information on a variety of sleep-related subjects, such as the best mattress and pillows for optimum sleep. You can find out more by following the link here.
Downward Facing Dog Pose
Downward Facing Dog is one of those yoga poses you can rely on to work its magic and goes about stretching the entire body at the same time.
Amazingly, this single pose can help to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit, while also being known to be effective in the fight against tiredness and even alleviating mild depression!
Other pluses that come with including the downward facing dog pose in your life are improvements in both your digestive and immune systems, not to mention our blood flow throughout the entire body.
Don’t forget that if you tend to stiffen up your shoulders when you become a little stressed out, this pose has your name written all over it! You’ll be relaxed in no time with this one!
Enter this pose by starting on your hands and knees; your hands slightly in front of your shoulders, with your knees directly below your hips.
Spread the fingers nice and wide, and actively try to push every part of the hand into the floor as you hold the pose.
Lastly, curl your toes under, push those hips high in the air while straighten your legs and arms to make an inverted ‘V’ shape. You’re aiming to have a flat back with your head between your arms, straight legs, with your heels still touching the floor.
Hold your pose for up to three minutes while breathing steadily the entire time.
Corpse Pose
This is one pose that can be achieved by any level of yogi or yogini! The corpse pose offers you an efficient way to relieve your muscles from the stress built up during the day and provides all-embracing relaxation after performing the pose.
Like child’s pose, you can expect to have a calmed mind, along with reduced anxiety, improved sleep and an aid for depression by completing corpse pose.
To do this pose, you should lie flat on your back with your heels spread as wide as a yoga mat (roughly shoulder width) and have your arms a few inches away from the body, with your palms facing upwards.
Remain in this position for up to three minutes and breath steadily throughout.
Breathing
Not a pose as such but getting your breathing right for the poses you’re doing is an essential part of your yoga session. Remember to focus your attention on your breath during all of your yoga poses. This will help to keep you relaxed and leave you calm during and after your practice.
To breathe correctly, first, you must smoothly inhale through your nose, then open your mouth and exhale slowly. Repeat the cycle several times, then close your mouth, but keep the back of your throat in the same shape it as in when the mouth was open as you exhale through the nose.
Check out more posts from Sarah here.
