Seated Postures

Make sure you practice Yoga on an empty stomach, the best time of the day is just before breakfast or just before dinner, when you have the greatest amount of energy.

Beginner Seated Postures

Cross Leg Sit Pose

This is the basic seated pose. Sit with your legs crossed, feet tucked under your legs. Either leg may be on top; but try to sit more often with the leg that is least comfortable on top to balance your body.

Place a small cushion under your tailbone if this is more comfortable. Allow your legs to relax onto the floor. Rest your hands on your knees.

Keep your back and head erect, chin parallel to the floor and neck extended slightly upward. Breathe gently and rhythmically.

Benefits: Loosens hip, knee and ankle joints; tones pelvic organs and glands; tones groin nd inner thigh muscles. 

This posture is good for practicing breathing exercises and meditation.

Cross Leg Spinal Twist Pose

Sit in "Cross Leg Sit". Inhale and place your right hand on your left knee and press your left hand flat on the floor with your wrist close to your tailbone. Exhale and twist your body around to the left. Hold. Inhale and as you exhale reverse out of the pose. Do other side

Benefits: Stimulates spinal nerves, tones liver and spleen, aids peristaltic activity develops flexibility, helps relieve backache by stretching vertebrae

Butterfly Pose

Sit with the soles of your feet together, knees splayed out, legs relaxed, back erect, and your hands holding your feet. Slowly draw your feet closer to your body, relax your groin muscles, and allow your knees to fall to the floor. Do not allow your back to slump. Hold, and try and breath normally.

Benefits: Opens hip joints; stretches groin and inner thigh muscles; tones pelvic floor and urinary organs

Seated Bent Knee Forward Bend Pose

Sit erect, legs extended. Fold one leg so that the sole of the foot presses high on the muscle of the other thigh. Inhale while raising your arms overhead, palms facing each other. Exhale, bend toward outstretched thigh. Stop when your back begins to round. Grasp extended leg where you can without straining; at calf, ankle or foot. If it helps, bend leg slightly. Hold. Repeat on other side.

Benefits: Stretches the hamstring muscles, massages the abdominal organs, relieves lower backache, stretches the spinal column

Seated Spinal Twist Pose

Sit on the floor with both legs straight out in front of you. Bend your right knee with the right thigh on the floor, cross your left leg over your right thigh, and place your left foot flat on the floor next to your right knee. Put your left hand flat on the floor behind you with the arm straight, palm down, fingers pointing away from you. Inhale and turn slightly to the left. Bend your right arm and place your right elbow on the outside of your left knee. Keep your shoulders down. Exhale and twist your spine and push your chest forward to lengthen the spine. Don't over twist your neck. Keep the twist the full length of the spine for full benefit. Hold. Inhale and return to starting position and repeat on the other side. If this is too difficult, keep your right leg straight and bend left leg over the right leg with the left foot flat on the floor on the outside of the right thigh. Hold the left knee with your right elbow. Place your left hand on the floor behind your back and twist.

Benefits: Gives the spine a nice lateral stretch, increasing spinal elasticity. Also improves side-to-side mobility; decreases backaches and hip pain; contracts and tones the liver, spleen and intestines; reduces abdominal size; improves the nervous system; prevents calcification at the base of the spine; frees the joints

Seated Forward Bend Pose

Sit erect, legs straight, pelvis tipped forward, feet perpendicular to legs. Inhale. Raise your arms straight ahead. Exhale, stretch forward and down. Keep back straight. Place hands comfortably on legs, whether on knees, calves or ankles. Relax, allowing chest to sink toward thighs without arching your back. Breathe softly. Hold

Benefits: Gives an intense stretch to the entire back, massages the abdominal organs, increases flexibility of the spine, fosters a sense of calm and letting go

Boat Pose

Sit on floor with spine erect, knees up and bent, and feet flat on the floor. Hands hold onto the backs of the thighs. Lean backward and balance on the "sitting" bones. Tips of the toes remain on the floor. Straighten your legs. Straighten your arms alongside your legs, palms facing in. If your back rounds as you straighten your legs, bend your knees slightly. Hold.

Benefits: Tones the abdominal muscles, strengthens the thighs and knees, increases stamina

FOOT YOGA

Start in cross legged seated position and pick up the right leg with your hands.

Then insert your fingers and thumb into your toe, one at a time.

Use your hand as resistance and push your hand and foot towards one another

Release the resistance and repeat, pushing a little more the next time.

Repeat 6-8 times on one foot.

Then repeat on the other foot

TOE CURLING

 Kneel and sit back on you heals with the tops of your feet in contact with the floor. Your soles will stretch and curve into a good arch underneath you. Keep your big toes and heals together so there is not gap or space between the feet. If the front of your ankles are not flexible enough to rest comfortably on the floor without a space, use a small towel to roll into a tight tube shape to place underneath, and gradually use smaller cloths until you no longer need this prop.
  Sit with your back and spine straight but not tense. Let your spine lengthen upward without forcing it. Imagine a string attached to the top of your head up to a bunch of helium balloons. On your breath inhale relax and balance, then on the exhale allow your spine to lengthen and straighten, stretching gently upward.

Aim to stay in this position for 5 minutes. If this is uncomfortable or you experience "pins and needles," you probably need a larger rolled towel beneath the front of your ankles.


 Now we are going to tuck the toes so that your soles raise facing directly behind you as your toes curl away from the soles. Lower your weight slowly and gently onto the length, not tips, of your toes. This will stretch the toes and soles. Avoid stretching too hard or release too much weight. Gradually after practicing for a few weeks gently increase the stretching in the toes and soles. Reduce stretch at any feeling of strain or pain.

Hold this stretch for 1-2 minutes.

Warrior Poses

Make sure you practice your Warrior Poses on an empty stomach: the best time of the day is just before breakfast or just before dinner, when you have the greatest amount of energy.

Warrior Sequence

Virabhadrasana 1 or Warrior 1

Raise the upper body stretching the arms above the head. The hands can be in prayer position, interlocked or shoulder width apart. The fingers can be closed or open. (One creates a direct force and the other is a flared force.)

The chest faces forward. The heels are in line but you can also perform this pose with a little width between the heels. This will slightly change the alignment of the hips and can improve the alignment.

The navel area will naturally stick out. To engage lower core abdominal muscles pull the navel up and back. This will reduce pressure on the lower back.

Aligning the shoulders horizontally is desired. There are many ways to do this. Shown opposite is a method of lifting them. Sometimes this is not done because of blood flow interference or nerve impingement. It is quite nice to have all the muscles, skin and cells around the arms and shoulders moving in an upwards direction. The energy forces of the pose feel better.

Urdhva Virabhadrasana II or Warrior 2
Step the legs apart then turn one leg 90 degrees out and bend this knee. Position the knee above the ankle. Stretch the arm on that side up so that the side of the body is stretched. Lean back and place the other hand on the straightened leg and look up.

The fingers can be closed or open. (One creates a direct force and the other is a flared force.)

Placing the hand on the leg for some extra support can help relieve pressure form the back.

Both legs are strengthened in this pose. It can also help the knee muscles strengthen. The shoulders are stretched and the arms are strengthened. This yoga posture will also increase groin flexibility.

Warrior 3 or Virabhadrasana 3 or Warrior 3

From Tadasana lean the upper body forward while raising one leg back and up. Take the hands out sideways instead of straight in front as shown if you are just learning balance or balancing is difficult.

Push through the heels, toes or ball points of the feet. Pushing though the toes may be the best option because the energy of the force through the toes helps in raising the leg a little more but the ball points of the toes will also create a lift through the leg.

Align the hips horizontally. The raised leg has to be rotated inward to achieve a horizontal alignment. It is hard to maintain balance when doing this. The strength of the big toe on the supporting leg can prevent loss of balance when the inward rotation is applied.

Feel a stretch from the toes of the raised leg to the fingers in front of you. It takes many years to get a very straight feeling of energy through the body. The shoulders and legs have to be flexible quite flexible.

Look forward for stability or down to stretch the spine even longer. Gazing back at your foot as a self check can be quite revealing. It is also hard to balance so make sure you are advanced before you attempt it in practice.