Home Yoga Practice
This flow begins in a seated forward bend. Seated forward bends are a good way to stretch and balance your spine especially if you have done a lot of backends such as lot's of Cobra poses and other back bends such as Bridge pose and Wheel pose known in yoga as Upward Facing Bow pose.
Printable Home Yoga sequence link
Exhale and enter Paschimottasana the seated forward bend. You can hold this pose for a long time or simply exhale into in and inhale out. This pose is a good pose to hold though.
Inhale as you raise out and bend the knees to the chest, tilt back, and exhale making a V shape. Keep the knees bent if you find this hard. Hold for up to 5 Breaths. This pose is called Boat pose.
There are many ways to enter the next pose one of the easiest and safest is to bend the knees to the chest and roll back then stretch out when the back is on the floor or mat. You can also tilt back keeping the legs straight. The legs will then be pointed up as you lay on your back. Slowly lower them down so that you challenge the core abdominal strength. If you do this it is often a good practice to take the hands under the sacrum so that the pelvis is slightly raised. This will take some of the strain away form the lower back.
Once you are down on the mat stretch your whole body from the toes to the fingers. Allow the lower back to come down also. Hold for at least 5 breaths. This is a great pose to do often inbetween all kinds of backbends and lying yoga postures as it balances the body and stretches it well.
Bring the knees to the chest and take them down to one side with an exhalation. Use one hand to place a little pressure on the knee. The other is stretched out the opposite way to stetch pectoral muscles and shoulder muscles. Hold for at least 5 breaths on each side. A tip for balance is to hold slightly longer on your less flexible side.
Rest in Savasana the Corpse pose.
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