Yoga Cures: Simple Routines to Conquer Over 50 Common Ailments and Live Pain-Free (51 page)

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Seated Chest Lift

From a comfortable, seated position, press your fingertips into the ground behind your hips. Inhale and lift your chest up. If it feels good, lengthen your hips up off the ground also, creating lots of space between each of your vertebrae.

As you exhale, gently lower your hips back down and sit up tall.

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Seated Easy Twist

From your comfortable, seated position, inhale and lift your left arm up. As you exhale, rest your left hand on your right knee. Press your right fingertips into the ground behind your hips. Inhale and lengthen your torso up tall.

Exhale and twist your torso around to the right. At the bottom of your exhale return your torso to center and repeat the same movement and breathing pattern on the other side.

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Headstand

If you are new to the headstand pose it’s best to attempt with the assistance of a yoga teacher or someone who has been doing yoga for a while and can help.

Sit on your heels with your shoulders above your hips. Interlace your fingers loosely and place them on the

ground. Place the top of your head on the ground so your fingers hold the back of your head. Stay here for a few breaths to get comfortable in the position. Tuck your toes and straighten your legs like you would in a down dog.

Stay here for ten long, deep breaths and when you are ready to come out of it, gently lower your knees to the ground and relax in child’s pose.

Start to walk your feet in toward your body so your hips line up over your shoulders and your back is vertical.

Stay here for a few breaths. If you are comfortable here bend one knee in and bring your heel to your hip. Bring it back down and try the other leg. Try both legs at the same time. When your heels are pulled in toward your hips, slowly extend your legs straight up. Stay for twenty long, deep breaths if you can. When you are ready to come down file:///C|/...ures%20Simple%20Routines%20to%20Conquer%20Mlments%20and%20Live%20Pain-Free%20-%20Stiles%20Tara/index.html[5/29/2012 10:54:20 PM]

slowly lower one leg at a time and rest in child’s pose for a few breaths.

Zzzs (Getting Some)

Getting to sleep and staying asleep have developed into major problems that interrupt the daily lives of

millions. Prescriptions for sleeping medications topped 56 million in 2008, up 54 percent from 2004. A

regular yoga practice can completely cure the condition for many, turning an insomniac into someone

who sleeps like a baby and wakes up refreshed and energized. In 2004, Harvard researcher Sat Bir

Singh Khalsa, published a study that found that a half hour to forty-five minutes of daily yoga helped

chronic insomniacs get to sleep and stay asleep throughout the night. For twenty participants, sleep was

significantly improved. Yoga works. Yoga cures.

Our minds inform the functions of our bodies. With yoga we learn we can control and relax the mind

to move through various poses with ease. We can also ease the mind to sleep well at night. When we

practice yoga regularly, many of the anxieties and triggers that keep us up at night simply melt away,

and we can sink into our sheets with ease.

THE ZZZS (GETTING SOME) YOGA CURE

The yoga cure for insomnia is simple: begin and maintain a regular yoga practice.

In addition to a regular yoga practice, a little yoga right before bed will help to wind you down so you can
sleep great right through the night. This routine is designed to calm the mind and release any lasting tension
in the body at bedtime.

You can do it on the ground beside your bed or even right in bed if you prefer.

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Seated Meditation

Sit up nice and tall, however you can sit most comfortably. If you have a headboard on your bed, lean against it.

Relax your shoulders, so that they are away from your ears. Rest your hands on your thighs and close your eyes.

Start to rest your attention on your breath. Watch your inhales come and exhales go. Settle your mind in the space between. Begin to lengthen and deepen your inhales and exhales, setting a slow, easy pace of breathing. If a thought starts to enter your mind, simply observe it like a cloud passing by. Continue observing your breath for three to five minutes.

Reclined Single Knee Hug Twist

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Gently, lie down on your back. Hug your right knee into your chest. Twist your right leg over toward your left side.

Relax your arms out to the sides. Stay here for ten long, deep breaths and repeat on the other side.