Posted by Exercise is important for mental and physical well-being whether it is outdoor exercise, a sport, or an indoor exercise routine. Exercise is just as important as consuming a healthy and balanced diet. While there are various forms of exercises and workout routines to suit different needs and body types, yoga happens to be the preferred choice for those individuals who are looking for something holistic, something that can help them stay fit on both mental and physical planes.
The reasons why people opt for Yoga are simple –
- Yoga helps create balance and synergy between the body and mind.
- It helps gain mental and physical strength and flexibility.
- Through Yoga therapy, we can destress and manage the fight or flight response better whenever we are in a stressful situation.
- Yoga takes us closer to inner light and peace.
- Yoga opens our hearts and spirit to transformative experiences.
- Yoga helps burn calories and increase the tone of our body.
- It even reduces the risk of injury while aiding our body to heal after a strenuous event.
- It increases blood flow to the body while aiding healthy joint movements.
- It instills a sense of belongingness to the self.
- Yoga opens the paths to self-awareness and utter mindfulness.
Get Fit with Yoga On a Holistic Level With These Yoga Poses
Savasana (Or Corpse Pose)
While savasana is often linked with a pose that is the easiest and most lovable to be in, it is actually one of the most important yoga poses in any yoga series and is often followed at the conclusion of a yoga session. The corpse pose is one of the most restorative poses in yoga during which your body falls into a restful position thereby stabilizing the heart rate and balancing the mind.
How to do it?
Lie flat on your back on the mat with your limbs on the respective side of the torso. Keep your palm facing the sky or ceiling and relax. Let your body and mind sink into a state of nothingness. To add to the comfort, you can make use of a pillow or a yoga block and keep it right under your nape.
Viparita Karani (or Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose)
The legs-up-the-wall pose is an amazing yoga to increase the flow of blood to the heart while offering a beautiful stretch to the hamstrings and reducing any water retention or soreness in the feet muscles. Overall, it is a deeply restorative pose.
How to do it?
Sit against the wall on the side. Lie down on your back. Rotate and raise both your legs higher to rest against the support of the wall. Take a few deep breaths and lie in that pose for 1-5 minutes before releasing it.
Cat-Cow Stretch Yoga Pose or Marjaryasana-Bitilasana
This wonderful asana is a combination of two asanas – the cat pose and the cow pose. This is a beautiful posture for attaining flexibility and easing the back muscles. It also helps mobilize the spinal joints.
How to do it?
Get on a tabletop position, on your hands and knees. Inhale and arch your back muscles to fall into the cow pose. Your belly would fall towards the ground while your chest and chin would be elevated and arched upwards. Exhale to come into the cat pose while pulling your belly inwards and letting your head relax into the gravitational force.
Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Shwanasana
The downward-facing dog is a versatile pose suited for procuring multiple benefits such as gaining flexibility, easing back pain, gaining core strength and releasing pent-up stress from the back and spine. It also offers amazing stretch to the calves and hamstrings.
How to do it?
Start by coming into a table-top position with your knees under your hips and your wrists placed in line with your shoulders. Take a deep breath inwards and press the front of your feet into the mat, raise your hips towards the ceiling. Your neck and ears will be aligned between your arms.
Knees to Chest Yoga Pose or Apanasana
Offers a deep stretch to your back, particularly the lumbar spine with this yoga pose. It also offers a gentle massage to your back
How to do it?
Lie flat on your back with your hips bent and your hands pressed towards your knees. It is as if you are hugging your knees. Release your breath while drawing your naval towards your spine, hugging your knees. Return to the initial position while inhaling.
Bridge Pose or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
Bridge pose is helpful in releasing stress while enhancing core and glute strength. It also stretches the hips which can get sore and stressed from prolonged work hours.
How to do it?
Lie on your back with your arms on the sides. Keep your feet hip-width apart. Now bend your knees while maintaining the feet in a flat position on the floor under your knees. Stimulate your abs and thigh muscles, raise your hips so that the body is in a straight line from the knees to your shoulders.
Cobbler’s Pose or Baddha Konasana
This is an amazing yoga pose to gain flexibility in the body and mind, this is also a great yoga pose for managing diabetes, healthy cholesterol levels, and overall well-being.
How to do it?
Sit on the mat or the floor with your legs stretched in front of you. Bend your knees and push your heel towards your pelvic area. Do this while maintaining the position of the spine. Press your shoulders away from your ears and start moving your thighs up and down like the wings of a butterfly.
Take your yoga practice to a serious level for extensive benefits with a yoga TTC in India. Go with a program at the best yoga school in Rishikesh, Kerala, Mysore, or Goa.