Monthly Yoga Pose April

April 4th, 2011

Monthly Yogapose April:
Detoxify with Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half-Lord-of-the-Fishes Pose)
(Click here to see the pose)

This pose gives a powerful squeeze to your stomach, squeezing the body’s most important detox player – the liver, which is involved with over 500 functions, including detoxification of any junk we consume, like coffee, alcohol, etc. It is said to heighten spiritual detox too, since the entire spine and thereby all the major seven chakras are invoked in this pose. It also improves postural misalignments that come from emotional slackness and helps de-stress.

STEP BY STEP

1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, if you want with your buttocks supported on a folded blanket. Bend your right knee and step the right foot over your left leg and place the right foot on the floor at the outside of the left knee. The right knee will point directly up at the ceiling. To make the pose a little more challenging you can bend the left leg and place the left foot beside the right buttocks, making sure that both sitting bones remain on the floor, if this is not the case then straigthen out the left leg again.

2. Exhale and twist toward the inside of the right thigh. Press the right hand against the floor just behind your right buttock, and set your left upper arm on the outside of your right thigh near the knee. Pull your front torso and inner right thigh snugly together.

3. Press the inner right foot very actively into the floor, release the right groin, and lengthen the front torso. Lean the upper torso back slightly, against the shoulder blades, and continue to lengthen the tailbone into the floor.

4. You can turn your head in one of two directions: Continue the twist of the torso by turning it to the right; or counter the twist of the torso by turning it left and looking over the left shoulder at the right foot.

5. With every inhalation lift a little more through the sternum, pushing the fingers against the floor to help. Twist a little more with every exhalation, feeling as if the spine is a wet cloth and with every exhalation you are squeezing more of the water out of it. Be sure to distribute the twist evenly throughout the entire length of the spine; don't concentrate it in the lower back. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release with an exhalation, return to the starting position, and repeat to the left for the same length of time.

Always be aware of your body, mind and being, never pushing to far in any of the poses. Be gentle to yourself.

Namaste