Diy WELLNESS /
GOt 15 MiNUtES?
Hero Pose (Virasana)
Realigning your energy is a quick and powerful way to help you focus
your mind and soothe your spirit. Hero Pose calms and centers.
1. Kneel on your mat (or a folded towel if your knees and feet need
extra padding), knees touching. Separate your feet so that they move
just outside your hips, keeping the tops of your feet actively pressing
into the mat.
2. Exhale and readjust calf muscles with your hands for comfort.
3. Your buttocks should rest comfortably on the floor. If it does not, you
may use a small, rolled towel for support. Lay your hands on the tops
of your thighs, palms up, open and relaxed.
4. Lift your torso out of your hips, reaching the shoulder blades down
the back. Keep your breath even. This pose may be held from 30
seconds to several minutes at a time.
5. To exit this pose, press your hands into the floor while lifting your hips
away from your heels. Move your feet out from under your hips, ex-
tending them straight in front of you. Rest your buttocks on the floor.
Plank Pose
Core strength is vital to wellness. If your center is strong, you're physically
balanced. This physical equilibrium can translate into spiritual stability.
And it only takes a few seconds at a time.
1. On a mat, start lying face down, palms pressing into the floor, directly
under your shoulders, feet flexed, with toes curled under, pushing into
the floor.
2. Push off from the mat, straightening your arms (without overextending
your elbows), shoulders over elbows, elbows over wrists, torso firm
and lifted. Pull the shoulders gently down the back, relaxing the neck
and opening the back.
3. Imagine a straight line stretching from the base of your skull to your
heels. Tilt your pelvis slightly in, keeping your rear end down. Main-
taining this straight line works the abdominal muscles. Engage your
quads, taking pressure off the knees.
4. Hold for 10 to 60 seconds. Lower knees, rest, repeat 3 to 5 times.
CHild's Pose (Balasana)
After working your body in Plank Pose, you will need to rest, breathe
and stretch. Child's Pose is a quiet, resting postion that can be help from
30 seconds to several minutes.
1. Kneel on your mat, big toes touching, knees about hip-width apart,
and sit back onto your heels.
2. Exhale as you bend forward, chest to your knees, touching your head
to the floor.
3. Lay your arms alongside your body, palms facing up, open and
relaxed. As your shoulder blades are pulled gently downward, you
will feel a mild stretch across your upper back. Breathe deeply and
evenly into your lower back.
4. To move out of this pose, inhale, lift the torso and, if appropriate,
place your arms in front of you, directly under your shoulders and
use them to gently help you up.
Unless you befriend your body,
you cannot become well.
-- Bessel van der Kolk, author and professor of psychiatry
at Boston University School of Medicine, Yoga Journal
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14
REUNION
That's all the time it takes to refocus. Use the yoga poses below--in this
progression or each on their own--to center and strengthen yourself.