This posture is simple, yet thrilling. It is can be practiced by experienced practitioners and beginners as well.

This pose helps in maintaining good nervous system and makes the spine flexible. By practicing this posture one can enjoy both emotional and physical benefits. And it will also help you prepare for more and more back bending exercises.

Technique:
Place a mat on the floor and lie-down on your back. Slowly bend your knees and get the feet closure to your butt. With the hip width apart place your feet on the mat.
Get your palms aligned with your hips facing downwards. Lie down in a supine position facing towards the roof with a stretched neck.

Benefits:

• Stretching exercise for hips, neck, spine, and chest strengthens the spinal muscles, hamstrings, buttocks and back muscles.
• This pose helps in controlling the central nervous system, and acts as a remedy to depression.
• It enhances digestive system and stimulates abdominal organs.
• It gives relief to women suffering from menopausal symptoms.
• The back-bend poses help reduce the headache and back pain.
• Doing the pose before going to bed, can get you some sleep at night, even if you have insomnia.
• Like many other poses, it also improves your blood circulation.
• It may be beneficial in curing hypertension, clog sinus, asthma and osteoporosis.
• It gives work to quads, hamstrings and calves.
• It provides relief against abdominal cramps.
• This exercise will help in healing the prolapsed uterus, and it also controls the menstrual flow.

Cautions:
These exercises should not be performed in case of neck or knee injury.
Never try this pose during pregnancy.
It is always recommended to perform under the guidance of a trainer.
Please consult a doctor in-case of injury or back pain.

These blankets can be perfectly used for various poses like sarvangasana – the shoulder stand, savasana – the corpse pose and sirsasana the headstsand. Your blankets will keep you warm and comfortable while performing the asanas.

These blankets are in the size of 50″ by 70″, which will be good enough to use on the floor, it occupies less space and gives more comfort.

Some people are allergic to blankets, that are made up of woolen, keeping that in mind the Fiesta Mexican Blankets are designed with the mixture of cotton (10%), polyester (40%) and acrylic (50%).

The quality of all these together makes the blanket tougher and long lasting. You need not worry about the uninvited dust that accumulates on the blanket, because these blankets are washable and can be roughly used.

• The polyester and acrylic makes them more resilient and they are felt soft with the blend of cotton.
• These blankets are wool-free and will not create an allergic reaction in yoga practitioners, those who are allergic to wool.
• Brightens up your yoga studio or home with a variety of colors.
• They are thick, soft and warm
• Hand Made In Mexico, Machine Washable
• Measures approximately 74″ long and 54″ wide
• High Quality, yet affordable
• They are designed in variety of colors and patterns

It is always recommended to perform the poses under the guidance of a trainer, especially those who have never tried yoga and who are less flexible.

Benefits:

• Heart opening pose, with physical and emotional effects
• Expands and opens chest to a great extent
• Make room between vertebrae in back-bends
• This pose gives complete body stretching exercises
• This Pose inspires many glands and organs: thyroid, pineal, pituitary and adrenal glands.
• Improves respiration and blood circulation by providing space in the lungs.
• Enhance shoulder and spine flexibility
• Strengthens and energizes the whole body
• Builds self confidence
• Develops dignity and silence of mind.

Safety Measures:

• Do not perform Dwi Pada Dandasana, or the two legged exercises, if you are undergoing any of the following problems.
• Slip disc problems or Spinal nerve damage
• Chronic shoulder dislocations
• During Pregnancy
• In case of retina problems
• Uncontrollable high blood pressure

You have to self-judge on how good you are performing yoga poses. If you experience severe pain during the pose, then it’s a sign to stop and relax.
Never try these poses without proper guidance

This particular asana is considered as a very important asana in yoga, as it helps in curing several health issues.

Backbends or back exercises create flexibility in the spine and according to the yogis a flexible spine is associated with long life.

Technique: Place a mat on the floor and lie on your back. Bend your knees and draw the feet towards the hips to keep the ankles under your knees. Get your legs and feet together. Take the arms over the head, bend at the elbows, and get the palms down, where the shoulders are positioned.

If you feel tight in the chest or shoulders, you may place your palms slightly wider then the shoulder. Make sure your pelvis bends forward a bit to keep the natural arch at the lower back.

To move into the back arch, one has to raise the pelvis up from the floor. Any person practicing this asana should keep in mind several important things. One cannot move his pelvis you he likes. If wrongly done, it leads to several complications.

Wrong back bending can lead to “crunching” which allows the vertebral column to damage and pressurize on the cartilage present between them. This negative movement can lead to severe back injury.

To avoid crunching maintain space between the vertebrae in your lower back during the act. While moving the pelvis upwards, make sure it is tilted a bit and constantly move the coccyx bone “up and through” your buttocks. Keep this action throughout the session. This is a constant pelvic tilt.

• Avoid the separation of the knees while doing the pose. Keep them at a distance of hip-width and don’t let them turn out.
• Turn the outer thighs up and inner thighs down throughout.
• Keeping all the above points in mind, raise your pelvis up and keep it in forward motion towards the feet.

To enjoy these routine exercises, you need to consider plus size yoga clothes. These clothes are specially made to improve the movement of your body.

Danskin v-neck
The plus size v-neck t-shirt is unique in its quality and material. It is created in soft comfort cotton with a little of spandex to give a smooth finish.

Danskin wide leg:
The new and trendy wide leg pant is a mixture of spandex and comfy fleece, which offers great flexibility in movement. The wide waistband provides an added comfort.

Bike shorts:
There is an eleven inch inseam for absolute comfort and coverage. These bike shorts are designed for perfect fit and performance.

Baseball style:
This athletic free size baseball top is ideal for all your sport activities. Wear it along your plus size bike shorts, sneakers, or with your favorite capris, and then you can get on to your treadmill.

Bra-workout wear style:
Sports bra is doing well in the market for its style, comfort and fit. The quality stitching is used to make this bra adaptable. You can use it under your top as a substitute to the plus size bra..

Regular practice of yoga asanas, offer healthy and smooth movement of the joints. It prevents the wear and tear process at an early stage. It also helps in maintaining weight and hormonal imbalance.

By performing light weight exercises, one can see the following improvements in the body:

• Increases the movement of stiff joints
• Strengthens the joints.
• Improves blood circulation
• Prevents further aging process.
• The breathing exercises in asanas and pranayama increases the oxygen supply to the body

The pain, deformities and inflammation caused by the damaged joint, makes the surrounding muscles weak. The regular practice of yoga strengthens the muscles and supports in improving the damages joints,

Exercises:
Half Butterfly: Sit straight with legs stretched out, bend the right leg placing the right foot near the left knee. Now hold the toes of the right foot with left hand, and with a little help from the right hand, keep moving the knee up and down for ten – fifteen time. Get back to the original position and repeat the same exercise with the other leg.
During the process inhale while bringing the knee up and exhale while getting the knee down.

Full Butterfly: Bend both knees and bring the soles of the feet together. Clasp the feet with both hands and gently move the knees up and down. Try and touch the knees to the ground with normal breathing.

Equinox Fitness Club and Spa
Vinyasa Yoga One-on-One
10220 Constellation Blvd.
Century City, CA 90067 – PH: 310-552-0420,
equinoxyoga at gmail dot com
Interviewed by Moumita Das

1) How and when did you get introduced to Yoga?
My mom did yoga, and I remember mirroring her in halasana at a very young age-maybe even about age 3. During my adolescence, my aunt became a very serious practitioner and eventually a teacher. She urged me to go see Erich Schiffman when I moved to LA in 1997 and that’s really where it all began for me; “going deep” as she puts it.

2) According to you, what is a healthy Yoga routine and how often one should practice it?
Well, I can really only speak for myself and for me lately 3-5 times a week 70-90 minutes on the mat means I’m feeling well. There have been periods where I practiced 7 days a week, and periods where I practiced 1. It is up to the practitioner to do the deciding. I will say even to sit in a chair and consciously breathe once a day is a practice. To do downward dog once a day-that’s a practice. Because what I see sometimes is a sort of pretend practice made up of ordering props and clothes, and the subscription to the yoga magazine and talking a lot about yoga and making it to the advanced class once a month, and I call doing downward dog once a day and keeping it to oneself a deeper practice than that. And by the way, I can probably spot the pretend practice because it’s how I was at one time.

3) Would you like to share any kind of meditation with our readers to increase their energy level and mood?
I am a big believer in stopping what you’re doing and dropping into pranayama to restore energy. I also believe breathing deeply can radically and rapidly transform negative emotion into constructive experience or awareness. I teach Vinyasa now, but when I was trained to teach Hot Yoga (Bikram) I learned to do Kapalbhati, which is a repetitive blowing, through the mouth or nose while engaging Mula Bandha (root lock). Of course most importantly is filling the belly on the inhale and sharply pressing the navel to the spine on every exhale. Normally this is done at the end of class in Vajrasana however I tell my students to do this in traffic-why not? If you can direct your awareness inward and transform your agitation, you’re participating in sending a healing vibration out into the city, instead of just more negative emotion. And let me tell you, we need that here in LA out on the 405! I am all for bringing yoga into daily life all day long. If you’re doing advanced poses perfectly, and walking into your office and yelling at your assistant, yoga has not made it into your life yet. You’re really just a gymnast.

4) Can you brief us about some poses or breathing exercises that help us to maintain a healthy body?
I am a big fan of trikonasana and all twists. Twists are wonderful for digestion, which is a major part of our overall wellness. Lots of headaches, fatigue, and other simple maladies can be traced back to poor digestion and dehydration. Inversions of all kinds are extremely beneficial to the circulation system and to building and maintaining a healthy immune system. Headstand and shoulderstand improve blood flow to the endocrine glands. Yoga masters call it the squeezing and soaking system. When the chin is tucked in shoulder stand for instance, there is gentle pressure on the throat “squeezing” out stale blood and upon release, soaking the area with new immune cells and flooding it with blood and regulating function. I could actually just go on and on….

5) What are some of the benefits that you have enjoyed through Yoga?
I give yoga all the credit for keeping me off conventional medicine. I take 1,000 mg of vitamin C when I remember. That’s about it! I simply remain healthy. I get an annual clean bill of health, year after year, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a cold. In my early twenties, like so many are, I was definitely a candidate for anti-depressants, and the panic attacks and anxiety absolutely vanished through breathing exercises and yoga. Of course this took years, but it worked. Yoga is not a quick fix. It is a long term solution. That is why so many reach for the pills. They don’t want to do the work. They want to be a mechanism and not a human. I say keep those bottle of pills full and use them for percussion instruments-make some music with them and go to yoga. Yoga has given me the gift of accepting myself for being human. I have sat in hip openers and released deep grief, sobbing. I am not ashamed of that. I openly share that and encourage my students to do the same. It is part of the human experience. Now that my life is more stable, I would say I now experience a sense of increasing awareness of my own path and life, and an ability to forgive easily. I call it becoming a Jedi, for those Star Wars fans out there. I’m finding my inner Yoda.

6) Can you tell our readers about some of the techniques to increase the health benefits of Yoga?
I would say becoming mindful of your water intake is crucial. I believe in drinking half our weight in ounces of water daily. I also suggest removing sugar from your diet COMPLETELY. I believe white processed sugar (and organic cane juice or whatever else you want to call it, believe me, it’s just sugar with a new name) is absolute POISON. It is an anti-nutrient that keeps your body from absorbing minerals from the healthy foods we eat. And once you release it, there is absolutely no craving. It is the CAUSE of many illnesses including diabetes, if you ask me. But any doctor working will never agree because it is such a lucrative business they have been trained to believe that in moderation it is fine. I feel that is almost like saying that heroin in moderation is fine.

7) Do you think Vegetarianism is an important part of Yoga practice?
I think eating consciously is important. I really want to be a vegetarian, and I have been before, but I eat fish and fowl sometimes because I was raised on meat and I feel my body requires animal protein. I do believe there is a direct connection between sugar intake with eating animal protein. There are so many hidden sugars in everything that sometimes I attribute needing fish to having eaten sugars in things without knowing it. I like Kathy Freston’s theory: “lean in”. I do not suggest going to extremes. I think even to begin thinking about it is a good way to get started. To just open to the idea of being a vegetarian. I will say making your food your medicine is the way to go. Lots of fresh, whole foods that GREW in the ground.

What was the Yoga scene like in the early days in America and how is in the present scenario?
Well, I wasn’t around when it came on the scene, but I can tell you now, even in the past ten years, it’s boomed. I love it. I finally feel like I belong in the world somewhere. Because I used to feel like a real oddball.

9) Based on your experience as a Yoga teacher, what do you think makes a good teacher?
I think a good teacher is a student first. I learn a lot from my students. And I think a good teacher remembers they are simply delivering a message that is very, very, old, and much larger than them. A good teacher provides prana, and wouldn’t dream of allowing their own trip or drama to drain the prana of their students. And nobody wants to talk about it out loud, but I do: I consider a good teacher one who keeps dating and class separate. I was under direct instruction from my teacher, Diane Avice du buisson, to not invite a romantic energy into my classes because it is always at the expense of the student or students. I have chosen to follow this instruction for seven years and counting. In Los Angeles anything goes, and I see this happening sometimes. I just simply avoid teachers who are still experiencing what I consider to be a weakness in that department. And if a student expresses romantic interest in me, I just say, “time to find another teacher! Because I believe if you’re going to yoga for any other reason than to practice, you’re stunting your own growth”.

10) Any special thought that you want to convey or share to our readers?
Protect the practice, and the practice will protect you

According to patanjali there are eight limbs of yoga. Each limb associates with an aspect of deserving happy and healthy life. The names of all the eight limbs are derived from the Sanskrit language, giving a different meaning to each limb.

The eight limbs of yoga are:

Yama and niyama
Asanad
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi

Yama and Niyama is the guide of ethical instructions set under Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. They lay the foundation to spiritual progress while performing yoga. Many people assume yoga as a physical exercise. But later, if given a deep thought to it, they will understand its spiritual impact on their lives. To establish the spiritual impact on our mind-stream, in-order to merge it with our consciousness, they must be laid on the basic principle of ethical behavior.

Precepts of Yama are Non-violence, Truthfulness, Non-stealing, Sexual responsibility and Abstention from greed.

Precepts of Niyama are Cleanliness, Contentment, Austerity, Self-study, and Surrender of the self to God.

Asanad: Asana comes in as the third stage of the eight limbs, it generally refers to yoga positions or yoga postures. There are more than 80 postures in yoga.

Pranayama: It is the art of breathing in yoga. Pranayama is actually two words in Sanskrit, Prana means life and ayama is to restrain or suspend.

Pratyahara: Pratyahara stands fifth among the eight stages, it works on the concentration of oneself. It doesn’t respond to any of the distraction caused while performing yoga. Thus it is known as withdrawal of the senses.

Dharana: It shows some kind of relation with pratyahara. As it does something similar to it, like focusing or concentrating on something without falling to any distraction.

Dhyana: Dhyana takes the seventh step in the stage of eight limbs, it is derived from a Sanskrit word “dhyai” meaning ‘to think of’. The objective of dhyana yoga is to develop concentration, cleanse the subconscious,and clear the mind, in order to unify various stages in yoga and get into a close relationship with god.

Samadhi: Samadhi is the combination of mental and physical state of the body. It marks higher levels of meditation and concentration. Any person who practices samadhi becomes extinct for a moment, his personal identity disappears for a while.

Eight aspects of yoga are:

Asanas
Pranayama
Dhyana
Dharana
Pratyahara
Yama and niyama
Samadhi

Iyengar yoga:

Yogacharya B.K.S Iyengar the creator of Iyengar yoga has masterminded the skills and techniques of yoga. Based on his research experience, it helped him to develop his technique as ‘Iyengar yoga’. Which is now being practiced by many yoga practitioners.

B.K.S Iyengar has made it possible for every human being to experience and enjoy the wisdom of yoga. He has designed few props such as belts, rope and wooden gadgets that helps the ‘yogi’s’ and ‘yogini’s’ to get perfect in asanas.

If Iyengar yoga is practised regularly, it integrates emotions, body and mind. It also emphasizes on the development of stamina, strength, balance, flexibility, meditation and concentration.

Unlike other yoga sessions, Iyengar Yoga class is high in verbal and precise, with errors and misalignment’s actively corrected. By practicing the asanas, it aims to get-together the spirit and mind for health, body and well-being. Discipline is considered as a powerful tool to release stress and promote spiritual and physical well-being.

Iyengar also developed extensive ways of allotting his practice to various disorders and diseases. Many of these problems, such as immunodeficiency, chronic backache, menopause, high blood pressure, depression and insomnia, have specific sessions of Iyengar yoga linked with them.

There have been studies conducted on the results of Iyengar yoga on patients with physical problems, and it has proved to be useful in physical therapy, as it helps in recovery of injured areas.

In another study, Iyengar yoga was shown to be promising as a treatment for behavioral change and depression. It was also concluded that yoga is cost effective, easy to implement and produces many beneficial psychological, behavioral, biological and emotional effects.

There is no official outfit for yoga as such, however you would like to wear a comfortable clothing that best suits for yoga. The following points gives you an idea on how to choose an appropriate outfit to perform yoga.

1. Can you imagine wearing a jeans and a tight t-shirt while performing yoga, it looks so awkward if you do so. Clothes that you choose should be stretchable to allow free movement and comfortable leggings, yoga pants or shorts. Tight clothes will slow down the circulation of blood in your body and results in low energy flow.

2. Since ages, yoga has been performed in bare feet. But now people are more of health conscious and hygienic, so they have started using socks and shoes, specially made for yoga. While some use mats. Some yoga trainers do not digest their students wearing shoes or socks while performing yoga in the class. So it is important to discuss with the trainer before starting the yoga class.

3. If you have bought a new pair for yoga outfit, it is always advisable to test it, before you hit the yoga class. You can twist and turn your body, stretch your legs, jog for sometime and a few poses in front of the mirror, will help you understand the elasticity of the clothes. You will also be able to judge till what extent you can stretch and how freely you can move your body. The outfit should not be too baggy or loose, you don’t have to look like a rapper to perform yoga and the clothes should not get on your way while performing asanas. However they need to be perfectly fit to figure-out your body alignment. This will help the trainer to give feedback on your pose.

4. Do not wear any kind of jewelry while performing yoga. If you have long hair, just pin it up, as it may divert your concentration.

5. Do not use contact lenses or specks while performing resting poses.

6. It is always advisable to wear organic fabrics for yoga, as it is sweat-free and well protected.

7. Do not use excess of deodorants or perfume, while performing in the class, as it may irritate others who are sensitive with the products.