Savasana – Corpse Pose
Occasionally, this pose is referred to as the death pose, or mrtasana (mrit-TAHS-ana. Mrta means death.
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Simhasana – Lion Pose
Simhasana stimulates and releases a host of oft-overlooked muscles. The tongue and jaw can be thought of as the front of the neck, and cervical tension can frequently be related to tightness in these structures. Additionally, the platysma (the flat, thin, rectangular muscle that covers the front of the throat) can be tonified during simhasana.
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Parighasana – Gate-Latch Pose
Rotation is automatic and side bending in the spine because of both the same of the articular facets in the vertebrae and the spiral pathways of the muscles. To keep the action “pure” lateral flexion, there needs to be a counterrotation in the rib cage. in this case, the upper ribs rotate posteriorly and the
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Eka Pada Rajakapotasana Variation – Folded Forward One-Legged Royal Pigeon Pose
This variation intensifies the action in the hamstrings of the front leg because of deeper hip flexion and more bodyweight over the front leg. At the same time, it diminishes the action in the back hip and in the spine. By adducting the front leg, the piriformis is brought into the lengthening action. This is
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Eka Pada Rajakapotasana – One-Legged Royal Pigeon Pose
It is important not to collapse into this pose. The pelvic floor, hamstrings, and gluteals should act eccentrically to distribute the weight force of gravity through the whole base of the pose rather than drop right into the hamstring attachment or knee joint. As with all poses, and more so with complex ones, a wide
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Ustrasana – Camel Pose
In camel, a mild internal rotation of the legs is recommended to keep the sacroiliac joints stable, which will favor hip and spinal extension over sacroiliac counternutation (which is what happens when this pose is felt “in the small of the back”). It can be very challenging to find a healthy extension of the spine
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Balasana – Child’s Pose
Variations include widening the knees (hip abductors), which can create a more neutral extension in the spine and make room for the belly; extending the arms overhead; clasping the heels with the hands; crossing the arms under the forehead; and turning the head to one side. Sometimes there is congestion in the front of the
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Supta Virasana – Reclining Hero Pose
There are many variations of the am position in this pose—-at the sides, reaching overhead, and propped up on the elbows (for the less flexible). If the latissimus dorsi are right, reaching the arms overhead can increase the hyperextension of the spine because of the attachment of the latimissius in the lower back. Because hip
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Navasana – Boat Pose
In this pose, the challenge is not the position itself, so much as its relationship to gravity. If it were rotated 45 degrees, it would just be the work of sitting vertically in dandasana (which can certainly present its own challenges). Ideally, the weight in this pose is distributed between the sitting bones and the
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Mahamudra – The Great Seal
The base of mahamudra is very similar to janu sirsasana, which it resembles. The similarity ends there, however, because the main action of this pose is a strong axial spinal extension, which in turn arises from a deep application of the three bandhas (mula bandha, uddiyana bandha, and jalandhara bandha). A simplified way of thinking
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