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www.LisaTDaniel.com
Yoga with its many branches is constantly evolving. Yoga is a physical practice consisting of postures that realign and help to strengthen and lengthen the body. It is a mental practice that incorporates pranayama or breath work and meditation. And it is also a spiritual practice integrating both body and mind to bring about oneness, joy, peace, and balance.
We all need balance in our lives and balance helps to promote harmony and healing of the body, mind and spirit. When we are balanced we feel that union or oneness with the divine energy of the universe.
Beginning our yoga practice, our first focus will be on creating balance and a sense of feeling grounded, secure, and stable in our foundation.
A yoga posture to achieve this sense of grounded ness and connection to the earth is:
SETU BANDHASANA or BRIDGE POSE
This pose strengthens the muscles of the abdomen and thighs while you hold the posture. It also strengthens the spine, opens the chest, improves spinal flexibility, and stimulates the thyroid.
Lie supine on the floor, and if necessary, place a thickly folded blanket under your shoulders to protect your neck. Bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as possible.
Exhale and, pressing your inner feet and arms actively into the floor, push your tailbone upward toward the pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Clasp the hands below your pelvis and extend through the arms to help you stay on the tops of your shoulders.
Lift your buttocks until the thighs are about parallel to the floor. Keep your knees directly over the heels, but push them forward, away from the hips, and lengthen the tailbone toward the backs of the knees. Lift the pubis toward the navel.
Lift your chin slightly away from the sternum and, firming the shoulder blades against your back, press the top of the sternum toward the chin. Firm the outer arms, broaden the shoulder blades, and try to lift the space between them at the base of the neck (where it's resting on the blanket) up into the torso. Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Release with an exhalation, rolling the spine slowly down onto the floor. Repeat several times.
“AS MY LEGS SECURE ME FIRMLY TO THE GOUND, I BECOME MORE GROUNDED AND SECURE IN MY LIFE.”
~Lisa Daniel
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