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Believe it or not, this simple yoga pose has major benefits for your body.  Something that’s easy to do, yet good for you?…..that’s something we can all be on board with. 

To do a leg drain, also known in yoga as viparita karani (inverted action), simply find a wall, lay on your back and rest your legs straight up against the wall.  You can use a folded blanket or towel under your lower back to take strain off of your lower back area.  Stay in the position as long as is comfortable to you. 

Lymph and other fluids flow away from the legs and into the lower belly.  It provides a gentle stretch to the calves, back and neck.  According to the Yoga Journal, the pose also gives blood circulation a gentle boost toward the upper body and head, which creates re-balancing after standing for a long time.

This move is ultra-relaxing to the central nervous system and completely clears your mind, calms the body, and improves your flexibility.  It’s a perfect move to get your day started, or after a long day or work. 

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Yoga Journal has announced today that they will be having their 7th annual Yoga conference in San Francisco January 28-February 1, 2010.  It will be five days, with more than 40 teachers, and 100 different classes offered.  Classes are for beginners to advanced yogis.  For more information and details, check their website here. 

Think you have what it takes to pull this move off….gracefully?  My friends over at www.YogaJournal.com never let me down when it comes to new, challenging poses.  Even for a yogi like me, I find this extraordinarily challenging.    It absolutely sets my glutes a-flame!  It’s doable, though, not impossible.  Follow the steps below to do it perfectly.  Try it now…go ahead, lay down in the floor and see what you’ve got.  You may surprise yourself. 

Step by Step

 1.  Begin by preparing as you would for Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose). Lie on your back, feet on the floor, heels under the knees, and step your feet a little wider than your hips. Bend your arms and place your palms on the floor by your ears, fingertips facing the shoulders, shoulder-width apart. Pause for a moment to focus and tune in to your breathing.

 2.  As you exhale, press your knees away from your torso and lift your hips, shoulders, and head from the floor as you straighten your arms. Widen and draw your shoulder blades toward your tail bone to lift your shoulders and lighten the load on your arms.

 3.  Bend your arms and place the crown of your head on the floor between your hands and feet, keeping your elbows shoulder-width apart and directly over your wrists. To ensure that your neck does not become compressed, exhale, press your hands into the floor, and again draw your shoulder blades toward your tail bone. Keep your chest open and lifted.

 4.  On your next exhalation, slide one hand past your ear to cup the back of your head, bringing your weight onto your forearm. Repeat the same action with the other arm, interlacing your fingers behind your head (you may be more successful in these arm movements if you lift onto your tiptoes).

 5.   With a powerful exhalation, press down through your inner elbows and wrists and lift your chest to raise your head off the floor. As your head lifts, press your inner heels down. Of course, your head may seem glued to the floor; if that’s the case, continue to hold the pose where you are.

 6.  If you do manage to lift your head, the pose may actually become easier, since this movement allows your upper arms to directly support your weight, easing the demand on your muscles. But be careful not to strain the shoulder joints by pushing them beyond your elbows. Avoid this over extension by keeping your weight evenly distributed between your elbows and wrists, and by not allowing your elbows to slide more than shoulder-width apart. It is absolutely fine to remain in this position, with your head raised and your heels directly below your knees.

7.  In the full pose, however, you walk the feet away from your hands until your legs are nearly straight; then plant your inner feet and exhale as you stretch down through your calves and push to straighten the legs completely.

8.  Place the crown of your head back on the floor inside the cup of your hands, press your elbows into the floor and draw your shoulder blades toward your tail bone to help your shoulders stay lifted. Your middle back will be asked to extend more deeply.

 9.   Come out of this asana with great attention. First, walk your feet back under your knees. Remain on your crown and return your palms to the floor next to your ears. Again check to make sure your hands are directly under your elbows. Push with your hands to lift the head and tuck your chin and tail bone in as you roll your spine back down to the floor, tail bone touching last. Consciously slow your breathing down until you are once again at rest and can feel the powerful calm that is the product of balanced backbends.

So you’ve mastered Downward Facing Dog pose in yoga, let’s keep going!  This is Dolphin pose.  This is a super-deep stretch that opens up your shoulders and digs deeper into stretching those hamstrings and glutes.

Benefits of Dolphin pose are:

Benefits

• Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, and arches
• Strengthens the arms and legs
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported
• Helps prevent osteoporosis
• Improves digestion
• Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue
• Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica

So the next time your head is pounding from a stress headache, forgo the Tylenol and center yourself with some postures to relieve tightness from the neck and shoulders.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your forearms on the floor with your shoulders directly above your wrists. Firmly press your palms together and your forearms into the floor.

2.  Curl your toes under, then exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press it lightly toward the pubis. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling, and from your inner ankles draw the inner legs up into the groins.

3.  Continue to press the forearms actively into the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them away from the spine and draw them toward the tailbone. Hold your head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang or press heavily against the floor.

4.  You can straighten your knees if you like, but if your upper back rounds it’s best to keep them bent. Continue to lengthen your tailbone away from the pelvis and lift the top of your sternum away from the floor.

5.  Stay between 30 seconds to one minute. Then release your knees to the floor with an exhale.

Looking for more great yoga stretches?  Head over to Yoga Journal and find 117 more moves just like this.

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You don’t have a be an experienced Yogi to to feel the effects of this move, called Downward Facing Dog.  It’s the go-to pose in between Yoga postures.  I probably do DFD at least 10 times a day througout the day.  The key is to get your hips up, up, up as far as you can.  Then stretch your hamstrings and calves right into the floor.  Elongate your back, your neck (don’t hyper extend here), your shoulders, arms, even your fingers.  Keep your heels on the floor…the natural tendency is to go up on the balls of your feet, and resist the urge and keep those heels pressed to the floor.  If you are interested in learning Yoga, start here.  Learn this move.  This is a move that you’ll constantly come back to throughout your Yoga session, so learn how to do it properly.  Make a home with it.  Even if you aren’t that interested in Yoga, learn it anyway.  It feels so great, keeps you limber, and stretches everything!

This step by step is courtesy of my friends over at www.YogaJournal.com. 

Step by Step

1.  Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, index fingers parallel or slightly turned out, and turn your toes under.

2.  Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press it lightly toward the pubis. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling, and from your inner ankles draw the inner legs up into the groins.

3.  Then with an exhalation, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels onto or down toward the floor. Straighten your knees but be sure not to lock them. Firm the outer thighs and roll the upper thighs inward slightly. Narrow the front of the pelvis.

4.  Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. From these two points lift along your inner arms from the wrists to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang.

5.  Adho Mukha Svanasana is one of the poses in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. It’s also an excellent yoga asana all on its own. Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes. Then bend your knees to the floor with an exhalation and rest in Child’s Pose.

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