Hello everyone,
Here a few yoga poses you can do to help calm the body and get the digestive system going. Bring these poses into your regular practice for a while, or do them by themselves. But also think about the portions you eat, overeating could well be causing the problem!
The poses I demonstrate in this sequence are:

• thunderbolt pose / vajrasana
• seated forward bend / paschimottanasana
• lying simple twist
• one leg twist
• savasana / corpse pose

Happy digesting!
Esther

Hi Everyone,

Here a few ideas of what to do towards the end of a yoga class. The poses I demonstrate and explain are,

seated forward bend / paschimottanasana

head to knee pose / janu sirsasana

simple spinal twist

shoulderstand / salamba sarvangasana

plough / halasana

fish pose / matsyasana

The inverted poses like plough pose and shoulderstand are good cooling down poses by themselves as well.  Don’t do them during your period though.

hope this sheds some light on working towards an end during your yoga practice!

Esther

Paschimottanasana / Seated forward bend

Benefits:

• Stretches the spine, hamstrings, shoulders.
• Calms the mind, prepares you for meditation.
• Relieves mild depression.
• Stimulates internal organs like ovaries and uterus, liver and kidneys.
• Good for digestion.
• Therapeutic for high blood pressure, Insomnia and sinusitis.

Click on seated forward bend to find out how to perform this pose step by step

Seated Forward Bend / Paschimottanasana

step by step instructions

• From dandasana, sitting with your legs outstretched in front of you and your feet flexed. If you cannot sit with a straight back it means you have to sit on a block or folded blanket.
• On an inhalation lengthen your spine, gently pressing your sitting bones into the floor (or block) backward. Slightly arch your lower back forward towards your belly. Your hands are next to the hips on the floor, press into your hands to help elongate your spine .
• Pull up the thighs and let the top of the thighs than descend to the floor.
• Keeping the front of the body open and long, on an exhalation you gently begin to fold forward hinging from the hips, not bending in the back.
• Keep length from the pubic bone till the breastbone, moving first your belly, than your ribcage, chest, than your forehead towards the legs.
• Let your arms slide down along the floor, if you can, hold the feet, wrapping your 1st two fingers and thumbs around the big toes, if elbows are bend doing that keep them lifting away from the floor out to the sides and keep your shoulders away from the ears. if you can’t hold your feet, loop a strap around the soles of the feet holding the strap with both hands, keep arms straight.
• To go deeper into this pose, with every inbreath you remind yourself of the length along the front of the torso, lifting your head slightly, on an outbreath you see if you can fold deeper into the pose, still with a long spine hinging from the hips. Keeping your neck in line with your spine. If you hold a strap, just walk your hands slowly in as you go deeper, straight arms.
• In time you may be flat over the legs, spine long and you can maybe stretch your hands out beyond the feet on the floor, maybe even holding the opposite wrist.
• You can hold this pose anywhere between the 5 breaths and 5 minutes.
• to come out, on an inbreath lift head, chest and lengthen out through the front of the body, press into the sittingbones, ground tailbone down, coming up to straight.

Click on paschimottasana to find out about the benefits of this pose.

Hi Everyone,

Here a sequence of sitting poses to do following this video of yoga standing poses or alternatively after warming up with some sun salutations. This way you can extend your practice time.

Sitting poses can be among the hardest for most people. Traditionally you do yoga to help you learn how to sit. Sitting properly, without effort, so you can be still and meditate. When you try to meditate in a sitting position and your back hurts, hips are stiff, etc, that is all that you can focus on, and its not beneficial.

Doing yoga, opening and loosening your body so that you can sit effortlessly makes a huge difference for your meditation practice. As well as from a physical perspective this little routine stretches the back of the body, opens your hips and works on your core strength. Also, if you repeat this for a week or so you will notice a difference, which is always nice for the motivation!

Keep practicing !!!

The poses I demonstrate in this sequence are:

Staff pose / Dandasana

Seated forward bend / Paschimottanasana

Reversed plank pose or inclined plane pose/ Purvottanasana

Boat pose / Navasana

Cobbler pose or butterfly pose/ baddha konasana

Seated wide angle pose / Upavishta konasana

Hi everyone, practicing yoga with this yoga video can really shift your mood. Try this little sequence out when you feel down and observe the difference in how you feel.  Whenever I feel down, and do yoga I always feel more balanced and happier after. I hope you do too!

Esther

The poses I demonstrate oin this sequence are:

cat pose / marjaryasana

cow pose / bitilasana

downward facing dog pose / adho mukha svanasana

half lord of the fishes pose / ardha matsyendrasana

head to knee pose / janu sirsasana

seated forward bend / paschimottanasana

bridge pose / setu bandha sarvangasana