Three anti-stress yoga exercises to practice every day with Maryse Lehoux

"Namasté! It's Maryse, from Diva-yoga.com, I welcome you to this video where I present the three essential postures to practice every day.

These three postures will provide different essential benefits in this current society which makes us very stressed. Stress often causes us elimination problems and yet, the intestines are vital because it is what allows us to be in good physical, emotional and mental health.

So there is a posture for that.

For women, since we are weaker in the upper body, I have a super nice posture for you. So that you can strengthen your upper body and have firm, non-flabby triceps, as well as shoulders that develop strength.

So this is our second posture.

And the third posture, which we will practice together and which I will explain to you, will help you increase your energy level.

I suggest these three postures to you in the morning.

The first one is great because you can even do it in your bed. It will release the tensions that you may have created in your back during the night. So excellent posture!

The posture: "the God of the Winds"

This is the posture called "the God of the winds". My yoga students know how much I love it because it is very, very appropriate for our Western culture.

To practice "God of the Winds", you are either already lying in bed, or you are lying on the ground and exhaling. As you inhale, bring your right leg closer. We start on the right because, in this way, we will stimulate the ascending colon. So you exhale, and as you inhale you bring your leg closer to your abdomen.

You go with what's best for you, if you have more flexibility in your glutes or lower back, your leg might end up about here. And so you feel a stretch and it's perfect.

If you have more flexibility, your leg will move forward a little more.

The key in this posture is to go slowly and breathe slowly. This is really the key and you can do this posture as I told you in your bed, it really starts the day so well and you will see that elimination is easier.

You then lie down with both legs on the ground, you compare the difference between the left side and the right side. What I invite you to do here is really feel in your butt, in your back, the difference between the hips, the length of your legs. You will see, there will be big differences. When you take the time to feel, what it brings you is that you become aware of the importance of the movement you are making. And that’s really very, very important, it’s a key in yoga. Then you do the other side: you inhale, and as you exhale you bring your leg closer. Keep the extended leg relaxed as much as possible and keep the other leg relaxed too. The goal is to relax and facilitate elimination to have superb intestinal health as well as great physical and emotional health. When you do this movement, you may experience gas or gurgling in your stomach, which is completely normal since we are stimulating elimination. Then you extend both legs, you take a very short moment (it can be two or three seconds) to feel. Another very important key when doing yoga is that you don't get up like that. I'll show you how to do it. So you don't get up straight like that, especially after lying down all night, it's the same thing. On the contrary, you bring your legs closer to your chest, turn to the side and then come back up to the side. Its very important.

The so-called “downward facing dog” posture

The second posture, which is truly extraordinary, is a posture that I love. When I learned to do it in yoga, the first time, the teacher was there and I said to myself: "But no, but what are we doing? But that makes no sense to have my head down like that and my butt in the air!” I was so uncomfortable that it was a posture that I really needed to learn and master. It's a bit like the fox and the little prince who must tame each other. For me, the “Downward Facing Dog” and I also needed to tame each other.

Now I find this posture really extraordinary because it strengthens the shoulders, it helps enormously to have flexibility. So that's really great because women often have strong lower bodies and very little upper body strength and this posture will help us strengthen ourselves.

What is also interesting with the "Downward facing dog" posture is that we have our heads down and by remaining like this we facilitate and improve our blood circulation, while having a different vision of things. .

It is thanks to this type of posture that we discover a whole new way of seeing life, so it is truly extraordinary. What I invite you to do is externally rotate your shoulders. I have already explained in a previous video how to have external rotation: you bring your hands in front, you make a big ball and the palms of your hands go upwards. You move your shoulders back, you rotate only your forearm, like this, and you place your hands on the ground.

You go into “the Table” (table pose), step your feet back and push your hips toward the sky. So here you keep the opening in the shoulders. Another extremely important thing is that you have the base of your thumb and index finger pressing into the ground. So the two index fingers are parallel if you don't want to have your hands too deep. If your hands are too deep, you could develop elbow problems or even shoulder problems. Keep your index fingers parallel to each other and your shoulders as we did with the large ball. By pushing your hips towards the sky, pressing the base of your thumb and index finger into the ground, you will have an extremely solid foundation.

When you are in the pose, the goal is to have a straight back. So if your back is rounded, if you have a posture like this, bend your knees, push your hips towards the sky and keep your pubis towards your navel. Over time, you will be able to unfold your legs. Even if you don't do it right away there's no problem, it's perfect for now.

If you wear high heels, this pose will be extraordinary for you because you will lengthen your calves. By wearing high heels, you shorten the muscles in the back and create tension in the calves and back of the thighs. The “Downward Facing Dog” posture will help you stretch, it will be a wonderful posture for you. If you're very flexible too and your back is arched like that, that's not better either. So you return to a straight position with a straight, long back and you bring the pubis towards the navel. It's really a great posture that you can practice for a minute or two so it's very simple. You get up in the morning and immediately you practice it.

This posture is truly extraordinary because in one or two minutes a day, you will have a very different vision of your life, you will develop new perspectives. It's simply great and what's more, you strengthen your upper body, which is very important to be able to keep a straight back and age beautifully and youthfully.

The posture of “Breathing the Sun”

The third posture we have is a standing posture. So I invite you to get up and we are going to do “sun breathing”.

In the order in which I presented the postures to you, so starting with "the God of the winds", then "downward facing dog" and then "breathing of the sun", I recommend them to you in this order in the morning . If you do them in the evening, I recommend them in the opposite direction: you can do "breathing of the sun", continue with "downward facing dog" and finish with "the God of the winds" to be able to return to Earth.

So to do the “sun breathing” pose, you spread your feet hip-width apart, you push your feet into the ground, fingers long on each side. You bring your feet hip-width apart, your pubis towards your navel, your shoulders back and down. By having worked them with the “Downward Facing Dog”, they will move more easily towards the back and the top of your head towards the sky. You also keep your chin tucked in, your fingers are very long on each side and you inhale. Raise your arms high towards the sky and as you exhale, lower your arms to each side. When you do the movement, you inhale and your inhale is the length of the arms you lift. When you exhale, your movement is the same length as the breath.

When you do this posture, this breathing, visualize that you are going to seek energy. When you inhale, you draw energy from all around you and when you exhale, you exchange energy with everything around you.

So you bring back the energy, and you start again. Keep your heart wide open, it is a superb posture for connecting to everything that exists around you, whether you are connecting with other human beings and other living beings.

Keep your heart open and bring life, living beings inside your heart.

When you do your movement, keep your fingers very, very long. Sometimes what we see, what I see in yoga classes, is that people keep their elbows straight. Keep your elbows extended as if you want to touch the walls, or touch nature all around you.

So ! Do this posture, this breathing, for one or two minutes in the morning and you will see, it will transform your day. You will collect a lot of Prana, vital energy, which brings smiles, joy and enthusiasm around you and inside you.

These three postures are essential to practice every day!”

Source

http://www.diva-yoga.com