Yoga For A Flat Stomach - 4 Effective Asanas

If you are planning your health and fitness routine, do not forget to include yoga. Yoga is the best stress buster, enhances mobility and gives total body control. One may wonder to know that yoga can be used specially for your stomach. There are asanas that give strength to stomach muscles. However these exercises come in varying degrees of strains. It is advised to analyze your tolerance and fitness levels and select poses compatible to your body. Begin with a little easier poses and work up to the complicated ones as the time passes by. Do not get over excited to select more poses than your body capacity. Make sure to take medical advice before experimenting new exercise and ensure to warm up to avoid injury.

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Some of the Asanas to improve stomach tone;

1. Pavan-Muktasan
Start with lying on your back straight on a yoga mat or towel to avoid spine injuries. In the beginning, perform this exercise using one leg at a time. Kneel down to the extent so that your thighs touch your abdomen. Hug your knees, using one hand to hold the other. Raise the head so that your nose touches your knees, breathe deeply and hold this for thirty seconds. Release your legs and come back to the original position gradually.
2. Bhujangasan
Start with lying on the floor and roll onto your stomach. Ensure that the hands are kept under respective shoulder as if to do a push up. Raise your upper torso from the ground with the help of your back muscles to make head upright. Try to take help of back muscles only to do all the work without using your hands. The main feature of this pose is the use of your back muscles, to give strength and tone up your stomach muscles.

3. The Bow
This is a complicated pose. The stomach exercise resembles Bhujangasan asana, but is more difficult. Begin with lying flat on your stomach - but ensure to curl your legs upwards simultaneously lifting your upper body. The pose must end up forming a circle where the soles of your feet come toward the back of your head. Try to grab your ankles, pull with your hands, push using your legs to the extent that the stomach touches the floor. Hold this for at least thirty seconds before releasing then come back to the original position.

4. Paad-Pashchimottanasan
This is one of the complicated poses. First lye down on your back, keep the legs straight and get relaxed, keep the arms stretched over your head. Make sure that your palms face the ceiling. Sit straight with the help of stomach muscles only, ensuring back straight and hands overhead. Take care to keep fixed legs to the floor throughout. Lean forward to give head in a position in between your arms and grab your toes with both hands. Hold for 2 minutes before releasing and slowly come back to the original position with the help of stomach muscles to lower yourself to the floor.

It is recommended to combine yoga with a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle to get best results.


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5. Back Stretching - Back to Basics

Relaxation Techniques at Office

In this digital age, a new work hazard has emerged: prolonged sitting. While office work is generally safer than manual labor, sitting all day can also impact your body Sitting like this for long periods of time reduces blood circulation, which can lead to varicose veins.

Most workers probably appreciate the fatigue also caused by sitting for long periods. (When the mind detects lower blood circulation, it slows down the heart and distributes less energy throughout the body.) The neck and lower back are also common victims of extended sitting, since many people have poor posture stemming from weak core muscles and incorrect alignment of the spine.

Our body requires constant movement and exercise by which all the systems of our body are regulated. But a lot of us are into jobs, which involves constant sitting. There is a solution to this entire problem.A good option to get relaxed at work is to take miniature Relaxation Breaks once an hour or so. Here are a couple of simple techniques to help you feel peaceful and relaxed at the office.

If you have a height adjustable chair see that the height of your chair, your body and height of the table are right. Sometimes even a small adjustment of height will make you feel comfortable. A lot of chairs are available in the market. Kneeling chairs have both pro’s and con’s. When you sit on these your hips are higher then your knees and spine is upright. Slump a little and come to the correct position. With this you can breathe better. But if you sit on it for a long time its uncomfortable.

Chairs without arms are better as you cannot rest your arms or elbows which would have created unnecessary tension for the muscles of your neck, shoulders and upper back. When your hands are not busy keep your shoulders back and down and rest your hands in your lap.

These are some of the relaxation techniques that you can follow while you are at work or in your office. You can practice these techniques at the convenience of your office place without disturbing your work.

Helping Hands
Continue to sit tall while you bring your hands out to the side, at the same height as your shoulders. Your elbows should be bent, and your hands should cup as if to receive something from above. Imagine energy in your hands, and once they feel full, let the energy move into your palms and down into your arms, toward your heart.


Next, bring the hands together and oil them lightly if you happen to have essential oil at work. (Lavender is a lovely oil to have on hand, as it is restorative and soothing.) Rub the back of the left hand with the right palm, moving quickly to build a bit of heat. You may press quite hard, if that feels good to you. Switch to rubbing the back of the right hand with the left.

Finally, rub your palms together. Once your palms feel hot, cup your hands, palms up, at the level of the heart. Notice how you feel.

Calming Inner Energy
Still sitting tall, bring your hands to your waist. You may find more freedom of movement by sitting cross-legged on the floor. With awareness, begin moving your torso, head, and neck in a big circle. Bend gently foreword to the left, breathing slowly and fully Bring your head forward to skim your left knee, and continue your circle to the right, skimming the right knee.

After lifting your torso on the right side, take a baby back bend by arching backward and looking up toward the ceiling. Continue circling until you feel relaxed and energized.

The easiest way to improve circulation and reduce tension at the office is to move more. Give yourself permission to stand every 15 minutes or half hour, just to stretch your limbs and keep your blood pumping. Better circulation brings more oxygen to the brain, so you may find your productivity increasing along with your relaxation.

Back Stretching - Back to Basics

Whenever we talk about health and fitness through yoga, we focus greatly on tone the abs, hips and legs, but rarely any thought comes to our mind that our back and spinal cord also need to be worked on for fitness. The back is responsible for our posture and we need to exercise for fitness of our back.

Spinal Cord
Most of us may not be aware of the fact that the spinal cord is the Information-Superhighway of the body, and connects the brain and the rest of the body by transmitting neuro-chemical messages. We can not do even a simple activity such as lifting our leg if the spinal cord does not act as a transmitter of message.

For having a strong back, it is advised to sit with a straight back as required in most meditation practices. In Yogic physiology, it is seen that the Energy centers – Chakras- of the body are located along the spinal cord. Hence the health of the spine can not be neglected. Our back protects the spinal cord.

Stiffness of the spine is associated with ageing. With a flexible spine, the ageing process slows down.

Muscles of the Back
Human being, the unique member in whole Animal Kingdom who can stand erect, just because of the muscles in different layers in the Back, that work together to keep us erect.

Erector Spinae – This small muscle located deep within the lower back, behind the abdomen is largely responsible for keeping a person standing erect.

Latissimus Dorsi- Popularly called the ‘lats’, these muscles are used to lower the arms and pull the chest upwards.

Trapezius – this muscle running down the back of the neck and between the shoulders, is responsible for the shrugging action. This muscle absorbs most of the stress that an individual experiences. Hence you feel relieved, when this muscle is massaged.

In today’s Yoga routine we have shown a complete exercise for the back. There are 5 natural movements of the spine: Upward Stretch, Sideward Bend, Backward Bend, Forward Bend and Spinal Twist. We have given 1 asana for each movement. There is also one asana shown, which helps to strengthen the lower back muscles. The last asana relaxes your back and helps to calm you. Practice this routine daily, after warming up the body. This can be done whether you practice Yoga or any other form of Fitness routine.

Caution: People suffering from Slipped Disc and other back-related debilities should consult their Doctor and a qualified Yoga therapist before attempting these asanas.

Tadasana

• Stand with your feet shoulder-distance apart.
• Raise your hands along the sides of your body and join your palms above your head.
• Raise your torso upwards.
• Now raise your body upwards, lifting the body on the toes.
• Keep looking at a point to maintain your balance and hold the position for 30 secs. Breathe normally.

Ardha Chandrasana

• Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder-distance apart.
• Raise your left hand upwards.
• Begin to bend towards the right side, and place your right palm on your right calf.
• Hold the position for 15-30secs. Breathe normally.
• Then repeat on the other side.

Ushtrasana

• Kneel on the floor with your knees shoulder width apart.
• Curl your toes at the back.
• Drop your palms on your heels.
• Inhale and push your stomach and torso outwards.
• Hold the position for 15-30secs. Breathe normally.

Note: If you are unable to reach both your hands, then hold the posture with one hand.

Janusirsana

• Sit straight, with your legs stretched out.
• Bend your right leg and place the foot in the groin.
• Stretch your hands upwards.
• Exhale and bring your hands down towards your toes. Try to interlock your fingers and wrap your hands around your heel.
• Hold the posture for 15-30secs. Breathe normally.
• Then repeat with the other leg.

Ardha Matsyendrasana

• Sit straight, with your legs stretched out.
• Bend your right leg, taking the foot across the left leg. Place the foot on the floor.
• Bend your left hand. Place your left elbow on the outside of your right knee.
• Place your right palm on the floor behind your back.
• Exhale and twist your lower back, and turn your torso to look over your right shoulder.
• Hold the posture for 15-30secs. Breathe normally.
• Then repeat with the other leg.

Bhujangsana variation

• Lie flat on your stomach, with your feet together and your palms on the floor beside your shoulders.
• Press your feet together. Tighten your legs and buttocks for support.
• Inhale and raise your torso upwards by supporting yourself on your palms.
• The lower back muscles contract to hold you in position.
• Hold the posture for 10-30secs. Breathe normally.

Shashankasana

• Kneel down. Interlock the big toes of both feet.
• Keep your feet spread out, with the heels pointing outwards.
• Slowly lower your hips and buttocks down on your feet.
• The buttocks rest on the instep of your feet and not on the heels.
• Now inhale and raise your hands upwards.
• Exhale, and lower your body down on to the floor. Drop your palms on the floor in front of your body.
• Hold the position for 30secs. Breathe normally.
• This posture relaxes the your back as well as your whole being.

Note: Avoid dropping your head down if you have extremely high BP.