Floor Lunge

Benefits

• Builds upper-arm strength
• Strongly stretches the hamstrings

Focus

Straighten your leg as much as possible and feel the deep stretch in your inner thighs.

1. Kneel on the floor. Step your right foot forward into a lunge. Place both hands on your right knee, one on top of the other. Rock back and forth 3 times to warm up your knees.
2. Clasp your hands together, and make a triangle with your elbows. Place your elbows on the floor, inside your right foot. Turn the toes of your left foot under.
3. Inhaling, straighten your left leg behind you. Exhaling, bend your left leg so it rests back on floor. Repeat the bending-and-straightening movement 3 times, then lower your knee to the floor.
4. Ease your hands back up onto your right knee, and lunge back and forth 3 times.
5. Step your right leg back to a kneeling position.
6. Step your left foot forward into a lunge. Repeat the sequence 3 times by first rocking back and forth, then bending and straightening the right leg.

Bellows Breath

The Bellows Breath is the complete Full Yoga Breath performed with an accelerated rhythm.

Benefits

Tones all the muscles of the abdomen and chest

Focus

Make your inhalation sudden and your exhalation forceful.

1. Sit back on your heels, and rest your hands loosely on your knees. Lift and lengthen your spine to open up your chest.
2. Inhale and exhale slowly 3 times as you observe your breath settle into your normal breathing pattern.
3. Fill your lungs suddenly and forcefully by breathing in through your nose in the Full Yoga Breath.
4. Without a pause, forcefully exhale through your nose, emptying your lungs by first contracting your abdomen wall, then compressing your ribs and finally relaxing your shoulders.
5. Repeat the inhalation and exhalation 7 times, then relax and breathe normally.
6. Repeat the inhalation and exhalation again for 7 consecutive breaths

Lung

Benefits

• Releases tension and stiffness in the neck and shoulders
• Increases oxygen levels in the blood
• Increases metabolic rate

Focus

Pull your arms back quite vigorously as you feel your pectoral muscles opening up and stretching.

1. Stand with your legs hip-width apart. Rest your palms on the fronts of your thighs.
2. Inhaling, lift your arms to the front at shoulder height.
3. Clench your fists. Holding your breath and without arching your back, swing both arms out to your sides at shoulder height and back to the middle again. Still holding your breath, repeat the swinging 6 more times. (This is one round.)
4. Exhaling, open your hands and release your palms back down to your thighs.
5. Repeat 6 more rounds.

Full Boat

Benefits

• Improves the strength and flexibility of abdominal and back muscles
• Improves balance and concentration

Focus

Stretch and lengthen through your spine to make your spine very strong, to help lift your legs without straining your lower back.

1. Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. Stretch up through your spine, arching your back slightly. Rest your palms on top of your thighs.
2. Initially, tighten your abdominal muscles, then lean back onto your sitting bones. Lift your feet off the floor a few inches while extending your arms up and forward, toward your feet.
3. Hold your balance, and steady your breath. Relax your abdominal muscles and point your toes. Keep extending through your arms and legs, and breathe deeply for 3 breaths.
4. Lower your feet and hands to the floor. Bend forward toward your toes, and lengthen your spine.
5. Repeat the pose again. Aim to practice 3 times and to hold for 7 breaths each time.

If you feel any strain in your back, release the pose and rest. Yoga is a diagnostic tool; it will show you the weaknesses in your body that need to be strengthened, so do not criticize yourself if you cannot achieve a pose. In time, as you practice all of the poses in this book, your muscles will strengthen, and you will be able to practice this wonderful pose.

Benefits

• Improves the strength and flexibility of the muscles that support the spine
• Improves posture (giving a slimmer appearance) by strengthening back and abdominal muscles

Focus

Straighten and lengthen your spine to minimize strain on your lower back. Pull up through your breastbone, do not collapse the chest, because this action will put pressure on your lower-back muscles. Let your abdominal muscles be soft, and focus on using your inner thighs to hold the pose.

1. Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you.
2. Lift and lengthen through your spine, and clasp your hands behind your head, elbows back.
3. Tighten your abdominal muscles, then lean back onto your sitting bones while lifting both feet off the floor a few inches. Extend through your legs, and point your toes. Pull your elbows backward.
4. Breathe deeply through your nose. Hold the pose steady for 3 breaths.
5. Lower your feet and hands to the floor.
6. Bend forward toward your toes, and stretch through your spine.
7. Repeat the pose a total of 3 times, over time, aim to hold the pose for 7 breaths.
   

   Warning:

   If you experience chronic back pain or have injured your back, consult an experienced yoga instructor before practicing this pose.

Strengthens the abdominal muscles

Focus

Create a fast-paced rhythm, and get as much lift and movement as possible for maximum benefit. Visualize your body building up lots of heat as you breathe deeply to increase your metabolic rate and temperature.(Buttocks Walking is best practiced on a smooth, hard floor.)

1. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you, and clasp your elbows with your hands.
2. Lift your right buttock off the floor by bending your right knee, and slide your right heel forward a few inches.
3. Lift your left buttock off the floor by bending your left knee, and slide your left heel forward a few inches.
4. Alternate lifting and lowering your buttocks to “walk” yourself to the other side of the room.
5. When you can go no farther, put it in reverse: “walk” backward on your buttocks to your starting point.
6. Repeat another forward-and-backward “walk” across the room. Swing your clasped elbows vigorously from side to side to help build up momentum. Build up speed as you move along, and keep breathing vigorously.
7. Stop, sit, and relax.

Benefits

• Increases blood flow to the brain
• Lowers blood pressure
• Promotes inner stillness

Focus

Lengthen your spine on the inhalation with your chin extended, then soften your spine on the exhalation. Let your head and neck hang freely, do not strain.

1. Stand with your legs 4-6 feet apart, arms outstretched at shoulder height.
2. Exhaling, bend forward. Place your palms flat on the floor between your feet (bend your knees if necessary).
3. Turn your right foot out to the side a little; “walk” your hands over to your right foot, and place them on either side of your right ankle or on top of your right foot.
4. Inhaling, lengthen through the spine. Exhaling, soften the body and extern, through the chin rather than trying to put the head on the knee. Continue lengthening and extending the spine as you breathe deeply 7 times.
5. Exhaling, “walk” your hands back to the front.
6. Inhaling, come up to a standing position.
7. Turn your right foot to the front and your left foot out to the side. Repeat the stretch on your left side for 7 breaths.

This visualization creates an uplifting image to raise your spirits. Expect to think more clearly with practice.

Benefits

Enables the release of heavy negative thoughts

Focus

Concentrate on the rhythm of your breath.

Cross-Legged Position

1. Sit on the floor in Cross-Legged Position, with your spine straight and your hands resting lightly on your knees.
2. With your eyes closed, begin to observe your breath. Inhale for a count of 7, hold your breath for 3 counts, exhale for a count of 7, and hold your breath for 3 counts. Repeat the breathing exercise 7 times, then relax and observe the rise and fall of your chest.
3. Imagine that you are sitting beside a beautiful lake. The surface of the lake is smooth like glass, and the sun is shining. See yourself picking up a pebble and throwing it into the lake. Watch the ripples gently disappear. Recognize that negative thoughts have the same rippling effect, disturbing your peace of mind.
4. As you observe the rhythm of your breath, imagine that the natural state of your mind is stillness, like the waters of the lake.
5. Sit quietly, and let your thoughts come and go. Imagine that any negative thoughts in your mind are like mud. If a particular thought disturbs your peace of mind, imagine that thought settling down into the depths of the waters of your mind-like mud sinking to the bottom of a lake-leaving your mind clear and still.
6. Observe your mind settling, bringing clarity to strengthen your focus and concentration.
7. Look deeply into the crystal-clear waters of your mind, and see yourself exactly as you would like to be. As you observe your breath and your thoughts, continue to refine that image of yourself until it is perfect.
8. Hold that perfect image in the silence of the visualization for 10-15 minutes.
9. Take a Full Yoga Breath and enjoy the sense of stillness that this visualization brings. Throughout the day, practice letting go of thoughts that you do not want: Inhale as
10. you visualize the thoughts as being like mud, then exhale as those thoughts dissolve and sink down to the bottom of the waters of your mind-and stay there.

By practicing the Anti Anxiety Breath, you consciously empty your lungs of stale air and your bloodstream of excess carbon dioxide, which can leave you feeling irritable, fatigued, and anxious. You then can inhale deeply, naturally replenishing your energy and restoring your well-being with fresh air.

Benefits

Relieves anxiety, fatigue, and irritability

Focus

Do not rush, resist the temptation to inhale for longer than 4 counts each time. Concentrate on the exhalation, totally emptying your lungs progressively with each exhalation by pulling in your abdominal muscles.

1. Lie on the floor on your back with your arms at your sides, palms facing up, feet flopped apart.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades together to open up your chest.
3. Watch your breath, in and our, for 3 breaths. Begin to slow your breathing.
4. Inhale slowly as you count to 4, then exhale for 4 counts by contracting your abdomen.
5. Inhale as you count to 4, then exhale as you count to 5.
6. Continue inhaling for 4 and increasing the length of the exhalation by 1 count each time until you are exhaling for 10 counts.
7. Release by taking a Full Yoga Breath and relax.
   

   

8. Repeat, starting with 4-count inhalations and 4-count exhalations, increasing the length of the exhalation by 1 count each time until you are exhaling for 10 counts.
9. Return to your own breathing pattern, and relax. Notice how clean your lungs feel and how easy it is to breathe. Become aware of any sensations in your body after completing this technique, and enjoy a few moments of stillness as a result of your mind slowing down.

This visualization allows you to access your deep, intuitive wisdom that knows the answers to all questions about your health. You only need to create the right conditions for this to occur by practicing a relaxing breathing technique that quiets your mind. In this quiet, reflective state, you can ask a question, sit quietly, then expect to “hear” the answer.

Benefits

Develops intuitive wisdom for self-healing

Focus

Make the lengths of your inhalations, exhalations, and holding of your breath the same.

1. Sit on the floor in Cross-Legged Position.
   (If this position is not comfortable, sit on a folded towel to tilt your hips forward and take the pressure off your knees. Alternatively, sit with your legs stretched out in front, leaning against a wall if necessary, or sit in a chair.)
2. Close your eyes. Begin to observe your breath in a very detached way.
3. Inhale for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, and hold your breath for a count of 4. (This is one round.) Complete 7 rounds of this breathing technique as you become as still as a statue.
4. Imagine that you are walking along a beach. You see a path in the sand dunes that leads to an old house.
5. You walk up the path and come to a door with carved symbols on the door. As you look at the door, it opens.
6. You step inside into a long passage lined with sits.
7. You walk along this passage until you come to a room where a wise old woman is sitting at a desk.
8. As you enter, she looks up at you and smiles. Ask the wise woman “What do I need to do to enjoy perfect health and well-being?”
9. The woman hands you a dark purple site with your name engraved on the cover in gold, you take the site and sit at a large desk. In this site are the universal records of everything that you are, everything that you can be and everything that you will be in this lifetime.
10. The site falls open to a page on which appear the answers to your question.
11. Sit quietly, and reflect on exercise.
12. See the images that appear in your mind of how you can improve your health.
13. Sit quietly in the silence. Watch your breath, your posture, and the images in your mind in a very detached way.
14. In the silence, listen to your own interior world for 10-15 minutes.
    

    

15. Gently bring your mind back to your body on the floor and your awareness back to the present. Deepen your breath, and welcome it as your life force and energy source.
16. Let your chin fall to your chest, then drop your head backward to stretch through your neck. Rotate your neck a few times, then sit quietly. You are now ready to get on with your day, knowing that those images of how to improve your health have been firmly imprinted on your subconscious mind and are ready for you to actualize.