Asana of the Fortnight : Paripurna Navasana

Paripurna Navasana

Step-by-step

Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. See to it that you sit on the seat bones with an erect spine. If your spine does not get erect because of tightness in the lower or upper back, then bend your knees slightly to remove the pressure from your lower back.
Now, lean back slightly, around 30-40 degrees and as you lean back focus and engage your abdominal muscles.
Gently lift the legs up with an exhale, and lengthen your spine and tail bone. Extend your arms till they are parallel to the floor and in direction of your feet, keeping the chin parallel to the floor and breath normally.
If the above is not possible, try it by placing the hands on the floor next to your upper thighs and raising the legs by pressing the palms into the floor.
Retain the posture for 10-15 seconds and gradually increase the time to one minute.

Benefits
Strengthens the abdomen, thighs, lower back and shoulder area
Improves digestion by stimulating the digestive tract.
Corrects postural alignment.

Asana of the Fortnight : Vrikshasana

Vrikshasana – Tree Posture

Step-by-step
Stand erect with the feet together firmly placed on the floor and the arms by your sides.
Balancing on the left foot, bend the right leg at the knee, raise the right thigh and bring the sole of the right foot as high up the inside of the left thigh as possible.
Raise both arms over the head keeping the elbows straight and joining the palms together.
Hold the posture while breathing gently through the nostrils for about 10 complete deep breaths.
Lower the arms and right leg and return to the neutral standing position with feet together and arms at the sides.
Pause for a few moments and repeat on the opposite leg.

Benefits
This is essentially a balance posture. Poor balance is often the result of a restless mind or distracted attention.
Regular practice of this posture will help focus the mind, cultivate concentration and improve balance and coordination.
It also builds strength in thighs and lower back.

Asana of the Fortnight : Falcon

Falcon

This is also a balance posture like Natarajasana.

Step-by-step
Stand firmly on both the feet in Samasthiti.
Focus your eyes on a point for concentration.
Shift your body weight on your left foot, raise the right leg in the front and hold the right big toe with the right hand.
Keeping the balance slowly bring the right leg toward the right side of your body.
Now let go off the right big toe and hold the right knee with your right elbow from underneath.
Straighten the right leg as much as you can keeping a firm balance on the left leg.
Hold for 10 counts and switch the leg and continue.

Benefits
This asana is very beneficial to develop ability of concentration and physical balance.
It works on the abdominal area, and helps make the thigh and hip joint strong and flexible.

Asana of the Fortnight : Vamadevasana

Vamadevasana

This posture is dedicated to the great Sage Vamadeva.

Step-by-step
(To execute this posture, one needs a lot of flexibility in the area of hip and thighs, so warming up of the hip joint area is essential before this posture is performed.)

Start with a downward dog posture.
Stretch your hamstrings deeply and bend the right knee to get in the pigeon posture.
See to it that you are sitting on the right hip with knee bent in such a way that the right heel is close to the perineum.
Extend your left leg straight behind so that your upper body is straight and perpendicular to the floor.
Hold your right foot with your right hand and lift it off the floor, bend the left knee and hold the left foot in the left hand.
Gently try to bring the feet together. Make sure you don’t feel any discomfort in your knees and your lower spine.
Hold the posture for 10 counts and switch the side.

Benefits
This is an excellent posture to make the hip joint more flexible and to work on abdominal muscles.
The thighs and the gluteus muscles are stretched to their fullest degree and helps in strengthening and keeping these muscles supple.

Asana of the fortnight : Natarajasana

Natarajasana

This posture is dedicated to the Lord of Yoga himself- Lord Shiva. This posture is symbolic of the grace and the pulse of the universe which is the rhythm on which Lord Shiva dances. The name of the asana literary means “The Dancer”.

Step-by-step
Stand on both feet and focus on a point for concentration.
Thrust your body weight on the left foot and bend the right knee so the right foot is at the level of your hip.
Hold the right ankle with your right hand and raise the left arm up.
Become aware of your navel and start bending forward trying to balance the body weight on the left foot.
Keep bending forward, as you bend forward lift the right knee up and simultaneously balance the lift of the right knee with the weight of the forward bend.
Hold this balance for 10 counts, let go off the right foot and stand back again on both the feet.
Collect your breath and do the same asana on the right foot.

Benefits
This asana is very beneficial to develop ability of concentration and physical balance.
It works on the abdominal area, and helps make the thigh and hip joint strong and flexible.

Asana of the fortnight : Parivratta Janu Sirshasana

Step-by-step
Sit on the floor with right leg extended at 45 degrees outwards facing the corner of the room and the left leg folded so that the heal is in front of the perineum.
Extend the right hand and hold the right big toe, bring the right elbow either to the floor in front of the right knee or keep the elbow on the right knee depending on level of flexibility.
Raise the left arm up and stretch the arm towards the sky.
Slowly and with awareness bring the left hand closer to the right foot, so that the left elbow is pointing towards the sky.
See to it that you open up the rib cage by pushing the shoulder blades back and looking upwards.
Breath deeply and normally.
Retain the posture for 10 deep breaths.
Repeat on the other leg.

Benefits
Deeply stretches the sides of the body
Removes lethargy from the lower part of the body
Helps in developing hip flexibility

Asana of the fortnight : Eka Pada Sirshasana

Step-by-step
Sit on the floor with legs stretched out.
Bend the right leg and bring the right foot closer to the body by holding the right ankle.
Exhale and place the right foot behind the head gently without any jerk.
The right calf muscle should rest on the right shoulder and both the arms are brought in the front and joint together in a namaste position.
Straighten the back and look in the front with chin parallel to the floor.
The left leg is held straight with toes pointed up towards the sky.

Breath deeply for 10 breaths.

Hold the right foot again with both hands and take the foot off from behind your head and straighten the right leg.
Repeat on the left side.

Benefits  
Helps stretch the outer thigh to a very high degree.
Helps build strength in the back and spine area.

Asana of the fortnight : Parivrtta Parsvakonasana

This is also called as twisted angled posture because of the sharp look of the posture.

Step-by-step
Stand with your legs wide apart and outstretch your arms, the legs should be as wide as the distance between two wrists.
Look to your right and turn your right foot to the right side and bend your right knee so as to go into the Virabhadrasana.
Please see to it that your knee does not hyper-extend your toe and does not roll inward.
Twist your spine and lock your left elbow on the right side of the right knee.
Either join both the hands in Namaste position or extend the left arm from under the right thigh and hold the right hand from behind the back.
Look up at the ceiling.

Hold this posture for 10 breaths.

Twist back, raise the torso, straighten the right leg and turn the right foot in.
Repeat the same way on the left side in this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute. To release, bend your knees and return to the starting position/all fours.

Benefits
This is a great posture to work on the suppleness of the spine.
It gently massages the internal organs of the Gastro intestinal Tract and aids in digestion.
Builds strength in the thighs.
Develops the ability to concentrate.

Asana of the fortnight : Gomukhasana

In Sanskrit, “Go” means Cow and “Mukha” means Face, so the posture is called a “Cow Face” posture because of the resemblance with the face of a cow. This is one of the postures mentioned in the sacred scriptures of Hatha Yoga.

Step-by-step
Sit on the hip
Bend your left leg in such a way that your left foot is placed on right side of the right hip
Bend your right leg in such a way that your right knee is on top of the left knee and the right foot is on the left side of the left hip
Keep your spine straight, neck relaxed and breath deeply
Take 10-15 deep breaths
Switch the side and repeat

Benefits
This is one of the best postures to stretch the tight muscles of the hip.
It increases the blood supply to the legs and makes them more flexible.
Helps in posture correction.

Asana of the fortnight : Baddhakonasana

Baddha means “bound” and kona means “angle”. In this way, the posture means a bound angle. It is also known as a “butterfly” posture. This is how the cobblers in India sit and work.

Step-by-step
Sit on the floor on your hips with your legs stretched in the front.
Bend the knees and bring the feet closer to the perimium area.
Bring the soles of the feet together, and open the knees till they are close to the floor.
Hold the feet firmly and gently press the knees down towards the floor.
Keep your back straight and breath deeply.

Benefits
This is a good posture to work on the stiff inner thigh and lower back area.
Helps posture correction.
Allows for smooth labour during pregnancy
Helps in reduction of pre-menstrual cramps in women.
Helps in digestive disorders and concentration.

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