Adho Mukha Svanasana

Adho Mukha Svanasana
In Sanskrit adho means downward, mukha means face, and svana means dog. Adho Mukha Svanasana is one of the poses in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence.

Step-by-step
Come onto the floor on all fours. From the table position, curl your toes under. Spread your fingers wide apart. Keep your hands as wide as your shoulders and feet as wide as your hip. Exhaling lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press your tailbone upward and feel your spine elongating. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones upward.

Now exhaling, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels down toward the floor. Straighten your knees with out locking them. Expand your chest by pressing out through your chest points. Press the crown of your head away from your shoulders. Bring the chin closer to the chest to relax the back of the neck.

Retain this position for 30 sec. to 1 minute. To release, bend your knees and return to the starting position/all fours.

Benefits
This Asana has a lot of corrective and curative effects.
The shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands are stretched, energizing whole body.
It calms the brain, relieve stress, mild depression, headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue.
It is good for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica, sinusitis.
It also helps to relieve the symptoms of menopause and menstrual discomfort when done with the head supported.
With its proper practice osteoporosis is also prevented.

Bhujangasana

Bhujanga Asana is also known as the Cobra Posture.

Step-by-step
Lie down on your belly, keeping the palms on the floor below the shoulder and the elbows pointing up. Raise the chin off the floor.
Inhale and raise the head and chest, till the naval area, upwards. Tighten the legs allover from the waist down to the toes, join the feet.
Hold the posture and breath deeply and easily for about 10 seconds.
Exhale and simultaneously lower the head towards the floor. Relax your body and rest with your right or left cheek on the floor for about 10 seconds. This is one round.

Restrictions
Start with three rounds on the first day and increase to a maximum of five rounds. Take rest for sometime between each round. As you practice, you can increase the retention period of the position gradually from 10 seconds to 1 minute. Do not practice this asana while pregnant.

Benefits
Increases flexibility, rejuvenates spinal nerves and increases blood supply to the spinal region.
Activates and energizes the upper areas of the body like the chest, shoulders, neck, face and head.
Corrects various abnormal troubles like constipation, indigestion and increases appetite.

Trikonasana

One of the basic postures in Yoga , Trikon means a triangle. Trikonasana gets it name by the triangular shape the body forms.

Step-by-step
Stand with a 2 feet wide stance and focus on your breath.
Turn the toes of the right foot towards the right and inhale.
Raise the arms so that they are parallel to the floor.
Look at the right hand and start bending towards your right laterally sliding your right hand over your right leg
When you feel your body is not moving any further lower, hold the posture and turn your head so that you look at your left hand.
Retain the posture for one minute.
Slowly come back to the upright position.
Repeat the same on the left side.
Bring the legs together and come out of the posture.

Benefits
Helps increase the lateral flexibility of the spine.
Develops the muscles along the spine, strengthening the abdominal and waist region and neck, thus removing backaches and neck pain.
Aiding in the remedy of ailments of the lungs by opening up the ribcage area.
Stimulating the abdominal organs, thereby helping to relieve constipation and indigestion, restoring the digestive fire – ‘jatharagni’ and stimulating the appetite by increasing the metabolic rate.
Helps in re-aligning the hips and pelvic area.

Virabhadrasana

Step-by-step

Stand with the feet spread a little over hip-distance apart and parallel. Turn the right foot to the side.
Bend the right knee and make sure that you do not lower the body too much. The knee should not go any further than level with the toes. You can adjust your stance to be wider, if desired, to create a stronger stretch, but do not compromise the steadiness of the posture.
Take the arms up and outwards to the sides so that they are parallel to the floor (palms facing downwards).
Turn the head to look along the right arm, keeping the neck straight. Inhale deeply . Feel a lifting throughout the spine while stretching the arms outwards through to the fingertips, open up the ribcage. Consciously lift the crown of the head towards the ceiling. Relax the neck.
Hold the posture breathing deeply for 30 seconds (if possible). Straighten the leg and rise up to a standing position.
Lower the arms and come back to the middle and then repeat to the other side.

Benefits:
It is a good posture to strengthen the legs.
It also strengthens the back and the arms and tones the nervous system.
Helps aid circulation of blood.
Inspires courage and strength.

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