Hatha Yoga Illustrated
Martin Kirk, Brooke Boon, Daniel DiTuro
Language: English
Pages: 248
ISBN: 0736062033
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Experience the physical benefits and body awareness from hatha yoga—the most popular form of yoga today. Hatha Yoga Illustrated presents nearly 650 full-color photos to visually demonstrate 77 standard poses from hatha yoga that apply to all major hatha styles including Iyengar, Astanga, Anusara, and Bikram.
Individual poses are presented from start to finish, showing you how to achieve proper alignment and breathing to ensure challenging yet safe execution. The result is an increase in the effectiveness, both physically and mentally, you’ll experience with each pose. Several pose variations based on your personal preference, ability, and fitness level are also included.
Eleven sample yoga routines show how to assemble the poses into workouts that meet your specific time, difficulty, and intensity parameters. Colorful and comprehensive, Hatha Yoga Illustrated is organized for your ultimate convenience and use. Use it to guide your muscles, as well as your mind, and increase strength and stamina, reduce stress and anxiety, reduce blood pressure, and increase flexibility.
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Legs-Up-the-Wall (see page 94); lie with your legs up the wall and your hips on a bolster or blanket. Other Variations Plow Halasana Counterpose Rest on your back Drishti At the top of thighs Physical Benefits Assists in relieving backache Stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands Stretches the shoulders Strengthens the spine Alleviates insomnia Helps relieve menopausal discomfort Mental Benefits Calms the mind Reduces mild stress and anxiety Contraindications Menstruation Neck
the inside of your left foot, drawing your left shoulder even further inside your left thigh. With each inhale extend from your low belly through your head. With each exhale twist more deeply. Hold for several breaths then release and repeat on the other side. Gentle Variation Perform steps 1 and 2. Place your left hand on your left shin and stretch your right hand up toward the ceiling. Open-Angle Upavistha Konasana Counterpose Knees-to-Chest (Apanasana) Drishti Forward On the floor,
to gauge rhythm of your breath. 4 When ready, lower your hands and release your legs. Gentle Variation Sit in Siddhasana variation (see page 176) and follow steps 2 through 4. Baby Cradle Counterpose Staff (Dandasana) Drishti Forward Physical Benefits Stretches the thighs, hamstrings, and calf muscles Creates proper engagement of the hamstrings Improves digestion Massages the abdominal muscles Stimulates the colon, liver, and kidneys Opens the pelvic region Stimulates the
levels energetically, the chakra associated with that section will also function optimally. Therefore, a hatha yoga practice can be designed to increase a student’s self-esteem by strengthening the “band of self esteem,” the region of the manipura chakra (the waistline). Energy Gates: The Bandhas Bandhas are a series of energy gates in the subtle energy body that regulate the flow of psychosomatic energy. The word bandha means lock, or constriction. You can think of the bandhas like the one-way
toward your chest while taking the top of the throat back and up. Performed together, these bandhas create an energy container between the floor of the pelvis and the throat chakra. The psychic heat generated helps to mobilize the upward rising of the kundalini energy and clear blockages in the central energy channel. When you attend a hatha yoga class you may be taught how to use the bandhas by the specific names referred above. Or you may not hear the word bandha mentioned at all. Some