Dandayamana-Dhanurasana – Standing Bow Pulling pose - For Beginners

Almost everyone gets the grip wrong at first. Your wrist will be inside the foot and your fingers pointing outward.

As in Standing Head to Knee Pose, the standing leg must remain absolutely straight. So as a beginner, do only as much as you can while keeping your knee locked. Remember also not to let your arm drop. Think of it as a Siamese twin to your head.

As impossible as this pose seems the first time you try it, it is the pose people seem to resent the least and are the most anxious to perform and perfect. It just looks so pretty!

The most important advice we can give you here is don’t be in hurry to dive into this position. Get yourself firmly set! Set your eyes on one spot, lock your standing knee, level your hips, and drop your raised knee toward the floor. Both of your thighs will then face directly forward, the bottom of your raised foot will point directly at the ceiling, and the toes will point directly at the back wall – all perfectly up and down, forward and back. No ballet “turnout” in Yoga. Only after you have done the above should you commence pivoting forward, at all times reinforcing the straight up-and-down, forward-and-back angles you began with. Most important, don’t let your lifted knee swing to the side  - like a chicken wing.

Remember, the name of this pose is the Standing Bow Pulling ; use your body exactly like a bow being strung and drawn by an archer. This means you must arch your head and spine even more backward as you pivot forward. If you begin to lose your balance, raise your arm and head higher and kick harder upward and backward against your hand – in effect tautening the “bow” even more, or “picking yourself up by the bootstraps.” You’ll be amazed at how it restores balance!

Naturally, you must make it hurt in the back of your standing knee. But never dive forward or kick up exuberantly or abruptly. And never do the Standing Bow Pulling with cold, unprepared muscles. In other words, nice as it is to have a spectacular party trick – don’ t.

Once you get your abdomen truly parallel to the floor – and only then – will you achieve the graceful standing split!

Benefits

Standing Bow Pulling is a perfect example of the “damming” effect in Yoga, because it transfers the circulation from one side of the body to other, and then equalizes it – circulating fresh blood to each internal organ and gland to keep them healthy.

Like the Standing Head to Knee, this pose helps develop concentration, patience, and determination. Physically, it firms the abdominal wall and upper thighs, and tightens upper arms, hips, and buttocks. It increases the size and elasticity of the rib cage and the lungs and improves the flexibility and strength of the lower spine and most of the body’s muscles.

Read more about this poses benefits, pictures, video and tips from here!

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978.

Dandayamana - Janushirasana – Standing Head to Knee Pose - For beginners

You may find that your foot is much farther away than you thought it was! But once you grab it, you will want a good grip, so if your feet or hands are wet with perspiration, wipe them with the towel first.

As a beginner, keeping the standing leg tight and locked is the most important thing, even if that is all you can do the first day. Also, the concept of “straightening” the leg is incomplete.  You will find progress if you think in terms of bowing the leg backward rather than straightening it.

Relaxation comes into play here. People tend to translate instructions to “straighten and stretch” as “tense and tighten.” But not until you fully relax the standing knee, letting it bow right backward, will it really straighten. Don’t fight it. Don’t be scared. Let go!

Don’t be discouraged if you feel ten months pregnant and trying to tie your shoelaces as you attempt to straighten your raised leg out parallel to the floor. Even ballet dancers in tip-top condition have trouble doing it at first, plus not falling over in the process. So why should you be any different?

The fact is, straightening the extended leg has nothing to do with the leg itself; the leg is only there to connect your foot to your body. Your focus of attention must be on your foot, pulling hard on the toes until they point back toward you, pushing the heel forward with all your might. In addition, you will never get the toes pulled fully back, the heel thrust fully forward, and thus the leg fully straightened unless you  - again – relax!! Give it your honest effort each day. But be patient with yourself. This is a toughie.

Do not attempt to bend forward and touch your head to your knee until you can straighten the extended leg and lock the knee. This is an absolute rule!!

Do, however, get those elbows down toward the floor from the very beginning, almost hugging your leg, rather than letting them point outward like chicken wings. This makes balance easier, increases the pull on your toes, and will speed your progress in touching head to knee.

If you keep losing balance, it is because you are not keeping gaze fixed, as though your eyeballs had turned to stone, on one spot either in front of you or on the floor. Experimentation will find the spot that works best for you.

To start getting forehead down to the knee, use brute strength, gallons of perspiration, and whatever huffing and puffing makes you feel good. Once your muscles and tendons become fairly flexible and you are about halfway there, you can cheat a little. Hold your position to the count of eight, bent as far as you can go. Then the last two seconds of the posture, pull your leg upward more strongly and reach with your forehead even more, trying to touch the knee if only for a split second.

You may fall over the first few times, but your body and your muscles will begin to remember and to figure out what they have to do to eventually make the contact and hold it.

Balance in the final stages of the Standing Head to Knee is accomplished by bowing everything farther and farther and pulling more firmly upward, toward, and “into” yourself.  Another trick to remember is relaxing everything in the hip joints, buttocks, and the lower spine.

Benefits

The Standing Head to Knee helps develop concentration, patience, and determination. Physically, it tightens abdominal and thigh muscles, improves flexibility of the sciatic nerves, and strengthens the tendons, biceps of the thigh muscles, and hamstrings in the legs, in addition to the deltoid, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, scapula, biceps and triceps.

Read more about this pose benefits, pictures, video and tips from here

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978.

Garurasana - Eagle Pose - For beginners

As you might have noticed, this is not the most natural position in the world; every muscle and every bone is being asked to reverse itself and go someplace that, for a few days, it will refuse to go! Men especially have problems because of larger biceps.

Try it this way: first extend your arms to the sides and then swing them together, wrapping the right arm as far around the left as the force of the swing will throw it. You will then find that the best way to work on the palm to palm is to get the pads of your fingertips together by whatever necessary contortion and, using your fingertips as leverage, push them against each other until – eventually – the palms will touch.

Making a proper Eagle’s beak under your nose will be beyond you while you are still wrestling with the wrapping of the arms and the touching of the palms. But even if your hands and arms are not right yet, pull downward with the arms as hard as you can till the arms touch the chest. One of the greatest benefits of this posture is the flexibility and strength developed in the shoulders by this pulling. It also releases all those neck and shoulder tightness’s that give stiff necks and tension headaches.

The trick in getting your toe wrapped around under your calf muscle is an opposite technique to the “swinging” of the arms into place. Bend your legs and get yourself good and set. Then ever so slowly lift your right leg up really high and reach as far left with the whole leg as you can, lowering in on the far side of the left thigh and deliberately wrapping it as far around the left calf as it will go. Use the toes of your right foot, especially the big toe, just like fingers to reach and grasp with, even if you can´t reach your ankle yet.

Some people have so much difficulty with one-legged balance at first that they have to steady themselves against a wall, get the leg wrapped as well as possible, find their balance, and then wrap the arms.

As a general rule, however, is you concentrate on one point in front of your face and then sit down as much as possible and straighten your spine, you’ll find passable balance after a day or two.

Getting the hips square to the mirror and level, striving to sit even more deeply, and creating the “nut-cracking” opposition in the legs are refinements that you will be able to concentrate upon fully only after you’ve found solid balance.

Your initial success at this pose will depend upon the length of your leg from knee to ankle as well as your balance and flexibility. People whose forelegs are shorter must make up for lack of length by gaining even more flexibility than the rest of us.

Benefits

The Eagle supplies fresh blood to the sexual organs and the kidneys, increasing sexual power and control. It helps firm calves, thighs, hips, abdomen, and upper arms. It also improves the flexibility of the hip, knee, and ankle joints and strengthens the latissimus dorsi, trapezium and deltoid muscles.

Read more about this poses benefits, pictures, video and tips from here

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978.

Utkatasana – Awkward Pose - For beginners

This pose is as difficult as it is Awkward. Only the very limber can get thighs parallel with the floor on the first attempt, and then one must be careful not to allow the knees to creep together. Remember to keep them 6 inches apart. Keep a frequent check on your arms too – they might rise higher than parallel. Please don’t wiggle your fingers and toes!

We know it seems an impossible at this point that you will ever be able to curve your spine and shoulders backward and sit straight up and down over your hips as though your back were against wall, instead of thrusting your body forward as though about to dive into a pool for an Olympic relay. But you will, you will! And you’ll never again have to wear socks to bed because of cold feet, since this post sends fresh blood and oxygen to knees, ankles, and toes. 

This second part of the Awkward Posture is a killer! Give it all you’ve got. It is the best posture to shape your legs, thighs! There is always a “higher” and a “forwarder.” Work harder and harder each second until your legs are trembling with a strain. Eventually you’ll rise nearly to a ballet point without the aid of toe shoes, and your legs will be the envy!! Also – Don’t lean forward. (But you will; we all do, even when we think we are perfectly straight.) Feel as though you are leaning just slightly backward. The farther forward and upward you roll the insteps and heels, the farther backward you must lean to be anywhere near straight-backed.

 

The moment of rest will be an unparalleled relief for your quivering thighs. And those arms will be feeling leaden by now.

Some of you might not be able to do a full knee bend at first, but balance is really the task of this one. The best of us still occasionally topple over backward. The tendency  - once you’ve squatted down, gotten your buttocks in contact with your heels, lowered both your arms and your knees a couple of inches, and are leaning backward with your spine – is to let the arms and legs raise once more and to let the torso lean forward again. That is when you fall over. Concentrate on reinforcing the square, pressure always backward and upward with the spine, and you’ll keep your balance. 

The Awkward Pose gives some of Yoga’s fastest results. It is positively inspiring to watch your legs change from day to day, to discover muscles, tendons, and definition that were never there before. We have seen people take twenty pounds off their thighs in a month with this; no exercise in the world is more effective for shaping legs!

Benefits

The Awkward Pose strengthens and firms all muscles of thighs, calves, and hips, and makes hip joints flexible. It also firms the upper arms. It increases blood circulation in the knees and ankle joints and relieves rheumatism, arthritis, and gout in the legs, and helps to cure slipped disc and lumbago in the lower spine.

Read more about this poses benefits, pictures, video and tips from here

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978.

Pada-Hastasana - Hands to Feet Pose (last part of Half Moon Pose) - For Beginners

Feel the greatest stretch in the coccyx area at the base of your spine. Increase the stretch by pushing your behind farther and farther to the rear while keeping your back and arms and legs as straight as possible.

As a beginner, let your knees bend as much as necessary to grasp your heels from behind, keeping your feet together of course. Your focus of attention is still on the coccyx. You relax downward from that point. That fact is important because the aim of this pose is to form a perfect standing jackknife. How does jackknife work? On a swivel joint. In your body, that swivel  joint is in the coccyx area, where you must eventually let go and relax.

There will be some of you who cannot reach your heels the first day, no matter how hard you try. Don’t be discouraged, you are not alone. After a few days that won’t be a problem.

As you lay your body against your legs, bend your knees even farther if you have to. If you can’ t get your body to touch your legs no matter how you slice it, then just do your best to touch your forehead to your knees.

Unfortunately, nothing will accomplish the ultimate straightening of your legs except day-in, day-out determination and much strength. Try concentrating on lifting the hips rather than on the straightening. At the beginning you will feel pain! But this kind of pain is normal, expected and good  - a step beyond discomfort. 

Yoga does not ask or recommend that you be a hero or a masochist. Yoga only asks that you go as far as you can that day - try as honestly as possible at that moment. And so, as a general rule, stretch right up to any pain, then back off just before its threshold, and hold the pose there. Each succeeding day you’ll have to chase the pain farther and farther to catch it.

Benefits

The Hands to Feet Pose increases the flexibility of the spine and the sciatic nerves and most of the tendons and ligaments of the legs, and strengthens the biceps of thighs and calves. It also greatly improves blood circulation in the legs and to the brain, and strengthens the rectus abdominus,  gluteus maximus, oblique, deltoid and trapezius muscles. Trims your waistline, hips, abdomen, buttocks and thighs!

Read more about this poses benefits  -  Here

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978. 

Facebook contest

We had an idea to do another contest in Facebook! This time we are giving away a One Year Unlimited membership!!! All the info is on the contest photo and the contest rules on our website.

This time instead of writing Done after liking us in Facebook and sharing the contest, you need to comment on our website , why You should win! We love reading the reasons why people want to win :)

Link to the contest in Facebook is  - http://goo.gl/NpyDy

Link the where to leave the comments is www.bikramyogaguelph.com/facebookcontest

Congratulations!

We would like to congratulate all the yogis who took part in our 30 day or 4-for-4  challenge! You all rock!!  Hope to see you back in the studio soon if you took a little break after the challenge. And there are few people continuing the challenge on their own. Will we have another 100 day challenger soon? We will see :)