Yoga as Therapeutic Exercise: A Practical Guide for Manual Therapists

(Jacob Rumans) #1
7

Chapter
Selected āsanas for integrating the aims and principles

Selected asanas̄ Selected āsanas
Selected asanas̄ Selected āsanas

Being in the posture: basic work


  1. Keep your elbows together at shoulder width.

  2. Walk your hands further down towards the
    shoulder girdle; press your palms into your back
    to lift yourself more from the armpits to the
    heels.

  3. Keep your throat relaxed.

  4. Lift your navel.

  5. Contract your buttocks to move your sacrum
    and tailbone inwards to lengthen your lumbar
    area.

  6. Slightly move your front thighs towards the
    back.

  7. Lengthen your inner legs through your inner
    heels, your outer legs through your outer
    heels.

  8. Lift from your groins to your toes.

  9. Breathe naturally.


Being in the posture: refined work


  1. Move your upper arms closer together so that

    the outer elbows and outer upper arms come
    closer to the floor.

  2. Lift your spine against gravity.

  3. Contract your pelvic floor for a few breaths to
    lengthen your lumbar area more.

  4. Lengthen the skin of your inner legs towards the
    inner heels, the skin of your outer legs towards
    the outer heels.

  5. Keep the back of your head on the floor so that
    you get a subtle activity in your neck, and from
    there you get an impulse for the lifting of the
    posture.

  6. Relax your eyes; look towards your chest.


Finishing the posture
Stay 5–10 breaths in the beginning; with practice
increase to 2–3 minutes, later up to 5–10 min-
utes. Exhale, bend your knees towards your head;
straighten your arms backwards on the floor.
Gradually lower your back and pelvis. Keeping the
knees bent, rest your feet on the floor.

Stay for a few breaths with your back on the blan-
kets and your head resting on the floor.
Hold your head with your hands and slide
down from the blankets in the direction of the
head with a caterpillar movement (see Chapter
6, exercise 2.3); relax lying on your back for a
few breaths.

Suggestions for modifications using
props
• Put a belt around the upper arms close to the
elbows (Figure 7.101).
• Have a bolster behind the blankets to start and
finish with the pelvis on the bolster (Figure 7.101).

•    Have   a   chair   behind  the blankets;   hold    the 
chair with your hands, and rest your feet on
the chair; this is an easy and safe method to
lift your pelvis and trunk, and is suitable for
beginners (Figure 7.102).

Figure 7.101
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