YOGA FOR MEN

A regular yoga practice increases flexibility and help strengthen and lengthen your muscles, there are obvious benefits to getting your “om” on regularly. “Your body exists in the past and your mind exists in the future. In yoga they come together in the present.”

1. Tadasana

Steps for Pose
  • It puts a stretch on the whole body and helps you relax.
  • Stand straight with feet together and hands by your side.
  • Raise your body to your toes and while doing this stretch your body taking your arms up.
  • Hold the position for a few seconds and then come back slowly.

    • Benefits
  • Help to develop correct posture.
  • Strengthen muscles of your thighs, ankles and feet.
  • Tones abdominal muscle.
  • Calms and clears your mind and nervous system.

    • 2. Adho Mukha Svanasana

    Steps for Pose
  • Come onto your hands and knees with your plams just forward of the shoulders.
  • Spread your fingers with your index finger forward, knees unders your hips and toes tucked.
  • Inhale and lift your knees away from the floor as sit-bones reach towards the ceailing.
  • At first, keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor.
  • Exhale and elongate up through your tailbone moving the abdomen towards the heels.
  • Your heels lower and your legs lengthen without strain to the hamstrings or a pull on the pelvis.
  • Roll your upper thighs inward slightly and roll the heels outward slightly.
  • Maintain light pressure on the bases of your index fingers.
  • Widen the shoulder blades and feel them move towards your tailbone.
  • Keep a long neck with your head comfortable in line with the arms.
  • Your elbow and knee joints should not be locked.
  • Emphasize length in the spine as you keep even weight on the hands and feet. For beginners, a slight softness can be kept in the knees, and the heels do not have to touch the floor.
  • Hold for several breaths, then exit to a new pose or come down to rest in child's pose or thunderbolt pose.

    • Benefits
  • Elongates and releases tension from your spine
  • Stretches your hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands
  • Strengthens your arms, shoulders, and back
  • Improves mobility of your digestive system
  • Relieves back pain, headaches, insomnia and fatique

    • 3. Virabhadrasana

    A vigorous standing pose that demands focus and determination to meet its challenges.

    Steps for Pose
  • Stand in Tadasana, inhale and jump, landing with your feet about 3-4 ft apart. Your arms perpendicular to the floor (and parallel to each other), and reach actively through the little-finger sides of the hands toward the ceiling.
  • Exhale, and turn your Torso and right leg 90° to the right. Then turn your left leg to the right. Rotate your torso from the chest as well as the waist.
  • Exhale, and bend the right knee from the right buttock bone. The calf and thigh should form a right angle. Go down into the pose with resistance and then stretch the length of your body up to the celling. Make sure that the weight of your body does not fall on your right knee.

    • Benefits
  • Relives backache, lumbago, and sciatica.
  • Strengthens the back muscles.
  • Tones abdominal muscles.
  • Relives acidity and improves digestion.
  • Strengthens the bladder and pelvic muscles.

    • 4. Bhastrika

    Method:-
  • Sit in a meditative pose or in a comfortable position on the floor.
  • Keep the back straight and shoulder muscles relaxed.
  • Close the right nostril with your right thumb and bring your right elbow to the level of right shoulder.
  • Close your eyes. Inhale and exhale through left nostril—first slowly, then a little faster
  • Do the above steps about 20 – 25 times.
  • Take a long breath in and retain it for as long as possible.
  • This is one round of bhastrika pranayama. Now, repeat this round by closing your left nostril and breathing through your right nostril.

    • Benefits:-
  • Releases toxins from the body.
  • Reduces excess fat.
  • Enhances digestion.
  • Regulates the nervous system.
  • urifies blood.

    • Contradictions:- Avoid practicing bhastrika pranayama if you suffer from hypertension, heart/lung complications or hernia. Weak persons (people with some illness or a low stamina) should avoid doing this pranayama too often.