Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Beginners Hatha Yoga: Facial Yoga?

 

The woman above is doing the "Lion" pose, a yoga facial exercise designed to eliminate tension from the face and neck.  I have been doing this pose for years.  Does it mean I still look twenty-five.....ah no.  I can't claim that it has created the fountain of youth for my face and it does look kind of hokey.  It can also scare people!  One morning, years ago, my then husband came upon me doing this pose and jumped back totally startled! Nevertheless, I believe this facial pose does tone the face and neck, and it also helps to relieve sore throats.

During the past few years I have learned about a new group of yoga teachers who offer classes in yoga "facial toning."  In her book, Yoga Facial Toning, yoga instructor, Rose Hong Tran, states that her program helps return "weakened facial and neck muscles to a healthy, energized, well-toned condition" and that the various yoga facial poses she teaches helps to increase blood circulation in the face, neck, scalp and hair.

In recent years I have received compliments about my complexion - something that did not happen in my earlier days.  This might be a result of the Lion - I can't say for sure.  I do agree that it increases the circulation in your face and neck - you can feel the blood flowing after doing this exercise.  Rose Tran offers many other yoga facial exercises designed to "stimulate the 57 muscles in the face and neck."  I just haven't figured out how to incorporate them into my daily schedule. I combine doing the Lion with other exercises like the backward hand clasp.   For now, doing the Lion daily seems sufficient. In the next post, I will give you instructions on exactly how to do the Lion from my upcoming book.

Quotation for the Day: ~"Yoga facial toning promotes the production of healthier, more resilient cells and facial muscles in the gentle way Mother Nature intended, from the inside out." Rose Hong Tran, Yoga Facial Toning, p. 9.

Yoga Relief for Beginners: No More Aching Back!

I rarely, and I mean rarely suffer from backaches.  I try to stay attentive to my posture and not slump while sitting.  But, the other day, I guess I allowed myself to slouch in my chair at work for several hours while completing a tedious task at my computer. Later in the day, my lower back started to ache and I felt so stiff!  It reminded me of a time when I had finished grad school and was doing typing temp work to support myself while I looked for a job in my field.  I spent an entire day without moving in front of the typewriter (remember those things?) and boy did I become stiff.  I could barely turn my head for three days!  It was one of the periods in my life when I wasn't practicing yoga consistently.  I remember soaking in a tub filled with hot water for relief.

This time my pain and stiffness were not nearly as severe, yet, I was suffering.  I felt I couldn't move as easily and I had shooting pains from my right foot all the way up to my thigh.  I went to bed that night feeling uncomfortable.  The next morning I woke up and when I began my yoga practice, I put extra attention on doing three poses - the cobra which you see above, the bow (pictured in a previous post), and the backward bend.

I made sure that I moved gingerly yet strategically and attentively - extra attentively!  Boy, did those poses do the trick!  I could feel my lower back decompress and open and release the kinks, Relief!  The aches were virtually all gone. I felt SO much better after doing those poses.  The cobra is known for helping to remove tension from the bank and spine and it definitely worked its wonders for me. The bow also helps relieve tension from the back and adjusts the sacroiliac and lumbar vertebrae.  The backward bend provides a therapeutic backward stretching of the spine.  Doing all three in eliminated the heaviness and aches from my lower back so I felt like new.  Yoga works!

Laura's thought for the day:  "The back is an area of the body where tension tends to accumulate. Gentle hatha yoga is the perfect antidote for that tension.  It gently releases tightness and stiffness from the back."