Yoga with Sophie Correia from Crossing Paths at Eastwest Yoga, Newmarket.
Photography Tony Nyberg | crossingxpaths.com | eastwest.co.nz | Wearing – Lorna Jane
4 yoga poses to practise at home to reset and recentre yourself.
Hold each pose for a minimum of three to five breaths and up to two minutes.
Pigeon
Start in a four-point position and bring your right knee up towards the right palm and place your shin parallel with the top of your mat, extend your left leg back behind you. Look over your left shoulder to make sure your back leg is out straight behind you. You can always slide a block or a blanket underneath your right sit bone to make sure you’re nice and elevated and that the hips are square. Try and come all the way up onto the fingertips and think about engaging the inner thighs to lift you up and out of your sit bones. Then slowly bend your elbows and begin to gravitate down towards the ground to wherever becomes most comfortable for you. You might even get your forehead to the floor if that’s accessible to you. If your forehead cannot reach the ground, you can stack one wrist on top of the other and let the forehead connect to the top of the palms. Alternatively, you can use a block or some books.
The benefits: This is an incredible stretch into the hips and is very good for easing and releasing emotional stress and tension in the body.
Cobra
Lie on your belly and bring your elbows as wide as the shoulders. Turn the palms down to face the floor. Start by letting your belly button soften in towards the ground and then roll the shoulders back and place gentle pressure through the forearms, so that your top ribs lift off the ground. You want to think about the pressure through the palms of the hands and forearms creating a stretch into the spine. Another option here, if it feels okay, is to lift through the chin and look up towards the sky, you can even open the mouth as this is very good for cleansing the throat and it helps enhance our communication.
The benefits: This extension of the spine is very good for encouraging energy flow into the body and cobra increases our breathing capacity making it revitalising for the body and mind.
Forward fold
Stand with your feet hip width apart, allow the chin to soften in towards the chest and roll the body down towards the ground. Let your head hang heavy and your arms hang heavy. You want to feel even weight through the soles of the feet. Soften through the backs of the knees as much as you need to release through the hamstrings and take a hold of the elbows. Or you can let the fingertips just soften to the floor. Try and relax the shoulders away from the ears and let the facial muscles relax.
The benefits: This is a great pose to soothe the nervous system. Because the head is below the heart it’s very calming for the body and mind. You’re also getting a lovely stretch through the hamstrings. It’s also great for stimulating blood circulation into the face so it’s a great anti-ageing pose as well as providing stress relief.
Seated twist
Start by extending your right leg long, then bend your left leg, crossing over the right leg and place the sole of the right foot to the floor. Ideally, you want to have both sit bones firmly to the ground. Wrap your left arm around your left leg and place your right palm behind you like a tripod. Use the fingertips to press into the ground and straighten through the spine. Softly gaze over your right shoulder. Think about drawing your ribs towards your thigh while staying long through the spine and buoyant through the head.
The benefits: This is a great pose for detoxification because it stimulates the internal organs and enhances the health of the spine.
