yogi cameron-9 postures to jump-start your yoga practice

8/10/2019 Yogi Cameron-9 Postures to Jump-Start Your Yoga Practice

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9 PosturesTo Jump-Start Your

Yoga Practice


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3/2439 Postures to Jump-Start Your Yoga Practice - YOGI CAMERON

When Yoga was developed over ve thousand years ago, one of the main paths was sitting for extended

periods in concentration and meditation. The sages immersed in this process came to realize that they

needed great health and stamina if they were to sit still. They began to notice that the animals around them

stretched after lying down for a while. They soon realized that if they stretched and strengthened their bodies

like the animals did, they could sit in greater comfort. This was the beginning of what we know as postures.

Postures are physical positions that emulate animals and other shapes; these shapes give us exibility and

strength, thus facilitating extended periods of sitting. This relatively simple part of the Yogic system was

expanded in the last century to include hundreds of positions that came from hundreds of different teachers.

Some manuals include over a thousand postures.

The main point of practicing postures is to make the body stronger and more exible so that we may sit still

for lengthy periods. When we practice postures over a long time, though, we must practice in a way thatreects what our body needs in that chapter of our lives.

The postures that make up a benecial practice, at their very core, affect the body in nine ways. When you

incorporate these nine actions into one cohesive practice, you will have a complete system for building physical

health: grounding, warming, strengthening, forward bending, backward bending, balancing, inverting,

twisting, and hip opening.

Below are nine postures to get you started in this practice, each of which affects the body in one of these

different ways. They are intended for beginners, people with very stiff bodies, people with frail bodies, or

people interested in warming the body up for sitting in meditation. To build on these postures, check out

the posture practice outlined in my book The One Plan.

Namaste

-yc


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MountainPose

(grounding)



POSE 1

Mountain Pose(Tadasana)

1. Breathe.

2. Stand upright with your feet together.

3. Distribute your weight equally on both feet as well as equally on

your heels and balls of your feet.

4. Straighten your knees without hyperextending them, and loweryour tailbone without forcing your pelvis forward.

5. Open your chest with your shoulders by shifting them gently

back. Your shoulder blades will move toward each other.

6. Point your ngers toward the oor.

7. Lift the top of your head as if someone were pulling it with a string.

8. Breathe.


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POSE 2

Cat/Cow(Marjariasana/Bitilasana)

1. Breathe.

2. Come to your hands and knees.

3. Place your hands directly below your shoulders and allow your

ngers to open naturally.

4. Place your knees directly below the hips and point your toesbehind you.

5. As you inhale, lower your abdomen toward the ground and

raise your head upward.

6. As you exhale, curve your spine upward and lower your head

down so that your entire spine creates the shape of an arch.

7. Repeat this process as instructed.

8. Breathe.


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Downward Facing Dog(strengthening)



POSE 3

Downward Facing Dog(Adho Mukha Svanasana)

1. Breathe.

2. From your hands and knees, exhale and come to an inverted V-

shape with your buttocks up in the air and your feet far enough

away from your hands so that your heels almost touch the oor.

3. Continue to breathe as you press the base of your thumb and indexnger into the oor and allow your ngers to spread naturally.

4. Straighten your arms by drawing your elbows toward each other

and rolling your shoulders back into the torso.

5. Create a natural curvature of your spine by drawing your tail-

bone up and back.

6. Press the inside of the balls of your feet into the oor and draw

the outside of your heels toward the oor.

7. Breathe.

8. To come out, lower your knees to the oor and come to sit on

your heels.


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Childs Pose(forward bending)



POSE 4

Childs Pose(Balasana)

1. Breathe.

2. Come to your knees and rest your buttocks on your heels.

3. Exhale and lower your torso down so that your abdomen rests

on your thighs and place your forehead on the ground.

4. Allow your arms to rest at your sides.5. Breathe.


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Bridge Pose(backward bending)



POSE 5

Bridge Pose(Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

1. Breathe.

2. While lying on your back, bend your knees and bring the soles

of your feet to the oor.

3. Inhale, press your arms into the oor, and raise your pelvis up.

4. Interlace your ngers underneath your pelvis and exhale as youroll your right then your left shoulder underneath your rib cage

so that the backs of the arms form the base of your position.

5. Be sure to unclench your buttocks.

6. Breathe.

7. To come out, release your right and then your left shoulder, separate

your hands, and lower your pelvis back down to the ground.

8. Breathe.


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Tree Pose(balancing)



POSE 6

Tree Pose(Vrksasana)

1. Breathe.

2. From a standing position, lift your right leg up off the ground

with a bent knee and take hold of your right ankle.

3. Place the sole of your right foot up against the inside of your

left thigh and let it rest there.4. Place your hands in prayer in front of your chest.

5. Find a point of focus in front of you and breathe.

6. To come out, take hold of your right ankle, remove it from your

inner left thigh, and let go of it as you lower it to the ground.

7. Breathe.

8. Repeat on the opposite side with your left leg.

9. Breathe.



Legs Up The Wall(inverting)



POSE 7

Legs Up The Wall(Viparita Karani)

1. Breathe.

2. Come to a wall without any obstructions.

3. Lie on your side with your buttocks at the base of the wall, your

torso perpendicular to the wall, and your legs extended in front

of you along the base where the oor meets the wall. Youshould be in the shape of an L.

4. As you inhale, come to your back and allow your heels to follow

the path of a quarter circle up the wall.

5. Allow your arms to splay out to the sides with your palms facing up.

6. Close your eyes.

7. Breathe.

8. To come out, exhale as you re-trace the quarter circle back

down to the oor and move your buttocks away from the wall.

9. Breathe.



Supine Spinal Twist(twisting)



POSE 8

Supine Spinal Twist(Supta Matsyendrasana)

1. Breathe.

2. While lying on your back, bend your knees and place the soles

of your feet on the oor.

3. Pick your pelvis off the ground, shift it to the right by a few

inches, and exhale as you lower your knees to the left.4. Allow your arms to extend in opposite directions on the oor

so that they are perpendicular to the torso and your palms are

facing down.

5. Twist your upper back and neck so that your shoulder blades

are on the oor and your head is facing the right arm.

6. Bend your elbows to form cactus arms (as pictured) if you wish.

7. Breathe.

8. To come out, lift your knees up and return them to an upright position.

9. Repeat on the opposite side.

10.Breathe.



Butterfy(hip-opening)



POSE 9

Butterfy(Baddha Konasana)

1. Breathe.

2. From a seated position, open your legs with bent knees and

touch the soles of your feet together in front of you.

3. Sit upright.

4. As you exhale, continue to lower your knees toward the ground.As you inhale, raise them up slightly, and lower them even more

as you exhale once again.

5. Breathe.



About Yogi CameronYogi Cameron left the world of high fashion to pursue an ongoing study of Ayurveda and Yoga. He has

been written up in ELLE magazine, The New York Times, Mens Journal, Wall Street Journal, and The London

Times, and has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show, Extra, E!

Entertainment, and Martha, amongst others.

The Guru in You, his rst book, was published by HarperCollins in 2011 and his follow-up book The One

Plan was published in 2013. He has starred in two seasons of his own television program on the wellness

channel Veria Living and is a regular contributor to the Hufngton Post, Positively Positive, and SheKnows.

Yogi Cameron has brought Yoga and meditation to children and troops in Afghanistan and has worked with

young girls rescued from sex trafcking practices in Cambodia.



Would you like to improveyour yoga practice?

The One Plan

In this revolutionary new program, Yogi Cameron Alborzian presents an antidote to the typical New Year,New You offerings.

Why do we shortchange our lives and happiness by going for the quick-x gimmicks that crowd theshelves each January?

Rather than yet another 30 day program, Yogi Cameron speaks to those who are truly looking to make a

lifelong, lasting change in their health and happiness.

Check out The One Plan, which delves deeper intohelping you build a more comprehensive yoga practice.

http://www.yogicameron.com/oneplan


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