Yoga - The Easy Pose

As you gain more familiarity with the exercises and their objectives you can then select those that you feel will be of most benefit to you.

Yoga practice 1

As with most forms of physical exercise the early morning, after a refreshing nights sleep, is the best time to get started.

Your last meal will have been digested so all your body energy can be concentrated upon exercising go to the loo and have a shower so that you feel mentally alert with no distractions.

Wait until you have finished your exercise routine before having breakfast.

You should drink plenty of water as it is a great flusher of the bodys' toxic wastes.

If mornings are out then the next best time is before the evening meal.

Lunch should be well on the way to being digested and you are unlikely to use as much energy as you would during the working day so there is no need to hold back on the effort you put into your yoga.

This first exercise known as the Easy Pose, is a posture routine and an aid to relaxing and calming the mind as an introduction to meditation.

• Sit upright on the floor with the legs crossed and ankles underneath the knees.
• Place the hands, palms uppermost on the knees and straight in front of you.
• Keeping the spine and head erect stretch the spine upwards and you will feel your bottom tense and push into the floor.
• At the same time keep the shoulders back and down and push out your chest while consciously relaxing the muscles of your face.

With all yoga exercises it is very important to control your breathing.

• Take a deep breath through the nose as you extend your spine and hold as long as you can.

• Exhale slowly through the nose as you relax from the stretch position but still keeping the back and head upright.

It does not matter if you your mouth stays open throughout the exercise just so long as your jaw muscles are relaxed.

You will find it a help if you put the tip of your tongue against your top front teeth.

• Continue to stretch and return in time with your controlled breathing, staying as relaxed as possible and letting your mind stay calm and composed.

Many find that keeping the eyes lightly closed makes it easier to banish external worries and problems making it easier to concentrate on simple subjects such as the beauty of a flower or an intricate pattern.

Learning to concentrate while keeping the mind free from external matters begins to open the path to meditation as you become more adept.

Keep this starter exercise up for 10-15 minutes each day for the first week.

By then you will have begun to master an important but superficially one of the easiest of the many yoga techniques.

It is not for nothing that this posture is known as the easy pose and is an Asan.