The Procedure

Stand facing the sun. Body erect and feet close together. Keep hands joined together just in front of your chest. Close your eyes or keep the gaze at straight level.

This pose is ideal for prayers and chanting mantras.

If in surya namaskar, this pose ends with an exhalation.

The Benefits of Pranamasana

This asana gives balance to your body and eases your nervous system and body.

Anyone who can stand erect can practice this asana without any precautions or guidance.

This is the second step in surya namaskar or sun salutation pose.

The Procedure

1. Stand in Pranamasana. i.e. stand erect with you feet held together and palms held together before your chest as in a prayer.

2. Without separating your hands, slowly raise them above your head as you slowly inhale.

Slowly exhaling, come to pranamasana or continue to Padahasthasana, the third step of surya namaskar.

Benefits of Hastauttanasana

This asana stretches your muscles at arms and abdomen. It tones the abdomen, strengthens digestive system and respiratory system. This asana is also good for eyes.

The Procedure for Ashtanga Namaskar

1. Assume Parvatasana Mountain Pose. Raising your hips while balancing your body weight on palms and toes while keeping your body straight.

2. Raise your head forward and lower all parts of your body so that your forehead, nose, chest and knees touch the ground.

The benefits of Asthanga Namaskara

This pose is similar to popular push-up exercise. It strengthens your chest muscles, shoulder muscles and upper arm muscles.

Here you extend your right foot backwards from padahastasana pose.

The Procedure for Ashwa Sanchalasana

1. Come to Padahastasana Pose. I.e. stand erect and place your hands palms down on ground on either side of feet while not bending your knees.

2. Extend your right foot backwards while keeping the left knee before your arms. Look straight in front of you.

Ashwa Sanchalasana stimulates all your internal organs. Ashwa sanchalasana stretches and strengthens your muscles at leg. It increases mental alertness and helps mind focus on any single point.

The aim of practicing different yoga postures is to give regular exercise to sense organs, joints and all internal and external organs of our body.

Yoga sessions must begin and end with three minutes of silent meditation or prayers to God. It doesnÂ’t matter if you are an atheist. Meditation is a method of freeing mind from many of the thoughts and troubles.

Yoga sessions must start with padmasana or lotus posture. (Padmam is a lotus). DonÂ’t try to learn every yoga postures in a day. Consider yoga practicing as a long journey that lasts till your day. Learn one or two new asana, position in two or three days. Gradually update your knowledge. You donÂ’t have to worry about all the positions quickly; there is a lot of time to learn each and everything of yoga, because you have a lifetime before you.

Never do yoga on ground. Always spread a thick clean cloth on the ground where you plan to practice yoga. Never allow any of your body part touch ground while doing yoga. This is to ensure the electric power developed in your body be not lost due to earthing.

You will be applying yoga positions in sitting standing and lying positions, so take a cloth wide large enough.

Meditation
Meditating is necessary to keep mental tribulations under control. You will naturally experience peace of mind while you take any yoga pose. The aim of meditation is to bring mind under control. Nothing will work if your mind is out of control.

Yoga poses or yoga postures
Each posture must be comfortable to the body. You shall not feel anything uncomfortable while taking any posture. Yoga science describes the poses that give calmness to body and mind.

Sparing some time of the day to practice yoga is necessary for everyone to ensure their mental strengths and powers are retained.

Yoga postures are specially designed physical poses and movements that facilitate circulation, soothe nervous system and mind, give strength and flexibility to joints and body and control breathing pattern. Practicing yoga postures acts as the best measure of mind-body combination.

The yoga postures or asana are mutually beneficial to mind and body. While the breathing is calmed down and regulated, mind also becomes stress free. When mind becomes peaceful, the body produces less stress hormones. This leads to better physical health. Diseases are also kept away.

The yoga postures are exercises for mind and body at the same time. While you concentrate on physical movement and breathing, matters of worry don’t come to your mind. Yoga postures thus act like a stress buster. The physical movements also help in strengthening muscles, joints, ligaments, diaphragm, lungs, pancreas, stomach, intestines and heart. The yoga postures enhance blood circulation and bring more nourishment to brain, spine and all parts of body.

Each yoga pose has specific advantages. Many yoga postures are not suited for everyone. For example people with hernia or ulcer problems are not indicated for practicing stretching exercises that put much pressure on abdomen –bow pose (dhanurasana) and boat pose (naukasana) are examples.

The Procedure for Yoga Mudra

1. Sit on padmasana. Relax all the muscles in your body.

2. Bring both hands to the back of your body. Grasp the wrist of left arm with right hand. Make a fist with left hand while keeping the thumb inside the other fingers.

3. Inhale deeply and remain in the position for two-three seconds.

4. Slowly exhaling, bend forward and touch the ground with your forehead as you finish exhaling.

5. Don’t inhale for two-three seconds.

6. Slowly inhaling, raise your body.

7. Take care not to raise your buttocks from the ground or relaxing the grasp of fisting.

Notes on Yoga Mudra

This is beneficial for many diseases that affect the digestive system. It also relaxes each bone of the vertebral column.

The procedure for Padmasana Yoga Pose

1. Sit down with legs spread straight in front of the body.

2. Bend the right leg, grasp the foot with both hands and place it on the left thigh, as close to body as possible.

3. Bend the left leg, grasp the foot with both hands and place it over the right thigh, as close to body as possible.

4. Keep the knees on the ground. The sole of feet faces upwards.

5. The hands can be placed on the knees, with thumb and index finger forming a circle and palm facing upwards. This is perfect meditation posture. This is also ideal posture for pranayama.

Interchange the position of legs if you feel uncomfortable.

Note: – Keep the body (spine, neck and head) erect and vertically on a line.

Benefits of Padmasana Yoga Pose

Known as ancient yogi posture, this asana promotes deep inner level consciousness and better mind-body control. It is also the posture for higher spiritual consciousness.

Padmasana is also known as a panacea for all diseases. It has a calming effect on nervous system, strengthens spine and keeps joints flexible. It perfects body posture, promotes circulation to internal organs and normalizes circulation, respiration, heart beat and blood pressure.

All postures recommended for meditation and prayer has the above mentioned benefits.

Mastering this technique takes time. The body will become flexible only with conscious effort for a long time.

This posture gives some of the benefits that padmasana gives.

The Procedure for Ardha Padmasana Yoga Pose

1. Sit down with legs stretched straight in front of the body.

2. Bend the left leg and place it firmly beside the left side of opposite thigh.

3. Bend the right leg and take it to place it above the left thigh. Now the left foot is not visible.

4. Keep your hands over the knees, with index finger and thumb forming a circle. This position also is good for meditation.

5. Concentrate your look on either eye level or at the tip of your nose.

Notes on Ardhapadmasana Yoga Pose

This can be used as a preceding or preparatory posture for padmasana as it can lighten padmasana. Practicing this pose will help you get used to padmasana pose.

Keep your back, neck and head in a straight line, vertically upwards.

You can interchange the position of legs in this asana for a comfortable pose.

Make sure your knees touch ground while attaining final posture.

The Procedure for Sarvangasana

1. Lay flat on your back. Keep legs together, hands on either side, palms down on ground.

2. Slowly inhaling, raise your legs and waist without bending your legs at knees.

3. Give support to your waist with your hands. Once assume this position, the portions below shoulder will be in the air and vertically upwards.

4. Take care not to bend your leg beyond head. Keep the legs vertically up. Your chin will be against your chest while completing this posture. You can continue regular breathing while at this posture.

Notes on Sarvangasana

If you feel any difficulties while doing this, slowly bend your legs over your head take the hands down, and slowly return to lying pose. Rest for a while.

Stay at this pose for a maximum of five minutes a day.

This asana is not indicated for persons with thyroid, heart and blood pressure problems.

More blood is pumped to upper portions of the body – brain, heart, lungs, neck, head – and nourishes the upper parts.

This asana requires lot of concentration, which is achieved almost instinctively without any special efforts for concentration. The concentration a yogi achieves while practicing this asana is beneficial in dealing with all other fields of life.

This asana is indicated for women. It strengthens uterus and reproductive organs.

Viparitakarani is another asana that gives comparable benefits.