Last week I did some gardening, and for several mornings I woke up with a stiff and sore back.

The remedy? Triangle pose.

Within a couple of days, my back pain was gone. However, since then I’ve made triangle pose a feature of my daily yoga routine.

Yoga For Back Pain – Triangle Pose reports:

“When it comes to moving the trunk, most people are unaware of the difference between bending at the waist and folding at the hip joint. The lowest part of the spine (sacrum and coccyx bones) inserts between the two pelvic bones. Together, the pelvis, hips and low spine offer maneuverability that is capable of initiating and supporting movement for the whole body.

It is much safer for your back if you bend at the hips (and knees) rather than the waist. Done with attention to proper alignment, the triangle pose can help you develop an awareness of the action of your hips. And, it will strengthen and stretch the muscles that work these important joints.”

If you have back pain, I commend triangle pose to you — it really works to strengthen your back and relieve pain and stiffness.

[tags]back pain, triangle pose[/tags]

Are you new to yoga? Your entire yoga practice is a meditation. As you perform your yoga poses, you focus strictly on what’s happening with your body and what you’re trying to do. You move out of everyday consciousness into real concentration which is the basis of meditation.

There are specific yoga meditations you can do. Here is an excellent one: a whole body scan to balance your energy.

1. Sit Down or Lie Down, and Become Aware of Your Body

You can do this meditation either lying down on a flat surface, like the floor, or when you’re sitting upright in a chair.

If you’re lying down, relax completely, and become aware of your body. Take several long slow deep breaths. Close your eyes if you wish.

2. Follow Your Energy Throughout Your Body

Starting with your left foot, become aware of it. Be aware of your toes, be aware of your ankle, then be aware of the sole of your foot.

Next, be aware of your left leg’s calf muscles. Be aware of your left knee.

Gradually move your awareness to the top of your left leg, and then focus your awareness on your right foot. Gradually focus on every part of your right leg, then focus on the rest of your body.

Move your awareness slowly right throughout your body, going as quickly or as slowly as you like.

3. Let Thoughts and Feelings Go

Thoughts and emotions will interrupt your focus as you move your awareness through your body. Just be aware of any thoughts and emotions, and then let them go. Return to your body scan.

4. How to Manage Strong Feelings: Welcome Them

Strong feelings will arise in you. You could treat these emotions in one of two ways. You can either let them go, or you can welcome them, and feel them deeply.

Feelings and emotions are stored in your body. Every trauma you have ever experienced has laid down its traces in your body.

This is why occasionally you’ll find yourself weeping, or laughing as you do yoga. You’re not going crazy, you’ve just encountered one of these traces.

One way to remove these emotional traces is to welcome your emotions and to focus on them completely for a few moments. Some emotions are very strong, and if you feel an emotion is becoming too much for you, go back to your body scan.

However if you can welcome an emotion, and allow it, you’ll find that the emotion rises to a crest and then slowly dissipates. You need to feel emotions to remove the emotional traces in your body, so never be scared of any emotions which are aroused by your yoga. They’re perfectly natural.

When you’ve completed your whole body scan, lie still for a moment, and assess what’s changed since you began the meditation. This is a powerful, balancing yoga meditation. If you’re stressed, it will relax you, and if you’re tired, it will energize you.

[tags]yoga, yoga mediation, meditation, yoga poses[/tags]

Are you just starting your yoga practice? Child’s pose is a great pose you can perfect.

The benefit of this pose is that it’s very calming. No matter how stressed you feel in your daily life, this short sequence will give you instant stress relief:

* Tadasana (mountain pose)

* Child’s post

* Sitting pose

Stand in mountain pose for several breaths, ensuring that your weight is evenly balanced, on the balls of your feet, as well as on your heels. Stretch out your toes.

Then get onto your hands and knees, and sit back on your heels.

Move forward into child’s pose, and rest in the pose for a minute or two.

When you come out of the pose, sit in sitting pose, and feel the difference in your body, and in your mood.

[tags]yoga, beginners, yoga poses, childs pose[/tags]