#intermediate yoga sequences

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/12-yoga-poses-to-energize-your-body-for-summer/

12 Yoga Poses to Energize Your Body For Summer

About our author

Ryanne Cunningham is a practicing yogi for over 20 years and a yoga instructor for 16 years. Ryanne is a published author (“Yoga For Athletes” published by Human Kinetics). She has her 500hr advanced TT. She has studied at Satchidanada Ashram through the Hatha Yoga and Cardiac Yoga programs. She has trained at a Green Bay, WI Ashtanga and Vinyasa studio for 10 years and is currently studying Dharma Yoga. For the past 6 years she has owned her own yoga studio (Flow Yoga Studio in De Pere, WI) where she works with many athletes of all levels, including many of the Green Bay Packers. 

See also 10 Detoxifying Yoga Poses for a Summer ‘Cleanse’

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/yoga-poses-for-a-better-sex-life-sexual-empowerment/

Yoga Poses for a Better Sex Life | Sexual Empowerment

“I’ve learned that having sex and feeling sexy can and should come from the purest space.” — Rina Jakubowicz

Nir Livni

When I was going through a divorce 10 years ago, I used affirmation practices to try to shift my mindset during the healing process. One phrase I repeated often was “I am beautiful.” 

As silly and simple as this may sound, it really helped me. Failing at a marriage is very painful and I carried a lot of judgments about myself, especially since I had been the first in the family to get a divorce. Walking around each day with this affirming thought, even if I didn’t believe it in the beginning, was life-changing. It helped me realize that my words and thoughts are powerful and that I’m in control of how I feel about myself. I began walking with confidence and maintaining a sense of calm in my communication and interactions. In addition to the affirmation practices, I started studying in the Bhagavad Gita and began to apply some of the teachings to my relationships, including in the bedroom. It took several years, but I began to develop a healthier relationship with myself and my sexuality. I learned how to break down my sexual walls and release judgment and fear to become my gorgeous, badass self from within.

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I’ve learned that having sex and feeling sexy can and should come from the purest space. That will create the most euphoric and pleasurable experience for both you and your partner. I now teach “Sattvic and Sexy” workshops and courses because I want to help more women tap into this empowering space where they can stop harshly judging themselves or suppressing their sexuality. 

See also “Three Things Divorce Taught Me About Love”

Sattva is the highest of the three gunas (mental qualities) in Ayurveda. It means pure, poised, or objective. The lower two gunas are tamas and rajas. Tamas is a mental state of inertia, dullness, or laziness. Rajas is associated with mental agitation and hectic activity. We need rajas to move us away from tamas, but our ultimate goal is to move into sattva. If you’re passionate about something or someone but you’re overthinking, emotional, or getting caught in your head, then there’s an attachment and you’re in rajas. If you have passion from a pure place and it doesn’t control you, then you’re sattvic. 

See also How a Sattvic (Pure) Diet Brings You Into Balance + 2 Ayurvedic Recipes

To start feeling more empowered, sexy, and content in your life and relationships, try this 8-pose sequence. Each posture is paired with an affirmation to inspire you to become the best version of yourself, both as a lady and a lover, so you can create the sex life and the spiritual life you deserve.

Then, join me for a free “Sattvic and Sexy” webinar on April 10 at 2:30 EST. I’ll share more tips for developing a healthier relationship with yourself, your sexuality, and your partner. Register today!

Samastithi (Mountain Pose)

Mountain Pose is one of the most important poses to help you gain confidence in yourself and feel sexy in your skin. It’s vital for your spiritual growth because this pose is the epitome of standing up for yourself. You are tall, grounded, and powerful without letting anything external influence you. This pose sets the stage for the mentality you need to have while doing the other poses: equal standing, steady breath, stable mind.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/yoga-sequence-for-empowering-your-self-worth/

Yoga Sequence for Empowering Your Self-Worth

Understanding how to own your self-worth is one of the greatest acts of self-love you can make. Here, yoga teacher Sarah Ezrin shows us how with a simple, 5-pose home yoga practice.

Previous in Self-Love Series This Guided Meditation Will Inspire You to Live From Your Heart

Next in Self-Love Series This Guided Meditation Will Help You Own Your Worth

You are beautiful. You are kind. You are smart. You are a survivor. You are powerful. You are loved. You are love.

How did reading those phrases make you feel? Did you cringe? Did you disassociate, as if the words were meant for someone else? (They weren’t, by the way.) Or, were you able to really take them in?

Try it again, this time swapping out the pronoun “you” for “I”—and this time, reciting the phrases to yourself: I am beautiful. I am kind. I am smart. I am a survivor. I am powerful. I am loved. I am love.

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See also What Is Love? Understand the 3 Spiritual Levels of Love

Yes. You, are. In fact, we all are, because no two of us are alike. Every single one of us is a unique miracle. Anyone that has tried to have a child knows that creation is magic, and the fact that we are here, reading this piece, in this body, in this day and time, means that we are already incredibly blessed. Instead of spending all of our precious mental energy on beating ourselves up or fixating on what we think we lack, let us own our worth.

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Imagine what you would do with all that energy and time you waste in the comparison trap? What would you create if you knew you could not fail or did not care even if you did? What would life be like if you felt like you were enough?

Owning your worth is the ultimate expression of self-love, because it an act of radical self-acceptance. It is deeply knowing that we are enough, even when the world tries to tell us we are not. It is not seeking external validation to fill ourselves up, because we are full on our own. It is remembering our history to recognize our strength. It is being confident in our ability to manifest the life we seek while standing in the power we already have. It is living from the heart, where we are already perfect.

See also Powering Your Spirituality

Take up space and own your worth by practicing this 5-pose sequence:

Reverse warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana)

This crowd favorite actually hasmany names including Reverse Warrior, Side Warrior, and my personal favorite, Exalted warrior. According to Merriam-Webster, “to exalt is to raise in power,” while some other resources explain exalted as a state of “extreme happiness” (Oxford Dictionary) or pure joy. What better pose to help us elevate our worth than Reverse Warrior? This standing pose does not just look good on the outside, but it feels amazing, too. It is often practiced at the end of a long hold after its sister poses, Warrior 2 or Parsvakonasana. Before taking a vinyasa, take one inhalation to lean back and celebrate your space joyously.

See also 3 Books to Inspire You on Your Contemplative Path

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/yoga-for-grief-a-sequence-to-heal-your-heart/

Yoga for Grief: A Sequence to Heal Your Heart

Emilie Bers

At 27-years-old, I lost my mother to lung cancer. When she was just weeks from passing, and at her worst, a friend tried to comfort me by saying “chin up.” I knew he was trying to help—but literally moving my chin upward was the last thing I (or my body) wanted to do.

When we are in grief, the body naturally wants to cave in. There is a heaviness. As Michelle Obama said of her father’s death in her recent book Becoming, “It hurts to live after someone has died.” If someone you love is near death, it hurts to live before they have died, too.

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Yet people frequently offer that type of chin-up advice, encouraging us to “keep our head up” or “hold our head high” when we are going through tough times. Yet is that really what someone who is grieving needs? Or is that someone else’s own discomfort in the face of our sadness? When we suffer loss, people often do not know what to say. What if instead of trying to make each other feel better in the face of loss and deep grief, we gave ourselves permission to hang our heads for a little while?

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See also How Yoga Helped One Rape Survivor Cope With the Kavanaugh Hearings

Grief has no guidebook—no straight line to follow. Grief is the soul’s way of mourning a person, place, or thing of time past. It comes in waves and is rarely predictable. One minute you are balled up on the couch crying pools of tears, the next you are laughing, the next you are numb. Because of this, the kindest thing we can do for ourselves when experiencing grief is to allow it to be there and give ourselves time to heal.

In yoga, we practice a lot of sequences that open the heart. Rarely do we hear teachers encourage us to close our hearts. However, after a significant loss, this may be the most healing thing to do. Whenever I have experienced an important death, I can’t even practice the most passive backbends. The body’s desire to curl inward is an evolutionary response to stress and trauma—a way to protect the vital organs.

I have also come to believe that our impulse to fold in when grieving is a way to keep the pieces of the heart together after it breaks.

If all you do is unroll your mat and rest in Child’s Pose today, great. If you feel like moving a bit more, here is a sequence to help you close your heart so it can heal.

See also How to Form a New Relationship with Your Anxiety

A Yoga Sequence for Grief

Balasana (Child’s Pose) Flow

Few poses are as comforting as Child’s Pose. This posture encapsulates what the body organically wants to do when we are under duress: curl in. Come onto your shins with the tops of the feet on the floor. Bring your big toes together and spread your knees apart. Shift your hips back toward your heels and reach your arms in front of you. Rest your forehead on a block to give your brain a rest, too. It is helpful to be on your fingertips to keep space in your neck and shoulders. Stay here as long as you like.

See also 7 Things You Should Do for a Grieving Friend

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/yoga-for-strength-11-poses-that-build-muscle/

Yoga for Strength: 11 Poses That Build Muscle

Think you have to hit the weight room at your gym to build muscle? Think again. You can use your yoga practice to build strength. Here’s how.

Christopher Dougherty

The beautiful thing about yoga is that if you have a little time and a little space, you can gain a lot of flexibility and strength.

Yoga has been known for so long as the thing to do when you want to get more flexible. But here’s the thing: Yoga can also strengthen most of your muscles, if you make sure to practice a few simple, accessible postures.

See also 5 Strength-Building Yoga Poses for Beginners

Building muscle is known to improve bone density, boost your metabolism, improve sleep, and increase brain health. This power sequence will build muscles in your arms, legs, and core—and it doesn’t involve going to the gym or working with any weights.

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Forearm Plank

Start on your hands and knees and lower your elbows to the floor, placing them shoulder-width apart. Interlace your fingers and tuck your bottom pinky in so it doesn’t get squished. Root down through the length of your forearm to the base of your wrist and extend one leg at a time behind you, keeping your toes tucked under. Bring your torso parallel to the floor and gaze at your thumbs. Lift your navel toward your spine and as you root down into your elbows, imagine you’re trying to pull your elbows and feet toward each other. Hold this for 1 minute or longer.

See also 5 Cool Ways to Use Props for Arm Balances

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/4-surprising-ways-to-use-a-yoga-bolster/

4 Surprising Ways to Use a Yoga Bolster

Set your bolster up parallel to the long edge of your yoga mat and lie down with it under your spine. Make sure you are supported from your sacrum to the back of your head; if your torso is longer than your bolster, find a yoga block or cushion to support your head.

Engage the muscles around your core, visualizing movement in two directions: drawing in around your waist and lengthening from your crown to your tail. Make sure you aren’t gripping or clenching your abdominals; you should still be able to feel your breath moving freely in your ribcage.

Keep that gentle core support and float your arms above your shoulders, as if reaching for the ceiling. Then, lift one foot off the floor to stack your bent knee above your hip. Keep firming in around your waist to steady yourself on your bolster and lift your opposite foot, stacking both knees above your hips in a supine tabletop position with your knees bent and shins parallel to the floor.

Take a smooth breath in. On your exhalation, slowly extend your left leg out straight, lowering it down toward hip height, and simultaneously reach your right arm overhead, lowering it toward shoulder height. Then, use the length of your inhalation to return to supine tabletop. As you exhale, extend your right leg and and left arm, and on an inhalation, return to your starting position. Continue to move from side to side with the steady pace of your breathing, keeping your face and neck relaxed.

Notice the coordination between your upper and lower body, and between your left and right sides, feeling how that allows you to compensate for the lack of stability in your base.After 10 rounds on each side, return to supine tabletop position. Keep drawing in around your waist for support as you set your feet back down onto the floor. Slowly roll off your bolster, lying on one side for a moment or two before pressing up to stand.

See also How Yoga Helps You Survive Your 20s

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/yoga-at-the-airport-a-5-pose-sequence-for-long-layovers/

Yoga at the Airport | A 5-Pose Sequence for Long Layovers

In the 36 years I have been on this planet, I am lucky enough to have visited to 27 countries. That equals a lot of time spent sitting on planes—and sitting in airports waiting for those planes.

Sitting for long periods is hard for most people, but this is especially true for yogis. Of course, we are not referring to long sits in a comfortable meditation posture. In fact, many believe the whole purpose of our physical yoga practice (asana) is so that we can sit to meditate. However, sitting in a comfortable seat on a bolster in your living room is very different than sitting in an uncomfortable airport waiting area for hours until your connecting trans-Atlantic flight arrives.

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That being said, just as our asana practice can prepare us to sit to meditate, it can similarly prepare us to sit while traveling. Remember, our yoga practice doesn’t have to be confined to a mat or a studio. It can travel with us and is there when we need it the most—especially at gate 50C!

See also 9 Travel Hacks to Help You Find More Zen (Really!) on Your Next Flight

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The following sequence perfect to practice during a layover has become as essential to my travel as my toiletries. The length of time between flights will determine how long you can remain in each pose. I recommend 10 breaths for shorter layovers and 30 breaths for longer ones. If your flight gets delayed, try running through the sequence a second (or third!) time.

So, go find a quiet corner at your gate, put on your noise-cancelling ear phones, and try this 5-pose sequence while you wait to embark on your next adventure:

Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I), variation

This variation of Warrior I is a complete counter-pose to the act of sitting on an airplane seat and fighting for your arm rest. Place your right foot on a chair or ledge, aligning your knee above your ankle. Keep your left foot slightly turned out for stability. (Having your front leg elevated accentuates the hip flexor release in your back thigh.) Place your hands behind your back and interlace your fingers, drawing your front shoulders back to open your chest. If it is comfortable on your neck, take your head back and look up. Stay here for 10 breaths, then switch sides.

See also This is the Corporate Yoga Retreat Your Company Needs for Mindful Team Building

See also This 7-Pose Home Practice Harnesses the Power of Touch

About the Author

Sarah Ezrin is a yoga teacher in San Francisco. Learn more at sarahezrinyoga.com. 

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/stand-tall-steady-10-yoga-sequences-for-the-legs/

Stand Tall & Steady: 10 Yoga Sequences for the Legs

Falling out of Tree Pose? Learn how to build a solid foundation from the ground up with these yoga sequences that target the leg muscles.

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