September 10, 2015 |
5 Best Restorative Yoga Poses
Try out these 5 restorative yoga poses with yogi Jennifer Galardi to keep your body centered and relaxed!
by HN Editorial
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What is restorative yoga? It is the centering of your breath and body - aligning the physical and mental by practicing stillness or gentle movement for extended periods of time.
Yoga has tons of benefits, flexibility, tone and muscle strength are just some of the physical benefits that come from yoga. Other than physical performance yoga holds many mental and emotional advantages. Individuals who do yoga are said to have better time dealing with stress and are able to think more fluently during stressful situations. Yoga is great if you are in search of some mental clarity and centering your attention.
In this video, Jennifer takes you through five restorative yoga poses to keep cool during the summer. The key to all restorative yoga poses is that the longer you stay in postures, the more there is stability throughout the whole body. By holding the poses for an extended period of time, you will give your body a chance to cool down and calm the nervous system. Keeping longer breaths and remaining stable will leave your body feeling stretched and refreshed at the same time. Jennifer encourages you to incorporate these restorative yoga poses into your yoga practice this summer and keep cool as the temperatures rise.
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[MUSIC]
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One thing you may not know is that yoga
postures can keep the physical body and
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the nervous system in balance when
the thermometer begins to rise.
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[MUSIC]
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Hey everyone, I'm Jennifer Galardi.
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I love when I hear that people
have begun a yoga practice and
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how it's improving
the quality of their life.
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I've been practicing Yoga for
almost 15 years and I'm still learning.
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Here are some Yoga postures to help
keep you cool all summer long.
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We're going to start with Trikonasana,
or triangle pose, and
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it's one of my favorites.
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So, let's begin.
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Feet are wider than our hips and
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your front toes are going to point
away from your face like this.
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We wanna go for
external rotation in this top thigh and
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watch that you just don't
jam your knee open.
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Okay.
We're really trying to open this
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hip up here.
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To do that, we're gonna
internally rotate the back thigh.
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Right.
So we're wrapping the thigh bone in,
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pressing that inner thigh back and in.
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You'll notice when I do that,
my heel kicks back further than my toes.
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My toes point towards the front.
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You'll also notice my
heel to arch alignment.
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So if your foot is way out here or
back here, try to center it up so
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that front heel is in line with the back
arch, the midline of the back arch.
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All right.
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Arms up, about shoulder height,
watch those shoulders, don't creep up or
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you don't over arch.
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Soften the ribs in,
navel to spine, tailbone long.
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We'll soften our front knee as you inhale.
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Keep a long waist.
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Shift the hips back in space as you
shift the body over the front leg.
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Now, engage those inner thighs.
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You're really gonna start to feel
the legs engage as you start moving
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closer to the mat.
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You're gonna bring your hand to your
shin and ankle, or if you like, a block.
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[MUSIC]
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Press down through the big
toe pad of that front foot.
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And then this arm will
just come right on top.
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If it's too much,
feel free to bring it back to the hip.
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Again this inner thigh is rolling in,
this thigh's rolling out.
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Tailbone long, ribs in and keep feeling
the expansiveness across the chest.
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Again to dissipate some of that heat.
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[MUSIC]
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Throughout all of this though you
wanna have a steady, calm breath.
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[MUSIC]
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And the longer we hold postures,
the more we stay in stability,
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the more calming they'll be.
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So we don't want to move around a whole
lot in the summer, it's already hot.
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We don't need to aggravate that.
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We want to just find stability,
steadiness, and ease.
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When you're ready you can return
the hand to the top hip, look down,
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soften that front knee a little bit,
lift up that bottom arm.
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And just come back to center.
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From here, let's hit the floor.
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Now I, as much as anybody,
love a big back bend but
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those can be very overheating,
overexerting and
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we wanna try to avoid those in the middle
of the day when it's the hottest.
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But here's a good alternative.
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You can do back bends on your belly and
that will keep you grounded and stable,
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if that makes sense.
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Remember, we don't wanna blow
our circuits out in the summer.
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It's already hot.
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We're already feeling a little overheated.
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So, if you're gonna do back bends,
do them on the floor.
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It's a good option.
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So we'll come to our belly and
here is a good one.
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[MUSIC]
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So we'll take our hands
out in front of us.
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On an inhale you will lift the upper body,
bring the biceps by the ears,
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the shoulders at the ears and on an exhale
bring your forehead back down to the mat.
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You'll notice that my inner
thighs are trying to kiss,
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squeezing to the midline of the body,
tops of the feet flat on the floor.
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Inhale, I lift up.
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Exhale, come down.
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Great.
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We're gonna do that a couple more times.
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Though you can do it on your own
to prep for a bigger backbend.
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Inhale up.
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And exhale down.
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Now this time, inhale with the feet and
the arms off the floor.
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And then exhale.
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Arms into goal posts, 90 degree angle,
pull the shoulder blades on the back.
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Now inhale the arms back over the head,
inner thighs squeezing into the midline
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of the body, chin slightly down,
exhale, lift up a little higher.
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One more.
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Inhale, arms over the head,.
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Exhale.
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Inhale, hold here.
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Exhale, return all the way to the floor,
turn your heard to the side, and rest.
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Mm.
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Nice job.
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So remember it's great to do backbends.
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They're expansive.
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They're inspiring, but in the summer,
keep them on your belly.
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From here,
we'll move to a forward fold posture.
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Again, one that a lot of people may
have heard of, paschimottanasana.
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You're gonna start with your
legs out in front of you.
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You can kind of rock your hips
side to side to move the flesh
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out away from the bone so you really
get a widening here through your hips.
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Slight inner rotation of the thighs.
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Chest is up, spine is long.
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Now if you need more support,
you can put a bolster under your knees.
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I like that option.
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Or just bend your knees.
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If you're sitting kinda schlumped liked
this, definitely sit on a bolster or
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some sort of prop, even a pillow or
you can put one under your knees.
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I'm going to keep my knees soft right now.
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I'll inhale, arms over my head, biceps by
the ear, shoulders pulled down and exhale.
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Navel pulling back to the spine, inhale
through a flat back as best you can.
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Exhale, fold forward.
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Let's do one more inhale
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[MUSIC]
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Exhale as you fold forward, and
this time we'll hold the forward bend.
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Relax the head in,
keep working for a long spine,
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as the shoulder blades
move on to the back.
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[MUSIC]
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As you hold these postures,
keep your intention on just calming and
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cooling the body and the nervous system.
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Remember, deep, slow,
long inhales and exhales.
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And, if it helps, just visualize
water rushing up and down your spine.
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Cooling.
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Calming the nervous system.
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[MUSIC]
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Great job!
From here we'll move into one of my
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favorite cooling twists.
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So for that,
it would be great if you have a strap.
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If not, no worries.
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We'll take that.
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And slowly come to lie on your back.
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One of my favorite postures right here.
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Whew.
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All right.
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Now the interesting thing with twists
is that if they're very aggressive and
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we hold them too long they can be heating.
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So with this one we're going to use
the assistance of our strap for
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that very reason.
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And we're on our backs kinda
in this relaxed state.
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So a lot of what happens in
our practice or how it affects
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us has to do with the intention or
attention we create in the posture.
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So because we're here,
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lying down on our backs,
this is a little more relaxed posture.
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And we don't need to worry
about it being too heated.
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Plus we're being assisted with
the strap which helps us relax.
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Take a deep inhale, and
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as you exhale, gently just allow
that top leg to cross over.
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If you can,
keep the opposite shoulder onto the floor.
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Now you're going to try to rotate
those toes towards the floor and
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then move the foot a little
bit more away from the face so
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down more towards that bottom foot.
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Instead of keeping it way jacked up here.
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So it's less of a hamstring pull, and
tension here in the hip flexor and
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more of a lengthening of this IT band and
a nice easy twist.
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If it's comfortable,
you turn your head to the back arm.
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Keep your tail long.
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[MUSIC]
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Close your eyes.
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[MUSIC]
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And again, just have the intention
of cooling your body,
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cooling your nervous system,
calming, relaxing.
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You can help with that by extending
your exhales a little bit.
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Maybe even taking a slight
pause after your exhales.
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And the gently come up, bend your knee,
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remove the strap, And then you would
just do that on the other side.
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So one of my favorite things to do while
we're down here is a restorative posture.
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Now this is a restorative back bend so
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it's another great option if
you want to do a back bend.
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And you feel like you need to get
more expansive through the chest.
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Just because it's not so
aggressive, all right?
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So we're gonna use our blocks for
this pose.
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You'll take one block on
its midlevel setting.
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So horizontal,
if you can see how that goes.
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And the other block, we'll take high.
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Now you may need to shimmy and
adjust once you get down there.
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And I'm just going to lower
myself back onto the blocks.
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So this bottom block is kind of right in
line with the base of my bra strap ladies,
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or men use your imagination.
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But the block is going to be kind of
right between the shoulder blades.
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Not the bottom part.
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And then you'll rest your head back, so
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the base of your skull,
just rest gently onto the block.
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Now, you adjust to where it
feels most comfortable, but
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you want to watch that your chin's not
higher than your forehead, or vice versa.
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So, somewhere where your chin and
your forehead are just nicely aligned.
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You'll open your chest, allow your arms
to fall out to the side, palms face open.
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One nice option for
the legs is Baddha Konasana.
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Soles of the feet together, knees open.
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Now to make sure we have a nice cooling
effect here, belly breathing in and
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out the belly.
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Again, focus on relaxing, on calming.
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Such a nice posture to open the airway,
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open the breathing without
getting overly heated.
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This is one of my favorite poses to
stay in for up to 10 to 12 minutes, so
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feel free.
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And whenever you're ready, ypu'll just
place your hands at the backs of your
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thighs, draw your knees in,
slowly lift your chin towards your chest,
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peel yourself up off your blocks,
great job.
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I encourage you to incorporate these
postures into your personal yoga
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practice this summer.
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They'll help keep you cool and motivated
to keep going as the temperatures rise.
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Thanks for watching.