Have you ever looked in the mirror after a good yoga class? Your eyes glow, your face is soft, your cheeks are tan and your posture is relaxed but strong. Photos of people before and after a yoga class show it: yoga makes you more beautiful. Not just in the short term; years of yoga practice keeps your features soft and your figure taut. Just look at older yoga teachers, they often look surprisingly young.
Effect of yoga exercises
Yoga has an effect on your overall well-being and happiness. By reflecting on yourself, the processes that take place in your body, and by observing your thoughts and feelings while practicing the asanas, you come across pieces of your 'true self' (atman) during every practice or meditation. . This true self is revealed as you open your body and peel yourself off layer by layer. The revelation or discovery of your true self provides, in addition to rest, a fulfilling feeling of happiness: the feeling of coming home to yourself. And this is exactly what makes your beauty visible from within: you shine! No cream or botox can match this effect.
The poses in this series
Are composed in such a way that your inner beauty becomes visible on the outside. You start by opening and relaxing the areas where you often unconsciously hold tension, such as the hips, groin and heart area. Standing poses like the Dancer and the Boom bring you back into balance, and standing forward bends relax the back of your body. Twists provide a detox: you twist your spine like a corkscrew, so that your intestines are temporarily supplied with less blood and the blood starts flowing again with a lot of force when you twist back. This makes it easier to process and dispose of waste. Finally, the back bends create a radiant open heart, illuminating your energy from within your face.
Mountain
- Start in the Mountain with your feet firmly on the floor hip-width apart, your legs strong.
- Inhale, spread your arms up, open your chest and rib cage and take a few deep breaths.
- With each inhale, feel your rib cage expand to the sides and back, and with each exhale your navel pulls toward your spine.
- Inhale and exhale deeply five times according to the Ujjayi breath.
Runner's Lunge
- Sit on your hands and knees, fingers spread.
- Curl your toes under you and lift your buttocks so that you are standing in the Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana).
- Inhale, extend your right leg up, keep your hips parallel to the floor, exhale and place your right foot between your hands. Your right thigh is parallel to the floor, knee above your foot.
- Place your hands on the inside of your right foot. Lower your hips and extend your left leg and heel strongly back.
- Inhale and exhale deeply five times according to the Ujjayi breath.
Warrior 1
- Place both hands on either side of your foot, inhale and on an inhale, circle your arms and torso up.
- Keep your legs strong, your navel towards the spine.
- Breathe in and out five times according to the Ujjayi breath.
- On an exhale, return the hands to the mat in front of you and step back to Downward Dog.
Side Stretched Angle
- Inhale, stretch your right leg up, exhale and put your foot between your hands.
- Place your right hand on the outside of your right foot and your left hand on your left hip.
- Open your chest to the left and extend your arm diagonally upwards.
- Breathe five times according to the Ujjayi breath.
Crescent
- Slightly move your left foot forward about six inches and place your right hand in front of your right foot.
- Stand on the toes of your left foot and transfer all your weight forward onto your right leg and right hand. Your left leg will now slowly lift off the ground.
- Slowly straighten your right leg, making sure that your right knee, shin, and ankle are in line over your right foot.
- Extend your left leg out at hip height and open your left hip. Now extend your left arm towards the ceiling as well. You are now open all the way to the left.
- Breathe in and out five times according to the Ujjayi breath.
- On an exhale, slowly bend your right knee again, place the left hand on your hip and place the left foot gently on the floor. Breathe in slowly.
- On an exhale, stretch your right leg back and up and come back into Downward Dog.
Half Pigeon Pose
- Inhale, extend your right leg, keep hips parallel to the floor, and exhale.
- Bring the right knee forward, your right heel into your left groin. Extend your left leg firmly.
- Place your hands hip-width apart on the floor at the front knee.
- Inhale, look up, lift your rib cage (both the back and front) and exhale. Bend forward, keeping your elbows bent at your sides, reach forward with your sternum.
- Repeat three times and after the third inhale on an exhale, stretch your right leg back and up. Come back into Downward Dog again.
- Inhale, stand high on your toes, exhale and step or jump back until you are back in Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) with your feet between your hands.
- Inhale, look up, exhale and fold forward. Inhale and come back up into Mountain Pose with strong legs and a straight back.
boom
- Place feet firmly on the floor hip-width apart, legs strong.
- Tense your left leg muscle, pull the kneecap up.
- Place your right foot against the inside of your left leg as high as possible.
- Push your right knee out. Push with your foot against your leg and with your leg against your foot. Make sure to keep your hips straight, so lower your right hip if necessary and lift your left hip.
- Place your hands in Namaste in front of your sternum and breathe slowly.
- On an inhale, circle your arms up and place the palms together with straight arms.
- Inhale and exhale five times according to the Ujjayi breath and on an exhale let your right knee point forward again. From here you can go directly to the Dancer. If this does not work, first enter the Berg and from there bring the right knee to the chest.
Dance
- Tense your left leg muscle, pull your kneecap up.
- Grab your right foot behind your buttock with your right hand. Push your instep into your hand and lower your knee down. Feel the stretch on your right thigh muscle.
- Beginners can stay here and as you progress, push your foot more firmly into your hand and come forward with your torso as your leg moves back.
- Keeping your hips parallel to the floor, extend your left arm in front of you. The posture becomes easier if you make your standing leg strong and firmly stretch the back leg away.
- Breathe five times according to the Ujjayi breath and on an exhale lower your knee back to the floor and finish in the Mountain.
- Repeat the whole series from the beginning, this time with the left side.
Camel
- Exhale, place the knees on the mat and sit up with your buttocks on the heels.
- Inhale and circle your arms up. Keep your shoulder blades in and lift your ribcage as far as you can, away from your hips.
- Exhale, place your hands with fingertips pointing up on your buttocks, elbows pointing back.
- Inhale, lift your sternum, exhale, open your chest and bend back. Make sure your hips move forward so that your hips stay above your knees.
- Breathe in and out five times according to the Ujjayi breath. Advanced can place their hands on the ankles.
- On an exhale, place your buttocks back on your heels, extend your hands in front of you and come into the Child Pose (Balasana).
Seated Twist
- Sit on the mat with your legs straight.
- Bending the right leg, place the foot over the left leg on the mat just above the knee. Keep your left leg on the mat as you bend it and place the left foot next to the right hip, knee on the mat.
- Place both hands on the right shin.
- Inhale, straighten up and lengthen. Exhale, hold the stretch and place the right hand behind you.
- Inhale, stretch the left arm up. Exhale, place the left elbow on the outside of the right knee; thumb and forefinger touch each other, the other fingers are stretched.
- Open the chest. With each inhale, you can stretch a little more, while the sit bones remain firmly on the floor. As you exhale, try to open up further.
- Breathe in and out five times according to the Ujjayi breath. On an exhale, come out of the pose.
- Repeat the pose on the left.
- Then lie on your back, knees to chest, hands on shins. Massage the lower back by making small circular movements with the knees.