TODAY: INVERSIONS

We have reached the end of our yoga journey. It has been a pleasure sharing my insights and experience on the “twists and turns” of yoga postures with you. May
this online yoga class have enlightened your path to self-awareness and may your body never be “bent out of shape” if you continue practicing regularly.

Why inversions? Because finals start next week and these postures are great for stimulating your brain cells to work properly during your differential equation
problems, and will most definitely serve you while crossing that last multiple-choice question on the test.

Inversion by reversing the body’s orientation allows for fresh blood to flow the opposite way. And when healthy blood is allowed to circulate to the head and neck, the practitioner has the overall feeling of vigor and vitality, especially after a long illness.

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Federica Valabrega demostrates Plow Pose or Halasana, a transition to Shoulder Stands.

Feelings of palpitations or shortness of breath as a result of stress and anxiety are also cleared by inversions because the heart and lungs become filled with oxygenated blood that allows for their most proper function.

“He will feel happy and confident … New life will flow into him, his mind will be at peace and he will feel the joy of life,” said B.K.S. Iyengar, the master yoga teacher who created the Iyengar yoga style.

HINT: This posture is not suggested for people who suffer from high blood pressure or women who are on their menstrual cycle.

Plow Pose or Halasana: transitions to shoulder stands

* Sit supine on the mat, then inhale and kick your legs over your head until your toes reach the very top of the mat, making sure your legs are fully extended.
* Exhale and reach your spine straight perpendicular to the mat so that your hips are in line on top of your shoulders, now interlace your hands behind your back.
* Inhale, keep the chin in and touching your chest, but make sure to avoid rotating the head since that could strain the neck muscles.
* Stay in the posture for five breath cycles.

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Valabrega demostrates a variaton of Shoulder Stands or Sarvangasana.

Variation of shoulder stands or Sarvangasana:

* From Plow, inhale and readjust the grip of your hands, then walk your shoulders inward as much as possible as if you were preparing to take a flip turn.
* Exhale and gently release one leg at a time to the ceiling. Do so slowly, keeping your abdominal walls engaged and the gaze focused on the tip of your feet, you want to keep the in sight.
* Inhale and reach your feet higher as if someone was pulling you from the ankle suggesting you to elongate your spine even more.
* Keep chin to chest and to avoid straining the neck muscles, do not turn your head right and left.
* Stay in the posture for 10 breath cycles. If you feel dizzy release the posture sooner.

Benefits:

This posture is the “Mother of Asanas” as Master B.K.S. Iyengar said, because “as a mother strives for happiness in her home, so this asana strives for harmony and happiness in the human body” by contributing to the proper function of the Thyroid and Parathyroid glands by providing them with fresh blood flow.

The Thyroid, being the biggest and most important endocrine gland, controls the body metabolism that affects the growth and function of many other organisms in the body. The Parathyroid is a much smaller gland and it is important to maintain calcium production, useful for the proper function of the nervous and the muscular systems.

But it is not only by altering internal mechanisms that this posture is beneficial to the practitioner: It also brings great strength to the abdominal walls and to the shoulders that are in charge of holding the body upside-down.

Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana: transition to headstand

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Valabrega demostrates Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, a transition to Headstand.

* Exhale and reach your hands to the top of the mat making sure they are shoulder-width apart and the palms are flat on the mat.
* Inhale and spread your fingers evenly, but the weight distribution is mostly to the index finger and the thumb.
* Inhale and release your feet to the back of the mat pressing your heels down and keeping your quadriceps engaged so that the legs are straight.
* Exhale and reach your hips high as if you were in an inverted “V” position.
* Inhale and adjust your shoulders by drawing the scapula down your spine, releasing your head between your arms keeping the back flat and let the “eyes of the elbow” (the internal part of the elbows) face inward.
* Stay in the posture for five breath cycles.

Supported Head stands or Salamba Sirsasana:

* From Downward Facing Dog, come down on your elbows, and then interlace your hands at the top of the mat so that there is a 45-degree angle between them and the elbows. Then let the top of your head rest there.
* Exhale and while keeping your hips high, walk your feet forward, one at a time, until you feel that you cannot walk anymore.
* Inhale and while engaging your abdominal walls, start releasing one leg at a time to the sky and point your feet.
* Once both legs are up and your inversion is in place, then try readjusting the posture by pushing on your elbows as if someone were pulling you from the feet. That way you will release the strain from the neck and shoulders, and ultimately you will have a better and more productive result.
* Stay in the posture for at least 10 breath cycles. If you feel dizzy, release the posture sooner.
* Hint: if you feel like you are going to fall backward, just relax and think of engaging your abdominal muscles even more. In case you do fall, then maybe you should consider just taking it easy and laugh – the fall is definitely part of the posture.

Benefits:

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Valabrega demostrates Headstand or Salamba Sirsasana.

As Master Yogi B.K.S. Iyengar says in his book “Light on Yoga” this pose is the “King of all Postures,” because the pose is entirely dedicated to refresh and restore the blood flow to the brain, which is the “seat of our intelligence, knowledge, discrimination, wisdom and power.”

“A country cannot prosper without a proper king or constitutional head to guide it: so also the human body cannot prosper without a healthy brain,” said Iyengar.

In particular, having the body inverted and only resting on the head rejuvenates the brain cells and the pituitary and pineal glands in the brain by bringing fresh blood to them. This enhances the thinking process. This way, sleeping patterns can be restored since the health and growth of the pineal gland, produce of the hormone melatonin that helps regulate waking and sleeping patterns. Also, fresh blood contributes to the pituitary gland’s vitality, allowing for the whole body’s homeostasis (equilibrium of the body’s internal environment, such as mechanisms for cell-to-cell communication) to be maintained.

But it is not only by altering internal mechanisms that this posture is beneficial to the practitioner; it also brings great strength to the abdominal walls and to the shoulders that are in charge of holding the body upside-down.

Standing Straddle Pose or Prasarita Paodottanasana: transition to tripod stand

* Exhale and take a wide stance along the length of your mat.
* Inhale and interlace your hands behind your back, and puff your chest out.
* Exhale and forward fold keeping a flat back all the way down, trying to reach your head to the mat.
* Inhale and readjust the posture, dividing your weight equally between both legs and making sure your hamstrings are not overextended. If so, consider creating a micro bend in them or narrow the stance.
* Exhale, and keep reaching the head to the mat and the interlaced hands to the back of the head.
* Stay in the posture for five breath cycles.

Tripod Stand or variation of Prasarita Paodottanasana

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Valabrega demostrates Standing Straddle Pose or Prasarita Paodottanansana, a transition to Tripod Stand.

* Exhale and place your head gently on the mat. Release your hands 8 to 10 inches past your head, making sure the hands are shoulder-width apart and the elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
* Inhale and place the right knee on your right triceps followed by the left knee on the left triceps.
* Exhale and try extending one leg at a time upward and then gently take a split by releasing your legs in opposite directions as if you were to take a split in the air.
* Inhale and readjust your posture by engaging your abdominal walls, checking that your elbows are still in a 90-degree angle and they are pushing inward toward your head.
* Stay in the posture for at least 10 breath cycles. If you feel dizzy, release the posture sooner.
* Hint: If you feel like you are going to fall backward, just relax and think of engaging your abdominal muscles even more. In case you do fall, then maybe you should consider just taking it easy and laugh – the fall is definitely part of the posture.

Observer photo by MARYAM RIAZIAN
Valabrega demostrates Tripod Stand or a variation of Prasarita Paodottanasanan.

Benefits:

In addition to bringing fresh blood to the brain cells, pituitary and pineal glands and therefore enhancing brain functions, homeostasis mechanisms and sleep cycles, this posture also brings great strength to your wrists, triceps, shoulders and abdominal walls (they in fact do all the work by keeping you from swinging down), as the head stand does.
The open leg variation is great for stretching your groin and the hamstrings.