Short yoga practices to strengthen your body and move your energy
3Time and time again, research shows that moving our bodies makes us feel more healthy, vibrant, strong, and happy. Even a little movement goes a long way; but if you combine it with breath awareness, focused attention, and a positive attitude, the effects go deeper and last longer.
This summer, we have been sharing short (under 20 minutes) yoga practices to strengthen your body and move your energy. You can do these practices any time you need a pause or a boost. Please sign for HappyU newsletter (if you haven’t already) to get notifications as these practices get released. Here are some short practices for you to try. It is best to choose one that matches your starting energetic state.
Stretch out and make space inside when you feel contracted and stagnant
Do you ever feel so overwhelmed that you have to guard yourself with a stiff body and shallow breath? Try this short yoga practice to expand your body, breath, and mind! This practice uses simple movement to create space in different parts of your body and segmented inhalation to make more room in your lungs and increase your energy.
Find your inner stability when you feel depleted and uncertain
When was the last time you felt like a superhero: strong, confident, capable, and vibrant? Try this short stranding yoga practice to awaken your inner hero! This practice uses standing and balancing poses with a stable Superhero stance to get you anchored in your body and help you feel more vibrant.
Connect to your inner goddess when you feel frazzled and lack self-confidence
In this short yoga practice, we will attempt to embody three Warrior Goddesses: Durga, the fierce divine mother; Artemis, the goddess of hunt and wilderness; and Oya, the goddess of weather and change. Then, we will focus on our own strengths and connect to our inner goddess.
Olga thank you for continuing to support
So many of us in trying times
The quality of our lives can in some ways be defined by the quality of the information we receive from the world around us and within us, through our bodily senses. At its essence Yoga could be defined by the quality of the relationship we have with our own bodies, and our capacity for choice on how we receive this information.
There has been to some extent a marriage between Eastern and Western attitudes that has resulted in ‘mind over matter’ approaches being absorbed into Yoga. This risks the meditative base at the heart of Yoga practice, where the body should be as much a guide to the mind, as the mind is to the body.
Some modern philosophers question our capacity to make real choices, but this disregards the wonderful ability most possess to choose where and how we direct our attention.
The mind and the body working as a synchronicity, and the removal of the dominating ‘will of the mind’ from the equation must by definition involve a choice made through a facility that does not have its root in our intellectual consciousness.
Yoga at its heart encourages the exploration of this paradox. Poses, exercises and techniques evolve but the discipline at the core remains the choice we make on how we direct our attention.
Thank-you Olga, these are lovely practices. Your creativity is an inspiration, Thank-you