Postures

1. Standing Deep Breathing (Pranayama Series)

• This breathing exercise teaches you to use 100% capacity of your lungs
• Increase circulation to the whole body waking everything up & preparing the muscles for action

Benefits of the Half-Moon Pose :

• Gives quick energy & vitality
• Improves & strengthens every muscle in central part of the body, especially the abdomen
• Increases flexibility of the spine
• Corrects bad posture
• Promotes proper kidney function
• Helps to cure enlargement of the liver & spleen, dyspepsia, & constipation
• Increases flexibility & strength of the rectus abdominus, latissimus dorsi, oblique, deltoid, & trapezius muscles

Benefits of the Hands-To-Feet pose:

• Increases flexibility of the spine & sciatic nerves & most of the tendons & ligaments of the legs
• Strengthens biceps of thighs & calves
• Greatly improves blood circulation in the legs & to the brain
• Strengthens rectus abdominus, gluteus maximus, oblique, deltoid, & trapezius muscles

Both poses firm & trim the waistline, hips, abdomen, buttocks & thighs

• Strengthens & firms all muscles of thighs, calves & hips and makes hip joints flexible.
• Firms the upper arms
• Increases blood circulation in the knees & ankle joints
• Relieves rheumatism, arthritis, & gout in the legs.
• Helps to cure slipped disc & lumbago in lower spine

• Supplies fresh blood to the sexual organs & kidneys, increasing sexual power & control.
• Helps firm calves, thighs, hips, abdomen, & upper arms
• Improves he flexibility of the hip, knee & ankle joints
• Strengthens lattisimus dorsi, trapezius, & deltoid muscles

• Helps develop concentration, patience, & determination
• Tightens abdominal & thigh muscles
• Improves flexibility of sciatic nerves
• Strengthens the tendons, biceps of the thigh muscles & hamstrings in the legs, in addition to the deltoid, trapezius, latissiumus dorsi, scapula, biceps & triceps

• Transfers circulation from one side of the body to the other, equalising it - circulating fresh blood to each internal organ & gland
• As in standing head to knee, this posture helps develop concentration, patience & determination.
• Firms abdominal wall & upper thighs, & tightens upper arms, hips & buttocks
• Increases the size & elasticity of the rib cage & lungs
• Improves flexibility & strength of lower spine & most of the body's muscles

• Perfects control & balance by improving physical, psychological & mental powers
• Firms hips, buttocks, upper thighs as well as providing the same benefits as Standing Head To Knee
• Increases circulation, strengthen the heart muscles & stretches capacity of the lungs
• Strengthens & improves the flexibility of latissimus, deltoid & trapezius muscles
• Improves flexibility, strength & muscle tone of shoulders, upper arms, spine & hip joints

• Cures & prevents sciatica by stretching & strengthening the sciatic nerves & tendons of the legs
• Helps the functioning of most internal abdominal organs, especially the small & large intestines
• Improves muscle tone & flexibility of thighs & calves
• Improves flexibility of the pelvis, ankles, hip joints & the last five vertebrae of the spine

• Improves every muscle, joint, tendon & internal organ in the body
• Revitilizes nerves, veins, & tissues
• Helps cure lumbago & rheumatism of the lower spine by flexing & strengthening the last five vertebrae, & improves crooked spines
• Most important pose to increase the strength & flexibility of the hip joint & of the muscles of the side of the torso.
• Also firms upper thighs & hips, trims the waistline & improves the deltoid, trapezius, scapula & latissimus muscles

• Same benefits as those of the Hands to Feet Pose
• Also slims abdomen, waistline, hips, buttocks & upper thighs

• Improves posture & balance
• Increases flexibility of the ankles, knees & hip joints
• Prevents hernia by strengthening the internal oblique muscles

• Develops psychological & mental powers - especially patience
• Helps cure gout & rheumatism of the knees, ankles & feet
• Helps cure hemorrhoid problems

• Returns blood circulation to normal
• Teaches complete relaxation
• This pose is done after each pose that follows

• Cures & prevents flatulence
• Improves flexibility of the hip joints
• Firms the abdomen, thighs & hips

• Strengthen & tighten the abdomen & increase flexibility of the spine

• Increases spinal strength & flexibility
• Helps prevent lower backache
• Helps cure lumbago, rheumatism & arthritis of the spine
• Relieves menstrual problems (irregularity, cramps, backache)
• Cures loss of appetite
• Helps correct bad posture
• Improves the functioning of the liver & spleen
• Strengthens the deltoids, trapezius & triceps

• Same benefits as the Cobra pose, but more potent in the cure of any back or spinal problem such as gout, slipped disc, & sciatica.
• Cures tennis elbow & excellent for firming buttocks & hips

• Same therapeutic benefits as Cobra pose & same upper body benefits as the Standing Bow Pulling pose.
• Firms abdominal muscles, upper arms, hips & thighs

• Improves the functioning of the large & small intestines, live, kidneys & spleen
• Helps straighten rounded spines
• Relieves backaches
• Improves pigeon chest by opening rib cage, permitting maximum expansion of lungs & increased oxygen intake
• Revitalizes all spinal nerves by increasing circulation to the spine
• Improves digestion & strengthens abdominal muscles, upper arms, thighs & hips
• Improves flexibility of the scapula, latissiumus, deltoid, & trapezius muscles

• Helps cure sciatica, gout, & rheumatism in the legs
• Slims thighs, firms calf muscles & strengthens the abdomen
• Strengthens & improves flexibility of lower spine, knees & ankle joints

• Provides maximum relaxation
• Cures indigestion & stretches lower part of the lungs, increasing blood circulation to the brain
• Firms abdomen & thighs
• Increases the flexibility of hip joints, scapula, deltoids, triceps & latissimus dorsi muscles

• Stretches the abdominal organs to the maximum & cures constipation
• Also stretches the throat, thyroid gland & parathyroids
• Like Bow Pose, it opens a narrow rib cage to give more space to the lungs
• Improves flexibility of the neck & spine & relieves backache
• Firms & slims the abdomen & waistline

• Produces the opposite effect of camel, giving maximum longitudinal extension of the spine
• Because it stretches the spine, it permits the nervous system to receive proper nutrition
• Maintain the mobility & elasticity of the spine & back muscles
• Improves digestion & helps cure colds, sinus problems, & chronic tonsilitis
• Has a wonderful effect on the thyroid & parathyroid glands
• Improves the scapula & trapezius & helps children reach their full growth potential

Head To Knee Pose:

• Helps to balance blood sugar level.
• Improves flexibility of the sciatic nerves, ankles, knees & hip joints
• Improves digestion
• Enhances proper functioning of the kidneys
• Expands the solar plexus

Stretching Pose:

• Relieves chronic diarrhea by improving circulation to the bowels
• Increases circulation to the liver & spleen & improves digestion
• Increases flexibility of the trapezius, deltoid, erectus femoris, & biceps muscles, sciatic nerves, tendons, hip joints & the last five vertebrae of the spine

• Twists the spine from top to bottom at the same time, as a result increases circulation & nutrition to the spinal nerves, veins & tissues and improves spinal elasticity & flexibility of the hip joints.
• Helps cure lumbago & rheumatism of the spine
• Improves digestion, removes flatulence from intestines
• Firms the abdomen, thighs & buttocks

• This is the last breathing exercise in Bikram's Beginning Yoga series which strengthens all the abdominal organs & increases the circulation.
• Makes abdominal wall strong & trims the waistline