Your pose for today is: Tree Pose! Tree Pose is a balancing pose that helps your mind focus and find clarity (instead of being trapped in an unending cycle of negative thoughts). Yogi’s often say that balancing poses such as “Tree Pose,” will help you “ground or center” your energy.
Twists encourage the digestive system to work properly – which often helps the stomach to properly function, especially, when you feel like knives are piercing your tummy during a panic attack or through an unwavering depression – adds moisture to your spine, helps your posture, and elminates toxins in the spine.
Today, I will be talking about Forward Folds, more specifically Uttanasana. Uttanasana can be practiced dynamically in half or full Sun Salutations to calm nerves, or can be held for full relaxation. Whether you have anxiety, panic attacks, or depression determines if you should hold Forward Fold, or practice them actively with Sun Salutations. When you are in this pose, your state of mind matters because a Forward Fold is literally you folding into your self, which can lead to confrontation of certain issues. If you are going through major issues, but just not quite ready to face them, I suggested you wait on this pose. However, if you are panicky, Forward Folds are very soothing and calming.
Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2) is an externally rotated standing position in yoga. Standing positions increase strength and focus. When the mind is cluttered with overpowering thoughts of depression or anxiety, focusing can be extremely hard. Rather than being still in a pose when our mind is disturbed, the pose dynamically connects our breath with movement. This connection will help increase focus and clear our minds.
Bridge Pose, or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, is considered a back bend, or a “heart opener.” Heart openers offer space for the breath in the ribs, chest, throat, and neck, and this added space calms anxieties. Because backbends are opening up the heart cavity, sometimes there will be an emotional release (AKA tears). Tears in this pose are normal and are a healthy part of self healing <333