The most common exercises and general mistakes in doing them

Basic group of asanas #

 

Bhujangasana—cobra pose #

भुजङ्गासन [bhujaṅgāsana]
भुजङ्ग [bhujaṅga] cobra
आसन [āsana] pose

Starting position. Lie on the ground face down, your head rest-ing on your forehead or the chin, legs together, toes stretched out. The palms of your hands should be put on the ground slightly before your head, fingers extended, distance between hands about 20 cm. All the body, especially your shoulder blades relaxed as much as possible.

 

 

NOTE that having problems with the heart chakra the prac-titioner will unconsciously bring his hands together or even joint his fingers, reducing chakra’s energy effect, so this should be watched.

 

Technique. At the exhalation do a slow backward arching with the spine, lifting vertebras one by one starting from your neck down to the lower back. Stay in the final position, breathing rhythmically. Going down is done at the exhalation, i.e. ending the position, we bring down, like a snake, by turns vertebra of the lower back, then of the thorax and of the neck, finally lying down the head. 

 

 

Particularities of performing. The feeling of a strained anterior-middle channel should move from the head down. Staying in the main part of asana, you should keep this strain long all the meridian. «Let-ting down» the tension at any part completely reduces to zero all the effect from the asana. Most often we take off the tension in the neck zone (the practitioner stops throwing back his head). In this case energy doesn’t go up in the head and «sticks» in the shoulders, stimulating the development of osteochondrosis.

Here is the energy mechanism of this asana. Consequently en-tering asana we stretch our anterior-middle meridian¹, opening it. To open an anterior-middle meridian you have to stretch it so that the energy could flow in it, but it has to be stretched completely (at the full length), gradually and successively. The energy is gathered in the lower part of the body and after staying in the pose (when beginners start practicing yoga and still have «dirty» channels, the effect can come even after asana) it goes up the spine channel, which is accompanied by the warm or even hot feeling moving up, to the head. Such an effect from Bhujangasana is mentioned in «Gheranda Samhita».

«Fire of digestion in the body will rise intensively, all diseases will be cured and the snake-like Goodness (Kundalini) will wake up and rise thanks to practicing Bhujangasana» (2.43).

After asana the face and the ears can become red. The rising heat determines for how long you must stay in the posture.

Every asana must be done till the needed energy effect from it is achieved. Staying in it longer is needless².

 

Mistakes in doing Bhujangasana

 

 

Exiting the pose, we close meridians, at the same time «smoothing» and returning the non-lifted by the anterior channel energy back by the posterior meridian. The understanding of energy mechanism explains the importance of entering and exiting the pose correctly. The channel opens when it is stretched at all its length. The block just in one place completely changes the energy picture of asana: the energy so to say sticks in the blocked zone, which can lead to unpleasant feelings and even provoke diseases. The most common mistake in entering this pose is not to lift the heart zone and after lifting the neck continue arching the lower back. As a result the energy doesn’t go through the anterior channel and doesn’t go up the posterior channel. The heart vertebra doesn’t activate and the lower back vertebra gets traumatised because of the too zealous performance.

After this asana you should lie down for 1-3 minutes, practicing rhythmical breathing. As it was already said, the heat can go up even after doing the pose. Energy passes at a certain speed. The «cleaner» your channels are, the faster energy passes. When the beginner starts practicing yoga, his channels are quite «dirty», so that it takes up to 3 minutes for the energy to pass, but later this process can take some seconds.

The inner criterion of doing Bhujangasana right is the heat you feel, when the energy passes. After some practices there will be less heat, which means the asana can be intensified, for example, by putting your legs apart.

Initially you can feel other things than heat: pricking (like when your limb grew numb), chill, vibration, shivers etc. These sensations can appear when you start doing yoga and clean your channels (espe-cially pricking, localized around the problem zone). 

 

Making Bhujangasana with the assistant

It is important to do Bhujangasana only by longitudinal muscles of the back. Arms don’t participate in this asana, to check for this try to lift your hands while being in the pose. In this asana only the foresaid muscles of our back are working, not those of legs, jaws, eyes, fore-head, which can strain by reflex. Such correlations we call «pathogenic arches». In most cases these are stereotypes of movement, formed mis-takenly and making people waste some energy for nothing. To break down pathogenic arches — to master every group of muscles — is one of hatha’s goals.

Understanding how important it is to do asanas correctly, and that initially we tend not to notice our problem zones, it makes sense to start learning Bhujangasana and other basic postures with the help of another person, who’d control, if you enter and exit the pose correctly.

Every zone must be evenly activated. Your assistant can hold tight your spine with his hands, preventing the lower back from arching before the thoracic spine. He mustn’t press, just set it. His fingers must stay on the muscles long the spine, not on your backbone. When a person lies relaxed it is easy to feel. Longitudinal muscles are relaxed when there is no tension and no contractions in them. If the practitioner goes up by these muscles (Bhujangasana isn’t a push-up, it doesn’t involve hands at all), all muscles long the spine are straining evenly bottom-up. Your assistant can feel, when the tension comes to his fingers, stop you in this position and move his fingers 2–3 dossals down. Then you con-tinue arching and gradually come to the fourth vertebra. This way you breathe normally and should be controlled not to relieve strains in your neck — the energy will stop moving to the head and osteochondrosis can be provoked.

Notes

1.  Speaking about meridians we use Chinese terms, although those meridians by which energy flows, in yoga aren’t completely the same as in Acupuncture, because the are located not on the surface, but deep in muscles. Nevertheless having no other elaborated terminology we’ll use the closest one.↑

2.This rule is true for beginners.↑

 

Paschimottanasana—straining spine pose #

पश्चिमोत्तानासन [paścimottānāsana]
पश्चिम [paścima] spine
उत्तान [uttāna] straining 
आसन [āsana] pose

Paschimottanasana is a counter pose after Bhujangasana.

Starting position. Lie down on your back, feet together, hands long your body.

Technique. Inhaling to the full, stretch your hands above your head, stretch you body from fingers to toes. Ex-haling, sit down, making 90º with your body, hands above the head, parallel to your upper body. Then as if someone is pulling you by the hands, bend ahead to your legs, starting from lower vertebra up the spine. Stay in this position, breathing rhythmically.

 

To exit this pose, do everything in the reverse order: from your head zigzag-ging, first stretch out your chin, arch with your chest, raise your torso and then lie down on the back. It is important to enter the pose this way, because we open our posterior-middle meridian bottom-up from toes to top, which means we must close it the same way — top-down. So we must exit the pose this way, «snake-like», as if entering Bhujangasana. Exiting asana this way, we not only close our channel, but also stabilise the energy. For example, you have brought some energy to the head — it will partly go down the anterior-middle channel, the rest won’t make it. Not to have a heavy feeling in your head after doing this asana, we drive the rest of energy down the posterior-middle channel, exiting the pose «like a snake».

Particularities of performing. The feeling of tension in posterior-middle channel should move bottom-up. Staying in the static part of asana, you should keep the tension long all the meridian: from top to toes. Breaking in this tension closes the channel and brings to zero all the effect from asana. In addition to making energy move, this pose can also activate etheric tockays in the external field, i.e. in the outer part of our etheric body, surpassing our physical body, around us. The first clue to work with this energy is to move your hands right. In asanas the etheric energy follows the hands. So hands must always be straight and strained.

 

Mistakes in doing Paschimottanasana

 

Doing asana with an assistant

 

Vakrasana—curved pose #

वक्रासन [vakrāsana]
वक्र [vakra] curved 
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

Vakrasana is one of the local-stretching squeezing poses.

Starting position. Sit on the floor.

Technique. Put one foot to the opposite buttock (as if entering the lotus). The other leg bend in the knee and put over the opposite hip, the foot parallel to this hip. The back is straight and perpendicular to the ground. The shoulders are at one level, both buttocks — on the ground. Slowly pull the knee to our chest to feel the strain in the buttock. Pain in the buttock is explained by a non-realised sexual energy, which we assign to our body.

 

   

Particularities of performing. You shouldn’t crook to the knee or pivot to reach it. The posture must be absolutely straight.

 

 

 

Ardhamatsyendrasana—pivoted spine pose #

अर्धमत्सयेन्द्रासन [ardhamatsyendrāsana]

 

 

Starting position. Vakrasana.

Technique. Pivot your spine in the direction of your upper knee, to rest on it. Your back must stay absolutely straight, shoulders at the same level. Don’t lift your buttocks off the floor. Pivoting must be even — from coccyx to upper cervical vertebra.

Particularities of performing. You should achieve a feeling of even tension-pivoting of longitudinal muscles of your back: from the head to the coccyx. In this asana the spine must be perfectly straight and perpendicular to the ground.

 

 

Ardhamatsyendrasana is a very effi-cient pose in treating osteochondrosis and scoliosis, but on conditions that it is done correctly, i.e. with the straight back. If these conditions are not fulfilled, the performance of asana can worsen these diseases.

 

Mistakes in doing Ardhamatsyendrasana

 

 

This is a completely balanced complex for beginners. To do it thoroughly and with no hurry, it takes about 15 minutes. You should never hurry to do exercise and learn to take pleasure from every asana. This complex cleans main meridians and drives energy by the main round, which can be correlated with the microcosmic orbit in Chinese tradition. If you practice at your own, you can do this complex during one month. After that you’ll become used to these exercises, and the effect from asanas will diminish. In this case (and only in this case!) you can (and should) widen this complex and add some more complicated asanas.

When people start practicing yoga, they can get agitated (especially, if they feel an effect from asanas): they want to practice more, to do more asanas etc. It is the wrong way. Firstly passionate desires burn out quickly, secondly the amount of energy you can accumulate during one yoga session is limited by the capacity of your chakras. In a one-litre jar you can put only one litre of water. With time and practice this volume will increase together with the energy potential of the practitioner. At this point you can spend 40–50 minutes doing yoga, including hygiene, warming-up and rhythmical breathing before going to sleep — it will be enough. The hurry is a state where our energy runs before us, to the future, that’s why we can’t reach it. We should work with ourselves gradually without violence.

 

Second group of asanas #

Mastering this group of asanas should be done after having mastered asanas of the first group, as well as when the physiological effect from them diminishes (there is no more physiological sensation of heat). In the yoga complex these asanas should be done after the postures of the previous group, because they provide the more intensive «untwisting» of energy as for its density and the length of trajectory (activating channels in arms and legs).

 

Ushtrasana—camel pose #

उष्ट्रासन [uṣṭrāsana]
उष्ट्र [uṣṭra] camel 
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

As for its action and technique, this asana is similar to Bhujangasana, but it is «more powerful», because it uses gravity and activates the hips.

Starting position. Take an onknee position «Japanese-like», feet on toes, hips open at 15 degrees (in yoga this position is called «vadjrasana»).

Technique. Inhaling, arch in the spine, starting from upper vertebra, like in Bhujangasana, gradually stretching out anterior-middle meridian. At last stick ahead your pelvis, grab your heels by your hands and rely on them. Exit exhaling in reverse order, straightening yourself bottom-up, vertebra per vertebra.

 

 

Particularities of performing. In the static position of asana pelvis and knees should be in one line. Avoid «sharp turns» in the spine. The tension must be evenly distributed from the knees to the chin. Those who have blocks in the anterior part of their hips (which indicates that their Svadhishthana is clogged) find it more difficult to do this asana, but this practice can help them to release the block and to liberate the non-realised sexual energy, which tends to accumulate in the anterior part of the hips. For men this asana can help with the problems of pre-mature ejaculation.

 

Padahastasana—feet to hands pose #

पादहस्तासन [pādahastāsana]
पाद [pāda] feet
हस्त [hasta] hand
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

This asana is similar to Paschi-mottanasana, only done in standing position.

In Padahastasana the energy goes not only due to the bending, but also due to the gravity, influencing the blood, intensifying the humoral effect. So Padahastasana is to some extent an inverted pose.

Starting position. Stand straight, legs and feet together.

Technique. Inhaling raise your straight hands, exhaling bend your body ahead and down, vertebra per vertebra starting from the lowest ones. Put your hands on the ground near the feet or on your calves and pull your body to your legs, stretching your spine. Try not to bend your knees. Exit asana with an exhalation, «like the snake» — starting from your neck bones. While exiting the pose, hands glide freely long the body, as if «smoothing» your etheric body.

 

 

Particularities of performing. The posterior-middle meridian must be evenly stretched and felt long all your back — from the heels to the head. Control your spine to be bent evenly.

 

Trikonasana—triangle pose #

त्रिकोणासन [trikoṇāsana]
त्रि [tri] three
कोण [koṇa] angle
आसन [āsana] pose

Simplified version #

 

Starting position. Stand still and straight, feet parallel, one and a half shoulder width apart.

Technique. Inhaling, raise your hands by your sides to the level of your chest. Exhaling, simultaneously pivot your body bottom-up and bend ahead with your hip joints. Your back must remain straight, pivoting vertebra after vertebra. Don’t crook your spine, neither change your pelvis position (throw it aside), otherwise asana will cause only harm. Men should start pivoting to the left side; women — to the right side. Face and look are directed up, to the risen hand. Breathe rhythmically. Exhale and inhaling start untwisting from your head and raise your body. Put your hands down. Repeat for the other side.

 

 

Particularities of performing. Pivot the straight back and don’t shift your pelvis. The spine should be twisted evenly. When you do this asana, your legs and pelvis don’t displace; pivoting and bending the body should be done simultaneously, keeping your back straight. Too much energy is equally harmful as lacking it. When you do an asana, a part of energy is consumed by your organs and partly it is felt as the warmth or the heat moving in your body. Trikonasana acts like an enema: energy squeezed from your pelvis due to pivoting, goes up the anterior-middle meridian, which is opening thanks to gradual pivoting. Seeing the mechanism of the asana, you can understand criteria of doing it right: pivoting should be done bottom-up, so that the squeezed energy could rise.

The inner criterion of doing asana right is the feeling of the heat, rising spirally up to your head.

 

Mistakes at doing Trikonasana

 

 

 

 

Final group of asanas for beginners #

 

Dhanurasana—bow pose #

धनुरासन [dhanurāsana]
धनुस् [dhanus] bow 
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

Starting position. Lie on your belly, bend your knees and grab your ankles.

 

 

Technique. Inhaling, arch back, raising your upper body and your legs. The angle of ascent of the legs and the upper body should be the same. Relax all the not involved muscles. Exhaling, let go your ankles, gradually straightening your body — from the lower back up and down.

Particularities of performing. Watch the even tension in your anterior-middle meridian. If the rhythm of your breathing breaks, decrease the angle at which you raise your body. By the breathing your body can rock, but don’t do it expressly. The angle of ascent of your legs and the upper body should be almost the same.

Inner criterion — feeling energy (heat) flow to the point of contact with the floor.

 

 

 

Halasana—plough pose or love pose #

हलासन [halāsana]
हल [hala] plough 
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

It is an inverted pose.

Starting position. Lie on your back, hands parallel to the body.

Technique. Exhaling slightly rely on your hands and raise your straight legs up to put them beyond your head, touching the floor with your toes. Close your ears with your hands. Staying in this pose, breathing rhythmically. Exit the asana with an inhalation, smoothly in the reverse order.

Particularities of performing. Your spine should be bended, stretched long all the backbone. Try to keep your legs straight.

 

 

NOTE. After inverted poses (Halasana can be considered a half-inverted pose) always do matsyasana staying in it for at least a half of time yourve spent in the inverted pose. Matsyasana lowers intracranial pressure and raises the corporal pressure.

This doesn’t concern advanced yogins who construct their complex according to a more complicated principle.

 

Matsyasana—fish pose #

मत्स्यासन [matsyāsana]
मत्स्य [matsya] fish
आसन [āsana] pose

 

 

Starting position. Sit in the lotus, half-lotus or sukhasana (with your legs crossed).

Technique. Throw yourself back and put the top of your head on the floor. The head should be thrown back to stretch your anterior-middle meridian. Especially it’s important to stretch the anterior zone or your neck. Let your shoulders go back at the maximum. Breathe rhythmically. Exit in the reverse order. Asana is done for 1-2 minutes, but not less than a half of time spent in the inverted pose.

Particularities of performing. When you stay in this pose, it’s especially important to relax your muscles of the back of your neck. Only in this case asana makes the venous blood flow out of your head. The additional influence of this asana has to do with the blood flowing to your thyroid, liberating hormones from it, «sitting» there in their follicles. As a result during a correct performance there is an increasing trembling all over your body and a heat.

 

 

Sarvangasana—pose for all parts of the body #

सर्वाङ्गासन [sarvāṅgāsana]
सर्व [sarva] all
अङ्ग [aṅga] part of the body
आसन [āsana] pose

 

This is an inverted pose.

Sarvangasana is not difficult and can be done by anyone, who has no problems with his spine — especially with the neck.

Technique. It is performed by first lying on the back with hands under the midback, then lifting the legs and lower body so that the weight of the body is supported on the head, neck, upper back and upper arms. Breath is rhythmical. Entering and exiting the pose must be slow. If you have problems with your spine, or, if your neck is weak, it can be done not vertically, but at 45-60 degrees to the ground, holding the body with your hands.

How it acts. This position of the body stimulated the blood flow in the vertebral artery to the back of the head, stimulating all centres in visceral regulation brain streams, improves functioning of all viscera and all the body’s performance, that is why it is called «posture of the complete body». It is a good preventive measure from varix, helps, if there are disorders in cerebral blood flow, but first of all this posture favours functioning of the left ventricle of the cardiac muscle. This asana efficiently replaces aerobic exercises, strengthening your heart.