Yogic Postures: Inverted Poses
Viparita Karni or Pelvic Pose:
How to: Start this posture by lying supine on the seat. The first stage for reaching the final pose is the same as in Sarvangasana.
In the second stage, instead of throwing the legs upwards as in Sarvangasana, tilt the raised legs slightly towards the head, & try to raise the pelvis & the lower part of the trunk from the ground by putting the pressure on the extended arms by bending the forearms at the elbows.
Now bring the tilted legs back to their former position. In this assumed position the head, the neck & the upper part of the trunk remain in contact with the ground.
Duration: initially, hold this position for 30 – 60 seconds & gradually increase the time of retention to 3 – 6 minutes.
Benefits: This pose is particularly, useful to women. It corrects the maladjustments of the uterus. It will relieve the local congestion of the pelvic viscera & dilate the blood vessels stimulating the ovaries & thus will regulate menstruation & will cause pain at the periods to disappear.
In men, the pose causes an increase of seminal secretions & prevents night dreams. It will delay the involution process of old age by absorption of the seminal secretions into the system & so preventing the sexual urge.
How to: Start this posture by lying supine on the seat. The first stage for reaching the final pose is the same as in Sarvangasana.
In the second stage, instead of throwing the legs upwards as in Sarvangasana, tilt the raised legs slightly towards the head, & try to raise the pelvis & the lower part of the trunk from the ground by putting the pressure on the extended arms by bending the forearms at the elbows.
Now bring the tilted legs back to their former position. In this assumed position the head, the neck & the upper part of the trunk remain in contact with the ground.
Duration: initially, hold this position for 30 – 60 seconds & gradually increase the time of retention to 3 – 6 minutes.
Benefits: This pose is particularly, useful to women. It corrects the maladjustments of the uterus. It will relieve the local congestion of the pelvic viscera & dilate the blood vessels stimulating the ovaries & thus will regulate menstruation & will cause pain at the periods to disappear.
In men, the pose causes an increase of seminal secretions & prevents night dreams. It will delay the involution process of old age by absorption of the seminal secretions into the system & so preventing the sexual urge.
Sarvangasana or Shoulder-stand Pose:
How to: Do this pose in three stages
Duration: Keep the full pose for about 50-60 seconds first. After practice increase retention time to 3 – 5 minutes or more.
Benefits: This asana is invaluable for the cure of varicose veins of the legs & trunk, for regulating defective basal metabolism, for preventing wet dreams.
It helps to maintain proper functioning of abdominal viscera, reduce abdominal fat as well, toning up the muscles of the heart at the same time.
This asana is also known as pan-physical or all body pose. In this pose the head, the neck & the shoulders are made to remain flat on the ground with the support of the elbows & hands, the legs & the trunk are lifted up to a vertical position so as to form a perfect right angle with the neck. The chin touching chest, forming the chin lock, shows this.
This is a cleansing and at the same time, a reviving pose. Due to the vertical position of the legs & the trunk, the venous blood drains away by the force of gravity to the right side of the heart & thence to the lungs for purification. This relieves the venous congestion of the legs & more particularly of the abdominal viscera where it is responsible for the majority of ailments of the intestines & the liver.
In this pose, the chest being the most dependent part of the body, blood vessels of the organs located in it – the lungs & the heart dilates.
This brings a greater supply of blood for oxygenation to the lungs & more nourishment to the heart so increasing its vigor.
To maintain the rapid renewal of the blood in the dilated blood vessels there is reflex acceleration of the heart caused by draining of the venous blood by gravity into it.
The rapidity of the hearts action, without a corresponding loss of tone, sends a plentiful supply of oxygenated blood through the body tissues, more particularly to the abdominal viscera & the thyroid gland, then to the legs.
The effect of all is an increased secretory activity of the abdominal glands & movements of the abdominal viscera, which promotes proper nutrition of the tissues.
With increasing thyroid secretion, which is absorbs into the blood stream & its circulation excites the secretion of other ductless glands in the body as well as helping to maintain proper metabolic activity.
How to: Do this pose in three stages
- Lie supine on a seat with the legs lose to each other & the hands resting on the sides with the palms downwards. Fold the legs over the abdomen & stretch them vertically to form aright angle with the trunk. Another way of achieving this angle is to raise the fully stretched legs gradually upwards, until they form an angle of about 90 degrees with the ground.
- Now make an effort to raise the trunk from the ground along with the legs & throw the legs up with a swinging movement putting the whole weight of the body on the arms by pressing them firmly on the ground. Support the raised trunk with the hands placed on its sides, keeping the elbows firmly fixed to the ground. Now try to raise the trunk further & further upwards, supporting it all the time by slowly sliding the hands lower & lower on the trunk until it forms a right angle with the neck.
- When you are able to keep steady yourself in the stage b for about 20-30 seconds the chin-lock should be effected by pressing the trunk forwards towards the chin until the latter is well fixed in the jugular notch. Try the fully stretched legs in a line with the trunk by tilting them slightly backwards.
Duration: Keep the full pose for about 50-60 seconds first. After practice increase retention time to 3 – 5 minutes or more.
Benefits: This asana is invaluable for the cure of varicose veins of the legs & trunk, for regulating defective basal metabolism, for preventing wet dreams.
It helps to maintain proper functioning of abdominal viscera, reduce abdominal fat as well, toning up the muscles of the heart at the same time.
This asana is also known as pan-physical or all body pose. In this pose the head, the neck & the shoulders are made to remain flat on the ground with the support of the elbows & hands, the legs & the trunk are lifted up to a vertical position so as to form a perfect right angle with the neck. The chin touching chest, forming the chin lock, shows this.
This is a cleansing and at the same time, a reviving pose. Due to the vertical position of the legs & the trunk, the venous blood drains away by the force of gravity to the right side of the heart & thence to the lungs for purification. This relieves the venous congestion of the legs & more particularly of the abdominal viscera where it is responsible for the majority of ailments of the intestines & the liver.
In this pose, the chest being the most dependent part of the body, blood vessels of the organs located in it – the lungs & the heart dilates.
This brings a greater supply of blood for oxygenation to the lungs & more nourishment to the heart so increasing its vigor.
To maintain the rapid renewal of the blood in the dilated blood vessels there is reflex acceleration of the heart caused by draining of the venous blood by gravity into it.
The rapidity of the hearts action, without a corresponding loss of tone, sends a plentiful supply of oxygenated blood through the body tissues, more particularly to the abdominal viscera & the thyroid gland, then to the legs.
The effect of all is an increased secretory activity of the abdominal glands & movements of the abdominal viscera, which promotes proper nutrition of the tissues.
With increasing thyroid secretion, which is absorbs into the blood stream & its circulation excites the secretion of other ductless glands in the body as well as helping to maintain proper metabolic activity.
Also See:
Yoga For Better Living
Yoga Poses:
Standing Poses Sitting Poses Lying Prone or Supine Poses
Yoga For Better Living
Yoga Poses:
Standing Poses Sitting Poses Lying Prone or Supine Poses