Your Perfect Morning and Nighttime Yoga Routines

Your Perfect Morning and Nighttime Yoga Routines

Here are two mini workouts that do double-duty. Not only can they each be done in about 10 minutes, these workouts will either help you get moving in the morning (or anytime you need a little pick-me-up) or help you wind down from a stressful day. Bookend your day with these practices and your body and mind will thank you!

Your Guide to AM vs. PM Yoga

If you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, an energizing combination of yoga and Pilates may be just the thing to jumpstart your internal alarm clock. This workout will get you going even before you get out of bed. Or, if a harder surface is desired, use the space at the side of your bed—you don’t even have to change out of your pajamas! These five moves will lengthen you, stretch you and help “align” your day.

At the end of the day, it can be difficult to transition out of work mode. These five yoga-based exercises (plus a relaxation pose) will help reduce tension and improve flexibility. Try it first thing after work or right before you go to bed, whichever works best for you. The workout begins with a few strengthening poses and ends with several stretches and a relaxation pose for stress relief. Focus on your breath and create a relaxed and serene environment—light some candles and turn on some soothing music. This workout is guaranteed to make you will feel stronger, more relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep.

MORNING

Single-leg Stretch (Works the abdominals)

Lie on your back with your knees bent to the chest and toes pointed. Engage the abdominal muscles to lift your head and shoulders off the bed or floor. Relax the front of your neck as you hold yourself up with the strength of your abs and mid-back; look at your knees. Inhale and draw your left knee toward the chest as you extend your right leg about 45 degrees above the bed or floor. Switch and do eight to 10 repetitions on each side.

Works the abdominals, massages the spine

Rolling like a Ball ()

Sit on the bed or floor with your knees bent and your spine rounded into a C curve. Lightly place your hands on the knees. Inhale and rock back until the bottom of your shoulder blades touch the bed or floor, and then exhale and pull the navel to the spine and come back up to a balance. Repeat eight to 10 times.

Windshield Wiper(Torso twist, spine rotation)

Lie on your back with your knees bent at a 90- degree angle and your arms extended out to your sides. Keep your shoulders relaxed and on the bed or floor as you inhale. As you exhale, drop both knees to one side. Inhale again and slowly lift your legs and switch to other side.

Single-leg Circles (Works the hips, inner and outer thighs, hamstrings and abdominals)

Lie with your right leg extended to the sky (bend the, knees 90 degrees if your hamstrings are tight) and your left leg flat on bed. Engage your abs and point your right foot and rotate the leg; inhale and trace a small circle on the ceiling with your toe, moving the entire leg from the hip socket. Think of your leg like a spatula scraping the sides of the bowl (the hip socket). Do eight to 10 circles and repeat on other side.

Half Roll Back(Works the abdominals, stretches the back)

Sit tall with knees bent, hands placed lightly behind the thighs and feet on the bed or the floor. Inhale and contract your abdominals and roll halfway back—your spine should be rounded into a C curve. Hold this position and take three breaths. Then roll back up to a seated position, lengthening the spine. Repeat three to five times.

EVENING

Warrior One (Opens the hip flexors, stretches the lats, and strengthens the quads, glutes and torso)

Step your feet wide apart and lunge forward with your front leg. Point your front toes straight ahead, turn your back toes in slightly. Keep the knee over the toes and your back leg straight; your back foot should stay flat on the ground. Extend your arms high overhead, lifting through the chest and heart. Try to stay as low as possible in your lunge and take four to six deep breaths. Repeat on the other side.

(Strengthens and stretches the obliques and shoulders)

Side Plank

Sit on the floor with your legs to the right side. Place your left hand on the floor, directly below the shoulder. Stack the feet or keep the bottom knee on the floor as you lift your body off the floor. Engage the abdominals and keep the core tight as you extend the right arm up toward the ceiling. Keep the body in one plane and hold for several seconds and lower back down. Repeat on the other side.

Forward Bend with Chest Expansion(Stretches the hamstrings, deltoids and pectorals)

Interlace your hands behind your back (use a towel if hands don’t reach) and bend at the hips into a forward bend. Drop your forehead to your knees. Keep a slight bend in the knees if your hamstrings are tight. Stretch the arms up toward the ceiling, feeling a stretch throughout the chest, and hold for about 20 seconds.

(Strengthens and stretches the abdominals and spine)

Cat/Cow Stretch

Begin on all fours, with your knees under the hips and wrists under the shoulders. First, round your back up toward the ceiling; drop your head and look for your belly button (cat). Next, look up and arch your back as you extend through the whole spine, including your neck (cow). Repeat eight to 10 times, inhaling as you move into dog stretch and exhaling as you move into cat stretch.

Pigeon Pose to Sleeping Pigeon(Stretches the hip abductors, hip flexors and glutes, relieves stress)

Begin with your hand on the floor on either side of your right knee and your left leg extended back on the floor behind you. Drop the right knee toward the right hand and turn the foot so that the top of the foot is toward the floor, close to the left hand. If this is uncomfortable, the foot can move back toward the groin. Sink into the hips while keeping them square to the floor. Walk your hands out in front of you (sleeping pigeon) to stretch the back and relax into the pose. Hold for at least 20 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

Legs Up-The-Wall Pose (Relieves tired legs and feet, calms the mind and body)

This is your final relaxation pose. Lie on your back with your feet up the wall or the side of your bed at a 90º angle. Extend both legs in the air and straighten the knees as much as you can. Relax your arms at your sides, close your eyes and breathe deeply

P.S. Men, you can do these poses too! Here’s More on … DUDE you Should do YOGA!

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Your Body’s Most Powerful Primal Muscle (You’ve Never Heard Of)!

Your Body’s Most Powerful Primal Muscle (You’ve Never Heard Of)!

I bet you can’t guess which muscle in your body is the #1 muscle that eliminates joint and back pain, anxiety and looking fat.

This “hidden survival muscle” in your body will boost your energy levels, immune system, sexual function, strength and athletic performance when unlocked.

If this “hidden” most powerful primal muscle is healthy, we are healthy.

Is it…

a) Abs

b) Chest

c) Glutes

d) Hip Flexors

Take the quiz above and see if you got the correct answer!

P.S. Make sure you check out the next page to get to know the 10 simple moves that will bring vitality back into your life!

==> Click here to discover which “hidden survival muscle” will help you boost your energy levels, immune system, sexual function, strength and athletic performance permanently!

Original article and pictures take www.clickfunnelsolutions.com site

Your Arms and Abs Will Transform After This 2-Week Challenge

Your Arms and Abs Will Transform After This 2-Week Challenge

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography

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Plank is one of the most effective total-body moves, so here's a new challenge for you to conquer — a five-minute plank. Since holding a straight-up plank wouldn't be any fun (and could end up causing an injury), this challenge mixes up five basic variations to not only tone your abs and arms, but to target the obliques, legs, and upper back as well. Here's an explanation of how to do each one, followed by the two-week plan.

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You'll Want to Unroll Your Mat For This Happy Hips Yoga Sequence

You'll Want to Unroll Your Mat For This Happy Hips Yoga Sequence

Runners and the deskbound, rejoice! Your tight hips will soon feel more open and relaxed. Just step onto your yoga mat or even the floor next to your computer and move through this 16-pose, hip-opening sequence.

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You’ll Love This Weighted Yoga Flow Even If You’re Not a ‘Yoga Person’

You’ll Love This Weighted Yoga Flow Even If You’re Not a ‘Yoga Person’

Yoga is a fitness discipline centered around physical, mental and spiritual poses. Studies have shown that yoga squashes stress, aids weight loss, eases pain, helps people stick to an exercise routine, and even improves running times. The strength and flexibility developed on the mat—namely in the core, quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors—can help you run more efficiently and stay injury-free.

Additionally, holding challenging poses builds tenacity that’ll pay off on the road. Yoga poses give runners more than just foot strength, they can help build mental endurance.

How to start practicing yoga

• Time it right - Your yoga practice should have a converse relationship with your training: When you’re ramping up mileage and churning out hard workouts, stick with relaxing sessions. When your training eases up, you can increase the intensity and frequency of your yoga workouts, says Sage Rountree, yoga instructor, triathlon coach, and author of The Runner’s Guide to Yoga. If you take on a rigorous practice in the midst of a monster training month, “you’ll interfere with your body’s recovery and risk hurting yourself,” Rountree says.
• Be humble - It can take years to master yoga poses, so don’t go to your first class (or your first 20) expecting to be the star pupil--no matter how many races you’ve run or how fast your PRs are. “Focus on yourself, not what the person on the mat next to you can do,” Rountree says. And realize there’s plenty to gain from a less-than-perfect practice.
• Avoid injury - Runners’ high pain thresholds coupled with their competitive natures can make them more prone to injury. Rountree sees this in her own classes. If you have a troublesome or tight spot you’d like to target, talk to your instructor about ways to modify poses so you can get a gentle—and safe—stretch.

Original article and pictures take www.runnersworld.com site

Yoga Sequence For Tight Hips & Hamstrings

Yoga Sequence For Tight Hips & Hamstrings

Many of us suffer from tight hips and hamstrings. This sequence of yoga poses will work to loosen up your muscles and stretch out those extremely tight areas. It is said that we hold a lot of negative energy in our hips and hamstrings. Opening up these areas is a great way to release that negativity. This will help to uplift your body, mind and spirit.

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Benefits of Stretching Your Hips & Hamstrings

Decrease Risk For Injury

Yoga that stretches out your hips and hamstrings helps to decrease the risk of injury, especially for runners and other athletes. When these areas of our body are opened it decreases strain on other areas of your body, especially the back and knees.

Decrease Aches & Pains

A common source of lower back pain is from tight hamstrings. Work on stretching out these areas daily. If you are consistent with your practice you will notice how your aches and pains gradually begin to disappear.

Improved Posture

Many of us unfortunately spend most of our day sitting. This leads to tight joints and muscles, and contributes to poor posture. Yoga works wonders for improving both flexibility and the strength of your postural muscles. This will allow you to both sit and stand taller with improved posture.

Yoga Sequence For Tight Hips & Hamstrings

Here are some great hip openers and hamstring stretching yoga poses that you can try. Try to hold each pose for about a minute or two to allow your muscles to release. Don’t forget to really breathe into the pose. If you feel that you cannot breathe while in any of the poses, then that is a sign that you need to pull back. Listen to your body and do what feels good for you. The point of these poses are to make you feel good, not strained. Just be patient and over time you will begin to see how your body will release and become more flexible.

FYI: Many of these poses are one sided, so don’t forget to repeat the pose on the other side.

Crescent Lunge

Reach your arms up with your shoulders relaxed. Step the back leg out behind you. Bend the front leg so that your knee is right on top of your ankle. Be sure that your knee does not bend forward over the ankle, as this will put strain on your knee. If you are having trouble balancing, move your back leg out to the side, away from your body to widen your stance. Keep your hips and pelvis level and squared off to the front of your mat.

Warrior II

Keep your front knee stacked right on top of your front foot. Take your back leg and turn your foot to the side. The middle of your back foot should be in line with the heel of your front foot. Keep your hips and pelvis leveled and facing to the side of your mat. Arms are out wide with your shoulders relaxed. Gaze right out over the middle finger of your front hand.

Reverse Warrior

From your warrior II posture, reach your front arm over your head and reach your back arm down your back leg. You will feel this stretch not only in your hips but up your side body as well.

Triangle Pose

From your warrior II posture, reach your front arm down so that your front hand is in line with the middle of your front foot. If this puts too much strain of your body, try placing a yoga block right in the middle of your front foot and reach down for that. Your back arm will reach straight up to the sky. For more of a balance challenge, turn your head to look up at your top hand.

Runner’s Lunge

Front knee is bent and stacked right on top of your front ankle. Your back leg stretches out long behind you. Both arms are placed on the inside of your front leg. If this stretch is too much, try bending the back leg so that it is resting on the mat.

Lizard Pose

Stay in your runner’s lunge, but allow that top knee and foot to fall away from your body. You will feel a nice stretch in your hip when you do this. If you need more of a stretch, bend your arms and rest your body onto your forearms. If you want to make the stretch easier, you can bend your back leg to rest on the mat and/or place your hands on a yoga block.

Pigeon

Bring your front leg into a 90 degree angle in front of you. Try to keep this angle as much as possible as you reach your back leg out towards the back of the mat. Keep your hips level and facing toward the top of the mat as much as possible. You may want to place a yoga block under that front hip if you are having trouble keeping your hips in line. For a deeper stretch, bend forward to rest on your forearms.

Figure 4

This is a modification for the pigeon posture. Start by laying on your back. Place your right ankle on top of your left knee. Bend that left leg up to a 90 degree angle. Keep your right foot flexed to protect your knee. Reach your arms through your legs (underneath that top leg) to grab onto the back of your left leg. For a deeper stretch press your right foot against your left leg as you use your arms to pull the left leg forward. Repeat on the other side.

Double Pigeon

From your pigeon posture, swing your back leg forward and stack it right on top of your front leg, keeping both legs at a 90 degree angle. Keep both sides of your seat planted firmly on the mat. For a deeper stretch you can press down on the top leg or reach forward with both arms. I find that this stretch is difficult when you are first starting out. As you can tell from the picture, I still cannot stretch my top leg all the way down to meet my bottom leg. Be patient with this stretch and don’t push your body too far.

Bound Angle Pose AKA Butterfly

Bend both knees out to the side and place the bottoms of both feet together. Reach your legs out to the side as much as your body allows. For a deeper stretch, fold the top of your body forward over your legs.

Reclined Bound Angle Pose

From your butterfly posture, lower your upper body back on to the mat. Keep the bottoms of your feet glued together and allow your knees to fall out to the side. This is a very nice restorative posture. You can stay here as long as you’d like, allowing yourself to breathe into the stretch.

Reverse Butterfly

Lay on your back. Cross your legs. Bring your legs up toward the sky. Grab on to your shins or ankles and stretch your legs gently up and in the opposite directions. Repeat on both sides.

Bridge Pose

Lay on your back. Plant your feet hip width apart, right under your knees. Push off of your feet and lift your hips up toward the sky.

Happy Baby

Lay on your back. Bend your legs, bringing your knees up towards your chest. Grab onto the outsides of your feet and gently stretch your hips out. It also feels good to rock your body side to side while in this posture.

Frog Pose

Frog pose is like a middle split with your knees bent. Both knees are bent in at a 90 degree angle with your feet flexed out. Your knees, thighs and seat are all in one straight line. Think of your lower half as being in a goal post position, where your upper body is the base of the pole. Bend forward and rest the top of your body on your forearms.

Mermaid Pose

Bend your top leg into your body. Bend your back leg up towards the sky. You can either grab onto your back foot to pull it up or place it in the crevice of your arm. As you become more flexible in this position you can practice reaching your front arm back to bind it with your arm that’s hooked onto your leg. Try to keep your hips as level and squared to front as possible. For a deep stretch, try to keep that front leg at a complete 90 degree angle, like you would have it in the pigeon pose.

Upward Facing Dog

Lay on your stomach with your leg out long toward the back of the mat. Keep your thighs, shins and the tops of your feet facing down toward the mat. Place your hands right underneath your underarm area. Use your arms to lift your upper body, chest high and open, back extended. Try to relax your shoulder down your back.

Downward Facing Dog

From your upward facing dog, curl the toes under moving through a plank position and then into your downward facing dog. Your seat is lifted high up towards the sky. Spread your fingers out wide on your mat. Extend your shoulders, while keeping your core engaged and your back in a neutral position. Your legs are extended straight as you try to push your heels toward the ground.

Rag Doll

From your down dog, walk your hands in towards your feet. This moves you into your forward fold. Be sure that you are bending forward from your hips, and not your back. Allow your upper body to hang heavy. Fold your arms together and gently sway your upper body side to side.

Forward Fold

For a deeper hamstring stretch, reach your hands all the way down to your mat. You can either grab onto your big toes with two fingers or slide your hands underneath your feet.

Wide Legged Forward Fold

To move into a wide legged forward fold, step your feet wide apart on your mat. Be sure that both of your feet are facing forward. With a straight back, gently fold forward. Lower your head towards the floor and place your hands on the matt. For a deeper stretch, wrap your hands around the back of your ankles to pull your body into the stretch a little bit more. Try to get your forehead as close to the mat as possible.

If you are consistent with your Yoga practice you will begin to notice a major change in your body. Yoga has so many health benefits, both physically and mentally. I hope this sequence helps to open up your hips, stretch out your hamstrings, improve your posture, release negative energy and to prevent injuries. A little bit of Yoga truly does go a long way in improving your activities of daily living.

If you suffer from neck or back pain, you can check out this post for another great yoga sequence.

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Yoga Sequence for Improved Posture

Yoga Sequence for Improved Posture

Pin it! A yoga sequence for better posture.

Posture problems are common, regardless of whether you're sitting at a desk or are on your feet all day. This sequence is short, but don't let its size fool you - it is very effective. The poses target the hamstrings, which will help the low back, and the chest, which will help the upper back. Breathe 3-7 full, deep breaths in each pose, and see how you feel.

Please let me know if you've got a yoga sequence request!

PS- A more detailed post about posture.

Original article and pictures take www.yogabycandace.com site