Hope all of you had a nice holiday and great New Year celebration. Many of you would have also made different resolutions for the year 2010. And perhaps you are one of those who looked in the mirror, sucked in your stomach, and resolved that ‘this year I will make my stomach like this’. Truly we live at a time when society as a whole looks down upon a protruding middle. And more and more people are getting obsessed with ‘how to lose my tummy?’, and they set themselves along the path of fasting, eliminating junk food, going for long walks etc. Though all these are good, it has to be remembered that a healthy abdomen is not just a ‘fat free’ abdomen, but one with strong and supple muscles. A strong and toned abdomen supports your vital organs, stabilizes your spine (which prevents back aches), improves your posture, and lends its strength to almost all activities that you do. Also, between the navel and pubis lies your centre of gravity. Working on the abdomen also helps you to connect with the centre of the body, and yoga is all about connecting with your centre, physically as well as mentally.
One asana which does all this is the navasana. In this pose, the muscles of your abdomen and hips have to hold the torso and legs against the resistance of gravity, thereby strengthening them. You also have to find the point of balance so that you can be steady in the pose, and balance is always about connecting to your centre of gravity. By trying to straighten the legs, the pose also strengthens the front of your thighs. Now let us take a look at how to do the pose.
Navasana (the boat pose)
Sit on the floor, bend the legs and hug your shins.
Pressing down through your sitting bones stretch your spine and torso upward.
Mentally connect to this feeling of long abdomen and spine.
Connect to the lengthening of space between your pubis and sternum (the long flat vertical bone at the middle of your chest)
Now, slowly lean back until you feel your tail bone also gently touching the floor.
When you lean back, there might be a tendency where you round your back. Instead once again establish that length of abdomen.
Keeping the legs bent, slowly lift the feet off the floor and try to get your shins parallel to floor (fig 2)
· If you are finding this stage difficult, keep your hands on the floor slightly in front of the hips.
And, if you find the bent leg position comfortable, then slowly try to straighten the knees, getting the feet a bit above the line of your eyes
Lengthen the arms forward in line with your shoulders
Keep your shoulders broad and keep stretching the fingers forward
Stay in the pose for around 5 breaths, slowly increasing the number of breaths.
Then again bend the legs, hug the knees and stretch upward, and repeat a few more times.
Also develop a habit of daily 20-30 mt walk, add in 4-6 sun salutes, a few asanas which we have covered in the earlier issues, and then work on the boat.
And being in the topic, let me also add in some instructions on diet which comes in the scripture Hatha yoga pradipika. The verse 58 asks us to practice mitahara, meaning moderate diet, asking us to fill only half of the stomach with food, leaving one fourth for water and one fourth for wind. Verse 59 then admonishes one from indulging in greasy, spicy and stale food. Try to take fresh food rather than relying on micro waving frozen food as a regular part of your diet. Verse 62 encourages a diet rich in good grains, milk, honey, brown sugar, cucumber, pulses and lots of water.
Till next month! |
