Page 152 - Demo

152 || FITNESS MAGAZINE || JUNE 2015 || EDITION 1 - Svarga or Dvijasana (Dvija means twice born and Svarga means paradise or heaven).Since we are in spring and everything is blooming, I thought this would be the perfect posture for this month. In this posture you experience the depth of renewal within the body by emulating a tropical flower, the bird of paradise. Birds also embody renewal as they are born twice, first as an egg then as a bird. I enjoy experiencing this posture because it demands my whole body to engage and work together. Grounded into the earth with my standing leg, I enjoy this position as my upper body opens and takes flight. This posture can be taken from a bound extended side angle pose or from a king chair pose as shown.First start in king chair pose, feet are six inches apart and bend your knees as you pull your weight back in your heels. As you drop your hips tuck your tailbone, lift your chest and extend your arms up. Challenge yourself as you continue to exhale dropping in your hips and inhale as you lift in your chest and arms.Next come into king chair prayer twist by bringing your hands to your heart center in prayer. Then twisting in your torso as you bring left elbow outside of right leg. Keep both knees aligned as you press your palms together for a deeper twist, lifting in your top shoulder. Find a deeper twist with each exhale.Full bound king chair is the next posture and there is a couple steps to get there. Keeping your king chair, split your arms in between your legs with right hand reaching to the sky and the left to the earth. Then take a half bind by bringing your right hand to your left lower rib cage and grab your upper thigh. Continue to drop your hips, keeping your knees aligned and twist from your lower torso. Next take your left hand and reach up to clasp your right, the lower you sink your hips the easier the bind will open.Finally, you can begin to press through the right foot to come up to standing with arms still bound around the left leg. Use your breath to lift as you squeeze your legs into the center of your body, engaging your core. Straighten your standing leg and press into all four corners of that foot to ground down. Then bring your crown of your head to the sky and squeeze shoulders together behind you. As you open through your chest begin to straighten your left leg to come into the fullest expression of this posture. To modify, keep left leg bent as shown.Benefits: Challenging balance that opens the hips, strengthens core and back and lengthens the hamstring.