YOGA EXERCISES FOR RELIEVING TENSION PAIN

This exercise is great in relieving stress and tension on your shoulders, as well as your entire upper back. Learn how to do a Shoulder Stretch in this section. You will need a long strap for this one.


1. Sit in any comfortably erect position. Hold the strap and straighten your arms forward. As you inhale, move your arms up until they are overhead, and exhale as you bring them down behind you.

2. Coordinate this movement with your breathing, making the movement smooth. Make sure the strap is sufficiently long and your hands sufficiently far apart, so that you can keep your arms straight. If you cannot keep your arms straight, lengthen the strap.

3. The idea is to circumscribe as large a circle as possible with your hands as they go up and over. Therefore, at every given moment you are stretching outward through your arms in the direction they are pointing.

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Yoga Exercise - Corpse Pose (Savasana)
Even relaxation can bring out the best in yous — but make sure you do it properly. The Corpse Pose or Savasana may look like a simple relaxing pose that is done in between or after an Asana, but this exercise requires a lot of concentration and will develop through continued practice. This exercise, if done correctly, will stimulate blood circulation and will lessen or relieve fatigue, nervousness, asthma, constipation, diabetes, indigestion, and insomnia. It will also improve one’s mental concentration.

Yoga Exercise - Corpse Pose (Savasana)

1. Rotate your legs in and out, and then let them fall gently out to the sides.
2. Let your arms fall alongside your body, slightly separated from the body, palms facing upwards.
3. Rotate the spine by turning your head from side to side to center it.
4. Then start stretching yourself out, as though someone is pulling your head away from your feet, your shoulders down and away from your neck, your legs down and away from your pelvis.
5. Breathe deeply and slowly from your abdomen.
6. Hold the pose for several minutes. Make your mind still and concentrate on your breath or the body.
7. After doing the pose, bend your knees. Using your legs, push yourself onto one side.
8. Push yourself in a sitting position.


No Yoga Session is complete without the Corpse Pose. It is the body’s time to process information after a Yoga Exercise, and it is a must that you stay awake during the five to ten minute-duration of this pose.
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Breathing Exercise (Pranayama) - Alternate Nostril (Anuloma Viloma)
Anuloma Viloma is also called the Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique. In this Breathing Technique, you inhale through one nostril, retain the breath, and exhale through the other nostril in a ratio of 2:8:4. The left nostril is the path of the Nadi called Ida and the right nostril is the path of the Nadi called Pingala. If you are really healthy, you will breathe predominantly through the Ida nostril about one hour and fifty minutes, then through the Pingala nostril. But in many people, this natural rhythm is disturbed. Anuloma Viloma restores, equalizes and balances the flow of Prana in the body.

One round of Anuloma Viloma is made up of six steps, as shown below. Start by practicing three rounds and build up slowly to twenty rounds, extending the count within the given ratio.

The Vishnu Mudra

In Anuloma Viloma, you adopt the Vishnu Mudra with your right hand to close your nostrils. Tuck your index and middle finger into your nose. Place the thumb by your right nostril and your ring and little fingers by your left.

One Round of Anuloma Viloma (Alternate Nostril Breathing)

# Anuloma Viloma 1 Inhale through the left nostril, closing the right with the thumb, to the count of four.
# Anuloma Viloma 2 Hold the breath, closing both nostrils, to the count of sixteen.
# Anuloma Viloma 3 Exhale through the right nostril, closing the left with the ring and little fingers, to the count of eight.
# Anuloma Viloma 4 Inhale through the right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed with the ring and little fingers, to the count of four.
# Anuloma Viloma 5 Hold the breath, closing both nostrils, to the count of sixteen.
# Anuloma Viloma 6 Exhale through the left nostril, keeping the right closed with the thumb, to the count of eight.
Benefits of Anuloma Viloma

The exercise of the Anuloma Viloma produces optimum function to both sides of the brain: that is optimum creativity and optimum logical verbal activity. This will make both sides of the brain, the left side which is responsible for logical thinking and the right side which is responsible for creative thinking to function properly. This will lead to a balance between a person's creative and logical thinking. The Yogis consider this to be the best technique to calm the mind and the Nervous System.