Parighasana - Gate

DEEP BREATHING POSE
Parighasana/Gate is a kneeling, deep side bend or lateral bend pose. It is a lovely pose to use at the start of your practice while you are warming up and preparing yourself for your standing flows. It expands the lungs and stretches the intercostal muscles between the ribs which helps you to deepen your breath and improves breathing quality and capacity. It also benefits breathing conditions such as asthma, allergies and even helps to relieve the respiratory symptoms of colds and flu. Parighasana/Gate is frequently used as a preparatory warm up pose when building up towards standing poses like Virabhadrasana II/Warrior II, Trikonasana/Triangle, Parsvakonasana/Side Angle and Utkata Konasana/Goddess.

THE BENEFITS OF PARIGHASANA/GATE
Parighasana/Gate stretches the sides of the abdominal region and spine; the hamstrings and inner groin of the outstretched leg; the shoulder of the reaching arm and the intercostal muscles of the top side. As an abdominal stretch it stimulates all the organs of this region including the digestive system. Good digestion and gut health is one of the cornerstones of overall health. Parighasana/Gate both stimulates the lining of the gut to optimise its functionality and relieves constipation by gently pressing and assisting with peristalsis.

EXPLORING PARIGHASANA/GATE IN YOUR PRACTICE
Often when we take a side stretch we are actually tilting the pelvis which gives us the impression that we hinge more than we actually do. In Parighasana/Gate the hips are fixed over the kneeling leg which gives you a gauge of your true lateral bend. The spinal range of lateral bend is 20 degrees in the lumbar region, 20 degrees in the thoracic region and 35 degrees in the cervical region. When you factor in all three sections of the spine it gives a lateral bend of 75 degrees (full spinal extension/backbend is 135 degrees and full spinal flexion/forward bend is 145 degrees).

You might also find you can hinge more to one side than the other. To the external eye we are quite symmetrical but internally we are often asymmetrical in our strength and stretching ability.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Each time you come into a Parighasana/Gate or version of it pause and lengthen through the whole spine first to give each vertebra space to tilt.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From kneeling, extend your right foot out to your right with a straight leg, toes facing away from you. Check for right heel to left knee alignment.

• Inhale, reach your left arm up high, palm facing right, exhale, hinge to the right from the hip joint. Reach your left arm up and over your ear, place your right hand on your right shin.

• Bottom waist rolls forward, top waist rolls back, gaze forward or under your left upper arm.

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Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Shifting tension

PHYSICAL & MENTAL TENSION
Tension can be felt physically and menatlly. It can show up in muscle aches, headaches or digestive issues and can also be a general sense of feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious. Physical tension can be caused by mental tension and similarly mental tension can cause physical tension. Prolonged periods of stress can also cause physical and mental tension to accumulate and can be shifted by regulating the nervous system. Yoga works on both physical and mental manifestations of tensions through gentle movement and conscious breathing. As we stretch and move through our practice we release tension from problem areas like the neck, shoulders, lower back, hips. The poses in our yoga practice take focus and concentration and sometimes it can be as simple as distraction is the best cure for washing away our stress, tension and anxieties. Yoga also makes us more aware of our breath, the breath is one of the most powerful tools for releasing stress and tension. The breath stimulates the vagus nerve which is the main cranial nerve associated with the parasympathetic rest and restore response. It travels to and from the brainstem straight to the throat, heart, diaphragm, stomach, kidneys, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, sphincter and reproductive organs. It is responsible for slowing heart rate and reducing blood pressure, relaxing our airways, stimulating digestion and reproductive organs, inhibiting adrenaline production, stimulating endorphin production and relaxing the muscles.

RESTORATIVE YOGA AND TENSION
Restorative yoga in particular helps to initiate the parasympathetic rest and restore response and is a direct pathway to the nervous system. The poses in restorative yoga are designed to deliberately shift you into relaxation and is considered a ‘non sleep deep rest’ or NSDR practice. NSDR are practises which are scientifically proven to give more benefits than even a good night's sleep in terms of less time required to achieve better brain and body function. Taking a restorative pose, or Savasana, at the end of your practice, teaches the body to let go of the physical challenges of the practice and cultivates a malleable nervous system ready to return to balance after a period of stress.

EXPLORING SHIFTING TENSION IN YOUR PRACTICE
The sequence starts with a gentle warm up, moves into some standing poses to shift habitual areas of tension, and finishes with two restorative poses to assimilate and optimise your chance to shift both physical and mental tension. The standing flows will target the front of the hips and the shoulders which can both be tight from prolonged periods of sitting with the pelvis tilted back and the shoulders hunched forward, or from moving throughout your day without awareness of good posture. As you move through the sequence bring your attention to the areas that you find you might habitually hold tension. Scan down through your body from the tip of your crown to your toes and see if you can root out any areas that you weren’t aware you were tensing and gripping. Pay particular attention to your neck, jaw, shoulders, lower back and hips, which are renowned areas that we all hold tension.

ALIGNMENT CUES
The peak pose of this sequence is Viparita Virabhadrasana/Reverse Warrior, a pose I find I am adding to my practice lots recently. It gives a lovely side stretch to realign the spine, opens the hips, inner groin, frees up the shoulder joint and encourages light core activation.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From Virabhadrasana II, inhale, turn your right palm to face up, hinge to your left from your waist, reach your right palm up and over your ear.

• Rest your left hand on your left thigh or your lower calf, draw your navel towards your spine.

• Lengthen through your right side body all the way to your fingertips, keep your right leg deeply bent, gaze up to your right fingertips.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Natarajasana - Lord of the Dance

FOCUSED STRESS RELIEF
Natarajasana/Lord of the Dance is named after the third god of the Hindu trinity Nataraja who performed a dance to restore the cosmic balance of the universe. Similar to our last pose of the month Hanumanasana/Monkey or Splits it is a hip opener and eases tension in the hip flexors of the lifted leg. A muscle that can get very tight on runners, cyclists and those who sit for extended periods of time. It is also a muscle that can get very tense when you are feeling stressed or anxious. Extending this region of the body sends signals to the brain to release physical and emotional tension and help relieve stress.

The pose also requires focus to stand on one leg which also works as a distraction from a racing mind. The muscular activity of standing, and lifting the leg back, stimulates circulation through the whole body. The combination of the focused effort and increase in circulation is very energising and uplifting. You also get a lovely heart opening stretch through the chest which not only improves shoulder posture but helps to lift your spirits.

THE BENEFITS OF NATARAJASANA/LORD OF THE DANCE
Natarajasana/Lord of the Dance is an advanced balancing pose. It is also a standing backbend pose that requires equal amounts of strength and flexibility. It strengthens the spine and legs; tones the abdominal organs; and stretches the chest, hips and quads of the lifted leg. It is a great pose to add in if you are working with your proprioception and everyday balance. With the leg reaching back you need to focus your attention on finding your centre of gravity.

EXPLORING NATARAJASANA/LORD OF THE DANCE IN YOUR PRACTICE
This sequence kicks straight in with a targeted warm up which will start to open up the hip flexors and prepare the shoulders for arm flexion. The warm up is followed by two standing flows. The first one starts with a quad stretch and will get your standing leg warmed up and ready for your peak pose. It also prepares the back with a gentle extended arm backbend. The second standing flow starts with your peak pose and is followed by a series of Warrior II style flows to enjoy the opening created in the chest area and spine.

The standing sequence ends with two backbends. You can repeat Salabhasana/Locust if Dhanurasana/Bow is not part of your practice. You then transition into your cool down which opens the chest and closes it, twists the spine as a lovely counterpose to the backbend and finally Salabhasana.

ALIGNMENT CUES
You can choose to flow through this sequence and pause in each pose or you can use the breath cues to link the poses and flow with your breath.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From Tadasana, hands on hips, inhale, pour your weight into your left foot, bend your right leg back and lift your heel up towards your right buttocks.

• Reach your right hand back and hold onto the outside of your right foot, lift your right foot up and back, press your foot into your hand and your hand against your foot, hips level and squared forward, right knee in line with right hip.

• Extend your sternum forward and up, broaden through the collarbones, shoulders level.

• Reach your left arm up high, press your thumb and forefinger together, gaze to the fingers of your left hand.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru