Yoga Health Secrets

Yoga for backache, back pain, aching legs, and bad posture

Many of the Yoga exercises are based on the natural stretching of healthy animals which the ancient Yogis, who formulated the science of Hatha Yoga, observed and emulated. Therefore, many Yoga asanas are named after mammals, birds, sea creatures, insects, and reptiles. In this chapter we meet the Swan and the Camel.

The Swan Posture (Swanasana) As its name indicates, it is a graceful exercise and will, therefore, especially appeal to women readers, although its benefits also to male sufferers from backache can hardly be over-estimated. Like many other Yoga asanas the Swan Posture consists of two opposite movements which I have demonstrated in figures 15 and 16, page 61.

1. Lie face downwards, feet together, palms flat on the floor at the level of your armpits. Keep your elbows well off the floor. While inhaling deeply through the nose, and pressing downwards on the floor with your palms, slowly raise your head, shoulders and abdomen off the floor until your elbows are straight. (Fig. 16.)

2. Remain in this position for as long as you comfortably can while holding your breath.

3. While exhaling, and keeping your palms firmly on the floor without moving them slowly raise your abdomen, bend your knees, and sink into the kneeling position I have demonstrated in figure 15. Keep your forehead on the floor, your thighs pressed against your abdomen, and your buttocks on your heels. Remain thus while holding your breath.

4. When the impulse to inhale again appears do so and at the same time raise your buttocks off your heels, straighten your knees and, still without moving your palms return to the starting position as in figure 16.

5. Repeat this to and fro movement up to six times and do be careful to perform your breathing correctly.

And that is the Swan exercise. Graceful and beneficial, it massages and helps to reduce the abdomen in the kneeling movement and the other movement helps relieve backache and improves the posture. The to and fro movement combats constipation and promotes the peristaltic movement of the bowel.