WEB CHUTNEY

How many times have we heard these? Plenty, I believe. Yoga is one thing all of us think we know about, talk about trying, but very few of us actually get around to doing it. We know all about the benefits but who has the time to wake up early in the morning or take out time after work to practice it, right?

Let’s set things in order then. These easy yoga exercises will not only make you look better, but feel rejuvenated, energetic and stress free. Here’s a lowdown:

1. For starters, try the mountain pose a.k.a. Tadasana.

Who would’ve thought that you could exercise by simply standing? The heels are rooted in. Your spine is long and engaged. Muscles of the legs are working. The shoulder blades slide down the back. And you’re constantly rising from the crown. Trust me, it’s a lot of work.

2. If you nailed that pose, move on to the Urdhva Hastasana.

Another easy looking pose. Just raise your arms up above your shoulders. Your legs need to be hip-width apart. Breathe out to take your arms up.

If you’re the ambitious kind, you can further extend your arms all the way back into Urdhva Dhanurasana, or better still a Chakrasan:

3. Time to get rid of some belly fat with these forward bends.

Stretch your arms up, breathe in and then breathe out to bend forward. You can do a standing forward bend too. 10 times a day and you’re sorted.

Make sure to hold for as long as you can.

4. Speaking of the belly, the plank too is very effective. And not just for your belly, but also your shoulders, back and arms.

Start with a 10-second hold. And then slowly keep increasing the hold time.

5. If you simply want to relax from head to toe, do a spinal roll down, like this:

This is very good for your spine, as you actually feel every vertebra in the process. Begin from the top and roll all the way to the bottom, inch by inch. And then roll back up. The head should be the first to go down and last to come up.

6. To counteract the effects of a 9-5 routine of sitting in your favourite work chair, practice the garland pose or Malasana for the hips and thighs.

Couldn’t get any easier. Especially if you use Indian style toilets. But, for those of you who can’t, simply squat yourself down and make sure your heels touch the floor. If they don’t, you can add a piece of cloth or a mat to begin with. #PottyPose

7. Toned glutes and legs aren’t very difficult to achieve if you can hold this lunge posture for 20 to 30 seconds.

Again, you have the option of not letting your knee touch the floor.

8. Now, to keep your back upright and fit, try the sitting equivalent of the mountain pose called the staff pose.

9. Move on to the Janu Sirsasana or the head to knee post. This one isn’t as easy as the rest but not too difficult either.

10. The sitting chair is another good posture for building strength in your core, legs and arms.

11. People with back problems, the pelvic-rise is your solution.

You can also proceed to lift your legs to 90 degrees; hold and bring it back down.

12. Also, try the cobra pose or Bhujangasana.

It’s relaxing and easy, and yet serves the purpose of working your back.

13. Another effective posture for the heart and core is this garland pose.

Knee to the forehead.

14. Furthermore, you can try the downward dog or the inverted V posture.

Just get into a push-up position and push your hips up, like this:

15. Coming to this relaxing cat-cow stretch. You can practice this on a chair!

Or the floor:

16. Here’s the best one of the lot, the happy baby pose.

I don’t need to direct you here. It’s the easiest to do and is extremely good for your back. Just make sure your tailbone sticks to the floor at all times. Like this:

17. And, of course, don’t forget to breathe throughout and after. Meditate for 5-10 minutes at least.

Especially if you’re someone who takes short, fast breaths under stressful conditions. Remind yourself every hour or two to take long, deep breaths. Do it for as long as you like, but do it right.

Follow these steps to begin:

Come on now, don’t be lazy. It only takes 30-45 minutes of your day.

The original version of this post can be found here.