2012-01-05 15:15:00
Yoga is a now widespread practice that combines a set of stretches, postures and breathing exercises. The goal? Free yourself from accumulated physical tension and reconnect with a form of “inner peace”. By “entering” in oneself, one finds calm, one neutralizes spasms and contractures due to external constraints, adds Virginie Boé, yoga teacher.
Neck, shoulders, lower back… Eliminate physical tension
As mentioned above, yoga allows you to free yourself from physical tension. These three exercises are particularly beneficial:
Unload the neck
- Standing or sitting, turn your head to the left then to the right, without trying to force the gesture or train the shoulders.
- Turn while exhaling, return while inhalingblow, and repeat on the other side 5 times in a row.
- Then continue by raising the shoulders on the inspiration and lowering them on the expiration 3 times in a row.
- Finally, raise your shoulders while inhaling, hold the air, lower your shoulders, then exhale 3 times in a row as well.
Free the shoulders
Standing or sitting, hands on shoulders, describe circles with elbows. There are about ten movements from front to back then the same number from back to front.
Don’t try to control your breathing. On the other hand, focus on the feelings provided in your upper back depending on the amplitude of your circles.
Relieve the lower back
Standing, well anchored to the ground, your two parallel feet very slightly apart, raise one knee in the air by tilting the weight of your body on your support leg, take the knee with both hands to raise it again by pulling it gently towards you.
This gesture stretches your lower back without doing any harm. To practise 5 times in a row for each knee, leaving your breath free.
Yoga calms the mind
Virginie Boé offers three breathing exercises to practice independently or sequentially. Simple and yet subtle, it is the little drops of water that change everything in your daily life: this better relationship with your breathing invites neuromuscular relaxation and letting go.
Uncover the sternum
Dilate your nostrils as if you were breathing in a good smell, let the air in and exhale. When you have tamed this breath, associate it with a gesture : your hands are placed on your thighs, imagine that they are holding two small foam balls. On the exhale, squeeze these imaginary balls and release. chain 5 respirationswithout trying to go to the maximum of your inspiration or your expiration to avoid hyperventilation.
Return to the present moment
Standing or sitting, hands placed on each side of the waist, try to bring your hands together on the exhale. Then release. To practise 5 times in a row. Then reproduce the same exercise without the help of the hands by simply tightening the muscles of the waist.
Interrupt looping thoughts
Breathe while countinga bit like counting sheep before falling asleep: inhale and exhale on 1, inhale and exhale on 2, inhale and exhale on 3, and so on for two to three minutes (and until your capacity breathing allows you to count without straining). As soon as an idea appears or you lose track of your count, start over at 1.
Yoga instills energy
According to Dr. Coudron, doctor and educational director of the Yoga-therapy Institute, a few basic postures and breaths that are very simple to implement allow you to rekindle a positive dynamic. By bringing back the calm and the pleasure of feeling in harmony between thought and body, we gain in tone and vitality. “Yoga helps to better develop their awareness and their ability to take a step back. “To get off to a better start!
To calm down
Inhale while gazing at a point above you as if squinting slightly, hold your breath, close your eyes, then exhale. To repeat 2 or 3 times to bring back the calm in oneself.
get stimulated
Breathe through the left nostril then the right. This allows to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain. Breathe well between three and twenty minutes according to your needs or your availability.
To warm up
Lying on your back, arms along your body, fold your legs near your buttocks and lift your pelvis without excess while stretching your neck. To practise 3 or 4 times to warm up the bodythen stay one to two minutes in the posture to release cervical and thoracic tension.
Some essential information for the practice of yoga
What’s the right rhythm?
Au minimum one hour per week, agreeing in addition five to ten minutes of daily practice at home. The ideal being three sessions per week if you are under stress.
How to find the right teacher?
By testing several courses. Discard those where you are offered postures to reproduce absolutely. “A perfect posture is a perfect posture… for you“, according to the formula of Dr. Coudron.
How to practice it?
In a group to take advantage of collective emulation, individually if you are looking for a targeted benefit, but you can also alternate the two options.
What is the fair price?
It is difficult to establish an average price for a yoga class. In theory, this varies from 8 to 20 € per session for a group lesson and from 60 € for an individual lesson.
Where to practice?
In private and associative structures where the lessons are of excellent quality. As the activity is not centralized or organized, word of mouth is an excellent indicator. However, two points of reference:
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