There are so many postures named after nature and animals. Every wondered why? It's because all of it and us are interconnected with each other. There's so much to learn when it comes to yoga and put it to use because it absolutely does help our body and mind to relax and calm down in true sense. Talking about animal postures, cats are experts in relaxation ans we all know about it. They wake up from their sleep and give their body a good stretch and arch their spine in both directions before they move. This is what we all should do too.
Cat pose also known as marjariasana is a back opening exercise used in yoga. Here's how you practice it:
- Start with being on all fours in a tablespoon position where your palms are places under your shoulders and knees under the pelvic bone. Make sure you relax your toes as they point backwards.
- Now, spread your fingers as wide as possible so that all the weight comes down on the tips of your fingers other than your wrists.
- Look downward so that the back of the neck is straight enough.
- After you are in this position, stretch your shoulders away from the ears. This will show your neck and then the tip of your head and tailbone is in one straight line.
- Make sure you inhale and point your chin and tailbone up to a point where you're pushing your shoulders further away from your ears. By now, you should be feeling a contraction in the spine muscles and a stretch in your abdomen muscles.
- Exhale and drop your head down, point your chin towards your chest and tailbone towards the yoga mat. This makes the abdominal region as hollow as possible.
- Now, continue moving your spine in this manner while synchronizing it with your breath for minimum of 10-12 times.
- Once this is done, sit in vajrasasna to come back from the cat pose exercise.
How does cat posture benefit your body?
- It strengthens your back muscles by activating the spine and increasing the blood flow. It releases the tension around your neck and upper back area.
- It massages your internal organs like adrenal glands, kidneys, etc where they are massaged while you're practicing this yoga pose. It also stimulates the organs and strengthen them.
- It's ab absolute stress buster since it powers up your brain and betters your breathing patterns. It also improves your focus, concentration and mental stability.
- It works as a great warm up session in the mornings as it can give you amazing flexibility and enables you to advance more such complex poses.
Picture credits: Google images
