Detox & Energy

Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga & You, rooted in India, flowing to you. I'm Sanjana Prasad and we are on day 6 of our 7 day series for Diabetes Management. Definitely check out and practice day 1 to 5 and then hop on to this one. Today's practice is all about detox and energy boost, so it's going to be a combination of back bends, deeper back bends and some twists to counter those back bends and for the detox effect. So let's get into the practice.

We're going to start off in a seated position. It can be Sukhasana or even Vajrasana. Take your arms out, shoulder level on both sides. We're going to start with some lateral bends. So practicing lateral bends before you go to back bends is very beneficial because it frees up the sides of the spine and helps it, and it makes it easier to move into your back bends.

So let's begin. Inhale, arms up. We're going to place your right palm down, reach the left palm over the head. Inhale, come back to center, exhale and bend to the left. Inhale, back to center, exhale, bend to the right. Inhale, come back to center, exhale to the left. We'll do this one more time on each side. Inhale, back to center, exhale, bend to the right, stay here and breathe. One, two, three, four, five. Inhale, back to center. Place the palm down, left hand, reach the right arm over the head. One, two, three, four, five. Come back to center, exhale, release your arms.

From here, we're going to come on to our knees for a variation of Parigasana. So you're going to stretch your right leg out first, sideways. Your toes are pointing forward. Take your arms up, shoulder levels, inhale. As you exhale, start bending towards your right side, reach the left arm over the head. One, two, three, four, five. Inhale, back to center, release the hand. Bring the right knee back in, extend the left leg out. Your toes are in line with the knee. Parigasana on the left side. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, bend to the left side. If you notice, I'm not dumping into this leg, it's just there for support. Focus on pushing the hip forward and reaching more with your right hand. One, bring awareness to your hips, lower back, two, three, four, five. Inhale and come back to center, exhale, release your arms.

Bring the knee back and let's come to tabletop position. Cat-camel is always a great way to start to prepare for your back bend because it brings in that initial mobility. So palms down, stacking shoulders over the wrists, hips over the knees. Inhale, look forward, arch your back. Exhale, round your back. Inhale and arch the back. Exhale, round your back. Inhale and arch. Exhale and round. Inhale, arch. Exhale and round your back. Slowly come back to a neutral spine.

Now bring your knees a little closer to each other. From here, we're going to lift the right leg up, arch the back. Now bend your right knee, take the left hand back, hold on to your ankle. Start to lift the heel up. So we're not just going to hold here, if you watch my heel, I'm trying to lift it upwards and backwards away from my back. One, two, three, four, five, gently release. Come back to tabletop position. Come out with the same control that you're going into the back bend instead of snapping the leg out. Inhale, lift the left leg up, arch the back. Bend the left knee, roll your right shoulder back, hold on to the ankle. You can even turn your body if you need to so you can get that reach. Then start lifting up. One, two, three, four, five, gently down. Place the palms down.

Let's sit back on the heels for a moment, head down, Shashankasana. One, two, three, four, five. Roll your spine up, vertebrae by vertebrae. We're going to practice a round of puppy pose. So coming into tabletop position, this is really helpful for your shoulders. So when you're practicing deeper back bends like Chakrasana, which we're going to practice today, it helps to get that openness around the shoulders and armpits. So walk your hands forward, start pressing your chest, chin down. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So we'll come up, walk the hands back.

From here we're going to lie down onto the belly for Dhanurasana, or bow pose. So coming down to the mat, bend your right knee, hold the right ankle with your right palm, extend your left hand forward. Now as you inhale, start to lift your right thigh off the floor, chest up, chin up. So you can also use this left palm to give you that slight lift through the chest. One, two, three, four, five. Down, release the right leg, extend your right hand forward, bend the left knee, hold on to the left ankle. Back bends are always a bit challenging, they speed up your heart rate, they're stimulating, also very exhilarating practices, you feel very energized after them. So left side Dhanurasana, inhale and lift up. One, two, three, four, five, exhale and down. Now you can just rest here in Makarasana.

If you're very comfortable, we'll try Dhanurasana with both legs. So bend both your knees, your knees are not together, knees are separate, about hip width apart, hold on to your ankles, toes are pointed, forehead down. When we lift up, I don't want you to swing up, think about lifting with control, lifting from the legs first. Inhale and start lifting the thighs up, slowly lift the chest up, balancing on the belly. Now if I breathe in my belly, I will start rocking, so what I'm going to do is keep the belly drawn in, breathe at the level of my chest. One, two, three, four, five. Exhale down, release, relax, rest in Makarasana.

Slowly come on, we're going to practice one round of shoulder flossing before we go into our Chakrasana practice. For this, you will need a yoga strap, but if you don't have a strap, you can use a belt, a towel, a dupatta, anything that is accessible to you. So let's get into shoulder flossing. You can do this shoulder flossing in Sukhasana or Vajrasana or even standing, I like to do it in Vajrasana. What I want you to be aware of is when you're taking the strap up and back, up and forward, we are not trying to push the ribs out and in, so the movement is not coming from your ribcage. Ribs are relaxed, neutral, you're trying to mobilize through the shoulders more.

So hold the strap at a comfortable distance. The closer you hold the strap, the more challenging it gets, the wider, the more comfortable it gets. So try a few times and then decide whether you want to widen your grip or you want to make it more narrow. Inhale, up and back, up and forward, up and back, up and forward, up and back, up and forward. Now it's getting a little comfortable for me, so I'm going to walk my hand one step closer. Up and back, up, forward. If you notice, my elbows are straight throughout, so I don't want you to bend the elbows anywhere, so be mindful of that. Up and back, up and forward, up and back, up and forward, two more, up and back, up and forward. Last one, up and back, up and forward. Nice, you can keep the strap away now.

And lie down on your back. Bend both your knees, place your feet hip width apart, press into your feet, palms down, inhale and lift your hips up into Setu Bandhasana. Try to lift up as much as you can for one, two, three, four, five. Slowly come back down.

Now we're going to get into our practice of Chakrasana. You can do a half Chakrasana where you just place the top of the head down. Those of you who are very comfortable, I want you to lift up fully. Now if you are already comfortable with Chakrasana, then you don't need this modification. But if you're just learning, you need some stability, some support, what you can do is use your strap again. If you have a yoga strap, I want you to find a loop like this with a strap. So I've made a loop using the buckle. Now I'm going to open out this loop so that it matches the width of my shoulders. Okay, so if I put my hands here, this is a little narrow so I'll open it out a bit. I want you to keep it shoulder width apart so that you have that space.

How this helps is mostly in Chakrasana, when you're lifting up, you don't end up pushing up because your elbows start falling outwards. If the elbows start falling outwards like this, then it's very hard to push the upper body up. In order for you to lift the upper body, you need this engagement. So using this strap, we'll keep your elbows parallel to each other and it'll give you that support. So I'm going to slide my hands and you're going to place this strap right above the elbow. Okay, it might feel like it's coming on your face but when you lift up, it won't be in the way, trust me.

So from here, you're going to lie down on your back, take both your palms behind your shoulders. Now your fingertips should be pointing towards the shoulders here on both sides. As you inhale, you're going to press into your feet, lift the hips up first. First, hips up like Setu Bandhasana, then press into the palms and start lifting up, place the top of the head on the mat. Let's stay here. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly come back down and relax.

Once you start getting more and more comfortable with this, then you can start to let go of the strap. You would have developed that strength to keep your elbows parallel to each other. Then we can go for a round of full Chakrasana. So place the palms behind the shoulders. First step is always tuck your tailbone so there's no pressure or pinching in your lower back. Lift the hips up, press into your palms, lift up all the way. Now start shifting your weight towards your palms, breathe. If you're very comfortable, you can even walk your palms one step back. Slowly, bring the back of your head down and hug the knees into your chest.

From here, let's open the arms out, shoulder level on both sides. Drop both your knees to the right side, turn your head to the left. Press the thighs down with your hands. One, two, three, four, five. Come back to center. Drop the knees to the left, turn your head to the right. One, two, three, four, five. Back to center. Bring your feet down. Stand both your legs forward. Rest into your Shavasana.

That was day six of our seven day series. This is Yoga & You, from India, with love and light. Thank you so much for joining me on day six, and I will see you next one, day seven.