Yoga for Circulation

Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga & You. I am Sanjana Prasad. In today's video we are going to practice a flow to help with healthy circulation. By stretching the body and by creating compression we are using the practice to enhance the circulation in the body. Let's get into it, step on your mat, let's get started.

We are going to start off in Vajrasana. Feel free to modify if you want to use a cushion under your knees or your ankles, make sure you are comfortable. We start off with a few lateral bends here, again very, very beneficial for the spine to free up the sides of the body. We are going to bring your fingertips down on either side of the hips. As you exhale, we are going to lift your left arm up, bend towards the right side. Inhale, center, exhale to the left. Inhale, center, exhale to the right. Inhale, center, exhale to the left. Inhale, center, exhale to the right. Inhale, center, exhale to the left.

Now this time I want you to create a nice circle, there is a slight forward fold with the body. As you take the right hand down, you are going to lift your hips up and stretch the left leg out, creating this nice, beautiful diagonal line. Now exhale, down, inhale and open up. Exhale, down, inhale and thrust the hip forward, open the chest. Exhale, down, inhale, open up to more. Exhale, inhale, last one, exhale and inhale, exhale and down. Take the forehead down, stay there, breathe, one, feel that compression around the belly, two, three, four, five, vertebra by vertebra, roll your spine up.

I am going to show you the next one from the side so that you can see it better. We are going to do a modified cat-camel here again. You are going to take your arms behind your back. Inhale, interlock the fingers, lift the chest up. Exhale, interlock the fingers in front of you, palms facing away from you, round your back. Inhale and arch the back. Exhale, round your back, two, inhale and arch the back. Exhale and round your back, three, inhale, arch the back. Exhale and round your back, four, last one, inhale and arch the back. Exhale, round your back, five. Release, come back to a neutral position.

Place your palms down on the mat, step back. You are going to prepare for downward facing dog. So tuck the toes, lift your hips up. Try to press the heels down as much as you can. Stay here, breathe, three, two, one.

From here, you are going to lift your right leg up, keep the knees straight. Allow your hip to open. It is fine, bend the knees if you can open the hip further. Stay there and from here, you are going to bring your right foot forward between your palms. Keep the back knee off the floor, lift your chest up. I don't want you to collapse into the back heel. Keep the back heel lifted up. Interlock your fingers, lunge deep. Open your chest and stay here for one, two, three, four, five. Exhale, bend forward. Keep lifting the arms away from the back. One, two, three, four, five. Release the hands down.

Now you are going to take the right leg all the way back up. So push the hips back, take the leg up first and then bring it down. Adjust your down dog. Let's repeat this to the other side. Lift the left leg up, bend the knee. Allow the hip to open up. And from here, you are going to take the foot between your hands. Come up all the way and show the back heel is lifted, lunge deep. Interlock your fingers, roll your shoulder back, chest up. One, two, you can feel the heat building up in the body. Three, four, five. Exhale and surrender, bend forward. One, two, three, four, five. Release your hands, arms on the floor. Now take the left leg all the way up first and then we are going to step it down.

From here, you are going to step the right foot outside of your right palm, left foot outside of the left palm, squat down into Malasana, palms at the heart center. Push your knees out. One, two, three, keep breathing steady, long breath. Four, five. Place the hands down in front of you. Straighten your legs, turn your feet forward into a forward fold. Feel free to keep the knees bent. Now hold onto the opposite elbows. Let your upper body hang loose over the legs. You can do a gentle rock side to side. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly bring the hands down.

Now you are going to step your feet back into plank. Let's take the right foot back, left foot back, come into a nice plank position. Hold. Entire body is engaged. Knees are straight. Glutes are active. Lean forward. One, two, three, four, five. Drop the knees down. Bring your chest and chin down. Lie down on the belly.

Now we did the plank only for five counts. If you feel like you have the time and you have the energy, you can also hold it for longer. You can also repeat this sequence a couple of times to really bring in that energy, that circulation, and that heat.

Head down to the floor. Bring your hands down by the sides of the body. Feet can be slightly apart, but I don't want you to let the heels collapse outwards. Heels are going to be neutral. From here, as you inhale, lift your chest up. Turn your palms outwards, so you are externally rotating from the shoulder, opening up. Exhale, down. Inhale, exhale, down. Three more. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, down. Last two. Inhale, up. Exhale, down. One last time. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, and down. Bring the palms on either side of the chest. Tuck the toes. Lift your hips up into downward dog.

From downward dog, we are going to create a little bit of compression here. Take your right foot towards the left, foot to the right. You are really crunching the body here, and then slowly sit down. As you sit down, extend your legs forward into Navasana. Modify variation with the knees bent. One, two, three, four, five. Cross the legs and hug your knees into the chest. One, two, three, four, five.

From here, you are going to do a low Navasana. So extend the legs forward, lower back towards the floor and stay. One, two, three, four, five. Use the strength in the belly to come up. Cross, hug, one, two. You can also use your hands to push yourself up. Four, five. Now keeping the thighs close to you, vertebra by vertebra, try to roll your spine down.

Lie down on your back. Once you are on your back, open your arms out shoulder level on both sides. Lift both your legs up to 90 degrees. Let's stay here. One, two, four, five, six, seven, eight. Open your legs into a wide V position. Hold it here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Now you are going to bend the knees. Take your hands in between the legs. Hold the arches of your feet. Bring your knees towards the armpits. Happy baby pose. One, two, three, four, five. Keep your knees bent. Bring your feet down on the mat.

Setu Bandhasana, bridge pose. Press into the feet. Inhale and lift your hips up. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly bring your hips down.

We are going to move into the practice of Sarvangasana, an excellent practice for improving blood circulation and venous return of the blood. It is also a very calming posture. So you are going to bring your legs forward for this one. And as you exhale, let's lift the legs up and slowly lift the hips up and support the lower back. From here you are going to start lifting your hips higher. Bring the palms towards the mid back. Extend the legs up. Stay there. Breathe. We are holding it only for eight here, but I highly recommend you holding the inversions for longer to better the circulation. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Exhale. If you are comfortable, take the legs behind the head. You can stop halfway or go all the way down. One, two, three. You can interlock the fingers or continue supporting the back. Four, five. Vertebra by vertebra, roll your spine down.

As your legs come down we get into the counter pose. Lift your head up. You are on your elbows for support. Lift the chest up. Drop the crown of the head down. Stay there for one, two, three, four, five. Exhale and lift the head up and slowly lie down on your back. Relax in your shavasana.

Feel free to stay longer in the postures and also the portion between the downward dog and the crescent lunge. You can feel free to repeat it a couple of times if you have the time and you want to build more energy and heat in the body and definitely hold your inversions for longer. There is also another detailed video about how to move in and out of Sarvangasana safely.