YOGA QUICK FIXES
ANYONE can do yoga — and you don’t need to go to class regularly to start seeing the benefits. Each week yoga instructor Janine Thomas, right, takes one pose and explains how it can help to ease common health complaints. All it takes is ten minutes, in the comfort of your own home, or you can slot it into your regular exercise regime. This week: How supported shoulderstand can shake up your world...
THE POSE
STUCK in a rut? We all need a fresh perspective sometimes. And what better way to do this than by, quite literally, turning your world upside down?
On a physical level, supported shoulderstand, or salamba sarvangasana, is a brave pose that gets you out of your comfort zone. It stretches the shoulders and neck and demands strong core and back strength, which means the full pose is not for beginners.
It’s a funny feeling, going upside down, but it comes with many benefits. Gravity means the brain gets more blood — and more oxygen — and the accompanying head rush is physically and mentally energising. Shoulderstand gives the l ymphatic system a shake-up too, which may well give your immune system a little boost. And for many, it soothes the nerves and relieves stress.
Most of all, though, it’s fun. Turning yourself upside down is a silly, crazy thing to do that builds confidence and helps you to look at life in a different way.
THE POSE
LAY down on a carpet or mat. You can have a folded blanket under your upper back and shoulders for comfort (neck and head on the carpet), but I didn’t use one here.
Draw your knees into the chest and take your arms to the sides. Feel your breath, soft and steady, as it travels in and out of the body. Roll back, if you can, so your hips lift off the ground, and take your hands onto the back, keeping your elbows shoulderwidth apart on the ground (see pic 1).
If you have trouble lifting the hips, make it your mission to improve core strength and stick to legs-up-the-wall pose for now (described below). If this is your limit today, stay in a half shoulderstand and get accustomed to that feeling of being upside down. Keep looking upwards to protect the neck.
For the full pose, ‘walk’ your hands down the back to bring the chest as close to the chin as possible. This brings the legs, hips and shoulders into alignment. Come back to the breath. Keep working actively by tucking your tailbone under, opening the chest, using your abs and working your legs as if you were standing on the ground.
To release, bend your knees towards the chest and lay your arms down on the mat. Use your arms as brakes as you lower the hips down very slowly. Stay here, hugging knees into chest, for several breaths.
CAN ANYONE HAVE A GO?
THIS is one pose that I wouldn’t recommend if you have an acute shoulder or neck injury. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart problems, epilepsy or eye issues such as glaucoma or detached retina, any inverted poses are best avoided, too. Some women don’t like doing shoulderstand when they have their period, either.
Don’t write it off, though. There are alternatives that still give the benefits of an inversion. Try legs up-the-wall pose: lay on your back, bottom against the skirting board, and raise the legs up the wall.