Benefits:

For your body:

• Stretches your diaphragm muscle increasing lung expansion
• Engages your lumbar fascia to help promote a healthy low-back
• Opens your chest, shoulders, upper back and gently stretches the back of your neck

For your mind:

• Allows you to release tension in your mind, by relieving pressure on the front portion of your brain
• Letting go gives you space to think clearer
• Lowering the speed of your thoughts this way can help your problem-solving skills

For your spirit:

• You feel an almost primordial form your body once took
• Your heart is opened to the world in front of you and you can embrace it
• Connect with your own knowledge and allow that knowledge to give you the confidence to learn more and embrace more knowledge that comes your way with love and grace

(Your body is your own so be sure to do these poses the certain way your body needs to do them, not the way my body does them in the pictures.)

Modifications:

• Tuck your toes or bend your knees
• Lay down on a body pillow to release pain if a firm floor or yoga mat causes you to feel pain
• Allow hands-on assistance to give you a more grounded feeling as you perform this pose

Pose Description:

1. Start from a push-up position.
2. Lower to a forearm plank position.
3. Dorsi flex one foot at a time and lower to your quads.
4. Maintain your shoulders and forearms.
5. Suction your palms to the mat.
6. Lengthen your inner adductor muscles.
7. Big toes touch and all ten toenails to the mat.
8. Gaze forward and relax your eyes.
9. Breathe here for a few cycles.