Yoga Sequence to Open the Throat and the Abdomen: Opening the Breath Part 3

Buy the Download of This Page as Narrated by the Author:

 

Turn over to lie on the front of your body for an acupressure release to your head/neck/face.

Options: If you are unable to lie comfortably on your front body, turning your head to the side, skip this position and move ahead to perform the Sphinx. You will experience acupressure relief while in Child’s Fold.

If bending forward into Child’s Fold is also not an option, you may experience acupressure relief seated in any upright position comfortable to your body.

Remember, there is always, always another way to practice.

Lying on Front Body, Acupressure Relief to Head/Neck/Face – Image

Use this position to continue to relax, releasing the muscles of the face – the eye bone/temple/cheek/jawbone areas – through acupressure.

Technique:

Lie on your front body, arms extended by your side, palm up, with weight on your chin. Turn your head slightly to one side, and press weight into the area that runs from the inner eye bone to the cheek beside the nose, to the inner jaw bone beside the mouth. Even when the neck muscles are tight, most people can safely make this slight turn. Breathe. Relax the muscles that run along these bones. Observe the easing, the release that comes to your process of breath.

Turn your head from the side, back to the center, to rest for a moment with your weight on your chin.

Turn your head in the opposite direction, pressing down to release the inner face.

The pressure into these tightened areas brings a wonderful sense of easing. It is surprising to see how much tension we unknowingly store in our face.

If you know your neck can handle a greater stretch, turn you head further to the side so that you massage and press into the muscles of the outer face – along the outer eye bone, the temple area, the outer cheek area, the outer jawbone.

Run the same process of movement: turning, pressing through the inner face, along the cheekbone, to the outer face, where you press and hold.

As you turn and press from side to side, spend a moment in the center, weight on your chin, observing yourself, what you sense, what you feel.

Tips for Mind Body Power: Make this series of movements as many times as is comfortable for you, honoring what your body tells you. If you feel you need to be careful, less repetition is always better than more. Adding to your next practice is a safe use of the body. Overdoing brings injury which then requires recovery before doing anything. Remember your mind/body rule: Honor the body as we find it at the moment. Watch it change. Patience is part of honoring. Process is part of honoring. We do not get messed up in a day, so why do we expect to get out of it like that? I guess we’re human. So, laugh at yourself while you work with yourself. It makes change fun.

Sphinx: – Image

Head in the center, lying on your front body, weight on your chin, lift your front body up so that you support your upper body weight on your forearms, for your next pose, the Sphinx.

Tips for Mind Body Power: As you assume your position, if you image the Sphinx, sitting proudly on the dessert in Egypt, you come to sense the strength within this pose. So many of the yoga postures assume an animal posture or stance for the inherent qualities found therein. This is certainly true of holding your body in the Sphinx. Sometimes the simple movements have the most significance. It’s not the pretzel posture that brings the essence. It is instead the holding and quiet in the simple movements. Yoga asana truly means holding a firm seat. Truth is always simple, like the statement in faith that tells you to come as a little child.

Technique:

Support your weight on your forearms, stretching your upper back into a comfortable arc. Tuck your pelvis under, directing the pubic bone into the mat, to protect your lower back.

Press your arms down and stretch your back up, while you ground your pelvis.

Move the shoulder blades into the back body, opening the front body.

Holding this position, focus between the shoulder blades. Allow the love in the Heart (image back body) to come up to open the Throat. Working to open these two chakra energy centers will assist you.

Gems and Synergy Points: The yogis knew of the energy centers, of how they work, and the poses call upon you to work with them. The Western approach to yoga is of a gym mindset and mostly omits speaking of the power in the yogic energy use of the body. When you understand the nature of what you are doing, you can in fact more fully help yourself. This is why I add these notes for you in the form of Gem or Synergy points. These are the beauty and strength which the modalities have to gift to you. So, why not know it? My interpretation is a blend of experience in the practice of esoteric healing, and the study/work within Ayurvedic and Chinese qigong/medical thought. Feeling energy, seeing it, you dabble in it, looking for the answers of the ancient energy practices. The gem or synergy in Sphinx will be discussed in full following the routine.

 

Author: admin

Comments are closed.