Yoga Posture of the Month For February – The Cat – Marjaryasana

February 08th, 2017

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The Cat Posture – Marjaryasana

If January has left you feeling a little “out of sorts” then this is a wonderful sequence to re-establish harmony between your body, breath and mind.

Benefits

• Improves co-ordination
• Lengthens the spine
• Expands the rib cage
• Deepens the breath
• Gently massages the internal organs

How to do it

I reach this posture by asking my students to move the spine from the tailbone up, rather than leading with the head:

• Begin in an all-fours position, hands under shoulders, knees under your hips
• Breathe out first
• As you breathe in, lift your tail bone and gently allow your spine to dip
• Feel your head responding by lifting
• Make sure you don’t put pressure onto the back of your neck – keep it long
• As you breathe out, lower your tail bone and tuck it under and feel your back gently arching
• Feel you head respond by lowering
• Try to feel the movement like a wave, travelling along the spine as you breathe in and out
• Repeat 3 or 4 times and focus on working with focus so that your breath and your movement last for the same length of time
• Kneel back and relax when you finish

Things to watch

• Work gently and develop a sensitive approach to the posture
• Remain focussed so that you can co-ordinate breathing and movement
• Ensure your weight is light on your wrists
• If you feel pressure in your wrists, rest on your forearms instead or place your hands on small blocks and allow the fingers to relax over the edge of the blocks

Here is a link for more info about the posture including contra-indications: http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/cat-pose/

Izzy Ixer

British Wheel of Yoga Dip Yoga Tutor and Coach

You can find out more about Izzy here and about yoga at the Centre here

Twitter @IzzyIxer or @IzzyYoga

 

 

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