So you have Backache and aching legs due to bad posture? – Part two of six

So you have Backache and aching legs due to bad posture?

The last of the seated postures: Samasana or (The Symmetrical Pose)

Sit down on the floor and bend the right leg, placing the heel against the pubic bone and resting against the left thigh. Bend the left leg and place the foot over the right one so that the heel is set against the pubic bone and the toes are pushed between the right thigh and calf. People who cannot master the other three seated postures I have described are often able to sit down in Samasana without difficulty or discomfort. All three positions will hold the spine in a naturally erect position and so promote better posture.

The effective functioning of the entire organism is closely linked to the healthy condition of the spinal column and cord. As your body grows older there is a tendency for the vertebrae to become rigid especially after a lifetime of abuse in the form of bad sitting, walking or standing. If the body is habitually held in postures which involve slouching the spinal column tends to get out of alignment. In discussing this problem of backache we must face the fact that much of it is due to bad posture. Cure the one and the other disappears, and automatically there is an improvement in the genera! health and well-being.
I must warn you before I go any farther that a few days practice of the asanas I will describe in this chapter will not eliminate the effects of years of bad posture. If you would cure your backache, your round shoulders, and your rather ungraceful carriage you will have to work at it. You must keep a wary eye open at all times to see if you are slouching. People who work at typewriters are among the worst offenders here. Do sit with the base of your spine firmly against the back of your chair so that the back of it supports the lower back. Sit erect at all times and soon it will become a healthy habit.
The following simple exercise will help to limber up the spine and prepare it for more difficult postures. It is easy and bracing and is a vital first blow in our battle against bad posture.
Try this when you get out of bed in the morning.

The Half Somersault
1.    Sit down cross-legged and grasp your toes with your arms outside your knees.
2.    Bend forward and try to touch the floor with your forehead. No? Well bend forward as far as you can.
3.    Still holding your toes straighten your back and at the same time inhale deeply through the nose.
4.    Hold your breath for a moment and then bend forward again while exhaling and when your lungs are empty roll backwards keeping your chin pressed firmly down into your chest in the chin lock I have mentioned before.
5.    Roll forwards once more while inhaling until your spine is straight. Hold this position while you complete your inhalation.
6.    While exhaling through your mouth bend forward once more to the starting position.

And that is all.
Very easy this one, but two points to remember. The whole exercise should be performed slowly and rhythmically, with nasal inhalations and oral exhalations. It is best performed with the eyes closed which are very calming to the mind and nerves. The benefits are many but principally the Half Somersault brings into play the muscles of the back, toning and stretching the whole of the spinal column.

Keep coming back here for not just tips on real health issues, but more on the ancient practice of Hatha Yoga, which is now widely accepted in the western world especially in the USA.
Better late than never I say “quote Gaylene Slater”
Or you can hit the buy now button on the right of this article and purchase this great book in one complete hit and be reading it within minutes!

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If you are suffering from Backache and aching legs due to bad posture, – Part one of sixread on.

If you are suffering from Backache and aching legs due to bad posture, read on.

HAVE we not often admired the graceful and dignified carriage of the average Indian man and woman, the coltish grace of their brown-limbed children? There is no magical secret to this natural grace; it is simply that in the East there are two natural sitting positions which are adopted from early childhood. One of these is cross-legged, whether in the so-called tailor fashion or with the soles upturned, in the classical Lotus Posture. The other is on the haunches with the feet flat on the floor.

Americans complain that the cross-legged and squatting positions are unnatural and so they are—to those who are used to sitting on chairs. But in the East they are so accustomed to sitting like that that they actually find it more comfortable than any other position. Years of sitting in these positions tends automatically to hold the spine in a naturally erect position, not rigidly straight as some people seem to think, but held with its natural curves in the right place. And so, in walking the spine is also held naturally and gracefully and this is the simple ‘secret’ behind the superb carriage of the average Indian.

I do not for one moment expect the average American who reads this book to acquire the habit of sitting down in the Lotus Pose or even in one of the easier cross-legged poses. These positions should be included in the daily schedule of Yoga exercises and held for a limited time only unless you wish to proceed to the more contemplative forms of Yoga. The Lotus Posture, though graceful and serene in appearance is difficult and painful for the beginner and likewise the Half-Lotus position I have demonstrated on the cover.
However, there are three cross-legged poses which are not beyond the reach of the suppler among you; though I warn you that even quite young people in their early twenties sometimes have knees so stiff that they cannot sit cross-legged on the floor. I will describe these seated postures in turn, beginning with the LOTUS POSITION and you can try them for yourself.

1.    Lotus Position
The advantage of this position is that it forms a symmetrical and firm seat so that the Yogis, in states of deep spiritual trance, did not overbalance. Sit down on the floor with your legs stretched out, feet together. Take the right foot in both hands and place it high up on the left thigh. The right knee should be pressed firmly to the floor. Take the left foot in both hands and draw it gently over the bent right leg so that the left foot is placed on the right thigh.
2.    Siddhasana (Half-Lotus position)
If you are unable to master the Lotus position this one is considered by many to be somewhat easier, and at the same time more comfortable. Certainly it is preferred by many Yogis to the full Lotus Pose.  Sit down as before and place one foot with the heel against the perineum. The other foot is then placed on the opposite thigh with the heel pressed against the pubic bone. The hands should be placed as in the Lotus Pose, with the thumb and first fingers joined and the palms upwards.
3.    Easy Pose
Sit down on the floor, tailor fashion, with the heel of one foot touching the perineum and the heel of the other underneath the opposite ankle. This is considerably easier than either the Lotus or Half Lotus positions.

If you are very stiff and find all three of these positions agonizing, then please do not pursue the matter. I do not want you to suffer unnecessary pain, but if you think you possibly could master one or all of them then do try for the sake of your posture.

Keep coming back here for not just tips on real health issues, but more on the ancient practice of Hatha Yoga, which is now widely accepted in the western world especially in the USA.
Better late than never I say “quote Gaylene Slater”
Or you can hit the buy now button on the right of this article and purchase this great book in one complete hit and be reading it within minutes!

Arthritis and rheumatism – Part one of two

Arthritis and rheumatism

ONE of Yoga’s answers to the problems with which this Article series is concerned reads a little like black magic.
Still it adds a touch of the bizarre and the exotic to this exacting science of discipline and, as with all Yoga practices; there is sound good sense behind its methods.

The Indians claim that people who are afflicted with arthritis or allied complaints should keep a raw, unpeeled, winter-crop potato—yes, I did say a potato!—close to their skin day and night until the condition is relieved. It sounds a little like an old gipsy legend and as a matter of fact I did meet a gipsy some time ago who was afflicted with arthritis in the shoulders.

I told him this Yoga story about keeping a potato near one’s skin and he looked at me in sheer amazement. He was completely puzzled as to how I had got hold of this old ‘gipsy’ secret, so it seems that way back in time, gipsy or Yogi, they had respect for the humble potato as a powerful cure for arthritis.

It need not be a very large potato as apparently the smaller ones work just as efficiently and I must say more conveniently. An over-large potato carried upon the person could lead to all kinds of questions and complications. The potato should be discarded when it either grows very hard like a stone or else becomes soft and wrinkled, and should be replaced by a fresh one, but make quite sure it is a winter-crop one.

You could keep it in your pocket during the day and at night slip it into the toe of an old stocking and draw the other end over your hand so that the potato does not roll away from you while you sleep. If you are married this practice could produce some hilarity from your partner but the laugh would be yours if you cured your arthritis by this unorthodox method.

So bear with the jeers of your mate and try the experiment. You may be agreeably surprised.
For good measure, while you are on the potato cure, you should drink potato water, which is one of the very best alkalizing drinks and helps the system to eliminate the impurities which are to blame for your complaint. To prepare this drink and it need not be unpalatable if you flavour it well, wash four or five fairly large potatoes but do not peel them. Put them in a saucepan with two pints of water and bring to the boil. Simmer them slowly for about an hour and then strain through a fine sieve or cloth.

Drink the water first thing in the morning, at least once or twice during the day, and just before you slip your hand into that stocking with the potato in it before you hop into bed at night. If you visit your local health shop you will find all kinds of vegetable extracts and salts with which to make your potato water more drinkable.

It is also highly beneficial to arthritis sufferers to eat one or two finely grated raw potatoes, including the skin, every day. I know it sounds revolting but, added to soups, stews, salads or vegetables just before serving you would hardly know it was there! However, your system will know it is there and react ”n a very favourable way. It is worth trying is it not? and I would be most interested to hear from my readers who notice an improvement in their condition through the ‘potato cure’.

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Arthritis and rheumatism – Part two of two. And now for the PLOUGH POSTURE:

Arthritis and rheumatism - Part two of two. And now for the PLOUGH POSTURE:

1. Lie down on your back, feet together and hands along your sides. Raise your legs and buttocks off the ground and as you put your hands on your hips to steady yourself push your legs over your head while keeping your knees straight.
2. Bend your legs backwards until your toes touch the ground. Press your chin firmly against your chest in a chin lock and place your hands, palms down, facing the opposite way to your legs. Your body now roughly resembles an old-fashioned plough. Try to increase the stretch of your spine by pushing your toes away from your head as far as you can.

Your hands may be placed in two other ways if you wish. One way is to lace them together and place them behind your head just above the neck and the other is to keep them on the hips as in stage one. Indeed this way may help you to push your body over a little more and increase the stretch of the spine.

Some of my older readers may find difficulty with Halasana at first so try it this way. Take your starting position with your head two, three, or more feet away from the wall according to your height and convenience. When you swing your legs over your head your toes will touch the wall. Try then to walk down the wall with your toes, but gently please. Do not try to force your toes lower down the wall than they will comfortably go, otherwise an enraged and rigid muscle could repay your lack of consideration by giving you agony for weeks, which would have the effect of scaring you away for evermore from this most valuable posture. So careful, please.

When you are able to perform this Plough Posture to your liking try to increase, all the time, the overall stretch, as this position is most beneficial when carried to its extreme form, i.e. with the toes at the maximum distance from the head and the chin pressed firmly into the middle of the chest.
The way you unwind yourself from the Plough Posture is equally important as the way you get into it.

Performed in its correct way, the unwinding of the Plough requires considerable muscular control so, as always, go slowly at first and constant practice will give you the control you need. As you unwind this posture keep your head on the floor throughout until you return to the starting position flat on your back. Your natural tendency will be to raise your head as you unwind but, although you must do it this way when you first begin, always bear in mind what you are aiming for.

The keeping of your head on the floor increases the work on your dorsal and abdominal muscles and gives them a very powerful massage and exercise. As you unwind bend your knees as this will make things easier for you than keeping them straight, and above all unwind slowly-
This posture is, as you will have realized by now, deceptively simple looking. Graceful in execution and beautiful in its static stage, nevertheless it uses a lot of muscles which you may seldom have used before in this particular manner, and it also requires a high degree of muscular control to perform it to perfection.

When you can do this classical Plough Posture perfectly you might like to try three variations, just to add variety to your daily practice schedule. In each case the posture will limber the spine, keep it more supple and youthful and therefore discourage arthritis and rheumatism.

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The final of Suffering from Asthma, bronchitis, and hay fever cure articles

Still Suffering from Asthma, bronchitis, and hay fever? – Part four of four

After this article you should with completing these exercises be a heck of a lot healthier and not just from asthma, bronchitis and hay fever, please read on…

BREATH, or BHASTRIKA.

However deeply we inhale and however thoroughly we exhale, there always remains in the lungs a residue of stale air. It is vital to clear this out to ensure a complete renovation of air and Yoga’s unique method of doing this is this exercise.

1. Sit down on a hard chair with your feet flat on the floor, your hands on your knees palms down and your spine erect.

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