Yoga: a man’s Guide: The 30 Most Powerful Yoga Poses to Sharpen Your Mind and Strengthen Your Body \(Just 10 Minutes a Day!, Yoga Mastery Series\) pdfdrive com

Cat Pose
Cow Pose
Day 4: Cat-Cow Pose
Step 1:
Start with both hands and knees on the floor. Be sure to keep your knees
under the hips and wrists under the shoulders. Your spine should be neutral and

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back flat. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged and breath in deeply.
Step 2:
As you exhale, round the spine upward as far as you can towards the
ceiling. It helps if you imagine pulling your belly button into your spine. At the
same time pull your chin into your chest and relax your neck. This would be
considered the cat pose.
Step 3:
When you inhale, arch the back and relax your stomach, keeping
everything loose. Raise your head and tailbone upward making sure not to add
pressure to your neck. This would be considered the cow pose.
Step 4:
Flow back and forth from cat to cow for as long as you like, just be sure
to connect the movements with your breathing and really stay conscious of each
vertebrae as you inhale and exhale.
Again, you can do this for as long as you wish. It’s a great spinal warming
exercise and helps alleviate low back pain. I recommend at least 1 minute.

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Day 5: Forward Fold
Step 1:
Stand in Mountain pose with your hands on your hips. As you exhale,
bend slowly forward at your hips. At the same time you should be drawing your
stomach inward and engaging your abdominal muscles. You want to focus on
lengthening your mid-section as you descend.
Step 2:
Now, with your knees as straight as you can keep them, place your
fingertips or palms on the floor in front of you. If this is too much of a stretch
just grab wherever you can reach to—maybe your ankles or even your calves.

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Remember not to push yourself too hard.
Step 3:
Press your heels into the floor and lift your butt into the air. As you
inhale, focus on lengthening your mid-section. As you exhale release yourself
deeper into the forward bend.
Step 4:
Be mindful of your neck and keep it loose—let it hang freely.
Stay in this pose for 1 minute and then gently bring yourself out of it by unrolling
your torso as you inhale.

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