Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is from Sanskrit; Urdhva meaning Upward, Mukha meaning Face, Svana meaning Dog and Asana meaning Posture or Pose. Upward-Facing Dog is a powerful yoga pose that will rouse the upper body, help you build strength and provide you with a gentle backbend in preparation for deeper backbends. This pose is normally part of the traditional Sun Salutation sequence in Ashtanga and other Vinyasa yoga classes and is most often practiced with Downward-Facing Dog. Like Downward Dog this pose is named after the behavior of a stretching dog after a long nap!

Although this pose may appear to be simple, it offers more than its share of proper alignment and challenges. Despite its seemingly simple nature, this posture offers many benefits and can help advance your yoga practice in a variety of ways.

Modifications & Variations
Upward-Facing Dog provides a deep stretch to the entire spine and front torso. Be careful not to force your body into the pose. Practice this pose slowly and come out of the pose if you feel any pain or pinching sensations.

It takes time to build the flexibility and strength for Upward-Facing Dog. Practice Cobra Pose as an alternative pose if Upward-Facing Dog is not yet possible for you.

If your feet and ankles are stiff, from Chaturanga into Upward-Facing Dog, let your thighs come to the floor, then turn your feet over one at a time.

If you find it difficult to keep your legs lifted off the mat, place your thighs on the floor.
 
 

While Padmasana (Lotus Pose) may seem simple, it is considered an intermediate to advanced pose and may not be comfortable for beginners. Lotus Pose is sitting cross-legged with the spine vertically straight, making it ideal for meditation and concentration.
Padmasana in Sanskrit, comes from the words padma (meaning lotus) and sana (meaning seat or throne). The lotus, a sacred aquatic plant, is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols and one of Buddhism’s most recognized motifs. Traditional Hindu texts says that Padmasana destroys all disease and awakens kundalini (a dormant energy residing at the base of the spine that can be awakened through meditation and yoga).

Getting into Lotus Pose

1. Sit on the floor with your legs extended. Bend your right knee and hug it to your chest. Then, bring your right ankle to the crease of your left hip so the sole of your right foot faces the sky. The top of your foot should rest on your hip crease. Then, bend your left knee. Cross your left ankle over the top of your right shin. The sole of your left foot should also face upwards, and the top of your foot and ankle should rest on your hip crease.
2. Draw your knees as close together as possible. Press your groins toward the floor and sit up straight.
3. Rest your hands on your knees with your palms facing up. Bring your hands into Gyan Mudra by creating a circle with each index finger and thumb, keeping the rest of the fingers extended. Hold for up to one minute during your yoga practice or for the duration of your pranayama practice.
4. Release the pose slowly and gently extending both legs along the floor, and then rest in Savasana (Corpse Pose) for at least five minutes.

 
Caution
Avoid practicing this pose if you have recent or chronic injury to the knees, ankles, or hips. Lotus Pose requires a great deal of flexibility and self-awareness to be performed correctly. If you do not yet have the flexibility to practice this pose, practice Half Lotus (Ardha Padmasana) or Easy Pose (Sukhasana) until you become more flexible.
 
Remember to always practice yoga within your own range of limits and abilities. If you have any medical conditions or concerns, talk with your doctor prior to any yoga practice.

Yoga can sometimes be challenging. We all face challenges in our yoga practice. Challenges on the yoga mat aren’t usually as hard as the everyday challenges we face in life. What do you do when you tell yourself you can’t do something? How does it make you feel and what do you do about it?

So, what if you can’t touch your toes, stand on your head or bind your hands together in an asana? Or perhaps the challenge is getting on your mat consistently?

It doesn’t matter if you can do fancy yoga poses. What matters is how you learn to embrace what seems impossible. Can you work at something again and again that you tell yourself you can’t do? If you can manifest this attitude on your yoga mat, you can bring this new skill into your life. Imagine how much more you can achieve! You will find that the willingness to step into the space of what you thought was impossible, gradually, yet consistently, gives life more meaning and possibilities. Yoga has taught me patience and perseverance and sometimes I feel unstoppable.

How can you meet the difficulties on your yoga mat? Here are some tips:

• Listen to your body, yoga isn’t about doing more than what you can, it’s about exploring your current limitations, safely and consistently.
• Practice often and appreciate that there are poses you can’t do yet.
• Avoid getting overwhelmed; choose a maximum of 3 yoga poses to work on in any practice.
• If you are going to repeat a yoga pose, do it a maximum of 3 times. If you have done it 3 times, move on.
• Figure out what is making the pose challenging for you. When in doubt, ask a yoga teacher for guidance. Perhaps some other poses can help.
• Keep a sense of humor and perspective. Don’t take your yoga practice too seriously. Remember it’s just practice and just like in life we need a sense of humor. The journey and the humility you learn are much more important.
• Be kind and gentle to yourself; in those times when you feel as though you can’t go any further, just showing up on the mat is enough.
• You may feel resistance, acknowledge it but don’t let it control you.

​As challenging as some yoga postures may seem, the key is perseverance. Listen to your body and safely explore your limitations, don't get overwhelmed, figure out where the challenges lie, don't take yourself too seriously and don't let resistance overpower you. Accept yoga as a lifestyle that needs to be learned and practiced with gratitude and patience.

The practice of yoga has been around for years benefiting both mental and physical health. These benefits help to improve balance, increase flexibility and strength, reduce cholesterol levels and promote heart health. Yoga can even trigger and boost energy thanks to deep breathing (pranayama), energizing both the body and mind. Yoga can be a great way to clear the mind and calm your stress. So, skip the morning cup of coffee and practice these seven yoga poses for more energy! It’s a quick and natural way to charge up your morning without coffee, energy drinks, or cold showers.
 
Tree Pose (Vriksasana) strengthens your spine and improves neuromuscular coordination. The pose elevates your mental faculties and builds strength in your shoulders. It stretches your chest, inner thighs and improves your sense of balance.

Chair Pose (Utkatasana) stretches your torso, hips and lower back. It increases your mind’s determination and stimulates your heart. The pose relieves joint and back pains. It tones your legs and strengthens your calves. Utkatasana increases the power and flexibility of your thighs.

Camel Pose (Ustrasana) opens your chest and the front of your torso. It strengthens your back and shoulders. The pose alleviates pain in the lower back and makes your spine more flexible. It strengthens your thighs and arms. Ustrasana tones your neck and cures constipation.

Bridge Pose gives strength to your legs, arms, buttocks and lower back. It stimulates the thyroid gland. The pose helps with asthma and stretches your core. It reduces depression and makes you feel energetic and full of life.

Pigeon Pose (Kapotasana) strengthens and stretches the joints and muscles of your legs. It reduces blood pressure and increases the intake of oxygen into your body. The pose treats urinary disorders and reduces stiffness in the hip, back and shoulder regions.

Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) stimulates the digestive system and tones the organs of your lower abdomen. It regulates metabolism and gives your lungs a good stretch. This pose improves blood and oxygen circulation throughout the body. It elevates your mind and decreases stiffness in the lower back.
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Child’s Pose (Balasana) is a wonderful grounding, nurturing pose perfect to counter busy-ness and over-stimulation of the mind; allowing you to rest, slow down and breathe. It also helps to soothe a stiff lower back. 

Savasana is from the Sanskrit word "shava," which means "corpse." To do this pose, lie on your back, close your eyes, and spread your arms and legs apart. Keep your eyes closed. Your palms should face upwards. Savasana brings closure to your yoga practice, promotes deep relaxation, and helps your body and mind assimilate the previous yoga poses so you can reap their many benefits.

Modifications
Usually Savasana is performed with the legs turned out. Sometimes though, after a long practice or for those who have lower back problems, it may feel good to do this pose with the legs bent and knees touching (as seen in the smaller picture above). You may also wish to use a yoga strap. Take a strap and make a small loop. Sit on the floor with your knees slightly bent and slip the loop over your big toes. Lie back and turn your thighs inward, sliding your heels apart. The loop will help maintain the inward turn of the legs.

Caution:
·If you have any back injuries or discomfort: Do this pose with your knees bent and your feet on the floor (as seen in the picture), hip-distance apart; or support the bent knees on a bolster or pillow.
·Pregnancy: Raise your head and chest on a bolster.

Camel Pose (Ustrasana) is a backbend that stretches the whole front of the body. It’s the deepest backbend and is frequently incorporated into vinyasa practices with several different modifications. Camel Pose, and backbends like it, can be physically challenging and beneficial. Ustrasana is a great, deep backbend that is accessible for most students because it requires less strength and more spinal flexibility.

Known as a “heart opening” yoga pose, Ustrasana stimulates and balances both the fourth and fifth chakras, located at the heart and throat centers. For many yoga practitioners, the heart and throat centers are often closed off and protected; some examples of this would be slouching and poor posture. For this reason, practicing Ustrasana can sometimes stir up emotions more than other poses. It is important to keep a calm awareness of your feelings when practicing this pose; fear of your emotions can create stiffness in the body and may lead to injury.
 
*Caution:  Do not practice this pose if you are currently experiencing high or low blood pressure, insomnia, or a migraine. Also avoid this pose if you have any neck injuries. Never to force your body into the pose. Practice a modified version until you have increased flexibility and strength you need to safely go deeper.  Always work within your own range of limits and abilities. Always talk with your doctor before starting any yoga regimen.

Inversion poses involve any asanas that lift the feet above the head. Other inversion poses that are well known include shoulderstand (salamba sarvangasana) and half shoulderstand (viparita karani); but even lying on the floor with your legs up the wall is an inversion pose. The concept behind inversion poses is expressed in yoga texts as viparita karani. Viparita karani is translated as meaning ‘opposite processes. This means facilitating a different perspective. From the purely physical point of view, this different perspective in inversion poses is literal – in terms of looking at the world from a different physical viewpoint – as well as involving the body being supported in a different way.

Yoga is more than simply physical exercises, there are other processes that are assisted. Yoga is designed to help us change mental habits as well as physical habits. Through increasing our ability to adapt to change, instead of being stuck in old habitual responses, we increase our capacity for growth and transformation. This applies in all areas of our lives.

There is a theoretical concept in yoga about why inversion postures help. Ayurveda considers that many of the body’s impurities are in the lower abdomen. When we raise our feet above the head, gravity is assisting us to move these impurities towards what the Ayurvedic system calls agni, or ‘fire’. Agni particularly relates to our ‘digestive fire’, and is thus located above our lower abdomen. So, by being upside down, and by using the deep and slow breathing typical of yoga, we help ‘burn off’ the impurities that were previously stuck. Improved circulation is a more readily apparent and less ‘esoteric’ benefit of inversion yoga poses.

Although inversion postures have many health benefits, the ability to receive those benefits depends as much on one’s capacity to comfortably hold these sometimes difficult postures. For example, headstand and shoulder stand should not be done by women who are pregnant, those who have neck pain, high or low blood pressure, neck injuries, or are menstruating. Neither of these postures should be attempted without the appropriate preparatory postures. Otherwise the risk of injury, or stiffness, particularly to the neck area, will result. Likewise, if doing these postures is uncomfortable or difficult, one should practice the modified versions, or simply work on other yoga poses that strengthen these areas.

Tips for Doing Inverted Postures

For Half Shoulder stand:
* Lengthen the exhale
* don’t lock the chin
* Keep your weight not on the head but on the wrists and elbows
* Don’t try to pull your torso (and legs) vertical like in full shoulder stand if you have difficulties with your neck. By doing so, you’re placing more pressure on your neck.
* Make sure you do the appropriate balancing postures afterwards. These include shalabhasana and bhujangasana

For Shoulderstand:
* Don’t worry so much about keeping your elbows and arms parallel. This will create more tension in your neck if you’re not proficient in this posture.
* Do the appropriate balancing postures. These are the same as for half shoulder stand.
For Headstand:
* Don’t ever make adjustments whilst in headstand. If you feel your alignment is not quite right, come down and do it again.
* Never do this posture first up, or without the prerequisite postures. It will lead to stiffness in the neck at best, and injury at worst.
This posture is never done traditionally without preparation.
* Use a wall for support as a learning stage
* Support your head with all of your fingers, including the little fingers and thumbs
* Finding the right position for your head will make sure weight is distributed evenly, and ensure you don’t have to overly press down with your elbows to compensate
* Don’t hold your weight too much on the back of your body. It will place too much pressure on your neck.
* Rest your neck before doing the balancing postures, however. Lie down with your legs bent.
* Other balancing postures include chakravakasana, dvipada pitham with the arms, and shalabhasana

There may be fears or a sense of limitation about doing inversion poses that will be confronted. Sometimes, it’s best to start an asana gradually. Most inversion poses offer variations that one can use to build up strength and flexibility, as well as overcome any fear based feelings about the posture and the ability to do it.

​*Caution: Do NOT attempt any of these poses if you suffer from neck or shoulder pain/injury. Always seek the advice of your physician prior to beginning any yoga regimen. Remember to practice within your own comfort level as well as, only attempt these poses once you have warmed up.

​Stretching the muscles before any exercise (including yoga) is key to a safe experience, and yet the ankles are often ignored; interesting, considering an ankle sprain is the most common type of sports injury. Many yoga poses can help protect the ankles, increasing strength, balance and flexibility so sprains are less likely to occur. Here are 4 yoga poses for the ankles:

​Mountain Pose
Mountain pose is a standing pose that strengthens the ankles, knees and thighs, while also reducing flat feet. To get into the pose, start with your feet close together, your heels just barely apart. Lift your toes and spread them out onto the floor, distributing your weight evenly on the inner and outer sections of your feet. Drop your tailbone toward the floor, slide your shoulder blades down your back, and let your arms hang strongly by your sides with your palms facing forward. Hold the pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

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​Lotus Pose
Lotus pose is a sitting pose that stretches both the ankles and the knees. If you have tight hips, you may wish to prepare for the pose by bringing your knee up toward your armpit and rotating it around a few times. Start sitting evenly on your sit bones with your legs out in front of you. Place your left foot on top of your right thigh, and your right foot on top of your left thigh, keeping your heels close to your abdomen and the soles of your feet facing upward. The knees should touch the floor (use yoga blocks, yoga bolsters, or pillows under the knees if necessary to take any strain off the knee joints. Hold the pose for a few seconds. After you have tried the pose a few times, hold for one minute. 

*Modify this pose as seen in the picture. Careful as not to put pressure or strain on the knees especially if you have any knee problems.

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​Garland Pose
Also called a yogic squat, garland pose stretches the ankles while also toning the abdomen. To get into the pose, squat down on the floor with your feet about hip-width apart. Your feet should face outward at about a 45-degree angle. If you can't keep your heels pressed to the floor, put a folded mat or blanket under them. Your knees should face the same direction as your ankles to prevent possible injury. Press your hands together in prayer position as you press your elbows into your knees and lift your heart upward. Hold the pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

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​Hero Pose
Hero pose is a sitting pose that stretches and strengthens the ankles. Start in a kneeling position with your feet a little more than hip distance apart and the tops of your feet pressing down on the floor. Sit down on the floor between your feet and slide your shoulders down your back. If you can't comfortably sit on the floor, place a yoga block under your buttocks (as seen in the picture) for support. Sit up straight, with your sternum lifted, and rest your hands on top of your thighs. Hold the pose for 30 seconds to one minute. You may eventually wish to hold the pose for as long as five minutes.

Yoga is one of the best aerobic exercises that can be done on a regular basis. It is beneficial for to the body, mind and soul. Although some men prefer sweaty, energetic workouts, yoga can be very challenging and can provide a holistic workout along with innumerable health benefits. Apart from enhancing fitness levels, yoga also increases stamina levels and is a great exercise regimen for men of all ages and all fitness levels. To help men build a stronger base for their gym exercises, decrease stiffness and increase stamina, the yoga poses mentioned below can go a long way.
 
Standing Forward Fold
Uttanasana, or Standing Forward Fold, opens the back of the legs, the hips and the back. Men can easily modify this pose by keeping the hands on the thighs, calves or ankles or use blocks to shorten the distance.
In addition to stretching muscles, Standing Forward Fold lowers blood pressure, eases headaches, improves circulation and helps you sleep better.
 
Warrior One
This posture stretches men where they need it most—the hips and shoulders. On top of opening these tight areas, Virabhadrasana is a strengthening posture. It builds the muscle of the thighs along with the areas around the knees, which means more stability and protection for sensitive joints during high impact sports.

Chair Pose
Chair pose works the quads, ankles, butt and shoulders, while also opening the chest—helping to develop greater stability. It’s also useful for improving flat feet and stimulating the abdominal organs.

Downward Facing Dog
Downward Dog, or Adho Mukha Svanasana, brings the attention to those tight areas in men; the hamstrings, calves, arms, shoulders, back, hips and more. And while it stretches the body, Down Dog also strengthens the arms and legs.
This pose also strengthens the heart as it improves circulation, reduces stress and helps high blood pressure.

Low Cobra Pose
Cobra pose can help to open the chest and strengthen the back and arms. This posture will help anyone who sits behind a desk all day by opening the abdomen and hip flexors.

*For men who also enjoy more strenuous forms of exercise, Upward Facing Dog is another great way to warm up and get the muscles stretched and blood flowing before expecting the body to go all out.
 
Boat Pose (modified)
Boat pose, or Navasana, will not only strengthen the core, but it also strengthens the hips flexors and spine. This posture is particularly beneficial to men for what it does to stimulate the prostate gland and reduce tension in the pelvic region.

Butterfly Pose
Baddha Konasana increases blood flow to the pelvis, kidneys, prostate and bladder. It’s also a good way to draw attention to mula bandha, the root lock, which brings awareness and more energy to the area around the hips.

Half Pigeon
This posture is can be quite challenging, but you can ease yourself into it as your hips open more and more. Since it’s a powerful way to open the glutes, hamstrings, abductors and hip flexors, Half Pigeon can help men when they take part in physical activities. Once the tension is released in the hips, men will feel the benefit in the lower back and other areas of the body.

Bridge Pose
It’s not unusual for men to experience tight muscles throughout the torso, so Bridge pose can help open the upper body and release tight muscles. Whether most men realize it or not, tightness in this area makes for shallow breathing and can make other physical activities more challenging.
Over time, practicing bridge pose will create more space in the chest and make for easier, fuller breathing.

Reclining Hand to Big Toe
This posture opens the lower back to get energy moving more freely, and when it does, it also stimulates the prostate gland and improves digestion. *Try using a yoga strap to make the pose easier especially if you’re not quite flexible.

Corpse Pose
Now it’s time to really relax. As the asana suggests, you simply lay on your back, eyes closed with your hands at your sides or on your chest. Breathe normally and let your worries dissipate as you exhale. 

Yoga can be very challenging and mastering these yoga poses will help strengthen and stretch the muscles, prevent workout injuries and improve posture and overall balance.