I'm back, with some YOGA for the soul!

I'm sure everyone who had at one point been reading my health blog has now given up on me. I didn't have the intention of starting a health blog and then abandoning it, I swear! But the farther along I got in my pregnancy, the less time I had. And, of course, once the babe came I had no time at all!

But now I have a healthy, beautiful, sweet little (not so little, BIG chunker!) 3 month old baby boy and I have a schedule down, which means I have much more TIME then I've had in a while! Which means...I'M BACK! Yippee!

YOGA.



I love Yoga. I love Pilates even more, but I got into prenatal and postnatal yoga recently and I loved it! Let me give you some motivation: we've all seen Jennifer Aniston, right? Gorgeous! What's her secret? Yoga! (Well, and a little bit of money, yes...) I know this because I'm a little bit of a Jennifer Aniston fanatic, it's true. But she has an awesome bod, and knowing Yoga contributes to that is good motivation to try it, right??

What I want to teach you today is something that is actually used as a warm up pre-Yoga sessions, but when I don't have time to pop in my dvd's in my busy life, just doing this twice every morning has proved to be super beneficial! I want EVERYONE to try it. From personal experience, I guarantee this will make a difference in your life!

It's called "Sun Salutation". It's super easy! It builds strength and increases flexibility. There are 12 postures in the set, I'll go ahead and give you the step by step instructions:

(**One important thing to remember if you're new to yoga is to inhale as you extend or stretch and exhale as you fold or contract.)

1: Mountain

Begin by standing in Mountain pose, feet about hip width apart, hands either by your sides or in prayer position. Take several deep breaths.


2. Hands Up

On your next inhale, in one sweeping movement, raise your arms up overhead and gently arch back as far as feels comfortable and safe.

3. Head to knees

As you exhale, bend forward, bending the knees if necessary, and bring your hands to rest beside your feet.


4. Lunge

Inhale and step the right leg back


5. Plank

Exhale and step the left leg back into plank position. Hold the position and inhale.


6. Stick

Exhale and lower yourself as if coming down from a pushup. Only your hands and feet should touch the floor.


7. Upward Dog

Inhale and stretch forward and up, bending at the waist. Use your arms to lift your torso, but only bend back as far as feels comfortable and safe. Lift your legs up so that only the tops of your feet and your ahnds touch the floor. It's okay to keep your arms bent at the elbow.


8. Downward dog

Exhale, lift from the hips and push back and up.


9. Lunge

Inhale and step the right foot forward.


10. Head to knees

Exhale, bring the left foot forward and step into head-to-knee position.


11. Hands up

Inhale and rise slowly while keeping arms extended .


12. Mountain

Exhale, and in a slow, sweeping motion, lower your arms to the sides. End by bringing your hands up into prayer position. Repeat the sequence, stepping with the left leg.

A single round of Sun Salutation is two complete sequences of this, one for the right side of the body and one for the left side.

For a visual, check out this video. (Be prepared for some awesome African tribe song in the background!)

Try it, twice every morning. Once you get used to this you can sneak in some actual Yoga sessions into your busy schedule, even just once or twice a week. You'll see, life is much better with some Yoga in it!