Relax Like a Baby in Bal Asana (Child Pose) and get relief in Insomnia

Bal Asana (child pose) helps you to relax both physically and mentally and get rid of stress. While practicing this pose, one looks like a happily sleeping baby, hence it is named as child pose. People suffering from insomnia should lie in this pose for 15 - 20 minutes before going to bed.

This pose is also extremely useful for people with back pain and wanting to relax since there is no stress on the back muscles. People with back pain can also include this pose after practicing a series of back bends and then relax in this pose.

Usually people with back pain can find even a simple activity of lying on their back extremely painful. In these cases Balasana can be extremely useful way to relax. In this pose the entire body is on the floor on the abdomen and chest. In the lying position the heart's work load decreases since it does not have to work against the gravity. There is mild stretch to the limbs which relaxes the body and staying long in this pose will gradually slow down the breath. Muscles relax and body can get a very good rest. What I have found is you need to keep changing the position from left side to right side. Doing this increases the relaxation.

Balasana

How to Practice Balasana (Child Pose)?
It is one of the easiest poses to practice.

1. Lie down on the mat on your abdomen.


2. Turn your face to the right side.


3. Now bring right hand in such a position so that forearm is parallel to the body or near the face and the arm is perpendicular to the forearm. Palm should be facing downwards.


4. Now raise your right leg so that thigh is parallel to the arm. Lower leg should be inline with the forearm.


5. Adjust the arms and legs so that you can move to the most comfortable postion.


6. Left arm should be relaxed and stay in natural position near the body.


7. Stay in this pose for as long as it is comfortable.


8. Repeat the same for the other side.

Benefits of Bal Asana (Child Pose)

1. This pose relaxes the body and mind totally and extremely helpful in case of insomnia.


2. Body gets a mild stretch and removes tiredness.


3. Good way to relax after the back bending poses as the back is not stressed.

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Shavasana - Relaxing after a hard day at the office

Do you feel too tired to devote time and energy for your family after a hard day at office? Here is the solution. After you come back, have a nice shower and practice Shavasana for 10 to 15 minutes and you will have more energy for your family.

Shavasana is one of the easiest poses physically. In this pose you would need to lie down on the floor like a corpse. Shav in Sanskrit means a corpse hence this posture is named Shavasana. If done properly, provides rest to the entire body including the various organs, muscles and tissues. This is must after every Yoga Session and sometime between the asansa if they are too strenuous.

How to Practice Shavasana

• Lie on the mat on your back. Close your eyes.


• Make slight adjustments to the distance between the fee and the position of the hands so that you are totally relaxed. You may move the back a little if required so as to come to a position where you will be comfortable and would not need to move for the duration of the practice.


• Take few deep and long breaths especially concentrating on the stomach so as to relax it.


• Now focus on big toe on the right leg and mentally try to relax it. After one or two seconds take the focus to middle finger of the right feet. Similarly take the focus to different parts of the right leg like below the feet, area on the back of the feet, calf, shin, knee, joints etc. for one or two seconds and try to mentally relax that part.


• Once you relax the right leg parts, then visualize that entire right leg is relaxed.


• Then one by one take to focus to left leg, both hands, parts of face, back and entire body parts. Try to do it slowly and repeat it once more.


• When you have completed relaxing all the body parts, focus on your breathing and you will notice that you are totally relaxed.


• Continue as long as you want and then bring the awareness outside your body and slowly come out of the pose

Things to Note

• Imagination play a crucial part in this, as you can imagine that you are taking positive energy from the universe on inhalation and throwing out stress and negative energy, emotion from the body on exhalation. Over the period you will gradually gain expertise in this pose and will be able to relax very easily, even while traveling in a plane or train you can try to relax the body in a sitting posture.


• For proper relaxation spread the mat on top of a blanket as it will give some cushion to the body. Usually the Yoga Mats are not more than 3 to 3.5 feet wide. if the mat is there on a cold floor, you will be aware of the coldness where the hand touches the floor. Putting a blanket or carpet below the mat will eliminate this problem and you will be able to practice the pose in a better manner.


• Select a neat and quite place or room for this practice.

Benefits of Shavasana
Shavasana relaxes the entire body and mind and helps in stress related diseases like high blood pressure, insomnia, depression and increases the healing in case of other diseases. It also gives rest to the entire body after yoga practice.

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Hot Cold Jal Neti Technique For Mental Fatigue

Few months back I had written about Jal Neti (Nasal Cleansing). In this article I would like to take upon some other benefits of Jal Neti apart from the ones I mentioned in the earlier article.

Jal Neti is best done in the morning. Some people also do it in the evening before meals. Usually Jal Neti done with lukewarm water and once in a day. I thought of tying out a experiment and observe the effects. I thought of doing the practice twice in succession and with warm water followed by cold water. I call this technique Hot Cold Jal Neti. For this experiment I started to do Jal Neti twice a day and with both warm and cold water.

How this experiment was conducted?
I decided to do two rounds of Neti. First round was done with the usual lukewarm water with salt. It performed for both the nose with the warm water. Similarly I did a second round for both noses with cold water without salt. For the second round water taken from an earthen pitcher which is used in almost all Indian homes in the summer for cold drinking water. Pitcher makes it little colder than the room temperature due to evaporation and is any day better than chilled water as there are very less chances of catching cold.

I am personally more susceptible to cold therefore do not usually perform Jal Neti with cold water. But since this is summer time in India with the temperatures here soaring to more than 42 degrees centigrade, it is relatively safer to try out with cold water. If this was winter time I would have tried water at room temperature.

The reason that cold water is used after the warm is water is because of the fact that warm water opens up the passage more easily. It is easier to flush with warmer water. Cold water will lead to nasal passage contracting, whereas warm water opens the passage and makes the second round easier. Taking cold water second also cools the brain after cleaning is over.

After completing the two rounds I flushed out the excess water by gently pushing out air from one nostril by blocking the other nostril and breathing from mouth. For doing this I gently exhale for 10 times through one nostril while closing one nostril with fingers, and then repeat for the next nostril. I repeat this for 4 times for each nostril.

How it felt?
This was a new thing to try for me as this is not documented in any text. As I tried with lukewarm water it was usual nasal cleansing with the dirty mucous being flushed out. When I took cold water, there was a slight sting I felt in the nose, especially near the nostrils. I concentrated on the how it felt inside the nose, and I could feel that cold water was flowing through the one nostril and follow the passage till it came out from the other nostril. I also felt slight irritation on the upper portion of the mouth which we sometime feel when we have cold. This irritation went away shortly afterward.

Precaution : This technique should be tried only by people who have been practicing Jal Neti for at least 3 months and should not be done in winters.

These are my observation from Hot Cold Jal Neti.

1. Increased mental clarity and alertness
   I work as a senior Software professional and my work is mainly mental and in front of the computer. In this kind of job there is more of mental fatigue instead of physical fatigue. Also since I practice yoga, I the question of physical tiredness due to routine office work does not arise. Another issue is there are lot of radiations from a monitor to which one is exposed all the time. This increases the mental tiredness. After I do Jal Neti in the evenings, the tiredness vanishes, I have a more alert and active mind and therefore more easily able to participate in family affairs.


2. Massage of the Nerves
   When cold water is used immediately after the warm water the nerves of the nasal passage which are also connected to the brain are massaged. Warm water cleans and opens up the pores and the nerves below the skin are better exposed and receptive. When the cold water is used brain cools down and nerves get relaxed. Also warm and cold pair send opposite signals to the brain which makes it active.


3. Increased Awareness
   I could feel that the breathing was more even which is there with Neti. But another aspect which I discovered is the area of awareness increases a lot. Usually after Jal Neti the awareness or sensitivity increases in the nasal passage area, though in my case it was more near the nostrils, but with Hot Cold experiment, the awareness area increased significantly.


4. Better Sleep
   It is well known fact that Jal Neti is good for people suffering from insomnia. I usually sleep well, and there is no problem of insomnia what so ever. In fact it is quite the reverse, that I fell too sleepy once the clock goes past 10 O'clock. But what I observed is that the quality of sleep increases quite significantly and with lesser hours of sleep you feel as much fresh as you would with normal hours. May be it could have to do with stillness mind which increases with Jal Neti.

Buying a Neti Pot

You can buy neti pot from several online stores. I prefer to use Stainless steel neti pot since it is light in weight and easier to handle. You can also know the water temperature by touching the surface of the pot. Here is a link to buy neti pot.




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