Master Class: Yoga for the Core

A few months ago I posted Yoga for Abs and have had some requests for a follow-up. Well, here it is! Below are the original video and a newer one with some different poses. In yoga you often use the core (the inner and outer abdominals, inner and outer obliques, pelvic floor, and lower back muscles) in poses that at first glance would appear to have nothing to do with the core. I designed the sequence in the second video with that in mind. Although the poses are generally ab-oriented, they teach you how to use the abs in motion, which is helpful for all yoga asanas. I also instruct you to use the bandhas, which is truly the secret to engaging the deeper muscles of the core, including the transverse abdominus, which acts like a natural corset. If you don't understand the use of bandhas, click on the word above for about.com's explanation.

Yoga for the Lower Body

Summer is officially here! If you are still worried about how you look in a bikini, stop it! You're beautiful. However, if you want to quickly tone up your lower body, try my yoga sequence below. It's divided into two videos (sorry!) but they're really just one cut in half, so go right from part one to part two. The sequence hits all parts of the legs and rear, stretching and strengthening so you don't bulk up but merely gain strength and tone. Strengthening the legs protects the knees, so make sure as you do this sequence that the knees are actually in alignment so you get maximum protection for them.

Yoga in a Chair

Sometimes I wake up and can't find the motivation to do a whole yoga practice. When that happens, I don't force myself, but I do try to find time to stretch throughout the day. What if you are in the same boat but sit at a desk all day? Simple. You do yoga at your desk. The following video leads you through a sequence you can do without ever having to leave your chair. If your co-workers look at you funny, so what! It's for your health.

This sequence can be helpful for anyone with limited mobility as well. Simply adapt it for your needs. If you are a paraplegic or something, skip the leg work. Adapt the sequence for your individual needs. All that is required is a chair (which can be a wheelchair) and a strap, but the strap is optional. How easy is that? In just 10 minutes you can loosen up from top to bottom without having to even get up.

Anuloma Viloma

Anuloma Viloma. Sounds exotic, no? It is a pranayama, but if often taught with kriyas or cleansing exercises for its detoxifying properties. Its alternate name is Nadi Shodhana, or Nadi purification. If you've checked out my other videos or done research into yoga philosophy, you know nadis are channels that prana runs on. This breath technique cleanses them, enabling energy to flow freely.

Healthy breathing is done through the nose, not the mouth. This cleanses and warms the air that comes into the body. If you take a moment to notice your body and your breath, you might notice that air comes in more easily through one nostril than the other. I always joke with my classes that people who do cocaine know this principle well! According to yoga philosophy, your dominant nostril will switch off every hour and a half if you are healthy. If one nostril stays dominant too long, that's not healthy. Anuloma Viloma causes both nostrils to breathe evenly; no one nostril is dominant. In this video, we do 4 rounds. For the full effect, you should do more than 4 rounds, but this is a good place to start. Try to breathe slowly, even if you breathe more slowly than I do in the video. Afterward, take a few slow, deep breaths through both nostrils to feel how neither one is dominant; that the body is in equilibrium. Build up to 10-20 rounds and you will notice an amazing feeling of vitality that this pranayama imparts.

Pranayama

Pranayama just may be the most important component of the yoga practice. It is used to oxygenate the blood and bring prana, or energy/chi/life/breath into the body. Pranayama refers to breathing exercises, some of which are done on their own and some of which are used to complement the postures. Yoga is often called "meditation in motion," and in meditation there is usually one thing that the mind focuses on in order to still the thoughts. In yoga, that "one thing" is the breath. According to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, an ancient text on yoga, "When the breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the breath is still, so is the mind still."

I've begun here with yogic three-part breathing, or Dirgha Pranayama. This pranayama teaches you to get the most out of your breath. When people try to take in a lot of air, they tend to gulp it in and rapidly expand the ribcage. This doesn't actually take in much more air and can lead to injuries (and you really don't want to have to tell people you injured yourself breathing!). Dirgha Pranayama will teach you to take in the most air without compromising your body. In the interest of time, in the video I teach the breath as 1)chest breathing, 2)thoracic breathing, and 3)diaphragmatic breathing. When I do this with students I would then reverse it, and try to have them breathe first to the belly, then the ribs, then the chest before integrating them all. In the video we don't reverse it, just integrate, so if you feel it would be helpful you can reverse the order before the integration. I begin with very shallow chest breathing, and every time I do this pranayama in class someone mentions that this is how they breathe naturally. Doing the three-part breath will help you to avoid that. Once you realize how revitalizing it is to take deep healthy breaths, you won't want to breathe shallowly ever again.

The second pranayama in the video is Ujjayi Pranayama, or Victorious Breath. It is a bit more advanced than the three-part breath and may take some time to master. Be patient. Once you have the Ujjayi Pranayama down you can perform it while doing yoga poses. The main indication that you are doing it right is the "ocean sound." Your breath should be loud and sound almost exactly like the ocean waves. Doing this breath at the beach in time with the ocean is an amazing meditative experience that I recommend.

The Warmup

When working out, it is vitally important that you warm up properly in order to prevent injuries. When you begin yoga stretches, the body should be physically warm to get the most out of the stretch while preventing any tears in the muscles or fasciae. A proper warmup will get the blood flowing and produce that heat. In yoga, the center of the body is considered the body's furnace, equivalent to the metabolism, so it makes sense to warm up the center of the body. This is why Pilates classes begin with The Hundred, an exercise designed to warm the body by working the core. In yoga, the reason for this is that the center of the subtle body (the body's energy system of prana, chakras, and nadis) contains the agni, or fire of the belly, and the Third Chakra which is again related to heat and fire.

The following 5 minute video shows the basic warmup I do at the beginning of yoga class. It is designed to loosen the muscles, warm the core, and get you thinking about good alignment and moving with the breath. Do this or a similar warmup before getting into more difficult poses. Usually in my classes we warm up, then do Sun Salutations to get the heart rate up before moving on to strengthening poses and deep stretches.