Natarajasana

Pronunciation: not-ah-raj-AWS-anna
Definition:

Nata means actor or dancer and raja is king. Also called the Cosmic Dancer, Nataraja is another name for Shiva. Natarajasana is depicted in Indian iconography as a graceful figure with one leg lifted in dance, surrounded by a circle of flames. His dance symbolizes cosmic energy in its "five actions:" creation, maintenance, and destruction or re-absorption of the world, concealment of authentic being, and grace. Nataraja, or Shiva as the Cosmic Dancer, destroys and recreates the universe with each step. The Cosmic Dancer symbolizes the constant flow of energy and matter. It represents the destruction of the old self in preparation for the creation of a new one.Natarajasana is a balancing back bend which cultivates openheartedness and helps you uncover your inner radiance. As you stretch your whole body, you develop balance.
Technique:

Start in the mountain posture (Tadasana). Feel rooted in your left foot spreading your toes and keeping your weight equally distributed throughout the foot as you bend the right knee conveying all weight onto your left foot. Use your quadriceps muscle in your upper left leg to keep your left kneecap raised throughout the pose. Lift your right heel toward your right buttock as you bend the knee. Turn the right hand palm out with the thumb pointing to the behind you. Gaze at a point on the floor for balance. As you slowly inhale, grasp the right foot up and hold onto the foot or ankle with the right hand. To protect your lower back, try to lift your pubis toward your navel, and at the same time, extend your tailbone toward the floor. Square your hips to the front and slowly bend forward from the top of the left leg.You lift your right foot up, away from the floor, and back, away from your torso. Extend the right thigh behind you aligning it parallel to the floor. Stretch your left arm forward, in front of your torso, parallel to the floor with your fingers pointed forward and your palm facing down. As you do this, look straight ahead gazing at a steady point. The left thigh should be parallel to the floor with the left shin perpendicular to itThe action is having the left arm and leg up so that they form a bow behind the back. Play with the tension. As you extend your leg higher, Your body opens in the backbend and your chest may go toward the floor as part of the opening. Keep it aligned and graceful and hold for some long relaxed breaths. Release the pose, and repeat on the other side.

Beginner’s Tips:

Do the pose in stages and go further as you feel steady, moving onto the next step.Keep the foot that is being lifted flexed so you won’t have cramping in the back of the thigh. If you cannot easily reach your foot, simply use a belt or strap to hold it. If your balance is unsteady, try the pose facing the wall, standing a foot to a foot and a half away from it. Use your forward hand to touch the wall and assist your balance a bit. Don’t depend on the hand against the wall but gently touch it to provide another subtle anchor for your body.

Variation:

Some do the pose with the back extended leg virtually straight and held at the knee by the hand instead of at the foot. Another version, which is much harder. is to reach the arms upward by the ears with the elbows bent and grasp the foot. You can do this with one or both hands. There is a sort of hollow circle made by the arm or arms and the leg and back in this version which is quite beautiful

Benefits;

Great stretch for the shoulders, chest, thighs, groin, and abdomenLegs and ankles are strengthenedBalance improvesOpening to the shoulder and chestVertebral joints learn better performance for the bodyBuilds inner and outer steadinessImbues a psychological lift and opens the heart Contraindications:High or low blood pressureInjury to the legs, hips, low back, knees or shoulders, especially the shoulder capsule.If your shoulder is injured you can adapt by using a strap around the back foot so your shoulder doesn’t open so fully.

Yoga Helps Kids Find Balance in Their Lives

Yoga Helps Kids Find Balance in Their Lives
Children today are under a lot of stress. Homework, pressure to compete with other children, endless after-school activities, over-scheduling -- it all adds up. And just like their parents, kids today are turning to Yoga to help them relax.Teaching Yoga to children, I've seen how Yoga helps them develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination. I've also seen how they can carry these skills beyond class and into their daily routines.Yoga has also been shown to help the hyperactive and attention-deficit child. These children crave movement and sensory/motor stimulus. Yoga helps channel these impulses in a positive way. Yoga poses that seem to work especially well are the warrior pose and tree pose. They help instill calm, confidence and balance. The trick is to get beyond just "doing" the postureYoga, adapted for pre-school children, develops body awareness, language, good listening skills, cooperation and powers of observation. It teaches pre-school children about nature, their environment and inspires their imaginations. It prepares them for breathing techniques used in yoga. They learn by playing, singing, moving and imitating. This is an ideal time for children to begin a yoga practice.Yoga with school aged children balances quiet and active poses with game playing, singing, storytelling, drawing, simple breath meditations and rest. Children can easily follow the teacher's instructions by learning the names of different body parts, their locations and function. As children learn the names of the postures and movements they develop a yoga vocabulary. They can use their yoga poses to play games, take on the qualities of different animals or use their imaginations to make up stories about animals on a farm, climbing a mountain or trekking through a jungle. They can each assume the role of leader and teach their classmates a yoga posture or breathing exercise. Their yoga improves very quickly.Yoga Therapy "empowers the soul to empower the body so that the child can grow with a feeling of wholeness" and reach her/his full potential. Early intervention enhances the healthy and natural development of infants and toddlers. However,it is never too late to reap the benefits of Yoga TherapyTeaching Yoga to children is challenging, exciting and rewarding. I am continually encouraged by the positive results, both physical and emotional, that I have observed in children who take yoga regularly. Children's spontaneity, innate joy and natural innocence and wisdom are always an inspiration....and we have lots of fun.

Guidelines for Kids Yoga:

Guidelines for Kids Yoga:
I have gone over the guidelines and benefits of kids yoga in the article, Yoga for Kids Guidelines and Benefits, but am going to include this information in this article as well, so you can access it all in one place.
Children under 6 you can do up to 1 minute / exercise.
The total time for the kids yoga session can be up to 15 minutes.
Children 6 and above can do up to 1 1/2 minutes / exercise and the kids yoga session can last up to 25 minutes.
Encourage the child to do the pose correctly, along with the breathing, but don't force perfection. Use lots of positive reinforcement to help the child learn and improve.
Take frequent little breaks in between, during which encourage meditation and being still. Breaks after strenuous exercises is a must.
Always demonstrate the posture or exercise, rather than try to just explain it.
Use this technique even when trying to correct their poses.
Encourage the children to practice with their eyes closed when so indicated by the exercise.
This will teach them the profound art of looking and feeling what is happening within them.
Remember even kids need to warm-up before doing vigorous yoga.
Kids tummies should also not be full when doing yoga.
Never compare the children with each other.
Start them off with joining you towards the end of your yoga practice.
This is one of the best ways to inspire kids to start yoga.
Benefits of Childrens Yoga:
Builds their confidence and self-esteem.
Improves their powers of concentration and focus.
Develops their brain and intellect.
Excellent for their bodies and health. Promotes balance, flexibility, coordination and strength.
Helps them cope with stress and difficult emotions.
Develops their creativity and imagination.
Sharpens and expands their awareness.
Helps them develop calmness.
Tips to Help Teach Children Yoga:
The most important things to remember with kids yoga is to keep it fun, keep it open and keep it simple.
Below you will find a collection of kids yoga poses, demonstrated by my son Shivum when he was about four and a half.
The poses are for you to use in designing your yoga sets for the children.
There are many fun ways to encourage the children to learn and do yoga and here a few ideas for doing this.
Let your creative juices flow, I am certain many more good ideas will come to you as well.
Imaginative stories are some of the best ways to teach yoga to kids.
A trip through the jungle, etc, are a perfect way to incorporate doing the poses as you journey onwards.
Do cobra, bear, tree mountain, etc, as you come across these in your story.
Follow the leader is another great way to get kids to be creative and do the yoga poses.
You can lead and do your favorite poses, and then the kids can lead turn by turn doing theirs.
Yoga shows are great too and kids love nothing more than having your attention as they can put on a show of all the yoga they have learned.