Stick it out to stay fit
Try this new form of yoga that helps you strengthen your core. It is also a fun way to keep the monotony out of your daily workout.
Variety is the spice of life and what better way to experience it than yoga? In keeping with the changing times, the latest innovation in the arena of yoga is yoga with sticks also famous as “danda-yoga”. Aside from being fun and engaging, yoga with sticks is recommended for people who already have a certain degree of fitness, are strong and athlete, and is not meant for first-timers. Danda yoga primarily aims to re-construct a strong core in the body of a healthy yogi. Here’s everything you need to do.
Upright pose
Lie on your stomach with your feet shoulder width apart, and hold the danda with both hands in less than arms distance from your face. Keeping your weight on the danda, lift your upper torso with the face up, repeat 10 times. This is very good for neck problems, and builds the core of your triceps as well.
Pelvic relaxant
Get into the baddhakon asana. Sit with your legs in a squat out in front of you, raising your pelvis on a blanket if your hips or groins are tight. Exhale, bend your knees, pull your heels toward your pelvis, then drop your knees out to the sides. Press the soles of your feet together while holding the danda between your feet and sit straight, with the spine erect. Breathe in and out deeply for half a minute or more.
Curvy twist
Get into the cobra position or bhujang asana, and keep your back straight and hold the danda as further above your head as you can, arching your spine, and maintain the pose breathing in and out, for at least 30 seconds. Repeat a few times. This helps stretch your abs and glutes, and also gives your spine a stretch. It helps asthma patients.
Hip flexor
An ab and deep hip flexor strengthener, Paripurnanav asana requires you to balance on the tripod of your sitting bones and tailbone. Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Press your hands on the floor a little behind your hips, fingers pointing toward the feet, and strengthen the arms. Lift through the top of the sternum and lean back slightly. Sit on the “tripod” of your two sitting bones and tailbone, and place the danda at the centre of your body, length-wise and balance for half a minute or more holding it with your feet together. Breathe in and out.
— The writer is an actress and an expert yoga practitioner