POW! Pose of the Week

POW!
This week's pose: Simhasana - because I think I've eaten too many Kit Kats from Halloween!

I dressed as a cat to take my children Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood, and when we came home, Hubby and I needed to "confiscate" the KitKats from their bags...mumbling something to them about the wafer allergy we thought they might be suffering...so with all of this "Cat/Kat" talk, it's only fitting I chose Lion Pose as this week's Pose of the Week.

Guys, this is a real posture, with a real Sanskrit name and everything, and as goofy as the picture seems, this is, in fact what the posture looks like. This is the antithesis of "Tiptoe Pose" - that lovely, challenging posture that actually looks like a yoga pose, yet has no Sanskrit name. I'm sure if you gave a yogic scholar half the chance, they could approximate a Sanskrit name for ol' Tiptoe, but nothing original.

So Simhasana it is, dear readers, a stress and anxiety reducing pose. Yes, just what we need now that Halloween is over and Christmas is in it's full-on red, green, and silver swing. Lion pose is nice for the head - it relieves jaw tension, exercises the facial muscles, improves blood flow to the head, can help clear nasal and ear passages, and maybe even relieve dry/sore throats. Ah, doesn't that sound nice for cold and flu season?

Begin by kneeling on the floor and resting back on your heels. Lean your upper body forward so you can "cage" your fingertips and place them on the floor about 1 foot's length in front of your knees. On your next exhale, allow your breath to "roar" as you open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue out as far as possible (can you touch the bottom of your chin?). Roll your eyes inward and upward to look at the point between your eyebrows (can you see that hair your tweezerman missed?).

When you relax after this pose, you can actually feel the tension between your eyebrows melt away, and the stretching of the mouth/tongue has helped to drain out those nasal and ear passages. I will say this, after your kids are done laughing at you, you'll be relaxed enough not to strangle them!

Roar!