The 3 infallible tips for a perfect yoga posture. Practice them!

For some years, I have been practicing yoga. I take a class two to four times a week and when I cannot, you do not know how I miss her! I really love the effect it has on me; No matter how I arrive, I always get better, more calm and relaxed. One of my favorite teachers is Ricardo Madrigal, with whom I talked about the three characteristics that the posture should have for our body to take advantage of its effect to 100%. These are:

1) ALIENATION OF THE BODY: Physically that the posture is well done, looks good, resembles that of the teacher; Make sure that the alignment on knees and joints is correct.

2) RESPIRATION CONTROL: Also, known as 'pranayama'. The technique: inhale and exhale through the nose.

3) THE STATE OF MIND: When you do the posture, where is your mind? i.e. what are you thinking? on all the slopes you have or in the 'here and now'?

"It is common that when Hatha Yoga is practiced and the posture is reached, the mind begins to wander because it already knows it. The challenge then is to quiet it, keep it in the present, try to encourage conscious attention at the moment we are, "says Ricardo.

BREATHE AND RELAX

A master of yoga for almost a decade, Madrid (as we say fondly) explains that the first sutra of Patanjali, the sacred text of yoga, is precisely 'quiet your mind’. "That serves us and that is why yoga relaxes us so much, because we are fully aware of what we are doing: observing our body and our breathing, and where we are at the time of practice." Personally, Shraavana (known as the 'posture of the corpse') costs me hard because hundreds of thoughts come to mind. How do you control it? "It is impossible not to think, the human mind is scattered, very 'hardworking'. It looks like a busy street: a Monday at 8 am is full of cars, at 9 noes more can fit; But you start to breathe and like 10 happens less; Already at dawn, really few. Cars are thoughts. As you enter Shraavana, when you are in the posture, deeply involved in meditation, a thought comes, but it also goes away, it does not even bother you, "says the yogi.

'Observing a thought' is something that is said to be easy, but it is not so much. "The ideal is to be in that flow of 'prana’, which means 'vital energy'; Is to be focused on your breaths, which are the ones that are giving your life. Actually, it's five or ten minutes dedicated to you, in which the purpose is to quiet the mind, "adds the expert.

Now, what happens if you flatly 'close the street' and the person falls asleep? (Come on, believe me). "This happens by a resistance of the mind. First are the thoughts: they tell you that you have to wash clothes, walk the dog, but at that time they do not serve. When people fall asleep, the mind makes you 'the invitation' to disconnect ... But if you meditate outside to sleep, which we do between five and eight hours a day, we would all be enlightened. The reality is that they are two very different things ", says Ricardo. " To meditate is to be in the present, in the awareness of your breathing, there in your carpet, very relaxed, but avoiding that the mind deceives you and takes you to sleep. When that happens, mental stamina was stronger than the very focus to do your meditation.