Mood Boosting Yoga Flow

The new year is sure to have already thrown you a few curveballs, whether that’s in your personal life or at work, or maybe you’re just starting to feel fed up with waking up to dark skies every morning. Either way, when life gets hectic or gets you down, that’s when it becomes most important to take the time to focus on yourself and your well-being. 

At Equinox, we believe mental and physical well-being go together hand in hand, and yoga is a great way to balance the two. So, we’ve teamed up with yoga teacher Marc Laws II to help you beat the blues and boost your mood with a Vinyasa flow. You don’t need to have all the gear or be a pro yogi to get your flow on, so grab your yoga mat, towel or any non-slip surface you can find, put on some activewear (or don’t, PJs are just fine) and follow Marc’s lead…

Mountain Pose (Vinyasa)

Tadasana

The foundation of all standing poses, Mountain Pose makes a great starting position, resting pose, or tool to improve posture.

Stand tall with your weight balanced evenly on the feet. Firm your thigh muscles which will lift the knee caps, without hardening your lower belly. Then imagine a line of energy all the way up along your inner thighs to your groin, and from there through the core of your torso, neck, and head, and out through the crown of your head.

Standing Forward Bend

Uttanasana

Uttanasana will wake up your back and hamstrings and soothe your mind.

Exhale and bend forward from the hip joints. As in all the forward bends, the emphasis is on lengthening the front torso as you move more fully into the position.  With each inhalation in the pose, lift and lengthen the front torso just slightly; with each exhalation release a little more fully into the forward bend. In this way the torso oscillates almost imperceptibly with the breath. Let your head hang from the root of the neck, which is deep in the upper back, between the shoulder blades.

Warrior I

Virabhadrasana I

Strengthens: Thigh, Back, Calf, Ankle, Shoulder, Arm

Stretches: Thorax, Lung, Inguinal region, Thigh, Calf, Ankle, Neck, Navel, Shoulder

Turn your left foot in 45 to 60 degrees to the right and your right foot out in front of you. Align the front heel with the back heel. Exhale and rotate your hips, squaring the front of your pelvis as much as possible with the front edge of your mat. Lengthen your coccyx toward the floor, and arch your upper torso back slightly.  Reach strongly through your arms, lifting the ribcage away from the pelvis. As you ground down through the back foot, feel a lift that runs up the back leg, across the belly and chest, and up into the arms.

Keep your head in a neutral position, gazing forward, or tilt it back and look up at your thumbs.

Bridge Pose

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Strengthens: back, glutes and hamstrings

Stretches: Vertebral column, Thorax, Neck

Lying supine on your mat bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels close enough to touch with your fingertips. Press into feet lift your buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Arms over head. Lift your buttocks until the thighs are about parallel to the floor. Keep your knees directly over the heels. Lift your chest up towards the sky and your face.

Legs up

Viparita Karani

Good for lymph and other fluids that can lead to swollen ankles, tired knees, and congested pelvic organs flow into the lower belly; this refreshes the legs and the reproductive area. This is healthy at any point in your reproductive life cycle. This pose also gives blood circulation a gentle boost toward the upper body and head, which creates a pleasant rebalancing after you have been standing or sitting for a long time. If you have time for 5 minutes or more in this pose, treat yourself to the benefits. 

Simply lie on your back and lift your legs up perpendicular to your body.  For more ease bend knees or use a wall.

Supine Spinal Twist

Supra Matsyendrasana

Aid digestion, help restore your spine’s natural range of motion, cleanse your organs, and stimulate circulation.

Lying on your back, bring your arms out to the sides with the palms facing down in a T position. Bend knees feet on the ground.  Exhale drop the right knee over to the left side of your body, twisting the spine and low back. Look over your right shoulder. Keep the shoulders flat to the floor and relax into the posture. Let gravity pull the knee down, so you do not have to use any effort in this posture.

Repeat on the other side.

Corpse Pose

Savasana

Lying down on your back.  Relax one body part at a time, one muscle at a time, and one thought at a time. It conditions the body to release stress and can improve your sense of physical and emotional well-being.

Remember, Kombucha makes a great post-workout drink so refresh and rebalance after your flow with a bottle of our delicious Kombucha!