How To Do Marjariasana Bitilasana (Cat-Cow Pose) | Yoga With Archana Alur | Beginners Yoga

Transcript

Namaste. I'm Ashana. A warm welcome to you. If you've been practicing yoga with me, Marjarasa and Vitilasa of cat cow is a given in most videos. These two asas are functional movements that help us with our life beyond the mat. So, we'll begin by coming onto our knees and palms. We're going to see how to do the basic cat and cow. Place your wrist beneath your shoulders. Fingers pointing straight ahead. Spread your fingers wide so you're able to see the colors of the uh excuse me the color of the mat. You can also press the top of your fingers like you're trying to create a claw. Anything is fine. See that your knees are beneath your hips, toes behind the knees and come to neutral position. Take a deep breath in. Now as you breathe out, pull the navl in as you're pulling your belly towards your rib cage, chin towards your chest, crown of the head in the direction of the mat. Press your palms into the earth, tailbone, the space between your knees. All your toes are pressing into the mat. Start breathing in. Relax your abdomen. Drop your waist towards the mat. Chin, chest, gaze forward. Now here, try and open the chest. Shoulders slightly as you're trying to pull it out. Press into the mat. Remember, you're not pressing into your wrist. You're pressing you're distributing the weight evenly on your palms. Let's try that once again. Exhale. Pull that belly in. Massaging your organs. Chin to chest. Come the head towards the mat. Tailbone. Space between your knees. Start breathing in. Relax the belly. Arch your back. Chest forward. Open the front of your neck. Chin forward. Gaze forward. Open the shoulders. Elbows can stay soft. Don't lock your elbows. Benefits of doing this practice, it counters the effects of uh sitting and standing for long hours because we use the core stabilization muscles to uh move the vertebral column or our spine to the full range of motion. It strengthens the core muscles. It also mobilizes the muscles from the pelvis all the way to the base of our skull. Next, it increases flexibility in our hips, spine and shoulder and enhances the alignment of the spine simultaneously strengthening all the muscles along our back. So, this in turn helps us have a better posture. It increases blood circulation throughout our body specifically in our spinal region. Now, because of all these benefits, it is great to prevent backachche. And when you have back pain, you can still do this asas. But just remember to do it to a point of discomfort. Don't do the full range of motion. This can help reduce pain and eventually when the pain reduces you can work with the same asas to build strength. Thank you so much for joining me in today's session. I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below. If you're new here, remember to and if you thought this class was valuable, please like and share. Namaste.