Beginner's Guide to Bikram/Hot Yoga

Video Transcript

CINDY MASTRY: Namaste. My name is Cindy Mastry, and in this clip Faith is going to help me demonstrate the energy-freeing pose. The energy-freeing pose is a pose that works on your abdominal organs, giving them a massage. It helps purify the blood system, helps purify the body and also helps with the elimination. Also, it's a cooling pose for your system and can help lower high blood pressure. So we're going to have Faith lay on her back and she's going to bring her knees into her chest. She's going to place one hand on each knee, and she's going to make sure that she presses her tailbone down, shoulder blades down. So, the full extent of her spine is pressed into the earth. She's going to inhale, and as she exhales she extends her arms, lengthening out through the elbows. And as she exhales, she bends her elbows out to the sides, drawing her knees into the chest. She wants to make sure that the tailbone still remains on the ground. So it's like you feel a little pressing with the tailbone as you pull your knees into your chest. So remember, this is a cooling pose that's good for high blood pressure. It's somewhat of a very restorative pose that's great for elimination. You use your breath and you make sure that you connect your total spine tailbone up to the shoulders throughout the entire exercise.