I've also included five popular articles that talk about aspects of parenting - one of the strongest spiritual practices you can ever do! Nothing pushes your buttons more than a child :-)
Energizing Adho Mukha Svanasana Variation
In a previous we looked at a variation of Prasarita Padottanasana - Wide-Legged Forward Bend.
This issue we're looking at another variation of Prasarita Padottanasana although in this case I've called it a variation of Adho Mukha Svanasana.
This pose has multiple benefits, including providing a full body stretch, giving one energy, strengthening the arms and shoulders, helps digestion and relieves stress.
You'll see from the image that this posture combines both poses. The spine is set-up like Downward Dog and the legs are set up like a wide-legged forward bend.
While I'm looking at my palms in this photo, in the full expression of the pose the chin tucks into the chest and the back of the neck lengthens.
This variation helps us to lengthen down the outside back of our hips and pelvis and frees our spine.
How to set up our Down Dog Forward Bend Hybrid:
Your set-up is exactly the same as it is for Wide-Legged Forward Bend.
Stand tall in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Jump your feet four feet or so wide (exact width will depend on the proportions of your body). Make sure your feet are slightly pigeon-toed.
Moving into Place:
Place your hands on your hips, inhale and then as you exhale hinge forward from the hips lengthening your spine towards the ground.
Bring your hands to the ground so you're resting on your finger tips.
Setting a strong foundation:
Make sure you're grounded evenly through all four sides of your feet and your pelvis is hinging forward, hip bones towards the front of your thighs.
Your tailbone is reaching up to the sky behind you.
Neck is relaxed, and so are arms.
Creating the set-up for the spine:
Walk your hands out in front of you as far as you can and allow your hips to move forward too as if you were going to walk all the way out.
Lift your heels up so you're on the balls of the feet.
Then release your heels back down to the ground and push firmly through your hands until your hips move back directly over your legs.
Ideally you're now in the position - the spine is long and straight and so too are the legs.
Note: You need to have enough forward movement in the pelvis to get into this posture. If your spine is rounding at all, you're not yet ready and can instead practice with the hands on the hips, lengthening the torso out of the pelvis and leaning forward rather than straight down.
Being in the Posture:
Once you're set up focus on your connection to your foundation.
Strongly press down through all four corners of the feet while drawing up through the legs.
Tip your pelvis forward so hip bones come closer to the tops of the thighs and your tailbone extends towards the sky.
Engage mula bandha and uddiyana bandha.
Lengthen the front of the rib cage forward.
Focus on keeping the spine long and straight.
Press down firmly through the hands. Hug your triceps in and around to engage the pecs and create stability through the shoulder joints.
Get a sense of pulling yourself forward with your hands while simultaneously grounding down with your feet and moving your hips back.
Breath. Enjoy.
Top 5 Parenting Articles:
Below are 5 articles which all explore ways to be a better parent through your yoga and meditation practice. Enjoy!
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2008/05/07/how-to-raise-enlightened-children/
Children's Yoga, meditation and spiritual growth is certainly a topic I am eager to explore more here on Mastery of Meditation, and I think there is no better way to kick off this important subject, than by discussing what is the absolute key in raising enlightened, exceptional children. Children who can fulfill the true purpose of life of Self Realization.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2010/10/27/5-key-parenting-skills-for-raising-extraordinary-children/
Parenting is certainly one of the most rewarding aspects of life, but it is also one that requires great skill and finesse to do successfully. With children lies the future of humanity and therefore, if we are able to raise great children, we are going to establish the foundation for a great future for man. Parenting, unfortunately does not come with an owner's manual, and if we mess it up badly, we can't trade in the ruined kids for new ones either 
, so it is important we give this role some serious thought and try our very best to do it right.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2007/12/05/how-to-make-a-baby-the-right-way-ayurvedic-diet-nutrition/
In the ever popular article How to Make a Baby the Right Way - With Illustrations, I went into details on the sacrament of conception - the Garbhaadhaan Sanskar. The purpose of this sacrament is to help you produce exceptional children, who will grow up to be exceptional human beings.
That article gave an overview of the process we followed to create our two little ones. In this article, I will start to provide some detail around this process, and specifically detail around what is the right diet to follow, prior to attempting procreation.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2010/03/22/parenting-help-and-advise-3-most-important-parenting-goals/
In the article, How to Raise Enlightened Children, I discussed many important aspects of how to be a good parent. The advice I suggested included being ego free, attentive, calm and image-less as a parent when dealing with your children. Today, I am going to provide some more parenting help, which is not of the ordinary kind.
The everyday advise of positive parenting, parenting styles, good parenting, etc, is all within the framework of "society" and seeing the mess the world is in, I think it is time to introduce the wiser, but certainly more controversial, approaches suggested by the enlightened masters.
http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2012/04/24/meditation-benefits-children-with-add-adhd-hyper/
Meditation is the answer to suffering and is the ultimate purpose of human birth, but besides these Highest "goals" of meditation, there are a great many other benefits and applications to meditation as well. In this guest article, David, reveals how meditation helps children who suffer from ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), by helping them develop calmness, presence, focus and control over their reactions to external stimuli.
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