Core streamlined fitness, make no mistake, is found in the movements of the snake. Kundalini is a power entwined that will unwind and move up the spine when the body is aligned. In other words, your energy gets unstuck, and your mind opens like the hood of a cobra. Health and awareness become your natural state of being when you are internally bathed with free flowing energy. So lets get going with the flowing!

The Warmup: Stand and bow your head. Move it back and forth lifting it up and back and feeling yourself do it one vertebra at a time. Now move your head up and around in a circle going forward and back a few times before reversing the direction. Like following an imaginary sideways clock. Now imagine the clock turned to face you and go around it with your head clockwise and counterclockwise a few times. Then imagine the clock at your left then right shoulder and move just your head to face it and do the same movements. Now imagine the clock is laid flat at your eye level and move your head around it’s circle that way clockwise and counterclockwise. Then bring your head back to the center and turn it left then right then left then right. Then down and back and down and back. Then left ear to left shoulder and right ear to right shoulder a few times. Then lower your head and roll it around in both directions without holding it up. The master nerve center in your body runs through your neck and it is where the most efficient movements are started from. Your head knows where to go and your neck moves it there. That is the way a snake travels. You are now warmed up for the following twelve exercises. Enjoy them, have fun with them, do not strain to do them. Exercise is meant to relieve stress, invigorate you, rejuvenate you, and raise your spirit.

1. Stand with feet together and palms together at your chest. With fingers together point the fingers in the direction your palms are going. Your palms will move together first down making you bend your knees and head. Then up above your head making you straighten your knees back up and while you look up at your palms, move them down back to your chest. Coming down to your chest is the only time the bottom of the palms rather than the fingers lead the movement. Move your palms at 45 degree angle up to your left and circle them in front of you to your right. Then have them cross your body making a 45 degree angle downward to your left. Then weave them up and around down to the other side, then up and straight out to your left and turn to go straight out to your right and then up above your head to come down to your chest. This is the first part of the first exercise. Do the movement again switching the order of the sides you go to. You can repeat, repeat, and need not even follow these instructions exactly. The only thing to really remember is to stretch up and down, and wind back and forth like a snake.

2. Now after that you can relax you hands down and spread your feet back out as you move your head to the left up and a little back then to the right up and a little back, going back and forth. While doing this you can raise your shoulders and start bending backwards. Then bring your arms into the movement. Left hand going down behind you and right hand going the same direction as the head as you move your head to the left up and back and vice versa. Repeat and repeat.

3. Next, sit on the floor with your knees to your chest, grabbing them with your hands and rock your back on the floor. Just roll backward and roll back up over and over. Like being in a fetal position rolling around in the egg or womb. The alchemical symbol of a snake eating it’s own tail represents a return to the beginning and rebirth.

4. Then lay flat and arch the bottom of your spine and flat again dragging yourself down the floor a little ways with your lower back. Then move back up by reaching up on the floor back and forth with your upper back. Now stop and lift your legs and upper body to form a letter V. Lift and relax, lift and relax. The shape of a V is the shape of a snakes head. Put two together looking in two directions and you have the shape of a snakes scales, which is a diamond.

5. Next, sit up with legs straight, palms on floor to your sides and looking down. Lift your belly up and your head back so you become like a table, then back to sitting position. These exercises can be repeated as many times as you feel comfortable doing them.

6. Now lay down and kick your feet up to where they are above you all the way. You are on your shoulders with your hands supporting your back in a shoulder stand. If you can, keep your legs straight and lower them down toward your head and beyond to touch the floor. If you cannot then just lower them a little bit and reach up with your hands to support them near the knees while maintaining a balanced shoulder stand position. That is call the Tranquility Posture.

7. Roll yourself out of the shoulder stand and stand on your knees. The tops of your feet and your shins are flat on the floor. Put your hands on the back of your hips with your head down and back straight. Bend both your head and your back back, then your back straight and head down in a movement that is like a snake shaking off it’s old skin. Like the snake, you will be renewed from the inside by doing these exercises regularly.

8. Now, like a snake going into the ground, put your head to the floor and try to go in as if there were a hole there. Just keep pushing until you bring yourself into a head stand. You need not bring your feet straight above your head. You only need to lift them off the ground some, which is actually better as the rounded position helps gravity stretch your spine, which is the opposite of what happens in a full headstand.

9. Now lay on your stomach pretending you have gone beneath the ground and relax a short while.

10. The next movement you will do mimics the snake coming out of the ground. Lift your head and body up while straightening your arms. You are looking straight up, and your legs from your thighs down are still flat on the floor. From there, you make yourself into a pyramid, the complete opposite of when you formed a letter V with your body in the fourth exercise. Then go back to having the head and body up, which is the Cobra Position. Pump yourself in repeat performances. A pyramid is a portal, and portals are what snakes are designed to slip through.

11. Now that you are up out of the ground, you might have to be slithering over things like rocks and branches. This movement is a little more rounded and flowing from the last movement. It differs in that instead of bringing your middle straight down to the Cobra Position from the Pyramid Position, you roll it back, then dip your head down as if diving into the water, and arch it up to the Cobra Position and smoothly continue this movement from there as many times as you wish.

12. Lay on your back, raise your arms up, stretch them above your head while stretching your feet in the opposite direction. Now bring your palms flat to the floor just above your shoulders. Bring your knees up to put your feet flat to the floor to raise your lower body. Push with your palms to raise the rest of your body. You are now in a position similar to where you were like a table in exercise 5, but your fingers are not pointing to your feet, this time they are pointing the other direction and it is harder to straighten your arms. But that is what you are going to do, is straighten and bend your arms to do reverse push-ups. And when you have done as many as you can do, rest your head down and roll it back to stretch your neck and give it a good curve that all healthy necks should have. And when done, get yourself back flat on your back, breathe energy up your spine, and relax as long as you want. You deserve it!

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Twenty percent of all those who undergo surgery for lower back pain will get no relief. The remaining 80 percent will have problems ranging from mild to severe. All will have trouble with spinal flexion.

Yoga does not offer cures. It simply promises that if you faithfully practice these asanas every day, there will be no pain and you will build up a strong and supple spine, restructuring posture and body image. Once you have back problems you must remain conscious all through the day of how you stand, sit and lie down. Here are a few guidelines:

Always sleep on a firm (not necessarily hard) bed, with a flat pillow under your head and a thicker one under your knees. This will help the spine to reposition and adjust itself.

Do not wear high heels as this promotes lumbar lordosis and throws the spine out of balance.

Do not go in for break-dancing, strenuous aerobics, jogging, running or anything where you need to bounce or jiggle. Guarded activity is the key here.

For lower back pain, sitting is the most painful. Sit on a firm seat, not squashy cushions, and sit on your buttock bones. Do not loll back on the tailbone or lower spine. Wedge a rolled towel or small cushion behind your back to keep you upright. Sit as often as possible in The Diamond Posture (Figure 1) in order to benefit the sciatic nerve and to cure a convex or a lateral curvature of the spine.

When the pain is acute and you can neither sit nor stand in comfort, rest in bed, take whatever anti-inflammatory or analgesic medications your physician prescribes, and wait until the pain is milder before starting on these postures.

All these asanas have healing and curative properties. They will act as a form of mild traction, gently stretching the spinal muscles in safe extension postures. Strength will be gradually built up in the paraspinal muscles and buttocks, abdominal organs will be toned and strengthened, and pressure points all along the spine will be stimulated. Practice each asana to the point where mild pain is felt.

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Yoga is a mild to moderate form of exercise which aims to provide a tranquil mind, lessen stress and improve a person’s concentration and flexibility. Apart from helping blood circulation, it also aids in removing waste in the body which results in an improvement in one’s health and a more productive lifestyle.

Yoga has been practiced for more than a thousand years and is also considered an old science. The best thing about this exercise is that it is applicable among various ages. However, before enrollment, it is suggested that a person’s fitness must be initially assessed by a doctor. Below are the different forms of yoga which are being performed for several reasons too.

Bikram Yoga

This type of yoga carries out its routine in a warm area that’s why it’s also known as hot yoga. Doing this increases a person’s flexibility but is not recommended for those who have cardiovascular ailments. Its routine calls for tolerance to vigorous movements in a warm temperature that may cause severe exhaustion to the ill or weak person.

The Ashtanga

This is also known as power yoga since it involves many forceful movements. These movements aim to improve a person’s strength and stamina which may include lunges and push-ups. Most often than not, people who go for this type of yoga are athletes and those who want challenging activities. This is proven to help them keep their balance and practice concentration.

Iyenga

This type is highly concerned in accurate movements and proper body alignment. For beginners, props such as blocks and straps are used. These tools allow them to become more comfortable and a bit relaxed allowing them to get more productive results.

Raja Yoga

This exercise simplifies the thought that meditation is the means to liberation. It highlights the benefits of concentration and highlights that having contentment shows a satisfied body and soul.

Bhakti and Mantra yoga

The former is also called devotional yoga in which its main point is to focus the participant’s attention to self-surrender. While the latter’s popularly known as yoga of potent, its main concern is thorough liberation by verbal or mental repetition of sounds and noises.

Other known benefits of doing yoga are the following:

Improvement in the spine’s alignment, which is helpful for those who are suffering from back pain and other spine related disorders.

Decrease in mental and physical plight experienced by those who are suffering from conversion disorders and other mind-body related illnesses.

It’s also known to provide a healthy and glowing skin since it’s designed to promote blood circulation and flush away toxic substances from the body.

If you are aiming for a better toned abdomen and muscles, then this exercise fits you well. This is proven to work better than cardio exercises when it comes to achievement of a well-toned body.

Overall, choose the form of yoga that best fits your situation and flexibility. Start slow and increase your movements slowly. Eventually you will be able to move much more freely and feel so much better. Try yoga and you will know how it feels to loosen up, become re-energized and improve your well-being in a natural way.

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The Diamond Posture (Vajrasana)

Kneel on a thick carpet or blanket with your knees close together. Sit back on your heels and stretch up from your hips, balancing your head well so a line drawn through ear, shoulder, elbow and hip would be straight. You should sit up in this posture for greatest benefits.

The Locust (Salabhasana)

Most yoga students are familiar with this posture. Lie flat, face down, chin on floor. Make your hands into fists and push them either under your thighs to help the lift, or place them alongside your body. Breathe out and lift legs from your hips, tightening your buttocks and stretching your legs up and back. Hold position for as long as possible, breathe out, return to starting posture and repeat.

The Dog Stretch (Adho mukha svanasana)

Lie face down, legs stretched back, buttocks tightened and knees pulled back. Place hands just below shoulders, breathe out and lift head, then chest, shoulders and torso, pushing down from your pelvis and straightening your arms. From the back of your head to your tailbone, your body should be curved back. Push shoulders back and down. Push head back more. Stay like this as long as possible with normal breathing. Come down very slowly, and relax.

The Twist (Bhardwajasana)

Kneel on the floor and sit back, bringing both feet to the right of your hips. Straighten your right arm, bring it across your body and turn to the left. Place your hand, palm down under your left knee. Breathe out, turn your body more to the left and clasp your right elbow with your left-hand, from the back. Turn your head and gaze over your right shoulder. Fold position for a few breaths and then twist and look back over your left shoulder. Shoulders should be at right angles to the body. Come back to starting position and repeat on other side. You should do this posture once every hour if you have lower back pain.

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If a woman wants a healthy way of life devoid of any strain and stress, she should start her day with yoga.

First things first, when you roll out of your bed, sit on to a mat on the floor and hug your knees to your chest. Then raise your legs in the air and stay bottoms up until your head clears. Next stand up and drop your forehead to your shins until you feel ready to tackle the toothbrush and get on with your day.

Waking up doesn’t have to consist of pouring coffee down your gullet to shock yourself alive.

Many women pile up an array of small violence’s against themselves from the moment they wake up – caffeine, cigarettes, abrasive exercises or no exercise at all. Many faddish fitness programs today have this aggressive approach – do 50 leg raises or pound your body jogging on the pavement or jump around to a rhythm not of your own making.

Your approach to fitness and well-being and to life in general should be nonviolent one – working smoothly with concentration and determination at your own pace without competing with anyone else. Don’t be ruthless with yourself and you won’t be ruthless with other people.

Your routine should ideally center on 28 postures drawn from the 5,000-year-old technique whose name comes from the Sanskrit for sun, moon and join together. The exercises should range from deep breathing to pretzel-like stretches.

Yoga is strenuous, but not painful, and it gives every inch of your body a terrific workout.

Yoga proves particularly helpful in strengthening a body plagued by injury.

Yoga helps you preserve flexibility, build strength and muscle definition and even. Try spending 60 to 90 minutes on your yoga routine, before breakfast, five to six days a week.

Follow the basics mentioned here to have a healthy and balanced life:

Avoid the big seduction to only go with your strong points – like weight-lifting if you’ve got great muscles. It’s the thing that’s hardest for you that you need to work on the most

Don’t space out during work-outs. Use that time to have a private conversation with yourself: ‘How do I feel physically, mentally?’ ‘How is my balance and coordination today?’ ‘Is there something I should pay special attention to?’

Practice yoga in the early morning or early evening at least one hour after a light meal or three to four hours after a main meal. If you are hungry before practice, try tea, milk or fruit juice.

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Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a text that covers many aspects of life, beginning with a code of conduct and ending with the goal of yoga, a vision of one’s true Self. The Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras is the most authoritative text on yoga. It defines yoga as a focusing of the attention to whatever object is being studied to exclude all others. Yoga isn’t only about postures, or meditation, it is a way of life, or religion. In this influencing scripture there are eight steps to awakening or enlightenment through yoga. These eight astanga or limbs of yoga are: yamas, niyamas, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.

The yamas consist of lessons in moral and social conduct in our environment. It teaches us to restrain from lying, stealing, and greed. Non-violence and consideration toward all living things is the key. Communication with sensitivity towards others and moderation in all things we do is revered.

The niyama focuses on attitudes towards ourselves: compromising, cleanliness, serenity, devotion, and asceticism. One should study and reverence to a higher intelligence. There is an acceptance of our limits towards God. It is key to have removed the impurities from the mind and body.

In the asanas, one focuses on posture practice, positioning the body while incorporating the breath to achieve a greater awareness in the mind. One is alert and relaxed without tension, while noting the reactions of the body and breath to various postures. This lessens the effect of the external influences on the body, such as diet and climate.

Pranayama, or the restraint and control of the breath, helps with concentration, energizing and balancing of the mind and body.

Pratyahara is the relaxation of the senses, where no distractions actually activate the mind.

Dharana, or concentration, is the ability to direct the mind toward a chosen object and focus in on it alone.

Dhyana, or meditation, is the ability to develop focused interactions with what we seek to understand.

Lastly, but most importantly, Samadhi is the ultimate state of Self-realization, or union with the Source.

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Is there a connection between spirituality, success and self-improvement? The answer is yes. In India for instance, people there believe that spirituality gives you strength so you will think positive all the time thus becoming a better person and achieving success.

Before we go any deeper, we first have to discuss what spirituality is. Most of us know this simply as an attachment to religious values. You can be a Christian, a catholic or a Buddhist. The point is that you believe that a God or spiritual being exists.

Some might ask, isn’t there a conflict when no-one has seen God’s face? But great thinkers and regular people don’t have to see it when they can feel the awesome power. That may be strange to people who are atheists but whether we like it or not, there are certain events that happen and there is no way to explain how it happened.

How does spirituality then relate to success and self-improvement? The best way to explain it is to say that your life here on earth is a journey. That means there is a path and as you travel, you will make choices where some are good and some are bad. Fortunately, there is a way for you to go back to the right path to have a change in attitude and approach in life.

You don’t have to say a chant hundreds of times to become a better person. All you have to do is learn and then practice spiritual exercises like Yoga or meditation.

What is yoga? It is an exercise that enables your mind, body and spirit to become one. During a session, you concentrate and hold various positions for a certain amount of time before moving to the next pose. One of the benefits of this exercise is to improve your flexibility because it is a low impact workout.

Meditation is similar to yoga but there are different ways to do it. You can meditate while you are walking, sitting down or staring at a flame. It helps develop insight into your subconscious where our attitudes, behavior, feelings and perceptions are located and if you are able to harness it, you can understand yourself better.

Both of these techniques have been practiced for hundreds of years. In fact, there are centers here in the US that teaches this to students. Keep in mind that you will not learn everything there is to know overnight and doing it regularly opens your gateway to spiritual exploration.

There are many benefits for people who practice it. For one, you will be able to see the bigger picture rather than the small one which gets many of us stressed out. This enables you not to sweat the small stuff and figure out a way out.

Apart from thinking positive, spiritual exercises makes you content or thankful for what you have instead of harboring feelings of anger, anxiety, greed, hatred and jealousy towards yourself and others. You might even get the determination to strive for more which is a good thing so you can also be proud of what you have accomplished.

It is also possible that you will feel younger because one study has shown that people who have practiced this for years were physiologically 12 years younger than their chronological age. The results of the test were based on the test subject’s auditory discrimination, blood pressure and eyesight.

You might be wondering, how long you have to meditate to achieve self-improvement or success. Ideally, you should meditate for about 15 minutes daily but you can extend it a little longer for about an hour. When you are done, you will feel refreshed to take on anything no matter how small or big the problem is.

Self-improvement and success is a continuous struggle and if you don’t want the competition to one day takeover, you have to take steps so you are always the man on top. To make this happen, you have to focus and channel your energy because this is the only way that you will achieve personal empowerment that will lead to change.

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Whether you might be staying home with a new baby or working too many hours at the office, any time is a good time for yoga. You can do yoga stretches and postures in bed or even while driving to work.

Hundreds of fitness seekers use their lunch hour to squeeze in exercise and take off extra pounds.

I occasionally use my lunch hour for Yoga, said John Ray White, 35, who works at the Arkansas attorney general’s office. Downward facing dog and sun salutation are two of the postures she practices every day.

Practicing yoga in the middle of day some people think is the break that they need to face the afternoon, said Ray.

Lunch hour fitness routines become more popular in warm weather.

Kick Back Log-on Pose

Interlace your fingers behind your head. Relax your elbows and shoulders. Smile, breathe and stretch your elbows back. Let the tightness release slowly.

E-mail Meditation

While reading your e-mail, remember to breathe slowly and focus your attention on your breath. Make the out-breath two times longer than the in-breath. This will immediately calm you.

Photocopier Stretch

Place your hands-on the edge of the copier. Stand back with feet apart. Drop your head and chest. Breathe and relax your shoulders.

Close-the-deal Warrior Pose

Raise your arms to the side with fingers pointed. Take a big step to the side, with your right foot out and knee bent, your left foot planted, left leg straight. Keep the upper body straight and strong, shoulders relaxed. Relax into the stretch — don’t hold your breath. Return to a standing position, switch sides and repeat.

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For controlling your hypertension, there are two effective yoga exercises that helps lower the blood pressure:

Inverted Yoga

Inverted yoga reverses the action of gravity on the body. The most marked changes brought about by Inverted Yoga is in circulation. In inverted poses, legs and abdomen are placed higher than the heart.

Lengthening up through the legs and keep them very active so your spine opens and the entire body actively involved in the pose.

One reason for this is simply because the force of gravity is reversed and venous return becomes significantly greater.

Normally, the muscles of the calf and other skeletal muscles in the lower extremities must contract to pump unoxygenated blood and waste back to the heart through the veins.

In inverted poses, gravity causes the blood to flow easily back through the veins and this brings the blood pressure in the feet to a minimum. This in effect gives skeletal muscles a chance to rest.

In Inverted poses, drainage of blood and waste from the lower body back to the heart is increased and disorders such as varicose veins and swollen ankles are relieved.

Rhythmic Breathing

It’s time to learn about breathing, because inhaling and breathing out has the power to nourish the body and calm the mind.

Not just any old breathing will do. If you’re like most people, you take shallow breaths, pull in your stomach when you inhale and never empty your lungs of carbon dioxide when you breathe out.

Here’s the physiological explanation: Long, slow breaths are more efficient than short, fast ones.

To take in a good breath, your lungs must first be basically empty. Thus the key to efficient breathing lies in exhaling completely. A full exhalation begins with the upper chest, proceeds to the middle chest and finishes with tightening the abdominal muscles.

Only after a good exhalation can you draw in a good lungful of the oxygen-rich air your blood needs for nourishing cells.

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Yoga exercises strengthen your body and make it more flexible. Yoga also calms your mind and gives you energy. In active sports or strenuous exercises, you use up energy. In yoga classes, students report that they feel tranquil after a class, yet have more energy. Slow and steady motion is the key to going into or coming out of the postures. You hold a yoga pose for several seconds or even minutes and give attention to full, quiet breath. Your yoga instructor will always encourage you to relax as the exercises are being done.

You gently place your body into yoga postures. Done correctly, there’s very little chance of injury or muscle stress. A particular asana is not repeated dozens of times, nor are you ever encouraged to push yourself too much.

A yoga session is designed for balance. You stretch to the right and then to the left. You bend back and then forward. You learn to recognize when one side is stronger or more flexible than the other. Thus harmony and balance are achieved with yoga practice.

People of all ages can practice yoga exercises. They are easily modified to meet your needs and physical condition. Don’t be put off by the difficult looking postures you may see in a yoga book. A skilled teacher can adapt most asanas by using chairs, cushions, even a wall or other props. A yoga practice can be tailor-made just for you. If something is really impossible for you to do, just forget it. Never compete with yourself or others. Yoga is a stress-free but powerful way to exercise.

Yoga is good for increasing your flexibility and relieving stress, but it doesn’t take the place of aerobic exercise. You should still do regular, aerobic exercise, which increases your cardiovascular fitness, helps you lose weight, and, for people with non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetes at least, improves blood glucose control.

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