Yoga Pose: Anjaneyasana - Cresent Moon

Anjaneyasana is often found as you flow through Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation. You begin from a lunge placing with hands near the feet, on the mat, with your heart shining up to the heavens. Gently placing the back knee on the mat, softly float the arms up. While we want to invite the concept of sun-moon energy....as we inhale shine the heart further to the heavens, as we exhale sink your hips/thighs further to the earth. Let your breath get deeper as your body gets deeper into the pose. The balance comes from keeping your navel to the spine (Uddiyana Bandha). Tuck the the tail bone down and forward as sink deeper into the pose, you pull your lower ribs into your back, expand through the heart & ribs and keep the shoulders relaxed away from the ears as you lift the finger tips further to the sky. This pose is a beautiful offering in your practice as it opens the heart and awakens the tightness in the hips that affect our root chakra. Depending on your comfort you may want to have a blanket under your bent knee or roll up your mat. For those of you advanced in your practice....You may work on you pigeon variations, bringing your back foot up & inviting a beautiful stretch for the quadricep. You may even attempt this pose on the narrow ledge over looking the Atlantic Ocean like I did (wind blowing, a steep drop to jagged rocks and all...of course wearing a skirt....gotta be a lady)....again awareness of Bandhas is important for balance.

This pose is an excellent way to get into the psoas, the quads the gluteus. Hip Abductor Stablizers (glut medius, minims, magnus, longus) all become toned. Arms are worked and delts, triceps, biceps, traps, rhomboids and lats are all strengthened and toned. For people with tightness in the shoulders work on shining the heart up and keep your arms relaxed.

While this pose is amazing, and anatomically opens the body to prepare for deeper asana work, it is also a lovely pose to open the heart chakra. As you breathe in, breathe in love & compassion, as you breathe out...release any unforgiveness/baggage that burdens your heart, that occupies unnecessary space......So we not only get lighter physically with Yoga, we also get lighter emotionally, mentally while our Spirituality and connection to God gets even more AMAZING!!!

WALL STREET YOGA: Anjaneyasana (Crescent Lunge)

It was my pleasure to sub for a my friends Yoga class monday morning.  It is so great that here in NYC, there are some hardworking people who commit to a monday morning Yoga practice.  The setting was an office board room in the Wall Street Area.  The rain was drizzling, and I had the honor to share and lead a peaceful, candle lit, Yoga practice with some beginner "business" Yogis.  Finding a peaceful state in a serene Yoga Studio or foreign country like India, Bali, Costa Rica etc. can be easy, but to find inner peace with the hum of NYC traffic, the gray slate walls of a Wall Street Board Room on a MONDAY RAINY MORNING, knowing that soon you will be facing deadlines and business meetings within an hour??!!! That is YOGA at its BEST!  They left class energized, damp from the detox of perspiration and quoting my phrase of "every inhale is our chance to inhale positive energy and every exhale is the release of negative energy so make both Deep, Long and with a smile". BRAVO BUSINESS YOGIS!!!! 

This lunge pose was a pose we played with!

Anjaneya = praise (from root anj meaning honor) 

This pose will help to lengthen your spine, strengthen your arms & legs and increase your stability and balance. 

HOW TO GET INTO THE POSE:

1) Start from Downward Dog, inhale as you step your right foot forward between your hands, Keep your front knee stacked above the ankle

2) Keeping your back heel elevated, exhale as you gently press down and backwards into the earth, keep your leg straight, quads push into the hammies.

3) Keep Abs engaged, lengthen through the torso, inhale and gently lift arms to the sky, palms face in, pinky's turn slightly in, relax your shoulders down the back, and smile.

4) Drop the tailbone down, while pelvis remains neutral, gaze can be toward your hands or the sky. For the sake of balance and harmony switch sides.

~Namaste~