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!!!