8 Simple Yoga Poses For Glowing Skin
8 Simple Yoga Poses For Glowing Skin
8 Simple Yoga Poses For Glowing Skin
Image: Shutterstock
Moisturizers, night creams, face packs, peel off masks, toners, massage
creams, scrubbers and gels; everything is stacked up on your dressing table.
Have I left out something ladies? These are all, right? We use these beauty
products to get that wonderful glow. But needless to say, nothing has worked
out yet. We keep wondering how on earth these Celebrities manage to keep
the glow of their skin on for years. Magic or expensive cosmetics? No, the
name of the magic is yoga. Yoga is the answer to all physical, mental and
spiritual development.
Dull and loathsome skin besides being the result of external sources like
unhealthy lifestyle also happens due to mental conditions like stress and
unhappiness. It is easy for people when they say to throw away all stress but
we alone know how difficult that is. Yoga helps out effectively when it comes
to reducing stress and worries.
First well give you some yoga exercise that will help you to calm your mind
drop down all stress.
Image: Shutterstock
Control your breathing through counts that will rejuvenate your mind and that
is what makes this pose of yoga for beautiful skin so popular.
Image: Shutterstock
Shirshasana is a bit difficult pose but is great if you want to maintain a long-
lasting glow and healthy look in your face. Since you are standing on your
head, blood starts flowing downwards, thereby improving blood circulation in
your face. By reversing the flow of gravity, a headstand simulates a face lift
by letting your skin hang in the opposite direction, which means getting rid of
wrinkles. The inverted position of a headstand also flushes fresh nutrients and
oxygen to the face, creating a glowing effect on the skin.
Next position your head in between your interlocked palms. Refer to the
above picture. Be careful not to hurt yourself. Take a few relaxing
breaths before we move on to the next step.
Next try lifting up your body in a mountain position. Start with your knees,
lift your hips and now you are supporting this position with your forearms,
head and your toes. This is like a downward dog pose. See picture
above. Balancing up till this position does take a lot of stamina, but with
practice you will be able to do this. Balance yourself till this step and
proceed again when you are totally comfortable with this pose.
This step requires a bit more test of your balance. Now that you have
partially balanced on your head, lifted up your hips and standing on your
toes, try lifting up one leg off the floor slowly and steadily. To make it
easier, walk your feet towards your head, unless your feet would
naturally want to lift off.
Now that you have lifted one leg, try lifting the other leg too. This will
require a lot of strength on your arms and hand. But with practice, youll
be able to master it. Beginners can ask friends to help them in balancing
or you may also take support of the wall.
To come down, bend your knees and curl down or bring down one leg
and then the other as you had gone up.
Relax in a kneel-down posture with some deep relaxing breaths.
[ Read: Yoga asanas ]
3. Halasana (Plough pose):
Image: Shutterstock
Lie down on your yoga mat straight and relaxed. Put your arms by your
side with palms facing the floor.
Now slowly lift up your legs from the floor such that a right angle is
formed between your upper and lower torso. Push floor with your hands
so that it gets easy for you to lift your legs. Breathe and relax.
Next bring your legs more towards your upper torso and slowly lift your
hips off the floor supporting and balancing yourself with your hands.
Continue lifting your legs and bring it beyond your head as much as
possible so as to touch the floor beyond your head with your toes.
At this point, lift your back further so that now only your shoulder and
your head is resting on the floor.
Now your back has formed an arch. Straighten your spine and support
the two sides of your waist with your hands, elbows on the ground.
Breathe normally.
Hold posture for 15-30 seconds before returning back to normal position.
Refer to the below picture for a clear step by step understanding.
Lie down on your belly with hands by your side with palms facing
upwards.
Bend your knees to bring the heels near your buttocks.
Now take your hands back and grasp your ankles. Rest your body weight
on your abdomen.
Now pull your ankles more with your hands. As your pull your ankles
more, your upper torso automatically rises. And now your body looks like
a bow.
Keep your breathing normal.
5. Bharadvajasana (Twisted seated pose):
Image: Shutterstock
Sit on the mat cross-legged with both hands extended on the mat on
both your sides.
Inhale deeply and strengthen your spine.
Shifting your left hand from the mat place it on your right thigh and twist
your torso to the right. Exhale when you twist your body.
Hold this position for 30 seconds.
Now turn your torso to your left while placing your right hand over your
left thigh. Stay for another 30 seconds.
This asana of yoga for fair and glowing skin is great for anti-aging.
This asana involves the whole body, hence the name Sharvanga.
The mother of all yoga asanas. Surya Namaskar involves 12 postures. (Link
back to surya namaskar)
This yoga poses de-stresses, removes toxins and is a great relaxation
exercise. So you can obviously expect your skin to glow if you practice this
regularly.
[ Read: Yoga for Fertility ]
8. Shavasana (Corpse pose):
Image: Shutterstock
Souce: gettyimages
This yoga asana was made famous by Baba Ramdev. It is simple and highly
affective.
Stand straight with your legs close to one another touching your knees,
heels, feet and toes.
Inhale deeply.
Now while exhaling, lift up your hands and bend forward, until your
fingers and then your hands touch the floor.
If possible, you can also bring your hands behind your heels.
Hold on this position with some normal breathing.
When you want to come out of this pose, inhale in deeply and stand back
straight.
For beginners, if you are not able to touch the ground with your hands,
then fold your hands and hold your right elbow with left hand and left
elbow with right hand.
This asana it helps better hair growth because of two reasons:
If you have noticed, your head is hanging below your heart allowing
allows blood to circulate properly in your scalp leading to proper hair
growth.
Another reason is that Uttanasana de-stresses you and relieves you of
all anxiety and tensions which is a primary reason for hair loss.
3. Sasangasana (Rabbit pose):
Image: shutterstock
Sit with your knees on the floor, hips on your heels in Balasana pose
(child pose).
Now put both your hands at the back and hold your heels.
Place the crown of your head on the floor and slowly inhale and lift up
your hips.
Hold this position until five breaths.
Exhale as you slowly unroll yourself back to child pose.
Relax and repeat again.
This asana is again beneficial because while the crown is on the ground, the
blood flows to the head. Proper circulation of blood to scalp means good
and healthy hair growth.
4. Ustrasana (Camel Pose):
Image: shutterstock
Sit straight on the floor with your knees in a way that the calves of your
knees form right angle.
Keep hands on your waist, fingers in the front and thumb behind.
Now bend your spine backward and hold the heels of your feet with your
hands or you may also touch the soles of your feet.
As you bend your spine, also move your face upwards and try looking at
the ceiling.
Hold on this pose for a few seconds and keep your breathing normal.
Exhale while exiting from this pose.
Sit in baby pose or Balasana and relax.
Follow some precautions while doing this yoga for good hair:
For beginners, do not bend backwards too much as it may cause injury
to your lower back.
You need Flexibility for this asana, if your body is stiff, youll never be
able to complete this asana until the end.
[ Read: Top 10 Yoga Poses For Faster Hair Growth ]
5. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog pose):
Image: shutterstock
Place yourself with your knees and hands on the ground. Your hands
perpendicular to your shoulders and your knees perpendicular with your
hips.
Next push your hips up and alongside straighten your legs too, standing
on your toes.
Pressing your palms to the ground, straighten your spine more.
To exit from this pose, pull down your hips gently and come back to the
first step.
6. Vajrasana (Diamond pose):
Image: shutterstock
Sit on the floor keeping your spine erect and with stretched legs. Your
heels should be together.
Place your hands by your side palms facing the ground.
Now you have to fold both your legs, keeping them under your thighs;
first the left leg and then the right.
Place your hands on your upper thighs.
Sit in a relaxed position and breathe in and out deeply.
When done, return back to your original posture of sitting with stretched
legs.
7. Matsyasana (Fish pose):
Image: shutterstock
Lie down straight on the floor with your legs together, both your hands
should go at the back of your thighs with palms facing downwards.
Now with pressure on your elbows, pull the mid portion of your upper
torso dropping your head a bit more backwards such that the crown of
your head touches the ground.
Your body position will be such that an arch will be formed between your
hips and crown. Breathe in deeply and try filling in as much oxygen
possible to your respiratory organs.
8. Uttanpadasana (Raised feet pose):
Image: Shutterstock
Lie on the yoga mat with arms by your side and palms facing the floor.
Stretch your body and slowly raise your legs at a 45-60 degrees angle
from the ground.
Keep your legs raised for a minute or even more if you can hold it.
This asana allows blood circulation to the scalp and thereby hair follicles
allowing it to regrow.
Some other poses that help growth of long and beautiful hair
are Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand pose) and Sirshasana (headstand pose).
Beginners may have a problem doing these two poses. But as your body
becomes flexible with yoga, youll find the difficulties fading away gradually.
Other than these yoga asana, also practice Anuloma Viloma (alternate nostril
breathing) and kapalbhati. They help you become stress-free which mean less
hair loss.
Yoga is a natural treatment preventing hair loss and help growth of new hair.
Practice yoga for long hair every day in the morning with an empty stomach
for best results.
Dont we crave for fine sculpted cheekbones when we see Angelina Jolie,
Kiera Knightley or our very own Heroine Kareena Kapoor? Look no further!
You can now flaunt well-defined cheekbones.
There is a special makeup technique called contouring, which gives you the
illusion of higher cheekbones. Is it possible to contour our face for a sculpted
look every time we go out?
Here we introduce you some simple yet effective facial exercises for a lean,
sculpted and younger looking face. Yes, face yoga is a promising technique
that involves series of exercises which help to tone the face just like yoga for
body tones and relaxes the body.
Doesnt the idea of exercise for face sound so much more effective and
appealing.
Face Exercise 1:
This simple exercise will
work on your orbicularis oris muscle (Muscle around your mouth), zygomatic
arch (cheekbones) and modiolus muscle (Muscle on either side of mouth).
Close your mouth pressing your lips together and blow air under your
upper lip. Hold at the count of ten.
Transfer the air to your left cheek and again hold for another 10 counts.
Now transfer air to your right cheek and hold for another 10 counts.
Repeat this transferring of air from one cheek to the other for 10-15
times.
This exercise is quite easy and very effective to delete the chubbiness of your
cheek.
Lift your face upwards and look towards the ceiling as much as you can.
Now blow air out of your mouth.
This exercise will firm your jaw lines and will also tone down cheeks making it
leaner.
Face Exercise 7:
Open your mouth as much as possible and hold it.
Youll feel a stretch on all your facial muscles and gradually the muscles
will tone.
Face Exercise 8:
Face Exercise 9:
Place your index fingers on either side of your eyes and the thumbs on
both sides of your mouth.
Pull the skin upwards with your fingers so as to feel a stretch on the
muscles.
Relax and repeat again.
Exercises for Eyes:
Resistance exercises for the eyes will also help you reduce crows feet, fine
lines and wrinkles. It will help you tone, firm and relax the existing lines. It
inturn will boost your confidence to smile.
Place your index finger on the outer corner of the eyes and pull it gently
upwards in such a way as to pull your cheeks up and smile. Hold on for a few
seconds and then relax.
This basic yoga exercise for face also will help you achieve glowing skin,
while brightening your smile.
Practice all the above exercises 3-4 times a day to keep away wrinkles and
look more beautiful and young.
Weight loss is the new rage throughout the world. Eat less, gym more; health
food, dieting, aerobics, yoga, dance, pilates and what not just to cut down
those extra kilos? Why guys? Why do you have to do so much when some
breathing techniques can help you slim down? Unbelievable, isnt it? It was
unbelievable for me too when I had read the article. But then I thought theres
no harm in trying so why not give it a try? And trust me girls, it works. Unlike
gymming and hard core workouts that give you muscle cramps and body
pains, these breathing exercises are easy ad painless techniques to lose
weight easily.
But when there is a rave about so many weight loss workouts and expensive
exercise equipments how can a simple and inexpensive breathing help us
lose weight? The reasons below will convince you of the fact behind weight
loss associated with breathing exercises in yoga.
Deep breathing promotes weight loss as deep inhalation fills your lungs
with fresh oxygen that gets transferred to all body cells. This increases
oxidation and helps in burning fat cells.
With deep breathing in yoga, oxygen intake in blood increases and the
rate at which carbon-dioxide leaves the body slows down, thus giving us
more energy to workout.
Breathing exercises in yoga boosts metabolism. The thyroid gland is
responsible for regulating metabolic rate. Deep breathing in yoga triggers
release of hormones from thyroid gland that stimulate metabolism and
thereby indirectly leads to weight loss.
There are some specific yogic breathing techniques that massages your
abdomen and helps burn fat faster around the mid-region.
Yoga breathing exercises for weight loss
Let us start with certain breathing techniques combined with yoga poses that
will accelerate weight loss.
Pranayam:
Pranayam refers to deep breathing techniques. There is a set of breathing
exercises that will effectively help lose weight.
1. Kapalbhati:
Also known as the Breath of fire technique, this breathing exercise made
popular by yog guru Baba Ramdev is a very helpful weight loss exercise. Let
us learn how to do it.
i. Sit cross-legged on your yoga mat.
ii. Your body should be straight, an elongated spine, neck and chin up.
iii. Close your eyes and place hands on your knees in a comfortable position.
iv. Your abdomen muscles should be completely relaxed, dont strain them.
v. Breathe in deeply and exhale the air out of your nose as if a sniff. When you
sniff out the air, youll feel your abdomen pulling inwards.
vi. If you are a starter, practice this breathing exercise upto 30-50 times.
Slowly increase the pace and continue upto 5-10 minutes at a stretch.
Dont do this exercise when having periods or if you are suffering from high
blood pressure or any other heart disease.
2. Bhastrika Pranayama:
This pranayama is meant to provide enough amount of fresh oxygen to your
body.
i. Sit comfortably on a yoga mat. Your legs should be crossed, one over the
other in a padmasana.
ii. Place hands on your knees with palms facing upwards, the tip of your
thumb and ring finger pressing one against the other.
iii. Take normal breaths and relax.
iv. Now breathe in deeply with all your strength so that your lung is filled with
oxygen.
v. Then breathe out forcefully though the nose such that a hissing sound is
made.
ii. Close your eyes and keep all your muscles relaxed.
iii. Now press the right nostril with the thumb of your right hand and breathe in
through the left nostril.
vi. Now again inhale through your right nostril while still keeping the left nostril
pressed.
vii. Retain the breath until 5 counts and release air through left nostril.
This exercise should be done in fresh air before having your breakfast.
However if you are pregnant or having periods, do not do this exercise.
4. Bhramari Pranayama:
i. Sit on a mat cross-legged in a padmasana.
iv. Use the middle finger of both hands to press lightly on your closed eyes.
v. With the index finger, press your temples lightly.
vi. Place the ring fingers and little fingers on the bridge of your nose.
vii. Now breathe in deeply through nose and exhale slowly through nose while
making a humming sound and chanting OM in your mind.
i. Sit on the yoga mat with your legs extended before you. Breathe and relax.
ii. Bend your right knee and bring the heels as much close to your buttocks as
possible.
iii. Now fold your left knee and cross it over your right knee. Your left foot
ankle should be just by the side of your right knee.
iv. Take your left arm and place it behind you with the palm on the floor.
v. Your right arm should be touching the toes of your left foot.
vi. Now that you have positioned yourself, take in a deep breath and elongate
your spine.
vii. Twist your torso to your left and look over your left shoulder. As you twist
exhale.
Most people consider a sharp nose as a symbol of beauty. It makes you stand
out in a crowd and immediately draws attention to your face. Not to forget that
women with a sharp nose, as compared to others, can pull off most makeup
looks with ease.
To perform this exercise properly, all you need to do is smile and press your
nose upwards with the help of the muscles within the nose. This upper
squinting of the nose adds more body to the muscles that are on the sides of
the nose. Repeating this exercise for 20 to 30 times a day will straighten out
your nose.
If youre not very happy with the shape of your nose, worry not, theres still
hope. With this exercise, its possible to bring some change to the shape and
get closer to what you desire. The shape of your nose can be altered by
exercising the bottom part of the nose. Place your index fingers on either side
of the nostrils. Flare the nostrils by working on the muscles surrounding it.
This exercise works more like a weightlifting exercise for your nose and
prevents it from sagging.
If your beauty mantra calls for a narrow nose, then this is the perfect exercise
for you. Drop your chin and mouth downward and contract your nose. This
exercise works on various muscles inside your nose to toughen them up and
helps give you that slim nose.
5. Nose Wiggling:
This exercise helps build the muscle strength within your nose but doesnt
alter your looks much. It involves wiggling your nose from one side to the
other without moving any other part of the face.
Block one nostril and breathe in for four seconds. Now breathe out for eight
seconds with the other nostril while blocking the previous one. This works
great to give your nose that sculpted look. This is also one of the nose
shaping exercises that works great to keep nose in shape.
7. Nose Lifts:
This exercise not only works on your nose but is also a face lifting exercise.
Form an O with your mouth and closing your eyes, look upwards. Bend your
head backwards and lift your chest. This will help stretch all the facial muscles
which will help lift the nose and give it a good shape.
Gently massage the bridge of your nose using circular motions, daily for five
minutes for 3- 4 weeks. This will help give you a narrower and a smaller
looking nose.