Use this flowing, yoga-with-dumbbells routine from Health’s own yoga guru Kristin McGee to build strength, double your calorie-burn, and decompress. “Concentrating on the movements gets your mind off all of the distractions around you, leaving you feeling peaceful and relaxed,” McGee explains.

The result? A calm, fit, and incredibly gorgeous you!

Get firm fast

Hold a 2 1/2- to 8-pound weight in each hand and go through the sequence 3 times, flowing smoothly from pose to pose, for a 30-minute, full-body routine. Do it 3 times a week, and you’ll look firmer all over in as little as 3 weeks.

For a firm butt

Targets butt, hips, thighs, abs

Stand with feet together and arms by your sides, shoulders down. Close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths; open them, draw in your lower abs, and begin Chair Pose squats: Inhale as you bend your knees, and push your butt back as if sitting in an imaginary chair; exhale and return to standing while squeezing your butt and thigh muscles. Do 20 reps.

For a strong chest

Targets chest, mid-back, obliques, core, thighs (inner and outer), butt, hips

Wrap your left leg over your right leg, touching your left toes to the outside of your right foot (or crossing them behind your right calf, if possible); lower into a squat for Eagle Pose. Inhale as you raise your arms out to the sides to shoulder height, and bend your elbows to 90 degrees for chest flys. (Keep your thighs squeezed and abs engaged throughout the move.)

Exhale and contract your chest muscles as you bring your bent arms together in front of you, then inhale as you contract your shoulder blades to open them back out to the sides. Do 8–10 reps, then return to standing and repeat on the other side.

For a strong chest

Targets chest, mid-back, obliques, core, thighs (inner and outer), butt, hips

Wrap your left leg over your right leg, touching your left toes to the outside of your right foot (or crossing them behind your right calf, if possible); lower into a squat for Eagle Pose. Inhale as you raise your arms out to the sides to shoulder height, and bend your elbows to 90 degrees for chest flys. (Keep your thighs squeezed and abs engaged throughout the move.)

Exhale and contract your chest muscles as you bring your bent arms together in front of you, then inhale as you contract your shoulder blades to open them back out to the sides. Do 8–10 reps, then return to standing and repeat on the other side.

For a beautiful back

Targets back, triceps, shoulders, waist, thighs, hips, butt

With arms down by your sides and palms facing in, step your left foot back, and turn it out to 45 degrees, pressing the outer edge into the floor (both hips should face forward). Bend your front knee to 90 degrees to come into Warrior 1 Pose, then hinge forward from the hips, keeping your abs engaged. Exhale as you bend your elbows to pull the weights up to hip level, squeezing your shoulder blades together for back rows; inhale as you lower the weights. Do 8–10 reps, then return to standing and repeat on the opposite side.

For shapely shoulders

Targets tops of shoulders, back, arms, inner thighs, butt

Turn your left foot in to come into a wide straddle stance. Walk your feet a little closer together, then turn both feet out to 45 degrees. Push your butt back, and lower into a sumo-type Yogi Squat (keep knees over ankles); let your hands hang down in front of your body, palms facing backward. Inhale as you straighten your legs and lift your elbows up toward the ceiling, raising the weights to shoulder height for bent-arm shoulder raises. Exhale, lowering your arms and returning to squat position. Do 12–15 reps, then rise up with your arms lowered.

For toned thighs

Targets legs, butt, shoulders, arms, abs

Turn your right foot forward, and slide your left leg back; bend your right knee (keep it over your ankle) to come into a long High Lunge Pose. Bend your elbows to bring the weights up to shoulder height, palms facing in; tighten your abs. Inhale and straighten right leg as you press the weights up toward the ceiling for an overhead shoulder press. Exhale as you bend your right leg again to come back into a lunge; at the same time, lower the weights back down to shoulder height. Do 8–10 reps, then step your left foot forward and repeat on the opposite side. After the last rep, step your right foot forward.

For a trim waist

Targets waist, abs, butt, back, hamstrings, triceps

Take a step back with your left foot. Engage your abs, and hinge forward at the waist as you lift your left leg straight up behind you until your foot, torso, and head are all in one straight line and parallel to the floor for Warrior 3 Pose. Bend your elbows to pull the weights up to hip level, palms facing in.

Exhale; keeping your upper arms still, straighten your elbows to reach the weights straight out behind you for triceps kickbacks. Inhale as you bend your elbows to bring weights forward again. Do 8–10 reps, then return to standing with feet together; repeat on the opposite side. After the last rep, lower your right foot, and step both feet together.

For gorgeous arms

Targets biceps, triceps, legs, abs, hips

Holding both weights in your right hand, use your left hand to help lift your bent left leg and place it in Tree Pose with your left foot on the inner thigh, knee, or calf of your right leg. Transfer one weight back to your left hand, and tighten your abs. Extend your right hand toward the ceiling, then bend your elbow to bring the weight behind your head so it rests near your upper-right shoulder blade.

At the same time, slightly bend your left elbow to bring the weight alongside your thigh, palm facing up. Exhale as you extend your right arm back overhead in a triceps overhead press; at the same time, curl your left hand up to your shoulder in a biceps curl. Inhale as you return your arms to the previous position. Do 8–10 reps, then return to standing with arms down and repeat on the opposite side.

For awesome abs

Targets entire core region (especially lower abs and inner abs) and legs (particularly inner thighs)

Set weights down, sink back onto your heels, and drop your hips to one side. Swing legs in front of you and set feet on the floor, knees bent; hold one weight between your feet. Engage your abs and lift your bent legs so your lower legs are parallel to the floor; hold the other weight between your hands at chest level in Half Boat Pose. Inhale, hinge torso back, and allow thighs to lower slightly for Extended Half Boat Pose. Exhale and tighten abs to lift back up. Do 6–8 reps, rest for a moment, then do 1 more rep. Return to standing.

source:   http://www.health.com/health/gallery/thumbnails/0,,20439854,00.html

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. The good news is that you don’t have to run a marathon to get back to the business of life.

“Everybody can do something,” says Perry Fine, MD, a board member at the American Pain Foundation. Exercise “does actually allow people not only to reduce their perception of pain but to overcome limited functioning.”

Just remember to pace yourself and maybe even get the help of a physical therapist. Here are 10 types of exercise that can help get you moving.

Walking

This is a low-impact activity that anyone can do almost anywhere: The mall, the local school track, a parking lot, or up four flights of stairs to work.

“It has appeal. It’s easy to do,” Dr. Fine says. “It’s an option you can do during all four seasons no matter where you live, and there are very few conditions where walking is not feasible.”

Swimming

“Swimming is great for people who have osteoarthritis, who have musculoskeletal issues or any joint disease where any kind of impact may exacerbate an underlying problem,” says Dr. Fine, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, in Salt Lake City.

The reason: Swimming (and other forms of water exercise) defies gravity, so there aren’t any unpleasant and potentially damaging jolts to the joints.

Yoga

The breathing component of yoga might be just as helpful to ease chronic pain as the movement and stretching.

But Steven Calvino, MD, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and rehabilitation medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York City, recommends against doing certain poses.

“Yoga can involve very extreme ranges of motion involving the spine and other joints so there is a risk of injury,” he says. “You want to do whatever is a comfortable range of motion within your abilities. Don’t push it unless you’re in very good condition.”

Still, Dr. Fine notes, “even someone who is bedridden could simply start with certain breathing exercises and focusing on different body parts, integrating this into either active or passive movements (such as contracting a muscle).”

Tai chi

A good exercise for the young and old alike is tai chi, a martial art that originated in China and, like yoga, cultivates mindfulness.

“Tai chi is marvelous. There’s almost no one too old as long as you can move a little bit. It incorporates the body and the mind,” Dr. Fine says.

A New England Journal of Medicine study this year found that twice-weekly sessions of tai chi reduced pain, stiffness, and fatigue in fibromyalgia patients. Tai chi also helps with building strength, endurance, and balance.

Pilates

This increasingly popular exercise regimen, developed by Joseph Pilates in the early days of the last century, helps with core strength building for “a society that’s extraordinarily burdened by low back pain,” Dr. Fine says.

In addition to people with back pain, people with fibromyalgia may benefit from this fitness system.

A 2009 study in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that Pilates improved pain more than a relaxation/stretching regimen. But Pilates generally requires some instruction, so look for an experienced teacher.

A weekly two-hour yoga class reduced fibromyalgia symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and stiffness by 30% in more than half of the people who took it, according to the study, which was published in the journal Pain. A control group of patients who continued their regular treatment regimen reported no change in symptoms.

The yoga program used in the study is a low-impact way for fibromyalgia patients to get moving, and it may even change the way the central nervous system responds to pain, says James Carson, PhD, the lead researcher and a psychologist at the Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland.

“Exercise is often recommended, but many fibromyalgia patients find that exercise is too painful to continue or that the classes aren’t tailored for them,” Carson says.

Carson and his colleagues adapted elements of the gentle Hatha style of yoga into a program they call “Yoga of Awareness.” In each two-hour session, patients spend 40 minutes working through a series of familiar yoga poses (warrior 1, child’s pose) and another 80 minutes on meditation, breathing exercises, and group discussions about coping with pain.

The non-yoga activities are “major components of [the program]—not just add-ons—in helping patients learn to handle pain and fatigue in a different way,” Carson says.

In the study, the researchers randomly assigned 53 women who had lived with fibromyalgia for at least a year to maintain their existing treatment regimen or to take a weekly Yoga of Awareness class (in addition to their current medication and treatment). Patients in the yoga group also received instructional DVDs and were encouraged to practice on their own every day.

At the beginning of the study, the participants rated the severity of their fibromyalgia symptoms—including pain, fatigue, stiffness, poor sleep, and anxiety—on a scale from 0 to 100 using a standard questionnaire. After two months, the average score of the women who completed the yoga program decreased from 48 to 35, while the average score in the control group (49) didn’t budge.

source:   http://news.health.com/2010/10/14/yoga-fibromyalgia-pain/

On a physical level, Yin enhances the natural range of motion in the joints. By keeping your muscles soft, you release deep layers of connective tissue, creating more ease in any style of yoga and in seated meditation. On an energetic level, Yin enhances the flow of prana (life force) in the tissues around the joints, where energy often stagnates. Powers likens the practice to doing an acupuncture session on yourself: Sequences are often geared toward strengthening certain energy channels (called nadis in yoga or meridians in Chinese medicine), which ultimately support the organs, immune system, and emotional well-being.

And then there are the mental benefits: Holding poses for three to five minutes often brings up discomfort. Yin conditions you to stay with the intense sensations that arise, rather than quickly moving into the next pose. “It trains you to become more comfortable with discomfort instead of becoming alarmed,” Powers says. “It marries meditation and asana into a very deep practice.”

All that and you don’t have to trade in your dynamic practice to reap the benefits. Powers, who teaches Yin together with Yang (her version of flow yoga), encourages students to do Yin poses before or after a regular routine, or as a stand-alone sequence. She recommends a Yin session at least two to four times a week. “You’re conditioning the tissues to become more elastic, so practicing has a cumulative effect,” she says. “The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it.”

Practice Tips

There are three crucial things to do as you practice Yin. First, come into a pose to your appropriate edge in a respectful way. Second, become still, just as you would during meditation. Third, stay for a while, as you would for an acupuncture session. In the beginning aim for three to five minutes, but if one minute is enough, start there and grow into two minutes.

Sequence Focus

The sequence that follows balances what traditional Chinese medicine calls the kidney meridian—essential for mind-body health. “When kidney chi is revitalized, you’ll feel vibrant,” Powers says. The sequence includes passive backbends, because the kidney channel flows through the lower back. Seated forward bends act as counterposes and stimulate the urinary bladder meridian, which intersects all of the other meridians in the body.

1. Butterfly Pose

Sit on a blanket or cushion. With your weight on the front edge of your sitting bones, bend your knees, press the soles of your feet together, and let your legs drop out like butterfly wings. Take your heels at least a foot away from your hips. With your hands on your ankles, bend forward from the hips to your appropriate edge, then relax your upper spine and let it round. Rest your head in the arches of the feet, on top of the stacked fists, or cupped in the hands while the elbows rest on the feet. If you can, stay for 3 to 5 minutes in all of the poses in this sequence. Inhale as you come up, then stretch your legs forward and lean back on your hands. Pause for a few moments in a neutral position after each pose.

2. Saddle

Sit on your shins and lean back on your hands. (If this is already too much for your knees, skip this pose.) Lower yourself slowly onto your back, keeping your lower back in an exaggerated arch. If your quadriceps feel strained, rest your shoulders and head on top of a bolster or a folded blanket. Otherwise, come down onto your elbows or upper back, allowing your knees to spread apart if you need to. If there is too much pressure on your ankles, place a folded towel or blanket underneath them. To come up, place your hands where your elbows were. Engage your abdominal muscles and inhale as you lift yourself up.

3. Sphinx

Lie on your belly with your legs outstretched. Place your elbows on the floor shoulder distance apart and about an inch or so ahead of the shoulder line. Place your hands straight forward or hold on to your elbows. Rest here without slumping into your shoulders or lifting them up. Let your belly and organs drape toward the floor as you relax your buttocks and legs. If your back feels sensitive, engage your outer buttocks and inner legs all or part of the time to lessen the strong sensations.

4. Seal

This pose is similar to Sphinx but creates more of an arch in the lower back. Begin on your belly, propped up on your hands with your arms straight. Place your hands about 4 inches in front of the shoulders. Turn the hands out slightly, like seal flippers. Distribute your weight evenly across your hands to avoid stressing your wrists. If it’s tolerable, relax the muscles in the buttocks and legs. If not, contract them from time to time to relieve the intense sensations. Your ability to remain muscularly soft may take a few months of practice. Be patient, but do not endure sharp or electrical sensations. Stay for 3 to 5 minutes. On an exhalation, lower yourself down slowly. Remain still and breathe into the whole spine as you rest.

5. Child’s Pose

When it feels appropriate to move again, place your hands under your chest, and on an inhalation, lift your upper body away from the floor. As you exhale, bend your knees and draw your hips back toward your feet in Child’s Pose.

6. Half Dragonfly

Sit on a blanket or cushion with your right leg outstretched and the sole of your left foot pressing into your inner right thigh. Move your left knee back a few inches. If the knee does not rest on the floor, place a cushion under it. As you exhale, bend your spine over your right leg, placing your hands on either side of it. Do both sides before moving on.

7. Dragonfly

Bring your legs into a straddle, exhale, and bend forward from the hips. Place your hands on the floor in front of you, or rest on your elbows or on a support like a bolster or folded blanket. If it feels natural, come all the way down onto your belly. If your knees are unstable, back off the pose and engage the quadriceps from time to time. Attempt to hold this pose for 5 minutes or more.

8. Full Forward Bend

Gently bring your legs back together. Bend forward at the hips, curving your spine into a forward bend. If you have sciatica or if your hips tilt backward, eliminate this pose and lie on the floor with your legs up the wall.

9. Savasana

Come into Corpse Pose with your palms facing up or with your hands resting on your abdomen. Place the legs wider than the hips and relax your buttocks, legs, and feet. Invite ease in your mind and body, making this the most nourishing posture of all.

source:   http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2545

(bah-ROD-va-JAHS-anna)

Step by Step

1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Shift over onto your right buttock, bend your knees, and swing your legs to the left. Lay your feet on the floor outside your left hip, with the left ankle resting in the right arch.

2. Inhale and lift through the top of the sternum to lengthen the front torso. Then exhale and twist your torso to the right, keeping the left buttock on or very close to the floor. Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor to keep the lower back long. Soften the belly.

3. Tuck your left hand under your right knee and bring your right hand to the floor just beside your right buttock. Pull your left shoulder back slightly, pressing your shoulder blades firmly against your back even as you continue to twist the chest to the right.

4. You can turn your head in one of two directions: continue the twist of the torso by turning it to the right; or counter the twist of the torso by turning it left and looking over the left shoulder at your feet.

5. With every inhalation lift a little more through the sternum, using the push of the fingers on the floor to help; with every exhalation twist a little more. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release with an exhalation, return to the starting position, and repeat to the left for the same length of time.

source:   http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/487

(m-RIG-ee moo-drah)
mrigi = deer
mudra = seal

Step by Step

1. Ball your right hand into a fist. Press your index and middle fingers into the mound (or base) of your thumb, so they’re held firmly in their curled position. (This mudra is traditionally made with the right hand, but there’s no compelling reason why left-handers can’t use their dominant hand if they like).

2. Stretch out the ring and pinky fingers. Keep your pinky relatively straight, but curl your ring finger slightly, then press its pad to the pinky’s nail. Align the fingertips as best you can; the idea is to “blend” the two fingertips into one.

3. Now bring your hand to your nose. Be sure not to turn your head toward your hand, keep your chin aligned over your sternum. Also be sure to keep your right shoulder level with your left shoulder. Tuck your right elbow in close to the side of your torso without hardening your armpit.

4. For all digital practices, the ring finger/pinky pair will close the left nostril, the thumb the right (unless you’re using your left hand). Curl these fingers so that you press the nostrils with their more sensitive tips, not their pads. When you close a nostril, apply just enough pressure to block the opening, not so much that you interfere with the flow of breath through the open nostril.

5. Try this simple practice. Close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left. Then close the left and open and exhale through the right. Finally inhale through the right, close it, and open and exhale through the left. Repeat 2 or 3 times, then release the mudra and breathe normally for a minute.

source:   http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2453

(sim-HAHS-anna)
simha = lion

Step by Step

1. Kneel on the floor and cross the front of the right ankle over the back of the left. The feet will point out to the sides. Sit back so the perineum snuggles down onto the on the top (right) heel.

2. Press your palms firmly against your knees. Fan the palms and splay your fingers like the sharpened claws of a large feline.

3. Take a deep inhalation through the nose. Then simultaneously open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue out, curling its tip down toward the chin, open your eyes wide, contract the muscles on the front of your throat, and exhale the breath slowly out through your mouth with a distinct “ha” sound. The breath should pass over the back of the throat.

4. Some texts instruct us to set our gaze (drishti) at the spot between the eyebrows. This is called “mid-brow gazing” (bhru-madhya-drishti; bhru = the brow; madhya = middle).Other texts direct the eyes to the tip of the nose (nasa-agra-drishti; nasa = nose; agra = foremost point or part, i.e., tip).

5. You can roar two or three times. Then change the cross of the legs and repeat for the same number of times.

source:  http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1705

Step by Step

1. To begin the practice of self-inquiry, sit for meditation as usual. If you don’t already have a regular practice, just sit quietly and allow the mind to settle naturally. Don’t attempt to focus your mind or manipulate your experience, just rest as awareness itself.

2. After 10 or 15 minutes introduce the question “Who am I?” Drop the question into the stillness of your being like a pebble into a still forest pool. Let it send ripples through your meditation, but don’t attempt to figure it out!

3. When the pond is tranquil again, drop in another pebble and see what happens. Set aside any conceptual answers, such as “I am a child of God” or “I am consciousness” or “I am a spiritual being of light,” and come back to the question. Though true at a certain level, these answers will not satisfy your hunger for spiritual sustenance.

4. Instead of “Who am I?” you may prefer asking, “Who is thinking this thought? Who is seeing through these eyes right now?”

5. For the practice of self-inquiry to work its magic, you must recognize at some level that the word I, though superficially referring to the body and mind, actually points to something much deeper.

6. Let your inquiry be earnest but effortless, without tension or anxiety. Here’s a hint: You definitely won’t find the answer in the file folders of spiritual beliefs you’ve amassed over the years, so look elsewhere, in your actual, present experience.

7. Eventually, the question “Who am I?” reveals the answer, not as a thought or a particular experience but as a vibrant, timeless presence that underlies and infuses every experience.

source:   http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2450

Step by Step

1. If you already have a regular meditation routine, do a minute or two of it to get grounded and comfortable, and maintain your usual posture. If you’re new to meditation, find a comfortable upright position (sitting in a chair is sufficient), take a few deep breaths, and relax as much as you can. Set aside 25 minutes for the entire practice.

2. From your relaxed meditation position, ask yourself to speak with your Controller. (You’ll probably feel a bit strange speaking to yourself this way, but you’re simply giving voice to the running dialogue that already exists inside your head.) The Controller is essentially your ego. Its job, as its name implies, is to control. You’ve likely met and probably struggle with this aspect of yourself.

3. Ask the Controller about its job, then probe further and ask what it controls—your actions, your thoughts, other people? This is neither good nor bad; the Controller is just doing its job. A key component of the Big Mind process is gaining the Controller’s—the ego’s—cooperation and not threatening it with annihilation, as spiritual training often does.

4. Once you gain the Controller’s trust, you can ask it for permission to speak with your other voices; the ego is usually glad to temporarily step aside if it has been consulted.

5. Next up is the Skeptic. Before asking the Controller to speak with the Skeptic, however, take a deep breath; when you shift into another voice, it’s good to give the mental movement a physical correlation.

6. Let the Skeptic be what it is. It’s OK that a part of you is skeptical; it’s actually a good thing. If you didn’t have a skeptical voice, you might find yourself continually being hoodwinked. Ask the Skeptic what it has doubts about.

7. Now take a breath and ask to speak with Seeking Mind. Shift over to this new voice. Meditators often have a problem with Seeking Mind; they want to get rid of it, because it creates so much desire. But Seeking Mind is doing what it’s meant to do. It’s helpful to remember that without it, you might not be meditating in the first place.

8. Take another breath and shift to Nonseeking Mind. Nonseeking Mind is the state of meditation. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do. Again, this is neither good nor bad; Nonseeking Mind simply doesn’t seek. Explore Nonseeking Mind.

9. Take a moment here to notice how easy or hard it is to shift from one voice to another. Moving among your different selves helps you realize the empty nature of the self—that is, you have no static identity; you are continually changing. You might think your identity is set in stone (I am shy, I am angry, I am spiritual), but these are just voices floating in space; they’re not you. You’re much bigger than you think.

10. Now take a breath and shift into Big Mind. This is the voice that contains all the other voices. It is known by various names: the ground of being, Buddha Mind, Universal Mind, God. By its very nature, it has no beginning and no end. There is nothing outside of Big Mind, but Big Mind is a voice inside of you. Big Mind’s job, you could say, is just to be.

11. Ask Big Mind what it does and doesn’t contain. Does it contain your birth? Your parents’ birth? Your death? Can you find its beginning or end? Does it contain your other voices? How does it see your daily problems?

12. Stay in Big Mind for as long as you can. In this state, you have surrendered your personal ego (with its permission) to your true and universal nature.

13. Next, find your voice of Big Heart. Explore what it does for you and others. Its job is to be compassionate. How does it respond when someone or something is hurting? Does it take the form of tough love or tender nurturing or both? Does it have any limits when faced with suffering? Sit with this voice for a while.

14. Now shift back into Nonseeking Mind and stay with it for a couple minutes to end the meditation. Though you might want to stay in Big Mind forever, the simple fact is that no single voice is the stopping place; there is no stopping place. Continually working with and accepting all of your voices will, in turn, help you accept the myriad voices of others.

Once learned, the Big Mind process can be used at any time during meditation practice or throughout the day. If you’re feeling particularly angry during meditation, you can connect with Angry Self, let it have its say, and move into Nonseeking Mind or Big Mind. Play with your various voices and see what you can find.

source:   http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2441

Type of Pose: Supine

Benefits: Gently stretches the hamstrings and calves. Can help reduce back pain by addressing Flat Low Back Posture.

Instructions:

1. Come to lie on your back with the legs outstretched.

2. Bend the right knee and hug it into your chest.

3. Place a yoga strap around the ball of the right foot. Hold the ends of the strap with each hand.

4. Straighten the right leg up toward the ceiling while holding tightly to the strap.

5. Stretch the right leg upwards with the foot flexed, but keep the ball of the hip joint resting in the socket and both sides of your butt equally pressing into the floor.

6. Keep the left foot flexed and the left leg pressing towards the floor.

7. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths.

8. To come out, bend the right knee back into your chest, bring the left knee to join it, and then do the left side.

Beginners: You may bend the left knee and bring the sole of the left foot to the floor if this is more comfortable.

Advanced: Instead of using the strap, take the right big toe in a yogi toe lock and then straighten the leg.

Warrior I – Virabhadrasana I

Type of pose: Standing, slight backbend

Benefits: Strengthens the legs, opens the chest and shoulders

Instructions:

1. From Downward Facing Dog, bring the right foot forward next to the right hand.

2. Pivot on the ball of the left foot and drop the left heel on to the floor with the toes turned out about 45 degrees from the heel.

3. Bend the right knee directly over the right ankle, so that a right angle is formed by the calf and thigh.

4. Draw the right hip back and the left hip forward, so that the hips are squared to the front.

5. Bring the arms out to the side and up.

6. Make your palms touch, and gaze up toward the thumbs, making a slight backbend.

7. Slide the shoulder blades down the back.

Repeat on the left side.

Beginners: Step the left foot out toward the left side of the mat a bit to allow more room for the hips to square. Place your hands on your hip bones, so you can feel whether they are squared forward. Draw the right hip back and the left hip forward. When you bring your arms up, keep them shoulder’s distance apart — that is more comfortable.

Advanced: Make sure the right knee stays directly over the right ankle. Line up the right heel with the center of the left arch. Ground down the outer edge of the left foot while lifting the inner arch of that foot. Really engage the quadriceps. Hold the pose for ten breaths.

Warrior II – Virabhadrasana II

Type of pose: Standing

Benefits: Strengthen the legs and arms, opens the chest and shoulders, tones the abdomen.

Instructions:

1. From Warrior I, open the arms out, bringing the right arm in front of you and the left arm behind.

2. Open the left hip back.

3. Keep the right knee bent and the right thigh parallel to the floor.

4. Draw the belly in slightly.

5. Find the shoulders directly over the hips.

6. Reach out through both finger tips.

7. The gaze is forward over the right hand.

8. Engage the triceps to support the arms, and the quadriceps to support the legs.

Repeat on the left side.

Beginners: Make sure the right knee stays tracked over the middle toe of the right foot. Don’t allow the knee to drift over to the left.

Advanced: Hold the pose for ten breaths.

Warrior III – Virabhadrasana III

Type of Pose: Standing, Balancing

Benefits: Strengthens the legs and abdomen, improves balance

Instructions:

1. From Warrior I, bring the hands onto your hips.

2. Bring your weight forward into your front foot as you gently kick up your back leg.

3. At the same time, bring the torso forward until it is parallel to the floor.

4. Keep the neck relaxed, as if it’s the natural extension of the spine.

5. Keep both hips pointing toward the floor as you bring the back leg in line with your body.

6. Flex the raised foot and keep the muscles of the raised leg actively engaged.

7. Bring the arms back along your sides.

8. Repeat on the other side.

Beginners: Do the pose at the wall. You can either face the wall and bring your arms outstretched in front of you with your hands on the wall or turn around and bring the lifted back foot onto the wall.

Advanced: Try another arm variation. Bring the arms outstretched in front of you or into reverse namaste position behind your back.

source:   http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/beginnersposes.htm