Part 1 covered how yoga is a tool for women to take back their own power, to take back their own wisdom and choices, to accept and celebrate their own shape, colour, age and size – creating a fertile soil for women to move forward as the strong, sexual and beautiful creatures that we truly are. And today we’re looking at yoga postures that empower!

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So How Does Yoga Help Us Overcome All Of These Social Pressures?

Yoga allows us to go back to our true selves; allows us to work through our life kleshas or toxins, which clog up our system both physically and emotionally. We are in need of a tool that allows us to return to a state of physical and mental fitness, and yoga is this tool.

Yoga gives us physical and mental strength and a well body. It provides us with space to be present and to take time out from the constant demands of our world – allowing us to explore what we really think and who we really are, not what we are told. It allows us to question social behaviours and expectations and what we really think of them. It allows us to master our mind – a truly powerful servant if mastered but a cruel master if not. It allows us to explore and understand the power of inner peace, and this peace allows us to understand that we are all connected, that we are not living as individuals but we are all united as one. Through this understanding, we can start to be kind not only to others but also to ourselves.

Yoga is a tool for women to take back their own power, to take back their own wisdom and choices, to accept and celebrate their own shape, colour, age and size – creating a fertile soil for women to move forward as the strong, sexual and beautiful creatures that they truly are.

Yoga Postures For Empowerment

1. Surya Namaska, Or Sun Salutation A

This is a brilliant way to start introducing the practice of yoga. It can be practiced several times a day, building strength throughout the body, opening the hips, improving back flexibility, lengthening the hamstrings and quietening the mind.

The practice of pranayama or breathing through this series helps gain awareness of the breath, filling the lungs properly, filling the body with fresh oxygen, calming the mind and allowing the practitioner to begin a moving meditation and become present. This is a sequence of movements or asanas, which can be practiced at varying levels of awareness, ranging from that of physical exercise to a deeper practice of pranayama and meditation. This is a great place to start, as the series can deepen as your practice deepens.


2. Warrior 1 & 2, Or Virabhadrasana 1 & 2

The Warriors are empowering postures. They are ironic in a sense, as they are named after an enraged Shiva who, after the loss of his wife, threw one of his dreadlocks down to earth to create a warrior demon – Virabhadra. But yoga is about Ahimsa, or non-violence, right? Well, yes, but the Warrior postures allow us to be a warrior against ourselves, and the damage we do to ourselves.

They are challenging when held for a long time and are difficult to find the balance between strength and flexibility. Tim Miller, director of San Diego’s Ashtanga Yoga Centre, agrees. “Virabhadrasana’s a humbling Warrior 1 posture,” he says. “If you attempt to stay in it for any length of time, you’ll confront your own bodily, emotional, or mental weaknesses. Whatever limitations you have, the pose will reveal them so that they can be addressed.”

The pose, in other words, is about the triumph of spirit - a universal theme in yoga.

3. Lion’s Breath – Simhasana

Lion’s Breath is a fantastic posture for empowerment. It stimulates the platysma, a thin flat rectangular shaped muscle on the front of the throat and helps to keep this firm as we age. It also stimulates the bhandas or internal locks, helping us lock prana or life force into our system. Most importantly, this posture allows us to blow away our negativity, our anxiety, our stresses and pressures, relieving ourselves of toxins from the body and empowering us to feel better and stronger both physically and mentally. Try and do this posture and not feel happy afterwards – not possible!

In summary, yoga is an incredibly powerful tool which allows us to become present, to love ourselves and others, to find acceptance in who we are and to empower us to be our absolute best – the incredibly strong, beautiful and powerful women that we are.

_{This article was first published on cherylmacdonaldyoga blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.}

_{Written by Anna Lewis CYT} 

_{Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image credit: Young woman practicing yoga from Shutterstock}

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