Asana of the Week: Easy Bow

Easy Bow

This backbending pose strengthens the lower back. Its powerful effect on the abdominal organs helps alleviate abdominal disorders. It also tones the liver and kidneys and helps purify the blood.

1. Lie on your stomach with your chin on the floor.

2. Bring your right hand in front of your shoulder, fingers pointing forward.

3. Bend your left knee and hold your foot with your left hand.

4. Inhale and press your hand into the floor as you lift your head, shoulders, and chest. Simultaneously lift your left knee and thigh. Breathe softly as you hold.

5. Inhale fully, then slowly exhale as you come down.

6. Release your left foot. Turn your head to one side and rest.

7. Repeat on the other side.

Focus in the Pose...
Move the foot you are holding back and up to increase the lift in both your thigh and your chest. One side of your body forms the shape of a bow. Imagine it is being pulled taut with an arrow, stretching the entire abdominal region.

Hints...
First use your lower back muscles to lift your torso as high as possible. Then press your right hand into the floor to increase the lift. You can either hold the pose for 5 to 10 seconds and do repetitions, or do the pose once on each side, holding it for 10 to 30 seconds.

Here's an Easier Way...
If you have a hard time lifting your thigh, you can leave it on the floor. Pressing your foot back will help you to eventually get your thigh off the ground a little.

Click here to watch the video

Ancient Beauty Secret: Do Yoga

It's amazing to see how beautiful Wai Lana is. It's as if she never ages. I'm starting to wonder if all her videos were like.. filmed from ages ago, but obviously they aren't. Here's her secret:

Ancient Yoga Secrets for Radiant Natural Beauty
Anna Montage, Health and Wellness Editor

We all want to look and feel our best—it’s only natural. The secret of yoga is this: You don’t have to spend a lot of time and money or undergo painful cosmetic procedures to exude radiant natural beauty. Here are some well-kept secrets for how to enjoy health and beauty.

Secret One: Fresh juices nourish your body from the inside out, giving you that healthy natural glow.

No beauty product can give you the natural radiance that comes from nourishing your body on the cellular level. Freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices are a powerful source of nutrition for each and every cell in your body, providing them with enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. If you juice regularly, you will experience a noticeable improvement in the texture and quality of your skin. Your energy will increase and you will begin to crave nourishing, wholesome foods. Drinking fresh juice is one of the most powerful ways to jumpstart your personal natural beauty program. Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of adding fresh juicing to your daily life; it is actually quite easy (and so delicious). Check out Wai Lana’s Favorite Juices for a tantalizing array of fresh juice recipes.

Secret Two: Yoga nourishes every gland and organ in your body, giving you youthful energy and vitality.

Yoga is a powerful exercise for enhancing your personal beauty and youthfulness in so many ways:

• Yoga balances the delicate hormones that control nearly every function in your body, enhancing the health of your skin and hair
• Yoga rejuvenates tired internal organs by improving circulation
• Inverted poses bring fresh blood to your head and face, improving skin and muscle tone
• Yoga firms and tones your muscles and helps to keep them supple and flexible
• Yoga improves your coordination and balance, leading to graceful posture and gait

Wai Lana offers a variety of yoga videos for every level: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Secret Three: A plant-based diet is a must for any natural beauty program.

The powers of plant nutrients are proclaimed on nearly every skin and hair product, and for good reason: Plants are full of wonderful rejuvenating properties that will enhance your natural beauty and longevity. However, rather than just focusing on the power of plants from the outside, why not nourish your whole body from the inside? A plant-based diet will help keep you feeling young and beautiful for many years to come. Whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and nuts and seeds, as well as a moderate amount of dairy products, provide all the nutrition you need for radiant natural beauty—without weighing you down. The ancient science of yoga also teaches that a vegetarian diet is more compassionate, allowing you to care for other living beings while you care for yourself.

Secret Four: Relaxation and meditation give you that inner peace that is so attractive.

A sweet smile is so alluring, whether it’s coming from a young person or an old person, a tall person or a short person—it doesn’t matter. But too much stress makes it difficult to feel relaxed and peaceful, and stress is hard to avoid in our society. Take a little time every day to cultivate your ability to relax and experience the inner peace that will help you to transcend the stress and strain of everyday life. Yoga meditation is a powerful method for inducing inner peace and relaxation. Wai Lana’s CDs—Rest and Relax, Yoga Sound and Yoga Music of the Heart—all contain the soothing sound vibrations that will make it easier for you to relax and smile every day.

Secret Five: Simple, all-natural beauty products bring the final touch to your natural beauty program.

Thankfully, there are many bath and beauty products available that contain all-natural, cruelty-free ingredients. These products are better for you and better for the environment. Many common beauty products contain chemical ingredients that are not good for you—they may even be toxic over the long term or cause allergic reactions. Read labels and stick with the brands that emphasize natural purity and safety.


Thankfully, there are many bath and beauty products available that contain all-natural, cruelty-free ingredients. These products are better for you and better for the environment. Many common beauty products contain chemical ingredients that are not good for you—they may even be toxic over the long term or cause allergic reactions. Read labels and stick with the brands that emphasize natural purity and safety.

Wai Lana's News Letter

Asana of the Week

Hips Folded
In this upside down forward bend, your back rests on the floor instead of your legs.

1. Lie on your back with your feet together. Place your arms at your sides, palms down.

2. Inhale and raise your legs. Bring them toward you until they form a 45-degree angle with your torso. Press your lower back down.

3. Interlock your fingers around your feet.

4. Folding from the hips, exhale and gently pull your legs toward you. Bend your elbows to the sides. Touch your toes to the floor behind your head if you can, leaving as much of your back on the floor as possible. Breathe slowly and evenly as you hold for 20 to 30 seconds.

5. Inhale and slowly roll your spine down. Move your legs away from you and straighten your arms without releasing your feet. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

6. Exhale as you slowly lower your legs to the floor and relax.

Here's an Easier Way...
If you can't interlock your fingers around your feet, hold the sides of your feet or your ankles. If you can't reach your ankles without bending your knees, loop a strap around your feet.

Hints...
• As you bring your legs toward you, try to get your thighs onto your abdomen.
• When lowering your feet to the floor, bring them as close to your head as possible.
• Flex your feet for a stronger hamstring stretch.

Benefits
• Stretches the spine and hamstrings
• Tones the kidneys, liver, and pancreas
• Stimulates the abdominal organs

Click here to watch Wai Lana's Asana of the week

Managing Anger

Anger is an issue most of us have to deal with. For one, I get angry a whole lot and quite easily. I've been trying to hang around people with nicer temperaments so that I can get through a bit more.

Release Anger Through Yoga

Anger can be very destructive. It can cause physical and mental problems and can even destroy our personal relationships. But you don't have to let it.

You can learn to release your anger through yoga. Breathing exercises are particularly good for calming down immediately. Just take as many slow, deep breaths as you need to. Yoga sound meditation combined with breathing is even more effective, as the sounds themselves are calming. Yoga asanas also help release tension in both body and mind. So before you blow off steam and hurt yourself or someone else, release your anger with some yoga.

Wailana's Weekly Message