Yoga Poses to Detox for The New Year

Why Your New Year Resolutions Fail

It is the beginning of the New Year and every one is making New Year Resolutions they have every good-willed intention of keeping – keeping to a strict diet to lose weight after Christmas, a whole body liquid-only detox, going to the gym more, and giving up chocolate and sugar for good!

We all have such good intentions, but our personal expectations are often too high, and it is precisely because we set ourselves unrealistic goals that usually deprive us of something or make us do something we don’t particularly want to do, that we end up failing and feeling bad about ourselves.

Why is Taking up Yoga the Perfect New Year Resolution?

Yoga does not require you to give anything up, nor does it work you so hard that you dread facing your mat each week. What is does do, is help you to stretch out all of your limbs, clear your mind of all the stressful and contaminating thoughts, help to give you focus and leave you feeling rejuvenated and ready to accomplish everything you need to do!

How easy is it to Integrate Yoga into Your Everyday Life?

Yoga is so easy to incorporate into your daily routine that it is most certainly one of the resolutions you will not end up giving up, especially once you start to feel the positive vibes and benefits from your daily or weekly yoga routine.

The great thing about yoga is that it doesn’t require a lot of space or much equipment because all you need is the floor space for a yoga mat, and mats are inexpensive. Also, you get to chose the intensity at which you practice, because yoga is all about having a personal relationship with your own body and developing it at your own pace.

You can practice for just a short time in the mornings, which can fit into your daily routine before work and leave you feeling energized and focused. Or you can choose to go to a yoga class once a week, perhaps at the weekend or in the evening where you can practice with an instructor and other yogis for motivation. You choose!

How Can Yoga Help to Detox Your Body?

Yoga is about the relationship and connection between your body and mind. You move mindfully through a sequence of body postures each designed to stretch and strengthen different areas, using breathing techniques, which fill your body with air, and space, making you feel cleansed and more flexible. The more fresh air you breathe in, the more old air you breathe back out! When we breathe normally we don’t use our lungs to their full capacity so the air in our bodies doesn’t get a full cycle with each and every normal breath. Deep breathing changes this, and also makes you feel more aware of the space you have inside of your body and the potential your body has to stretch out further. After a good yoga session you can leave feeling fully aligned and ‘open’ – cleansed.

Three Yoga Poses for your New Year Detox

1. Wide-leg Forward Fold (with a twist) – Place your legs about three to four feet apart with your feet facing forward and slightly inwards. Take your left hand to your right anle or shin, folding your body at the hip crease instead of rounding your back, and reach your right hand toward the ceiling, leaning back. If this feels good then stay in this position. Or you can bend your right elbow, and taking hold of the top of your left thigh, lean back. Hold the position for five deep breaths in and out, and then come back up before repeating on the other side. This is a great move for stretching your tight hamstrings and twisting any tension out of your back, promoting flexibility and making you feel lighter, less still and more agile.

2.  High Lunge Twist Repetitions – Standing at the bottom of your mat, bring your left foot forward into a high lunge, so that you form a right angle with your bent knee. Inhale to straighten your legs and lift your arms high, feeling the stretch down the side lengths of your body. Now on then exhale, come back down to high lunge and twist, reaching your right arm forward and your left arm back. Then inhale to the centre. Do between ten and twenty of these before repeating on the opposite side. It will test your strength, lengthen your muscles and raise your heartbeat.

3. Downward facing Dog – From child’s pose where you are kneeling on your mat face down with your arms straight forward and hands pushed firmly into the mat, fingers spread, raise your hips up to the sky so that you body forms an upside-down V-shape. Make sure that you focus on keeping your back straight, and push the heels of your feet firmly into the mat like your hands to give yourself better grounding and improve your strength. This resting pose will leave you feeling reading to finish your yoga practice feeling well stretched, strong with your blood circulating your body.

Tell us about your New Year Yoga Goals!

Inspire us with your New Year resolutions. How did you incorporate yoga into your life last year, and what effect did it have on you? How do you intend to maintain or move your yoga practice forward this year? Share your inspiring tips wit other YouQueen Yogis!