Cat/Cow/Child's Poses

I have found that as I do my back bends: upward dog, pigeon, half frog, bow, camel, that I feel the need to come back to cat/cow/child poses at points. The arching and curving of my spine in cat/cow is a wave of release to my spine, especially after arching a lot in back bends, the cat curvature is a welcome feeling to my spine. I attended a yoga class once with a lady who learned the Scaravelli method and she said something about the curving of the spine is a way to lengthen it, which sounds weird as we are always told to straighten the back and not hunch. But I am not meaning a hunch but like what is accomplished in cat pose. This kind of curvature makes sense to this lengthening idea as the vertebrates are spacing themselves away from each other with the curve. And when going into child's pose after back bends, I like to stretch my arms in front instead of have them at my sides. I intend to study this further, but in the mean time, I know how good cat/cow/child poses feels after back bends.

Yoga Poses: Cat Pose and Cow Pose
Cat Pose: marjarasana
Marjari= cat
Cow Pose: bitilasana
The Cat-Cow pose combination is a tremendously popular and beneficial exercise used in yoga, Pilates, and other forms of physical exercise. This simple pose combination helps to stretch the back and relieve pain, strengthen the core muscles of the abdomen and the back, increase coordination, and energize the body.


Cat Cow pose benefits:

• Stabilizes the sacrum to release lower back pain
• Supports back by engaging abs
• Stretches the low, mid and upper back, the front torso, the hips and the neck
• Loosens spine
• Stretches hips
• Massages and stimulates kidneys and adrenal glands, and tones the uterus
• Creates emotional balance
• Relieves stress and calms the mind

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Yoga pose of the week: Cat Cow Pose - Minneapolis yoga | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/yoga-in-minneapolis/yoga-pose-of-the-week-cat-cow-pose#ixzz1F5jOwYKi

A Resource for Yoga with Children:

http://yogainmyschool.com/

The intent of Yoga In My School is:

1. to empower parents and teachers to access the benefits of yoga by providing a website which collects everything related to yoga for kids and teens
2. to make yoga more accessible and answer your yoga questions
3. to provide information about yoga – what it is, what it can do for you, how to do it
4. to show how to make yoga a part of your children‘s/student‘s lives, and
5. to introduce yoga to kids and teens, allowing them to have fun, explore, create, and benefit in tremendous ways from this ancient and fulfilling practise.