by Bipin Baloni,
Contributing Author, Conscious Reminder
Heartwarming weather, clear blue skies, and massive mountain peaks call for trekking adventures. Your adventure-hungry soul craves for more hiking and trekking, but sometimes the body doesn’t want to go on.
You might feel a little stiff, creaky, or crunchy. The crucial part of trekking is our lower body. It needs to be flexible and strong since the entire load carried during a trek including the body weight rests on the lower body.
You may try yoga poses for pre trekking preparation and also for stability and strength to ensure a safe journey. If you’ve already booked trekking packages in India or Nepal here are five yoga poses you may try for preparing your body for the trek:
Uttanasana (standing forward bend): This asana rejuvenates your body by boosting blood circulation towards our feet. This asana gives a good stretch to your claves, back, hips, and hamstring. Regular practice of this asana leads to strong knees and thighs. It also helps in relieving insomnia and headache.
How to do:
Stand still on your mat with hands on your hips. Take a deep breath.
Exhale and move your body forward towards your legs.
Rest your hands on the ground right next to your feet.
You may feel stretches in your hamstring.
Try to touch your forehead to your knees.
You may hold this pose for 5 to 7 breaths.
Gradually release the pose.
Anuvittasana (standing backbend pose): This is a heart-opening pose which is highly beneficial for releasing tension from the back and shoulders. This pose is highly beneficial for your respiratory system. This pose gives a good stretch to the neck and shoulders and tries to maintain balance in our body.
How to do:
Stand on your yoga mat with parallel feet and hands by your side
Take a deep breath and lift your arms and gaze towards the sky.
Exhale and bend your elbows, bend towards your back from the waist, and join your hands in the prayer position in front of you.
Hold for 5 to 10 breaths.
Gradually release the pose.
Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch): This pose is highly beneficial for the lower part of the body. Make sure your stomach and bowel are empty before performing this pose. This pose not only helps the shoulder, wrist, spine, hips, and hamstring but also helps in keeping calm our brain. This pose helps in developing a sense of balance and improves digestion.
How to do:
You need to stand on your feet with arms by your side
Assume yourself in Virabhadrasana and for that you need to place your one leg forward and the other one behind you.
Forward your torso and place your hands on your back, and gradually move forward.
Try to hold this pose for 5 to 7 seconds.
You may repeat this pose with another leg.
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose): This pose provides a good stretch to our entire lower body. This pose gives a good massage to our abdominal organs, which leads to an improvement in digestion. It also relieves from the back problems like sciatica by strengthening your back. It also adds flexibility to the hip areas and releases stress and anxiety.
How to do:
Stand in a table pose with hands under your shoulder and knees under your hips.
Try to place your left knee on the backside of your left wrist. Extend your right knee backward.
After that square your hips moving towards the floor and flex the left foot.
Move your hands forward in front of you, shift your weight on your forearms. Rest your fist on your forehead by stacking your one fist over the other.
Eventually, you’ll come to relax your head on the ground.
Hold this pose for 7 to 10 breaths. After that release gradually.
Baddha Konasana (Cobbler pose): This pose is very easy and highly beneficial for our lower body. This pose helps in boosting the blood circulation in our body. Regular practice of this pose stimulates our prostate glands along with bladder and abdominal organs. It also helps in making our lower body part flexible especially hips. Not only it gives a good stretch to our spine but also helps in curing asthma and blood pressure.
How to do:
Sit on the floor in such a way that your heels will touch your pelvis.
Place your hands on your feet.
Keep your spine straight and make sure your feet are pressed on the floor.
You may flap your knees like a butterfly.
You may do this pose for 1 to 5 minutes. After that release, this poses gradually.
I hope these poses would be beneficial for you while Nepal Trekking Tours. You may start practicing these poses beforehand for the better result. Some of the poses you may try on trekking tour for instant energy and to give a good stretch to your body.
About the Author: Bipin Baloni is a yoga teacher from India and his core specialization is in Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga. He organizes 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh. Bipin Baloni conducts Yoga Teacher Training in India in different cities. He loves writing and reading books related to Yoga, Meditation, Ayurveda and Health.
Now, you can follow Conscious Reminder on INSTAGRAM!
∼If you like our article, give Conscious Reminder a thumbs up, and help us spread LOVE & LIGHT!∼
