In any yoga class with movement, you’re bound to find one or more chaturangas. Chaturangas challenge the ability of your body by way of moving while on your hands and feet; this requires strength in the core region. It’s important that you only do this if you feel comfortable. You should stop if you feel pain. Always seek the advice of a medical professional in the event that you feel pain.
Try to consciously engage the muscles in your core – your belly, your chest, your upper back, lower back, legs, hamstrings, bum, etc. Engage your body and create a comfortable tension as you flow up and down.
Breathing should flow with your movement; what does that mean? It means you want to breathe in sync with your movement – for example – as you lower down to the ground for four seconds you inhale and fill your lungs with air; as you approach the floor and your lungs are full, you pause for a half second as you commence your ascent upwards and start to exhale all the air – exhaling an equal amount of air for each of the four seconds as you return back to the starting position.
As you try your best synchronize your breath with your movement, try to breath through your nose – on both inhales and exhales. In your mind, think of sending air to the area where you feel tension as you inhale. And as you exhale, think of your tension traveling with the air and leaving your body.
If you’re comfortable visualizing colors, try to do this exercise by visualizing tension of a different color – perhaps red – attached to the muscles of your body – perhaps purple – which in turn are attached to your bones which are hard indestructible cool structures created from a strong grayish space-rock. While you breathe in fresh air, visualize these refreshing blue particles streaming into your lungs, and being converted by the lungs into fresh oxygen which is delivered on the super-highway veins to the spot where you feel tension – a bright red glowing area of your body. Imagine the cooling down the tension like a firetruck cools the hot ambers of a building. And as you continue inhaling – these blue particles cover the tense area as it replenishes the muscle. As you start to exhale imagine the tense particles traveling with the air through your veins, to your lungs, and spewed out of your mouth – as you emit fire like a fire breathing dragon.