Main materials needed:
• Any bar parallel to the floor (it can even be a branch of a tree, provided that it is parallel to the ground) which is high enough to allow you to suspend yourself. Ideally speaking, the height of the bar should be enough to allow you to fully suspend your body without touching the floor, to allow all your muscles, ligaments and joints to be thoroughly stretched by the pull of gravity. In such case you will need a small bench to climb on.
• Four (or more, it depends on the perimeter of the beam's or bar's cross section) 22 kN Mountain Climbing Slings. I live in Brazil, so the slings that I am using can be seen at:
http://www.kailash.com.br/site/index.php/produtos/seguranca/costura_l_fitas_l...
• A pair of ankle protections. Again, since I live in Brazil, here is a model that can be seen as a reference: http://www.fisiostore.com.br/tornozel... or even this: http://www.realtex.com.br/realtexv01/...
• A pair of wrists protection, such as this: http://www.realtex.com.br/realtexv01/...
• A pair of inexpensive gloves such as these: http://www.acrilon.com.br/104p.html
• A nylon rope in which you must tie a few knots. This rope is to be tied to the bar where you will suspend yourself, between the two middle slings, with the purpose of allowing yourself to get out from the inverted position more easily. CAUTION: DON'T FORGET TO UNROLL THE NYLON ROPE FROM THE BAR BEFORE ENGAGING INTO THE HEADSTAND INVERTED POSITION, OTHERWISE YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET OUT FROM THE IT!
• Main instruction: Try to submit to the pull of gravity whichever muscles are not directly engaged to keep you suspended. In other words, while suspended in any of the given postures, let go as much as you can all of your muscles. Personally I enjoy sometimes doing BAT YOGA with my eyes closed, to develop full body awareness.
Benefits:
• Stress reliever, as it may decrease the excess secretion of cortisol. But for this purpose it is important to perform the back bend and forward bend version postures at least four times each, since it massages the adrenal glands. On the back bend version, inhale while entering into the posture, hold the breath (lungs full of air), hold for eight seconds, and then exhale while undoing the posture. On the forward bend version, exhale while getting into the posture, hold for eight seconds (lungs empty of air) and then inhale while undoing the posture.
• For the same reason above it enhances the restoration phase for committed athletes.
Below a link that explains the benefits of Yoga Inverted Positions. By all means one should take a look at it:
"GRAVITY, THE SILENT ENEMY"
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Most-Important-Yoga-Pose-You-Are-NOT-Doing&...
However, I believe that the inverted positions presented in this BAT YOGA clip (hanging oneself upside down on one or two legs) are far more more beneficial than Shirshasana, since the practitioner doesn't run the risk of injuring its cervical spine.
The benefits below where extracted from the book: Better Back, Better Body: http://www.amazon.com/HangUps%C2%AE-B... which deals solely with the inverted posture.
• Relieves back pain
• Keeps the discs of the spinal column plump and resilient
• Strengthen the ligaments and the joints.
• Relaxes the muscles, clearing its congestions.
• Improves blood circulation
• Keeps you young
• Helps the lymphatic system
• Helps autonomic nervous system
• Feeds your brain. Expands the brain and lungs, bathes the cells with blood and keeps them fully activated
• Decongests the abdominal area (viscera), almost always congested by prolonged sitting.
• Helps prolapsed organs (kidneys, stomach, intestines) resume their normal shape and place.
• Massages liver and spleen, improving digestion.
• Improves function of sexual organs and glands (relieves prostrate and menstrual problems)
• Regulates the function of the pituitary and hypothalamus, as well as the thyroid, which controls the metabolism.
ENJOY YOURSELF!
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Bat Yoga; Gravity Kills, Gravity Healsby rodrigoska1,949 views
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