Slim Calm Sexy Yoga: 210 Proven Yoga Moves for Mind/Body Bliss

certain desires (’I will do a headstand no matter what’),” she says. But eventually her nopain-no-gain attitude began to soften. “Practicing yoga helped me focus just on myself, rather than on a competitor,” she says. “I’m less hard on myself when I’m on the mat than I ever was in sports. Knees feeling especially creaky today? I back off so they’re not strained. Lower back can’t handle plow pose right now? I’ll try a new pose or a variation instead.”
    For Tiffany, yoga has been the key to finding a healthy balance between challenging herself physically and staying injury-free. “My injuries forced me to reexamine how I view the world, and yoga helped me go from ‘win at all costs’ to a new goal: ‘Enjoy, explore, and learn.’”
    PLAY IT SAFE
    If you’ve been injured, be sure to see a doctor before starting yoga. You really don’t want to push, pull, or bend your body in a way that could aggravate sensitive areas.

CHAPTER 08
gorgeous
yoga
Moves that get your glow on

    If you’ve adopted any of the techniques from previous chapters, you’ve probably discovered a new sense of calm and confidence. You’re less fatigued. You stand taller. You hold your head up high. You suck in your belly. Maybe you’ve even noticed your skin has a little more glow to it and you smile more easily.
    No matter what facial features or body you were born with, when you feel good, you look good. And practicing yoga and meditation, well, they make you feel amazing.
    It doesn’t hurt that science backs up the body-mind-beauty connection. We’ve already established that yoga and meditationare all-star stress-soothers. But what you might not know is that your mind (and by association, stress) is closely connected to the largest organ in your body—your skin. Ever blush? I thought so. That’s just one example of how what you’re feeling on the inside can show on the outside.
    It makes sense, and here’s why: Your skin contains an intricate web of tiny nerve endings that relays messages to and from your brain. Your skin also houses an army of immune system cells that fight bacterial and viral invaders. Imagine your skin as a Gore-Tex raincoat—an impermeable layer that swaddles your flesh, bones, and organs, and regulates how your body responds to environmental influences such as heat, cold, and even pollution. When your nerves are out of whack—you’re stressed or bummed out—it interferes with your skin’s protective powers, making it more susceptible to pain and infection, the way a torn raincoat lets in water. In one study at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College, scientists subjected volunteers to psychologically stressful situations and then gave them each a microscopic skin wound. The outcome? The volunteers’ skin took longer than usual to repair itself. Along those same lines, research links stress to a number of common skin problems, from acne to warts. Some doctors believe the connection is so strong that a new medical specialty called psychodermatology has emerged in recent years. These mainstream doctors at such respected institutions as Johns Hopkins and Harvard are using alternative techniques, including biofeedback, meditation, guided imagery, and yoga, to help treat a host of skin disorders.
    I encourage you to think of your yoga practice as an approach to beauty that works from the inside out. Moving through the poses and monitoring your breath revitalizes your entire body from a cellular level. Once you become hooked on yoga as your beauty secret, you’ll have no need for artificial and harmful gimmicks like harsh chemicals, needles, or surgery. And through the mindfulness you learn from practice, you’ll naturally gravitate toward healthier eating and other practices that keep you looking good and feeling great.

Glowing Skin

    In helping you manage stress, your yoga practice balances your hormones and boosts healthy bloodflow to your skin. This can help you get better sleep so you can say good-bye to eye bags and dark circles, allowing your skin to stay supple and smooth. And the muscle tone you gain from yoga practice also firms up your skin. Try this sequence twice a week to restore healthy bloodflow and bring your skin back to its natural state of gorgeous.
    the
ROUTINE
Try the following sequence, staying in each pose for 10 deep inhales and exhales, unless otherwise noted.
      Spine Roll
      Plow
      Shoulder Stand
      Knee Hug
      Single Leg Extension

    Repeat the