Try Gemini Yoga for anxiety, fidgeting, nervousness, obsessive compulsion. Promotes healthy communication and mental flow. Swift and adaptable.
Gemini rules the arms (including hands and fingers), shoulders, upper ribs, lungs, trachea, thymus gland and nervous system.
Prana vayu : udana // Ayurvedic dosha : vata
Meditation: stillness
Gemini rules the nervous system and these types are, not surprisingly, prone to nervousness, fidgeting and “monkey mind” tendencies. The following meditation is commonly practiced by Tibetan yogis. The purpose of this practice is to focus the mind so intently on a single object that all other externalities fade away, allowing consciousness to arise in its most organic state. Find an object that you’d like to meditate upon and place it at eye-level a few feet in front of you. Take a comfortable seat. Breathe deeply and evenly, feeling breath rise from the belly and lumbar spine to the crown. Keep the eyes half open, fixated upon the object. Do not close or blink the eyes, even if tears stream down your face. Instead of fighting thoughts, simply acknowledge them and allow them to run their course. Release any assumptions or expectations.
Mountain breath
Start in a seated position or standing in tadasana, mountain pose. With an inhale, hands rise to shoulder height, palms up. Spread the fingers and palms, roll the shoulders back, open the heart and throat. Exhale, releasing hands - one breath, one movement, as we say. With the next inhale, hands rise all the way above the head. Palms may gently come together in namaste or fingertips may touch. With every exhale, the hands and arms release, heavy and limp at the bottom of the breath. Continue in this manner at a comfortable pace. Imagine that with every breath, the lungs and shoulders expand infinitely. Inhale and exhale through the nose: full, even, sweet. After 5-10 minutes, return to a normal breath and create ecstatic movement in the shoulders, wrists and fingers.
prep for eka pada galanvasana
- bakasana (crow or crane pose) with option for block under forehead / parsva bakasana (side crow) with option for one free-standing arm
- adho mukha vrksasana (handstand) - practice against a wall first
- astavakrasana (eight-angle pose)
- eka pada koundinyasana (dragon pose)
- eka pada galanvasana (flying pigeon pose)
parsva bakasana
For thymus health: The thymus gland is a lymphoid organ found just behind the sternum that produces T cells, important disease fighters in the immune system. Inverted postures stimulate the thyroid, thymus and pituitary glands, which all regulate the endocrine system. The heart rests during such inversions as more blood flows to the brain with gravity’s help. Freshly oxygenated blood then rushes into the whole circulatory system. Perhaps the perfect one to do the job: sarvangasana, shoulder stand. Stack blankets under shoulders and use your hands to support the lower back. Remember that this is a shoulder stand and not a head stand - in theory, we still want to be able to lift the head with ease. Another great inversion is setu bandha sarvangasana (bridge pose), with an optional block under the sacrum. You might also try heart/chest openers such as bhujangasana (cobra pose) or dhanurasana (bow pose); in bow pose you can even roll side to side, right off the mat. Or try matsyasana (fish pose) with support options: short block parallel to the spine behind the heart, maybe adding another block on the tallest setting at the occipital ridge to support the head and neck.
Shoulder opener: Standing with one shoulder a few inches from the wall, reach your hand to place it on the wall, high enough above your head that the arm is fully extended. Walk the hand back and away as though on a clock face, pressing through the palm and fingers and stopping in spots that need extra attention. You can even turn your feet and body away from the wall to increase the stretch or experiment with dropping head into chest. Make a full circle down the wall, keeping shoulder blades tucked down and in, away from the ears. Experiment with moving your free arm and hand, perhaps taking them out in a T position. Don’t forget to switch sides!