Sasankasana

The Rabbit or The Crescent Moon Posture. Sasanka mean Crescent Moon. It is also believed that originally the name was Sasaka (Rabbit) Asana (Posture). In the final position of the asana the body resembles a Crescent Moon or Rabbit.Rabbit pose is one favorite spine stretching asana.it lengthens the upper and middle trapezius, rhomboids, and all the muscles along the back of the neck.

Corpse pose (Shavasana) marks the beginning and end of any yoga session. It is indeed very relaxing pose and easy to accomplish.Lie down straight on your back, hands on either side at a small distance from the body.Leave your entire body loose, eyes remaining close. Breathe slowly, concentrate and keep mind away from all wild thoughts.Be still in the posture for ten to fifteen minutes and you will feel totally rejuvenated both mentally and physically.



Steps:-


To begin this pose, you should first assume Vajrasana (Diamond Pose). Both your palms should be placed on your knees.
Keep your neck and spinal cord straight.
Shut your eyes and begin focusing on your breathing and your body. During the initial stages, you can practice it with your eyes open, but eventually you should be able do it with your eyes closed.
Take a deep breath and without allowing the elbow to bend, bring your hands above your shoulders. Equal distance should be maintained between your arms with your fingers raised.
Slowly exhale and reach down to touch the ground with your head and both your hands. Relax when the forehead and palms touch the ground. Some areas of the chest and abdomen will rest on the thighs.
Let your upper torso relax and remain in this position for a while. Make sure that your arms remain straight. The neck should also be kept straight between the arms.
To finish, you should exhale and place your palms on your knees. One cycle will be completed with this step. During the initial stages of your practice you could do 5 to 7 cycles.

Benefits:-

Muscles: It strengthens the pelvis, rib cage, back, and arms. It provides an intense stretch to the back part of the body in the gluteals, arms, back, neck, and shoulders.

Joints: It helps in the extension of the neck, arms, and spine, and also flexes the knees and hips.

Heart: Practicing this pose helps improve the circulation of blood to the scalp, face, and brain. It gives a nice glow to the face.

This pose helps in regulating the adrenal glands.

When doing this pose, the stomach, spleen and liver are also activated, thus helping in their functioning.

The Hare Pose is also beneficial to the reproductive organs.

In addition, the pose is said to massage all the internal organs in the abdominal area.

Breathing: Compressing the stomach and chest reduces the capacity of air held by the lungs. Breathing also gets constricted at the area of the throat. Shashankasana helps in making use of the back part of the rib cage while breathing and in controlling the breathing speed.

Refreshes the brain and relieves depression, insomnia, and mental fatigue.

It improves concentration and memory.

Relaxes the nervous system.

It helps reduce emotional instability and anger

Precautions :-

Avoid practice of this pose if you suffer from vertigo, slipped disc, high blood pressure, and heart-related problems.

ASHVINI MUDRA

There are various spellings for this mudra:  ashvini, ashwini is a horse. It seems that the most common is the latter one. The meaning of ashwini mudra is a horse gesture or sign. It is not asana in the full sense, though the mudra is usually performed in padmasana or the lotus pose. Also it can be done in viparita karani, when practiced within the framework of kriya yoga.

How to perform:- First of all you need to take an asana or yoga pose. While the best pose for such practices is considered to be the lotus pose or padmasana, you can also do well with some simpler poses. For example, it can be siddhasana or vajrasana; you can even use sukhasana as an ashwini mudra asana.

Once you got into the posture, relax for a minute, breathing freely and deeply. Then inhale fully (especially filling the lower part of the lungs), hold your breath, and contract the anal sphincter muscles with a 1-2 seconds interval. For men there should be 4 contractions, and for women – 5. This is due to the differences between men and women physiology. These numbers designate the average quantity of anal muscles contractions required to push the prana from the pelvis to the head. Try to completely relax the anal muscles between the contractions.

Why you need doing this and what benefits you can get from this horse pose, I’ll describe later. Now we’ll be talking more on ashwini mudra breath and other details.

OK, you are holding your breath, and have made the required number of contractions; now, press your chin against the bottom of the neck, touch the palate with the tip of your tongue and start releasing your breathe (exhaling), then release the mudra, and after that slowly raise your head. The success in this practice comes when your feel like shivering wave goes through your body. This wave is actually the prana which has been stimulated by your practice. You can repeat it 3-5 times or as much as you want – just don’t overstress yourself, as the balance is the key to success in everything.

Ashwini Mudra Benefits:- The mudra works both externally and internally, or, in other words, on the level of the physical body and on the energy level.

In a physical plane the asana stimulates the abdomen and pelvis area including reproductive and digestive organs. This simple practice can help you get rid of constipation, deals with diseases of the rectum and hemorrhoids, and can improve your sexual health. Since it stimulates the prana flow toward the upper part of the body, it slows down the aging process and improves the health in general. It also makes your body more resistant to diseases if you practice this yoga mudra regularly.

On a more subtle level, it increases the awareness, makes your mind more peaceful, gives more energy, and can even improve your mood.

If you are thinking about doing ashwini mudra during pregnancy, then it is possible to some extent, but I cannot give you a clear advice here, since it may require the personal attendance and a conclusion of your doctor on your current condition.

Anyway, the practice of ashvini yoga mudra is simple, safe and very effective so there is no reason why you cannot do it or start learning this wonderful yoga technique.