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Prepare your body to welcome happiness into your life:

• If your lower back is shaky, it is likely you will experience feelings such as fear, worry, insecurity or instability
• To promote happiness you will need to practice yoga postures that make you feel whole
• We carry greif and loss in our chest
• Anger and frustration is held in our sides
• Your heart holds love and joy

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Release that negative energy!

Sarah Kearney

03 December 2009. Posted by WellBeing Natural Health & Living News

Happiness asanas

The following simple fluid practice has been designed to increase your happiness levels.

Sit kneeling if possible, or in another position that is comfortable for you — for example, cross-legged. Make fists with your hands and gently tap all over the head (see figure 1). Lean the head forward so that you can tap at the back of the head and the base of the skull. Many people hold tension here, so it may be a little tender. Then use the little finger side of your hand to chop at the back of the neck, moving between the base of the skull and the area where the shoulders and neck meet. Lean your head to one side and chop at the exposed side of the neck. Then lean your head backwards so that you can massage the muscles at the front of the neck, which can get very tight.

Squeeze the muscles of one shoulder with the opposite hand and then rub around the shoulder joint with the palm. Rub down the outside of your arm, then the inside and around the wrist. Then squeeze down the hand to the fingertips. Repeat on the other side.

Rub the sides of your body, from armpits to hips. Then lean your head forward and tap the muscles on either side of the spine, starting as high as you can reach, and then moving down into the lower back and buttocks.

Sit up and pound the inner and outer thighs and then the tops of the thighs. This four-step self massage helps you to connect with your body and may also enhance your awareness of sorer trouble spots.

Slowly walk the hands out in front of the body, leaning forwards. It is possible to do this whether kneeling or sitting cross-legged. If you are sitting cross-legged, at some stage swap whichever leg is in front or on top to stretch both sides evenly. Breathe deeply, feeling the belly and chest move towards and away from the legs. This is a rest position called extended pose of the child (if you are on your knees) and can be used in between each of the following exercises, when required.

Move onto the hands and knees, with the hands under the shoulders and the knees under the hips. Allow the belly to relax and lift the chest slightly away from the floor to activate the upper back muscles. Take in a deep breath, then lift the right arm in front and the left leg behind as you breathe out (see figure 2). Breathing in, put the arm and leg back down, then breathing out again, lift the left arm and the right leg. Repeat this, with the breath, 10 times in total (five on each side).