Learn Yoga | Yoga Asana Challenge of the Month
Learn Yoga Challenge
Yoga Asana for August
The way to learn yoga is not by watching yoga TV shows or by reading yoga blogs, no matter how great they are 
, but by actually practicing yoga asanas (poses) and exercises. So here is a new idea that bubbled up to my mind after reading my good friend Ashish’s comments on my facebook page regarding Nauk Asana, and it was to have a yoga asana of the month, that we all work on together to see if we can learn it, master it and benefit from it. Thanks for the inspiration brother 
. But before I jump into the details of this new experiment though, I wanted to make a few quick announcements regarding the Mastery of Meditation and Yoga Blog.
Annoucement #1: Thank You for Your Support and Help in Spreading the Word
I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you, from all around the globe, who send me those wonderful I love your website and newsletter emails . I do read each and every email and comment I receive, and even though I am not able to personally respond to all of them, I really do appreciate all the love and support I get. This positive energy really does inspire me, and it fuels my passion to make the site even better and more useful.
In addition, I also wanted to thank all of you who have been helping me spread the word about the website and blog. As a wise reader commented a few days ago, life is simply about being happy and being of service, and I appreciate the help you all are giving me in spreading the wisdom of yoga and meditation, and thus helping in being of greater service to all. Please continue to do this, it is the best way to help give back to the website.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you who have given donations to support the website. Needless to say, I appreciate the energy exchange .
Announcement #2: Staffing Increase Coming
Recently I have received many requests for Numerological Readings and also, many readers have posted questions on the blog that I am yet to address. I am working to expand the support staff for the website so I will be able to devote more time to answering your questions and complete your readings in a timely manner. I apologize for these delays and appreciate your patience while I make the necessary adjustments. The website is currently on pace for over 3,000,000+ hits annually and continues to grow very rapidly, so I need to reorganize my resources to keep up.
Now onto learning yoga and the yoga asana challenge for the month of August.
Learn Yoga Challenge | Yoga Asana for August
So the idea here is to pick one great yoga asana and for us all to include that asana in our yoga practice during the entire month. Then for us to observe the improvement we can make in doing that asana, and share our experiences about it with others. In my view this will be great to do for all the following reasons:
1. Learn Yoga Asanas:
Spending the month practicing that particular asana, will really help us learn it and also, sharing our progress and experience with it, will inspire and motivate us to do it in a fun and interesting way.
2. Learn from Each Other:
Reading the experiences of others with a particular asana and how they might have overcome their challenges regarding it, will surely give us more insight into each asana and exercise.
3. Explore the Benefits of Asanas:
Doing a particular asana for the entire month is surely going to bestow on us the many benefits that such poses and exercises promote, and we will be able to validate and enjoy these benefits together here.
How the Monthly Yoga Challenge Will Work:
It is going to be nice and simple. I will post 1 great asana to practice for a given month and all who want to participate simply leave a comment on that blog post that they are taking part. Then post their progress and experience with the pose, as they practice it throughout that month. Of course, you can continue to share your progress after the month expires as well, or start the asana practice if you come across this article at a later date. One important note is that this is not a competition, yoga is about you and you, and this is just a means to help you learn yoga asanas in a fun, interesting and collective way.
Yoga Asana for August:
So we will kick off this month with the following 2 asanas. I am giving 2 poses, as one is for beginner’s and the other is for slightly more advanced yogis. The asana for this month is going to be STRETCH POSE for beginner’s and BOAT POSE for others. For any yoga practice, the Navel Chakra and developing core abdominal power is the place to begin, so for this new adventure of ours, I think it is appropriate to start here as well. Here are the 2 articles that have all the details for these 2 asanas. These asanas are very similar in how they work and what they work on.
Stretch Pose for Core Abdominal Strength and Power
Boat Pose to get Firm Toned Abs
Some of the primary benefits of these 2 asanas are the following:
- Develop Your Abs, Stomach Muscles and Core Abdominal Power
- Awaken and Heal your Manipura (Navel) Chakra
- Develop Willpower and Strength of Character
- Increase Energy and Vitality
- Improve your Digestive and Elimination Systems
One final note, you are welcome to try both asanas of course and post your progress with them. Also, if you are starting with Stretch Pose and then are able to do Boat Pose later in the month, feel free to jump in with that as well.
Here are illustrations on the 2 asanas. Please do participate if you can. The more the merrier .
Beginner’s Practice Yoga Stretch Pose or a Modification of this asana:
Yoga Asana Illustration #1 – Yoga Stretch Pose
Other Practice Nauk Asana (Yoga Boat Pose):
Yoga Asana Illustration #2 – Nauk Asana
Looking forward to hearing about your progress, thoughts and experiences.
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I can only do a minute and a half at the most.Then have a few seconds break and go for the rest of the 2 minutes. I love it though! What a rush of blood to the head. I have to let my head down at times as I have a weak neck. Incidentally a chiropractor gave me a similar exercise to do for strengthening the neck- keeping the chin tucked in is very important.
i can do it for like 30 sec
this is harder than it looks. I thought it would be a piece of cake. right now I can only hold the position for about 45 seconds. But I too feel the rush of energy into the brain. Of course, since I can only stay in the position for such a short time, it is short-lived. Going to keep it up though and try to extend the duration.
Hi Everyone,
Just did my Stretch Pose for the day. Did 2 minutes, and legs actually tired before abs.
Did Nauk Asana a few days back and was about the same time, a little under 2 minutes.
One very interesting point I want to make is that with either of these 2 asanas, I feel energy rushing into the brain once it gets to a point of moderate difficulty.
Will post progress back in a week or so.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Sherzad,
Thanks for participating. Let us know how it goes.
Cheers,
Anmol
Hi Xoe,
I just did my Stretch Pose for the day :-). Glad to hear you liked this idea and are jumping in. Let us know how it goes.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Hey,
Thanks for joining the yoga asana challenge for the month. Let us know how it’s going.
Cheers,
Anmol
It sounds very exciting and fun. I am surely adding this as a special Asan in my daily Yoga/Pranayaam/meditation.
Thanks again Anmol,
I too am definitely in.
This is just what I needed to get me back into regular practice. Thanks.
I’ll be starting with the beginners Stretch pose
ok iam ready to go