Yoga: Full-body workout in less than 30 minutes

Quite apart from individual benefits for the mind and body, some yoga asanas are designed to give you a full-body workout. These are ideal for people with busy lives and busier minds. Try and earmark 30 minutes in the morning to do them; whether you are at home or travelling for work. As always, start your yoga practice with a trained teacher to make sure you’re doing the poses correctly. [caption id=“attachment_7357291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay[/caption] Surya namaskar or sun salutation

• Stand on one end of the mat
• Breathe in and out, and join your hands at the centre of your chest
• Breathe in and raise your arms overhead. Bend back slightly, keeping your head in-between your arms
• Breathe out and bend from the waist and touch your fingers to the floor. If this is easy for you, place your palms on the floor - your toes and fingers should be in one line
• Breathe in and take the right leg back into a lunge. Now, gently lower your knee and the top of your foot on the mat
• Curl the toes on your right foot and bring back the left leg, to come into a plank
• Breathe out and lower your knees, chest and chin on to the mat. Make sure your hips are raised
• Breathe in and lift your chest off the mat - your torso should be on the mat, elbows bent and close to the body
• Breathe out and push back with your arms and straighten your knees to form an inverted “V” with your body. Try to push your heels into the floor
• Breathe in as you take your right leg forward
• Breathe out and take your left leg forward. Try to place your whole palms on the mat, next to your feet
• Breathe in and rise, taking your arms overhead
• Breathe out and come back to the folded hands position
• Repeat on the left leg
• Do at least three repetitions on each leg

Parivrtta trikonasana or revolved triangle pose

• Stand with your legs wide apart. Now, turn your right foot out and turn your left foot slightly inward, to face the right leg
• Raise your arms parallel to the floor and twist from the waist to look right. Your hip should still be facing forward. Keep your heels on the mat
• Now, gently bend to touch the floor with your left hand. Take your right hand up into the air. If you can, try and look up
• Hold this pose for 30 seconds. Repeat on the left side
• Do two to three repetitions on each side

Virabhadra or warrior pose 1

• Stand on the mat with your legs wide apart
• Turn your right foot out completely. Turn your left foot halfway in towards the right foot
• Breathe in as you raise your arms straight overhead
• Breathe out as you twist to the right. Try to keep your hips facing forward
• Bend the right knee till the right thigh is parallel to the floor. Make sure your right knee doesn’t go beyond the right ankle
• Join the palms and lift your chest up and out. Make sure your head stays between your arms. If you can, look up at your thumbs
• Hold this pose for 30 seconds to a minute
• Come back to starting position and repeat on the other side

If you have 10 minutes to spare, spend 5 minutes in meditation: sit quietly and comfortably on the floor. Don’t try too hard to make your mind blank - just focus on your breath. End your practice the savasana or sleeping pose - stay in this position for 5 minutes at least. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health. For more yoga articles like this, please visit Yoga: Benefits, Types, Poses.