You can learn the yoga asanas online in this series. You can find their descriptions here, and the videos help you learn how to do them.
Arms Up Pose (Urdhva hastasana)
This exercise improves your posture.
Sit comfortably, with loosely crossed legs. Sit comfortably on your sitbones, clasp your thumbs, and rise your arms above your head.
Stretch upwards, and roll your shoulders backwards and down. Get your elbows closer. Stretch upwards with your arms in this position and also with the top of your head. The whole backbone is stretching upwards, as if a very strong magnet was pulling it up through the top of your head and another magnet was pulling the lower spine area down towards the centre of the Earth through your sitbones. The magnet is pulling your backbone in two directions, allowing you to feel how the deep back muscles are working, and then you also feel that the abdominal muscles are also joining the stretching.
Stretch upwards, and then get down your arms very slowly. Change the posture of the fingers: now, the other thumb is on top. Rise both arms, stretch upwards, and roll your shoulder backwards and down, so that your shoulder blades reach one another. Advance your elbows, stretch upward with your arms, and again, imagine that a very strong magnet is pulling your backbone upwards through the top of your head, while another is pulling the lower spine area towards the ground. You can even visualise as the vertebrae are moving away from each other and the cartilages and the nerves are gradually having more space between the vertebrae. The deep back muscles and abdominal muscles are getting stronger. Breathe evenly. Make your breaths slower and deeper, so that you can expand your lungs and chest from the inside.
Slowly get down your arms. You may feel a flow of energy around your arms. Stretch your body, sit comfortably, and breathe in your own rhythm.
