A Yoga Stretch That Flattens Your Tummy

Imagine if you could flatten your tummy without doing a single crunch. You can! Tighten your abs by doing my “Jaguar” move three to four times a week. It targets those hard-to-tone lower ab muscles that are crucial for
a firmer belly.

How-to: Start on your hands and knees, with your shoulders directly over your wrists and your hips directly over your knees. Curl your toes under and extend your body to push-up position. Keeping your shoulders directly over your wrists, relax your head between your arms and bring your right knee toward your chest (try to touch it to your forehead). Be sure to keep your hips low. Hold for 5–15 breaths. Return to starting position and repeat with your left knee. Do a total of 3 reps per side.

Sara Ivanhoe has been teaching yoga for more than a decade and blogs weekly on Health.com. She’s the featured yoga instructor on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab.

Related links (Please search):
A Yoga Move to End Arm Jiggle
Yoga for a Shapely Butt
How to Jumpstart a Winter Yoga Routine

Last Updated: February 19, 2009
Filed Under: Yoga

Meet Yoga Blogger Sara Ivanhoe

A yoga teacher since 1995, Sara Ivanhoe began her in-depth study of yoga while receiving a BFA from New York University. She went on to complete teacher training with Erich Schiffmann, YogaWorks, and John Friend in the Anusara style and will graduate from the Yoga Philosophy Program at Loyola Marymount University in 2009.

She uses this training in her work as a contributing editor to Health, Shape, and Fit Yoga magazines. Sara is the instructor on DVDs including Yoga for Dummies, Crunch Yoga, and Russell Simmons’s Yoga Live, selling more than 4.3 million units worldwide. She is currently on Fit TV’s All Star Workouts and recently appeared on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew as well as the self-produced new video series Yoga on the Edge.

Read Sara’s weekly posts here: http://living.health.com/tag/sara-ivanhoe

Last Updated: February 19, 2009
Filed Under: Yoga

Magic Move: Stress Soother

From Health magazine

Relaxing for one minute in Child’s Pose gives your mind and muscles a chance to escape the holiday madness.

How-to: Sit back on heels with the insides of legs and feet touching. Lean forward, bowing torso over thighs and lowering forehead to mat. Extend arms forward, palms down. Relax into pose, widening knees or bending elbows a bit, as desired. Focus on breathing, taking 4–8 counts for each inhale and exhale, and relaxing deeper into pose with each exhale.

Sara Ivanhoe teaches at YogaWorks in Santa Monica, Calif., is the creator of the Yoga on the Edge DVD series, and is the featured yoga instructor on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew. 

Last Updated: February 19, 2009
Filed Under: Healthier You