Exercises

Reclining Open Chest Pose

This pose helps to elevate your mood and energize you when you are tired. When we support the back in this way and open the chest we tend to feel more emotionally buoyant and physically energized.

  • 1. Roll up one blanket into a long, tight Tootsie Roll shape (like the one in the photograph under the model's chest).
  • 2. Take a second blanket and fold it in half (like the one under the model's head).
  • 3. Adjust the rolled blanket's position so that when you lie back, it comes to rest in the center of the upper back, just under the shoulder blades.
  • 4. Then lie back so that your head rests comfortably on the second folded blanket. Your head and neck should feel easy.
  • 5. Your throat should be relaxed and not overstretched or closed.
  • 6. Open and lift your chest.
  • 7. Stay in the post, relaxing for 5 to 10 minutes.
Cross Crawl on Foam Roller

Strengthens your core muscles, improves balance, challenges coordination, reduces any physical disparity between right and left sides.

  • 1. Lie lengthwise on the foam roller.
  • 2. Place your feet parallel, flat on the floor, hip width apart so that you knees line up with your hip bones and feet are directly under knees.
  • 3. Relax your arms at your sides, palms facing up.
  • 4. Slowly lift your left foot off the floor, moving your left knee over your left hip (your knee is bent), while simultaneously lifting your right hand from the floor toward the ceiling.
  • 5. Keep the roller as still as possible, without strain or tension, breathing deeply.
  • 6. Hold for several breaths, and then switch sides. Perform 5 sets.
Hip Bridge with Cactus Arms


Open up the front of your body, strengthen your core, releases the psoas muscle which gets tight from sitting - it’s the perfect antidote for a day at the desk or computer. Start on your back on a comfortable but firm surface. As in the picture, your knees are bent and just a few inches apart.

  • 1. Place a thick book (a crossword dictionary works well), yoga block, or a kid’s rubber ball between your knees.
  • 2. Turn your toes in until they feel slightly pigeon-toed.
  • 3. Position your arms at shoulder height on the floor, bending the elbows to ninety degrees. Your arms will look like a cactus or goal posts. If your shoulders aren’t happy with the backs of the hands on the floor, lift them off so just the elbows are down.
  • 4. Gently press your elbows into the floor to widen your collarbones and expand and feel your shoulder blades pinch toward the spine.
  • 5. Draw in the abdominals.
  • 6. Now engage the back of your legs to lift your hips off the floor. Feel the entire back of your body working, with the support of the belly.
  • 7. Keep front ribcage "closed" so that your ribs are not popping out and lifting away from spine or moving out of line with hips and shoulders.
  • 8. Lift hips only high enough to take your weight by your shoulder blades ; avoid placing weight on neck or head.
  • 9. Pay attention to how strengthening the back of the body opens the front line of the body.

Continue holding the block or book with the knees. Stay for five breaths, then lower and rest.

Repeat this 5 times.

Perform three sets a day and you’ll soon be standing tall.
Legs Up the Wall






A refreshing restorative post that you can do anywhere. Regulates blood pressure, refreshes the abdominal organs and prevents varicose veins. Great after a day on your feet.

  • 1. Grab a blanket and find an open wall in your house. Fold the blanket into quarters.
  • 2. Bring yourself down to the floor so that your right hip is touching the wall. Keep your blanket nearby as you will need it under your head.
  • 3. Bend your knees and then slowly roll down onto your side so that your right hip and right shoulder are touching the wall and both hips and feet are touching the floor (picture #1).
  • 4. Bend your knees into your chest, hug them in and then swing around, bringing your legs up onto the wall. Your body should make an L and your butt should be as close to the wall as your hamstrings will allow.
  • 5. Place the blanket under the head so that the chin is parallel with the floor.
  • 6. Take your arms out to your sides in a cactus shape. Keep the legs straight and, as relax your head, face, neck, shoulders and belly.
  • 7. Stay in the pose for at least 5 minutes to get the full effect.

Note: If you feel a slight tingling in your legs, this is normal. If it becomes painful, bring your legs down and move into a crossed-legged position with your legs still resting on the wall. Do not practice this pose during menstruation.
Ultimate Foot Massage With Tennis Balls


This relieves achy feet by releasing tight muscles and fascia, reduces strain and pressure on the toes and toe joints from wearing shoes, and improves balance

  • 1. Stand on a mat or carpeted surface with a tennis ball placed under the arch of your foot.
  • 2. Gently press your body weight into the tennis ball.
  • 3. Slowly open and close your foot over the tennis ball; flaring your toes when you open them and squeezing like a fist when you close.
  • 4. Repeat 5 times in one area and then move to a different part of the foot's arch. Apply as much pressure as you can bear and hold it for a few seconds. Move on to the next area of tenderness and hold.

NOTE: You may feel pain in certain areas of the foot’s arch which is normal to the exercise as you are relieving the tense muscles. If you feel any sharp pain immediately stop the exercise.
Supported Relaxation Pose

This pose relaxes the diaphragm and has a healthy effect on breathing as well as a soothing effect on the nervous system

  • 1. Lower the lights in the room.
  • 2. Lie on the floor or on a yoga mat if you have one. Allow your feet to rest about 12 inches apart.
  • 3. Support your head on a folded blanket or towel.
  • 4. Extend the back of your neck, bringing your chin slightly down and letting your throat be soft.
  • 5. Your head support blanket or towel should not strain your neck but serve to emphasize and support the natural curve and shape of your cervical spine.
  • 6. Let your feet and legs roll out into an easy and relaxed position.
  • 7. Extend your arms to the sides at an angle, knuckles down, palms up, hands relaxed.
  • 8. Stay in the pose for at least 5 minutes to get the full effect.
<div id="content" class="needtoknow">
  <div id="landing-right">
    <h2>Exercises</h2>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Reclining Open Chest Pose</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_8.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><ul>
              <li>1. Roll up one blanket into a long, tight Tootsie Roll shape (like the one in the photograph under the model's chest).</li>
              <li>2. Take a second blanket and fold it in half (like the one under the model's head).</li>
              <li>3. Adjust the rolled blanket's position so that when you lie back, it comes to rest in the center of the upper back, just under the shoulder blades.</li>
              <li>4. Then lie back so that your head rests comfortably on the second folded blanket. Your head and neck should feel easy.</li>
              <li>5. Your throat should be relaxed and not overstretched or closed.</li>
              <li>6. Open and lift your chest.</li>
              <li>7. Stay in the post, relaxing for 5 to 10 minutes.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Cross Crawl on Foam Roller</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_9.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><p>Strengthens your core muscles, improves balance, challenges coordination, reduces any physical disparity between right and left sides.</p>
            <ul>
              <li>1. Lie lengthwise on the foam roller.</li>
              <li>2. Place your feet parallel, flat on the floor, hip width apart so that you knees line up with your hip bones and feet are directly under knees.</li>
              <li>3. Relax your arms at your sides, palms facing up.</li>
              <li>4. Slowly lift your left foot off the floor, moving your left knee over your left hip (your knee is bent), while simultaneously lifting your right hand from the floor toward the ceiling.</li>
              <li>5. Keep the roller as still as possible, without strain or tension, breathing deeply.</li>
              <li>6. Hold for several breaths, and then switch sides. Perform 5 sets.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Hip Bridge with Cactus Arms</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_10.gif" alt="" /> <br />
            <br />
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_11.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><p><strong>Another way to fight the chair.</strong> This release opens up the front of the body – particularly the psoas muscle, which gets tight and strained from sitting.</p>
            <ul>
              <li>1. Lie on the floor with your knees bent and feet hip-width apart.</li>
              <li>2. Your arms are beside your body either straight to the side in a "T", or out to the side with the elbows bent at 90 degrees with the palms facing up, in a "Cactus" position (as shown in the photos).</li>
              <li>3. Pressing the elbows into the floor, peel the spine from the floor, lifting the hips until they are completely raised.</li>
              <li>4. Hold for 2 breaths –inhaling and exhaling twice. Then slowly, gently, roll the spine back to the floor, sequentially articulating each vertebrae from the top to the bottom, keeping the back of the elbows in contact with the floor.</li>
              <li>5. Repeat this 5 times.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall)</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_12.gif" alt="" /> <br />
            <br />
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_13.gif" alt="" /> <br />
            <br />
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_14.gif" alt="" /> <br />
            <br />
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_15.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><p>A refreshing restorative post that you can do anywhere. Regulates blood pressure, refreshes the abdominal organs and prevents varicose veins. Great after a day on your feet.</p>
            <ul>
              <li>1. Grab a blanket and find an open wall in your house.  Fold the blanket into quarters.</li>
              <li>2. Bring yourself down to the floor so that your right hip is touching the wall.  Keep your blanket nearby as you will need it under your head.</li>
              <li>3. Bend your knees and then slowly roll down onto your side so that your right hip and right shoulder are touching the wall and both hips and feet are touching the floor (picture #1).</li>
              <li>4. Bend your knees into your chest, hug them in and then swing around, bringing your legs up onto the wall.  Your body should make an L and your butt should be as close to the wall as your hamstrings will allow.</li>
              <li>5. Place the blanket under the head so that the chin is parallel with the floor.</li>
              <li>6. Take your arms out to your sides in a cactus shape.  Keep the legs straight and, as relax your head, face, neck, shoulders and belly.</li>
            </ul>
            <br />
            <em>Note: If you feel a slight tingling in your legs, this is normal. If it becomes painful, bring your legs down and move into a crossed-legged position with your legs still resting on the wall. Do not practice this pose during menstruation.</em></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Foot Massage</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_16.gif" alt="" /> <br />
            <br />
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_17.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><ul>
              <li>1. Stand on a mat or carpeted surface with a tennis ball placed under the arch of your foot.</li>
              <li>2. Gently press your body weight into the tennis ball.</li>
              <li>3. Slowly open and close your foot over the tennis ball; flaring your toes when you open them and squeezing like a fist when you close.</li>
              <li>4. Repeat 5 times in one area and then move to a different part of the foot's arch.  Apply as much pressure as you can bear and hold it for a few seconds.  Move on to the next area of tenderness and hold.</li>
            </ul>
            <p><em>NOTE: You may feel pain in certain areas of the foot’s arch which is normal to the exercise as you are relieving the tense muscles. If you feel any sharp pain immediately stop the exercise.</em></p></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <table class="respices" style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <th colspan="2">Supported Savasana</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td class="auto-width">
            <img src="http://www.bewellbydrfranklipman.com/skin/frontend/c_theme/default/images/pose_18.gif" alt="" /></td>
          <td class="ul-space"><ul>
              <li>1. Lower the lights in the room.</li>
              <li>2. Lie on the floor or on a yoga mat if you have one. Allow your feet to rest about 12 inches apart.</li>
              <li>3. Support your head on a folded blanket or towel.</li>
              <li>4. Extend the back of your neck, bringing your chin slightly down and letting your throat be soft.</li>
              <li>5. Your head support blanket or towel should not strain your neck but serve to emphasize and support the natural curve and shape of your cervical spine.</li>
              <li>6. Let your feet and legs roll out into an easy and relaxed position.</li>
              <li>7. Extend your arms to the sides at an angle, knuckles down, palms up, hands relaxed.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </div>
</div>