In doing the Yoga Swimming pose, you do not actually swim, but mimic the actions of swimmer while you lie down on your stomach, on a mat. This pose gives you some of the benefits of actual swimming, without having to enter the water.
This is a very easy pose to do. Only those who suffer from acute hip, neck or spine related ailments, need to consult their physician before they proceed to do this pose. Learning to do it under the guidance of a trained yoga teacher would help you do it right, the first time itself.
You begin with lying down flat on your stomach. Rest your face on your chin, so that you can breathe easily. If you find it uncomfortable to rest your face on your chin, you may turn your face to one side. Extend your arms in front of you along the mat and spread your legs out a bit, with a distance of about a shoulder’s length between your feet.
Place your palms on the mat and press your pelvis into the floor. Inhale, and lift your left arm right leg off the mat. Press against the floor using your right palm and left leg to enable you to hold on to this position.
When you are learning to do this pose, you may not be able to lift your arms and leg higher than a few inches. You can increase the height to which you can raise your limbs, as you go along. Practice over a few days should enable you to do this.
Having a friend around to help you to hold your limbs up would make it easier, while you are learning to do this pose. When you do this exercise, you are connecting opposite edges of your body from your left to your right.
Now take a deep breath and lift your other pair of limbs too off the mat, without lowering the first pair to the mat. Learners may not be able to lift all four limbs up at the same time. They may lower their upraised pair of limbs to the mat and then lift the other pair. As you practice, you would be able to lift all four limbs up at the same time.
With all four limbs aloft the mat, alternately lift your right arm and left leg further upwards, without resting your other pair of limbs on the mat. Then switch positions, and lift the left arm and right leg up. This motion mimics that of a swimmer, hence the name for this pose.
When you do this exercise, you are exercising your limbs, shoulders, spine and compressing the abdominal organs, stimulating them to secrete more efficiently.
Sources and References:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/swimming-pose
http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/info/yoga-and-swimming.asp
http://swimming.about.com/od/drylandexercise/l/aa_cope_yoga.htm
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