Designed and performed by our inspiring Yogea teacher Marina Grubic

As a dancer I’ve always been taught that the arms are not mere extremities, but an extension of the soul. Every time I dance I reach out. I remind myself to connect to the center of self and communicate my truth into the world. I reach out to connect, to commune.

It just took one such “reach” to meet an incredible soul, and yoga teacher across the Atlantic and befriend her for life. Her name is Marina Grubic – a Serbian born philologist, art teacher, yoga model and inspirational blogger. And she is the culprit for this uplifting arm-strengthening sequence. Two years ago Marina contacted the Yogea team through our You Tube video channel. She had been practicing our asana routines, breathing series, asana labs and meditations religiously every day and touched base to express her gratitude. A few months later I received a beautiful New year’s planner with her photos and inspirational guidance. Enclosed was a humble dedication: “to my dear yoga teacher…” We hadn’t even met in person, but she was devotedly practicing all of the Yogea routines and reinterpreting them for her students.

Evidently, our message of carving “yoga outside the box” had resonated with her and the Yogea online educational platform had sparked her own creativity to innovate and update the ancient art of yoga for our modern needs. Less than a month ago Marina visited our Yogea family in New York, modeling for Yogea’s upcoming book and successfully graduating a one month intensive Yoga Training with an emphasis on teaching methodology, philosophy, sequencing, and alignment. During her stay she inspired over a dozen of valuable new, targeted sequences, breathing and meditation practices that will be posted on our Yogea video channel shortly. She clicked immediately with all the creative members of the Yogea Family and was heartily embraced in our “hive”.

The very first day she landed we got creative and brainstormed useful targeted routines that we could design for our Yogea users from across the globe. This Arm strengthening sequence popped up first and we prepped it in no time.

Most women have a hard time toning their arms and building upper body strength, as they always complain about their arms being flabby. They pump up triceps extensions and biceps curls for hours in the gym, and they get obsessed with trimming the fat, and chiseling the arms to mimic the model in the fashion magazine.

But the best way to actually tone the arms is by combining strength training with resistance stretching – by alternating isometric and isotonic contractions. This is best done in a yoga practice that always builds up strength, while promoting flexibility and unleashing internal power. As you go through a rigorous asana practice that integrates core toners and arm dips, while stretching all major ligaments and tendons you slowly notice the impact on your upper body and torso. The effect is empowering and revivifying. A semi-weekly power yoga practice with an emphasis on arm strength is worth a month of muscle flexing in the gym. What’s more, besides the muscle flexing, there’s brain flexing, too, and a subtle connection with the energetic body.

Energetically, the arms are part of the shoulder girdle that is fueled by three main chakras or energy centers – solar, plexus, heart and throat. These chakras sequentially open the gate to higher consciousness. The solar plexus is the cradle of personal identity that often gets shaded by ego trips and false projections. As we practice arm, elbow, shoulder, and wrist stretches and binds we facilitate a subtle shift from imposed identity to a transparent self.

Every time we open our arms to embrace one another, the heart blooms and we pave way to sincere relationships and unconditional love. We begin to feel good in our skin. We appreciate ourselves more, and are open to helping others. A blocked heart center results in pronounced insecurities and fear of expressing one’s authentic self. When the arms open and arch, the intelligence of the heart guides us into making the right choices for ourselves, and the planet.

As we fly our wings, we shift perspective. We begin to function from a place of personal integrity and inner purpose. We tap into our authentic voice and find how our singular nature plays out into the world. This is the full manifestation of our true identity and it is closely linked with the grace and strength of the arms. We cultivate a steady grip on reality, and can intuit when to take over and when to let go.

Next time you bring your hands into Namaste to seal the benefits of your practice open your hands. Like a devoted palmistry guide, Gaze at the lines crossing and curving. Look at the shape of your hand, the length of your fingers, the width of your wrists. Notice how every crease, every little joint, every vessel inside is a sum of your rich nature, of your indispensable self. Give gratitude to your arms for serving you through your daily life, and honor their role as articulators of your unparalleled self.

This Yogea routine strengthens the arms, stretches the shoulder girdle and tones the core, while promoting flexibility across all joints and tendons. A centering Qi-Gong based breath awakens the arms as you activate the electromagnetic sheath in the body by molding an imaginary ball of energy between the hands. Emphasis further goes to twisting the oblique abdominals on both sides, and pressing through all the knuckles of the hands to strengthen the wrists and energize the arms. The sides of the waist are toned with arm bearing balances while forward lunges strengthen the thigh muscles and chin dips empower the shoulder girdle and upper arms. Safe and gentle arm balances are integrated into the sequence, while promoting pelvic torsion to lengthen and detoxify. Empowering standing poses with arm variations alternate with cooling forward bends to stretch the entire spine and build stamina. Plank, and elbow plank frontal and sagittal variations further synch up the core with the upper and lower body. The sequence culminates into a complex arm balance that strengthens the upper arms, forearms elbows and wrists and promotes digestion and elimination. Tabletop poses build extra strength in the arms while opening the heart and working out the leg muscles. A gentle forward bend cools the body down and ushers it into a soothing relaxation to honor the arms as an extension of the soul.