I do yoga from time to time as a supplement for my meditation practice. Yoga poses are ideal for relaxing and opening the body for me to prepare for the subsequent meditation.

Lately, I had the opportunity to re-examine some of the poses I have been doing often, and their effectiveness for therapeutic purposes. Not that I have health problem, but my awareness of this issue has been raised as I observed that physical aches such as headache, neck pain and back pain have been upsetting so many modern people that the seriousness of this problem is no longer trivial.

Yoga, the ancient wisdom, is calibrated for the purpose of gentle, natural and inoffensive self-healing and self-development. However, some Yoga poses are more advanced and therefore are better done under a teacher's guidance. Some are relatively easy and safe, more suitable for beginners like me.

Below I listed some simple and safe poses that I do often that can help reduce headache and neck pain. I give both links to pictures with detailed instruction, as well as my quick reminders.

1. Cow and Cat Poses: Inhale and do Cow, exhale and do Cat. Keep shoulders away from ears. Do 5-6 cycles. Feel the spine stretch.

2. Bridge Pose: Inhale to lift the hips and exhale to go down. Do several times. Last time you may hold the pose for 30 seconds. This pose can also massage your kidneys.

3. Reclining Twist: Keep right shoulder on the floor when you twist to the left. Feel the twist and hold for 5 breaths. Make sure to do both sides. The twist can massage your kidneys as well.

4. Child's Pose: Knees apart, toes touch. Relax and breathe slowly. Stay for about 1-2 minutes.

5. Corpse Pose: Looks easy but it's a very important pose. We do this at the end of every yoga sequence. Relax and breathe through the belly. Stay for a least 5 minutes.

6. Legs Up the Wall: No need to have 90 degrees. Just relax and keep shoulders gliding away from the ears. Breathe slowly for 10 breaths.

7. Standing Forward Bend: No need to do what's shown in the figure. No need to touch the floor or toes. May do this with knees bent and hold opposite elbows (or just release the arms). The key is to release the spine and neck. Just hang. Breathe slowly and stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Come out by stacking you spine slowly (head is the last to come up).

8. Wide-Legged Forward Bend: Similar to Standing Forward Bend. Make sure to come out slowly.

The key to benefit is do it - and do it consistently.