Sanskrit Name: Prasarita Padottanasana
Good for: Lower back, depression, headache
Benefits
- Provides the required fuel to the abdominal organs and stimulates them for better functioning
- Provides calmness and peace to the mind
- Helps relieve pain in lower back
- Treats mild depression and anxiety
Guidelines
- Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), facing one of the long edges of your sticky mat
- Step or lightly hop your feet apart anywhere from 3 to 4 1/2 feet depending on your height *taller people should step wider*
- Rest your hands on your hips
- Make sure your inner feet are parallel to each other
- Lift your inner arches by drawing up on the inner ankles
- Press the outer edges of your feet and ball of the big toe firmly into the floor
- Engage the thigh muscles by drawing them up
- Inhale and lift your chest, making the front torso slightly longer than the back
- Exhale and, maintaining the length of the front torso, lean the torso forward from the hip joints
- Press your fingertips onto the floor directly below your shoulders as your torso approaches parallel to the floor
- Extend your elbows fully
- Your legs and arms then should be perpendicular to the floor and parallel to each other
- Move your spine evenly into the back torso so that your back is slightly concave from the tailbone to the base of the skull
- Bring your head up, keeping the back of the neck long, and direct your gaze upward toward the ceiling
- Push your top thighs straight back to help lengthen the front torso
- Draw the inner groins away from each other to widen the base of your pelvis
- Take a few breaths
- As you maintain the concavity of your back and the forward lift of your sternum, walk your fingertips between your feet
- Take a few more breaths and then, with an exhalation, bend your elbows and lower your torso and head into a full forward bend
- Make sure as you move down that you keep your front torso as long as possible
- If possible rest the crown of your head on the floor
- Press your inner palms actively into the floor, fingers pointing forward
- If you have the flexibility to move your torso into a full forward bend, walk your hands back until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor and your upper arms parallel
- Be sure to keep your arms parallel to each other
- Widen the shoulder blades across the back
- Draw your shoulders away from your ears
- Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute
- To come out, bring your hands back on the floor below your shoulders
- Lift and lengthen your front torso
- Then with an inhalation, rest your hands on your hips
- Pull your tail bone down toward the floor
- Swing the torso up
- Walk or hop your feet back into Tadasana
Good to know
- In case of lower back pain strictly avoid forward bend because they can further worsen the situation
- Beginners sometimes cannot easily bring their hands to the floor therefore they can use a support in the initial times when they are at the learning stage
- Try rising your hands off the floor by resting each on the end of a block
- If your back is still curvy, then use a portablechair to provide safe support to your forearms
- In case of forward bends always keep in mind to emphasize the length of the front torso
By : Natural Health News
