Yoga Block Magic: Align Your Backbone

Prasarita Padottanasana (Broad-Legged Standing Ahead Bend Pose) is certainly one of yoga’s extra enjoyable standing poses. Its symmetrical form retains your pelvis, sacroiliac joint and backbone impartial, whereas the energetic rooting of your toes and legs permits your higher physique to be gentle and receptive. These advantages can be found to just about everybody—with slightly assist from a Yoga Block.

Why Observe Prasarita Padottanasana?

Training Prasarita Padottanasana confers many advantages. It strengthens and stretches the inside legs, hamstrings and backbone; tones the stomach organs; and calms the mind. It’s stated to alleviate some complications and scale back fatigue.

Prasarita will be contraindicated for individuals with tight hamstrings. When your hamstrings are taut, your pelvis can’t tilt ahead together with the backbone. This will put strain on the discs within the decrease again, which might result in disc issues. Additionally, curling the torso ahead so as to attain the ground contracts your stomach muscle mass, proscribing free respiratory.

Utilizing a Yoga Block in Prasarita Padottanasana may also help individuals of all ranges of flexibility observe safely and comfortably. Anybody can profit from utilizing a Yoga Block on this pose. My hips and hamstrings are fairly versatile, however I nonetheless take pleasure in utilizing a block on this pose for the sensation of continuity it creates in my torso. A number of of my most flexible college students take pleasure in utilizing a block as effectively.

Yoga Blocks can be found in cork, 3-inch or 4-inch foam, marbled foam, recycled foam or wooden. Hugger Mugger’s Large Block is additional giant for additional stability and luxury.

How you can Observe Prasarita Padottanasana with a Yoga Block

1. Start by standing on a nonskid Yoga Mat along with your toes hips-width aside.
2. Bounce or step your toes out to a large stance, a couple of leg-length aside.
3. Plant your toes into the bottom, feeling the footprint you’re making in your mat. Are the inside and outer heels and balls of your toes planted evenly? If not, likelihood is you could really feel the burden sagging into your inside toes. Enable the muscle mass and pores and skin of your outer legs to stream down alongside your bones out of your hips to your outer toes that will help you root the toes extra evenly.
4. Place your arms in your hips. Bending out of your hip joints, let your torso come ahead so far as it’ll go with out shedding contact with deep respiratory.
5. Place your arms on the ground and take just a few breaths. Now place your arms on a Yoga Block and verify in to see how that adjustments your respiratory. A Large Blue Block or two 4-inch Yoga Blocks work finest, however it’s also possible to use a single 4-inch Yoga Block. Every block has three dimensions: tall, medium and flat. Strive each to see which feels finest.
6. Keep for five or 10 deep breaths.
7. To return up, place your arms in your hips and raise again as much as an upright place. Place your palms collectively in entrance of your coronary heart, bend your knees barely and permit the burden of your pelvis to launch into your legs. Chill out your stomach and breathe deeply, resting.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.