SEATED FORWARD BEND POSE (Paschimottanasana)

 

Seated Forward Bend Pose (Paschimottanasana) gives the whole support to your body‚ a good stretch, from your calves to your spine.

Method: Here’s how to do Seated Forward Bend:

Step 1: Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Press actively through your heels. Bring your arms straight out to the sides and up over your head, reaching toward the ceiling. Inhale and draw your spine up long.

Step 2: As you exhale, begin to move forward, hinging at your hips. Fold forward hinging from the hips as you exhale. Do not fold deeper than you can with a straight back.

Step 3: Keep length in the front of the body, moving from your belly, through your ribcage, chest, and then your forehead towards your legs.

Step 4: Let your arms slide down along the floor. Reach the hands to the toes, feet or ankles. If your hands reach your feet, wrap your first two fingers and thumbs around your big toes. Bend your elbows, keep them lifting away from the floor out to the sides and keep your shoulders away from the ears. Keep your knees aligned and do not allow them to turn out. Keep your back straight for as long as you can in the pose. This will help you get full breaths.

Step 5: Stay in the pose. To come out, first lift the torso away from the thighs. Slowly roll up the spine back. Then inhale and lift the torso up by pulling the tailbone down and into the pelvis.

Special Tips: Emphasize the perfection of technique. Let it be performed just after Sit up Crunches to get more flexibility and stamina.

Avoid this pose if you have an injury to your arms, hips, ankles, or shoulders. Don't force yourself in this pose. If you are too stiff to get much bend, just do what you can without pain. Because this pose compresses the abdomen, it may not be comfortable on a full stomach.

Variations and Modifications:  If you have the flexibility, reach the hands in front of the foot. You have the option to hold the outer edges of your feet in this pose. If you have difficulty reaching all the way to your toes, position a strap around your feet and grasp it with both hands. You may also bend your knees enough so you can reach your feet with your hands. If you can easily grab the soles of your feet, try taking a stone behind your feet and holding that instead.

Benefits: Seated forward pose provides a deep stretch for entire back side of body from the heels to the neck. It stimulates internal organs. It calms the nervous system and emotions as well as stimulates the reproductive and urinary systems. This pose stretches these areas and helps open up your hips. This stretch is excellent for runners who tend to have tight hamstrings.

It is also considered to be a calming pose. It is said that this pose can help relieve stress and even improve your mood. It calms the mind, prepares you for meditation.

Results of this pose and the preceding exercise may vary from person to person depending upon many factors such as technique used, availability of time, age, health condition, regularity, discipline, mood, interest and so on.

Final Position: Now enter into Natural Standing Posture and relax your body.