 Step
by Step
Stand upright with your inner feet
parallel and about six inches apart. Contract your
front thigh muscles to lift your kneecaps. Keeping
your legs completely straight, exhale and bend forward
from your hip joints, moving your torso and head as
one unit.
Slide the index and middle fingers of each hand
between the big toes and the second toes. Then curl
those fingers under and grip the big toes firmly,
wrapping the thumbs around the other two fingers to
secure the wrap. Press your toes down against your
fingers. (If you can't reach your toes without overly
rounding your back, pass a strap under the ball of
each foot and hold the straps.)
With an inhalation, lift your torso as if you were
going to stand up again, straightening your elbows.
Lengthen your front torso, and on the next exhale,
lift your sitting bones. Depending on your flexibility,
your lower back will hollow to a greater or lesser
degree. As you do this, release your hamstrings and
hollow your lower belly (below your navel) as well,
lightly lifting it toward the back of your pelvis.
Lift the top of your sternum as high as you can,
but take care not to lift your head so far that you
compress the back of your neck. Keep your forehead
relaxed.
For the next few inhalations, lift your torso strongly
as you continue to actively contract your front thighs;
on each successive exhalation, strongly lift your
sitting bones as you consciously relax your hamstrings.
As you do this, deepen the hollow in your lower back.
Finally exhale, bend your elbows out to the sides,
pull up on your toes, lengthen the front and sides
of your torso, and gently lower into the forward bend.
If you have very long hamstrings, you can draw your
forehead toward your shins. But if your hamstrings
are short, it's better to focus on keeping the front
torso long. Hunching into a forward bend isn't safe
for your lower back and does nothing to lengthen your
hamstrings.
Hold the final position for one minute. Then release
your toes, bring your hands to your hips, and re-lengthen
your front torso. With an inhale, swing your torso
and head as a single unit back to upright. |
