Benefit
Re-energizes the body and aids digestion by stretching the ascending and descending colon.
By Aadil Palkhivala
Instruction
1) Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose) with your legs extended in front of you, toes flexed, quadriceps contracted. Place your hands next to your buttocks on the floor and lift the bottom of your belly and the sides of your waist.
2) Bend your right knee, placing your right foot against your inner left thigh, and your right heel close to your perineum, just below your pubic bone. Gently swing your right knee away from your left foot so your thighs form an angle greater than 90 degrees—preferably an angle of 135 degrees.
3) Fold forward over your left leg from the left hip crease. Reach with your right arm first and hold your left foot from the inside. Contracting your left quadriceps powerfully, use your left hand to grasp the center of the hamstring muscles and—tipping your body to the right—pull toward your left sitting bone to release tension in the tendon that
connects your hamstring muscles to your pelvis. Then, press your left hand into the floor near your left hip and push, lengthening the left waist. Keep twisting your body toward the left, working to bring your bellybutton over the center of your left thigh.
4) Hold your left foot with your left hand from the outside. Move deeper into the fold by holding your right wrist with your left hand. Make a fist with your right hand. Bending your elbows away from each other, pull your left foot with your arms, lengthening the sides of your waist. Rest your forehead on your shin. Breathe deeply for 9 or more breaths. Inhaling, lift your head and chest, then release your hands to push the floor away and come out of the pose.
Change sides.
Modify Janu Sirsasana if needed to find safe alignment for your body.
If your lower back rounds…
TRY placing your sitting bones on folded blankets or a firm foam pad. (Avoid placing your hamstrings on the blankets or pad.) Take several deep breaths, inhaling and lengthening, exhaling and folding deeper.
If you have knee pain…
TRY moving your bent knee toward your straight leg.Having your knee out at a wider angle can create stress on the sartorius muscle, which runs the length of the thigh and connects to the knee.
If you have tight hamstrings…
TRY using a strap, placing it around the lower arch of your extended leg. Hold one side of the strap in each hand and use the strap to help you lift the sides of your waist. Remember to only fold as far forward as you can while keeping your spine concave and your chest lifted.
Lengthen your hamstrings and warm up for twisting in these prep poses for Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana.
Supta Padangusthasana (Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose)
Benefit
Safely stretches the hamstrings and tones the legs when the quadriceps are contracted
Instruction
Lie on your back. Inhaling, lift your right leg and hold your right big toe with your right index and middle fingers, keeping both shoulder blades on the ground. If you can’t reach your lifted foot, use a strap around your lower arch and hold both ends in your right hand. Press down on your left thigh with your left hand. Contract the quadriceps of both legs fully. Move your outer right hip away from your head, lengthening your right waist. Press both heels away from your hips,pulling your toes back. Inhaling, bring your awareness into your right hamstring muscles, feeling them release and stretch. Exhaling,imagine the center of your right hamstring muscles moving toward the sitting bone, where it starts. Exhale to release and switch sides.
Find length in the sides of your body and a deeper twist as you move step by step into Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana.
Benefit
This invigorating spinal twist and chest opener releases diaphragmatic tension and the intercostal muscles, enhancing breathing. It also removes tension along the spine and lengthens the sides of the waist, stretching the abdominal organs, especially the ascending and descending colon, liver, spleen, and pancreas, enhancing digestion and elimination.
Instruction
1) Sit in Janu Sirsasana with your left knee bent. Turn your chest toward your bent knee, with all fingertips on the floor—right hand in front between your legs and your left hand behind your left buttock. On an inhalation, press your fingertips into the floor and lift the bottom of your belly and the sides of your waist. Exhaling, twist left.
Ardha Baddha Padmasana (Bound Half Lotus Pose)
Benefit
Releases the muscles between the vertebrae, making the spine supple and relieving backaches, and opens the chest and shoulders.
Instruction
Sit in Staff Pose. Exhaling, bring your left leg into Ardha Padmasana, or Half Lotus Pose. Inhaling, lift the sides of your waist and the bottom of your belly. Exhaling, sweep your left hand behind you to catch your left foot. Reach for your right leg and hold the big-toe mound with your right hand, using a strap if needed. Contract your right quadriceps and pull back with your upper body to sit up as much as possible. Inhaling, lift the sides of your waist; exhaling, twist to the left. Inhale to come out, then switch sides.
Parsva Upavistha Konasana Side Seated Wide Angle Pose
Benefit
Stretches the sides of the body and the hamstrings
Instruction
Sit with your spine erect and your legs open to a 135-degree angle. Flex your feet and engage your quadriceps. Twist left, placing your right fingertips on the floor in front of you and your left fingertips behind you. Keeping your spine long, reach for your left foot with your right hand. Bring your torso toward your left shin, bellybutton centered over your left thigh. Then, clasp your left wrist with your right hand or use a strap. Lift your chest to stretch your abdomen, eventually resting your forehead on your left shin. Exhale and release your hands; inhale to come up. Switch sides.
2) Inhaling, lift your left arm up alongside your left ear. Slightly bend your right leg, then bend your torso sideways to the right and hold the outside of your right foot with your left hand. Slowly walk your right hand away from your pelvis, in between your legs, until the back of your right rib cage rests on the inside of your right inner thigh. Press your inner thigh into your rib cage.
3) Keeping your right leg bent, turn your right arm to hold your right foot from the inside, thumb down. Pull strongly with your hands, bending your elbows so that the sides of your waist lengthen. Start to bend your right elbow away from your right shin.
Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana
4)Slowly straighten your right leg, maintaining the pressure and contact of your right inner thigh against the back of your right rib cage, and pulling the foot with your arms. After your leg is straight, press your right outer elbow into the floor and press your left elbow toward the floor behind you, opening your chest and twisting your waist. Rest the back of your head on your right shinbone, looking at the ceiling. For a more advanced stretch, extend your left knee farther from your head. Do not try to press your left sitting bone into the floor; instead, let it rise without trying to lift it.
5) Stay in the pose for 10–30 seconds. To come out, release your left hand first. Untwist your spine, bringing
your left hand to the floor in front of your chest. Then, release your right hand and use your left hand to push
up. Change sides.
This article was first published in the 2017 print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore,which is now Yogahood Online.
