Uttanasana
aka: Standing Forward Bend
(OOT-tan-AHS-ahna)
ut = intense
tan = to stretch or extend
Exercise: On an out-breath fold forward from your hip sockets. Relax your upper body to the floor working towards the thighs. Place your hands on the floor, grab your ankles or grab your heels.
Physical Benefit: Stimulates hamstrings.
Mental Benefit: Releases tension.
The Standing Forward Bend
The Standing Forward Bend, or Uttanasana, both relaxes and invigorates.
Advantages
In Sanskrit, ut means "intense" and tan translates to "stretch" or "extend." This is a great pose to perform between other standing asanas.
This postures looks easy, and it is, but it also has strong benefits:
* Releases stress from the body and mind
* Provides a deep release of the hamstrings
* Rejuvenates the mind
Step Into the Pose
1. Begin in Mountain Yoga Pose.
2. Inhale and place your hands on your hips.
3. Exhale, and fold forward from the hips, keeping the torso long and extended.
4. As you bend, try not to lock the knees.
5. You should be able to touch your chest to your thighs, hands on the floor or behind the legs.
6. With each breath, keep lengthening the torso, head loosened from the neck.
7. Hold this pose for a minute or longer, until you feel all tension release.
8. When you come up, keep the torso long and the back flat.
Beginner Tips
Resting your hands on a block helps you feel how far forward you can bend easily without straining the back.
Advanced Tips
Rise up on the balls of your feet so that your heels come up about a half-inch off the floor. Hold through a breath cycle, then release.
Anatomical Focus
* Thighs
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Therapeutic Applications
* Stress
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Benefits
* Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
* Stimulates the liver and kidneys
* Stretches the hamstrings, calves, and hips
* Strengthens the thighs and knees
* Improves digestion
* Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
* Reduces fatigue and anxiety
* Relieves headache and insomnia
* Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, infertility, osteoporosis, and sinusitis
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Contraindications and Cautions
Back injury: Do this pose with bent knees, or perform Ardha Uttanasana (pronounced ARE-dah, ardha= half), with your hands on the wall, legs perpendicular to your torso, and arms parallel to the floor.
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Beginner's Tip
To increase the stretch in the backs of your legs, bend your knees slightly. Imagine that the sacrum is sinking deeper into the back of your pelvis and bring the tailbone closer to the pubis. Then against this resistance, push the top thighs back and the heels down and straighten the knees again. Be careful not to straighten the knees by locking them back (you can press your hands against the back of each knee to provide some resistance); instead let them straighten as the two ends of each leg move farther apart.
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Variations
Padangusthasana (not to be confused with Supta Padangusthasana).
After bending forward, slide the index and middle finger of each hand in between the big toe and second toe of each foot. Then curl the fingers under the bottom and around the big toe and wrap your thumb around your fingers. With an inhalation straighten your arms and lift your front torso away from your thighs, making your back as concave as possible. Hold for a few breaths, then exhale and lengthen down and forward, bending your elbows out to the sides.
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Modifications and Props
To increase the stretch on the backs of the legs, stand in the forward bend with the balls of your feet elevated an inch or more off the floor on a sand bag or thick book.
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Partnering
A partner can help you encourage the backs of your legs to open. Perform Uttanasana, resting your buttocks against a wall with your heels 6 to 12 inches away from the wall. Bend your knees. Have your partner press firmly against your sacrum. Imagine that the sacrum is sinking into your pelvis and lengthening through the tailbone, which in turn is growing up the wall. Slowly straighten your knees against this resistance. Don't simply lock the knees back to straighten them; instead, resist the back knees slightly forward as the heads of the thigh bones and heels move apart.
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Preparatory Poses
* Adho Mukha Svanasana
* Janu Sirsasana
* Paschimottanasana
* Supta Padangusthasana
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Follow-Up Poses
* Standing poses, inversions, or seated forward bends.
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Deepen The Pose
To increase the stretch in the backs of your legs, lean slightly forward and lift up onto the balls of your feet, pulling your heels a half-inch or so away from the floor. Draw your inner groins deep into the pelvis, and then, from the height of the groins, lengthen your heels back onto the floor.
* Thighs
► ▼
Therapeutic Applications
* Stress
► ▼
Benefits
* Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
* Stimulates the liver and kidneys
* Stretches the hamstrings, calves, and hips
* Strengthens the thighs and knees
* Improves digestion
* Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
* Reduces fatigue and anxiety
* Relieves headache and insomnia
* Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, infertility, osteoporosis, and sinusitis
► ▼
Contraindications and Cautions
Back injury: Do this pose with bent knees, or perform Ardha Uttanasana (pronounced ARE-dah, ardha= half), with your hands on the wall, legs perpendicular to your torso, and arms parallel to the floor.
► ▼
Beginner's Tip
To increase the stretch in the backs of your legs, bend your knees slightly. Imagine that the sacrum is sinking deeper into the back of your pelvis and bring the tailbone closer to the pubis. Then against this resistance, push the top thighs back and the heels down and straighten the knees again. Be careful not to straighten the knees by locking them back (you can press your hands against the back of each knee to provide some resistance); instead let them straighten as the two ends of each leg move farther apart.
► ▼
Variations
Padangusthasana (not to be confused with Supta Padangusthasana).
After bending forward, slide the index and middle finger of each hand in between the big toe and second toe of each foot. Then curl the fingers under the bottom and around the big toe and wrap your thumb around your fingers. With an inhalation straighten your arms and lift your front torso away from your thighs, making your back as concave as possible. Hold for a few breaths, then exhale and lengthen down and forward, bending your elbows out to the sides.
► ▼
Modifications and Props
To increase the stretch on the backs of the legs, stand in the forward bend with the balls of your feet elevated an inch or more off the floor on a sand bag or thick book.
► ▼
Partnering
A partner can help you encourage the backs of your legs to open. Perform Uttanasana, resting your buttocks against a wall with your heels 6 to 12 inches away from the wall. Bend your knees. Have your partner press firmly against your sacrum. Imagine that the sacrum is sinking into your pelvis and lengthening through the tailbone, which in turn is growing up the wall. Slowly straighten your knees against this resistance. Don't simply lock the knees back to straighten them; instead, resist the back knees slightly forward as the heads of the thigh bones and heels move apart.
► ▼
Preparatory Poses
* Adho Mukha Svanasana
* Janu Sirsasana
* Paschimottanasana
* Supta Padangusthasana
► ▼
Follow-Up Poses
* Standing poses, inversions, or seated forward bends.
► ▼
Deepen The Pose
To increase the stretch in the backs of your legs, lean slightly forward and lift up onto the balls of your feet, pulling your heels a half-inch or so away from the floor. Draw your inner groins deep into the pelvis, and then, from the height of the groins, lengthen your heels back onto the floor.
