Yoga Pose of the Day! Standing Head to Knee Pose (Dandayamana-Janushirasana) From Mountain Pose, shift your weight over to the left leg and bring your right leg up to a 90 degree angle flexing the foot. Knee should be hip height and level off those hips. As you can see in these pictures I could use to practice lowering my right hip throughout the pose. This is quite a pose on its own but if you want to move forward, slowly reach down to your foot by bringing the upper body down to the leg, do not move the leg up or down. Bring your gaze to your big toe and make sure your hips are still level. If you’re moving forward even still, bring the knee up an inch or two and by pressing your foot firmly into your hand, begin to straighten your leg. Bring your gaze down and allow your forehead to rest on your knee. Hug your elbows in to the leg and again level off your hips which usually means pressing through the left hip and dropping the right hip. Breathe into the back body to open up the shoulders, ribs and round the spine. SLOWLY and with much control exit the pose the same way you went into it. BENEFITS Major improvements in balance, concentration, patience and determination Stronger and tighter abdominal muscles Stronger legs, especially the thigh bicep and hamstrings Increases the flexibility of the hamstring and sciatic nerves Strengthens the arms by working the biceps and triceps Strengthens the shoulders, working the deltoid, trapezius, latissimus dorsi and scapula
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:30:31 +0000