The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ardha Matsyendrasana › Grabbing my hands behind my back?
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ardha Matsyendrasana › Grabbing my hands behind my back?
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Hello,
I have been practicing Bikram yoga for a little under two months. I love it and have been going six days a week. I noticed in this pose a few students are grabbing their hands behind their backs. For instance if my left leg is on the ground, right foot planted, both butt cheeks touching the floor, I put my left arm up and in front, and my right arm through my legs, hand facing out and I find it easier to stretch if I grab both hands behind my back.A few teachers have been correcting me lately and say to grab my knee with my hand or the inside of my thigh, but I do not feel the stretch as deep?!? Where should my hands be? I hope this makes sense…Thank you Gabrielle,
namaste
Welcome artwednesday!
Yes you make sense.
Let me see if I can break it down further for you and then give you a tip or two to improve your pose.
Firstly this pose delivers a great twist and stretch. You will feel a stretch across your shoulders. And ideally in final pose you would have a straight line through your front knee, your shoulders dissecting the body.
What happens when you grab your hands behind your back is the front shoulders ceases to open the body up and starts to roll down and forward. It may feel as though you are stretching more but the benefits are not there.
OK, here are a couple of things to look for in this pose. Little tweaks which will make a big difference:
** Grab at the knee from the top of the knee not at the top of the shin. Those of you who can only grab at the top of the shin (back of the hand facing the same way as your chest) just do what you can and monitor improvement.
** Push the front knee down using the muscles in that leg while simultaneously providing traction by pulling with the hand against the knee.
** Apply a little downward pressure through the foot that is flat on the floor.
In this way you can lift the chest more in whatever position you are in, whether your palm is flat on the floor behind you, your palm is face out behind you with a digit hooking some clothing, or grabbing the inside of your thigh with your fingers! Adjust the position so your spine can be as upright as possible.
** Your aim is to feel your hips plant more squarely on the floor as your straight spine twists up from a solid base.I can guarantee you will get more out of this pose when you do the above actions.
Get back to me and let me know how you go.
Shaking hands behind your back is definitely not the way to go and more like a party trick :cheese: Looks kinda impressive but that is where it stops!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thank you Gabrielle,
I have made the adjustments you suggested and also discussed proper form with my instructors and can definetly feel the difference. At first I did not feel the stretch as much but last night I was adjusting the posture a bit and realy felt my shoulders open up and more of my spine stretch as well!! Thank you for your clear response and timely reply.
Namaste
Today’s other breakthrough was this position. It’s amazing how seemingly, to me anyway, simple adjustments can make a world of difference. In this one the adjustments I made were pushing the front knee down and pushing into the ground with the flat foot. Wow what a difference. I think I saw me in the mirror :D.
Thanks again.
Thank YOU Spring
I appreciate your words.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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