The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Salabhasana › Help with arm positioning
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Salabhasana › Help with arm positioning
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Hiya,
When I do this pose, if I move my arms underneath my body as instructed my hip bone really digs into my arms to the point where I have to move them out to the side. Am I doing this wrong? Should I try and carry on with the arms underneath even though it’s painful?! Or is it ok to do this pose with the arms flat at the side of the body?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Namaste.
Mel.keep trying with arms underneath ……. try to get then to the inside of the hip bone ( I had the same prob ) this way the arms are resting on it
Thank you! I will try that tonight and keep at it.
Mel.Hey Mel
It’s OK to play with the placement of the arms. Move them in or out but keep them symmetrically placed. You’ll find sometimes your arms will even feel as if they’re bending to get around the problem (while on the floor) and then with the effort of the pose they will straighten up!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Mel – if it’s any consolation, it took me ages to get my arms further in enough that my forearms were not constantly “bruised and sore” from my hips digging in!
I remember it well in the first few weeks of practice, and then suddenly everything came together … that was 10 years ago and despite some rather long absences, it has never happened again.
One thing that I am pretty sure helped me was putting a lot more thought into really pushing into the floor with my hands (even in the single leg lift) – I guess it also has a side effect of relieving a bit of the pressure of the forearm on the hip, even htough your aim is to have them touching.
Then before long, you’ll have the forearms inside the hip bones and nice strong arms & shoulders … and it will all be in the past!
Keep us posted …
Thank you all for your advice. I tried at last nights class to get my arms in past the bone which was fine when I was doing the single leg lift but I just couldn’t keep them there when lifting both legs. I will try again tonight and also focus on pushing into the floor with my hands and see how I go.
Thanks again, I really love this site. I even managed to last throughout Triangle without slipping after putting my weight back into my heel after reading it on here!Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Mel.I just cant seem to get my arms and hands in the correct position, it really hurts the writs to turn them like this, any helpful advice?
Hi Marilyn
Don’t be concerned at this time about having your ‘baby fingers touching’. If it is excruciating then you adjust your arms.
Move them in or out but keep them symmetrically placed.
Come back and tell us if you’ve tried doing that and if it helps you at all.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I can barely get my arms under the side so fingers touching isn’t happening!
I just wondered if there was any helpful advice or if it is just something that takes
a while and how long it usually takes people to do this.
MarilynI used to think, a little haughtily, I think, oh, my boobs are just too big for me to do this pose correctly. I won’t even tell you how many years it took for me to realize it wasn’t that my boobs were too big to get my arms side by side, it was that my shoulders were too tight!
Suddenly, one day, I just realized the boobs magically weren’t a problem anymore and the arms were together and I could push my “heart to the floor,” as somebody here mentioned, keeping my arms straight, and it just all seemed to come together.
So, keep on trying and it will happen, one day!
Gabrielle,
So if I cannot get my arms and hands underneath my body it’s okay? I can barely get them to touch the side of my body on the floor.
Joe
Hi Joe
You’ll find that you feel sturdy, strong and balanced if your arms are straight, pressing into the floor with your arms equidistantly positioned from the body.
This may seem odd, but imagine if you had a sore arm, and only the other arm could make it under the body. It’s then a useless pose for you. So in order to accommodate the sore arm, the other one shifts distally (away from the midline).
I’m not sure if you have my manual on the poses, but if you do then look at page 217. There’s a section in there with 2 photographs. They clearly show the difference between rolling the shoulders under the body (which most people do because of that instruction to ‘bring the arms as close together as you can’) and broadening the shoulders on the floor.
The more you can externally rotate the shoulders to get a flat platform across the shoulders and upper chest, paradoxically the more you’ll get your arms underneath (even if that means eventually).
Try it! Now that the struggle is gone, I guarantee you’ll feel so much better in this pose.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂PS: I am watching as you post more and more questions today! 😀 There are many many tips that I can give for every single pose. And even for the pose here. One thing at a time
Gabrielle,
I did buy your big book. To be honest, it’s more helpful than all of Bikram’s books combined. It is the most comprehensive hot yoga manual I have ever read, and I am reading through it slowly and carefully.
That said, tonight after practice, I will check out page 217.
Sorry, to bombard you with questions. I just had some time before I left for class, and wanted to get down as many as I could think. If I come up with a question, and the answer is in the manual (and I have not read it yet, likely), just refer me to that page.
Thanks again.
Thank you Joe!
I really appreciate your fantastic comments. They are definitely of the “you made my day” variety! 🙂
It’s no problem. I find myself at the computer often and am in the throes of writing a new book so I was taking time to answer your questions. We’re both on a roll, it seems
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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