Pose of the Week: Uttanasana / Standing Forward Fold...

Here is my second installment of Pose of the Week.  Last week was Tadasana / Mountain Pose, so the next logical step is Uttanasana or Standing Forward Fold.

Uttanasana / Standing Forward Fold: Folding and journeying into yourself.  Remaining flexible in tight situations and finding a connection with your breath and your heart.

Uttanasana can be a resting posture or it can be a posture in itself.  It is a great way to stretch out the hamstrings, glutes, calves and the spine. I also find this pose is great for reconnecting with your
breath after an intense posture or journeying inwards in the middle of class to find a connection to yourself.

• Start in Tadasana and remember all of the important posture cues from last week in Tadasana.
• Inhale and bring your arms up overhead, shoulders relaxed and palms touching.
• Grounding through the toes, slightly inner rotating the upper thighs, exhale and hinge at the hips to slowly begin to fold your torso over the front of your thighs. As you fold over, keep moving the waist out of the hips to create more space, keeping the fold in the hips, not rounding through your lower and middle spine.
• Drop your hands to the floor beside the outside of your feet or directly in front of your toes. If touching the floor is not available, hold onto each elbow with your hands and dangle the arms freely while keeping the spine long and flat.
• Inhale and find more space by continuing to unhinge the waist from the hips. Once you have found more space, exhale deeply though the nose, surrendering further into the fold. 
• Close your eyes, release any tension from your neck and begin to feel the opening through the back of the legs.

One of the most important things in Uttanasana, is keeping the spine long and flat. Because touching the floor, due to tight hamstrings, is not available to everyone, I highly recommend using a block in this posture. The block brings the ground closer to you and allows you to fully release, with a long spine, in the pose.  Below is a great example of what reaching too much to the floor looks like and thus compromising your back through this pose:

Notice the rounded back and hunched shoulders? Not good.

If a block is still not enough, bending the knees is also a great way to access the pose. You will still feel this stretch in your hamstrings. Below is a great example of bending the knees and keeping the spine long:

Ask my husband; if you have tight hamstrings, you are still getting a powerful stretch here.

Uttanasana is a great stress reliever.  Try gently swaying from side to side and just feel what your body is telling you. Listen to the messages.  If you have a back injury, please take caution when performing this pose.  Always be sure to engage the core as you come out of the posture to be sure your back is protected.

Try it out!

Namaste xo.