In This Chapter

>- Why bend forward?

>- Forward bends: child's pose, standing head to knees, feet apart side angle, sitting one leg, bound half lotus, yoga mudra, boat, tortoise, and downward facing dog

>- Modifications, challenges, and other tips to improve your yoga practice

Forward bends are important for several reasons. They're wonderful for helping you to focus inward and quiet your mind. As your body bends forward, it folds your heart into its center. Forward bends are also important to balance backbends, so include a few of each in your yoga practice.

Forward bends are great for stretching out and loosening up the lower back muscles and also for lengthening the hamstrings. Believe it or not, the leg muscles often hold more stress than any other muscle group in the body! Forward bends help you reach that inner place where you can allow the lower back and hamstrings to relax and become fluid. Okay ... one, two, three, reach!

The child's pose makes you feel safe and nurtured, as if you were still in the womb. Mudhasana (pronounced moo-DAH-sah-nah) activates your Venus and moon chakras (located behind your heart and at the base of your skull, respectively), relieves lower back pain, and improves your complexion. It also stimulates respiration because it compresses your diaphragm.

Mudhasana: Child's Pose

When practicing the child's pose, put some pillows or a blanket under your head to help lengthen your back if you find it hard to bend forward, or place a pillow or blanket between your knees and calves if your knees feel strained.

The child's pose.

1. Sit back on your heels, then bring your forehead to the floor.

2. Rest your arms alongside your body with your palms facing up. The pose should feel completely relaxing.

3. Breathe deeply. Feel your diaphragm rising and sinking with each breath, like a baby's tummy. A baby hasn't yet learned shallow chest-breathing.

Uttanasana: Standing Head to Knees Pose

Uttanasana (pronounced OOH-tah-NAH-sah-nah) stretches the entire back of your body. It also tones your abdomen, decreases bloating, refreshes your mind, and clears your head. To accomplish this, you may have to bend your knees. As you become more flexible, you'll be able to grasp your big toes with your index fingers. For those who can fold in half, give yourselves a hug!

1. Stand with your feet together. Inhale and raise your arms overhead.

2. Exhale and bend forward at your hips. Bending at the waist will curve your back. Try to bend at the hip joint to keep the heart open as you move forward. Work toward touching your nose to your knees. Keep your knees straight unless your back hurts, in which case you can bend your knees.

3. Be careful not to rock your weight back to your heels. Keep your weight evenly distributed over your feet. Don't round your back or turn your feet out; instead,

bend forward from the hips, lengthening through the lower back. Don't force your head toward your knees—let gravity do the work as your head and neck stay relaxed. Don't be concerned with how far you bend. Focus on how open you can become as you "lift" forward.

The standing head to knees pose.

Parshvottanasana: Feet Apart Side Angle Pose

In parshvottanasana (pronounced PARSH-voh-tah-NAH-sah-nah), you will tone your abdomen; straighten drooping shoulders; and make your hips, spine, and wrists more flexible.

The feet apart side angle pose.

1. Stand with your feet three to four feet apart. Turn one foot out and face that foot.

2. Bring your hands into the namaste or prayer position, but behind your back with your fingers pointing up. If this is too difficult, simply clasp your hands behind your back, or keep your hands at your sides as you move forward.

3. Inhale, lengthen the spine upward, then exhale, bringing your head toward your front knee.

4. Imagine your chest, rather than your head, moving toward your knees to help lengthen the spine and prevent rounding of the back. Keep breathing throughout this pose.

Janu Shirshasana: Sitting One Leg Pose

In janu shirshasana (pronounced JAH-noo shur-SHAH-sah-nah), janu means "knee," and shirsha means "head." You may guess that this pose, then, involves bringing the head and knee together. The sitting one leg pose tones your abdomen, liver, spleen, and kidneys. It quiets your mind and aids digestion, as well as stretches and strengthens your lower back and chest. Men suffering from an enlarged prostate will benefit from this pose.

1. Sit on the floor with your left leg straight in front of you, toes pointed up. Your right leg should be bent in toward the straight leg.

2. Raise your hands over your head, exhale, and slowly bend forward over your straight leg.

3. Hold the stretch, then inhale as you rise back up. Repeat on the other side.

4. Yoga Adventure: As you become more flexible, you'll be able to grasp your foot with your hands. Maybe not today, but that's okay!

Wise Yogi Tells Us

If you feel stress on your back doing the sitting one leg pose, bend the knee you are reaching toward. Angle your body directly over this knee. Release any competitive thoughts. Forget your goals and open your heart. Bend at the hips, not at the waist. Don't hurry, smile, and be patient with yourself. Slowly your leg and hip will open. Have fun with the process.

Ardha Baddha Padma Pashchimottanasana: Bound Half Lotus Pose

Ardha baddha padma pashchimottanasana (pronounced AHR-dah BAH-dah PAHD-mah PAH-shih-moh-tah-NAH-sah-nah) is identical to the sitting one leg pose, except that the foot of your bent leg is in a half lotus position, with one foot placed on the opposite thigh.

1. Sit on the floor with one leg in front of you (as in the sitting one leg pose) and the other leg bent, foot placed on your opposite thigh in the half lotus.

2. Bring your arm around your back and connect your hand to this foot.

3. Face your upper torso directly over your extended leg. Open your chest, exhale, and slowly bend forward. Repeat on the other side. If you can't achieve this pose, be patient and don't push your body. The pose will come.

Wise Yogi Tells Us

Just a friendly reminder to your ego: Take a hike! When performing any yoga pose, especially more difficult poses, don't allow your ego to take over. If you find yourself thinking, "Look at me touching the floor!" or "Wow, I'm so good at this!" re-adjust your thoughts. The goal of yoga is to eliminate ego, not to encourage it. Feel how the posture you're holding helps your mind to become clear and see the truth: that you are one with the true world.

Yoga Mudra: Ego-Be-Gone!

Yoga mudra (pronounced YOH-gah MOO-drah) is a symbol of unity. This important pose inspires feelings of devotion and humility. It also stretches your legs and hips, opens your shoulders, and aids the gastrointestinal tract.

1. Sit cross-legged or in the kneeling pose.

2. Move your arms behind your back, clasp your hands, and lower your head to the floor.

3. Keeping your arms straight, lift your clasped hands up over your head until your arms are perpendicular to the floor.

4. Yoga Adventure: Bring your hands into namaste (remember the namaste mudra from Chapter 17, "Are You Sitting Down?") and let them rest on your middle back.

Naukasana: Boat Pose

A yogi holding naukasana (pronounced now-KAH-sah-nah) looks like a boat bobbing on the waves, and nauka literally means "ship." This pose tones your stomach and intestines, strengthens your back, and activates your Mars chakra (located behind your navel).

In the boat pose, don't hold your breath, even as you are concentrating on balancing. Your feet may fall to the floor at first. Whether you are doing the full boat pose or the half boat pose (see the following description), keep your leg position steady and your knees together.

1. For the full boat pose, sit on the floor with your knees bent in front of you and your arms holding your knees.

2. Lean back to about a 45-degree angle, bring your feet off the floor, and balance on your tailbone.

3. Raise your feet straight up in the air so your body forms a V shape. For balance, extend your arms straight out, parallel to the floor at about knee level.

4. Imagine you are bobbing on top of the water like a little rowboat.

5. Getting Started: If balancing in the full boat pose is too difficult at first, start with the half boat pose. Keep your knees bent, but instead of raising your feet all the way up raise them to a right angle to the floor. Keep your knees together. Bring your hands alongside your feet with your palms facing in.

Kurmasana: Tortoise Pose

You'll look like a tortoise when you practice kurmasana (pronounced koohr-MAH-sah-nah). This pose keeps your lumbar limber! (In other words, it makes your lower spine more flexible.) It also strengthens your neck, massages your thyroid, aids digestion, and rejuvenates your nervous system. Take it slow—just like a tortoise!

Does the tortoise pose seem impossible? Simply lower yourself as far as you can, smile, and enjoy the journey to the floor, even if it takes many, many yoga practices. Tortoises are not in a hurry. They live loooong lives!

1. Sit with your legs extended in front of you in a V shape. Bend your knees just slightly, and slide your arms under your knees with your palms on the floor.

2. Slowly straighten your legs again to hold your arms against the floor, and bring your chest forward. Your chin will eventually reach the floor.

Adho Mukha Shvanasana: Downward Facing Dog Pose

Another pose named after the esteemed canine. Downward facing dog, adho mukha shvanasana (pronounced AH-doh MOO-kah shvah-NAH-sah-nah), brings heat to your body, strengthens and stretches your spine, and gives your heart a rest.

This is one of the better known yoga poses—maybe because it feels so great to do it! Downward facing dog is easily adjustable for any flexibility level. You can reach down to the floor, or even to the seat of a firmly anchored chair, if you can't quite make it all the way down. Or if you are very flexible, you can press all the way down to the floor with your palms and your heels while pushing your hips up. Ahh, doesn't that feel great?

If you have trouble with this pose because of tight hamstrings, spend extra yoga time on sitting forward bends to loosen the back of your legs. If downward facing dog hurts your wrists, you may not be balancing your weight evenly. Try to shift weight back into your heels. Hold the pose only as long as you are comfortable. Little by little, your balance will shift, and this pose will eventually become quite soothing.

It may also help to concentrate on stretching out your lower back. Instead of rounding it, lengthen it. Remember the way your back is stretched out in the child's pose? Think about lifting your tailbone to the sky. If necessary, keep your knees slightly bent to return a natural curve to your lower back. When you are flexible and strong enough to perform the downward facing dog fully and peacefully, you will place as much weight in your heels as you do in your hands. To get this feeling of the full pose, have a partner lift your hips up and shift your weight back to center, just as we show in the following illustration.

1. Get down on your hands and knees. Lift your tailbone up, bringing your knees off the floor so your body forms an upside-down V, with your palms and the balls of your feet touching the floor.

2. Bring your head down and your hips up. Keep your knees bent at first, then slowly bring your heels to the floor and straighten your legs. Breathe and hold for as long as it feels good.

Feeling worn out yet? The next chapter will give you a chance to let your body really relax so all that work can take effect. The corpse pose is, paradoxically, the easiest and most challenging yoga pose of all. Read on to learn more, and prepare to get really, really relaxed.

>- Forward-bending postures—such as standing head to knees, feet apart side angle, sitting one leg, bound half lotus, yoga mudra, boat, half boat, tortoise, and downward facing dog—help you to internalize and quiet your mind.

Forward bends are great for loosening the lower back and stretching out the hamstrings.

Forward bends and backbends balance each other and should be practiced together.

The Least You Need to Know