Yoga poses... 8

Wide-legged Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana)

This is a good stretching exercise that reduces the stiffness, tiredness and tension in the muscles in your hind legs. At the same time, the muscles of the back and the neck are thoroughly stretched and you learn to deal with possible stretching aches.

	STEP 1: Start with the Mountain Pose.
	STEP 2: Jump so that your feet are around four feet apart. Slightly turn your heels outward while you look forward.
	STEP 3: Bend forward until the upper body stands halfway parallel to the ground. Place your hands right under your shoulders on the ground and see to it that your lower back is straight and still supports your position.
	STEP 4: Push, as it were, your pelvis upward, look to the ground and stretch from the neck towards the ground. If you can do this easily, you can grab the outsides of your feet and slightly pull at them so that the front part of your body feels long and you can stretch even further. The stretching should be the result of relaxation, letting loose, gravitation and the stretching motion itself and not the result of pulling your hands with force.

When you come back, stand straight up again and then you jump back to Tadasana. Try to maintain the feeling of stretching and giving length to the back and the chest at all times in the forward bend. When the back sinks down the chest and your breathing get oppressed and you lose a major part of the stretching. Remember that you do this forward bend in a relaxed manner and never through pulling your feet with force. When you pull too hard, the body stiffens, your thinking and breathing become unquiet and you run a risk of injuring yourself.

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