Another pose that’s useful for improving flexibility before tramping and stretching out tight muscles after big trips – Prasarita padottanasana also offers ways to stretch and move your upper torso, shoulders and back.
- Start with your feet about one leg’s length distance apart. Have your feet parallel by making sure your second big toes are pointing straight ahead.
- Start with your hands on your hips. Lengthen your spine up as if you were trying to be the tallest kid in the class.
- Then press down through your feet evenly as you fold forward bringing your hands to rest of the floor. Do not hyper-extend your knees. If it’s not comfortable to reach the floor, rest your hands on a table or chair.
- To deepen the stretch, imagine there is a head torch strapped to your bum and try to shine your torch up to the ceiling (yep I’m serious, just try try it) – this will deepen the stretch in your hamstrings by slightly shifting your pelvis forward.
- If you want to add a twist and stretch the upper back, bring your right hand to the floor (table or chair) and lift the left hand to your hip. Keep your hips level, but slowly lift your left shoulder up to the ceiling, bringing a gentle twist into the torso, not the hips. If it’s ok for your shoulder, you can lift the left hand up to the ceiling. Then switch to the other side.
Yoga Poses 101: How to do Prasarita padottanasana to stretch your hips, groin, hamstrings
