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May 11, 2022

Learn how to work the arms and chest in Tadasana

In the previous post, I explained several exercises to work and learn to engage the feet, legs, and pelvis, now I’m going to show how we can work our chest and arms in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).



ACTIVATE THE ARMS


1st we will need...

to place one STRAP

around our arms.





STEP BY STEP

  1. Firstly, we need to find the correct shoulder-width measure of the strap. So keep the arms in front of you, and wrap a belt around the forearms, in order to find the correct measure of the strap. If you feel the pressure of the belt against the ribcage with the forearms touching the side ribs, you have the shoulder-width measure.

  2. After removing the strap from your forearms, send the arms back and wrap the strap around the bones of the outer elbows behind you, as you can see in the image below.

  3. Lift the side chest up and stretch the arms down, by moving them sideways, and stretching the strap.

  4. Extend the palms and fingers down in line with the arms, pressing the thumb against the sideways of the hand, to engage the arms.


If you don’t feel comfortable with the strap, or you don’t have one, you can also just interlace the fingers behind you, and when you breathe in, lift the ribcage up, and on breathing out, stretch the arms back moving the hands towards the ground.


THE EFFECT OF THIS EXERCISE...

  • When you activate and press the arms against the strap this helps to move the shoulder blades in, opening the chest.


 

PERFECTING THE CONSCIENCE OF OUR RIB CAGE


1st we will need...

to place one STRAP

to place one STRAP around our chest.





STEP BY STEP

  1. Loop a belt around the chest and fasten it. Then stand in Tadasana.

  2. To understand the placement of the rib cage, inhale and tuck the tailbone in. On exhale, do the opposite movement with the tailbone.

You can also lift your arms up into Urdhva Hastasana.



THE EFFECT OF THIS EXERCISE...

  • The belt brings awareness toward the top of the chest, the ribcage, and also the shoulder blades. This helps to keep them in place and also a better engagement and alignment of the spine, activating the entire torso and top chest.

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