(OOT-tan-AHS-anna)
Ut = intense + tan = strech + asana = pose
Source: “Yoga anatomy” written by Leslie Kaminoff
"Uttanasana reminds me of a waterfall, the legs being the cliffs from which the trunk is flowing down like water – make the legs strong and tall and the trunk soft and flowing!" Eyal Shifroni in “Props for yoga – Volume 1: Standing asanas
This healing, powerful and rejuvenating asana soothes the mind and works and stretches the hamstrings, gastrocnemius, piriformis muscles, spinal muscles, and so many other muscles and connective tissues.
DRISHTI / GAZE | At shins. Closed. |
PHYSICAL BENEFITS | Strengthen the feet, Knees, and thighs. Stretches the hamstrings and calves. Improves the function of the digestive and reproductive systems. Stimulates the liver, kidneys, and digestive system. Relieves menopausal discomfort, headache, insomnia, and fatigue. Opens the hips and groins. |
MENTAL BENEFITS | Reduces stress, anxiety, and mild depression. Soothes the nervous system. |
COUNTERPOSES | Malasana (Garland) Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle) Apanasana (knees to chest) Balasana (Child’s pose) Savasana (Corpse pose) |
THIS ASANA PREPARES THE BODY FOR: | Padangusthasana (Big toe pose) Pada Hastasana (Hand to foot pose) Paschimottanasana (Seated forward bend). |
CAUTIONS: | People with a back injury, or osteoporosis should forward fold very slowly and gradually. With high blood pressure forward fold gradually and do not remain in this pose if the breathing is strained. |
NOW LET'S SEE HOW WE CAN DO THIS
Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).
On inhale circle the arms up in Urdhva Hastasana, extending from the low belly up through the fingertips.
Maintaining the length, on exhale and hinging from the hips, bend forward to have the trunk folding over the legs and resting the palms on the floor by the sides of the feet. If you need to bend the knees, maintain the contact of the belly with the thighs and stack the hips over the ankles.
Extend the trunk down. Relax the abdomen, the head, and the neck.
Keep the legs engaged by pushing the kneecaps up (drawing up the thigh muscles).
To get out of the pose contract the core and the abdomen muscles pushing the navel toward the spine. Place the hands on the hips and on inhaling rise slowly with the spine straight, ensuring there is an elongation in your back. Slowly stand up.
BENT KNEES VERSUS STRAIGHT LEGS
In this pose as in many others in yoga, gravity should do the work of drawing the torso down.
Having this in consideration, if you feel tension, strain, or simply have tight hamstrings, to prevent you to pull yourself down (due to the hamstrings working in this case as tightropes), which will cause tightness and congestion in the psoas, rectus femoris and placing the sacroiliac ligaments under shear stress, it’s better to soften the knees giving breathing space in the pelvis and sacrum and allowing the spine to release.
Only when you feel this release in the spine, is when you should extend the legs,
providing you with more lengthening in all the back parts of the body.
Source: “Yoga anatomy” written by Leslie Kaminoff
from squencewiz.org “To Many Asymmetrical Poses Can Create Sacroiliac Joint Issues”
Source: Yoga Screen @YogaScreen
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