Padahastasana

Padahastasana – Foot Hand Forward Bend is intermediate pose. It takes several practice to get into the pose. It is one of the best pose out there in yoga that helps to reduce belly and strengthens muscles.

In Sanskrit: Pah-dah-Hast-asana Pada=feet, hasta=hands

Benefits of the pose

• Reduces belly
• Stretches hamstrings, hip muscles and calves
• Strengthens knees and thighs
• Improves digestive organs and kidney function
• Relaxes brain and promotes blood circulation to brain
• Reduces anxiety and stress
• Relieves insomnia
• Good for menopause condition – improves mood
• Relieves headache
• Good for sinusitis, asthma and breathing problems

How To:

 1. Stand in mountain pose, place hands on hips (feet together or hip width apart). Exhale and slowly hinge forward from the hip joints (not from the waist). As you bend, draw the front torso out of the groins and open the space between the pubis and top sternum. Lengthen the front torso as you move more fully into the position.

 2. Bend your knees and place the hands under the feet (palms facing up), bringing the toes to meet the wrists. 

 3. Pull the navel into the spine and with an inhalation, straighten your arms and lift your front torso away from your thighs, creating a gentle concave in the back (Sit bones and heart lift). Hold for a few breaths, exhale and lengthen down bending your elbows out to the sides, framing the head. Lift the shoulders away from the neck and draw the shoulder blades down the back. Keep the weight evenly distributed through the feet and lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling. Turn the top thighs slightly inward.

4. With each inhalation in the pose, lift and lengthen the front torso just slightly; with each exhalation, release a little more fully into the forward bend. In this way the torso oscillates almost imperceptibly with the breath. Let your head hang from the root of the neck, which is deep in the upper back, between the shoulder blades. Stay in the position for 20 seconds.

 5. To come out of the pose, release the hands. Bring the hands to the hips and inhale, come up with a neutral back.

Note:

• Legs should be perpendicular (90°) to the floor. Do not lean back and load weight on ankle.
• Beginner: Bend knees to get into the pose. If not you might hurt your back and shoulder.

After:

• Slight bend backwards in standing pose
• Child pose 

Reference: Karnataka therapist handbook

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padahastasana.jpg, & https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ardha_padahastasana.jpg

Attribution: UmaPrykhodko / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), Marcocarvalho / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)