Purvottanasana: Do it Safely

In my last post, I extolled the virtues of doing Purvottanasana (Reverse Plank Pose).  Now let's talk about doing it correctly.  It is essential to align well to protect the gentle shoulder joint and your wrists.  (Please forgive the photos!  Not up to my photographer's standards!)

In this variation, I am demonstrating the beginner version with bent knees.  Keep in mind for yourself and your yoga students, the average yoga students are not strong nor flexible enough to do this pose with straight legs.

Step One:  Sit with hands facing in toward your toes.  Be sure you are pressing evenly throughout your hands, rooting through the base of your index finger.  When your hands are more relaxed, your weight will get stuck in your wrists. 

     

Step Two: Lift the chest up and out of the shoulders.  Feel broad in your collar bones.  This step is the one many students miss, lifting up from the sunken position you see above.  If a student is particularly tight in her shoulders, she might be as far into this pose as she can go right here.

 
 
 

Step Three:  Keeping the chest lifted as you draw the tailbone under and scoop up into the pose.  Watch yourself here.  It is easy to allow the chest to sink as you lift.  Make sure your shoulders are just above your wrists.  If you are ahead of your wrists, you will put too  much pressure on them.  You will see I am keeping my head lifted, gazing at my knees.  Taking the head back is a more advanced position in this pose.

Other Variations:  Here are two other ways to do this pose that will increase the stretch and strengthening benefits of this pose.  Encourage your students to go slowly.  These variations can strongly change their experience of the pose!

 

Hands turn out

Hands turned back.

Purvottanasana

Originally uploaded by Bolsa Bonita

Comments

[ArkieYogini]

What's your opinion on foot position once the legs are straight? I found that it took me a while to learn how to point the toes and ground the soles of the feet to the floor. A lot of students seem to get lower leg cramps when pointing the feet, so they kind of give up and rest on the heels.

[MuseLaura]

Hi, ArkieYogini, (I am a bit behind due to a bout of stomach flu in our home! Sorry!)

While leaving toes up as your students do is a viable variation for the pose (I consider viable variations anything that doesn't hurt someone and gives them a hint of the pose) but the final position will give you a stronger pose. Once the balls of the feet are down, and you are able to truly press the balls down, engaging the inner thighs, the pose actually becomes easier.
The cramps in the feet and lower legs is due to weakness. Here is a link to a post I wrote last year after I returned from the SYTAR conference. Hope it helps! http://muselan.typepad.com/studieswithlaura/2009/03/help-for-foot-cramps-plantar-fasciitis-or-tired-feet.html
Namaste, Laura