Main Photo Credit - Michael Neville

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Working On Standing Forward Bend

Uttanasana or Standing Forward Bend is a pose that I'm currently trying to achieve Nirvana in. It stimulates the kidneys and other digestive organs and helps relieve stress and fatigue. I love the deep stretch that it gives me in my hamstrings calves and hips and the fact that it strengthens my root chakra. In this pose it's important for me not to force it. Progress comes extremely slowly for me in this pose. It helped at first to practice it with me knees bent, my feet pointing straight ahead so as not to bow at the knee joints, endeavoring to rest my chest on the fronts of my legs. Then I lengthen the stress from there to gently expand into it even more using the measured inhale and exhale of my breath. The more I practice this, the more I learn to have patience with my body and mind. It's a great lesson to learn, one that keeps me focused and grounded in times of self-doubt and fear. I trust that everything will work out.