Sanskrit Name: Supta Virasana
Good for: Arthritis, asthma, diarrhea, feet, head, infertility, gas, insomnia, respiration, varicose veins, sciatica etc.
Benefits
- Stretches the abdomen, thighs and deep hip flexors (psoas), knees, and ankles
- Provides strength to the arches
- Provides comfort to the tired legs
- Developsand enhances digestion
- Helps dismisses the symptoms of menstrual pain
Guidelines
- Perform Virasana
- Exhale and lower your back torso toward the floor
- First lean onto your hands, then your forearms and elbows
- Once you are on your elbows, place your hands on the back of the pelvis and release your lower back and upper buttocks by spreading the flesh down toward the tailbone
- Then finish reclining, either onto the floor or a support blanket or bolster
- If your front ribs jut up sharply toward the ceiling, it’s a sign of tight groins, which pulls your front pelvis toward your knees and causes your belly and lower back to tense
- Use your hands to press your front ribs down slightly
- Lift your pubis toward your navel
- This should lengthen your lower back and lower it towards the floor
- Raise yourself onto a higher support if it doesn’t lengthen your lower back
- Lay your arms and hands on the floor, angled about 45 degrees from the sides of your torso, palms up
- Sink the heads of the thighbones deep into the back of the hip sockets
- It’s alright to lift your knees a little away from the floor to help soften your groins; in fact, you can raise your knees a few inches on a thickly folded blanket
- You can also allow a little bit of space between your knees as long as your thighs remain parallel to each other
- Do not, however, allow the knees to splay apart wider than your hips because this will cause strain on the hips and lower back
- To begin, stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute
- Gradually extend your stay to 5 minutes
- To come out, press your forearms against the floor and come onto your hands
- Then use your hands to lift your torso into Virasana
- As you come up, lead with your sternum, not your head or chin
- Come out of Virasana in the recommended manner
Good to know
- In case of any serious back, knee, or ankle problems, avoid this pose or take help from an experienced instructor
- If youare not able to recline fully on the floor, set a bolster or one or more folded blankets behind yourself to fully support your spine and head
- Choose as much height as you require to make the position rationally at ease
- In order to provide relief to the groins you should lay some weight transversely to the creases of top thighs where they join the front pelvis
Start this pose with a weight of 10 pounds and gradually increase it to 30 pounds once you have learned enough
By : Natural Health News
