Uttanasana ( OO-t?-NAH-s?-nah) (Sanskrit: ?????????; IAST: utt?n?sana), Intense Forward-Bending Pose, Intense Stretch Pose, Standing Forward Bend, Standing Forward Fold Pose, or Standing Head to Knees Pose is an asana.
Video Uttanasana
Etymology
The name comes from the Sanskrit words
Ud (???; ud) = prefix for verbs or nouns, indicating superiority in location, rank, power, intensity
Tana (???; t?na) = "stretched"
Uttana (??????; utt?na) = "intense stretch" or "straight" or "stretched", and
Asana (???; ?sana) meaning "posture" or "seat".
Maps Uttanasana
Description
The asana consists of standing with feet together, then hinging forward from the hips, letting the head hang, with palms placed flat on the floor near the feet.
Murghasana
In Murghasana, the Yogi has to bend down, Pass arms between legs and hold her ear lobes with thumb and index fingers, in easy words, holding ears lobes while in uttanasana. This asana is very good for blood circulation on brain and face. It removes untimely wrinkles, sharps memory and brings glow to your face.
An average yogi can easily hold this asana up to 2-3 minutes but yogis with practice can increase their time up to 15 minutes.
Anatomical focus
The asana provides a complete stretch to the entire back of the body, particularly the hamstrings.
Contraindications and cautions
This asana has been criticized by some practitioners of kinesiology, physical therapy, and others, who recommend a seated rather than standing forward bend.
Alternative asana
Paschimottanasana is a safer, sitting variant of this frontbend which relies more upon active flexibility of the muscles in its later stages. It is more difficult to attain similar flexibility since gravity cannot passively aid the stretch as much as in Uttanasana. Once the hands are able to bear more and more weight in Uttanasana it becomes safer and the difference in safety and customizability becomes less. Although it could be argued that Paschimottasana is not a safe forward bend for the back as the pelvis can become locked and tight hamstrings add excessive pull on lower back via pelvic sit bones.
Variations
This asana has a very large number of variations and associated techniques.
- Ardha Uttanasana (Sanskrit: ?????????????; IAST: ardhautt?n?sana)
- Niralamba Uttanasana
- Parsva Bhaga Uttanasana
- Purna Uttanasana
- Tiryang-Mukha Uttanasana
Padahastasana
Padahastasana; Sanskrit: ??????????; Sanskrit pronunciation: [p?:d????s?t??:s??n??]; IAST: p?dahast?sana) or Hand Under Foot Pose is an asana.
- Etymology
The name comes from the Sanskrit words pada (???; p?da) meaning "foot", hasta (?????; hast?) meaning "hand", and asana (???; ?sana) meaning "posture" or "seat".
- Description
Padahastasana is a standing, inverted asana which the hands are stretched down to grasp the feet.
- Anatomical focus
The asana stretches the entire back of the body from the head to the heels.
See also
- List of asanas
Further reading
- Iyengar, B. K. S. (1 October 2005). Illustrated Light On Yoga. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-81-7223-606-9. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- Saraswati, Swami Janakananda (1 February 1992). Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life. Weiser Books. ISBN 978-0-87728-768-1. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
- Saraswati, Swami Satyananda (1 August 2003). Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha. Nesma Books India. ISBN 978-81-86336-14-4. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- Saraswati, Swami Satyananda (January 2004). A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya. Nesma Books India. ISBN 978-81-85787-08-4. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
External links
- "Witold Fitz-Simon - Uttanasana". Retrieved 2011-04-11.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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