ARDHA BADDHA PADMOTTANASANA Stretching exercise video series with Lucas Rockwood, founder of YOGABODY Naturals. Lucas demonstrates ardha badha padmottanasana for flexibility of the knees, hips, and ankles.
ABOUT THIS YOGA POSE
Yoga is a really safe practice, but people do hurt themselves regularly, usually when they are trying to move too quickly into a posture they are not ready for. Also, in yoga, often the poses that heal our weak areas of the body are ALSO the same poses that can hurt us if we’re not careful. Ardha badha padmottanasan, for example, is excellent for building strong knees, angles, and hips, but you need to be careful anytime you bend and rotate your knees.
FLEXIBILITY IN JOINTS
Often, we talk about “opening up our hips” or “loosening up our spine.” But the truth is, when we want a joint to have more range of motion, what we want to “loosen up” is the connective tissues supporting that joint. So the knuckle on your index finger has a small amount of connective tissue supporting it compared with your hip joint. For this reason, you can “open up” your hands much quicker than you can your hips. You can also accomplish more with less, meaning less time and energy will produce greater results… this is why many us struggle with stiffness in the big joints. The hips, the knees, the shoulders.
FLEXIBILITY CAN BE LEARNED
I used to be extremely stiff… so stiff, I honestly never thought I’d make it through an entire yoga class much less become a teacher. But flexibility is not magic. It’s not genetic. There’s a science to it, and I’ve done a good job of cracking the code. Nutrition is essential. Let me show you: http://www.yogabodynaturals.com
Lucas Rockwood, founder of YOGABODY Naturals, demonstrates Ashtanga Yoga-style Prasarita Padottanasana A, B, C, & D for flexibility of the hamstrings and back of the body. These series of Yoga Poses (asanas) are particularly helpful for spinal heath, circulation, and stamina.
YOGA STRETCHING EXERCISES EXPLAINED…
Stretching exercises for flexibility can be divided into three types: static, dynamic, and passive. The exercises shown would fall under static poses since the yoga postures are held still for an extended period of time. Static yoga poses are particularly good for building strength, balance, and stamina.
MORE BLOOD = IMPROVED STRETCHING FLEXIBILITY
With stretching flexibility exercises, the more blood you draw into the muscles, the more flexible they become. Blood is the fluid of life, lubrication, and nutrition for our connective tissues; so for yoga poses, it’s amazing!
MYOTATIC REFLEX & STRETCHING EXERCISES
When a muscle lengthens beyond a particular end, the myotatic reflex will attempt to shorten it through contraction (you feel stiffness and a sharp pain). The myotatic reflex, at times, can limit your progress in yoga poses—though usually it helps to keep you safe in yoga postures.
KAPOTASANA (pigeon pose)
Kapotasana is one of the more intense and challenging backbends taught, but if you learn to practice properly, it doesn’t have to be unpleasant to learn. Before even attempting this posture, you want to be thoroughly warmed up, and you should be competent in Ustrasana Pose and full wheel pose as well. This posture is essentially Ustrasana Pose taken one step further.
HOW TO PRACTICE: Pigeon Pose http://www.yogabodynaturals.com/articles
There are many different ways to get in and out of this posture, but the way I’ll teach you is the most comfortable and least extreme. Follow these steps:
1) Knees apart hips width
2) Hands on hips, pressing forward
3) Hips forward as far as you can, drop your head back
4) Take your hands to a prayer position at your throat
5) Legs strong, reach your hands to your ears, then extend all the way straight
6) Hang and breathe for as long as possible
*optional next steps*
7) Take your hands to the floor (legs strong) Press into your hands and try to straighten through the arms for 5 breaths
9) Walk your hands to your feet, take your heals, and lower your elbows to the floor
10) Reverse your way out of it
PIGEON POSE TIPS
You have to train yourself, “lower body strong, upper body soft.” It’s one of the most important principals of this posture and many other drop-back style backbends. In order to find freedom and flexibility in your chest and shoulders in particular, you have to consciously release those areas.
YOGA STRETCHING FLEXIBILITY MADE EASY
Yoga teacher reveals simple, at-home stretching flexibility secrets in a FREE, 7-day email course. Yoga students only please. http://www.yogabodynaturals.com
I’m going to give you the straight facts about
fixing your tight hips fast.
As a yoga teacher, I can tell you that there are
3 poses that everyone wants to learn as soon
as possible: full lotus, headstand, and crane
pose (bakasana).
Of these three, full lotus is probably the most
challenging—but it’s well worth the effort.
The Hathapradipika says “there is no asana like
padmasana (full lotus).” So there you go!
TOO MUCH DESK TIME?
Ask any non-yogi office worker to sit down on the
floor and cross his legs, and 9 out of 10 times, his
knees will be way off the floor and his back will be
hunched up like Quasimodo.
Anatomically speaking, there’s a lot going on here,
but on a basic level, the dude’s got tight hips.
YOGA NOT WORKING?
If your hips are really tight (i.e. you have nightmares
about squat toilets), your average yoga class will only
help you make small gains… say 10-20% per year.
In order to double or even triple your progress, keep
going to class (this is essential), but take ten minutes
each day and practice the postures listed below.
BUTTERFLY (a.k.a baddha konasana)
1 - Sit on the floor
2 - Bend your knees
3 – Bring the soles of your feet together
4 – Pull your feet as close to your crotch as possible
5 – Fold forward and place your finger tips on the floor
6 – Walk your fingertips forward until you can’t fold any further
7 – RELAX everything (legs, back, neck, head, arms)
8 – Breath normally for 3-5 minutes
THE LUNGE (a.k.a. ouch!)
1 – Take Downward Dog
2 – Step your right foot between your hands
3 – Drop your left knee to the floor
4 – Push your right foot forward until the right ankle
is underneath OR in front of the right knee
5 – Bring both hands onto the floor inside of the leg
6 – If it’s comfortable, drop down onto your elbows (if not, don’t!)
7 – RELAX everything (legs, back, neck, head, arms)
8 – Breath normally for 3-5 minutes
9 – Repeat on the other side
I used to be the guy who sat like Quasimodo, but now
I can comfortably take full lotus for an hour or more at
a time, and it was primarily these two poses that opened
me up.
If you do these postures as I’ve described, you’ll be blown
away with the results!
A Couple of Tips:
- Don’t push or use force… relax completely!
- Practice these stretches 6 days per week (consistency is essential)
- Breath normally
A BIT OF ANATOMY
The two big muscles that are often blamed for tight hips
(though they’re not the only culprits) are the iliacus and
the psoas—sometimes called the hip flexors or iliopsoas.
These tough tissues enable us to lift our legs when we’re
lying on our back, or lift up our torso in a sit-up.
The iliacus originates on the inner bowl of the pelvis, the
psoas (the weird one) on the lumbar spine. Both cross the
floor of the pelvis, the outer edges of the pubic bones, and
insert on the inner upper femur (thighbone).
NOT MAKING ANY SENSE?
Basically, you’ve got this big bundle of muscle/tissue that starts
at your lower back, extends over your pelvis, and finally connects
to your legs. If this tissue gets tight and shortened, you can’t do
lotus (or a bunch of other poses either).
Thanks for reading!
Keep practicing,
Lucas
YOGABODY Naturals LLC
p.s. Email from Stephanie in Australia:
“I have been taking YOGABODY for a week now and have
noticed amazing results in helping me ‘get bendy!’ Within
a matter of days I have noticed improvement in all my postures
but most exciting for me is I am able to touch my toes and keep
my knee locked!”
Here’s something you have to experience to believe:
“The right foods can increase your flexibility immediately!”
Sounds crazy, right? Well, it’s true. This is not science or theory; it’s a real-life, student-tested fact. If you eat a water-dense, plant-based diet with lots of superfoods, you’ll notice flexibility gains within three days.
Don’t take my word for it—just try it!
Below is a shortlist of my favorite Superfoods. Buy them fresh or low-temperature dried, and purchase organic whenever possible.
DARK GREENS Dark green vegetables are some of the most mineral-dense foods on the planet, and waterborne greens or sprouted greens are even better (waterborne greens usually have 2-10 times more minerals)
MY FAVORITES Spirulina, chlorella, barley grass juice extract, wheat grass, kale, parsley, all seaweeds and sea vegetables, chard, and spinach.
PREHISTORIC GRAINS & SEEDS Today, the most nutrient-dense foods are what I call the prehistoric plants; the ugly, brown-colored, intimidating dry good you see in plastic bins at the health food stores. These are commercial crops, but nutritionally-speaking, they more-closely resemble their ancestors. They take a little extra work to prepare (cooking or sprouting), but it’s well worth it.
SHOPPING LIST Millet, quinoa, amaranth, wild rice, bulgur, sesame seeds, sprouted seeds of clover, broccoli, mung beans, and radish.
SUPERFATS Most people get their fat from inferior, animal-based foods like milk, ghee, cheese, butter, and meat. In animals’ bodies (and yours), built up toxins like pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, and pollutants are most-often deposited in fat cells.
To make things worse, animal fat also contains the notorious LDL
(bad) cholesterol that can lead to damaged arteries and heart disease.
No wonder fat has such a bad reputation!
Foolishly, many people today try to avoid all fats when really, they should be avoiding animal fats. Plant fats are not only good for you—they are essential for health and wellness and MUST be eaten on a regular basis. Good fat give you sustained energy, heals your body, and balances hormones. SHOPPING LIST Raw almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, avocado, coconut, durian, and cold-pressed oils (olive, coconut, hemp, flax, and sesame seed are all great).
WHY SUPERFOODS? Yoga students put heavy demands on their body, often neglecting to replenish their system with nutrient-dense, natural foods that will keep them healthy and strong.
Food for thought…
Keep Practicing,
Lucas YOGABODY Naturals LLC
p.s. On pages 10-23 of the YOGABODY Handbook, I go into a lot more detail about what and when to eat for health and flexibility. Have a look: http://www.yogabodynaturals.com Yoga stretching flexibility exercises
Did you know that hundreds of people get knee surgery every
single day?
Just in the last year, 4 of my close friends had surgery! One
was a yoga teacher, another was a runner, and the last two
hardly did anything physical at all.
So what’s up with our screwed up knees?
Here’s what’s going on: we wear shoes all day long that support
our arches, pad our feet from the earth, and do an amazing job
of creating MASSIVE muscular imbalances that make our
knees prone to injury.
Let me make it really simple for you:
High Arches = Strong Knees
Flat Feet = Knee Problems
“But what if my feet are naturally flat?” you ask.
Well, then you’ve got to strengthen your arches to protect
your knees, and here are some exercises to get you started:
ARCH STRENGTHENING EXERCISE #1: run up stairs or
run on a stair-climber. Strong calves muscles create strong
Arches; and stairs keep you “on your toes” and build arch
strength very quickly.
ARCH STRENGTHENING EXERCISE #2: put a towel on
the floor, and using your toes, grab the towel, lift it off the
ground, and then drop it. Do this again and again until you
feel your foot and calf muscles starting to fatigue.
ARCH STRENGTHENING EXERCISE #3: with your feet hips-
width apart, stand up high on your toes, and bend your knees
halfway down. Extend your arms parallel to the floor, and hold
for 60 seconds (if you’ve ever done a Bikram class, this is part
2 of the Awkward Pose series). After 60 seconds, rest, and then
do it 4 more times…
… or you could skip all of the above and move to an island
like me where you can wear flip flops and go barefoot
all year round:)
Keep practicing,
Lucas
YOGABODY Naturals LLC
p.s. If you’re knees are REALLY a problem, I’d also suggest
focusing on the “Writs, Twists, & Ankles” series (day 5) in my
YOGABODY Stretching Handbook. Detail here:
http://www.yogabodynaturals.com Stretching exercises & yoga postures made easy
Virabhadrasana I/Warrior Pose
YOGABODY Naturals founder, Lucas Rockwood demonstrates Utkatasana Pose, Virabhadrasana I, and Virabhadrasana II. This yoga pose is one of the foundational standing postures in the Ashtanga Yoga Primary series as taught by Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. Ashtanga Yoga is a dynamic practice where the breath and movements are synchronized to produce internal heat that purifies, strengthens, and opens up the body.
BENEFITS OF UTKATASANA POSE (fierce pose/chair pose/awkward pose)
Utkatasana Pose, often referred to as “chair pose,” is a simple-looking posture that when practiced correctly is actually quite challenging. For most yoga students, the most challenging area is the upper body. The idea is to press your hands flat together and straighten the arms directly up toward the ceiling (or as much as possible). In this yoga pose, it’s normal to feel blocked in your shoulders and chest, but through regular practice you can really open up.
BENEFITS OF WARRIOR POSE (virabhadrasana pose)
Virabhadrasana I and II are a foundational part of many yoga traditions. They are deceptively simple yoga postes, and when practiced correctly, both are extremely powerful for opening up the hips, strengthening the legs, and warming up the body for a deeper practice. Because of the dynamic nature of Warrior I and Warrior II poses, they are excellent for balancing and stabilizing the knees, ankles, and hips. http://www.yogabodynaturals.com/articles
ABOUT VINYASA YOGA PRACTICE
Vinyasa refers to the flowing series of movements when yoga students go from a low pushup position, to a backbend, then to downward-facing dog pose. This series of movements is meant to be connected to Ujjayi Breathing which builds internal heat and allows for greater flexibility.
FLEXIBILITY MADE EASY
Lucas Rockwood (in the video) reveals 7 secrets to nutrition & flexibility in a FREE, 7-day email course. Yoga students only please. Instant access. http://www.www.yogabodynaturals.com
Press into your hands and try to straighten through the arms for 5 breaths
