If you have practiced yoga, you must have done forward bends. Whether it is standing forward bend, seated forward bend, single-handed foot forward bend, two-handed foot forward bend, open foot forward bend, parallel foot forward bend…More than 30 various changes can be easily done.
Why do you bend so much? Because it is very basic, bend well, and many movements are naturally done well. A lot of movements are also difficult to do if forward bending is not done well.
Although it is so basic, there are not so many people who can really do it thoroughly.
Beginner
Although forward bending is often done, people with tight hind legs can’t do it no matter what. Therefore, in order to bend more like everyone, the most common way is to bend the back hard, or even rebound back and forth hard, hoping for fingertips Be able to hit the floor when bouncing back and forth, even if it hits the floor.
This practice makes our often hump-backed back worse and worse. In addition, beginners’ back muscles and spine joints are stiff, so it is very easy to stretch or squeeze the back, such as: pulling the intervertebral disc out of position.
Therefore, for beginners, there are only three important points to think about when doing forward bends: continuous pulling up of the hind leg muscles, straightening of the back, and complete indentation of the belly.
As long as you work hard to achieve these three points, you can guarantee that you can do better and make your knees and spine safer.
Challenges for advanced players
If you can touch the ground with your hands, the next challenge is to fully extend your back and legs, and your abdomen is fully attached to your thighs. This is what we often call “hairpin bend”.
We took this name because we fold the body completely in half, and when viewed from the side, it looks like a black hairpin. To do this, you must “stuck” the entire abdomen into the upper body, and straighten your legs and back.
Regardless of standing or sitting forward bends, you usually use two hands to hold your thumbs, or put your hands under the feet (standing position) or sideways (sitting forward bends). In order to lengthen their backs and make their abdomen closer to their thighs, many people usually buckle their toes or feet very hard.
If you are already an advanced friend, please pay more attention to whether your shoulders are tense when doing forward bends. That is, when you bend your fingers forward, please pull the bent elbow to the sides as much as possible, so that the shoulder blades will follow and relax the shoulders.
The same applies
Don’t underestimate this little “relaxation” action, it can remove the tension in our back and let us do forward bends so that we can’t breathe.
And after learning how to loosen the scapula, the same technique can be used in Downward Dog Pose. That is, when we forcefully stretch the upper and lower body, and force our hands on the floor, we can do it more easily.
Yoga is not the more tense you do, but the more you do, the more you know how to relax? Relaxing the shoulders and necks is the most basic and important part.
In addition, when doing forward bends, not only should the shoulder blades be loosened, but also the back should be lengthened and relaxed. At this time, letting the gravity of the body lengthen our back will be more comfortable than stretching it hard~
On a psychological level, forward bending can bring us closer to the mother of the earth, more humble, and more tolerant. When you are in a bad mood, doing forward bends will feel very safe and can release your psychological anxiety, so forward bends are also a very good restoration posture.
Post time: 07-26-2021