Parivrrta Prasarita Padottanasana (Revolved Standing Wide Leg Forward Fold)
For most of us, when we first come to yoga we yearn for the physical benefits. Either to become more flexible, increase strength, or to relieve a pain or injury we have in our body. For those who continue on the yoga journey, you may start to have ah-ha moments. Moments where you feel something more subtle, or maybe discover a habitual pattern in your body. Realizing that yoga is much more than how stretchy your hamstrings can get. Twists are the one group of poses that I have had tremendous discoveries, especially realizing when I need to back off to feel the subtle sensations of the pose. So I invite you during this pose to go slow, tune in and feel the way you move into the twist and how your body and mind react to the twist. As you do this, notice if and when you begin to force your body and need to back off. Play around with the difference between feeling the pose and forcing the pose. It’s easy to force our body into a deep twist. The only thing waiting to reward you is the ego. Don’t let the ego win. So as you begin this pose honor where your body is at this present moment and begin to tune in.
Stand in the center of your sticky mat in Tadasana. Take a moment to get grounded through your feet and lengthen up through your spine. Then, take your hands to your hips and walk or hop your feet wide. If your hamstrings are tight, take a wider stance, wider than you would for triangle pose. You’ll recall from my last twist article that finding a connection to the earth helps to create a solid base from which to twist from. So here with the feet parallel to each other, lift and spread the toes and ground across the balls of the feet and heels. As you root the feet straight down into the earth, allow the thigh muscles to engage, keeping the backs of the knees soft and hollow. On an inhale, again, lengthen up through your spine and exhale start to hinge forward at the groins. As you go forward tip the top of your sacrum forward toward your navel. Bend your knees if tight hamstrings are keeping you from coming forward. Remember it’s not about the stretch of the hamstrings. Play here: Inhaling come back up to center, exhale hinging at the groins to feel the action of going forward with the top of the sacrum tipping forward. Do this for several breaths. Inhale rising up, keeping the feet rooted, and exhale coming forward so your spine is parallel to the floor.
After one of the exhales, pause, and take your hands to the floor (or block) under the shoulders. Bend the knees forward a little if the legs are straight. This will allow more mobility in the pelvis to bring it more neutral. From the last article remember the four corners of the base of the pelvis – the two sit bones, pubic bone and tailbone. Reach back through the four points while simultaneously reaching the crown of the head forward with the gaze down to the floor. This action will create length in the spine while keeping your sit bones over your heels. Lengthening the spine is critical before you move your spine into a twist. The space created between your vertebrae will allow the rotation of the spine to be distributed more equally.
Once you’re happy with the length in your spine, create a gentle tone of the lower belly to support the low back by moving the two front hip points toward each other. This movement will begin to send the breath more into the lower rib cage. Once you’ve got this, take your left hand to the center (under your heart) and your right hand to the right hip. Keeping the action of the two front hip points, on an exhale begin to twist the ribs to the right. Observe all the sensations that arise from the twisting action of the torso. Inhale and reach the four corners of the pelvis back and crown of the head forward, and on the exhales keep the ribs twisting to the right. Keeping the pelvis neutral (two front hip points facing the floor) and your foundation solid is safer for the lower spine and joints at the sacrum. It will also require you to move into the twist with more awareness. Have the internal awareness prevent you from forcing the twist and therefore moving with ego.
Eventually you want to bring the shoulders into the same vertical plane. But this requires a tremendous opening in the upper back region and chest. So again, honor where your body truly is right now letting go of ego and letting in a little humility. If your shoulders are more in a horizontal plane, keep the right hand on the hip and don’t worry about adding the arm up. Continue to enjoy the twist. If your shoulders are in a vertical plane, with an inhale extend the right arm up. As you move it up, slide both shoulder blades down the back and toward each other, creating more of an opening along the upper chest and shoulders. Explore with taking the gaze toward the horizon, up toward the top palm and down to the floor. Notice where your neck and head like to be, tension free. Once your neck is comfortable, let both arms extend away from each other opening the front and back of the heart. Stay here for a few breaths and notice anywhere in your pose where you’re forcing. Then on an exhale release the twist and take the hands back to the floor under the shoulders. Pause here for a few breaths, creating length again between the sit bones and crown. Then repeat going to the left.
When you’ve done both sides come back to Tadasana, mindfully, and feel the experience of Parivrrta Prasarita Padottanasana.
Justina Brewer