Benefits: Strengthens legs, improves balance, stretches the shoulders
Instructions:
1. From Tadasana shift your weight onto the right leg.
2. Bend the left knee and grasp the inside of the left foot with the left hand.
3. Start to bring the left foot and the right arm up toward the ceiling as you bring your torso forward.
4. Hold 5-10 breaths.
5. Repeat on the other side.
Beginners: Fix your gaze on something that doesn't move so that you don’t lose the balance.
Advanced: Go for the full version of this pose.
Shift your grasp on the raised foot so that your arm is coming straight up toward the ceiling with a bend at the elbow coming back towards the foot. This requires coming into a deeper backbend.
Once you have the foot grasped with one hand, move the other arm into a parallel position and take ahold of the same raised foot.
Balance and deepen the backbend.
To see a photo of this version, click on the image above.
