Seated Forward Bend 

A seated forward bend will lengthen and stretch your spine and the muscles of your back, so it’s a good therapy for back-ache. It also works strongly to soften and loosen the backs of the legs. Tight hamstrings can be a real hindrance to deepening your yoga practice so this posture is worth learning for many reasons. It is always a good counter pose to any back bend, so keep this one in your tool box as you start to build your home practice sequences.

· Sit on the floor with legs stretched out in front of you.

· Be sure you are sitting directly on your sitting bones, move the excess flesh out from under you.

· Press the thighs and calves down towards the floor.

· Engage the stomach and the back to pull up and create space between the hips and the ribs and then lean forward from the hips and not the waist. The spine stays long.

· Walk your hands down the legs to wherever is comfortable with the arms straight.

· To deepen the posture inhale and come up a little, extending the torso and exhale and fold forward.

· Aim for the lower abdomen to touch the thighs and then the upper belly and finally the chest.

· If you can reach your feet, pop your heels forward to make a little more space at the backs of your legs.

· When you reach your peak posture, hold for 3 breaths.

· To come up, inhale and lift the upper body up and away from the thighs.

If you are folding from the waist and not the hips then the posture will not be correct and will look something like this:

Try and lengthen the spine more.

Posture - Seated Forward Bend

Sanskrit name - Paschimottanasana

Benefits

*Relives stress and tension headaches.

*Stretches spine, shoulders and hamstrings.

* Stimulates internal organs and improves digestion.

*Helpful for high blood pressure, infertility, sinusitis and insomnia and menstrual discomfort.

Avoid if: You have Asthma, Diarrhea or back injury.

Beginners Tip: When you feel yourself at your maximum forward fold,  inhale and come up a little and then exhale and move down a little more. Never force your body forward. The practice may start out looking like just sitting up straight.

Serena is a yoga teacher and the founder of The OM Space . She is a passionate believer in yoga as a life enhancing practice and runs several classes in Colombo including the very popular Yoga for Children and Yoga for Pregnancy. Serena trained in the UK with the British Wheel of Yoga and is a UK Yoga Alliance registered Senior Teacher.