Uttanasana is a SANSKRIT word that means Ut means ''determination or intensity'' Tan means '' To stretch or extend'' and Asana means ''Pose''. It is also known as ''Standing Forward Fold Pose'' in English. Perform this pose your head hangs below the heart allowing fresh oxygen-rich blood to flow to your brain. This revitalizes cells and provides the complete body with a fast boost of oxygen. Standing Forward bend calms is help to relieve brain stress, encourages the liver and kidneys, and stretches the hamstrings, calves, and hips.
Take a standing position, keep your leg and shoulder distance apart and parallel to each other. Press your leg down to the ground and now breathe out and gently bend down from the hips and your chest and stomach on your thighs. your knees are bent but your toes should be fully straight. Slowly start to straighten out your legs but check that your chest and abdomen never leave your thighs. Now your hips as you straighten your hamstring muscles all while pressing your heels into the ground. relax and start again practices.
Benefits of Uttanasana yoga:
There are the most important health benefits of Uttanasana are,
1. Uttanasana helps stretches the hips, hamstrings, and calves.
2. Continued practice of this pose helps to keep the spine strong and flexible.
3. This pose helps to relieve tension in the spine, neck, and back.
4. Activates the abdominal muscles in the body.
5. Uttanasana helps to reduce the problems of menopause, asthma, headaches, and insomnia.
6. Uttanasana is very useful to improve the digestion system.
7. Continued practice of Uttanasana reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue.
8. This pose is also useful in therapy for infertility, osteoporosis, and sinusitis.
Step by step Uttanasana yoga:
1. Stand in Tadasana (Step 1), keeping the knees tight.
2. Breath out, bend forward and place the fingers on the floor. Then put the palms on the floor by the side of the feet, behind the heels. Do not curve the legs at the knees. (Step 2)
3. Try to stay with the head up and extend the spine. Move the hips a little forward towards the head so as to bring the legs straight to the floor.
4. Stay in this posture and take two deep breaths.
5. Breath out, move the trunk nearer to the legs and rest the head on the knees. (step 3)
6. Do not slacken the hold at the knees, but pull the knee-caps well up. Hold this position for a minute with deep and even breathing in and out.
7. Breath in and raise the head from the knees, but without lifting the palms from the floor. (Step 4)
8. After two breaths, take a deep breath in, lift the hands from the floor and come back to Tadasana. (Step 5)
