Wide Legged Forward Bend D
Wide legged forward bend D / Prasarita Padottanasana D
Step by step
- From Tadasana, step the feet wide apart, about your legs length. Your feet are parallel to each other. Lift inner arches, by drawing inner ankles up, firm outer edge of feet and big toes into floor. Engage your thighs by drawing them up. Place your hands on your hips.
- Inhale lengthen the front of the body, exhale fold forward from the hips, keeping the back straight and the chest open, and keeping the hips over the heels, don’t let the hips move back in the space behind you. Go half way down with a straight back and place your hands underneath your shoulders onto the floor, keeping your arms straight. Maintain the length along the front of the body, neck long and gaze in front of you without compressing the back of the neck. Take a few breaths here.
- If you feel you can still go further with a straight back, on the next exhale you fold deeper from the hips, grabbing your big toes between your index, middle fingers and thumb, keeping elbows out to the sides, in line with the wrists.
- In the full forward bend you release the head down, and with a long neck, you can place the crown of the head on the floor.
- Stay in this pose anywhere between 5 and 10 breaths.
- Important is to keep the back straight, concaved a little perhaps, and the front of the body long and open. So if you feel at any time you start rounding the back to go further down, go back a little to the point where you can do this with a straight back. Integrity and respect for your body’s boundaries are more important than how far you come into the pose. Be careful not to overstretch your hamstrings.
- To come out of this pose, inhale and walk your hands forward to position them under the shoulders again with straight arms and back.
- exhale placing the hands on your hips, Inhale to come back up straight as you press into your feet.
- Come back into Mountain Pose.
Click on Prasarita Padottanasana D to find out about the benefits of this pose.
4 Comments
Hi Esther, thanks for the detailed description. Always when I practice this pose it seems to be impossible to touch the floor with my forehead. Even when I try to push my body down as far as possible for a few seconds, my head is still some 15 cm above the floor, which is still a long way to go… I believe my hamstrings are quite flexible - full Uttanasana or Paschimottasana aren’t a problem. I can see that your legs are not especially wide apart, so that doesn’t seem to be the point either. Is there any secret I don’t know or is it just practice?
Thanks, Roman
Comment by Roman Sep 21, 08, 8:49 pmHi Norman,
Thank you for your questions! I’m glad you enjoy the video’s and website.
There is no secret to Wide legged forward bend D and everyone will come across a pose that they cannot do fully, maybe this is yours!
A few tips however, first of all keeping a straight back is really important, if you are strongly rounding your back (lower or upper back) going down you loose length. (you should than go less far down) Make sure you’re Tilting the hips properly so that you lower back stays flat, check in a mirror to be sure, it can be difficult to feel sometimes!
And maybe you just have incredible long legs and a short body… (thats what my female students like to hear)!
Also different muscles need to lengthen in this pose compared to uttanasana, because the legs are wide.
warm regards
Comment by Esther Sep 26, 08, 2:54 pmEsther
Hi Esther,
believe it or not, today I made it! With a bit wider stance and a really loooong back, all the way from the tailbone up through the neck, it was suddenly possible.
Today it was the first time I practiced this pose since you gave me your advices. You reminded me that there certainly will be some poses that I never will be able to do fully, and that this isn’t a problem at all. I just accepted it for this one and whoops! there I go…
Great lesson! Thank you so much,
Roman
Comment by Roman Sep 30, 08, 5:17 pmSo after all, there was a secret…
Comment by Roman Sep 30, 08, 5:22 pm