Previously, I told you about a special movement for hip flexion muscles, single leg standing balance, and introduced the key points and precautions of the movement in detail. At the same time, I also introduced that this movement is the preparatory movement of yoga standing hand grasping toe. A friend left a message to us on the backstage of the official account, asking if we could talk about standing hand grasping toe again. Let’s talk about this action today..
Let’s first understand the posture: Yoga Standing Hand Grasping Toe 1, as shown in the following figure.
This pose is also divided into poses 1 and 2. The upper leg is extended in front of the body, and the hip joint is flexed forward in position 1; The upper leg is on the side of the body, and doing abduction and forward flexion at the hip joint is a two position posture, similar to the supine hand grasping big toe posture we have been talking about a few days ago..
Preparation posture: Standing in the middle of the cushion in mountain style, with the pelvis upright and the spine extended. Support your hips with both hands, shift your weight to your right foot, bend your left knee and lift your left foot upwards..
Entering posture: Hook the left foot’s big toe with the left hand from the outside of the left leg. Slowly straighten your right leg. Maintain 3-5 sets of breathing and then switch to the opposite side for practice..
Exit pose: Bend your knees back to the prepared position, drop your feet, and return to mountain pose..
The one legged standing balance posture mentioned yesterday is a preparatory action of standing with the hand grabbing the big toe. The details and key points are the same. To sum up briefly, the pelvis is upright and the center of gravity is stable; Relax the soles of the upper and lower legs; At the same time, push the front of the thighs backwards, sink the groin, and walk the knees vertically upwards, relying solely on the strength of the hip flexor muscles to maintain the position of the upper leg..
The preparatory action is the foundation, and if the force of the preparatory action is wrong, it will be difficult to do it correctly later on. So spending more time practicing single leg standing balance is definitely worth it..
After entering the pose, in addition to maintaining the key points and details of the preparatory movements unchanged, I also want to emphasize a few more issues..
It’s not about twisting your hands and feet upwards, but about pushing your heels forward and upwards. One obvious difference is the extension of the groin area behind the legs, which is tiring, and the other is hand fatigue. Some people have reported that their hands are always unable to grasp their toes here, feeling too slippery. That’s the problem. One is to have the feet actively move upwards with the hands providing assistance, and the other is to have the feet fall downwards with the hands lifting the feet upwards..
Sometimes a stretching strap is used to assist, and the same stretching strap only provides a point of support. Do not attempt to lift your feet up with the stretching strap..
If you can achieve the above, the possibility of knee hyperextension is unlikely. But if you twist your hands and feet up, your knees can easily fall off and become overly extended, and your body is a whole, which may have a positive impact on each other or even damage each other..
Many friends in this pose will experience changes in their upper body once their legs are straightened. The most common change is that the right body leans backwards and the left body leans forward (assuming the left leg is up). So why is this..
The flexor hip muscles are not exerting enough force because you need your hands to twist your feet upwards, and all your energy is focused on grabbing the toes with your hands. It’s natural for the same side of the shoulder to extend forward, which will save more effort. This is a natural choice for the body..
To sum up, the solutions for the three points a, b, and c listed above are the same. Just like in the preparatory action, the hip flexor muscle should exert force, the heel should actively push forward and upward, the front of the thigh should continue to push backward, and the shoulders, arms, and toes should compete. I would rather keep my legs stretched out than disrupt my body’s balance, stability, and hair.
