Purvotanasana
Yoga allows our bodies to move into different postures and try positions that are outside our normal movements. There are various poses; some that are reminiscent of our day-to-day lives, postures that bring ease. Then there are other postures that seem like the opposite of how we normally move, postures that require more effort.
Reverse plank, or purvotanasana, is one of those “opposite” postures. We are normally on our feet or sitting. Being on all fours, plank or tabletop, would be a distant third. Inverting the plank is a rare posture for humans to naturally come into. The practice of this posture brings many benefits because of how rare it is to come into.
Purvotanasana opens the whole front body. Our chest, which is prone to slouching forward, is fully opened. The shoulders expand in their mobility with range in the opposite direction, backward. As you open the front body, the back body gets a nice dose of strength as it lifts the front body.
We sometimes neglect the back body because we don’t see it. We see our arms, our chest, our stomachs. Oftentimes, students ask for core; they indicate their abs. This is the visible core. Reverse plank’s benefits are in the portion of the core that we don’t see in the mirror.
In addition, reverse plank aids in mobility to the ankles and wrists. This posture provides relief from the forward-folding postures found in yoga.
Purvotanasana
- Sit on the floor with your knees bent.
- Place your palms on the floor with your fingertips pointing toward the hips.
- For reverse table, use the strength of the legs and arms to lift the hips off the mat.
- For reverse plank, extend the legs and lift the hips off the mat. Try bringing your big toes to touch in the center.
- Depending on your mobility, allow the head to tilt back as far as it can go.
- Stay in this posture for 5 breaths.
- Gently lower the hips.
Namaste.
