Paschimottanasana (Seated forward bend pose), one of the common pose I frequently do but yet far from perfection.
I realise for tight people like me have to go through many phases in order to bend correctly. Still remember the very first phase is all about hamstring, my hip bone not able to tilt inwards to move my upper body closer to thigh.
Second phase is the QL (quadrates lumborum) so tight that I need to hunch my back so my hand can touch the toes. But this gave a lot of pressure to my middle back spine. I have to gave up touching the toes but keep stretching the QL.
Third phase is the hip flexors, when I gained flexibility on hamstrings and QL, I noticed that need to pull hard the feet then only body can go down flat on thigh, and when release the upper body will bounce back. Not much skeletal involve here (my hip able to tilt inwards at this point) but I felt is the hip flexors don’t have the strength to close up the gap.
Only after months of drills, then my paschimottanasa can go in bit effortlessly, and also can feel the skeletal and muscles involved. But again to go to perfection, I think it will take me many Christmas. Yoga is a long journey, and I am glad that I can practice and enjoy it at the same time.
Another thing is by understanding the skeletal and muscular system, it makes this journey easier 🙂
