Chapters (6)

How to do Matsyasana - Fish Pose for beginners

Yoga & You · 1:45

In this practice

Key teachings

The importance of counter-poses in a yoga sequence
Opening the chest and throat for physical and energetic benefits
Proper alignment for neck and spine support in backbends

Ideal for

Beginners to yoga and Matsyasana
Practitioners seeking to relieve neck and spine tension
Individuals wanting to open their chest and improve posture
Those practicing Shoulderstand as a counter-pose

Lesson

Instructions

Fish Pose is a back-bending yoga posture that opens the chest, throat, and abdomen. It is usually used as the counter-pose to Shoulderstand (Sarvangasana) because it neutralizes pressure on the neck and spine, but it is also a deep stretch with many benefits in its own. The name of the posture derives from the fact that if you adopt the position in water, you will float quite easily. Try to hold the pose for half of the time that you spent in the Shoulderstand, in order to equalize the stretching effects on your spine ans muscles. In this video Dhivya from Dhivyam Yoga shows us how to do Matsyasana - Fish Pose for beginners.

Watch more: 21frames.in/yogaandyou Like us: facebook.com/VentunoYoga Follow us: instagram.com/ventunoyoga Follow us: twitter.com/VentunoYoga

A Ventuno Production

Steps

Matsyasana (Fish Pose) - Traditional variation
Elbow and head placement for chest opening
Breathing into the heart space

Benefits

Opens the chest, throat, and abdomen
Relieves pressure on the neck and spine
Calms the nervous system and promotes relaxation
Stretches the intercostal muscles and improves lung capacity
Stimulates the heart and throat chakras

Chakra Fish Pose Asana Matsyasana Ama Sarvangasana

Transcript

[Music] Namaste. Welcome to yoga and you and this is Da a freelance yoga instructor based in Chennai and here we are at the rat lang yoga studio. In this video I'm going to be demonstrating fish pose matsa. So this posture is considered to be counter posture for shoulder stance sequence because it is going to relieve your neck muscles and going to relax as well. So for matsa the fish pose we can uh do the posture in two different ways. So the first one is the traditional way by stretching both your legs and performing the posture. The next one is going to be the advanced variation. So I'm just going to demonstrate the first one before moving on to the second one. So for the first one the traditional way of performing the fish pose is to stretch both your legs forward really nice. You're going to lie down on your back but you need to pose right. So for that you're going to place both your elbows right at the back by placing the elbows down to the mat. Open your heart first as you inhale and slowly as you exhale drop the crown of the head all the way down to the mat. Now from here if you cannot reach the floor you always adjust. We're walking through your elbows and stay here for a couple of deep breaths. So it opens up your heart, your neck and the crown chakra. And to release the posture, just put the pressure back to the elbows. Inhale up and relax.

Practice summary

Level: beginner
Duration: 3 minutes
Equipment: yoga mat
Target areas: chestthroatneckspineabdomen
Energy: balancing

More practice