How to do Wide Leg Forward Fold, Upavista Konasana — Ashtanga Tune Up Yoga Tutorial

Transcript

foreign [Music] this is a forward fold wide leg forward fold Asana in the primary series that will really teach you how to balance your strength and flexibility one of the biggest misconceptions about this Asana is that you are trying to pull or force yourself to go deeper Instead This Asana again is about that balanced mind approach so let's explore so in upper first mistake that many people make is that we try to do a straddle position so a straddle position is when we're trying to do like that middle split and the feet are wide apart this is a different Asana and the Ashtanga practice the straddle is called samakonasana right so they're both angle Asana so one is a very wide angle this is a like more narrow angle how wide apart your feet are will be based on your flexibility as well as your body proportions so first thing we want to do is make sure that when you reach down you can hold on to your feet on a wider is not necessarily better so you don't want to think oh I should really try to push it so my feet are as wide apart as possible this is like mistake number one just a good distance so they're kind of making like a nice v-shape with the legs that's first thing mistake a lot of people make second mistake that often happens is that when people reach down they're gonna round the back holding on to the foot in some place and then pulling if you pull you'll round the back and tighten the front body and it will actually block you from getting into the Asana so you want to find your flexibility by drawing the navel in and then pivoting at the hip joints when you pivot at the hip joints we can take the hands on the ground if you feel a big pressure like your back needs support you're like you're going to round then I recommend to take a block or two and actually use the block to support the chest so then maybe when you pivot you cannot get the chest very close to the ground but you can rest your chest on the blocks then reach down and flex the feet so when you Flex the feet this will engage the legs and you're thinking about actively reaching out with the legs right so we're kind of really strongly reaching with the legs now strangely enough When You Reach outward with the legs your femurs or your thigh bones are going to move back so you don't want to try to push the femurs out we want to actively reach with the legs but draw the bones of the pelvis in next or thinking that instead of pulling with the arms I'd like to see if you can actually destabilize the shoulders and get the feeling almost more like you're pushing rather than pulling and the stabilization with the block should allow you to find that so hold that for a moment then you can explore can I remove a block so we'll pivot at the hip joints let me reach down we find the chest on the Block the legs are active the femur is moving back but the legs reaching outward sounds confusing but just try it then straightening the arms here's where there might be some natural adjustment to the distance of the feet we're giving a light pull to stabilize the shoulders and then exhale stabilizing okay so you can test out my body feel good if it feels good we're gonna pick ourselves off we remove the block last movement we reach down maybe now we can be here with no support that's okay now the Next Movement we can tuck the head under keeping the movement at the hip joint and reach the forehead to the ground after the forehead the chest and the chin to the ground and we get that feeling of the hips moving back while at the same time the shoulder blades draw down the back and the the hands still have that push feeling this is very important for what comes next we'll hold for a moment check out the lower abdomen if the lower abdomen is kind of flattening onto the ground draw the belly in this will help keep the pelvis drawing back and help keep the femurs back inhale we lift the chest up exhale there then release now it's time to lift the legs off the ground so you want to remember your position of the pelvis in navasana so we're tucking the tailbone a little bit and that tuck drags the femurs back we can bend the knees if we're using the blocks we may be able to hold on to underneath the knees if we cannot straighten the legs it's totally acceptable to do this Asana with bent knees separating the knees next extend the legs perhaps you can hold on to your ankles and now instead of pushing with the arms we're going to let the arms gently pull so we change the arm position and now instead of the legs rooting down we want to expand with the thighs so we're now really feeling how wide apart can my legs go while I keep holding on to them eventually you want to hold on to the same grip so you can hold near the heel almost like you're grabbing the arch of the foot and then avoid rounding the back and collapsing the collarbone lift the collarbone up point the feet and then separate the legs and we're kind of balancing on that place between the sitting bones and the tailbone eventually once you're comfortable in the Asana inhale exhale there we can lean back we can point the feet we can lift with straight legs and then gently hold if that gives you any pain around your hip flexors we want to maintain that bent knee position when we look up we're not just looking forward and up are you going to look all the way up to counterbalance the navel draws in and get that kind of because for a moment a way to test to see if you have the balance supported by the core of the body so lift the Hands Up release hold it for a moment reach back hold on to the feet and then you find your way into konasana so again biggest thing to watch out for is just forcing the flexibility I really recommend that you use the assistance of the blocks if your flexibility is not established yet you can't snap your fingers and boom flexibility comes into the body we want to work slowly understanding that flexibility is also about accepting our own limits for the day and then over time letting those limits slowly slowly slowly slowly shift so take this information and let it inform your konasana most importantly don't mistake one Asana for another don't be doing a straddle position while you're working on this Asana save the straddle for later and just work on these foundational principles of that kind of v-shape forward bend with the v-shaped forward bend is very intimately related to many of the asanas that we do in the primary series and also in the second series so this is the flexibility that we need immediately in the practice later we'll work on the straddle position so don't be tempted to force the body to do too much too soon it's a really good lesson of this awesome and be where you are and learn how to balance the opposing forces in your mind and also in your body I hope this informs your practice and that you take the inspiration to keep practicing foreign