Featured Poses: Goddess & Wheel

Since I neglected to post a pose-of-the-month in January, I'm posting two for February.

The first pose is reclining Goddess Pose, also called the reclining bound angle pose. Basically, you lie on your back and place your feet flat against eachother so that your knees flop open, forming a beautiful diamond shape with your legs.

At first this pose seems so simple. But the longer you sit there, your knees falling open to the ground, the more gravity itself pulls on you, stretching your thigh muscles and opening your hips.

This is ususally the pose I end up doing when I'on the rag and everyone else is doing a hand stand or some such inversion. (You're not supposed to do inversions when you're menstruating...)

So that was my choice for January's pose.

February's pose is the Wheel, or Urdhva Dhanurasana. This is by far my favorite pose because it opens up the triangular area between my shoulder blades and the nape of my neck. I'm a writer and so I spend a good deal of my time hunched over a computer. I try to remember to sit up straight, but to be honest, when I get going on an idea the last thing that enters my mind is my posture. For that reason and probably for others that I'm not really aware of, I've always carried all my tension and anxiety right there in that little triangle. The wheel unbinds me.

The pose is a simple back bend. You lie on your back with your knees bent, heels pushed against your butt and hands by your ears, palms flat and fingers pointing away from your head. Then you simply push up: breath in and out for five or so counts, gazing at the place on your mat between your palms.

The odd thing is after you come down there's a little rush of euphoria that expands along your back and neck.

A good chest-opener for February.