Teacher Tips to Take your Practice to the Next Level

Here are the steps to get into standing forehead to knee. Each step should be mastered with a standing straight leg (e.g. muscles activated above and behind the knee to prevent hyperextension) before moving on to the next. 

This pose builds mental strength; improves concentration; unifies the mind and body; tightens the abdominal and thigh muscles. It is also good for diabetes. As you breathe into the pose, feel how it squeezes and flushes out the internal abdominal organs, such as the gall bladder, pancreas and spleen, as well as the uterus and ovaries and increases flexibility of the sciatic nerves. An active pose, it strengthens the tendons, biceps of the thigh muscles, and hamstrings in the legs while developing the deltoids, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, scapula, biceps and triceps all while working on the muscles of the back.

So how do you make it happen?

1. Distribute weight equally over the four points of the foot
2. Activate all the muscles of the knee of the standing leg including the quadriceps and muscles behind the knee. 
3. Keep a tight, webbing to webbing grip with all ten fingers
4. Leg is parallel to the floor with heel in line with hip. 
5. Suck your stomach in and contract your abdominal muscles
6. Flex the whole foot back toward your face beyond perpendicular while kicking forward from the hip through the heel. 
7. Elbows reach towards the calf muscle and attempt to go below. 
8. Tuck chin to chest, round the spine, touch forehead to knee for the final expression. 

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