Method:

• Lie on your stomach, with spine long and legs outstretched. Arms are placed on the sides and close to the body.
• Bend your knees, bring the feet close to the buttocks and hold the ankles with your arms. Legs should be hip width apart.
• Inhale, lift the head, neck and chest. Simultaneously try to extend the legs at the knee/ or move the heels away from the buttocks . This will help to raise the thighs and knees above the ground. Initially the legs will not rise too high, but with practice, this can be achieved.
• The knees will have a tendency to open wide. Engaging the inner thigh muscles can help prevent this problem.
• Intermediate to advanced students can then engage the deep muscles of the back and the gluteus maximus to raise the upper torso and create a deeper spinal arch.
• With each inhalation, lengthen the upper body and with each exhalation, contract the abdomen, press the heels back into the feet, to increase the stretch.
• Lift the head back and look up without straining the back of the neck.
• In this pose, chest is expanded and open, neck is long, shoulders are back ( not scrunched) with shoulder blades in.
• With practice, the entire body will lift up on both sides with just the abdomen touching the floor, and the abdomen will carry the weight of the body.

Benefits:

• Strengthens the gluteus maximus andthe deep muscles of the back.
• There is a powerful stretch along the entire front of the body and a deep opening of the chest region.
• Stimulates the abdominal organs, relieves constipation and other gastrointestinal disorders.
• Improves digestion, relieves stress and tones the muscles of the arms and legs.
• Benefits the manipura chakra.