Position of the Week: Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)

Benefits: This asana will calm your brain, relieve stress and mild depression, reduce fatigue and anxiety, and is great if you have a headache or insomnia.  It will stretch your hamstrings, calves and hips, and will also strengthen your thighs and knees.  It stimulates your liver and kidneys, and will improve your digestion.  It is great to practice if you have asthma, are going through menopause, have high blood pressure, infertility, osteoporosis, sinusitis, and if you have menstrual cramps.

Wow...what a versatile asana!  I love that it is very simple to go into, and has so many underlying advantages.  You don't have to be able to bend all the way into it in order to feel its therapeutic effects resonate through your body, mind and soul.  You simply go into it as comfortably as you can, and just let the wonders of the pose encompass you.  According to this picture, even a monkey can do it!

Since being pinpointed as a stress-ball by my doctor, I have really started incorporating poses into my yoga routine that have a particularly positive effect on stress.  Uttanasana has been such a wonderful asana to my mind and I, that sometimes I just hang out in it in my living room, completely randomly.  Today it has been extra helpful because not only does it easy my busy brain, but it is also great for those unfortunate monthly cramps, which have been scraping away at me all day.  There are various ways to perform this pose, and my personal favourite is by holding my elbows and just letting my head, neck and arms float in the air.  The binded elbows kind of create a swaying feeling, and sometimes I swear I could fall sleep like that.  I have actually done a variation of this pose while strapped up against a wall, allowing my entire upper body to hang in space...it felt wonderful.

So, next time you feel like you need some form of therapy for any of the above benefits, let yourself bend in half and have this asana carry you away.

Namaste,
Lady Lotus