DON’T round your back, drop your elbows, or hunch
your shoulders to get your head down.DO lengthen the front of the torso and pull your
shoulders away from your ears.forward bendsTHE ACT OF FOLDING OVER in a
pose like Paschimottanasana (Seated
Forward Bend) is like retreating into
your own personal cave. Distractions
recede from your awareness, mak-
ing way for introspection. Paschimottanasana is also
thought to improve digestive function, calm your mind
and nerves, relieve headaches and menstrual cramps,
and increase agility in your hips, legs, and lower back.
Its gifts are many, but for years Paschimottanasana
was my husband’s nemesis posture. When Paul began
a serious yoga practice when he was in his 20s, he
had very stiff hamstrings that barely let him nudge
his torso forward in the pose. It took months of sit-
ting almost upright with a strap around his feet and
diligently lifting his back before he could let go of
the strap and catch hold of his feet. That should have
been celebrated as a great milestone, but Paul was
all too aware that he had a long way to go before he
brought a long torso over his legs without hunching
his back.
Paul put intense effort into his practice and tried
to go deeper in the pose, but it wasn’t until he began
to apply nonattachment that he could work on
Pa schimottanasana without a painful struggle. The
seemingly opposing concepts of effort or persever-
ance (abhyasa) and nonattachment (vairagya) appear
early in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra (1.12), and they are often
referred to as the two wings of yoga practice. YouPeace
Process
Fold forward to
find balance
between effort
and ease.
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