PADAHASTASANA:

Padahastasana is a forward bend asana which is also referred to as Hand under Foot pose. It
can help you to make your spine flexible while toning up your back, legs, and abdomen. This
makes it a great yoga for a beginner. It is a form of Hatha yoga that is also a part of the Sun
Salutation yoga. The asana is highly recommended by yogic experts due to the wide range of
benefits that it has to offer. So read on to find out more about Padahastasana and the benefits
that you can obtain from practicing it regularly.

Padahastasana steps :
Learning how to do hand to leg pose is crucial when you are looking to perform this asana.
There are two different methods by which you can practice Padahastasana. We will describe
each one of them in brief.

Padahastasana method 1
● First, stand straight and keep your body in one single line

padahastasana step-1

● Make sure that your legs are together and your hands remain just by the sides of your
thighs.
● Keep your chest perfectly opened
Under any circumstances, do not tighten or stiffen your body. Stand straight
and firm on your legs.
● Now inhale slowly and raise your hands straight and upwards over to the head. You
must touch your biceps with the ears while keeping elbows straight.
 padahastasana step-2 :

● Stretch the hands upwards as far as you can.

● Do not bend the neck forward while stretching.
● Gently turn both your palmsforward.
● Now start to bend your body forward with the lower back as you slowly exhale.

padahastasana step-3 :

● Keep legs straight and make sure that you don’t bend the knees.
● Keep your hands and whole back in a single line as you make a 90° angle with your
upper body and your legs.

● Keep bending forward and touch your abdomen with the thighs. Next, touch your chest
with your legs.
● Now keep both of your hands, palms facing down, beside each foot respectively and
then touch your forehead gently to the knees.
padahastasana step-4

● Make sure that you keep the breath out as far as possible; you can also go ahead with a
normal breathing technique during the final position.

● Stay in this position for at least 15 to 30 seconds.

● First you lift up the forehead and then the hands from your heels.

padahastasana step-5

While inhaling slowly, gradually start lifting your body up and then stand straight.

padahastasana step-6
 ● Keep the hands perfectly stretched upwards with the biceps closely touching your ears.
● Start exhaling slowly and bring your hands back down while you keep the palm gently on
the thighs.

padahastasana step-7

Relax for some time as you complete the asana.

Preparatory Poses associated with Padahastasana

Here are the preparatory poses that you need to practice before you start performing
Padahastasana or the hand to foot pose.

Paschimottanasana
Janusirsasana
Adho Mukha śvānāsana
Supta Padangusthasana

Performing Tips
Padahastasana is one of those asanas that help to increase the flexibility of your muscles and
tone up your body. It can help to get rid of anxiety and stress. Padahastasana is known to be a
very intense form of asana and so you should work within your flexibility instead of forcibly
stretching your limits. It is also important that you perform this asana under the guidance of an
experienced yoga teacher. As a beginner, you can also start with some of the preparatory
versions of this asana before you start with advanced methods.

The science :

Padahastasana helps you to work on your second chakra. The second chakra of your energy
body is located right at the sacrum region. It governs creativity, intimacy, and positive
relationships. The squeezing process associated with Padahastasana helps to activate the
second chakra that can help you to direct the energy to the lower part of the body and increase
the flowing of the associated energies.
Benefits of Padahastasana :

Here are some of the distinct benefits of practicing Padahastasana.

Padahastasana helps to improve balance, flexibility, and posture of the body.

It helps to eliminate stress, fatigue, and anxiety by simply energizing the body.

It is extremely beneficial for people suffering from problems associated with throat and nasal
regions.
It improves blood circulation particularly in the upper sections of the body.
It helps to increase concentration as well as enhances digestion and metabolism.
The asana tones and energizes the spinal nerves and muscles.
The digestive organs can be toned by regularly practicing this asana which ensures well
functioning of liver and spleen.

The asana is highly beneficial for people who are suffering from abdominal bloating, gastric
problems, constipation, and indigestion.

Padahastasana is extremely effective for removing abdominal fat.

It is a good practice for increasing height.
It gives a great stretch to thigh muscles.
It helps to increase the strength of the calf muscles and thigh muscles.

Precautions and contraindications associated with Padahastasana :

Even though practicing Padahastasana offers a lot of benefits for the body, it does come with
certain precautions and contraindications like all other types of asanas. These are described
below in brief.

People suffering from conditions like hypertension and heart problems should not practice
Padahastasana.

One should not practice this asana if he or she is suffering from an ulcer.
Those who are suffering from hip injuries, vertigo, knee problems, abdominal hernia, and
sciatica should never practice this asana.

Padahastasana is strictly forbidden for people having lower back pains or any other kind of
spinal problems.

Since overstretching can cause a major amount of stress on the thigh, knees, calf, and ankle
thereby causing sprains, it is important that a person does not put too much of effort while
performing it. Instead, the best thing to do is to increase the intensity of the practice gradually.
Practicing Padahastasana can provide you with a lot of great benefits for your physical and
spiritual energy bodies. So start working on Padahastasana today to attain the best benefits.