November 2019: Ustrasana
Ustrasana
(Camel pose)
Sarah says, “Ustrasana is one of my favorite poses because it is a multi tasking pose. It opens up the heart, lengthens the spine, stretches the shoulders, chest, arms, legs and even wakes up the feet. I find it to be a very challenging pose that I sometimes dread but I’m always happy after I do it.”
Steps:
Starting in table pose walk your hands back toward your knees and then walk the hands up to your hips and stand on your knees.Please pad your mat if you have sensitive knees and never stand directly on your knee caps.
Adjust your knees so that they are about hip width apart and directly under the shoulders. Feel free to tuck your toes under for the first few camels especially if you have a tight back.Then you may want to push down against the tops of your feet or even get blocks .
Lengthen the spine long by lifting the crown of your head up towards the sky then draw the belly button in and drop the tailbone down towards the earth.tighten the buttocks but try not to over do it ! Next , if your toes are tucked under you will push down against the balls of your feet’s push against the shins and the tops of your feet.
Inhale the arms up to get a nice extension overhead and then backstroke the arms all the way back so the hands land ( with fingers faced up ) on mid back or hips . If you have shoulder issues you can just place the hands on the hips instead of reaching over the head. Where you place your Hands will be depend on how flexible you are in your upper shoulders and mid back. The goal is to keep the shoulders lifted up back as the elbows draw in. This is an important part of camel because too many people rely on the flexibility of their lower back and don’t pay attention to the opening of their upper back.
Now inhale to keep the length and then exhale start to push the hips forward as the elbows and shoulders dry up and back to make the look of a camels hump. Try to keep your hips moving forward as your upper body arches back. Sometimes it’s nice to do this up against the wall where you can keep your hips glued to wall . . It is important to keep a nice fluid breath here. We tend to get really shallow in our breath because we push too far back. Be gentle to your spine and start slowly.Stay here for a few breaths before you come out .
To get out of the pose remember to pay attention to those stabilizer muscles .Push down against feet and pull in from the belly as you lift the shoulders back over the knees . The arms can come overhead like a butterfly stroke or just gently release them from your back. It’s nice to take either a downward facing dog here to walk out some of the grumpiness in your feet or maybe a child’s pose. Take a few breaths to readjust this pose can be very invigorating but it can make you feel dizzy too so move slowly going in and out. Enjoy!