Forward/Backward bend - with Squat

This yogasana is a fabulous practice for maintaining great health for all systems of the body i.e. muscular/skeletal/nervous/endocrine/respiratory/urinary/immune,
digestive/reproductive and circulatory-cardio-vascular. 
Wonderful as a warmup performed lightly, or, 
as a main asana performed slowly and deeply.

Position the feet shoulder-width apart, wide enough to bend the knees outwards 

and come right down into a squat.

One complete round is:

• Place the Fingers of the Right Hand (palm up, knuckles down) underneath the sole of the Right foot - Fingers of the Left Hand underneath the sole of the Left foot.

• Place the arms inside the legs - so the elbows can help push the knees apart during the squat.

• With the hands under the feet, bend the knees fully, bringing the bottom towards the floor, coming down into a squat   ...   and

• Inhale slowly keeping the hands under the feet and lift the muscles of the torso & the chin upwards to the ceiling, keeping the bottom close to the floor. [pic 1] Feel the entire torso being stretched … hold for 5 seconds     …    then

• Exhale slowly, keeping the hands under the feet and bring the head towards the floor, nose to the shins raising the bottom up into the air so that you are in a standing forward bend [pic 2]. 

• Hold. Feel the stretch throughout the whole back of the body … hold for 5 seconds holding the breath out, if possible; breathing freely, if notable to hold it out.

• At the end of each round stand upright if you are new to the asana, or fragile, and need to rest.  Standing upright relax the breath for 15 – 20 seconds.
• If rest is not needed perform a total 1 - 10 rounds breathing super-slowly.

Benefits

A powerful whole-body, whole-mind, vitaliser.

Arches and compresses the spine, vitalizing and rejuvenating:

§         the central nervous system

§         all spinal muscles

§         neck and shoulder muscles

§         all internal organs including the brain

The squat strongly activates, vitalises and rejuvenates the leg and feet muscles and joints.
The forward bend strongly activates and vitalises the arm muscles and joints as they are used to stretch the back downwards, and hold it there.

Practice information

Ideally keep the feet flat on the floor, but in this squat that doesn’t matter too much - don’t worry if the heels are off the ground - you will work on that each day of practice simply because you will be stretching the Achilles tendon. But, to make it more comfortable, and more secure to practice, you can stand the heels onto, a thickly folded blanket, or a plank of wood which is the exact height you need. As your mind becomes more familiar with the asana, focus on stretching the achilles tendons, in this practice, daily, over a period of two months.

Practice Caution

Where there is pregnancy, ulcer, hernia or HBP seek medical advice regarding the internal pressure due to the upward and downward movement.

Instructions for warmup practice

Perform 15 rounds i.e. one round per 10 seconds (approx. 2 mins 30 seconds). Do not hold  

the final position as you would for the main asana. Move in a super-slow rhythm.

This asana  is found in Sw Satyananda's text: Asana Pranayama Mudra & Bandha (APMB) as Vayu Nishkasana (wind-releasing pose). The wind it releases is blocked prana from joints, organs and muscles, as well as the more obvious wind from the gut.