Featured Pose Chair Seated Forward Bend

by Baxter and Nina

This simple pose is another good antidote to sitting upright in your chair. An excellent hip opener, this forward bend counteracts the tightness of your hips that you develop from sitting with your legs straight in front of you, helping you to maintain mobility in your hip joints. The release in your hips can feel wonderful, and you may also feel a good stretch in your lower back and inner thighs. The pose also helps stretch and wake up your arms as you press them toward the floor.

By changing your relationship to gravity, this pose helps release tension you’re holding in your back, neck, and head. This can be particularly helpful if you’ve spent hours in front of your computer screen or driving, and your neck is stiff or even painful. The partial inversion also stimulates your circulatory system and can re-enliven you if you’re feeling sluggish, stimulates your circulatory system.

Because your knees are bent, this is a very accessible forward bend. If you are unable to enjoy straight leg forward bends, you may find this version pose some of the fabled quieting and soothing qualities that you've heard about but never before been able to experience. Try it sometime for stress or anxiety.

Like the other poses in our full-length office yoga sequence (coming soon!), you can do this pose almost anywhere there is a chair and in almost any attire, though probably not in a tight skirt!

Baxter prescribes this for:

• tight hips
• tension in the spine
• mental sluggishness or fatigue
• weakness in the arms (if you engage the arms)
• substitute for inverted poses for those who can’t do full inversions
• alternative for Standing Forward Bend poses for those who can’t bear weight on their legs
• arthritis (for maintaining joint mobility in the hips)
• anxiety or stress

Instructions: Sit near the front edge of your chair. Separate your feet so your thighbones are 90 degrees apart and position your knees directly over your ankles. Point feet your feet in the same direction as your thighbones, as shown in the photo, and place your hands on your knees. On an inhalation, establish the length of your spine.

On your exhalation, tip from your hips as much as you can to come into the forward fold with a straight back. When you reach your maximum (your pelvis stops moving), carefully allow your spine to round forward and bring your arms down between your legs. You can either push your palms firmly into the floor with your arms straight, lengthening from your pubic bone to your collarbones, or you can press your elbows into your inner thighs to create more widening or lengthening of your inner leg muscles.

Stay in the pose for one to two minutes. Come up on an inhalation, keeping your back relaxed and using your hands on your knees to assist if your lower back feels vulnerable. If you want to use this pose to increase your back strength, you can try coming up with your back straight.

If you have lower back issues or are very stiff in the hips, try a variation of this pose with your elbows on your knees come down about a quarter of the way.

Cautions: This is a relatively safe pose. However, if you have lower back disk disease or pain in your hip joints, approach the pose carefully. And if the pose aggravates your symptoms, come out immediately, and get advice from your teacher about how to get in and out of the pose safely. If you feel excessive pressure in your head, don’t stay in the pose very long.

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Featured Pose Seated Forward Bend Paschimottanasana

by Baxter 

Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana) provides an excellent stretch for the muscles and fascia of your entire back body, from your heels to the back of your head. In general, many of you will also find the pose soothing to your nervous system and quieting for your mind and emotions, so it’s a good pose to include at the end of a practice, to prepare you for relaxation or meditation. The exception to this that some of you who experience intense stretch sensations in your back body in the pose due to muscle tightness may feel agitated instead. Two of our variations below, however, can help even some of you stiffer people find a more peaceful experience. 

I prescribe this pose for:

• Improving flexibility in the spine, hips, hamstrings and calves 
• Stimulating your digestive system 
• Soothing your nervous system 
• Quieting your mind 
• Managing stress 
• Reducing anxiety 
• Improving insomnia 

Cautions: Two vulnerable areas can potentially be aggravated or injured in this pose: the lower back and the starting point of the hamstrings near your sitting bones. Therefore, if you have lower back disc problems, lower back pain, or a torn hamstring tendon, you should avoid this pose altogether. Those with osteoporosis and osteopenia should only do versions 2 and 4, and those with wedge fractures also should only do version 2. See Friday Practice Pointers: Forward Bending of the Spine for more info. And if the pose worsens symptoms of depression, don’t practice it. Pregnant women in the second or third trimesters should practice only version 4 of the pose or substitute with Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavista Konasana). 

 

1. Classic Version

If you typically use support in seated poses, set up a folded blanket on your mat to support your hips and if you can’t easily reach your feet in this pose, place a strap where you can easily grab it. Then, sit either on the edge of the folded blanket or directly on the mat with your legs straight out in front of you. With knees straight, either bend your ankles and feet forward to a 45-degree angle (which can help with hamstring and calf muscle tightness) or flex your feet to a 90-degree angle. 

Elongate your spine, and then on an inhalation take your arms overhead. On your exhalation, tip forward from your hips. When your hips stop rotating forward, release your arms and reach your hands towards your feet. When you come to a comfortable limit, either bring your hands on to your feet if you are flexible enough or place the strap around your feet as shown in the photo above if you are less flexible (if you don’t have a strap, you can place your hands on the outsides of your legs—this could be your knees if you are really tight). 

With your hands in position, mindfully release your spine into a forward bend. Keep your arms firm to stabilize your forward bend, but do not use them to pull your chest closer to your thighs; this could strain your lower back or worse. Instead, with each round of breath, invite your body to release into the forward fold. Look for a reasonable stretch sensation along the backs of your legs and spine, letting your internal experience of sensation be your guide rather than the desire to look like a photo in a yoga magazine. 

Start by holding the pose for about one minute or 16 rounds of breath, and gradually work up to longer holds, as long as 2-4 minutes. To come out of the pose, strongly engage your leg muscles and, on an inhalation, release your hands and come back up to an upright position as you sweep your arms towards the sky. Then, exhale and release your arms to your sides. If you are tight, try bending your knees to release the tension in the backs of your legs. 

2. Straight Back (Extended Spine) 

This variation is excellent for those who cannot safely round their spines, such as those with lower back pain, disc issues, or osteopenia or osteoporosis with or without wedge fractures (see See Friday Practice Pointers: Forward Bending of the Spine for more info). 

If you use a blanket and/or strap in the classic version, use them in this version as well. Enter the pose as with the classic version, but after tipping initially from your hips and bringing your hands into position, instead of rounding your spine forward, keep your spine extended as you would if you were trying to do a slight backbend. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position, aligned with your spine rather than thrown back. 

Use the same timing for this variation as for the classic version. And come out of the pose in the same way. 

3. Knee Support 

This variation is excellent for those of you who are very tight in hamstrings and buttocks because practicing with bent knees takes tension out of those muscles and allows you to tip your hips more easily over your legs (you probably won’t need a strap!). And, for others, this variation is as relaxing and restorative as version 4. 

Before coming into the pose, place a round bolster or a thick blanket roll underneath your knees, so your knees are bent and your legs are relaxed and completely supported. From there, follow the instructions for the classic version. 

4. Restorative Version 

Using a chair to support your head and arms allows you to experience the quieting nature of this pose without any strain. So this version is appropriate for anyone who wants to practice Seated Forward Bend as a restorative pose, either as part of a restorative sequence or simply on its own. This variation is also for those who cannot safely round their spines (except those with or at risk of wedge fractures), as well as for those with tight hamstrings and buttocks. 

Start by sitting in front of the chair (if the chair has a hard seat, place a folded blanket or sticky mat on it to create a softer surface). Sit on a folded blanket if you use one in the classic version. Then extend your legs straight in front of you and between the legs of the chair, so your feet and calves are under the chair seat. (You will have to experiment with having the chair closer or farther away from your hips find a distance that allows either for a straight spine or for just a gentle rounding that does not stimulate much stretch in the back of the spine or legs.) 

Come into the pose as you did for the classic version, and as you extend your spine toward the chair, place your forearms on the chair seat near its front edge. Now release your neck and rest your head on your arms, gently rounding your spine only if necessary. (If the chair seat isn’t high enough for you, try adding a folded blanket on top of the seat.) 

Start by holding the pose for about one minute or 16 rounds of breath, although if you are very comfortable, you could stay for much longer, for 5 minutes or a bit more. Come out of the pose slowly by rolling your head and chest up to a sitting position. Then bend your knees a bit and use your hands to help you scoot back away from the chair. 

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Friday Q A Text Neck and Head Forward Syndrome

Q: What can we do about "text neck" forward head syndrome that we can incorporate into our lives and practices?  

I’m going to take a crack at this one not because I’m an expert at such things but because I have a bit of head forward syndrome myself, probably from spending a lot of hours per day in front of the computer writing. And I also happen to know that Timothy McCall addressed a similar years ago in his post Cultivating Healthy Posture with a Simple Restorative Pose. 

In that post, he recommended practicing a restorative backbend pose to counteract poor posture (head forward syndrome qualifies as one form of that). He says that when we have a long-term habit of slouching, it may not just be as simple as to start sitting or standing up straight. Long-term slouching leads to shortening of muscles in the front of the upper body, as well as of the fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds and interpenetrates the muscles, and which can limit movement. And this is going to be true for head forward syndrome as well. 

And because longer holds of poses are necessary to help lengthen the fascia, he believes staying in a pose for a few minutes may be ideal. Since that’s hard to do in most regular asanas, particularly the backbends, which open up the back, he recommends a simple supported, passive backbend. I, myself, have been including these in my practice for about 15 years, after my yoga teacher recommended them for me in particular for my posture.

I also have some suggestions for how to strengthen your upper back and neck muscles, and to work mindfully on the alignment of your head and neck over your torso. 

Stretching Your Front Body

Practice a simple passive backbend several times a week, for 3 minutes or more at a time. Because Baxter and I have included a simple passive backbend as one of our essential yoga poses, Melina shot some photos of Baxter doing the pose. So you can choose any of these three version that seems best to you. Make sure the one you choose is comfortable, so you can stay for three or more minutes without pain or discomfort. 

One version shown here actually has the head higher than the torso and that probably won’t stretch your neck, but I remember that my father had head forward syndrome so severe that he couldn’t even lie with his head flat on the floor. So for some of you (or your students) it may be necessary to start with your head supported in these poses and gradually lower the support until you reach a point where you can be comfortable with your head even with and eventually lower than your torso. 

If you can comfortably bend your neck back, this version would be a good one.

If you can't bend your neck back but you can lay it flat, you could do this version (or add more blankets to the first version)

If you can't even lay your head flat, you may need to prop your head up (though you can do that with more blankets in version 1 or 2).

See Cultivating Healthy Posture with a Simple Restorative Pose for Timothy’s instructions on how to practice the pose (his suggested propping is a bit different) 

Strengthening Your Back Body I would also add that strengthening your upper back and neck muscles would be beneficial because those can become weak from slouching. Regularly practicing Locust pose (Salabasana) would easily do the trick. Just be sure that when you lift your head in this pose not to cause strain by bending your neck back too far (this is especially true if you have head forward syndrome). Baxter's neck looks good to me in this pose.

Mindfulness About Alignment

Practicing Mountain pose (Tadasana) is a good way to cultivate awareness of your habitual posture and to move into a healthier alignment, where your head and neck are in line with your spine. Because your habit is going to feel more comfortable than a new alignment, have a partner or a teacher help adjust your head and neck in the pose. 

So practice this pose in the yoga room and then, when you’re out in the real world, take the new awareness you have to change your habitual posture while you’re working, standing around, or, yes, even texting. (Just because almost everyone texts by bending their necks to look down at the phone doesn’t mean you have to do it that way, too. See if you can find a way to prop it up on something higher.)

I hope this helps, and would love to hear what you think after you've experimented with these ideas or if you have some other ideas.

—Nina

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