Dandayamana – Bibhaktapada – Paschimotthanasana – Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose - Fot Beginners

The wider the stance you take, the easier the stretch.  And the slightly pigeon-toed stance helps keep your feet from slipping outward and almost automatically makes your legs bow backward, putting weight on the heels, where it should be. 

Those of you who have trouble taking a sideways step of at least four feet – keep trying, be patient.

Once you get the idea of this pose, your body position and weight will do most of the work, allowing you to just hand there and stretch. You could almost fall asleep. How to reach this mini-Nirvana? Good news! It’s not hard. All you need is the patience to push it an inch farther each day, plus a few pointers.

The first day or two, once your legs are positioned properly, you might wish simply to put your hands on the floor in front of you, about twelve inches apart. Then, keeping your legs straight, bend your elbows toward the floor and roll your body forward like a wheel, reaching for the floor with your forehead. That way you begin to stretch yourself out and get the feel of the posture and the balance.

Now, it’s obvious that to get your forehead to the floor you are going to need every inch of body you can find. Luckily, the body is hiding all kinds extra stretching in tight muscles and tendons. Once stretched out – do you remember Rubber Man in the comic strips? Like him, you will soon find yourself bending absolutely double from the base of the buttocks.

Benefits

The Standing Separate Leg Stretching cures and prevents sciatica by stretching and strengthening the sciatic nerves and the tendons of the legs. It helps the functioning of most of the internal abdominal organs, especially the small and large intestine, and improves the muscle tone and flexibility of thighs and calves and the flexibility of the pelvis, ankles, and hip joints, and of the last five vertebrae of the spine.

Read more about this poses benefits, pictures, video and tips from here!

Drawings and info from "Bikram´s Beginning Yoga Class " Book, 1978.