Improve Your Flexibility With Head-To-Knee Forward Bend

HEAD-TO- KNEE FORWARD BEND or JANU SIRSASANA comes from the Sanskrit words “janu” for
knee and “sirsa” for head. It works amazingly well in increasing the flexibility of the thighs, hamstrings, hip joints, back arms and shoulders. Specifically, it has the effect of stretching the spine, shoulders hamstrings and groins. It stimulates the liver and the kidneys and improves digestion. It relieves anxiety, fatigue, headache, soothes the heart and calms the brain. It can be therapeutic for high blood pressure, insomnia and sinusitis.

Method

  1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you, toes flexed and quadriceps contracted. Inhale, bend your right knee, placing your right foot against your inner right thigh and your right heel close to your perineum just below your pubic bone. Lay the outer right leg on the floor, with the shin at a right angle to the left leg.
  2. Press your right hand against the inner right groin, where the thigh joins the pelvis, and your left hand on the floor beside the hip. Exhale and turn the torso slightly to the left, lifting the torso as you push down on and ground the inner right thigh. Line up your navel with the middle of the left thigh.
  3. Reach out with your right hand to take the inner left foot, thumb on the sole. Inhale and lift
    the front torso, pressing the top of the left thigh into the floor and extending actively through the left heel. Use the pressure of the left hand on the floor to increase the twist to the left. Then reach your left hand to the outside of the foot. With the arms fully extended, lengthen the front torso from the pubis to the top of the sternum.
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