Lie on your back, knees straight, feet together.
Lengthen the lower back and tail bone away from the waist.
Part 1: In the midline
- Keep left leg firm on floor.
- Bend the right knee and catch the foot with a belt or stretchy strap; hold with both hands.
- While keeping the left thigh down, straighten the right leg, pointing the toes back towards the floor.
- Use the breath to slowly take the teg towards the head; keep the leg in the midline.
- Feel the stretch down the back of the thigh.
- Use the breath, on the inhalation bring the leg closer to the head.
This stretch, Supta Padangusthasana, releases the lower back by lengthening the hamstrings.
Part 2: Away from the midline
- Keep the left side of the body firmly on floor.
- Place the strap in right hand and take the right leg away from the body as far as can (away from the midline) without the trunk rolling towards the right.
- Use the left hand to stabilise the body on the left side if needed.
Feel the stretch in the inner thigh.
Part 3: Across the midline
- Take the strap into left hand.
- Raise the right leg as in part 1 and then take right leg across the midline, until you feel the stretch across the right buttock and into the back of the right thigh.
- Breath into the stretch and feel the release muscularly and neurally.
Repeat these 3 parts for the left leg now
enjoy the feeling of this releasing stretch