Oordhwa Pada Hastasana - The Hand-to-Raised-Feet Pose

"Oordhwa" means "raised", "Pada" means "foot" and "Hasta" means "hand" in Sanskrit. You have to touch your raised feet with your hands in this posture.

Sequence:

1. Lie flat on your back.
2. Stretch out your legs fully and keep them together.
3. Place the palms on the respective thighs with fingers pointing to the feet.
4. Join the heels and the big toes.
5. Keep the knees stiff.
6. Breathing gently, raise your head, neck, shoulders, trunk and legs together slowly and simultaneously without bending the knees and elbow.
7. Keep the toes pointing outwards.
8. While doing this, slide down the palms along the thighs, keeping the arms fully stretched over the corresponding thighs.
9. Hold the legs straight at an angle of about 60 degrees to the ground.
10. Without altering the position of the legs, bend the trunk and head further forward and reach out to touch the ankles with the tips of your fingers.
11. The back should be well arched.
12. Balance the entire weight of the body on the posterior.
13. Focus your eyes on the big toes.
14. Maintain this posture as long as comfortable, breathing gently.
15. While breathing gently, return very slowly to the starting position in the reverse order.

Benefits:

* Oordhwa Pada Hastasana exercises well the neck, shoulders, diaphragm, arms, posterior, thighs, knees, calves and feet.
* It keeps the uterus healthy.
* The lower back, hips and the pelvic region become more flexible.
* This position strengthens the hamstring tendons and the muscles in the back of the knees.
* It strengthens the organs of the abdomen and tones up the solar plexus.