What would yoga do?

So what is going on in the body during this pose.

First lets look at this picture of the Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana from the book “Yoga Anatomy” by Leslie Kaminoff:

Standig leg:

• The tibaialis posterior, digitorum longus, hallucis longus (calf muscles) are stretching.
• The tibalis anterior (the muscle which draws the foot up is contracting).
• The Gacillis and adductor magnus (muscles of the back side of the hip) are elongating too.
• The gluteus maximus (in the buttocks) extends the hip and thigh. It all starts from the movement of the heel to the floor.
• The quadriceps is contracting and straighten the knee.

You can check all this work by pressing your heel to the floor and observing the feelings in your leg being in Tadasana. Then be in your regular standing position (usually a person hangs on the hip and shifts the weight of the body from one leg to another), do nothing unusuall just stay and observe. Ask this questions: What do you feel? Do you feel movements of muscles to the bones while standing? Do you feel that your buttock muscles are elongating or its just fluffy ? What is going on with the balance?  Now press with your heel again. Note all the muscles that are woking. Check what has just changed. Do you feel that your leg now is stable and you want to lift your spine?

So we can switch to the upper leg. The work of this leg is mostly similar to the stretching leg in Supta Padangusthasana:

• The quadriceps straighten the knee.
• The hamstrings is elongating in the knee direction.
• The sartorius (the muscle which runs diagonally across the thigh) bends the hip and what is more important moves it away from the middle line and turns it out.
• The peronei on the outside of the calf turns the foot and the tibialis anterior moves the foot up.

The work in the arm actually helps to  lift the leg higher and of course opens the chest.

• The deltoid, biceps and the upper trapezius all are contracting and engaged in the leg movement.
• Triceps straighten the elbow.
• The middle trapezius and rhomboids move the scapulae towards the middle of the back (to the spine) and direct shoulder blades into the back.

Moreover you can use the fingers-toes contact as additional support for your arm which is resulted in more stable position of the upper leg and openess of the chest.

Now you can try to activate all this muscles in the arm just by lifting one arm up in line with the shoulder. What do you fell by moving the triceps towards the bones? Do you feel that your shoulder blade goes in? Do you feel that all of a sudden the collarbone (from the active arm side) is broadening and you can breathe easily?

Then do tadasana and be ready to do utthita parsva hasta padangusthasana once more having in mind all the muscles movements. During the pose ask yourself what do you feel? Does your pose stable? Can you easily breathe and feel the widening in between your collarbones? Do you feel that the work of sartorius helps to rotate the hip and lift the leg higher? Then change sides.

Note: when you do the pose first time check your feelings and remember. After the few repetitions of the pose compare the feelings. Check what has changed and what stays similar.

Have fun. Enjoy your practice.