Tone your waist and hips in 5 steps

Variation II of Extended side/lateral triangle pose or Utthita Parsvakon Asan.

CHENNAI: Variation II of Extended side/lateral triangle pose or Utthita Parsvakon Asan.
This is a variation as the arm position is different.

Steps:

1. Side step with your right leg to turn 90 degrees or jump with your feet apart by 4-5 feet. Swivel your right foot out clockwise to 90 degrees and your left foot the same way to about 30 degrees. Your right kneecap will be facing the direction of your right toes
2. Inhale and raise your arms up to the shoulder level palms down arms parallel to the floor. Beginners can pause here for a few breathing cycles stretching your hands away from you at every exhalation.
3. At the next possible exhalation bend the right knee taking care to keep the right knee joint directly above the right ankle. The right knee has a tendency to flop forward keep the right knee pulled back and directly above the right ankle by recruiting the thigh muscles. Keep the right thigh parallel to the floor. Keep the left leg straight.
4. Inhale again and as you exhale bend the upper body laterally to the right. Rotate the right shoulder and slide your right arm below your right thigh. Meanwhile move the left arm back and place the left forearm on your lower back. Take your left hand towards the right and clasp the fingers. Look up at the ceiling over your right shoulder. (The yoga principle is simple: Deep breathing maximizes oxygen utilisation. Blood circulation improves when we stretch a body part and oxygenated blood is directed there to aid healing/tone/energise.)
5. Come back to standing position with an inhalation. Lower the arms and repeat on the other side substituting right with left. Muscles are stretched and contracted in pairs when we repeat the posture on the other side. This posture to me means triangles within triangles, each of them non-equilateral. (Eg left hand is forming a triangle with the left foot and right foot. Another triangle is the left shoulder, left foot and right foot and so on). Spot more triangles. Strive to keep the vortexes of all the triangles sharp. It doesn’t matter how much you can bend but do be mindful to keep the flanks stretched.

Benefits:

This posture helps to develop your arms and torso. It tones the sides of your hips and waist. It helps to tone the abdominal organs as one side is stretched while the other is contracted and vice-versa when switched. It is also very good to strengthen your thighs, knees and ankles as the body weight is equally distributed between the lower and upper body. Helps with sciatica and arthritis. Relieves constipation.