Yoga Pose Primer: Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Padottanasana

I’d like to propose an inevitability to accompany death and taxes: gravity. In fact, it’s arguable that gravity is more consistently inevitable than taxes because there are ways to get around paying taxes if you can afford it. None of us escapes gravity.

Gravity is responsible for keeping us from floating off the surface of the Earth. It is also responsible for Earth’s orbit around the sun and the moon’s orbit around us. It is partly responsible for the tides.

Of course, there are some who get to play around in anti-gravity environments, and there are yogis who reportedly levitate. But these numbers are small. For most of us, gravity is a given.

Despite gravity’s inevitability, we often seem to invest a lot of energy into struggling against it. I see it a lot in Yoga classes—muscles hugging bones, chests and shoulders heaving upward, all in order to raise ourselves up away from the ground. This is incredibly inefficient, and in my experience, it wastes a tremendous amount of energy.

Stabilizing, Grounding and Expanding Your Yoga Practice

Asanas express both stability and expansion. Most of us seem to find the expansive aspects of our poses much more interesting than the stabilizing aspects. For example, if you look at the photo that accompanies this article, what do you notice first?

Most people will answer that they notice the extension of the arms and legs. Few will note the settling of the pelvis into the ground. And yet, it’s that settling into gravity that makes expansion possible.

Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Padottanasana (UMPP) is one of the easiest of all poses to experiment with the relationship between stability and expansion. Here’s how the Sanskrit translates: urdhva=upward, mukha=facing, prasarita=spread apart, pad=toes, ot=intense, tan=stretch, asana=pose.

Tips for Practicing Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Padottanasana

I usually teach this pose toward the end of a practice, when I want to ground my students’ energy to prepare them to return to the outside world. This is especially important if we have practiced poses that stimulate the upper body (such as inversions), or poses that bring energy to the surface (such as backbends). UMPP simultaneously engages the core, grounds energy, revitalizes the body/mind, and stabilizes and steadies balance.

You don’t need props to practice UMPP, but it feels nicer if there is something between your sit bones and the floor. You can use a yoga mat and/or a folded blanket. I don’t recommend folding a blanket too thick—more than an inch or so, because a thick blanket can interfere with your balance.

How to Practice Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Padottanasana          

1. Sit on a blanket or mat with the soles of your feet together and your knees extending out to the sides in Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose). Feel your sit bones resting on the floor, along with the contact points between the outsides of your feet and the floor and your feet with each other. Settle your weight into your base. Hold onto the outsides of your feet with your hands.
2. Lean back on your buttocks so that your feet and legs lift off the floor. Don’t try to stay on the forward edge of your sit bones. This is not efficient for balancing. Rather, settle back so that you feel the back edges of your sit bones on the floor as you rest on the fleshy part of your buttocks.
3. Now actively root your rear into the floor. You may feel an upward rebound in your torso. This is the natural result of grounding your base: your body expands upward.
4. If you find that balancing is challenging in this position, you may want to practice here and not attempt to straighten your legs just yet. If you feel stable, continue grounding your base and begin to unfurl your legs. If hamstring tightness won’t allow you to extend your legs all the way, bend your knees and hold onto the backs of your knees. Keep your knees bent in a 90-degree angle and balance. Otherwise, continue extending your legs until they are straight.
5. If your legs are fully extended and your balance feels shaky, reground your pelvis. If you still feel shaky after regrounding, bend your knees to 90 degrees and hold behind your knees. Bending your knees shortens the levers of your legs, making your energy settle into your pelvis more easily.
6. Continue rooting your pelvis, allowing your torso and legs to expand skyward. Take five to ten deep, satisfying breaths.
7. Bend your knees as you rock forward to settle again into Baddha Konasana. If Baddha Konasana is not comfortable for you, you can bend your knees and place your feet on the floor in front of you and relax your torso over your legs.

Because Urdhva Mukha Prasarita Padottanasana challenges your balance, it also develops your ability to balance. The key, again, is remembering to give your body to gravity. Propping your body away from the ground in this, or any pose just creates tension and restricts your breathing. Struggling against gravity is a waste of effort.

So, root yourself into the Earth, in your yoga practice, and in your life. That’s where ease and expansion come from.

Also from Charlotte Bell – How to Fall in Love with Your Yoga Practice.

Study with Shawnee Thornton Hardy and YogaUOnline – Yoga for Kids with Special Needs: Focus on Autism and ADHD.

Reprinted with permission from HuggerMugger.com

Photos with permission from Hugger Mugger Products

Charlotte Bell began practicing yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. She was certified by B.K.S. Iyengar in 1989 following a trip to Pune. In 1986, she began practicing Insight Meditation with her mentors Pujari and Abhilasha Keays. Her asana classes blend mindfulness with physical movement. Charlotte writes a column for Catalyst Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. She is the author of two books: Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. She also edits Hugger Mugger Yoga Products¹ blog and is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, she plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and the folk sextet Red Rock Rondo whose 2010 PBS music special won two Emmys.