Читать книгу Ashtanga Yoga - Gregor Maehle - Страница 186

Inhaling, turn the left heel into the center of your mat so that the foot is placed at 45° to the center-line of the mat. Step the right foot up and place it between the hands (check that the hips are square and the left foot correctly positioned).

Continuing the inhalation, bring the torso upright and raise your arms. Bring the palms together and gaze upward. Draw the shoulder blades down and out to the side to prevent the shoulders from hunching around the ears. The outer arch of the back foot grounds, and the thigh rolls medially to aid the left hip in remaining forward. The sit bones are heavy and sink downward. Without losing the squareness of the hips, track your right knee out over the right ankle, bringing the shin perpendicular to the floor.

If we sacrifice the squareness of the hips here, we forsake the best opportunity in the Primary Series to stretch the psoas and quadriceps muscles. For this stretch to occur, it is necessary to keep the pelvis upright.

The tendency will be to tilt the pelvis anteriorly and collapse into the low back. Apart from avoiding the lengthening of psoas and quadriceps, we will also weaken where we need to be strong: in the low back.

To protect this vulnerable area we need to bring the abdominal muscles into play. Engaging rectus abdominis lifts the pubic bone and tips the pelvis posteriorly, allowing us to stretch those important muscles. Hold Virabhadrasana A for five breaths.