• Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips.
• Bend your knees, and lower your hips down toward the ground. If your heels don’t touch the ground, roll up a towel or the back of your mat and place it under your heels for support.
• Bring your palms together at your heart center, and firmly press your elbows against the inside of your knees. This will help to open your hips even further.
• Work on shifting weight into your heels and lengthening the crown of your head up toward the ceiling.
• Hold the pose for five deep breaths or as long as you’d like.

Open revolved extended side angle pose

The Sanskrit names of twists, or revolved poses, have the word parivrrta in front. In a classic Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), if the right foot is forward, the right hand is also forward. In Revolved Side Angle, when the right foot is forward, it’s the left hand that goes with it. This changes the direction of your twist, which is where the revolved part comes in. This pose is part of the primary series of Ashtanga yoga and it is seen in other styles as well.

Benefits

• This pose strengthens and stretches legs, groin, hamstrings. It opens the chest and shoulders.
• Revolved poses are traditionally believed to help stimulate and cleanse the organs and promote good circulation and range of motion.
• Many people find that these poses help relieve stress and they may help reduce back pain.