Today’s Poses – Fish and Four Limb Staff Poses

Fish and Four Limb Staff Poses

Fish Pose – Matsyasana

The fish pose, if carried out in the water, allows the body to float quite easily like that of a fish; hence the name.

Steps

• Lie on your back. Your feet are together and hands relaxed alongside the body.
• Place the hands underneath the hips, palms facing down. Bring the elbows closer toward each other.
• Breathing in, lift the head and chest up.
• Keeping the chest elevated, lower the head backward, and touch the top of the head to the floor.
• With the head lightly touching the floor, press the elbows firmly into the ground, placing the weight on the elbow and not on the head. Lift your chest up from in-between the shoulder blades. Press the thighs and legs to the floor.
• Hold the pose for as long as you comfortably can, taking gentle long breaths in and out. Relax in the posture with every exhalation.
• Now lift the head up, lowering the chest and head to the floor. Bring the hands back along the sides of the body. Relax.

Benefits of the Fish Pose

• Stretches the chest and neck
• Helps relieve tension in the neck and shoulders
• Provides relief from respiratory disorders by encouraging deep breathing
• Tones the parathyroid, pituitary and pineal glands

Four Limb Staff Poses

Four-limbed staff pose is frequently practiced as part of the traditional Sun Salutation sequence.

Steps

• Starting from Plank Pose, firm your shoulder blades flat on your back and make your back muscles strong. Draw lower belly towards your spine and think about your tailbone pointing toward your feet.
• Rock slightly forward, over the toes, so you are projecting your body forward.
• Look slightly ahead of you to keep the neck long.
• On an out-breath, lower the whole body like a plank only so far, that the upper arms stay parallel to the floor and that there is a 90° angle in your elbows. Keep the elbows close to the ribs pointing back the whole time.
• Make sure the chest and shoulders don’t dip lower than the elbows.
• Lift the front of the shoulders away from the floor the whole time.
• This pose is usually a transition between other poses as in Sun Salutations or Vinyasas. You can also practice it by itself and hold it for between 10 to 30 seconds.
• On an inhale transition into an Upward facing dog pose. If you can keep your lower back from collapsing, you can also push back up to Plank pose on an out-breath.

Benefits

• Strengthens the core, wrists, arms, and legs.
• Great preparation for more arm balances.