Method
Step 1: Lie down on your abdomen with your hands resting by the side of your body; keep your legs together; your knees, toes and heels are touching each other; palms are facing the ceiling.
Step 2: Move your respective palms under your respective thighs in such a way that your right thigh is resting against your right palm and left thigh is resting against the left palm; stretch your chin on the floor.
Step 3: Exhale, tuck your tummy in and press your abdominal region down on the floor by contracting your hips in; inhale and while inhaling, raise your right leg up in the air; make sure that lower abdomen is in complete contact with the floor and body is not tilting to one side; try to keep both the knees straight; breathing will be tiresome but do not hold your breath; hold the posture for half a minute with normal breathing; exhale and rest your right leg on the floor; repeat the same action with left leg; perform three rounds.
Step 4: As a variation, you can also stretch both the hands above your head on the floor, press your palms firmly on the floor and raise your left leg up. To make it more challenging, stretch your right toes as far as possible from body and then raise your head up; hold as per your comfort and change the side.
Tips: As you raise your right leg off the floor, the right side of the waist has a tendency to go off the floor; press that firmly against the floor, it will work as magic in removing the flabs around that area.
Benefits
- As the legs are raised up, the muscle tone and vigour of the lower lumbar region muscles are improved due to the contraction of these muscles. The increased tone of the lumbar muscles becomes handy for the asthma patient as well, relieving him/her from the lumbar pain on the one hand and preparing him/her for abdominal breathing on the other.
- Improves digestion & excretion; deals with acidity
Contraindication
- Persons with acute troubles at the lumbar region and the lower abdomen, hernia, appendix etc. should not perform this asana. All the movements should take place smoothly in a controlled manner without any jerk