Method
Step 1: Sit comfortably in Ardha Padmasana or any other comfortable sitting posture; fix hip bones equally on the floor and lengthen your whole body from bottom to the top towards the ceiling. Spine is upright. There is no extra curvature at the lower back. Lift your breast bone up and fix the ribs below your chest to the spine.
Step 2: Check the alignment of your body. Your hips are grounded to the floor, shoulders over your hips and neck over your shoulders.
Step 3: Inhale and while inhaling, raise your arms sideways; arms are parallel to the floor; stretch your arms as apart as possible from each other; slowly turn your palms up facing the ceiling; you may feel that your shoulder blades are also stretching away from each other.
Step 4: Maintaining the stretch, move your hands further up and above your head in Namaste Mudra; your hips are firmly on the floor; spine is vertically stretched up; you are raising your interlocked arms further up as if trying to reach the ceiling; simultaneously, also push your arms behind your head; make sure your body is stable; hold the posture for half a minute to a minute with normal breathing; bring the arms down in reverse order.
Breathing
- Raise your arms with inhalation
- Maintain normal breathing while in the posture
- Come back to beginning position with exhalation
Benefits
- Spinal Stretch: Improves lung capacity and makes costal and inter-costal muscles flexible, spine gets vertical stretch. Blood congestion is removed and blood circulation is improved.
- Frozen /Drooping Shoulder: Helpful in case of frozen /drooping shoulders
Contraindications
- Avoid in case of acute spinal problem, elbow pain and shoulder pains.
Avoid tensing the back of the throat muscles.
Avoid any kind of strain on the neck muscles.