Method
Step 1: Lie down on your back; bend your knees and adjust your lower back by pushing your hips and tailbone towards your heels so that lower back is firmly resting on the floor without any gap or arch.
Step 2: Exhale and press your lower back on the floor; inhale and while inhaling, bend your right knee and place your right thigh on your chest; hold your right foot with your hands or with the help of a belt; keep pressing the knee close to your chest; push your right heel out and right toes in; start widening your elbows out and start straightening your right leg; you are raising your right leg by raising your right heel up and by involving the back side of your right leg; raise your right leg up to 90 degree or as much as possible comfortably; right toes are in and right heel is raised up; left leg is bent at knee and left foot is resting on the floor (you can choose to keep your left leg straight on the floor as part of back strengthening).
Step 3: You may use a belt or a long scarf to hold the right leg in place; hold for a minute or two with normal breathing.
Step 4: Move your right leg to the left side with exhalation and hold the position for 1 minute; come back to the original position; repeat the same movement with other leg for equal amount of time.
Benefits
- Legs and hips get more blood circulation; reduces lower back pain and sciatic pain; strengthens lower back; improves varicose veins; improves knee pain
- Stretches hips, groins, hamstrings & thighs.
Contraindications
- In case of high blood pressure, give some height to your head and neck by putting a folded blanket or a pillowed placed vertically at the upper back.