The Bound Angle Pose
The Pose:
1. Sit in the base position evenly spreading your weight evenly on both buttocks. Lengthen through your spine and back of the neck whilst lifting and opening your heart region
2. Bend the knees and bring the soles of the feet together
3. Fully relax the inner thigh muscles
4. Clasp the feet with both hands
- Moving the heels as close as possible into the pelvis intensifies the stretch in the inner thighs
- If the knees are in any pain, play with moving the heels further away from the body.
- See how this feels you may notice the stretch slightly changes by moving into the outer thighs too.
- The hips and knees can be elevated if need be by bolsters and or blocks. This is particularly helpful if you suffer from tight hips, groin and/or inner thighs
- Applying gently pressure to the knees with the hands or placing the elbows on the inner thighs intensifies the pose if you wish to go deeper
- Remain in the stretch for anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes.
Contra-indications:
If you suffer from groin or hip injuries you should not do this posture or practice it with care perhaps with the support of a bolster under the hips and or blocks under the knees.
Benefits:
- Relieves the inner thigh muscles of tension
- Stretches the inner thighs, groin, and knees
- Opens up the pelvis and hip area
- Removes tiredness from the legs especially after long hours of standing and walking
- Stimulates the kidney and bladder meridians helping to facilitate the removal of wastes from the body.
- Good pose to do if suffering from menopause or PMS
- It is said to ease pain whilst giving birth if practiced all the way through pregnancy
- Therapeutic for asthma and infertility