Do you have a yoga pose that your body absolutely craves? If I go to a class and I don’t do Parsvottanasana or Pyramid Pose, my body feels incredibly jilted! When you’re active like us, the hamstrings are always in need of a good stretching.

Having happy hammies will also keep you from suffering from low back pain.

Can’t touch your toes? If you have chronically tight hamstrings, try stretching them first with a strap or belt. Lie on your back and bring a strap or belt around the ball of your right foot. Bring the leg upright only so far as you can keep it from bending. Spend 2-3 minutes on each leg, pulsing and drawing circles with the leg. If you do this every morning or night, I guarantee your hammies will open up, and they’ll thank you for it! You’ll be touching your toes in no time!

In this week’s Get Moving Pose I’ll share a few variations for my favorite pose: Parsvottanasana from beginner to more difficult.

 Variation 1: Hands on the Hips. Start with feet hip width apart and take a big step back. Be sure that the back knee and toes are in line with each other to keep your knees healthy (for more tips on Knee Alignment read this) Try to keep both legs straight and the hips square to the front of your mat. Bring the torso forward until you feel a hamstring stretch.

Variation 2: Hands lightly resting on the shin. In this variation, see if you can fold a little deeper while keeping the leg straight. If there is no strain, lightly rest the hands on the shins (or use a block). It’s important not to put a lot of weight into the leg, so that you are stressing the knee joint.

Variation 3: Hands on Ankle or Floor. If your flexibility allows, you can come into a complete forward fold, letting the back round and the chin tuck to the chest. Keep the thigh muscles firm. If your hands are on the floor, experiment with drawing one hip back and then the other, to find legnth in the waist and low back, then settle with neutral hips, slightly drawing the right hip back and the left hip forward (when the left foot is back)

Variation 4: Hands clasped behind the back This variation provides a delicious chest and shoulder stretch, while working your muscles and balance a little more. If the shoulders are tight you can hold onto a strap. Keep the legs active by firming the quads, this helps keep the knee from hyperextending- if that’s a habit for you it can be good to micro-bend the front knee. As you hang see if you can lift your shoulders away from the floor, resisting gravity and creating space between the ears and shoulders. Breathe in deep and say ahhhhhhhhhh.

For a short vinyasa/flow sequence check out my happy hammie flow video over on my Adventures in Healthy Living blog.

What’s your yoga pose that you just can’t live without? Please share below, and keep your hammies happy!