Half Tortoise Pose: Ardha Kurmasana
Purposes and Benefits:
- Aids in relaxing body and mind
- Helps relieve digestion problems and constipation
- Assists in regulating sleep-wake cycle by stimulating pituitary gland
- Stretches spine, hips, and gluteal muscles
- Increases flexibility in hips
- Boosts blood circulation to brain
- Extends lower part of lungs and aids in augmenting lung capacity
- Strengthens abdomen
- Tones thighs
- Improves flexibility of deltoids, latissimus dorsi muscles, scapula, and triceps
How to Do:
(NOTE: If you feel tightness in the hips or lower back, you may need more time before you can relax in this pose.)
- Enter kneeling position: sit on heels with feet and knees together
- Raise arms above head and bring palms together with thumbs crossed
- Maintain straightened arms and spine throughout pose
- Inhale while stretching up
- Exhale slowly while bending forward in a straight line that spans distance between tailbone and fingertips
- Stretch forward all the way until forehead and sides of hands touch floor
- Engage arms and straighten elbows so that wrists, elbows, and triceps lift away from floor
- Keep sliding fingertips forward
-
To deeply stretch spine, do these simultaneously: Reach buttocks back to heels; Keep using abdominal muscles (Eventually, buttocks will touch heels throughout pose)
- With arms stretching forward and hips reaching back into heels, bring chin forward and away from chest
- Relax shoulders, breathe, and feel the deep stretch along your back
- Hold pose for 20 seconds
- Exit pose slowly by moving hips back toward heels and by maintaining straightened arms and spine
- When moving in and out of pose, use abdominal muscles to avoid rounding and buckling spine
