Yoga's Reclining Big Toe Pose: Supta Padangusthasana

When you are putting together a sequence of yoga asanas, you will select those asanas that will address your needs or the needs of your students. Poses can be chosen for their effect on the body such as hip openers, inversions, back bends and forward bends. The following pose, the Supta Padangusthasana, is one that you might want to add to your yoga practice.

The Reclining Big Toe Pose, or its Sanskrit name, Supta Padangusthasana, is a great yoga pose that offers many wonderful benefits. If you have an achy lower back due to poor posture this pose will offer blissful relief. This pose also provides an excellent hamstring and hip stretch, it encourages increased blood circulation in the legs, which can alleviate stiffness. This pose is also said to provide relief from menstrual cramps.

People who have back injuries or weak or sore wrists are cautioned not to do this pose. If you have hypertension, you should rest your head on a pillow or prop it on a folded blanket or towel.

To perform this pose you will need a yoga mat and possibly a strap or a folded towel. Lie on your back on a yoga mat. You can place a pillow or folded blanket under your head if you like. Give your legs a good, long stretch. Begin by raising your left leg up so that it's at a 90 degree angle or perpendicular to the floor, or as high as you can get it while keeping your right leg stretched out straight and on the floor and stretching through the heel.

Grab your big toe on your left foot with your left hand. If you find that you can't straighten your leg while holding your big toe with your fingers, then use a strap. Loop the strap over the arch of your left foot and grab both ends of the strap with your hands. Inhale as you straighten your left leg pressing your heel towards the ceiling. Keep your shoulder blades flat against the floor. Your buttocks should stay on the floor, your spine should be long, and you should not be craning your neck.

Take a few breaths as you hold the pose gently pressing your heel towards the ceiling.

Release your left foot and then return to laying flat on your back with both legs extended on the floor. Now perform the same pose using your right leg.

A variation or a way to extend this pose is to lower the raised leg slowly down to the floor out to the side keeping the other leg engaged, and the pelvis and shoulder blades flat against the mat.

It can be helpful to do this pose with your lower foot pressed firmly against a wall. This will help you get leverage and keep that leg fully engaged while you are stretching the raised leg.

A great pose to follow the Supta Padangusthasana is a nice long seated forward bend, Paschimottanasana.