What happens when you are in the heart of the posture

• keep lenthening the spine at each inhalation and stretching further at each exhalation.  Work at creating space in your body at each in-breath and do not be in a hurry to get anywhere, you don’t want to spoil it for yourself.  You want to experience the posture fully so take several breaths to stretch to your maximum. 
• remember that there’s nowhere to go, you are already where you should be at this very moment in time, so enjoy where you are.  Don’t be fooled to believe that tomorrow’s forward bend will be better and don’t expect to feel the same as yesterday either.  Be happy where you are.  Present moment perfect moment.
• once in the posture, stay for several breaths keeping the legs active and be aware of all the subtle adjustements your body is making all the time.  Stay focused.
• visualise space and openness where you only feel tightness and resistance.  Let the posture be your teacher.
• engage your mula bandha – root lock and your uddiyana bandha – flying upward lock.
• close your eyes and don’t become attached about where your body should be.
• it does not matter what you look like from the outside as long as you are working from the inside.  It will all come in due time.  Begin to experience the calming qualities of the pose.  You are now entering into the heart of the posture, so soften, surrender and go deep into the inner stillness.
• once in the pose let your attention go inward.  Notice the content of your experiences.  Become aware of any sensations arising in your body.  Are there dull places with no sensations?  Is your breath deep and peaceful or shallow and fidgety?  Where do you feel the breath now?  In the front or at the back of the body?   Send the powerful breath where it is needed and let it open your body for you.   Is the posture uncomfortable?  Don’t feel impatient and resist the temptation to come up too soon.  Stay longer.
• Watch anything coming up to the surface but stay completely detached, not judging, not labelling.  Don’t entertain any thought or chase after images.  These things are like little clouds floating past your mind.  They will go away if you don’t give them energy.  When you are ready, slowly come up mindfully and may the cooling and calming effects of the pose stay with you for the rest of the day.

Cautions

• Seated forward bends are good for improving sitting posture and for providing a deep stretch but they are very hard on the discs so practice with the greatest caution.
• of all the forward bends (standing, sitting, supine or  inverted) sitting forward bends are the most challenging and therefore potentially the most dangerous ones.
• a normal healthy lumbar spine has a mild inward curve and in this position weight is evenly distributed throughout each disc.  When you bend forward, the lower back flexes losing its normal curve and the weight is placed on the front of the discs compressing them.  This is particularly a problem for people who have lost the normal curve in their lower back. 
• if you can’t maintain a 90 degree angle between your trunk and your legs when sitting you must proceed with extreme caution.  If you are sitting too far back on your sitting bones, you will bend from the more mobile middle back, your chest will become concave and you will put your spinal discs under a lot of stress.
• with the pelvis posteriorly tilted, the hamstrings get no stretch at all!  It is important to understand that in order to stretch the hamstrings you need to move their two points of insertion as far apart as possible, in other words you need to move the knees away from the sitting bones.  What complicates everything further is that not only this is already difficult for most of us to achieve, but in order to do a correct forward bend, you must also focus on pressing the heels into the floor, engage the inner leg muscles and think of keeping the lift in the spine by lifting through the crown of the head while rooting your sitting bones firmly into the floor!
• make sure that you bend at the hips not at the waist.
• people who are too flexible may over arch the lower back resulting in the tailbone sticking out at the back. 
• remember that yoga is all about balance.  You owe it to yourself to work your body harmoniously so that the front is not stronger than the back or the other way round.
• lenghtening the spine enables to create space between the vertebrae, increasing space too for the nerves and helping the discs soak up fluid.
• know your limits.  More people get hurt doing forward bends than doing backward bends.
• even the the very deepest forward bend should have a cooling effect, not a straining one.  Practice non-ahimsa (non violence).
• never force your spine into forward bend by pulling strongly with the arms, contracting the abs, bouncing, etc.
• consult your GP if you suffer from back problems (especially if you suffer
• from a prolapsed disc), high blood pressure, diarrhoea or are pregnant (use a belt and never compress the addomen).
• if using a belt remember that this is not an arm posture.  Place the belt across the ball of the feet, holding one strap in each hand and use it to lift and open the chest.  The leverage of the strap should help you to move up and forward.

Variations

• rest forehead on a chair or on a bolster and close your eyes for a restorative pose
• if you suffer from tight hamstrings, bend the knees which enables you to fully extend your back without rounding it.  Have the feeling of bringing your legs into and under your pelvis as much as you are stretching your torso forward.
• sit on a folded blanket to tilt your pelvis forward and make the posture easier.
• if you find it difficult to keep the inner legs together, keep them separate.
• if you want more stretch, raise the feet by putting a book underneath them, keeping the knees straight.

• Don’t forget to do Pursvottanasana as a counterpose to open and stretch the body after pascimottanasana.

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