YOGA POSTURES 
ASANA YOGA POSES YOGA POSITIONS
Prasarita Padottanasana
Translation: Prasarita = Expanded or Spread Pada = Foot
Spread the feet apart. Different distances stretch different muscles. Perhaps they can be gradually stretched out.
Lean forward and down. The head can be taken through the legs and the back of the head can be touching the mat. In this version the top of the head touches the mat.
The hands are placed down for extra support. You can grab the big toes and stretch them inward. Take plenty of opportunities to stretch the big toes inward. Bad footwear usually bends them crooked and outward.
Grabbing the toes also stretches the shoulders well depending on how wide apart the legs are.
Keep the spine straight in the lower area especially if your lower back is injured. It can be curved for a lower back stretch and often times practitioners enter with a slightly curved spine.
Point the feet forward or slightly out. This also stretches different muscles when varied and can also open the hips slightly differently.
Benefits
This pose increases hamstring flexibility. It is a great pose to balance the leg flexibility because holding it will bring evenness to the leg
muscles especially when held for long periods of time. (Greater than 3 minutes.)
Vinyasa Yoga Sequencing and Flowing
Vinyasa Yoga postures to transition from and to:
Yoga Teacher Tips
This is a good pose to sequence between standing poses. Be aware it will cause your students to be turned away from you. Some teachers like to instruct the sequences in a way that causes the students to always be facing towards the teacher so they do not have to continually turn. It just takes a little extra thought and a few in-between poses.
“Try interlocking the hands behind the back for an anterior shoulder stretch.”
