Why bind in yoga

Struggling towards a pose can cause injury and frustration. Spine Elongation and Staightening. Relaxation of Muscular Tension. One of the biggest benefits of using binds is that they allow the muscles that hold the body in a pose to release, relax, and open.

By relaxing in intense stretches you can gain more benefit from the posture. There are many other benefits to binds related to reflexology, meridian lines, and physiological alignment. Explore for yourself and make the effort to advance into binds in your postures. These kinds of adaptations can support you and your body without risking further injury.

If you do choose to bind, just like the sutra Sthira Sukham Asanam invites, seek both steadiness and ease in the pose. Strive to maintain space along your collarbones and keep your heart expansive rather than closed off. Resist letting the shoulders collapse, round forward, or come up to your ears. Along the same lines as in step 4, to cultivate strength and comfort in binding variations, the breath must be calm and fluid.

This is where paying attention to your body really helps. But we cannot forget that at the heart of yoga is the intention to heal. I like to think of something one of my teachers, Charles Matkin, says about practicing yoga: "Challenge yourself to find the most benefit, rather than the hardest variation of the pose. Get ready to change everything with this free day program. Over 1 million others have joined. Are you next? Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.

How very yogic, no? Load More. Share Pin Email. Comments 0. Read Next A Yoga Sequence to Burn the Ego. Building the Foundation for Triangle Pose.

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Even though binds are somewhat advanced, you can get similar effects by using a strap as a modification tool. Bound side angle: With your lower body set up into warrior II position, and your front knee directly over front ankle, place your opposite shoulder on the inside of the front thigh. Take your top arm and reach it behind you to your lower back, then take your inside arm beneath your hamstring to clasp your fingers of the opposite hand.

Keep your chest open and lifted and gaze up at the ceiling. Bound malasana squat: From malasana squat, you can bind by taking your top arm and reaching it behind to grab your inner thigh you can just do this as a half bind , then for the full bind, take the bottom arm to wrap around that knee.

Bound triangle: From triangle pose, move your top arm back behind you and place it on the bottom hip.