I can not wrap my arms behind my calfs.  How do I approach this?
Then when I straighten the legs lock the knees the arms are no where near the calf muscles.

Ultimately, I want to get the benefit of the posture.  Any advice?

Hello Edge!

I know I am taking this right back to basics when I ask you this, but I do have to be sure:

When you straighten and lock your legs, is your chest still sandwiched tightly and squashed against your knees and legs?

My initial reaction is to tell you NOT to lock your legs. Keep them bent and get more wrapping happening of the arms as far around the back as you can. Then, rather than TRYING to straighten the legs, think of your hips moving up to the ceiling as you release and relax the muscles in your hips and back and hamstrings.

This pose really is so much about the pull (and dare I say, less about the straight legs!). And the pull has to come from the biceps muscles. My worry is that if you can’t bend or wrap them as well as you could (say, with bent legs) then the pull starts to emanate from the shoulders which introduces risk to your back. The more you pull with your shoulders the more the arms straighten out, the more you round your back and hey presto we don’t have Hands to Feet pose anymore.

So even if you can’t get the elbows around the back of the legs, at least set it up so that when you pull you completely isolate the shoulders OUT of the equation. The further your arms are out to the side, the more the shoulders are involved and cause strain and stress in the neck, shoulders and back. So what you have to do is always pull with the biceps muscles and try to shift the shoulders up and back behind you, away from the ears.

Please get back to me and let me know any further distinctions. And together we can confirm your best plan of action…

Namaste
Gabrielle

Thank you Gabrielle - good idea, i will keep my chest sqashed and will use the biceps.
Namaste.

Hi Gabrielle, I have a similar question to this one about the elbows.

I too have had trouble getting them behind the calves. What I noticed one day when I did a different type of yoga class was that, if I did not try to go all the way to putting my fingers underneath my heels and instead just grasped the back of my heels near the ankle, I could do a much better job of getting the elbows behind the legs. It was almost shocking to me! And I also felt able to pull a lot more strongly through the arms when doing it this way.

But of course, the bikram instruction is to put your hands underneath your heels. I have felt like I am cheating somehow if I do not do this, or maybe like I should do it and just wait to eventually be able to get my elbows back there. I haven’t specifically tried keeping my knees bent as Gabrielle suggested above, but I could see about that next time I go to class. OR, I thought, maybe I should build strength by doing it the way I described above until I can eventually put my hands underneath my heels while still keeping the elbows back.

I often wondered if this was because I am tall (5’-9.5") or have long legs…

Any thoughts on this variation of the problem?

Thank you!!
Jen

Hello Jen

When you have less flexibility it is harder to get your fingers completely under your heels. You can definitely try putting your fingertips under there and see how you go. As long as:

1) your body is definitely squashed onto your legs (see above) so the mechanics of the pose can actually stretch the back side of your body safely. And
2) your elbows are as far back behind the legs as you can manage so that you can pull with your biceps.

In this way you will build great strength. And you will gain much length in your muscles. The technique is totally independent of leg length or height. Done correctly, every BODY can get the benefits.

As you get more flexible you can slide your fingers further and further under your heels. Pulling at your ankles without fingers underneath changes the way your arms pull and is only recommended for very rare reasons (not the subject of this post!).

Looking forward to hearing how it all goes…

Namaste
Gabrielle