Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Hand posture)
Bring the hands together over the head
This is the first posture of the Sun Salute series. It is a mild back bend.
How to do it
Begin with Tadasana (Mountain pose). Your arms are resting at the side of your body, your palms facing inwards towards the body and the thumbs pointing forward. The shoulders are down the back and the torso is long and tall. Your gaze is to the horizon.
From Tadasana you start to inhale and begin to move your arms out to the side. Rotate the palms of your hands towards the front as you slowly lift the arms upwards. When your arms are about halfway to shoulder height your palms should be facing forward. Continue lifting your arms towards shoulder height and continue to rotate your palms upwards as your arms continue to lift. By the time your arms are at shoulder height the palms of your hands should be facing the ceiling. Continue lifting your arms up until your palms come together above your head. At this point you should have completed your inhale breath as well.
At the same time that you are lifting your arms up over your head you are making sure that your shoulders stay down away from your ears and that your shoulder blades are descending down your back towards your hips and that they are flat to your back. This will help to prevent compression of the shoulder and neck muscles.
As you lift your arms you are also lifting your gaze. Eventually your gaze will be towards your thumbs when you hands are together above your head. In order to look at the thumbs of your hands when the they are extended above your head move your eyes up so that you look at the thumbs through your eyebrows. This will keep your head nearly level. Do not tip the head back some much that you compress the muscles in the back of your neck.
Your back continues to be long and tall here . This posture is not a deep back bend. Your shoulders stay over your hips and your hips stay over your ankles, your arms are over your head and your gaze is up towards the thumbs.
Modifications
If you can not bring your palms together over your head and keep your arms straight then it is better to keep the arms straight and bring them as close together as they will come without bending them.
Cautions
Do not arch the back. Keep the back long and tall.
Don’t let your lower front ribs protrude forward. Bring your front ribs down toward your hips and in toward your spine, and lengthen your tail bone toward the floor.
Do not compress the back of the neck. Lift the head slightly roll the eyes upward and gaze to the thumbs.
Do not bend the arms to get the hands together. Keep the arms straight and the hands apart if necessary.
Next
The second position of the Sun Salute series is next. It is a strong forward bend.
Previous Position (Tadasana)
Next Position (Forward bend)
