How to Do Chest Stretches in Hatha Yoga
Many yoga poses stretch and open your chest. Two simple and gentle chest exercises in Hatha Yoga are explained in detail below, including Parvatasana, also known as the seated mountain pose, and Supta Baddha Konasana, also known as the supported bound-angle pose.
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Instructions
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How To Do the Parvatasana Pose
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Sit in the Vajrasana pose, also known as the thunderbolt. It’s a kneeling position, where your shins and feet are flush with the floor and you’re sitting on top of your heels. Your hands are rested on your thighs and your upper body is upright, and you’re looking straight ahead.
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Clasp your hands together in an interlocking position to begin Parvatasana. Extend your arms out straight in front of you, careful not to hyperextend the elbows.
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Turn your palms out so that they’re facing the wall, your fingers still interlocked. Inhale and raise your arms over your head. Press your upper arms in toward your head and thrust your shoulders upward, as though you’re extending the length of your arms to the ceiling. You should feel your chest expanding. Hold this pose for a few breaths.
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Release the pose, change the interlocking of your fingers and repeat.
How To Do the Supta Baddha Konasana Pose
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Fold your blankets into rectangular shapes just the right size for you to comfortably lean back on them. Use one to three blankets depending on how thick they are. Create a height of around 6 inches or higher depending on your comfort level. Stack them behind you.
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Sit in the Dandasana pose, which is the basic seated posture also knows as the staff pose. You’re sitting on your buttocks, your legs extended straight and together in front of you, arms at your sides, with your fingertips pressing down on the floor behind your hips.
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Bend your knees, keeping your legs together. Slowly let your knees fall to the floor, keeping your feet together, sole-to-sole. Pull your feet in toward your pelvis, as far as you are comfortable with.
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Gently lie back on your stacked blankets using your arms to guide you with the edge of the blankets at the top of your buttocks. Relax your arms off of the blankets and out to the side of your body, palms up toward the ceiling.
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Relax into the pose for 5 or 10 minutes with your eyes closed. Breathe naturally through your nose.
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Close your legs together and roll onto your side, off of the blankets. Push yourself up into a sitting position.
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Tips & Warnings
• When doing the Supta Baddha Konasana pose, you may want to use extra blankets to support your head and knees.
