#spinal-alignment

#spinal-alignment

So, what is the "best" sleeping position to get you there? It's a tricky (if not impossible) question to answer, since everyone's body, health, and preferences are different. But according to Jennifer Martin, PhD, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, what's best for you hinges mostly on two factors: what position allows you to breathe easily, and what position is the most physically comfortable for your body.

Big Toe Pose ( Padangusthasana), in which the student grasps the big toes with the index and middle fingers while keeping the spine extended (Figure 1), is a more advanced variation of a standing forward bend. The difficulty is not only in reaching the toes, but in maintaining the quality of that movement so that the spine is freed rather than compressed.

While this asana (pose) appears to be a simple forward bend, Paschimottanasana (Sanskrit for intensive stretch to the West or back of the body) is the most difficult forward bend for most students to practice correctly. What makes the pose so difficult is that the hamstring muscles in the back of the thigh must lengthen in order for the pelvis to rotate forward. This allows the spinal column to remain relatively straight while bending forward.