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| In rabbit pose, to get a better grip, i bend my foot at the angle so that if you were looking at me from the side and drew a line from my toes to my ankle, it would be perpendicular to the floor. Is this okay? Or should the soul of my foot be parallel with the floor?
What is the timing of the double exhale in sit-ups? Do you inhale as you are coming up, followed by a double exhale, or do you do your first exhale as you come up and then another one as your reach for your toes?
Wulfheir |
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| Wulfheir,
I always thought that your feet should be parallel to the floor. The reason I think this is because the instructor held my feet one time to help, and she pulled them together so my heels were almost touching. One teacher told us to push our knees to the floor, which would help us straighten our back while we are in position. It's so hard to explain in writing, hopefully someone else will have some insight.
As far as the exhales in sit up, I do an inhale with my arms over my head, then a double exhale at my feet, with the second one as the strongest (I hope no one saw me do that in my office, to double check  ) |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | In Rabbit, the tops of your feet should be touching the floor so the soles of the feet are facing the ceiling. So you want the foot parallel to the floor, not perpindicular. Try to bring the heels together. Sometimes I will stand a student's feet (I am an instructor) so s/he can develop a nice strong pull against the heels as s/he "rolls forward like a wheel."
For the sit-up, I was taught that you inhale as you sit up and then exhale twice as you come forward to touch the toes.
Hope that helps! |
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| Thanks for the replies!
I understand your description of Rabbit now. My teacher suggests using a towel between the palms of the hands and the heels, to help the grip, instead of slipping off sweaty feet. But I always just raised the heels and pointed my toes down so I could pull on my heels easier.
As for the sit-up, it sounds like the verdict is still out. However, thinking about it now, the strong inhale coming up probably helps tighten the core to protect the lower back on the rise. I will play with that. |
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| Wulfheir, I think it's ok to have your ankles up off the floor. I have short arms and a healthy rear, and my instructor taught me to take a hand towel and wrap it around my heels and to grab that towel. However, to do that I have to raise the ankles to be able to use the heels as hooks.
W/ regard to sit-ups, all of our instructors have us inhale as we raise our arms over our head, and exhale twice as we sit up w/ the second inhale being prolonged as we touch our toes and stretch. |
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| Hmm... I'm going to have to corner my teacher on this one. |
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| In Rabbit the grip is not important till the butt starts going up. Top of feet on the floor. If you have the tendancy to pull the feet towards the core this signifies a neck issue. If so then as you curl down go slow and notice your neck and try to use your adductors (inner thighs) more and gaze at your belly button as you go down. Squezing the heels at each other will also engage the adductors more and get the core more involved. Go slow so you can process the back of the neck and romboids. If it gets hard to come down with out holding the neck then put your palms on the floor to support the neck in lengthening and curling in. As in all postures you want to work on the phase that causes stuff to come up.
In the situp, I teach to exhale smoothly the whole way through the situp, tryinging to keep the arms in alignment with the head from the side. No choppy movement. I believe all the other ways are less wholistic. See for yourself. |
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| Usually one exhales as one contracts, unless it's Urdhva Dhanurasana in which case you exhale as you push up. Think exhale=effort. When you raise your arms, you're in Supta Urdhva Hastasana, right? So think of you were standing, as you raised your arms you'd inhale before folding forward to touch the floor during which you'd exhale. Of course, Bikram doesn't do sun salutations, so this might be counter-intuitive.
Traditionally, rabbit has the transverse arch flat on the floor. The heels stay together, forcing a larger arch in the spine, to bring your head closer to your knees and onto the crown. This is a seriously bad pose for anyone with cervical spine or rotator cuff issues, BTW. But anyway, using a towel is an excellent modification.
C. |
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Rabbit Pose and Sit-up
