Take a Leap of Faith: How to Hanumanasana

Take a Leap of Faith: How to Hanumanasana Achieving the full split with completely square hips in yoga is something that many yogis seek. The posture is named after the Hindu monkey god named Hanuman. The story of this posture comes from the great Indian epic the Ramayana, where Hanuman leaps across the ocean to an island to rescue a captured queen. It is truly an act of devotion! If you are ready to devote yourself to becoming better at the splits, then look no further. We will dissect what all you need to get into Hanumanasana. Many people who are working on their splits primarily focus on the front leg. This is of course a great place to start but there is more to achieving a full front split than just the hamstrings on the front leg. Let’s take a look at the lengthening action of the back leg. Remember, this is a square frontal split, so we are trying not to open the hip of the back leg here. There are quite a few muscles that are being stretched in the back leg. The muscles that are lengthening in the back leg include the psoas major, iliacus, tensor fascia latae, rectus femoris, pectineus, sartorius, adductor magnus upper fibers, adductor longus and brevis, and the gracilis. As you can see, the hip flexors and adductors play a pretty big role in maximizing the extension of the back leg! A common area that is often overlooked in stretching for the splits is the adductor group. Today we are going to learn an exercise called ~Reverence~ that targets the adductor magnus and longus through Zaichik Stretching. Make sure you are properly warmed up before attempting this exercise. Read below to learn more! ~Reverence~ Start in a low lunge position with the torso folded forward toward the floor, with both hands inside the front legKeep your torso as it is and lift the heel of your front foot off of the floor. This is our Leverage.Lower the heel back down, and drop the torso closer to the floor, advancing into your Target position. Never lift the torso up- always keep it dropping downward!Do this 5 times on each side Try ~Reverence~ before your move into your splits the next time that you practice. You will begin to see improvements in your Hanumanasana right away! Come back next week for more tips on how to continue advancing into your full split. If you want to master your Hanumanasana, Click on the picture below to find out more about our EasyFlexibility Programs: or you can find out below each level separately You may also be interested in Yoga Combo 1 This package contains: Butterfly LocustDownward Facing DogWheel Pose LEARN MORE Yoga Combo 2 This package contains: VisvamitrasanaBird Of ParadiseLocust ScorpionDouble Hamstrings LEARN MORE Yoga Combo 3 This package contains:  ButterflyDownward Facing Dog Back Bridge Visvamitrasana Bird Of ParadiseLocust Scorpion Double Hamstrings Lord of the Dance True Front Split Side SplitPlow PoseCow Face Pose Eagle Pose King Pigeon Pose Elbow lever Forearm Stand Hand Stand Kurmasana Eka Pada Sirsasana LEARN MORE © ElasticSteel Corp., EasyFlexibility, Paul Zaichik, et. El., 2022. No part of the materials available through ElasticSteel.com, EasyFlexiiblity.com, site may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Paul Zaichik EasyFlexibility.com, Elasticsteel.com.. Any other reproduction in any form without the permission of Paul Zaichik EasyFlexibility.com, Elasticsteel.com is prohibited. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Paul Zaichik, EasyFlexibility.com, Elasticsteel.com.