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When it comes to feeling ten feet tall, I swear that folding and stretching forward has made me feel like Gisele Bundchen.
Instead of bothering with claims on Instagram that certain pills can boost your height, you’re much better off folding forward.
Physically, you won’t grow any taller but you’ll definitely feel a lot like Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman’ (cue the bathtub scene with Prince’s Kiss playing to great effect).
Although I did a lot of forward folds when I started yoga classes, I was terrible at it.
While other students were catching their toes and folding ever so gracefully, I appeared more like a humpback because I could only touch my knees; I just didn’t get it.
Even when I rounded my back so my forehead could touch my legs and held my breath so that I wasn’t making weird Donald Duck sounds, I was stuck for years … until the day I started marrying my breath with my folds and landing my belly into my thighs.
In a week, I was able to catch my toes and now that I’m able to get my forehead down to my shins, that magical feeling I get from my folds is simply unbelievable.
Uttanasana or ‘standing forward fold’, with options like Padahastasana, where you catch your toes, is a standing forward folding pose akin to a stretching exercise in yoga.
As heart-opening poses energise your nervous system, forward folding poses work your spine ─ the link between your brain and body ─ to help calm you down and balance your central nervous system.
In a yoga class, it is normal to fold and I look forward to folding because I believe, especially after going into a heart-opening pose, folding forward is the yummiest thing to do as a counterpose.
On top of external benefits such as lengthening the hamstrings and stretching the back, activating your Uddiyana Bandha (abdominal lock) in forward folds can help with core strengthening.
All and all, forward folds leave me refreshed and revive my positivity. When I’m in a forward fold, I visualise all my day’s nonsensical dramas melting away into the ground.
Let’s check out some of my favourite folds: ‘Seated forward fold’, ‘extended child’s pose’, ‘half-split’, ‘pyramid pose’ and the ‘standing forward fold (to toes) poses’.
Join me in the video below. Happy folding, everyone, and have a great week! ─ The Vibes, 13 January, 2021
