Yoga postures to strengthen your back

Hyderabad: Spare some time to do yoga between your preparations for the TSPSC exams. These postures will not only keep you mentally sound, but also protect your back, which is stretched in the same position for hours together. Ravindra Kapadia of Gandhi Gyan Mandir Yoga Kendra shares some tips on yoga poses you can do at home.

Paschimottanasana

A great asana for the back, the word ‘Paschim’ means back, ‘tan’ means stretching. It is the back which is stretched in this asana.

Steps

While practising the following steps, breathe out whenever the body is bent and breathe in whenever the body is brought to the normal straight position. Stretch the legs. The upper part of the body should swing backwards and forwards. While swinging, touch the knees, calves, ankles and toes with the fingers.

Sitting on the floor, stretch both the legs and place the hands on the knees. Bend further to touch the toes. Keep the body in position and hold the toes with your fingers and place both the elbows at the side of the knees. Touch the knees either with forehead or the nose.

Back should be strong enough either to stand for a long time or to walk a long distance. For that, the above steps are to be practised gradually one after the other and tried to reach the fourth position of this asana.

Benefits

The back is strengthened and you can lose weight doing this asana. But Ravindra advises that this can be a difficult asana for some people. Those with pot bellies and who can’t bend their backbones have to do this asana slowly without any hurry and take great care.