Kurmasana & Supta Kurmasana

The ancient yogis created an ingenious solution to stretching hard-to-access mus- cles—Kur-masana. In this pose we connect the arms and legs to stretch the lower back and hips. 

Anatomy

The ancient yogis created an ingenious solution to stretching hard-to-access mus- cles—Kur-masana. In this pose we connect the arms and legs to stretch the lower back and hips. The main story here is the trunk flexing forward. Linking the elbows behind the knees creates a subplot to this story. You can see that straightening the knees presses down on the backs of the arms and flexes the trunk deeper. Contract the biceps and brachialis muscles to bend the elbows and protect them from hy- perextending. When the thighs press onto the upper arms, attempting to bend the elbows with the palms fixed on the floor draws the torso deeper into the pose, giving that extra inch or two of stretch where yoga really happens. 

BASIC JOINT POSITIONS  

• The hips flex and abduct. 
• The knees extend. 
• The ankles plantar flex. 
• The feet evert. 
• The trunk flexes. 
• The shoulders extend, abduct, and externally rotate. 
• The elbows extend. 
• The forearms pronate