The clamp (uttanasana): why start this posture from the ground

In the practice of yoga, the ground not only supports us, it is also a source of impulse. Taking advantage of the ground to build the asanas is key to avoiding overloading stressed areas.

Maintain the focus of attention during the practice of yoga It can lead you to spontaneously change some movement habits. On the one hand, it allows you to recover or maintain bodily integrity. On the other hand, it helps you understand something more about the body, movement and its effects on our way of being in the world.

One of the changes that the attentive and investigative attitude has led me to is related to the positions that are usually built from the top down. For example, uttanasana (the clamp) or trikonasana (the triangle). Some time ago I started building them from the bottom up and I’m going to tell you why.

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If you find it difficult to fully flex your trunk when doing the clamp…

To normally perform uttanasana simply arms are raised and the trunk is flexed forward from the standing position with the intention of bringing the hands closer to the ground.

As long as you have a good ability to adhere to the ground and a uniform stress distribution in your connective tissue, performing the lowering gesture is a real pleasure.

You will progressively loosen the tissue, in a continuous game and adjustment with the force of gravity and the ground. do it this way, when conditions are right, it will maintain the balance of tone throughout the body.

But, if in the construction of uttanasana you have the feeling that the descent of the trunk is slowed down means that an area of ​​the tissue cannot continue with the proposed gesture. He has already given all he could give. And in the fight against gravity, which would make it continue to extend, it hyper-contracts to protect itself.

This happens to us when the state of our connective tissue or our ability to take root is not one hundred percent.

In this case, you will feel that you are in a position that, instead of a sensation of balance, gives you feeling of effort Training yourself to detect this sensation is a great way to stay confident in practice.

I have already reached this point, I am descending and the body has stopped the movement, what do I do?

Accept motion stop and hold it with the support of the hands in some area of ​​the body. Detect which area of ​​the tissue is slowing down the movement. Where is there excess tension? Detect which area of ​​the tissue is inactive. Where is hyper-relaxed tissue? Rehearse, through breathing and micro movement, a redistribution of tension: activate the inactive areas, then see if that gesture releases the hyper-contracted areas.

Get up with the help of your arms

And very important: if the redistribution of tension is not achieved, it is essential to undo the posture using the strength of arms and hands, not just that of the back. Resting on thighs or knees, they will assume the force that the tissue that slows down the movement cannot perform. Do not leave the work of doing it to the area that has been hyper-contracted.

If we haven’t stopped and given time to loosen the hypercontracted tissue, we only have one solution to keep moving forward: hyperextend other tissue. If we have done so, we will already have two tissue areas that will not be able to participate in the movement to recover verticality.

In this situation, what I mentioned above becomes essential: the use of arms and hands that rest on other areas of the body to undo uttanasana. If you don’t use them, injuries during the process of recovering verticality are frequent.

We will have come out of the posture with a hyper-contracted area of ​​tissue and a hyper-extended area. The distribution of tension and relaxation in the body will not be uniform and we will limit the ability to change state in the tissue.

The recommendation is clear: restore that stress distribution. And one way to achieve this is to perform uttanasana from the ground.

How to do uttanasana (the clamp) from the floor

Building this posture from the ground is the way to recover the right conditions of adherence to the ground and uniformity in the distribution of stress. It also makes us aware of our solid parts, the bones, and this eliminates the extra tension in the muscles.

When starting from the ground, a force is printed on the movement that ensures us security conditions in which connective tissue can unfold naturally.

To perform uttanasana from the floor, The first thing we do is rest our hands on the ground, even if we have to bend our knees to do so. And keeping the hands supported, we will extend the legs until we feel that the movement stops.

This facilitates balance, eliminating the compensating forces to maintain it. Performs the braking function against the effect of gravity, that, without the supports, should perform the tissue of the back. Facilitates micro-movement of the dorsal and lumbar areas, allowing the gradual unfolding of the connective tissue. Allows you to accurately adjust the speed and pauses in the construction of the posture, inviting the deep observation of the functioning and state of the body itself.

And remember… You are restoring your ability to adhere to the ground and the uniform distribution of tension in the tissue. Uttanasana is the way to it, not your goal.

When is it best to start from the ground up?

Whenever we are in a moment of physical and mental change, it is highly recommended to move on to a type of practice that allows us to verify the changes we are experiencing and find the appropriate way to move in that state.

In recovery periods of an injury or illness. During pregnancy. During recovery from childbirth. While we are immersed in periods of strong hormonal changes, due to natural cycles or any other cause.

In all of this, there is something that is especially valuable to me: learning to support oneself, to push, to expand, to give space, to stop, to observe, to resume, to take into account the parts and the whole, to care.

Keeping all this only in the body is too much effort, contagion to the rest of our ways of expression is natural.

contemplate how this physical experience is transferred to the emotional, mental, relationship and life strategies, has an incalculable value.