It is also known as Mala pose And this seat can be a real challenge for Westerners, since we’re not used to squatting. But it is a yogasana Highly recommended, especially for womenAs it opens the pelvic area and strengthens the legs. As we say, Malasan This is a pose that mainly focuses on opening the hipsBut its benefits are many. “This pose helps improve our digestion, calms our body and mind, strengthens our thighs and ankles, as well as relieves potential tension in the lower back,” she tells us. Sarah Garcia (@sarayoga.journey), vinyasa yoga teacher.
The truth is that this is a position that can cost you at first, since Many joints and muscle groups are involvedAlthough the expert does not hesitate to make a nuance about this: the perception of the difficulty of yoga poses depends on our level of practice. And it all depends on whether we have an advanced practice or, on the contrary, we have just started practicing yoga.
This is a pose that primarily focuses on opening the hips, but it has many other benefits
How to do it step by step
- To start practicing it, We will start standingToes point slightly outwards. This is what will allow us to externally rotate our hips, to work on opening them up.
- later, We will bend our knees Until we ideally bring our hips towards the ground, but not touching the ground.
- If we have just flexibility in our hips, Our heels will lift off the ground (we’ll see the changes later). Ideally, we’ll have enough openings to be able to maintain Our heels rest on the ground.
- Distance between two legs This will vary depending on the student’s hip opening. The greater the distance between our legs, the more comfortable it is for the student and vice versa.
- next, We will join our palms and We will move them towards the center of the chest.
- Elbows will be at knee heightSo these will push your knee slightly outward.
- We will try to maintain ours straight spineAvoiding its curvature.
- We will relax the facial muscles And ideally we will breathe in this position for 30 seconds.
- Posture should be stable and comfortableThat is, we can hold for 30 seconds to breathe calmly through our nose. Our breathing should be calm, ideally our inhalation and exhalation should be sustained at the same time.
- To get out of the poseFirst we will separate our hands and slowly start to stretch our legs again.
“This pose, like many other yoga poses where we work to open the hips, is highly recommended for pregnant women,” points out the expert.
© Getty ImagesBenefits of this asana
- Strengthens its muscles legs and hips.
- Stretch and tone the muscles Back and ankles.
- Helps improve digestion and relieve constipation.
- prevent hip problem
Practicing this will help us gain flexibility and strength, as we stretch our ankles and thighs.
Are there different variants?
As the yoga instructor explains to us, if the heels lift off the ground due to lack of hip opening, we can Put a blanket under our heels To gain enough height to be able to keep our back straight and maintain our posture. “This will help us gain flexibility and strength, as we’re stretching our ankles and thighs,” he tells us.
Additionally, he adds that if we don’t have a blanket, we can use blocks under our heels or any other object that can support our heels and give us height to maintain the pose for a few breaths.
“The more we practice MalasanSince less change we will need Our body will gain strength and flexibility Each time more breaths are required to maintain the pose. Ideally we would practice this pose regularly every week, 3 days per week, 5 repetitions of 30 seconds. If it requires a lot of effort in the beginning, We can start with 10 secondsGradually increase to 30 seconds,” he recommends.
What are its possible contraindications?
Finally, we asked the expert if there are any contraindications while doing this asana. “It is not recommended to practice Malasan or mala pose When there is a problem in our area The postures we use to maintain our body are: Knees, lower back, hips and ankles”, he noted. And ends by reminding us that even if you are practicing for the first time MalasanYou should not notice any discomfort in this area, only you should notice that you are working in this area of your body, but We should never feel pain.
