Since I have started practicing yoga, I’ve disliked forwarding bends, you guessed it, tight hamstrings.
I’d like to cultivate a practice that would help move through my aversion, discomfort and distaste for all forward bending. I believe that this will be a long process (between 3-12 months), but I’m committed to continuing to practice and working strongly to make forward bends my friend.
I’m a fairly strong, tall woman, who practices Iyengar yoga.
I’m open to all suggestions.
Namaste
The sage Patanjali said “The vacillating waves of perceptions are stilled through consistent earnest practice and dispassionate non-attachment” (I- 12).
Yoga is a balance between discipline and letting go. You seem to have an abundance of the former. However, forward bends make an appeal on us to surrender, to turn inward and to let go. What would happen if you befriended exactly the opposite qualities from those that you mention in your post (committed, working strongly, strong woman)? Maybe your hamstrings would let go, too. But you can never tell when. You certainly cannot force them to lengthen in 3 to 12 months. Cultivate awareness, enjoy the journey and who knows where it will take you.
Having said this, you could ask your teacher to show you some poses to open the hamstrings. My favorites are: (1) Supta padangusthasana in a doorway. One leg up the doorpost, the other through the doorway. Allow for 1 - 2 minutes on each side. The hamstrings are large muscles with plenty of connecting tissue and need a long time to relax. (2) Uttitha hasta padangustasana with the straight leg on a chair. The chair should not be so high so that you would lose your natural lumbar curve. Be gentle, breathe with your hamstrings and let them go on the exhales.
Try to love your hamstrings. Don’t force things. Many yoga students have damaged the hamstrings at the point where they insert on the sitting bones. That will take months to recover. Time you would otherwise use for yoga practice.
One final question: are your quads strong? If not, you could try to tone them. It’s always a good strategy to strengthen the antagonist of the muscles that are tight (try warrior poses and squat pose).
Lengthen your hamstrings 3 - 4 times a week, but never forget to do this with an attitude of letting go and reverence for the yoga tradition.
Just continue to practice and they will release. Most yoga sessions have a lot of forward folds so just practice consistently, 4-6 days a week and they will slowly open. One of my favorite forward folds is rag doll. Just stand and fold over and hang for a few minutes. Bend the knees a touch if it is too intense and as you develop flexibility will be able to straighten the legs. Gravity is the magic of this pose. You don’t have to do anything but hang and the weight of your upper body takes care of everything else.
Hi wecology, maybe some hard figures are interesting for you:
When I started with Asana-sessions, I could not tie my shoes standing up and with straight legs, my fingertips barely reached the floor. After about a 80-90 hours (3 1/2 months of daily practice) I made it to put the flat hands on the floor in Uttanasana, and that for the first time since I lost my childhood-flexibility. A wonderful feeling.
Uttanasana, by the way, is my favorite Asana, focus on the head, the sensation is awesome.
wecology,
If you haven’t heard this already, it’s important to first elongate with a complete inhalation before bending: arms up over your head as high as possible, inhaling, and then over with exhalation, both standing or sitting.
peace,
siva