Dandasana (Staff Pose)

I am here with my friend Alana to take a look at Dandasana. So we see that Alana's legs are nice and strong and engaged. It's easy to kind of fall asleep in this pose because there's not a whole lot going on, but pretty much the entire body is participating. Okay, so her legs are strong and engaged. Her feet are flexed and we can see her spine is nice and tall, rising all the way through the crown of her head.

Hands are outside the hips. This is different in every body. If the arms are longer than the torso, we want them back a little so that they compress without the shoulders jamming up into the ears or just right outside of the hip bones. Okay, the adjustment is very straightforward. I'm going to stand behind her, taking the outside edge of my lower leg against her back.

And then I'm taking the front of my hands to the front of her shoulders. And then just gently pressing in with that outer leg as I draw up and back with my hands. Yeah, that's going to open her heart and support and lengthen her spine a little. And then I just gently release that. One other option, if you see a particularly rounded or kind of gunky area through the back, just one hand to one shoulder and the other hand to that area in the back and emphasizing that specific lift.

And you might say while doing that, go ahead and lift from the back of your heart up and through or lift your heart to the sky. And then gently let that go. All right, seems like very simple pose, very simple adjustment. There are a lot of benefits to reap though. So play with that and enjoy.