Wind Relieving Pose is a beginner yoga pose that helps to stimulate digestion and gives your lower back a gentle stretch…

Despite its amusing name, Wind Relieving Pose (Pavana Muktasana) – also sometimes known as One-Legged Knee-to-Chest Pose – has some very real benefits for yogis of all levels! This pose massages the abdominal organs and helps to improve digestion and elimination, including indigestion, bloating, flatulence, and constipation, and also releases tension in the belly, lower back, hips, and thighs. It also stretches the lower back and spine, improves posture, and provides a gentle stretch for the hip flexors.

This beginner-level pose is suitable for just about everyone, but if you are pregnant, if you suffer from sciatica or spinal injury, or if you are recovering from abdominal surgery or a hernia, you should avoid this pose.

How to Do Wind Relieving Pose:

1. Begin by lying on your back, with your legs and arms extended.
2. As you exhale, draw both of your knees to your chest. Clasp your hands around them.
3. While holding only your right knee, release your left leg and extend it along the floor. Hold this pose for up to one minute.
4. Draw your left knee back in towards your chest and clasp your hands around both knees again.
5. While holding only your left knee, release your right leg and extend it along the floor. Hold this pose for the same amount of time.
6. Finally, draw both knees to your chest.
7. With an exhalation, release and extend both legs along the floor and rest.

Note: A good yoga instructor will caution you to always begin the sequence by extending the left leg first. This is because by starting with the right knee to the chest, you will stimulate the ascending and descending colon in the right order, stimulating digestion and correctly releasing excess “wind.” If you reverse the sequence (with right leg extended first), the pressure applied on the descending colon first can actually aggravate constipation, bloating, and intestinal discomfort.

Read more at YogaBasics.com…