Strengthen your lower body with Anjaneyasana or Crescent Moon Pose

Within the energy coaching world, lunges are gaining recognition for his or her means to strengthen the hips, legs, and again. It’s glorious not just for stability but in addition for enhancing mobility. What’s attention-grabbing about this train is that you would be able to additionally do it throughout a yoga class. A barely harder model of this train is known as Anjaneysana in yoga. It’s also known as low lunge pose or crescent moon pose. On this pose, your entrance knee is bent at a 90-degree angle, your again leg is prolonged behind you, and your arms are raised above your head. It’s particularly efficient because it stretches stiff muscle tissues within the decrease physique.

What’s Anjaneyasana?

Anjaneyasana, also referred to as low lunge pose or crescent moon pose, is a dynamic yoga posture that gives many well being advantages. “This pose deeply stretches the hips and legs whereas selling stability, coordination, and psychological focus,” says health coach Dr. Mickey Mehta. Low lunge pose is usually used as a preparatory place for deeper stretches or as a complicated pose equivalent to Hanumanasana or Monkey Pose.

The muscle tissues stretched in crescent moon pose are:

• Stretch your hip flexors, quadriceps, and hamstrings, paying particular consideration to the biceps femoris, the muscle in the back of your thigh.
• The gluteal muscle tissues, particularly the gluteus maximus, are stimulated.
• There are additionally very mild stretches alongside the chest and shoulders (pectoralis main, deltoids) and even the higher again.

What are the advantages of Anjaneyasana?

1. Strengthen your decrease physique

Anjaneyasana helps stretch many muscle tissues such because the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, which in flip strengthens the legs. In response to a research printed within the Journal Of Human Kinetics in 2018, lunges, together with low lunges, can tone your decrease again, buttocks, and thighs.

2. Coronary heart-opening pose

“Crescent moon pose is taken into account a heart-opening pose as a result of it stretches your chest and shoulders, relieves pressure, and permits you to perk up,” says the professional. This causes the chest to rise and the lungs to widen and develop.

3. Improves coordination and stability

Normally, yoga is understood to enhance folks’s bodily stability. A 2016 research printed within the journal Age And Getting older exhibits that yoga can assist enhance stability in folks over 60. Anjaneyasana focuses on enhancing focus and sense of stability. The focus required to keep up posture helps strengthen the connection between physique and thoughts. “It is a good pose for growing bodily and psychological stability,” says Dr. Mehta.

4. Put together for deeper stretches

This can be utilized as a prelude to extra advanced poses equivalent to Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose) and Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose). This opens up your hips and thighs, permitting you to easily transition into deeper stretches.

5. Aid from sciatica

Crescent Moon Pose gently stretches the muscle tissues round your sciatic nerve, particularly at hip degree. “This helps launch pressure and ache that could be brought on by tightness or compression of the sciatic nerve,” says Dr. Mehta.

6. Could also be good for digestion

Wind Calming Pose is without doubt one of the well-liked asanas for enhancing intestine well being. For those who’re on the lookout for a yoga pose that promotes digestion, it’s also possible to attempt crescent moon pose. Whereas within the low lunge pose, your belly muscle tissues are stimulated and your digestion is stimulated.

The way to do Anjaneyasana?

• Get right into a excessive lunge place together with your proper leg out in entrance of you and your left leg straight behind you.
• Convey your left knee near the ground and place your proper knee over your proper ankle.
• Strengthen your core, lengthen your again, elevate your chest, and calm down your shoulders.
• Stand together with your arms raised above your head, palms going through one another, going through ahead or barely upward.
• Maintain the pose for five to 10 breaths, then change to the opposite facet.

Variations of Anjaneysana

• Anjaneysana with knee elevate: As an alternative of decreasing your again knee, increase it barely to scale back the pressure in your knee.
• Anjaneysana with straps: Add a strap underneath your entrance leg for a deeper stretch in your hips and thighs.
• Anjaneysana with ahead bending: Step ahead and place your arms on the bottom, giving a stronger stretch to your again legs and decrease again.
• Twisted Anjaneysana: Twist your torso to at least one facet and preserve your hips going through ahead to deeply stretch your backbone and decrease again.
• Anjaneyasana with wall help: Begin going through the wall by leaning towards it for stability, slowly transfer backwards, after which attempt elevating your again leg for stability.

Who ought to keep away from Anjaneyasana?

• Individuals with knee accidents ought to modify this pose by avoiding deep knee bends or by lifting the again knee barely to scale back pressure.
• Modify crescent moon pose by conserving your entrance thigh at a 90-degree angle to the bottom to keep away from overextending your hips.
• Individuals with again accidents ought to give attention to conserving their backbone lengthy and keep away from deep slouches that may put stress on the decrease again.

Anjaneyasana is a primary yoga pose that helps enhance energy, flexibility, and stability. This yoga pose can also be efficient in enhancing focus.