Level
2 Difficulty. Spider 3 -
a great abdominals builder! It's a strong hamstring stretch, great
for hip rotators, and rebuilds and strengthens your lower back. Spider
3 combines Spider 1 and Spider 2 for al combination
that remedies many lower back and hip issues. Some people find it
a little awkward to hold on to their foot in this pose. Hopefully,
you'll find some of the tips here helpful for that.
No
wonder it's on the Serenity
Yoga Foundation Poselist. Some people find
it a little awkward to hold on to their foot in this pose. Hopefully,
you'll find some of the tips here helpful for that.
Good for These Practice Goals: Morning yoga; senior's yoga; improve
personal posture; meditation warm up; sports warm up; great for runners,
bikers, swimmers, marital artists
Avoid
Under these Health Conditions: arthrtitis
in fingers, knees, toes; osteoporosis in lower back, hips, knees, toes,
spine, neck; compressed disc in upper neck, upper shoulders, middle back,
lower back; diverticulitis; femoral; hiatial or umbilical hernia; fresh
injury or surgery of hip, knee, lower back; untreated high blood pressure;
pins in upper, middle or lower back; pins in knee or ankle region; pregnancy
- last half; prolapsed intestines or uterus; fresh whiplash
Basic
Instruction
Try learning Spider 1 and Spider 2 first. Spider 3 is simply a combination
of both.
Step
1 - Spider 1
Start
by lying on your back, legs together, arms by your sides
Next
Bring one knee up toward your chest
Next
Reach down and hold on to the tops of your toes. Do this with the
arm that corresponds to the leg. (Right arm - right leg, or left
arm - left leg.)
Key
Your arms goes inside the leg. This will turn the
knee and leg out slightly but do not allow the leg to wander out to
the side any more than is necessary. By having the arm inside the
leg, you free the hip rotators enough to put the stretch deep into
the hip, lower back and sacrum.
Detail
Wrap your fingers over the tops of your toes and secure them over
the ball of your foot.
If you can't
reach your fingers entirely over the ball of your foot, holding
your toes is fine. It just feels less secure.
Reaching
over the top of your toes and holding on to your foot (or your toes)
aligns the leg more acurately. More importantly, it draws the heel
outward, away from your body, which in turn brings the stretch more
into the hip and lower back.
Next
Keeping your knee close to your chest, tug your foot in a motion down
the line of the arm toward your shoulder, so that the foot and the
knee are coming closer
Key
Your knee stays bent and your heel stays close to your body. Your
knee also stays close to your body and doesn't wander out to the
side. The stretching motion is like a lunge.
Hold for 6 breaths
or until you feel you can go no deeper into the stretch, even with breathing
out. Then
go on to Spider 2.
Step
2 - Spider 2
Without letting
go of your toes
straighten
your leg
then sit
up to meet it, (bringing your nose toward your thigh).
You Will
Feel This In Your
Hamstrings, lower back, abdominals & slightly in your upper
back
Tip
The non-stretching leg and its arm rest loosely on
the floor.
Tip
Once your leg is in place upright, the action
is sitting up to meet the leg, as opposed to drawing the leg closer
to your head.
Hold
Spider 2 for 2 - 4 breaths or until your abdominals begin
to tire.
With
each breath in, elongate your spine (but don't loose the height
you've gained in your pose)
With
each breath out, sit up more and more, bringing your upper body
closer to your leg.
Tip
Breathe
out strongly. This will help you sit up
Tip
Let
your non-stretching side relax, hanging loosely against the floor.
Release
Lower your leg and arm to the floor. Wait while your body lets go
of the pose.
Switch
Legs. Repeat entire sequence.
Repeat
until you've done 2 - 3 repetitions on each side, alternating
sides.
Modifications
If you can't
hold onto the tops of your toes, it's OK to hold onto your ankle
or your leg.
Try
not to hold the foot from the instep or from the outer edges.
If your fingers
keep slipping or if you have arthritis in your fingers or toes,
try lacing your fingers in between your toes.
As
a final option, a yoga strap can work, when wrapped across the middle
of the foot. (We don't often recommend use of props in Serenity
Yoga, so take advantage of it when you can! LOL)
Safety
Tip for people with sensitive lower backs In your case, it's
advisable not to straighten the leg completely, but to keep it slightly
bent. Even better if you hold on to your leg and not your toes.
Key
Allow the knee and leg to come as straight back toward
the head as in a Lunge. To get the full benefits of the pose, it's
essential to keep the knee well bent not to allow the leg to 'open'
(not to allow it to straighten up)
Key
Hold on to your foot with the corresponding hand, (left
hand for left leg, right hand for right leg). Also, do not cross the
other one over to assist; this will warp your alignment and close
off your breathing.
Common
Errors
Do
not allow your leg to wander away from the body.
Keep the knee as close to the body as you can without strain. When
the knee swings out, you lose much of the stretch and risk injuring
your knee & hip. Allowing the knee to wander
Do
not twist your foot in order to hold on to it. This can strain
your ankle and knee and will mean you're not pulling straight back
on the leg. This often happens when people grip the outside or inside
edge of their foot, rather than the top. If you can't hold your toes
or the ball of the foot, try holding on to your leg instead and focus
on tugging your knee and leg straight back.
Try
not to have your hand and arm outside of the leg. This will change
the stretch. By keeping your arm on the inside, it frees up the hip
rotators enough to put the stretch deeply into the lower back and
sacrum. This will also allow you to make a smooth transition from
Spider 1 to Spider
2 when the time comes.
Do not stretch
your leg upward during Spider 1. Keep your knee well
bent and your heel close to your body. Stretching upward is what
you'll be doing in Spider
2.
Do not sit
up while doing Spider 1, (save that for Spider
2). Sitting up does not allow the hip and
lower back muscles to relax enough to go deeply into the lunging
movement.
Discovery
Exercises
Experiment
with having your hand holding on to your foot in different places,
such as your toes, the outside of your foot and the inside of
your foot. Notice how this changes the alignment in the hip and
knee and how it tends to move the leg away from or toward the
center line of the body. (Do this gently and not to any great
extent. Stop before anything in your hip or knee hurts.)
Experiment
with having your knee tucked close to your body, and then have
it swing out away from the body. (Do this gently and not to any
great extent. Stop before anything in your hip or knee hurts.)
Notice how that changes the stretch. To do Spider 1 correctly,
have your leg & knee tucked closely to your body.
Breathing
Start
Breathe in & out, letting your weight settle & body relax.
Breathe
in Breathe out bringing your knee up toward your chest & holding
on to your foot. Breathe in and out as you firm your grip and settle into place
Hold
for 2 - 6 breaths or to the limit of your ability to stretch.
(Breathing in & out, seeing if the stretch willingly increases, without
forcing it.)
Breathe in
- sitting up, elongating your spine Breathe out - sitting up farther
Hold for
2 - 4 breaths or until your abdominals begin to tire. With each
breath in, elongate your spine (but don't loose the height you've
gained in your pose) With each breath out, sit up more and
more, bringing your upper body closer to your leg.
Release
Breathe in, Breathe out, lowering leg and arm to the
floor. Wait while the tension in the muscles dissolves.
Switch,
do other side. Repeat 3 times each side
Yellow
Level Breathing
Start
by
relaxing into your starting position.
1
Breathe
in, bringing up your knee
Pause your breath while you hold on to your foot or your leg
2
Breathe out,
tugging the knee closer to your upper body
Pause your
breathing and your movements
3
Breathe in
- sitting up, elongating your spine Pause
your breathing and your movements Breathe out - sitting up farther Pause your breathing and your movements Breathe
in - sitting up farther, elongating your spine more. Pause your breathing and your movements
4
Breathe out,
lowering your knee to the Spider 1 position.
Pause your breathing and your movements while your body settles
down and relaxes
Repeat
Steps 3 & 4 until you've done about 5 repetitions.
Then return to Corpse pose, let the stretch go completely, before
doing the other leg.
Hold
positions 1, 2, 4, & 5 until you reach the limit of your ability
to stretch, feeling your body letting go and relaxing more and more
into the stretch with each breath out (Red Level Breathing Theme),
or use Yellow or Green Level Breathing Themes for
great results also.
This combination
is excellent for rebuilding the lower back, relieving sciatic pain,
improving the flexibility of the hip rotators while supplying a
great hamstring stretch. It also releases the psaosis and stretches
out the trapesius in the shoulders. However, it is more demanding,
being Level 5 in difficulty, and, as a remedial combination, it
requires that you've restored your lower back and sciatic somewhat
with the Spider 1 & 2 combination first.
Main Benefits:
Loosens & strengthens
lower back, inner thighs, hip rotators.
Compensating
Pose (Follow Up with a Brief Repetition of):
Leg Fold 1
Warm Up with
/ Build Up to This Pose with:
Abdominal Lifts
1, Abdominal Lifts 2, Jumping Frog, Wood Chopper 1, Back Stretch,
Leg Stretch, Leg Clasp, Leg Over 1, Leg Fold 2, Reclining Butterfly,
Butterfly, Butterfly Extension, Happy Baby, Dead Bug, Back Stretch,
Cat 1, Child Pose, Child Pose - Modified, Child Pose - with Bust Expansion,
Moon Salutation 1, Rock & Rolls, Sitting Wide Angle Pose, Standing
Wide Angle, Sun Salutations
Warms You
Up for / Builds You Up for:
Hamstring Stretches
like Wood Chopper, Chest Expansion 2, Chest Expansion - Leg Extensions,
Leg Clasp, Leg Stretch, Back Stretch & Leg Overs; Lunges, Shoulder
Stand, Plow, Balancing Poses, Hip Openers, Twists, Balancing Poses
Good for These
Practice Goals:
Morning yoga;
senior's yoga; improve personal posture; meditation warm up; sports
warm up; great for runners, bikers, swimmers, marital artists
Recommended
for These Health Conditions:
carpal tunnel
syndrome, frozen shoulders, allergies, asthma, weak bladder, bronchitis,
compressed disc in lower back, cystosis, excessive bloating, chronic
hip injury, chronic lower back injury, ibs, lung removed, menopause
& pre-menopause, menstruating (having your period) at this moment,
migraines & headaches, both chronic and at the moment of doing your
routine, pneumonia, pregnancy - first half, restless legs, sciatica,
scoliosis, spondylitis, sleeping difficulties, pronation of feet &
or hips
Avoid Under
these Health Conditions:
arthrtitis in
fingers, knees, toes; osteoporosis in lower back, hips, knees, toes,
spine, neck; compressed disc in upper neck, upper shoulders, middle
back, lower back; diverticulitis; femoral; hiatial or umbilical hernia;
fresh injury or surgery of hip, knee, lower back; untreated high blood
pressure; pins in upper, middle or lower back; pins in knee or ankle
region; pregnancy - last half; prolapsed intestines or uterus; fresh
whiplash
