Pit Stop at the Wrist Fundamentals

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

 

Its Spring time! Spring. Spring. Spring is my favorite

time of the year. It brings in all the positive energy

- My culinary quotient has risen above poison levels,

my little garden is thriving well, new born affinity

for horses, and to top of all that, I did my first

pain-free arm balance in a long time.

 

For a while now, I have been disabled with Tendonitis

in my right wrist. I figured I might as well use the

wrist pain to my advantage and started playing around

with my arm for proper alignments. I would like to

share my experimental thoughts. And I welcome any

constructive criticism.

 

1) The Palm - Using the entire surface area of the

palm activates the bicep, tricep, and the forearm

muscles and takes away considerable amount of stress

from the wrists. Surface area includes all five

fingers, base of the fingers, the base of the palm

right above the wrist, and the sides of the palm.

 

The entire surface area of the palm must be in contact

with the ground in *all asanas* requiring palms on the

ground (Downward dog, Upward dog, All arm balances,

Plank, Chaturanga).

 

Sometimes, it feels easier to do arm balances with

knuckles off the ground, but this is the real culprit

- It puts all the weight on the wrists and the wrists

will eventually cave in. So it is essential to have

the entire palm on the ground all the time.

 

Although it is hard to sustain initially with the

entire palm on the ground, it does build strength.

 

2) Distance between the fingers - One way to figure

out the optimal distance between the fingers is to

stand up with the arm resting casually next to your

thigh with the palm curved naturally. Then face the

curved palms towards the ground. Then slowly

straighten out your fingers to **almost full

extension**. This way the fingers are neither overly

separated nor too close together. The elbow, the inner

edge of the wrist and the index finger form an almost

straight line.

 

3) Hyperextension of elbows - This pinches the tendons

in my wrist and hurts every single time. Once I bend

my elbows sufficiently, my whole arm is activated and

wrist does not hurt anymore. This is hard to sustain

initially too. But it definitely build strength.

 

4) There is a very good article on this at:

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/1247.cfm

 

Best,

Gayathri.

 

There is nothing more worse for a teacher than a talented student -- My "prefers

to be anonymous" peer