Yoga Pose: Fish Pose

Let's now take a look at fish pose or Matsyasana. It's called Matsyasana.

How To Do It:

For this one, you start laying down on your back you placed your hands underneath the body, palms facing down. Elbows as close as possible together. Bring big toes together as well. That starts to activate your leg muscles. Now press your elbows down and lift up.

This is stage one, your students need to get this right in order to get into the final pose. To get into the final pose. Lift your chest or open your chest, bringing the shoulder blades together, release the chin and gradually place some of the weight onto the top of the head.

A lot of the weight should be on your elbows. So you are not in any danger of breaking your neck.

Now, to come out of the pose. And I assume by now you know that it's five long breaths. After five long breaths. Inhale to look forward slightly taking some weight off of your head and release down. So the trick is to remember to take some weight off your head before you release your arms. Now you can just stay here and rest for a while. And this will be a good counterpose just to let the spine realign. You can stay for three long breaths.

So now let me show you another way of going into a fish pose or Matsyasana.

You place your hands behind you when your elbows are up. You don't have to bend your wrists this way, can even just use your fingers. Use the fingers to propel yourself up, lifting the chest up and the head up. Take some of the weight onto the top of your head and then your hands down.

Now to come out. It's very important to place weight onto your hands. Release the pressure off of your head before you come down. That's important for safety to get the pressure off of the neck first before you come down.

Now that second version is a little bit stronger. So you want to ensure that your students have no issues with their necks before you do that. Otherwise, you can stay with the first version.

Fish pose is very nice for opening the chest for breathing. Especially for conditions like asthma and bronchitis, it's very good for the heart chakra and the throat chakra.