10/15/2024
Happy Table Tuesday! Let's unpack one of my favorite inversions and ways to increase my stability and posture = Ardha Purvottanasana
Commonly named Reverse Table Top or Altar Crab, Ardha Purvottanasana strengthens so many areas in it's exdcution alone! Shoulders, gluteus maximus, arms, core, wrists, and legs. Reverse Table Top opens the front of the body so it’s an excellent counter pose to Table Top Pose, Forward Fold, Plank, and Chaturanga. It is beneficial in strength training, allowing us to achieve better posture. You can also relieve neck tension (text neck is a common occurrence in today's digital and doomscrolling world) in this asana by opening the throat and allowing the head and neck to tilt back.
My own experience with Ardha Purvottanasana:
Reverse Table is mainly utilized on days I'm working on strengthening my wrists and ankles. In my early years of yoga practice, it was used to improve my posture as it encouraged the opening of my frontline body and heart. I wasn't able to maintain a lift in my hips, so I would keep the hips at a lower altitude until I was stronger in my wrists, ankles, and hips to lift higher. It feels powerful connecting with all four stability points in soles and palms as you raise everything else. But again, FEEL out your stability before taking a rise. When the rise in the hips reaches an appropriate height, allow yourself to open the throat slowly by looking up at the ceiling/sky. If you have vertigo, avoid this and adjust the neck to remain at a point where your vertigo isn't triggered. Once the ex*****on of your Table Top is set, take 3-5 long rounds of breath. Stay with it, and grace yourself with a careful release.
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Book or show up for my in-person All-Levels Flow class at Papillon and Company in Metuchen, NJ every Sunday at 9:30am!
-Luis Ollé
