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Lord of the Half Fishes is a yoga pose that stretches and opens the low back and hips. If your low back is sore or you want to prevent back pain, you should learn how to do Lord of the Half Fishes. This pose will provide relief whether your pain originates in your lumbar spine or if it is coming from tight hips, which pull on the lower back.
Lord of the Half Fishes is a seated pose that requires nice, tall seated posture. Be sure to lift your spine, pull in your abs and sit as tall as possible. The tendency to slouch will put your lower back into a compromised position and the pose will not provide the depth that the stretch it is designed to give you.
This pose will also show a fairly deep knee bend in your bottom leg. If you are experiencing knee pain or have any trouble bending your knees, keep your bottom leg straight in this pose to provide relief.
One of the key parts of this pose is the gentle twist of your spine. According to the Mayo Clinic back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor or miss work. They also state that at some point nearly everyone will experience some sort of back pain.
While there are many reasons for this, often the pain can be traced back to a tight lower back or hip muscles. Lord of the Half Fishes will help with both of those problems.
You will start seated with your legs stretched out in front of you and cross one leg over the other. This begins a light stretch in your hip and glute medius. Adding the gentle twist into the pose adds depth to the hip stretch and also relieves any tightness in your lower back.
How to Perform Lord of the Half Fishes Pose
- Begin in a seated position with legs straight out in front of you.
- Cross right knee over left, placing foot on the floor and tuck left foot under body next to right glute.(Note: If you knees hurt or hips are too tight, you can keep the bottom leg straight.)
- Reach your left arm straight up in the air and, twisting to the right place your left elbow over the top of your right knee and set your right hand on the floor next to you.
- As you hold, breathe and continue gently pressing your elbow against your outer leg. Hold 30 seconds.
- Repeat on the other side.
