So I was inboxed on what my Standing Bow Stretching Exercise was…this is it in a nutshell:
I basically do standing bow pose on the floor. So I’m in the full splits, grabbing my back ankle from the inside, 5 fingers together, and stretching my opposite arm in front, shoulder touching my chin, two arms/shoulders in a straight line.
If you can’t yet do the splits, you will have to spend some serious time working on that first, (I spent a good year working on them, but if I had stretched every day for 5 minutes before and after class religiously, I’m sure I could have improved faster).
If you can do the splits on the floor, but can’t yet grab your ankle comfortably, you can bend the back knee and grab the ankle as per Standing Bow Pose, and then reach back and kick back, pushing your opposite hand against front thigh for balance, until you eventually touch the floor with the back foot. This stretch will feel painful, especially in the back waist, but this is how the posture feels. It becomes a very deep compression of the kidneys and muscles of the waist.
Good luck!
