Gecko

Encyclopedia of Hip Stretches: Frog Pose

This stretch is both amazing and challenging. It opens the hips and literally looks like frog legs. Because this is a more difficult hip stretch, caution is advised in entering and exiting the stretch. To get into frog pose, you will first need a yoga mat. Start in table pose on all fours. One at a time move a knee to the side, in line with the hip. When you have both knees out away from the center, check the angle of the bend in your knee. Adjust the angle to 90 degrees. Then come down on your forearms.

To adjust the difficulty of this stretch you can widen your knees. You can hold this position for one minute and work up to holding it for longer times. To exit this pose, crawl your arms forward until you are laying on the ground, then bring your knees in. This will avoid putting unnecessary strain on your groin muscles.

Variations:

Health Benefits:

  • Prevent Diabetes
  • Improve Digestive System
  • Relieve Anxiety and Stress
  • Strengthen Hips, Back, Knees, and Ankles
  • Reduce Fat from Belly, Hips, and Abdomen
  • Enhance Kidney and Liver Function
  • Treatment for Menstrual Cramps

Contraindications:

  • Pregnant Women
  • Ulcers, specifically Peptic Ulcers
  • Abdomen Post-Op (even if it has been several years, caution is advised
  • Severe Migraines
  • Full Stomach
  • Severe Back Pain

References

https://www.rishikulyogshala.org/top-7-health-benefits-of-mandukasana-frog-pose/

https://www.tummee.com/yoga-poses/mandukasana/contraindications

Thai Massage Circus 2/11/16

The door fell off my bungalow but, David fixed it.  The morning course was rather difficult with spinal twists and hip movements.  All of the hip work is pretty intense.  When we were working on the QL someone missed and pushed down hard on my floating rib that had been broken several years back – I cried after that and promised a swap back that probably won’t happen but, that’s ok.

Mali worked with me in the afternoon and we were playing around in Gecko pose.  I have not yet worked with the same person twice in massage. There are about 30 people in the class so its possible to work with everyone a couple of times.

All of the meals were delicious again.  The kitchen is a giant bungalow open air.  I have no idea how they make the food so awesome.  There are two refrigerators and they store all our drinking water in barrels under the kitchen.

The locals take the laundry into town two days a week but it takes too long to come back and I didn’t bring enough to use the service so I am still washing in the river.

I have started to read the manual for the circus and its very entertaining so far.

Today the german phrase was : What is for breakfast = was gibt es zum fruschtück. (probably not spelled correctly–edited in 2019). OISHI is the Japanese word of the day.

Fire spinning is definitely happening tomorrow.  I worked it out with David and it will be at 7pm.  It is the same day as the sauna and I’m excited to do that again.  David and I talked about the logistics of how to set it up and it will come together quite nicely.

Whatever was bothering me after lunch (broken rib irritation) has passed but the feeling o being on a boat remains.

Chatted at length with Marty tonight.

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Additional notes:

David is the general handy man at the circus.  He is usually walking around through the circus with a hatchet in hand and a bounce in his step.  When I first arrived he was working on the constructing a drain pipe for the sauna.  He is the go to guy for fixing things at the land.  I should note also that he is always wearing the baggy Thai style pants and is allergic to shoes.