Purvottanasana for beginners – modifications, variations and progressions

Recently I had a little bit of an epiphany. My brain doesn’t work the “typical” way. While I personally like watching short informative videos (usually on 1.5 speed) when creating content, especially tutorials, I want to spill out EVERYTHING about the subject. Time to reign in it, with shorter and more niched content. So today we’re discussing reverse purvottanasana for beginners. Just the basics modifications and progression variations.

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Purvottanasana for Beginners Modification

So before even thinking about doing your full reverse plank try this simple and quick test. Just to check your wrist, arm, shoulder and core strength. Come to seated, knees bent, and feet on the floor about hip distance apart. Place your arms comfortably behind you. Pushing down with the hands and feet can you lift the pelvis up level with the knees and shoulders?

Things to check here:

• Are your shoulders pulling back?
• Is your chest open or sinking?
• How do your wrists/shoulders feel?
• Where is your bum? Sinking? Or level with knees/shoulders?
• How long can you hold the pose?

If you can do this purvottanasana for beginners modification then you can start to work on progressions to make it more challenging. If this pose is already difficult, there are ways to provide ease using props. But that’s another post for another day!

More Variations for pose progression

So what to do if both knees bent seems easy enough, but you don’t feel ready for both legs straight? Simple! Just extend one leg. This also has the upside that you have to do both legs extended so you have to repeat it giving you a little more core work!

Mastered that but still don’t feel ready for both legs straight? Change the position of the bent leg! Easies is with the foot level with the opposite knee (or thigh). But work on gradually lengthening the leg by repositioning the foot level with the shin, and then the ankle.

Again work on BOTH sides. Gradually increasing the time spent in the pose. Until, you finally feel ready to explore the variation with both legs straight.

Remember a strong core is important, and hopefully these tips help you on that journey! If you have questions, just reach out in the comments or email me

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Questions

• Can you do purvottanasana?
• Which modification is more your level?
• Do you prefer shorter videos/posts?