Folding Hang

by Cheng-Ling Chen — November 1, 2007

One of my favorite yoga poses is the standing forward bend. It's easy and a great way to get out of my head. I start with my knees slightly bent and fold my upper body forward, slowly doubling my chest over my legs. Jaw, neck and head relaxed, I move the weight from my heels to my toes. I let my hands fall limply, as far as they can. Or if it feels good, I hold on to opposite elbows and hang. I stay here for a few deep breaths, feeling my stomach push against my thighs as I inhale. When I am ready to come out of the pose, I fill my lungs full of air as I come up slowly, stacking my spine vertebrae by vertebrae. First my stomach grounds me, chest follows, then shoulders back, and finally my head lifts.

A yoga teacher calls this pose folding hang. "Enjoy this hang," she'd say. I like the sound of that. Makes me think of the paper airplanes I used to make when I was little. They are weightless, floating in the air. I picture this as I curve my spine like liquid. Hanging forward, I feel supported by my breath and by gravity. Even though my head is upside down, I trust my body to hold me in place.

We spend most of our waking hours standing upright, and we tend to see the world through this orientation. Sometimes it helps to invert, get the blood rushing to our head to get a change of perspective.

I did a few of these once when I was really angry about something. As I hung forward, I imagined all my anger getting sucked to the tip of my head. It knocked against my skull, before bouncing out to the floor. When I came back to standing, I felt a bit shaky. I was still angry, but I felt less constricted. Lighter.

Try folding hang next time you feel lethargic, uninspired, or whatever. As you come back up, inhaling, do you feel more energized? Can you see the world just a little more clearly?