yogabook / functional exercises / press forehead to the floor

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Last updated: 29 May 2021
Name: Press forehead to the floor

• Classification
• Contraindication
• Effects
• Preparation
• follow-up
• derived asanas
• similar asanas
• Diagnostics
• Instructions
• Details
• Variants

Instructions

1. Lie on your stomach on the floor. Place your forehead on a pile of patches just a few centimetres high or another suitable elevation.
2. Place your arms passively at the side of your body.
3. Press the forehead slowly onto the elevation with increasing force up to the limit of the desired intensity or tolerance.

Details

1. This exercise is a simple and easy way to strengthen the muscles that prevent the head and cervical spine (flexion of the cervical spine). Due to a lack of training on the one hand and insufficient strengthening in everyday life on the other, these muscles are not very efficient in many people. In addition, the head forward posture, which is not uncommon for people working at computer screens, contributes to their relaxation.
2. On the one hand, the elevation should ensure that the nose is not pressed uncomfortably against the floor and, on the other hand, that the cervical spine does not have to be flexed in order to press the forehead against the floor. However, it should also not be so high that it causes the cervical spine to recline.
3. Due to the straight posture of the cervical spine, this exercise should also be applicable in many cases of pathologically altered cervical spine. Of course, in the case of serious pathologies, the advice of the appropriate specialists must be sought.