- Lie on your back.
- Bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor.
You want your legs and feet to be parallel to each other and hip distance apart. That means your knees will line up with the area just inside your hipbones and your middle toes will be in line with your knees. If your knees fall inward, you can place a small separator, like the ball seen above, between your knees.
Also see: What is Legs Parallel and Hip Distance Apart? - Adjust the distance of your heels from your bottom so that you find a place where it takes the least amount of effort to have your legs in position.
You will know you have the right distance when you feel the weight is equal on the whole foot and the pelvis can move. If the heel is too close weight will be on the heel. If too far away, the pelvis won't be mobile. - Let your spine lengthen along your mat.
You want a neutral spine position so there will be a slight curve under your low back. You can rock your pelvis back and forth a few times to find the middle place where your pubic bone and hip bones are flat along the same plane. - Relax your shoulders away from your ears and feel the weight of your shoulder girdle on your mat. Your arms rest slightly open at your sides, palms up if that is comfortable.
When the arms are kept below shoulder height, gravity releases tension in the psoas while in constructive rest. As this happens the pelvis rebalances and the spine elongates. - Notice the weight distribution between your shoulder girdle and pelvis on the mat. Balance your weight side to side. Let your belly relax and drop.
- Relax your neck and jaw.
You can tip your head up and down a few times to find a neutral place where there is no tension in the back of the neck pulling the head up, nor is the chin tucked.
Also see: learn head nod - Do some deep breathing and relax.
This is an easy relaxation technique. You don't have to do anything but allow release. See what you can let go of in your body. See what you can let go of in your mind.
Constructive rest is the perfect place from which to move into exercise or daily life activities, and it is indeed, constructive.
The photos and some notes for this exercise were contributed by psoas muscle expert, Liz Koch. Learn more about Liz in Does the Psoas Speak Pilates? and at coreawareness.com
