Door 3 of 112

Ragdoll Fold

Uttanāsana · the mountain folds

Tip from the hips and hang. Knees can bend a lot — that is not cheating, that is smart. The head is heavy and soft. Let gravity do the fold. Do not yank yourself deeper.

Look hereThe sacrum — the triangle bone at the base of your spine. Tip that forward and the whole back follows. Grip it and the spine rounds into a question mark. This is the door of surrender: most people fidget here. The practice is to hang like a soft blanket.

Smell a flower — four counts. Long bubble — six counts. The longer exhale is the medicine. Six rounds.

Green light: sacrum tips, spine lengthens, knees generous, you came up slow with a long back.

Red light: rounding from the waist, yanking the crown to the toes, snapping up fast, dizziness. Bend the knees, rise slow. Still the door.

One question: did you let go, or did you hold on?