Posts Tagged ‘Tadasana’

Adjusting to the Light on Yoga: Parivritta Parsvakonasana (Revolved Side Angle)

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

It’s been less than a week since I began the project of attempting all the asanas in Light on Yoga, and I’m already making adjustments.

Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is the first pose outlined in the book. I widen my feet apart in the asana to improve the alignment of my hips and my spine. Iyengar seems to anticipate this as a common adjustment, so I feel fairly in-keeping with the spirit of the pose. But, in Parivritta Parsvakonasana (Revolved Side Angle Pose, 8* on the 60* difficulty scale), I must make broader adjustments to improve my alignment.

In Revloved Side Angle Pose, Iyengar keeps his back heel on the ground. This simple instruction adds an incredible layer of complexity to the twist. Keeping the back heel on the ground necessitates a heightened awareness of the back knee since the internal rotation of the back leg in Parivritta Parsvakonasana can lead to torquing the back knee in an effort to bring the torso deeper into the twist.

Today, when I attempted Parivritta Parsvakonasana as Iyengar describes it, I was immediately confronted by this challenge. I scanned the pages of Light on Yoga looking for some note to reassure me that, yes, of course this is a natural response and, yes, of course this is difficult. But, no! Iyengar just told me to tighten my back knee and “give a good twist to the spine.”

I was lost inside my frustration. I was irritated by my inability to follow the simplest instructions. If this is 8*, what awaits me at 60*? And then, horror of horrors, I spun my back heel up.

Suddenly, a new world of space opened up in my torso and I was deeper in the twist, with more length in my spine and more clarity in my mind. The internal rotation of my back leg felt natural and the inside of my back knee thanked me. I wasn’t in the asana exactly as Iyengar describes it, but I was finally able to access the sensations he describes: the intensity of the twist, the contraction of the abdomen, the blood circulating around the abdominal organs and the spine.

Pride, perfectionism, and sheer stubbornness find their way onto my mat from time to time. And, today, in Parivritta Parsvakonasana, they all had a front row seat. For a moment, I put my pride and my determination ahead of the innate wisdom of my body. The moment I did this – the moment I gave my mind the reins – I was lost. It was only when I took a deep breath and listened to my body that the path became clear. Turn the heel up! The space opened before me, the pose welcomed me in, and I knew this is where I needed to be all along.

We don’t have to be perfect to get it right. We just have to be ourselves.

Here’s Yogacharya BKS Iyengar and me doing Parivritta Parsvakonasana as he describes it:

And here’s a happier me, listening to my body:

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Posted in Asanas, Parivritta Parsvakonasana | 5 Comments »

Steady as you go: Vrksasana (Tree Pose)

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Tadasana is an important grounding point for exploring Vrksasana. Your standing leg must be as steadfast and firm as it is in Mountain Pose in order to support the graceful balance of Tree Pose, another pose listed as 1* on the scale of difficulty.

In Light on Yoga, Iyengar provides surprisingly basic instruction for a pose that I find anatomically complex. Your ability to stand firmly on your left leg in Vrksasana is compromised by the pressure of your right foot pressing against your left inner thigh. The left hip point may splay out, pushing your left hip and leg out of alignment. The splaying of the left hip, combined with the external rotation of the right upper thigh, might then lead you to stick out your butt, thereby tilting your pelvis forward, then arching your lumbar spine, then protruding your rib cage forward, then jutting out your neck… you get the point.

When I take Vrksasana, I find it helpful to focus on pressing the inner thigh of my standing left leg into the sole of my right foot. When my left thigh presses into the sole of my foot as much as the sole of my foot presses into my left thigh, I can draw my standing hip under me and achieve greater stability in the pose. I like to imagine I’m holding a precious diamond in the space between the sole of my right foot and my inner left thigh, and that the pressing of my foot and thigh against each other is the key to keeping it from dropping. Hey, whatever works, right?

Iyengar mentions that Vrksasana “gives one a sense of balance and poise,” but many people have trouble balancing in this pose. While Light on Yoga doesn’t provide guidance on how best to maintain balance in this asana, it helps to find a dristhi, an unmoving point of focus on which your eyes can rest. Gazing upon something stationary may improve your stability.

You can also have some fun with Vrksasana by exploring it as a variation on other poses. In my personal practice, I enjoy taking a Vrksasana variation of Side Plank, then moving into a Vrksasana variation of Caturanga Dandasana. When taking this variation, though, before moving into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog), reposition yourself so that the front sides of your legs face down for Urdhva Mukha.

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Posted in Asanas, Vrksasana | 3 Comments »

Stand Up and Take Note: Tadasana

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

“People do not pay attention to the correct method of standing.”

Iyengar points out, rightly, that we all have a tendency not to stand upright. We shift our weight from foot to foot, we throw our hip out to one side, we lean back on our heels and slump. These tendencies make their mark on our soles – our shoe soles, that is. Just take a look at the bottom of your shoes and you’ll find worn down areas where you’ve shifted the weight of your body day after day. My soles are so dramatically worn out on the outside of the heels that an investigator might assume a duck or a bow-legged cowboy owned every pair of shoes in my closet. These types of irregularities in our posture have negative effects throughout our bodies.

Practicing Tadasana (Mountain Pose) helps us to realign by encouraging us to stand upright and firm like a mountain. Tadasana is the first pose outlined in Light on Yoga. It is also considered the easiest: 1* on Iyengar’s 60* scale of difficulty, 60* being the most difficult and intense asanas. And yet, as I made my way into this familiar pose today, I noticed that I’m already having trouble following Iyengar’s instructions verbatim.

Iyengar’s first instruction is to “Stand erect with the feet together, the heels and big toes touching each other.” For me, standing with my toes and heels touching compromises my balance and my ability to contract my hips and draw my pelvis directly on top of my femur bones. I choose to widen my feet slightly in Tadasana in order to achieve the sensation of my bones stacking evenly on top of each other. Iyengar seems to anticipate this as a common adjustment for the practitioner when he mentions that, “Even if the feet are kept apart, it is better to keep the heel and toe in a line parallel to the median plane and not at an angle. By this method, the hips are contracted, the abdomen is pulled in and the chest is brought forward.”

Standing in Tadasana, I feel the lightness of body and agility of mind Iyengar describes as the central effect of the pose. It’s incredible that something as simple as standing tall can so fully illustrate the unbreakable link between the body and the mind. “If we stand with the body weight thrown only on the heels,” Iyengar says, “we feel the gravity changing; the hips become loose, the abdomen protrudes, the body hangs back and the spine feels the strain and consequently we soon feel fatigued and the mind becomes dull. It is therefore essential to master the art of standing correctly.” In other words, stand tall and open your eyes, because this practice is going to require plenty of concentration.


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Posted in Asanas, Tadasana | 2 Comments »