GODDESS SEQUENCE
... go for refuge to the supreme Mother without delay,
With sincere hearts. She will accomplish what you want.
–The Song of the Goddess (Devi Gita) 1.19
Speaking of Mothers, there are so many in India we could probably celebrate Mother’s Day every day! All the various animal representatives, cows, vultures, monkeys, the list goes on, have recognized mothers (Sugriva, for example, is Mother of horses and camels), as do the gods, the Earth and the forces of nature, and the Veda (Hindu holy books).
In some schools of Hindu yoga, the Universe itself has a mother; the feminine is the active creative principal, appropriately named Shakti, “power,” while the masculine is her passive, witnessing counterpart. Our world then is the creation of the goddess out of her own body, and so it and the physical body are infused with her power and sacredness. The letters of the Sanskrit alphabet are called “little mothers” (matrika), who are said to have given birth to the Universe in the form of sound. We’ll pass over all the evil mothers who populate the dark side of Hindu mythology.
One of the unfortunate aspects of many modern yoga schools is the complete lack of feminine names for asanas. This is no doubt a carryover from traditional yoga (pre-20th century), when most yoga students and teachers were males, quite unlike today when upwards of three-quarters of all students are female. I have a book though, featuring Yogrishi Vishvketu, titled Yogasanas: The Encyclopedia of Yoga Poses. In it at least some attention is paid to the feminine in a couple of sequences, one dedicated to several different goddesses. Let’s have a try at it, and maybe you can teach it to your mother on her special day.
You might hold each pose from 30 seconds to a minute, but feel free to adjust the time to suit your ability and the length of time available for practice. Do both sides of the two-sided poses for the same length of time.
1. Goddess of Auspiciousness (bhu mangala devi asana). Stand up and separate your feet about 2 feet (60 cm) apart and angle them out about 45 degrees to the sides, so the right toes point right, left toes left. Now exhale and bend your knees until your thighs are more or less parallel to the floor. If necessary, adjust your feet so your knees are directly over your heels (which brings the knees to more or less at a right angle), and adjust your feet (again if needed) so your toes point in the same direction as your knees. If this position is difficult to hold, or especially if your knees feel unhappy, then sit on the front edge of a sturdy chair.
From here, continue to lower your torso down until you reach what for you is a full squat (if you’re on a chair, elevate each foot on a block). Press your elbows against your inner thighs (try to keep your knees over your heels), and bring your palms together in front of your sternum in anjali mudra. Make sure you press the palms together evenly, so your dominant hand doesn’t overpower the non-dominant, and rest your thumbs lightly on the body of the sternum. Drag the thumbs down slightly, and use that downward pressure to elevate the top of the sternum. This is stage 1.
For stage 2, reach down and wrap your index and middle fingers around your big toes, completing the grip by wrapping your thumbs around that pair. Be sure not to pull up on the toes, away from the floor; instead, pull them forward and draw back from there imaginatively along the inner feet to the ankles.
2. Goddess of Giving Pose (dhatri devi asana). Let go of the right big toe and, with an exhale, twist your torso to the right, being careful not to initiate that twist from the lower back and belly. Reach your tailbone to the floor (don’t tuck!) and stretch your right arm toward the ceiling. Ideally your arms will be aligned with the angle of your shoulders, not with the floor. If you draw a line down from the right hand to the floor, then across to the left foot, you’ll have a right triangle with the arms forming the hypotenuse.
Getting tired? Straighten your knees all the way, and if you want to, note where your feet are and take a little stroll around your room.
3. Bell of the Moon Goddess Pose (devi candra ghanta asana). If you moved your feet, return them to their former position and lower down so your knees are at right angles. If you’re still in the squat, lift your torso to the position just described. With an exhale, lean to the left and rest your left elbow on your left thigh. Then with an inhale, reach your right arm over the back of your right ear, stretching along the right side of your torso. In his picture, the Yogrishi has formed both his hands into jnana mudra (wisdom seal), index tips pressing the thumb tips, other three fingers reaching away from the circle formed by index and thumb. As I understand it, the index represents the embodied Self (jiva atman), the thumb the supreme Self (param atman), and joined they represent the goal of yoga, the re-integration of the two Selves (he also forms this mudra in poses 7 and 8 below). Finish with your torso back to upright.
4. Goddess of Serpent Power Pose (devi kundalini asana). Now with an exhale, twist your torso to the right. Hold the outer right knee with your left hand and, if possible, press your right hand against the inner left thigh. If that’s not possible you might loop a yoga belt around the thigh and hold it with your right hand. Try to keep the left shoulder pulled back and down, and press your right elbow into, not away from, your torso. Release to neutral after each twist with an inhale.
5. OPTIONAL: Balancing Earth Goddess Pose (utollana bhu devi asana). This goddess is in itself a sequence, stages 2 and 3 a bit more challenging than stage 1. Stage 1: exhale, hinge forward from the groins, keeping the front torso open, and bring your hands to the floor beneath your shoulders. If the floor’s too far away, rest each hand on a block, don’t hunch forward to get your hands on the floor, the negatives in doing this far exceed the positives. Stage 2: Now lift your heels off the floor and balance on the balls of your feet. If you find this difficult or hard on your feet and/or ankles, try supporting your heels on sand bags or a thickly folded blanket. Stage 3: stay up on the balls of your feet and with an inhale, lift the torso upright and bring your hands into anjali mudra.
6. Fearless Goddess Pose (devi bhairavi asana). If you did the optional pose, return your heels to the floor, inhale and stretch your arms straight to the sides so they’re parallel to the floor, then bend your elbows and raise your forearms perpendicular to the floor so that your elbows form right angles.
7. Goddess of Beauty and Divine Power Pose (shakti kamakshi devi asana). Finally stretch your arms straight to the sides again, and as you do, lower your torso down more or less parallel to the floor, with your face looking straight down. Again, try not to hunch forward, if needed you might stop before you reach the full position if you begin to lose that length along the front torso. When you’re ready to come out, lift your torso with an inhale to upright, step or hop your feet together and lower with an exhale into standing forward bend (uttanasana). Remember what the goddess-mother replied when the gods asked her: “Great goddess, who are you?”
“From me [has proceeded] the world comprising matter (prakriti) and Self (purusha), the void and the plenum ... I am the entire world ... Below and above and around am I ... Whoso knows my essence in the water of the inner sea–the lotus of the heart–attains my abode.”
–Devi Upanishad 1-3, 7