BHARADVAJASANA
(bah-rod-VAH-JAHS-anna)
Bharadvaja (pronounced bah-rod-VAH- jah, emphasis on the third syllable) consists of two words bharat (“to carry, bear”), and vaja (“strength, speed”). (Note that the first word, by itself, ends with a “t.” But when when joined to another word beginning with a consonant, here a “v,”
Sanskrit changes the “t” to “d”). Literally then, Bharadvaja means “bearing strength or speed,” which the dictionary further interprets as “skylark.”
Bharadvaja is remembered as a rishi, an inspired “seer,” who tradition credits as the author of 53 of the 1028 hymns in the Rig Veda (“knowledge of praise”), Hinduism’s holiest book. Here’s a very brief sample of one, dedicated to the Dawn (6.54):
The radiant Dawns have risen up for glory, in their white splendour like the waves of waters.
She maketh paths all easy, fair to travel, and, rich, hath shown herself benign and friendly.
It’s said Bharadvaja now resides with six other rishis in the seven stars of the Big Dipper.
The traditional pose is described in a pair of nineteenth century texts, the Shri Tattva Nidhi (“Blessed Treasure of Reality,” which translates bharadvaja as the “crow pheasant”) and the Hatha Abhyasa Paddhati (“Way of Hatha Practice”). In both texts, the description is corrupt, but from what we can tell, the legs seem to be arranged in Lotus (padmasana). The earliest version I found of the pose described here, and there very well could be earlier books I’m not aware of, is Mr Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, published in 1966. The second version (again, there may be earlier books) is found in the Yoga Rahasya (“Secret of Yoga”), written sometime in the first decades of the twentieth century, most likely by T. Krishnamacharya.
WHAT YOU MAY NEED. A blanket, a yoga strap, and a weighted bag.
Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of your torso in Staff (dandasana). Shift onto your right buttock, bend your knees, and swing your legs to your left. Lay your feet on the floor just outside your left hip, with your left ankle resting in the inner arch of the right foot. You may find yourself tilting precariously to the right, known as the Leaning Tower of Bharadvaja, which curves the spine and so hampers the pose to a greater of lesser degree. If you are leaning, wedge a thickly folded blanket under your right buttock, which should help bring your left buttock at least closer if not onto the floor. You might also lay a weighted bag over your left hip crease to anchor the thigh even more. This will help bring the pelvis to a more or less neutral position.
What’s so important about that? For any twist, we need to prepare by lengthening our spine evenly as much as possible, front and back, side to side, which can only be realized when the pelvis is relatively neutral (this also frees the diaphragm to pump maximally). The trick is to move the top of your sternum and your tail bone in opposite directions, the former up and the latter down. Make sure though that you don’t simply push the lower ribs forward to achieve the former action (which lifts the bottom of the sternum, overarching the lower back), or “tuck” the tail bone for the latter, which flattens the lower back. To achieve the tail bone action, imagine it lengthening downward like a long kangaroo tail,
Then exhale and twist your torso to the right, keeping your left buttock on or very close to the floor. Remember that all twists are rooted in the groins, not the lower back and belly. Imagine initiating the twist then from the left side of the sacrum, so the left hip point moves over the anchored left thigh toward the knees. The pelvis in twists always turns with the rest of the torso.
As you near the end of your twist, you may feel your belly “thickening,” much like what happens when we twist a dish towel. If you feel this, stop, de-rotate the torso slightly, re-affirm the anchoring of the thigh bone and the lengthening of the spine, and imagine drawing your belly out from the depths of the pelvis. Then try moving into the twist again. The sides of your torso are another good indicator that your spine is or isn’t lengthening evenly. If your pelvis isn’t well anchored by the left thigh when twisting right, the ribs will bow out on the right side and shorten on the left. You might be able to slightly deepen by pressing down on the left femur, as you draw your right ribs in and lengthening your left side.
Now clasp your right knee with your left hand, and press your right fingertips on the floor just beside your right buttock. Pull your left shoulder back slightly, and press your shoulder blades and right elbow firmly against your back, even as you continue to twist your chest to the right. Your shoulders ideally should look as they do in Tadasana. You can turn your head in one of two directions: continue the twist of your torso by turning it to the right; or counter the twist of your torso by turning it left and looking over your left shoulder at your feet.
If you want to take the pose a bit farther, inhale and sweep your right arm behind your torso. It may be possible to clasp your upper left arm with your right hand, but if you can’t do this easily, use a strap. Begin the twist with the strap held as a large loop in your right hand, make the turn, and slip your left arm through the loop before clasping your knee. Then move your right hand along the strap until it’s as close to your left arm as you can manage without struggling. Be sure to keep pressing your right elbow into, not away from, your back. If you want to go even a bit farther, press the back of your left hand against your right knee, then slip it under the knee and press your palm to the floor.
EXITING. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release with an exhale, return to the starting position, stretch your legs forward (always be sure to return to neutral between the two sides of a pose) and repeat with a twist to the left for same length of time, reversing all instructions.
FOR INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS. Bharadvajasana II
CAUTION. Anytime you perform either a full or half Lotus (padmasana), the latter of which is needed for this pose, please be sure your hips are sufficiently warmed up to protect your knees or knee.
WHAT YOU MAY NEED. A block, a yoga strap
Start as you did the first version, legs stretched forward in Staff. Lean to the right and bring your left leg into half Hero (ardha virasana). Try to bring as much of the top of your foot on the floor as possible, and have your toes pointed slightly to the right, so the swell of your outer hip matches the inner arch of your foot.
Bend the right knee and draw the thigh to your torso, firmly squeezing together the back of the thigh and the calf. Now this is very important. To swivel your right foot to the left hip crease for the half Lotus, MAKE SURE YOU DO SO FROM THE HIP SOCKET AND NOT YOUR KNEE. Remember your knees are hinge joints that aren’t happy with twisting, so keep your knee locked up tight. Bring your right knee as close as you can manage to your left knee, notch the outer edge of your right deep in the left hip crease, and bring the sole as perpendicular to the floor as possible. If the right knee doesn’t rest comfortably on the floor, support it with a block.
Now exhale and twist your torso to the right, remembering from the first variation how to initiate the twist from your sacrum, not your belly/lower back. Then with an inhale, sweep your right arm around behind your back and hold the left foot. If the foot’s too far away, use a strap looped about it. Again, be sure to press the right elbow into your back, and scrub your right forearm down the back to help lengthen the lumbar spine. If needed, make any or all the adjustments you worked on in the first variation.
If you’re new to this pose and in particular half Lotus, stay no more than about 15 seconds to start, gradually building your time over the next weeks and months to between 30 seconds and a minute. DON’T BE IN A HURRY to increase your time.
EXITING.To come out, release your foot and de-rotate your torso. To remove the right leg, keep your knee completely flexed, use your hands to lift it straight up, then lay the leg, knee still bent, on the floor to the right. Inhale, stretch the leg off to the side, then swing it back in front of your torso. Then lean to the right and take hold of your left ankle. As you did with the right leg, pick the leg up, keeping the knee completely flexed, lay the leg on the floor to the left, stretch it out to the side, and swing it back in front of the torso. Please free the legs in the ways described, your knees will thank you down the road. Repeat on the other side for the same length of time, reversing the instructions.