PARŚVOTTANĀSANA
parśva: side, flank
uttāna: stretched out, spread out, lying on the back, upright (from tan, to extend, in English, tend, tense)
āsana: seat
The Sanskrit word parśvottanāsana is composed of three smaller words, parśva, uttāna, and āsana. We’re all quite familiar with this last word, āsana, which nowadays is typically rendered as “pose” or “posture,” but which literally means, “seat” (derived from the verb ās, “to sit”). That little horizontal line above the the initial ā, called a macron, indicates the vowel is long (as opposed to the unmarked, short a). This is called a “heavy” vowel which means it takes the emphasis in the word, so it’s pronounced AH-sun-uh.
Now what about those other two words, parśva and uttāna? The accent mark above the first word’s s indicates it’s palatal, and so pronounced like sh, parsh-vuh. Uttāna has another long ā and so is pronounced oo-TAHN-uh. Look at the definition of this word and you’ll see one of the several oddities (to us English speakers) of Sanskrit. Many Sanskrit words have a wide range of meaning. Sometimes two of the meanings have no obvious relationship or might even be contradictory. My Sanskrit is still pretty kindergarten-ish, but it seems uttāna means both to lie supine and be upright.
You may then notice something odd about the word parśvottanāsana. Where does that o near the middle come from, there’s no o in any of the three smaller words? In Sanskrit several words in the same sentence or between sentences are often blended into one word, as here. This blending is called a “junction” (sandhi), and there are a host of rules governing this process. It sometimes results inextremelylongwordswithnobreaks, and unless you can decipher the sandhis, good luck understanding what’s being said. The sandhi here is very common: when the final a of a word, like parśva, is immediately followed by a word beginning with u, the two vowels join and an o is born. This is the same sandhi we see in the three letters of aum, the a and u of which becomes om. Welcome to Sanskrit 101.
I bring this up because we live through sandhis every day of our lives, at least two, sometimes, depending on the source, three or four. These are the times of transition between darkness and light, dawn, and light and darkness, sunset (sometimes noon and midnight are added). It’s said that these are the most propitious times of the day to practice, when the balance between external light and dark is believed to have a sympathetic balancing effect on the energies of our body, a highly desirable state for yoga practice.
In the Iyengar system parśvottanāsana is performed as part of a very simple vinyasa, moving from the first side to the second by swinging through prasārita pādottānāsana 2 (notice the o in the second word, it’s the result of a sandhi between pada, “foot,” and uttānāsana, the name given to the basic standing forward bend). I’ll describe this movement near the end of this article.
One more thing to know about the customary way this pose is performed concerns the position of the arms and hands. You might know that when we press our palms together and rest our thumbs lightly on the sternum, it’s a gesture know as anjali mudra, the gesture of supplication or reverence (there’s actually a second way to make this gesture, with cupped palms turned up and the little finger sides of the hands touching). In Parśvottanāsana Iyengar-ites also perform the mudra behind the back, with the pinkie sides of the hands pressed against the spine between the shoulder blades. This is known as prishthānjali mudra, prishtha, meaning the “back of anything” (pronounced something like prish-tah).
This position is difficult, not to mention painful, for a majority of students. Nest Yoga strongly believes “No pain, lots of gain,” so you have two options for the arms: keep them free and put your hands on the floor or on blocks, if needed, on either side of the feet, or cross your forearms behind your back and hold the elbows.
PRELIMINARY
The distance between your feet in this pose can vary depending on your level of experience. If you’re a relative yoga rookie, you might want to keep your feet fairly close together, maybe about two and a half feet, give or take a few inches depending on your height. The pose will be a bit easier. If you have more experience under your belt, or are a daredevil rookie, then move your feet about three feet apart, a few more inches if you’re taller.
Since you’ll be turning your torso to face over the forward leg, the back foot is turned in rather sharply, more so than Triangle Pose, for example. The attempt is made to square the front of your pelvis with the front of the mat. New beginners might need some help doing this, though more experienced students who are tighter in the hips and groins will experience a similar limitation. The best approach here is to position a lift under the back heel, like a thickly folded blanket or, better yet, a sand bag (40 years ago the bags were indeed filled with sand, and while this is no longer true today the original name persists).
When you rotate your torso over the front leg, two things might happen that will need your attention. The back heel, in response to the forward turn of the hip, might lose a bit of its contact with the floor/support. In this case, as the hip comes forward, you’ll need to push actively back, away from the front edge of the mat, with the top of the back thigh and draw the pubis to the navel. This should help to somewhat free the groin. The back heel, in most of the two sided standing poses, provides your anchor to the earth. If you lose that, the pose will likely be, to some degree, unstable, which diminishes the sense of rootedness, one of the important benefits of standing poses. The second issue, though not quite as common as the first, occurs when you draw back on the front leg hip. This sometimes results in a loss of full contact of the base of the big toe and the floor, another destabilizing action. So as you draw the front hip back, it’s necessary to plant the mound of the big toe firmly into the floor. As you might notice, the work of the heels and big toes counter the movement of the pelvis.
PRACTICE
So start this with the right foot forward, left foot back, with a distance between them that suits you best. Turn your torso to the right, monitoring the left heel and the base of the right big toe. If you feel that it’s difficult to ground the left heel, put some height below it. Then inhale and lean back, affirming the contact of the left heel with the floor or support, and maintaining that back heel awareness, exhale and lengthen forward. Remember, all forward bends are rooted in the groins (refer to last month’s breakdown of uttanāsana for more instruction in forward bending). This means that as you descend into the fold, it’s essential that you preserve the space between the pubis and navel. It’s a good idea to periodically lift slightly out of the fold to re-affirm that space. For this time, align the mid-torso over the inner right leg so it’s a straight forward bend (it’s also possible to align the mid-torso over the middle of the leg, adding a slight twist to the pose).
Check the angle of your pelvis and the feeling of the right groin and hip. It’s not uncommon for the back leg hip to tilt down slightly, and at the same time “bunch up,” shortening the right side of the torso. If your hands are free, bend the right knee a bit and press your right thumb into the hip crease, then push back from your thumb as firmly as you can. Remember to keep the mound of the right big toe glued to the floor. Then if your hands are on some support–the floor or blocks–actively push them into the support and back toward the back foot. From this downward, backward pressure, draw the belly out a little farther, pretending that it sits deep in the pelvis like an egg in an egg cup. If your arms are crossed behind, be sure NOT to lift the elbows away from the back torso. Instead push them firmly against the back and lift the front shoulders upward.
In your imagination, draw “energetically” up from the big toe mound to the inner right groin. Then draw that groin deeper into the pelvis to encourage the lengthening of the belly. Keep your head in a neutral place, looking at the front leg. Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. When ready to exit, come up on an inhale with a long front torso, pulling down on the tail bone to initiate the move from the base of the pelvis. Once upright, be sure NOT to shift forward onto the right foot to bring the feet together. Instead, turn your feet parallel to each other, then turn them for the second side, right foot in, left out, and repeat the relevant instructions (unless your back heel is on a support, then when the feet are parallel, step them together and reverse). Be sure to time yourself so that you stay for equal lengths of time on both sides.
THE VINYASA
After finishing the pose to the right, exhale, maintain the forward fold and swing your torso to the left. As you do, reverse to position of the feet, right foot in, left out. As your torso reaches the left leg, inhale and lift to upright (you won’t be able to do this if your back heel is supported). Quickly repeat the preparations for the pose and come down on the exhale. Stay for the same length of time as you did on the right, then exhale and swing to the right, stopping in the middle between the two sides. If your arms are crossed behind, you’ll be more or less in prasārita pādottānāsana 2, if your hands are free, prasārita pādottānāsana 1. Stay for as long as you like, then press your hands to the floor under your shoulders (uncross them if need be) and step or hop your feet together. As always, ascend with a long inhale, pulling down through your tail bone.
HYPER-EXTENDED KNEES
Hyper-extended knees are more common with women than with men. How can you tell if your knees are hyper? Stand with your feet hip width, inner feet parallel, and straighten your knees. If your kneecaps were a pair of eyes, where are they “looking”? If straight ahead, no problem. But if they seem to be to some degree “cross-eyed,” as if they were a yogi’s eyes staring at the tip of her nose, then it’s likely they’re hyper. Over time, if you perform your poses with hyper knees, it could lead to some unfortunate injuries not only to the knees, but the hips as well. It’s best then to brace the legs them in poses where the knees are extended. In our present pose, you’ll want to brace a block between your front leg calf and the floor. First bend your knee slightly and press one end of the block against your calf, and the bottom edge of the other end against the floor. Then straighten the knee and voila! No more hyper knee. You’ll of course need to be on a sticky mat to keep the block from slipping under the pressure of the leg.
THE VINYASA
After finishing the pose over the right leg, exhale, maintain the forward fold and swing your torso to the left. As you do, reverse to position of the feet, right foot in, left out. As your torso reaches the left leg, inhale and lift to upright (you won’t be able to do this if your back heel is supported). Quickly repeat the preparations for the pose and come down on the exhale. Stay for the same length of time as you did on the right, then exhale and swing to the right, stopping in the middle between the two sides. If your arms are crossed behind, you’ll be more or less in prasārita pādottānāsana 2, if your hands are free, prasārita pādottānāsana 1. Stay for as long as you like, then press your hands to the floor or draw your forearms toward your tail (uncross them if need be), rise with an step or hop your feet together. As always, ascend with a long inhale, pulling down through your tail bone.