PINCHA MAYURASANA
Pincha = wing | Mayūra = peacock | āsana = seat
NOTE ABOUT THE NAME: The Iyengar student’s “bible,” Light on Yoga, defines “pincha” as “feather” or “chin.” As far as I can discover both of these definitions are incorrect. My English-Sanskrit dictionary translates “chin” as cibukam, and pincha as “wing.” The Sanskrit word for “feather” is piccham, so if we want this pose to be called “peacock feather” in Sanskrit, it should be piccha mayurasana, I’ve kept the original name to avoid confusion.
Pincha mayūrāsana (hereafter PM) is a relatively recent addition to the stock of asanas. The single name “peacock” for a pose goes back to at least the 17th century and the Precious Lines of Hatha [Yoga] (Hatha Ratnavali), which includes six variations of the basic pose. PM is popularly called “forearm balance.” Just to be clear at the outset: PM is NOT a headstand. If your head is on the floor while in the pose and you can’t lift it off, you should immediately come down. I’m assuming that you are new to this pose and will need a wall to support the inversion.
PREPARATION
One excellent prep for PM is a modified Downward Facing Dog (urdhva mukha svanasana). Kneel down, lay your block an inch or so away from your yoga wall with its longest side parallel to the wall. Press your forearms against the floor, parallel to each other, palms up, pinkies against the ends of the block. Position your shoulders over your elbows and rotate your upper arms outwardly (laterally) to widen your shoulder blades. Spread your palms and touch or almost touch your thumbs to the floor.
Then, keeping your shoulders over your elbows, lift your knees half way to straight and stop. You may find your shoulder blades slightly narrowing and your thumbs lifting slightly off the floor. Re-affirm the width of the former and downward reach of the latter by again rotating the upper arms. Maintaining the width and reach, straighten your knees, push back on your thighs and draw your torso straight off your arms. This should not only stretch your shoulders, but also lengthen your armpits, which will help lift your shoulder off your arms and keep your head off the floor. Stay for 30 seconds to a minute, then release. You can repeat the exercise once or twice. If you want more of a challenge, repeat with the block turned first to its middle width, then its narrowest.
Next repeat the exercise, but this time with your palms pressed against the ends of the block (widest width), fingers curled around the back side and knuckles pressing the wall. Start in the same way you did in the previous exercise. If you’re new to the pose, I recommend that you practice the full pose (when we get to it) for awhile with your hands placed in this way, before going on to press your palms to the floor. What’s important here is that you recreate the shoulder width from the previous exercise, but DON’T open the palms away from the block. At the same time, imagine pressing the outer arms inward against the widened shoulder blades. In every asana, the inner body expands (Shakti), the outer body contains (Shiva). As you firm the outer arms, press your wrists (which are now perpendicular to the floor) and your inner elbows actively into the floor, the mounds of the index fingers firm against the ends of the block.
Finally, for future practice, you might try with your palms flat on the floor. As before kneel down and brace your block against the wall. Press your thumbs against the front side and your fingers along the ends. Look at your inner wrists, just below your thumbs. These are equivalent to, say, the mounds of your big toes when standing. Ideally, you want to press these inner wrists firmly down, but it may be difficult with the upper arms rotating outwardly. So try this. Bring your forearms and hands into position, then lift your palms off the floor to face the wall and actively press down on the inner wrists. Essentially, what you’re doing is rotating the upper arms out for space, the forearms in for stability (sthira sukham). Maintaining this pressure on the inner wrists, return your palms to the floor. Then as you’ve been doing, lift and straighten your knees, pressing your thumbs firmly to the block.
PRACTICE
If you’re new to this pose you might find as you kick up your elbows will slide away from each other and your face will scrunch into the floor. Oftentimes it’s recommended to snug a looped belt around your upper arms just above the elbows. I’m not a fan of belts. Instead I recommend you roll up half your sticky mat into a thick roll and put your elbows on the roll, shoulder width apart. The roll will help prevent your elbows from sliding and provide an extra bit of lift by compensating for tight armpits. Be sure you’re block is still braced against wall.
Now for the kick. If you’ve never done this pose before, you’ll want to make a few practice kicks before trying to raise all the way up. Come into the start position, forearms on the floor, palms on the ends of the block, legs straight. Essentially you’re in Downward Dog with your forearms on the floor. Bend one knee and step the foot toward the same-side elbow. Re-create the widened shoulder blades and the firm outer arms you worked on in the preliminary exercises.
Your legs must coordinate in the following way to get you into the inversion. You’ll have to determine which leg is the swing leg, which the kick leg. For me it’s left swing, right kick, but it may be vice versa for you. In any case, move the foot of the kick leg as close as you can to the same-side foot.
With a powerful exhale, swing the straight leg up and toward the wall. As much as possible, keep your shoulders over your elbows, imagine there’s a block wedged between your upper back and the wall. There’s a common tendency to bend the swinging leg as it rises, but this will work against the lift. Try to keep the swinging leg as straight as possible. Then simultaneously with the swing, and another powerful exhale, kick the bent knee foot off the floor and straighten the knee. Unless you have some experience with this coordinated kicking, you’ll probably feel pretty awkward at first and not get anywhere near the wall. This is to be expected. Don’t even try to finish the pose until you are comfortable with the swing and kick.
Then the first few times you try the full pose, don’t be surprised if your heels come crashing into the wall, scaring everyone in the house into thinking it’s an earthquake. Try to bring the swing leg heel lightly to the wall.
Once in the full pose, there’s another common tendency to sag in the lower back. This will make your back very unhappy. In response, strengthen your legs as much as is possible, press up actively through your heels, and try to lift your tail bone toward your heels. To get a feel for this, cross your ankles and squeeze. You may feel the tail lengthen upward slightly. At the same time, with your palms against the ends of the block, press your wrists and inner elbows actively into the floor. Remember, this IS NOT A HEADSTAND. If you’re just beginning, let your head just hang just off the floor With more experience you can try to lift your head and look at the wall.
Hold for 15-20 seconds and very carefully step one foot down at a time.
LEARNING TO FLY (AND YOU WON’T NEED WINGS)
If, when the pose feels comfortably stable, you want to learn to balance, try this. Sit with your soles pressed to the wall, torso upright. Press your thumbs against the mat to make indentations just to the sides of your knees. Then come into the starting position with you elbows placed at the indents, block between your palms. This will bring you a shin’s length away from the wall. When you kick up now you’ll need to have to immediately bend your knees so you’re feet can press the wall. Ideally, your torso and thighs will be perpendicular to the floor and your knees at right angles. Now take one foot off the wall and reach through the heel to the ceiling. At the same time press your inner wrists and elbows firmly down, distributing your weight evenly along the forearms. Alternate the raised leg.
Then, when you feel relatively confident, begin to lighten your feet’s pressure against the wall, and touch only with your tippy toes. As you do this, try to “lengthen” your tail bone upward to prevent lower back sag. As you work on balance, you might also work on kicking up without your heels coming to the wall. Then someday in the not too distant future, with daily practice of course, you’ll say goodbye to the wall and balance freely without support. The feeling is beyond exhilarating.