Richard's Asana Breakdown UTAKA KONASANA

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

Richard's Asana Breakdown KRAUÑCĀSANA

KRAUÑCĀSANA (pronounced crown-CHAH-suh-nuh)

Krauñcāsana is popularly known as Heron Pose, but there’s a problem with this. I checked in four different Sanskrit dictionaries, and all four defined krauñca as “curlew,” only one of the four also included “heron.” I checked with our in-house bird expert, Annie Carpenter, who assures us the curlew and heron are “2 very different birds,” and that, as they say, settles that.

The name krauñcāsana is actually found in the oldest surviving commentary (bhashya) on the Yoga Sutra, that of Vyasa, a name that means, among many other things, “compiler, arranger.” Vyasa is sometimes dated about a century after Patanjali compiled the YS, which puts him in the 5th century CE, though like all dates in India prior to maybe 1000 CE, it’s very uncertain (some scholars maintain that Vyasa and Patanjali were the same person). 

As you may know, the Yoga Sutra isn’t really an instruction manual, it doesn’t have much practical use without a competent commentary that expands on significant terms like citta and avidya. Instead, it’s what’s known as a mnemonic or memory aid. The student memorized the 195 sutras as the bare bones outline of the teaching which then was “fleshed out” orally by the teacher. Commenting on sutra 2.46, the well known three-word definition of a well-performed asana, sthira sukham asanam–the posture should be steady and comfortable–Vyasa names six asanas, then adds that the curlew (or heron, if you prefer) and “other seats may be understood by actually seeing a curlew and the other animals seated.” Vyasa however provides no other details about the pose, expecting perhaps that we do some independent research and find a curlew to observe and imitate. This reminds us though of two things: one, that originally an asana was just what that word literally means, a “seat” (asana) for breathing practice and meditation; and two, that many early asanas were based on the shapes or characteristic behavior of and so named after animals. 

There are then two detailed versions of Curlew-Heron, the older one dating back maybe to the late 18th century. This pose is, in a word, weird. It’s described in a text titled the Hatha Abhyasa Paddhati, a “Course in Hatha Practice,” which includes 112 asanas, quite a large number for the day (the pose is also included with the 122 asanas in a 19th century text, the Shri Tattva Nidhi, the “Radiant Treasure of Truth”). Among the poses in the HAP, are 10 poses performed on a suspended rope or ropes.

Entering two fists between the knees and the thighs catch two ropes by those two fists, and carrying a load of something with the teeth, start to climb. This is called Krauñcāsana (103).

Don’t worry, this version of Curlew-Heron isn’t the Pose of the Month. We might surmise that climbing the ropes with something held in the teeth is supposed to mimic a curlew climbing skyward with a fish wriggling in its beak

For the source of the pose we know as krauñcāsana, we turn to the Yoga Rahasya, the “Secret of Yoga.” There is, or at least was, a good deal of controversy surrounding this text regarding its date and author, a rather long and convoluted tale which is beyond the purview of this article. Suffice it to say it’s now generally accepted that the YR was authored by T. Krishnamacharya, one of the leading lights in the resurgence of Hatha Yoga in the early 20th century. 

Curlew-Heron is essentially a continuation of one of the oddest named of the modern poses, trianga mukhaikapada pashcimottanasa ... got that? It more or less means three (tri) limbs (anga), the feet, knees and buttocks, with the face (mukha) touching one (eka) foot (pada), giving an intense stretch (uttana) to the back or “west” side of the torso (pashcima) (we shall forego an explanation of how all these Sanskrit words hook up). What the former three have to do with the latter three isn’t clear to me. If I had my druthers, the pose would be called ardha vira pashcimottanasana.

Depending on your flexibility, for Curlew-Heron you may need a yoga strap and blanket. Unless you’re remarkably flexible, I recommend you sit on a thickly folded blanket or two. Shift over to the left edge of the blanket so that just your right buttock is supported, both legs extended forward in Staff Pose (dandasana). Lean to the right and draw your left leg into Half Hero/Heroine Pose (ardha virasana), that is, bend your left knee and bring the top of the foot on the floor beside your left hip. If that feels uncomfortable, try sitting a little higher. You might also position a rolled up wash cloth below your left ankle. Try to broaden the the top of the foot against the floor (you can press down gently on the outer edge of the foot), and turn the toes in slightly so they point to the right. If this is still uncomfortable, then simply tuck your left heel into your perineum as if doing Head to Knee Pose (janu shirshasana). If you want to start with trianga etc., lean forward with an exhale and hold your right foot for 30 seconds to a minute.

With the torso upright, bend your right knee and stand the foot on the floor, the heel just in front of the right sitting bone. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Stretch your right arm INSIDE the right leg, letting the knee drop off maybe halfway to the side, which ideally releases the outer right hip toward the floor. Cross your right hand in front of the right ankle and take hold of the outer edge of the right foot. Hold the inner edge of the foot with your left hand.

Lean your torso back slightly. Try not to round back and sink the front torso, firm your shoulder blades against the back and lift actively through the TOP of the sternum. THIS IS IMPORTANT. See if you can maintain the release of your outer right hip as you lift the leg diagonal to the floor. The trick is–and I know this is difficult if you’re a relatively inexperienced student–to lift the leg by rotating the head of the thigh bone (femur) in the hip socket while not disturbing the outer hip. Inhale, and lift the foot opposite your head to start.

Now holding the foot directly may not be possible for you. In this case, it’s far preferable to use your strap to hold the foot indirectly. Please don’t hunch and round your back to hold and raise the foot, this stresses the lower back and could lead to injury. And if you use the strap, reach the arms out fully, elbows straight, and hold it lightly in your hands. Use the strap to hold the foot in place, NOT to crank the foot higher. Remember that the femur head should release toward the floor to keep the groin soft. If you need help feeling that, hold the strap in your left hand and press your right thumb deep into the hip crease.

If you’re holding the foot directly, to raise the leg higher, do a mini version of how you lifted the leg to begin. Slightly bend the right knee and release it out to the right. Feel again the release of the outer hip, and draw the femur head deeper into the hip socket, at least in imagination. From that depth, and keeping the groin relaxed, push out through the heel with an inhale. Try to bring the front torso closer to the leg, but again, don’t hunch. Keep the front torso lifted through the top sternum. 

Hold for 30 seconds to a minute. When you’re ready to exit, you can bend the knee and release the foot to the floor, or hold the leg straight, release the foot, and lower the leg to floor slowly with a long exhale. 

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY. To exit ardha virasana, lean to the right and with your left hand, grip the left ankle. Pick the foot up, keeping the knee completely flexed, and put the foot  down on the floor. Then drop the knee to the floor and stretch the leg out to the side. Slide the left leg back beside the right, and repeat all the instructions for the second side, reversing left and right.

VARIATION. Want a little more? With the right leg raised, switch your left hand to the outer foot, press your right hand to the floor outside the hip, and as you rotate your torso to the right, exhale and swing the right leg across the front of your torso to the left. Hold as long as you please, return to the starting pose, and exit. Don’t forget then to repeat this variation on the second side.

Women's Month ~ March 2022

In honor of Women’s Month, we asked our amazing Yogini Teachers to share about the women that most inspired them!

Leslie Howard teaches Hatha Yoga Tuesdays 9AM:

My vote is with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez/AOC. Her poise and ability to respond to constant hatred and threats is inspiring. She is a true yogi. When she was called a f....ing bitch by a Republican congressman, her reply: "This issue is not about one incident. It is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting of violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that," she said. She refutes Yoho’s veiled claim that because he has a wife and two daughters that he could not be sexist. She says, “I believe that having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man. And when a decent man messes up, as we’re all bound to do, he tries his best and does apologize.”

About a woman's right to choose: “Ultimately, this is about women’s power. When women are in control of their sexuality, it threatens a core element underpinning right-wing ideology: patriarchy. It’s a brutal form of oppression to seize control of the 1 essential thing a person should command: their own body.”

Margi Young teaches Yoga & Meditation Monday & Wednesdays at 10AM, and Hatha Flow Fridays 12PM:

At first some of the greats popped into my mind such as Michelle Obama, Audre Lorde, RBG, Melinda Gates & Kamala Harris. But who really inspires me EVERY DAY is my mom. She is 85 years old and may as well be a rock star! She plays tennis, fights for social justice by working for The SF Achievers (an organization that supports black men through college scholarships, leadership training and mentoring), she knows every art exhibit happening, and is on an eternal quest for knowledge. Thanks mom for sharing your endless gifts and continuing to take care of me!

Reba Gray teaches Vinyasa Flow Sunday 4:30PM & Friday 5PM, and Flow & Restore Mondays 12PM:

I am inspired by my cousin Dawn, who has always felt like a sister to me. I am amazed by her artistic mind- she can make just about anything. She also is skilled in caring for animals and has a ton of compassion for all living beings.

Lynn Ursic teaches Hatha Yoga Wednesday 5PM & Thursday 9AM:

Lucky me to have my aunt, Vaunda Carter. Born of immigrants-graduated Mills College in 1960 with a degree in modern dance, then toured the world with several major companies.

In the mid 60’s she founded the Portland State University modern dance department- “I became a master teacher because I saw so much potential in bodies”. She also wrote and hosted a tv show for nine years to give women at home an opportunity to connect with physical expression and health.

A few of my favorite quotes from Aunt Vaunda:

“Start fresh at any moment- what is beautiful about you right now?”

“The body is the conduit between the inner realm of Intentions, ideas, emotions and identity - and the outer realm of expression. We shift back and forth between the inner/outer sense of body.”

“The practice comes alive as you learn to step out of your thoughts and connect with your body’s experience.”

Sarah Moody teaches Restorative Yoga Thursday 7:15PM:

I’m most inspired by my grandmother. She is 94 and does Pilates and crossword puzzles every day. I'm crossing my fingers I get her genes!

Brynn McNally teaches Gentle Flow Monday 8:45AM and Flow & Restore Tuesday 7:15PM

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race”, said Rachel Carson. I'm inspired by Rachel’s discipline and courage in speaking truth to power through her environmental writing. She managed to complete Silent Spring while caring for her mother and two nieces, through a personal battle with cancer, and against the backdrop of harsh criticism and 1960s patriarchy. Whenever I'm feeling small or incapable, I think about her tenacity. Her scientific lyricism reminds us to dwell in our admiration of the natural world, and to remember how the Earth's health is vital to our own.

Richard Rosen's Asana Breakdown: Simhasana

SIMHASANA (Lion Pose)

March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb.

–Oldest known reference in a book of proverbs by English author Thomas Fuller (1732)

Simha = Sanskrit, “a lion,” also identified with the Self (atman). 

Simhasana is a very old pose. We can trace it back at least 1300 years (the dating is highly controversial, so it could be older) to the Tiru-Mantiram (“Sacred Mantra”), composed in Tamil by Tirumular, a devotee of Shiva. About 800 years later, in the mid-fifteenth century, we find it in Hatha Yoga’s seminal text, Hatha Yoga Pradipika (HYP, “Light on Hatha Yoga”). The text’s compiler, Svatmarama, describes it this way:

Put the ankles below the pelvis on both sides of the perineum–left ankle to the right side, right ankle to the left. Press your hands on your knees, spread your fingers, open your mouth, and gaze steadily at the tip of your nose with your mind well-concentrated. This is Simhasana, honored by the best yogis (1.50-52).

Notice there’s no mention of the characteristic “roar” and the stretched out tongue we typically include in the pose’s performance, which suggests they’re a modern addition. 

Fifteen poses are included in the HYP, a very small number by today’s standards. But at the time it was quite a large number, earlier texts rarely presented more than four poses. Of the 15, Svatmarama distinguishes four as the “best” (shreshtha, 1.34), Adept’s Pose (siddhasana), Lotus (padmasana), Auspicious Pose (bhadrasana, today called baddha konasana), and Lion. Considering how infrequently we perform Lion in classes nowadays, it might seem odd that it was once thought of as being as important as Lotus, one of the most iconic of yoga asanas. Why was Lion so “honored”? Svatmarama explains that it “facilitates adopting the three bandhas” (1.52). These bandhas, you may know, are the essential “bonds”–or “valves” as I like to think of them–for the practice of pranayama, the throat bond (jalandhara), the perineum bond (mula), and the belly bond (uddiyana). This reminds us that, in traditional Hatha Yoga, the central practice was pranayama, unlike today when asana has taken on that role.

Sitting for Lion can be uncomfortable at first (or maybe uncomfortable, period). In the Iyengar asana canon, the position (which Svami Rajarishi Muni calls upavishasana, literally the “sitting pose,” p. 159) is used for only two poses Lion and the Dangling Pose (lolasana). Kneel down and cross your left ankle over the right, then sit with the perineum pressing against the left heel. We might wonder what benefit this rather unpleasant position has, and the short answer is: it creates a blockage at the base of the pelvis to “facilitate” mula bandha. The discussion of this and the other two bandhas is beyond the scope of this breakdown, maybe in future we can re-visit the subject. 

Anyway, if you find this position unbearable, then you might uncross your ankles, set the feet side by side, and sit again on the heels (called vajrasana, Diamond Pose), thighs parallel. If the fronts of your ankles against the floor protest, put a rolled up dish towel underneath them. 

Now reach out and press you palms against your knees, right palm right knee, left palm left knee, and spread your fingers wide, like the claws of a Lion. The widening and pressure of the hands has two benefits. One, the spreading of the palms has a sympathetic response in the shoulder blades, which widen across your back torso creating side to side space. According to Svami Kuvalayananda, this pressure helps cotrol the abdominal recti (lower belly muscles) to prepare for uddiyana bandha (p. 87). Two, the press of the hands against the knees helps to firm the shoulder blades against your back to support the lift of the sternum.

Now take a smooth, deep inhalation through your nose. What’s described next happens all at once. Open your mouth as wide as you can and reach the tip of your tongue down to your chin. Cross your eyes to gaze at the tip of the nose (nasa agra drishti), and with an emphatic HAAAAH, breathe out through your mouth. As you do this, be sure not to hunch forward, keep the front torso open by lifting straight up through the top of the sternum (manubrium). Having finished the exhale, release your eyes, take a few normal breaths and repeat two more times. Then lean forward, change the cross of your ankles, and repeat three times.

I should note that BKS Iyengar instructs the pose somewhat differently. He wants us to direct our gaze between the eyebrows (bhru madhya drishti), and to hold the open mouth for 30 seconds, breathing through the mouth. 

Mr Iyengar says Lion “cures foul breath and cleans the tongue” (p. 136). It will also, with regular practice, make your speech “clearer” (ibid), and as Svatmarama says, helps to create the three bandhas. Other sources tell us that Lion strengthens the diaphragm (Yogi Gupta, Yoga and Long Life, p. 60), increases circulation to the throat and tongue and stimulates the eyes (The Sivananda Companion to Yoga, p. 33). 

Lion can be used to begin either an asana or pranayama practice.