Yoga Addicts

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Parsvottanasana is an incredibly stabilizing pose. It is a standing forward fold that supports a powerful downward and outward flow of energy. Which would imply it's a pose about letting go, but is it? In practice, it is often experienced as an asana that guides us toward strength and stability in the midst of challenge, a way that we can seek balance and alignment to support our growth. The alignment of this pose is often a student's biggest challenge. Finding the right rotation of the thighs to stabilize joints, engaging the core in the right way to allow and support the lumbar curve, and sustaining the alignment of the hips and thighs can sometimes feel unreachable. Parsvottansana is sometimes called Pyramid, a pseudonym which emphasizes the powerful foundation and strength engendered in this pose.

The tendency is not to feel solid and balanced in this pose, which would cause a lack of strength and stability. So how can we use the inconsistencies or "mis" alignments of Parsvottanasana to bring clarity and direct us toward the path of strength and stability? Well, it doesn't begin with our hamstrings or even with the placement of our feet, but with our approach to the practice instead.

The way we approach our Parsvottanasana is very telling of how we approach our practice as a whole and maybe our lives as well (as is usually the case). If we find that balance is a challenge in this pose, then perhaps we notice a weak foundation in many of our asanas, and a general feeling of ungroundedness in our lives. Maybe we forgo the balance to strive for the deep forward fold, sacrificing all of the support that we can create for ourselves, and then at the completion of the pose, or the practice, or the life situation, we feel spent. Empty of any real benefit, and maybe a little bit pulled apart at the seams. When we practice Parsvottanasana in the most aware way, we find that it is incredibly balancing and stabilizing and offers us the potential to expand and grow into our chests in a way that supports breaking through self imposed boundaries and limitations.

As with any deep work, the process takes time and patience, and we simply can't bypass the importance of creating a strong foundation in order to reach the expansive feeling at the heart of this pose (intense side stretch). To build Parsvottansana from a place of strength and stability allows us the solid base that we need in order to grow and expand into new and sometimes frightening places. The practice of asana is training for the deeper and more intense work of Yoga, to dive deep into the places that we've guarded or hidden from ourselves in hopes of finding freedom. When we move from perfecting our pose and toward allowing the asana to unfold, we find strength and stability bubbles up from someplace deep inside. We are set free from the pattern of superficial strain and outward performance. In making that shift, the effort of the pose is greatly decreased and the elegant grace at its essence is attained. Alignment becomes more intuitive and accessible. We trade our exertion for elegance. We shift from accomplishing a pose to embodying an intention, and the experience becomes more fulfilling.

Ultimately the practice of Parsvottanasana leads us in the direction of this elegance. It guides us to stability, strength and balance so that we may expand to our fullest potential. Eventually, we are no longer distracted by our hamstrings, or discouraged by the alignment of our pelvis, and we are able to stretch deep into our chest and upper body and open the places that we so quickly and easily close to the world and to ourselves. In finding that space, we move from our mat and into our lives with the sense of ease and grace. We dance with life rather than wrestle with it.

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Upward Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana):
Urdhva mukha svanasana represents the three root words of the pose. In Sanskrit, urdhva means "upward", mukha means "face", and svana stands for "dog".
To get into the pose inhaling, push off the balls of your feet, rolling your feet forward over the tips of your toes. Straighten your arms, push your shoulders back towards the spine and pull your hips forward. Lift your chest up so that your whole body is raised completely off the floor. Point your toes and gaze straight ahead.
Benefits:
Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and depression, manic disorder
Energizes the body, Stimulates abdominal organs
Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands, firms the buttocks
Strengthens the arms and legs
Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported
Helps prevent osteoporosis
Improves digestion
Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue
Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica - pain in lower back, buttock, or various parts of the leg and foot, sinusitis

Pune Mirror - 12 Feb 2013

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The Swan Sequence is a beautiful and graceful practice that poses some challenges for the beginner yogi. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed as you think of lifting through the chest and lengthening through the spine. Only go as far into each pose as you comfortably can. The link is third eye opening: a call for clarity of thought, insight and wisdom.