Day 22 : Natarjasana (dancing Shiva) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

I still find some backbend preparation helpful before attempting Natarjasana. I tend to do some of the Bow postures and perhaps Kapotasana from meditative and even Eka pada raja kapotasana below to prepare myself for bringing the elbow out and around.

One of the difficulties with Natarjasana as with Eka pada raja kapotasana is the grip on the foot. Here it is at full speed and then in slow motion.

....and some screen shots.

1. Lift your leg up behind you bending the knee and bringing your heel towards your buttock but turn the foot outwards. Rest the back of your hand against the outside of your ankle.

2. Turn your hand palm outwards and take hold of the top of your foot.

3. Rotate your elbow outwards and your bring the foot up. At this point you'll need to begin the backbend to make the space for the elbow to come out and the shoulder rotate. 

4. Stretch up out of your hips, tilt the pelvis down and begin to arch the back as if you were preparing to drop back into urdhva danhurasana, continue to bring the elbow out and over to end up above your shoulder.

NB: These are practice notes that will be tidied up and put into the new edition of my Vinyasa Yoga Practice Book along with the current sequences and subroutines. The book can be freely downloadedHERE. There is a page on Facebook HERE with all the latest sheets and updates. This book is in no way a substitute for Ramaswami's Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga.