Day 41 : SEATED : Upavishta konasana ( seated angle stretch) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

Upavishta konasana is one of those seemingly straight forward postures that we take for granted. I must have practiced it everyday for a couple of years before I gave it a second thought.

Vinyasa Krama often helps you to see some of the seemingly straight forward postures as if for the first time. It's the Vinyasas entering and exiting the posture on the breath, going in a little deeper each time. It's the long stays, elongating the exhalations and engaging the bandhas and it's the subtle variations on the key pose, the different hand variations, the twists, lifts and counters.

Try building a practice around this one routine, give yourself a lot of time, a LOT of time.

I credit this subroutine with improving my lotus, making it more comfortable and allowing me to stay longer, I credit it with helping me to get my knees to the mat in badha konasana and for getting my leg down below my neck and onto my shoulders in kapilasana  a deep leg behind head posture.

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS

The usual tips apply for this as for all the forward bends. Lift up high out of the pelvis, shift your backside back, remember to fold from the hip rather than form the back and work your way into the pose, you have time here, nine variations, there's no rush.

On the side bend, leaning over to the right for example, I like to take my right hand and hold on to my left hip and twist in a little. Now reach over your head with your left arm and fold inside your hip. laying along the thigh to grab your right foot with your left arm. NOW bring the right arm around parallel to the mat and take the inside of the right foot and finally twist in and up between your arms.

Use one of the hip raises like table pose as a counterpose.

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 downloaded HERE. 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.