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Week 14 : Pigeon Posture
So, after our Suriya Namaskar last week, (which by the way, I think you should practice daily for a few weeks to really get to know it) we are going to add a few slightly more complicated postures to our home practice.
Once we have a few of these under our belts, we can really start to open up the possibilities of our sequences and make them more interesting.
Today, lets take a look at a simplified version of the 1 Legged King Pigeon pose or simply put, Pigeon Posture.
Start in Down Dog.
Bring your right knee forward between the arms and set it down on your mat between the hands.
The outside of your right thigh will be on the mat, and you will lower your hips and buttocks towards the floor.
At this point keep the weight in the arms and at the same time, allow the left leg to lower towards the mat with the knee straight. The front of the left thigh will lengthen along your mat and your toes will be pointed at the back and the foot will be in a straight line.
Try now to bring the right foot slightly forward and continue to lower the outside of the right buttock towards the floor – WITHOUT allowing the body to tilt towards the right side. This is the INCORRECT way to do the posture:
In the full posture the weight will now have shifted to balance between the arms and the legs and you will raise the chest and increase the bend in the back. You may also want to move the front leg so it is more parallel to the hips.
Exhale now and lay your torso down over the front thigh and stretch the arms forward, take 5 breaths whilst enjoying this stretch.
Inhale, take the weight into the arms and push back up, exhale into your full dog posture.
Repeat the posture on the other side, bringing the left leg through the arms.
Finish by coming back up to dog and then gently lowering the knees and dropping into child pose.
Posture 1 : Legged King Pigeon pose
Sanskrit name : Ek Pada Rajakapotasana
Benefits
*Releases tight hips.
*Strengthens lower back muscles.
* Opens the heart and chest area.
*Can be helpful for sciatica and back pain.
*increases back flexibility.
*We often store stress and anxiety in the hips, so releasing the hips can release negative feelings.
Avoid if: You have injuries in the lower back, hips, knees or ankles.
Beginners Tip: Instead of aiming to get the buttocks to the floor at first, start the practice with the lower leg running directly underneath the thigh, balancing on the shin, in order to keep the hips and shoulders square to the front.
Beginners Tip
Serena is a yoga teacher and the founder of The OM Space . She is a passionate believer in yoga as a life enhancing practice and runs several classes in Colombo including the very popular Yoga for Children and Yoga for Pregnancy. Serena trained in the UK with the British Wheel of Yoga and is a UK Yoga Alliance registered Senior Teacher.
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