Hanumanasana or Split.

The feature pose this month is Hanumanasana, or a yoga split. The pose is named after Hanuman, a monkey god from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.  We will be discussing Hanuman’s story as we work on our splits.  Hanuman is a devotee of Prince Rama whose wife, Sita is abducted by the demon king Ravana. Hanuman makes an enormous leap across the Indian Ocean, from the Southeastern tip of India to Sri Lanka, in order to rescue Sita from Ravana. His devotional leap is memorialized in this yoga posture.

Hanuman

It seems that yogis are divided into 2 groups over this pose, those who can do the pose and those who can’t. The first group generally likes it. Not so with the second group. Groans will be heard from those who don’t like it whenever this pose is being practiced in class. Notice I said practiced and not performed. One of the keys to any pose is practicing it, not coveting it and not avoiding it. Hanuman didn’t care how he looked as he stretched his legs to Lanka to rescue Sita. And since he did rescue Sita does it matter whether he took one leap or several?

This first week, in Hanumanasana let’s just take a good look at where we are in the pose. It doesn’t matter if all your split is a runner’s stretch (back knee on the floor and the front leg straight). In fact, you will still be reaping the benefits of the pose as long as you work honestly where you are.  Remember, one of the signs of an advanced practitioner is one who knows how to modify his/her pose.

Stages: Working where you are.

Stages: almost there

According to “Light On Yoga” this pose: …helps to cure sciatica and other defects of the legs. It tones the leg muscles, keeps the legs in condition and if practiced regularly is recommended for runners and sprinters. It relaxes and strengthens the abductor muscles of the thighs.”  Let’s practice this pose together for a month and see what happens.

Vinyasa Pose of the Month - Hanumanasana or Split

Hanumanasana is a pose that requires diligent physical practice, but also an open mind and heart. When Hanuman lands in Sri Lanka to rescue Sita from the demon king, Ravana doesn’t believe that Hanuman could have leapt across the ocean to his island kingdom. Hanuman tells Ravana, “Withdraw your heart from Sita, or that will be a costly theft, for it’s by her energy that I jumped over the sea.” It’s devotion or the energy of the heart that will help you find the gateway to the posture.In order to perform Hanumanasana, the pose based on Hanuman’s famous leaping ability, we need to stretch the hamstrings and the quadriceps. Often people fold forward or bend backward with more ease, but Hanumanasana requires both. So, as we work on doing a split this month we will stretch our hamstrings in poses such as Forward Folds, Triangle and Pyramid and we will do thigh stretches in poses such as Low Lunge with a thigh stretch, Dancer’s Pose and Warrior I.

If you find that your hamstrings or quads are really tight and more like steel cables than muscles, you might want to look at the psychological/emotional issues associated with those muscles. The hamstrings are connected to the knees, which are symbolically used to bow down to a higher power, and so tight hamstrings can often mean a deeper level of surrender is needed. The thighs (quadriceps) hold onto past conflicts, such as traumatic childhood memories, anger or resentment. This is an area closely associated with sexuality and intimacy. This comes from the book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.

If we did Hanumanasana as frequently as we did Down Dog, imagine how good our splits would be!

Keep practicing. I’ll see you in class.

2017 Postures for the Year

The following is a list of the Postures of the Month for 2017.

January - Plank poses and all of their variations:  High Plank, Low Plank, Side Plank, Reverse Plank, Handstand and Headstand.

Karin in Vasisthasana

February - Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana or Kapotasana - Wheel on your forearms or Full Pigeon

Cailen in Kapotasana

March - Astavakrasana - Eight crooked places pose

Karin in Astavakrasana

April - Eka Hasta Adho Mukha Vrksasana - One arm Handstand

(Pic Coming Soon)

May - Padmasana - Lotus

Karin in Padmasana

June - Natarajasana - Dancer's Pose

(Pic Coming Soon)

July - Visvamitrasana or Hanumanasana -  Side Plank, bottom leg lifted or Split

Karin in Visvamitrasana

August - Prasarita Padottanasana to Sirsasana II -  Wide-Leg Forward Fold to Headstand

Karin in Sirsasana II from Prasarita Padottanasana

September - Salabhasana/Locust

(Pic coming soon)

October - Eka Pada Koundinyasana I

Karin in Eka Pada Koundinyasana I

November - Dancing Warrior Series

(Pic coming soon)

December - Choice of Restorative Pose

Karin in Supta Virasana

What's on your Yoga Bucket List?

You can often tell which poses a yoga studio practices frequently because most of the students can do them.  Sometime before Christmas, I had one of my classes at The Solebury Club doing Crow and everyone in the class was able to do the pose.  It was quite remarkable!  Clearly, it is a pose I add into the sequence often.  But then we got to Hanumanasana, or split…   Not so much!  Hmmm…

A Split is not a pose I can do.  Or rather, it is not a pose I can do and get all the way down to the ground.  So, clearly I am to blame for not teaching it with any regularity.  I have had hamstring injuries in the past and when injured, I would stay away from such a big hamstring stretch. But still, I cannot take all the blame for not teaching this pose.  My other colleagues who teach similar classes at Solebury are as fond of Hanuman as I am; which means they also cannot get all the way down to the ground, so they don’t teach it too often, either.  Therefore, a lot of our students cannot do a split.  Handstands, yes!  Split, no.

Not that being able to do a Split is a requirement for anything in life, but still I am intrigued, mystified and challenged by the posture.  I want to be able to do a split before I get too old to do it.  It’s a pose on my yoga bucket list!

At The Solebury Club, Karate Sensei Ed Rumick has created a 100 push-up club on Facebook, which anyone can join.  The goal is to work towards being able to do 100 push-ups by the end of the year.  Here is the link if you are interested.  I decided to join.  I hate push-ups, but I have always wanted to be better at doing them because being able to do 100 push-ups will give me more strength to do other yoga arm balances.  Now that is my idea of fun!   There are some in the club who can already do 100 push-ups.  Personally, I think they need a new challenge and I propose that they learn the routine in this video.  Most people in the club can already do more push-ups than me. But, I don’t care.  I would like to be able to do 3 sets of 10, at least.   I did 26 today.  But I can only do about 7 at a time without losing form.

This made me think about doing a Pose for the Year in yoga.  Hanumanasana is not a pose you can master in one month.  So, I thought it would be a good candidate for a Pose for the Year.  I remember seeing a blog about some gymnastics coach who claimed he could teach an average middle aged man with no flexibility to do a split in 6 months.  I think we need at least that amount of time.

What do you think?  Are you interested?  Are you game?  It would mean that you should expect to see Hanumanasana as a posture at least once a week.  I cannot guarantee I can work it into every sequence, but I want to try to fit it in more frequently.  Also, on the Facebook page there could be sequences, tips and techniques for practicing the pose on your own.  A little stretching everyday can help you get there.

I'll report on my progress and you can let me know how you are doing.

Let me know what you think.  Leave a comment below.