Why should we do this pose and what should you do if you can't do it?
If you look in Light on Yoga, Mr. Iyengar says that this pose strengthens the wrists, arms and tones the abdomen. Surely there are other easier exercises that we can do to get those same results. But, there is something empowering about the ability to support your body weight on your hands. You don’t have to do Astavakrasana at all. Ever. But, take a look at the poses under each of the individual skills that build up to making this pose and see what you can work on. Who knows, one day you may surprise yourself!
There are no poses that are absolutely mandatory to do. But a lot of poses are just progressions of what is possible in strength and flexibility. Yoga tests our limits, the edges of our comfort zones and where we are stuck. One of my teachers always says, "In an ever expanding universe, there is always more." For some that can be overwhelming, but it is not meant to be. Can you just take a peak around the next bend? Can you take the next step towards something? We all know the concept that a business has to grow in order to continue. How about ourselves? What happens to us if we don’t continue to grow? The Bhagavad Gita teaches us to take the actions for the sake of being alive but to let go of the fruits of our actions. There is no pressure to perform, you just show up and do the next thing.
Like any large task that is overwhelming, you can break it down into its smaller components. Let’s take Astavakrasana apart and look at each piece. Work on each component without any thought of the next step until you get there.
Hip flexibility: Getting your leg over your shoulder.
If you can do Side Angle Pose, can you do Bound Side Angle Pose? If you can't do Bound Side Angle Pose, try Lizard Lunge. After Lizard Lunge, can you now approach Bound Side Angle Pose better? What would happen if you were to try Lizard Lunge every time you practiced? In Lizard Lunge we are working the hip flexibility to be able to get the shoulder under the thigh; this is the flexibility you need to bind in Side Angle Pose. The ability to bind in Side Angle Pose is the same flexibility to get the leg over the shoulder in Astavakrasana. Notice in this picture that you can see my right knee above my back.
Shoulder Flexibility: The ability to bind the arms.
One of the poses I like to do in almost every class is a forward fold with the hands clasped behind the back. Because everything is our lives is usually oriented in front of us, we tend to constantly be reaching forward. This and poor posture causes our shoulders to round forward. Stretching the arms behind the back stretches the front of the shoulder. This is the first step in the flexibility to bind. Practicing Marichyasana I is a good pose to work on your bind.
Twisting: the ability to connect your opposite elbow and knee together.
A twist is defined as the hips and shoulders rotating 90 degrees from each other. Usually one part of the body stays still while the other part rotates. One of the aspects of a lot of twists in yoga is the ability to connect your knee with your opposite elbow. Think of the ab exercise we call bicycling, where you are lying on your back and your curl your head and shoulders of the ground with your fingers interlaced behind your head and you try to touch your elbow to your opposite knee: your hips stay stationary and your upper body curls and rotates your shoulders. You will see this same action in Revolved Side Angle Pose, Side Crow and Seated Twists.
Upper body strength: the ability to do a Low Push Up.
In Vinyasa classes, this is a pose appears a lot, but very few students do it correctly. It forms the foundation of most arm balances. I think most yoga students look for the flexibility in their yoga poses and are not as interested in the strength part. Strength without flexibility is rigidity. Flexibility without strength is instability. In yoga, as in life, we need both. As we work on a Low Push up, we will also work on a High Push up, Side Planks and Reverse Planks. Reverse Plank works on both shoulder strength and flexibility
Core strength: The ability to lift your lower body of the ground.
As I teach my students in anatomy training: Our arms connect us to each other and our legs connect us to the earth. Our core integrates the upper body and lower body together. If we are lacking a strong core, we risk injuring ourselves. Boat pose is a great core strengthening posture. If you add a twist to Boat Pose, you basically have the seated version of Astavakrasana.
The strength of the inner thighs; the ability to squeeze your legs to the midline.
Drawing into yourself is a challenging thing to do. Ask most people if they meditate. While they want to, it is not easy to do. We are so outwardly directed. Hugging to the midline is the physical action of drawing inward, of trusting our own instincts. Being able to draw your legs in towards the midline is the key to balancing your legs on your bent elbow in Astavakrasana. When things get difficult in a yoga pose, rather than turning inward to their own strength, they let go and move outward away from their core. This is the same reason why it is difficult to sit in meditation, the lure of the outer world seems more important and better than the inner world. Being able to hug your legs together as you tip your head and torso forward in this pose is scary.
Your legs should hug towards the midline in almost every yoga pose that you do. Try doing Warrior II with your front foot on a sticky mat and your back foot on a blanket. Start with your feet together, front foot turned out 90 degrees and back foot perpendicular to the front foot. Let your back foot slide back a few inches and then draw it in. Don’t go too far at first, or you may strain yourself. Go progressively further as you get stronger making sure that your back toes don’t turn out. If your back toes turn out you will use your glutes and in this case you want to use your inner thigh muscles.
As one of my teachers in art school used to quote Mies van der Rohe all the time: "Develop an infallible technique and put yourself at the mercy of Inspiration." Keep practicing. I'll see you in class!
Karin