The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — The Old Seats

Mayurasana — the peacock

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.30

धरां अवष्टभ्य करद्वयेन तत्कूर्परस्थापितनाभिपार्श्वः। उच्चासनो दण्डवदुत्थितः खे मायूरं एतत्प्रवदन्ति पीठम् ॥

Meaning · English

Pressing the ground with both hands, setting the two sides of the navel on the elbows, raised high, rising into the air, straight as a staff: this they call the peacock seat.

The name is mayura, peacock, and asana, a seat or posture. The body is held out level over the hands, a little like a peacock leaning forward with its tail stretched behind. The verse is a description of that shape, and it gives it in a few plain parts. First, both hands press down on the ground. They are the only support. Second, the sides of the navel rest on the elbows. The word the verse uses for the elbows places them under the belly, so the arms become a small shelf the trunk lies across. Third, the body is raised high and lifted into the air, off the floor. Fourth, it is held straight like a staff, a daṇḍa: one long line from head to heels, not a sagging middle or a lifted hip. The verse names no breath, no count and no direction for the fingers. It gives no reason either. Its work is to say what the shape is, so the reader can recognise it. The reasons and promises come in the verse that follows. What the verse asks of a practitioner is plain: strong arms, a firm belly, and the patience to hold the body level without letting it fall or twist.

1. Kneel on a mat with the knees slightly apart. Breathe in and out naturally a few times. 2. Place the palms flat on the floor in front of the knees, with the fingers pointing back toward you. Spread the fingers and press the whole hand down, including the base of the thumb. 3. Breathe out. Bend the elbows and bring them together, pressing them into the soft belly just below the ribs. Let the forearms rest side by side. 4. Breathe in. Lean the chest slowly forward over the hands. Look at a spot on the floor a little ahead, not down at your nose. 5. Breathe out. Stretch the legs back, one after the other, with the toes on the floor and the knees straight. 6. Keep leaning forward until the weight comes onto the hands. Then lift the feet and let the whole body come level, head, trunk and legs in one line. 7. Hold for a few breaths, the body straight like a staff. Breathe small and even through the nose. Do not hold the breath. 8. Breathe out and lower the feet to the floor. Bring the knees down and come back to kneeling. 9. Sit back on the heels, rest the hands on the thighs, and breathe until the breath is quiet. There is no other side. The text gives only the final shape: hands down, navel on elbows, body straight in the air. The kneeling start, the backward fingers and the step by step lean are how it is taught today, and the lesson shows them. Keep the gaze forward so the neck stays long. Keep the elbows close to each other. Lean only as far as you can come back from, and never jump into the lift.

The wrists bend back with the fingers pointing toward the body, so the forearm muscles on the palm side lengthen and then bear the load. The arms, shoulders and upper back work to keep the weight off the floor. The muscles of the abdomen and lower back hold the trunk level, and the buttocks and thighs keep the legs straight behind. The elbows act as a pivot under the belly, and the body balances over them like a see-saw. Breath is shallow here. The belly is pressed by the elbows, so the ribs move more than the abdomen. That is why the breath is kept small and steady, and why holding it is a poor idea: it raises pressure in the chest and head and tires you quickly. The mind has one job, balance. Attention narrows to the hands, the elbows and the line of the body, and there is little room for anything else. The tradition has its own account. The Pradipika links the pressure on the belly with agni, the digestive fire. That is the tradition's reading, not a finding about the body.

The verse itself makes no promise. The Pradipika's next verse gives the claims, and they are the tradition's own. It says the peacock seat quickly takes away disorders, including the troubles of the belly, and overcomes the imbalances of the humours, the doshas. It says food eaten badly or in excess is reduced to nothing, as if burnt to ash. It says the pose kindles the digestive fire, agni, so strongly that even a deadly poison is digested. These are old claims offered for the practitioner's encouragement. They are not an instruction to test them: no one should eat anything harmful on the strength of a verse, and the pose is not a treatment for any illness.

A mother of a toddler kneels on a mat while the child tugs at her sleeve. She has carried bags and a small child all day, and she wants to know if the pose will do for her digestion what the old verse says. Today's understanding gives a plain answer. Mayurasana is an arm balance. It asks for strength in the wrists, forearms and shoulders, steady abdominal work and good balance, and a strong, patient person can build these over time. There is no good evidence that pressing the elbows into the belly improves digestion, clears waste or neutralises poison. Agni maps loosely onto digestion and appetite, and a calm meal, regular movement and enough sleep do far more for those. The old claim about digesting poison has no modern match and should not be taken literally. The caution is real: straining with the head down or the breath held raises pressure in the chest and neck, which is why the tradition's warning about learning with a teacher still stands.

This is not medical advice, and a page cannot correct a body the way a teacher can. This pose is learnt with a teacher, not from a page. Stop at once if there is pain, dizziness, a pinching in the wrists or a pull in the neck. Leave it out, or ask a doctor first, if you have neck or back trouble, high blood pressure, wrist or elbow injury, a hernia, a recent abdominal surgery, or a condition that makes pressure on the belly unwise. Pregnancy is a clear reason to leave it out. Do not practise it soon after eating. Never force the lift, hold the breath, or drop forward onto the face. The old promise of digesting poison must never be tried. If the body is not ready, stay at the earlier steps.

A gentler form stays at step 4: elbows pressed into the belly, chest leaning forward, feet on the floor. Let one foot come up for a breath, then lower it. Set a folded blanket in front of the face so a slip lands softly. Keep the elbows a little apart if bringing them together is hard on the wrists. Some students work with a teacher spotting from the side. The fuller form is the one the verse describes: both feet lifted and the body level as a staff. Teachers today also cross the legs in lotus while lifted. That is a later development, not in the verse. There is no mirrored side.

Elbows set too wide, so the belly slides off them. Bring them together and press them into the soft belly just below the ribs. Holding the breath. Let it run small and even through the nose. Dropping or craning the head. Look at a spot on the floor ahead so the neck stays long. Lifting the legs while the hips stay high or low. Lean further forward until the whole body is level from head to heels. Fingers pointing forward or sideways, which strains the wrists. Turn them back toward the body and press the whole hand down. Jumping into the lift. Move slowly, and lower the feet before the arms tire.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Paschimottanasana — the west side stretched · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.28
• Next: Shavasana — the corpse, which rests the mind · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.32
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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