The verse and its meaning · Yoga in Practice · Yoga in Practice — Asanas as Taught Today

Upavistha Konasana — wide-angle seated bend

Asanas as Taught Today 25

उपविष्ट कोणासन

Meaning · English

Upavistha Konasana, the seated-angle seat: upavistha is 'seated, sat down', kona is 'angle, corner', asana is 'seat'. The legs open into a wide angle while the body sits and bends forward between them: the wide-angle seated bend.

Take the name apart first. Upavistha comes from a root meaning 'to sit down', so it says 'seated'. Kona is an angle or corner. Asana is a seat, the way a body is placed and held. Together: the seated angle seat. The angle is the one the two straight legs make as they open on the floor, and the body folds forward into the space between them. The hatha texts, the Pradipika, the Gheranda and the Shiva Samhita, do not describe this posture. It is modern postural yoga, codified in the twentieth century in the Mysore line of Krishnamacharya and the schools that grew from it. It sits in this book as a posture taught today, and its old frame is Yoga Sutras 2.46 to 2.48: a seat that is steady and easy, effort loosened, the mind resting on the infinite. The lesson itself is plain. You sit with both legs straight, then spread them wide with the toes pointing up. You hold the big toes and sit tall. You fold from the hips with a long back, the chest travelling towards the floor. The knees and toes keep pointing up, and the breath stays slow. The measure of how far to go is the back: only as far as it stays long. The hands may rest on the floor in front. Then you come up and bring the legs together, and rest, noticing the inner legs released. Steadiness and ease are asked for together, and ease is the test.

1. Sit on the floor with both legs straight in front of you. If your pelvis tips back, sit on a folded blanket. 2. Spread the legs wide apart, as far as is comfortable, with the toes pointing up. Both legs open evenly from the hips. 3. Breathe in. Take hold of the big toes with the first two fingers and thumb of each hand, and sit tall. The spine lengthens upwards, and the chest is open. 4. Breathe out. Fold forward from the hips with a long back, the chest moving towards the floor. The chest leads, not the head. 5. Stay here. Keep the knees and toes pointing up. Breathe slowly and evenly through the nose. Stay for a few quiet breaths. 6. Go only as far as the back stays long. Let go of the toes if you need to, and let the hands rest on the floor in front of you. 7. Breathe in. Come up slowly, with the back long, and bring the legs together. 8. Rest with the legs straight or loosely bent, and feel the inner legs released. The pose is the same on both sides, so there is no other side to repeat. The fold starts at the hip creases, not the waist. Keep the kneecaps facing the ceiling so the legs do not roll outward. The gaze rests softly forward and down, with the neck in line with the spine. If the back begins to round, stop folding and stay where it is long.

The long muscles along the back of the thighs, the hamstrings, lengthen, and so do the adductors, the muscles of the inner thighs that draw the legs together. These do most of the holding back in a wide spread. The calves and the lower back lengthen a little as well. The hip joints do the real work of the fold, tilting the pelvis forward over the thighbones. When the spine stays long, the movement comes from the hips. When the back rounds, the stretch moves into the spine and away from the legs, which is why the lesson sets the back as the limit. Knees and toes pointing up keep the thighbones from rolling, so the stretch lands in the muscles and not in the knee joints. The breath is slow because a held or hurried breath tightens the belly and the hips. The breath in lengthens the spine before the fold. The breath out is when the body folds most easily. For the mind, the shape is wide and low, with nowhere to push toward. Attention settles on the breath and on the sensation of the inner legs. The tradition would call this the loosening of effort named in the Sutras, which is its own account of the aim and not a physical measurement.

Pradipika and Gheranda say nothing of this posture, so the claims here come from the schools that teach it. They describe it as a posture that stretches the backs and insides of the legs, opens the hips, and teaches the forward fold from the hips instead of the waist. They also say it quiets the mind through its slow, low shape and the steady breath, and that the release felt in the inner legs afterwards brings a sense of ease. These are the teaching of those schools. Nothing here is a cure, and no illness is claimed to be treated by it.

A cricket fielder sits down after a long day in the field, legs wide, and finds the insides of his thighs tight and his hands nowhere near the floor. This is the usual condition of this pose, and it is a fair picture of what it asks. What is well established in general terms: gentle, patient stretching of the hamstrings and inner thighs does, over weeks of regular practice, increase how far a person can move. Much of that change is the nervous system tolerating a longer stretch, not the muscle becoming a different length. Folding from the hips instead of rounding the back is also sound advice, because it spares the lower spine strain. A slow, even breath is calming in the plain sense that unhurried breathing tends to settle the body. What the evidence does not settle: claims that the pose benefits particular organs, or treats particular conditions. These are the tradition's and the schools' teaching, not something modern physiology has shown. Also, being very flexible in this pose is not a mark of health, and some people have hip shapes that simply stop the legs from opening wide.

This page is not medical advice. A teacher corrects what a page cannot, and this pose is best learnt with one, not from a page. Stop at any pain, as distinct from the pull of a stretch. Take particular care with a disc problem or sciatica, a recent hamstring tear or strain, hip or groin injury, painful knees, or low back trouble. A recent surgery of the abdomen, hip or spine calls for a teacher's guidance first. In pregnancy, a wide spread with a deep fold is not for the belly, so take advice. If you have high blood pressure or dizziness, keep the fold shallow and come up slowly. Never force the legs wider or the chest lower than the back allows, and never bounce.

Gentler: sit on a folded blanket so the pelvis tips forward. Bend the knees slightly, or rest them over rolled blankets, and keep the legs less wide. Place the hands on blocks or a stack of books in front, or loop a strap around the feet. Rest the forearms and forehead on a bolster set between the legs. Fuller: with practice the legs open wider and the hands walk further forward, while the back still stays long. Some people eventually rest the chest and chin on the floor. The pose is symmetrical, so there is no mirrored side. The next step is more patience, not more depth.

Rounding the back to reach the floor: fold from the hips and stop where the back is still long. Letting the knees and toes fall outward: turn the kneecaps and toes to the ceiling. Pulling on the toes to force the fold: let go of the toes and rest the hands on the floor. Sitting on the back of the pelvis: lift on a blanket so the spine can rise. Holding the breath: breathe slowly, out through the fold and in as you come up. Coming up in a rush: breathe in and rise slowly, with the back long.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Janu Sirsasana — head-to-knee pose · Asanas as Taught Today 24
• Next: Tiryang Mukha Ekapada Paschimottanasana — one leg folded back, forward bend · Asanas as Taught Today 26
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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