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

Bakasana — crane pose

Asanas as Taught Today 41

बकासन

Meaning · English

Bakasana, the crane seat: baka is the crane, the wading bird that stands still on thin legs, and asana is a seat or posture. The English name is the crane pose, the body balanced on the hands with the knees held high on the arms.

Take the name apart first. Baka is the crane, the long-legged bird that waits at the edge of water and holds itself perfectly still. Asana is a seat, a way of being placed. The crane pose is the shape of that stillness: the body folded small and held up on two hands. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita do not describe this pose. It is modern postural yoga, codified in the twentieth century in the Mysore line of Krishnamacharya and the schools that grew from it. Its frame in the old literature is Yoga Sutras 2.46 to 2.48: a seat that is steady and easy, effort loosened, and the mind resting on the infinite. The plain sense of the lesson is this. You squat with the knees wide and the palms flat on the floor. The hips rise, and the knees settle high on the backs of the upper arms. On an out-breath the weight moves forward into the hands, and the feet leave the floor one after the other. You stay, eyes a little ahead, breathing. Then you come down on an in-breath, sit, and shake the wrists loose. The schools teach it because it asks for steadiness without stiffness, which is exactly what the Sutras name. It asks a practitioner for patience, for willingness to try near a cushion, and for a gaze that stays up rather than watching the hands.

1. Squat with the feet close together and the knees wide apart. Set your palms on the floor, shoulder-width apart, with the fingers spread and pressing down. 2. Lift your hips. Rest your knees high on the backs of your upper arms, close to the armpits. 3. Breathe out. Lean forward onto your hands, and lift one foot off the floor. Then lift the other foot. 4. Stay here. Look a little ahead, not down at your hands. Breathe in an easy, unforced way for a few breaths. 5. While you are learning, place a cushion on the floor in front of your face, so that a forward tip lands softly. 6. Breathe in. Lower your feet to the floor, one at a time. 7. Sit down, and shake your wrists loose. The pose has no left or right side. On your next round, lift the other foot first. Fine points: the lean comes from the whole body moving forward over the hands, and the hands stay planted. Keep the elbows only slightly bent and in line with the wrists, not flaring out. Do not force the feet up. If they will not lift, stay with one foot on the floor until the weight is truly over the hands.

The body does several things at once. The wrists bend back and carry the weight, so the forearms and fingers grip the floor. The shoulders reach forward and the upper back rounds, which keeps the knees pressed high on the arms. The belly muscles and hip flexors draw the thighs toward the chest, and the inner thighs squeeze the knees against the arms. The hips, knees and ankles are all deeply bent, so the pose also asks for open hips and ankles. The breath is a practical matter. Breathing out as you lean softens the belly and draws the ribs in, so the body folds forward more easily. Once the feet are up, the round back gives the ribs less room, and the breath becomes smaller and steadier. For the mind, the pose is a narrow task. Balance on the hands leaves little room for wandering thoughts, and the forward gaze gives the eyes one fixed place. This is the Sutras' sense of effort loosened: the mind is busy enough to be quiet. The old hatha texts give no account of this pose, so there is no tradition of prana or the nadis attached to it here.

The old hatha texts name no benefits for this pose, since they do not describe it. The schools that teach it say it builds strength in the arms, wrists and belly, and steadiness in balance. They say it brings a concentrated attention, because the pose does not allow a wandering mind. Many teachers also say it builds confidence and a calm attitude toward falling, since the cushion makes trying safe. These are the schools' teaching, not a claim of the old manuals.

A woman who gardens kneels and squats at the vegetable bed most mornings. When she tries the crane pose, her deep squat is easy and her wrists are the surprise. That fits what is generally understood. Bearing weight through the hands does train the wrists, forearms and shoulders, and balance practice does train attention and coordination. These are ordinary effects of strength and balance work, and the pose is not special in this. Where the schools say it brings courage or a calm mind, today's understanding agrees only in a modest way. Regular, moderate exercise that holds attention tends to settle people, but nothing particular to this pose has been shown. The wrists are the common trouble spot, since they are not built for sudden load, and slow, graded practice is the sensible course. Falling forward is also a real risk. Prana and the nadis have no modern match and cannot be measured, and the old texts say nothing of them for this pose.

This page is not medical advice, and a teacher corrects what a page cannot. The crane pose is learnt with a teacher, not from a page. Stop at any pain, and at tingling or numbness in the hands. Take particular care, or leave the pose out, with wrist, elbow or shoulder trouble, with a neck problem, or with painful knees or hips, since the squat is deep. Leave it out in pregnancy unless a qualified teacher and your doctor agree, after a recent surgery, with high blood pressure that is not well controlled, and with a back or disc problem that bends badly. Never force the feet up or hold on through shaking arms. Keep the cushion in front of the face, and keep the knees off the floor while you are a beginner.

Gentler: practise the squat alone, with a folded blanket under the heels if they lift. Then rest the knees on the arms and keep both toes on the floor, only rocking the weight forward. Place a block under each foot so the lift is small, or lift just one foot for a few breaths. Fuller: once steady, straighten the arms a little so the knees sit higher and the hips rise. The pose has no mirrored side, but change which foot lifts first on each round. Keep the cushion in front of the face until the pose has been steady many times.

Knees slipping down toward the elbows: set them high, close to the armpits, before you lean. Looking down at the hands: lift the gaze a little ahead, or you will tip forward. Holding the breath: breathe out on the lean, then breathe softly while you stay. Bending the elbows wide: keep them slightly bent and in line with the wrists. Hips dropping low: raise the hips first, before leaning. Jumping the feet up: lean slowly until the weight is on the hands and the feet lift by themselves.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Ardha Navasana — half boat pose · Asanas as Taught Today 40
• Next: Bhujapidasana — shoulder-press pose · Asanas as Taught Today 44
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