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

Uttana Kurmasana — the upturned tortoise

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.24

कुक्कुटासनबन्धस्थो दोर्भ्यां सम्बद्य कन्धराम्। भवेद्कूर्मवदुत्तान एतदुत्तानकूर्मकम् ॥

Meaning · English

Settled in the rooster seat, with both arms clasped around the neck, one lies back stretched out like a tortoise turned on its back. This is the upturned tortoise.

Start with the name. Uttana means stretched out and facing up, as a person lies open on the back. Kurma is the tortoise. Asana is a seat or posture. The ending -ka only makes it a name: the upturned-tortoise posture. A tortoise on its back has its limbs drawn in and its belly to the sky. That is the picture the text wants. The plain sense is a sequence in two parts. First the practitioner is established in the rooster seat, the lotus-based pose described just before. Then both arms come to the neck and clasp it, and the body lies back and stretches out, rounded and face up, with the folded legs still in their shape. The verse names three things: the rooster seat as the starting shape, the arms clasped at the neck, and the lying back like a tortoise. Nothing else is named. The Pradipika gives no reason for the pose and no promise. It simply lists it among the animal seats. The Sanskrit commentary printed with this text at this place speaks of a different seat, so none of its reasoning is borrowed here. What the pose asks of a practitioner is a settled lotus, trained hips, a strong and steady body, and a teacher at hand. The text assumes all of these without saying so.

The lesson shows this for the tradition and says it is learnt only with an experienced teacher. The level is advanced. The Pradipika names no breath for it. The breath cues below are modern teaching, added so the steps can be followed. 1. Come into the rooster pose. Sit in lotus, with the hands placed between thighs and calves. Press the palms down and lift the whole body. Breathe in as you settle there. 2. Lower the body and withdraw the hands. Breathe out. Bring both hands behind the head and clasp the neck, fingers interlaced, elbows wide. 3. Keep the lotus folded. Breathe out slowly and let the body lie back, rounded, like an upturned tortoise. Roll, do not drop. The teacher's hand or a thick folded blanket under the back makes this safer. 4. Let the eyes rest softly upward, or close them. 5. Hold the body still. Breathe quietly through the nose. The text gives no time. Begin with a few breaths and leave while the pose is still easy. 6. Release slowly. Breathe in, unclasp the hands, and draw the elbows in. Roll up on a long out-breath, never by a jerk. 7. Unfold the legs, stretch them out, and rest. 8. Rest. Lie flat for several breaths. The text gives no other side, but if the lotus is folded one way here, a teacher will have you fold the other leg on top next time. Fine points: the hands pull gently on the neck and never push the head forward. Stillness comes from the legs and trunk, not from gripping. If the lotus feels strained at the knees, the pose is not yet yours.

The pose combines three loads: a full lotus, a rounded lying-back, and the arms clasped behind the head. The hips are turned out and the knees bent fully. The front of the hips and the outer thighs lengthen, and the muscles around the hip hold the shape. The knees take the strain if the hips do not open enough, which is why the lotus must be easy first. On the back, the spine curves forward and rests on its rounded length. The muscles along the back lengthen a little, and the belly muscles hold the body from rolling. The clasped hands support the head and hold the shoulders open, but they also put a pull on the neck. The breath here is small. A curled body with a rounded chest gives the lungs little room at the back, so breathing is shallow and steady. Forcing a deep breath would make the pose tense. For the mind, the shape is closed and quiet. With the limbs folded and the eyes soft, little can be done, and attention drops to the breath and the contact with the floor. The tortoise image is the tradition's own: the senses drawn in, as the tortoise draws in its limbs. The Pradipika does not state that here; it is how the picture is usually read.

The Pradipika attaches no promise to this pose. Its verse names the posture and its name and says nothing of what it gives. The commentary printed with it speaks of another seat, so no benefit is borrowed from it. What can be said is what the tradition claims for the animal seats in general: they train steadiness in the body and prepare it for sitting long in one place. The text itself does not say this about this verse. The schools that teach the pose today describe a feeling of being drawn in and quiet. That is a report of experience, not a claim from the book. No cure or protection from any illness is claimed here.

A woman who has sat cross-legged on a shop floor for forty years, folding cloth, can still sit in lotus without thinking about it. She is the kind of person this pose was made for. A younger person who sits mostly on chairs usually cannot. What is well understood is general. A full lotus asks a great deal of the hips and knees, and when the hips are stiff, the knee takes the twist. Pain in the knee during the pose is a warning, not a stage to push through. Clasping the hands behind the neck and rolling onto a rounded back loads the neck and upper spine, and care with that is sensible for anyone. Steady, slow breathing while still does calm most people, and holding a pose quietly is a fair way to practise attention. These are broad effects of slow, still practice, not of this pose in particular. The Pradipika's picture of the senses withdrawing like a tortoise's limbs is the tradition's account. Modern physiology has no matching term for it, and there is no good evidence for any special effect of this pose over other quiet postures.

This is not medical advice. A page cannot correct a body, and a teacher can. This pose is learnt with an experienced teacher, never from a page or a video alone. Stop at any pain, and never push through it. Leave it out, or take only a gentler form, with any knee problem, since the lotus can twist the knee. Leave it out with hip trouble, a disc problem, neck pain or injury, high blood pressure, a recent surgery, or pregnancy. People with stiff hips should not attempt the lotus by force. Never pull the neck forward with the hands. Never drop back suddenly. Never hold the pose if the breath becomes strained. If the legs go numb, come out slowly.

A beginner can skip the full pose and lie on the back with the knees folded in a simple cross-legged shape, hands lightly behind the head. This gives the closed, drawn-in feeling without the lotus or the strain on the knees. The next stage is half lotus, one foot on the opposite thigh, with the arms clasped behind the neck and the back supported on a folded blanket. Change which leg is on top the next time. The fuller form is the one in the lesson: full lotus, rooster first, then the arms clasped and the body lying back. Only a teacher decides when someone is ready for it.

Forcing the lotus with stiff hips strains the knees → build the hips first and use a half lotus until the full one is easy. Pulling the head forward with the hands → let the hands support the head and keep the elbows wide. Dropping back like a fall → roll slowly on an out-breath, with a blanket under the back. Holding the breath → breathe quietly through the nose, even if the breaths are short. Staying too long → leave while it is still easy. Coming up with a jerk → release the hands first and roll up slowly.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Kukkutasana — the rooster · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.23
• Next: Dhanurasana — the bow · Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.25
• All of Yoga in Practice · Ask Krishna about it

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