asana: parsvottonasana variation/utthita parsvakonasana variation

I’m not 100% sure how to name this pose. On yoga.about.com, a frequent habitation of mine, it’s listed as a pyramid (parsvottonasana) variation. To me, pyramid pose necessitates a straight forward leg – otherwise there’s, um, no pyramid – and the muscle usage is much more similar to extended side angle (utthita parsvakonasana), or even warriors. So I’m willing to call it extended side angle variation as well. I have also seen it called ostrich pose and humble warrior and various other things.

Here is the pose on about.com:

Okay, I’m very sorry to say this about a site that is generally pretty good, but this is a HORRIBLE picture of this pose. It completely blocks what the front leg is doing and gives you no idea of the unusual dimensions of this pose. Which is why I took pictures of myself doing it, in one of the yoga studios where I practice. (This was on the same day I took all those other pictures that are on my non-anonymous website, and yes I’m only getting around to putting this post up now. Shut up.)

This is an okay expression of the pose, but my front knee should have been further out to the side; this way I look as if I’m going to tip over onto my ass. Which is bad. At least my back is nice and flat.

The way to do this pose is to start in warrior 2, and open your chest by lacing your fingers behind your back.

Then you bend from the hips and begin to lift your arms behind your back. You’re aiming for a spot sort of back and to the side of your front foot.

There’s that knee thing starting. You can see that I’m using a block under my head. I’m doing this to mitigate the weight of my torso and head. The eventual pose involves the head resting nicely on the ground, and a straight back, but my hips and back at this stage don’t allow that.

The thing that’s so interesting about this pose is that the alignment isn’t cubic, the way it usually is in yoga. That’s kind of a weird thing to say; what I mean is that yoga poses generally focus on up-down, front-back, side-to-side alignment. Yoga is three-dimensional, of course, because humans are three-dimensional, but there’s very little room for diagonal movement. It’s only along three axes, X, Y, and Z, instead of any one degree of the 360-degree axis.

But here, the torso moves down diagonally, jutting out at an angle from the standard warrior alignment of the legs. Even in the full expression of the pose, with the head on the floor, the body is still out to the side. If it weren’t, it would be lizard pose, but the aim here is completely different.

This pose is rarely taught, in my experience. I think the reason is a majority of students out there have tight hips, and your hips have to be significantly open before you can find ease along with effort in the pose. The first time I was taught it, I wanted to stay in it for a long, long time. It combines a number of opposing flavors in a crazy good fusion: a cooling forward bend with the fire of a lunging pose. A fluid upper body with strong solid legs. The lightness of an open chest with a compressed abdomen. It’s craaaazy!

The most interesting thing about it, for me, is the feeling of a quantum change in one’s personal atmosphere going from standing up to being in the pose. The most recent time I did it in class I thought of “AND YOU GO DOOOOOOWN” from the Bikram dialogue. It’s much closer to hanging upside down than many other forward-bending poses, and for once I’m not limited by my dastardly hamstrings.

I don’t have any Great Lessons to share with you from this pose. It’s just one that I enjoy, and one which seems a little bit obscure that deserves some more airplay.