Tuesday 3 October 2017

My Favourite Asanas #1 – Half Pigeon or Ardha Kapotasana


Generally speaking, I like asanas that I feel I can do quite well and dislike those I’m rubbish at. This one is an exception. From the first time I tried it, I’ve been attracted to the feeling of danger as I put a stretch on my glute that threatens to do something dreadful, something catastrophic that I might never recover from. It’s a big old muscle and it protests loudly but, however much it feels like it might, it doesn’t rip and pop my hip socket out like a jointed chicken. Then, ever-so-gradually, I start to let go, lean forward and settle towards the floor. The sense of danger transmutes to a duller aching that starts to feel intensely satisfying as I take the tension out of my shoulders and soften everything, until the belly is connected to the shin, the cheek to the mat, the arms to the floor…


I sit a lot at work, so there is generally a fair bit of tension in my hips. This was the pose in which I first noticed that holding tension in a muscle to protect it actually makes things worse. It takes a leap of faith to relax fully and let the muscle really stretch out. The mixture of a great, deep stretch with a little bit more surrender every time completely hits the spot for me. This one’s on my Desert Island Practice for sure. 

The desert island I have in mind for my Desert Island Practice


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