RamaswacMore Stng Asanas

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Yoga Therapy

More StandingAsanas8y S. Ramaswam/, Trustee.Krishnamacharyaoga Mandiram

The caption of the previous stand in Tadasana,with armsart ic le appeared by typogr- overhead. Exhal ing, proceedaphical mistake as "On Four to do Ardha Uttanasana ndFeet For Asanas" insteadof Uttanasana n that.order, eep"On Your FeetFor Asanas." the palms beside he feet , asHowever, he earl ier i t le wi l l* mentioned n the June issue.be more appropriate to the r ' Then pressing he palms in-presentwri te up, as the f i rst hale, raise he heed, and ex-posture we take up is real ly l hal ing orocced to do utkata-on "Four legs" or Chaturang-f sana,but without raising headandasanam. I arms. Do a few inhalat ion

L-and exhalat ion n the posture.CHATURANGADANDA Thereafter,holding the bre-SANAM : ath after exhalat ion, pressthe palms sl ight ly, l i f t he IeetChatur : Four; : Anga - off the ground, jump backl imbs; Danda : Stick and land on the t ip of the big

toes of your feet , droppingThe 'four legged stick the body horizontal ly l ike aDcse' s an important transi. st ick, so that the bodv restsi icn posture. l t ccnsists of about 4" above the groundfour steps or vinyasas. First and paral lel o i t . ln this posi -

t ion only the palms and thebig toes rest on the groundand the entire bodv is abovei t . (Refer sketch 1). l t is saidthat the body should be trulyhorizontal . You may breathnormal ly n this postureandstay between one to six bre-aths. ln the ini t ial stages. hohands and shouldersare l ike-iy to tremple,but in due cou-rse one may overcome thedeficiency.

For a number of people, tmay not be possible to jumpback as mentioned, out offear of fal l ing down on theface, or sheer weakness ofthe l imbs. l t is al l the mor6so with obesepersons,someof which group may havedif-

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iculty in preventing tho bellytouching the ground and yetkeep the back straight. Forthe beginners, theretore, ra-ther than iumping back, i tmay be better to proceed romUtkatasana step by step. Fir-st just raise both the heels,and then push one leg backand then the other. This is aprsparatory posture for stren-gthening the forearms andshoulders and improve theirlnhA , .-, , ')' ; ' ; }drA(t t1 t '1L- v "URDHVAMUKHASWANASANAMUrdhuvamukha - UpwardFaceSwanasana - Dog posture.

This asana gets the nameas it resembles a dog stret-ching up on itslorelegs.Ass-ume f i rs t Chaturangadandas-ana as mentioned earl ier.Then stretch the ankles andrcst on the upper side of thetoes. Then inhal ing,press hepalms and stretch the upperbody and raise t up, butkee-ping the legs and thighs par-alll to the ground. This canbe achieved the stretchingthe feet, legs, knees and thi-

ghs and pushing th pelvisforward so that tho navel isbetween the hands. The reco-mmended Drishti (gazing) isthe tip of the nose. Stay inthis posture fo i a few brea-ths upto 6 breaths. Refer tosketch (2). This helps to cor-rect the postural defect ofdesk working people whotend to crouch. Then exhali-ng one may return to Chat-urangadandasana.ADHOMUKHASWANASANAMAdhomukha - downwardfaceSwanasanam - dog pose

The, f i rst vinyasas are asin Urdhvamukhaswanasan-am. Then pressing the palmsand exhal ing, push, the hipback and up, as far as pos-sible. n the f inal posture, hefeet ( inculuding the heels)are ful ly on the ground. Thenbreathe normally a few times.It is easier in the posturo towork on the lower abdomenand stomach. After exhalati-on therefore. drawlhe rectumand also the lower adbdomenand hold tor a few seconds

(upto 5 seconds). This maybe rqpeated afterevery exh-alation.-Also stretch the backof the neck and lock the chinagainst breastbone Jalandh-arabandha).Ono may stay inthe posture fo r up to 6 brea-ths in the beginning. This isa very good posture to helprel ieve latulence, ndigest ionand other minor digest ivedisorders. The ttlro swanas-anas act as counterposes toeach olher.

From Adhomukha swanas-ana, one shculd return toTadasana by retracrng thesteps.First rom Adhomukh-aswanasana, ptessing thepalms,after exhalat ion holdthe breath and by sl ight lyf lexing the knles, iump for-ward (the arms sti l l on thegr 'oundplease) and land, so

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that tho feet are between thepalms. This will be Utkatas-ana. Do a few normal breathsand then bend the head andkeeping the forehead on theknees, nhale, press the Pal-ms and teet and raise he hipup to Uttanasana. Then afteta couple of breaths, inhaleraise arms and straighten uPto Tadasana sthithi.

For those who are unableto come to Utakatasanamlrom AdhomukhaswsllsSso-am by jumping,theeasierme-rhod of returning bY bringingin one foot after the othermay be adopted. And again,if it is not possible to go toUttanasana from Utkatasan-am, (these are explained nthe June issue) one may rai-se the arms in Utkatasana(Refer sketch 2 June lssue)and then rturn to Tadasanastithi.

One rnay have observed

dogs doing these two exsr-cises beautifully and seemto reatly enjoy the stretching.One should relax with thehelp of long, deliberate exh-alation (Rechaka) and dothese postures,

Actual ly the fol lowing ext-ended group of asanas in theorder given forms the wellknown Suryanamaskaram.

1. Samasthi thior Tadasana2. Ardha Uttanasanam3. Uttanasanam4. Utkatasanam

sanam7. Adho Mukha vanasa-nam8. Utkatasanam9. Uttanasanam

10. Samasthithi.

Onemay repoat he wholsgroup 3 to 6 times, with thecorrect breathingmentionedsnd staying n each step ora few breaths.PARSVOTTANASANAMParsva sideuttana - stretching

Start with Tadasana, susual. nhale ndholdinghebreath,ump and spread helegs by about 3|'. landinggentlyon the feet.Then hold

eathe normally a couple oft imes and then exhal ing, pre-ss the feet and keeping theknees straight, strelch thoback and also the neck andbend forward, until the fore-head touches lhe right knes.

5. chaturangadandasanamthe lett wrist. by.th right6. Urdhvamukhaswana- | foot outward by about 600'. andalso he upperbody. Br.

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StEy n the postute or,a fewbreaths,and inhaling raisecnd get back o the standingposition.This s Vamaparsvauthsnasanam (StretchingfitFfiTftfe posture.) Theaammovement should brepated n the right side(DakshinaParsva)'In this posture, he hipsand he pelvic ointsare wi-sted or rotated.The kneesandankles xperiencen an-gular stretchingand thusthis posture helps n impro-ving he playof these ioints.It can be practisedby bothwomenand men. Therearea number l Hastha inyasas.One would requirePlacingboth hepalms n the sidesof the bodybetweenhe eet.Onecanalsodo it by keePi-ng the armsstretched o thesidesor with keepinghePa-lmsclosed. ehind he back,as i l lustrated n the Juneissue.Finallyafterexhalation,o-ld the breath,ump backandgently return to Tadasanasthithi.

VIRABHADRSANAMIt is namedafterVirabahdras-wami.

This s an extension viny-aea) of Parsvoltanasanam.described arlier.Start withTadasana.nhaleand holdi-ng the breath.ump and spr-ead he ,egs by about 3|'.

Stay fo r a few breaths. Inha-le, raise the atm overheadand interlock fingers. Exhale'turn the right foot outward.Stretch the left leg, keepingthe left knee straight, andbend th6 right knee, pushingit forward and lowering thebody conseguently. Now, in -hale deeply and stretch theuppgr body, dropping thehead back and looking up.This is Virabhadrasana.Doa iew breaths in this posture.Reler to sketch (4).

lnhale, straighten tho knsoand turn to centre position.Repeat the posturg on thleft side.It could be observed thatthis posture requires furtherstretching of the thighs andcalf muscles and the turn inthe hip joint is funher accen-tuated. Atheletes and spor-tsmen who reguire to be agi-

le may benelit by this groupof asanas. lt is not that yogaencoufages sports - on thecontrary it is the contentionthat gqFes, as they wasteenergy, re a hindrance tothe realization of higher ben-efit of Yoga. $ports are An-gabhangasadhanas (inlures

one or othor part oI thobody) wheroas yoga is sar-vangasadhanaor beneficialto all partsof the body. Butthen, hose who do care otsportsonly may still benefitfromthesepostureg.

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RamaswacMore Stng Asanas