Vinyasa Three
Inhaling, return back up to the middle position.
Vinyasa Four
Repeat Parivrta Trikonasana for five breaths on the left.
Vinyasa Five
Inhaling, return to the middle position. The next exhalation returns you to Samasthiti.
Utthita Parshvakonasana
Utthita Parshvakonasana
SIDE ANGLE POSTURE
Drishti Raised hand
Vinyasa One
Inhaling, turn to the right, hopping into a long stance (the longest of all the standing postures).
Vinyasa Two
Exhaling, open the right foot to 90° and turn the left foot in 5° only. Bend the right leg until the knee is positioned exactly above the ankle, which brings the tibia perpendicular to the floor (see Virabhadrasana A in Surya Namaskara B, page 33). It is not a defining factor of the posture to have the femur parallel to the floor: this is achieved when the strength necessary to support such flexibility is developed. Place the right hand on the floor alongside the outside edge of the foot, with fingers pointing in the same direction as the toes. Keeping the base of the big toe grounded, the right knee presses against the right shoulder. This action engages the abductors of the right hip posture is neutralized. Keep tension between the bent knee and the opposite hip to work the groins open. The palm faces down to the floor and the left armpit faces out to the side (and not up to the ceiling). This is achieved by engaging the infraspinatus muscle, which laterally rotates the humerus (arm joint. At the same time, take the left arm over the head to form a diagonal line from the left foot all the way up to the left hand. Beginners may need to increase their stance at this point to achieve this line.
MYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Perfect World
Lord Subramaniam, second son of Lord Shiva, also known as Skanda the fierce lord of war, once went to visit Lord Shiva and complained that the current world, which was created by Lord Brahma, was imperfect — full of corruption, crime, and injustice. Shiva suggested that he create a better world. Subramaniam then defeated and incarcerated Brahma, and destroyed his world. Then he created his own, better world.
After some time Lord Shiva visited Subramaniam and looked at his perfect world. In it nothing moved or lived or changed, as everything was arrested, frozen in the static state of perfection. There were not even sentient beings, as their essential nature is to strive for perfection and, if perfection is reached, life has come to an end. Liberated beings are not reborn. The Buddha, after reaching Mahaparinirvana, never came back. That is why bodhisattvas avoid perfection: they are thus able to continue to serve others. According to Indian thought, the state of perfection exists only as consciousness, called purusha or atman, which is the seat of awareness. What changes is the transitory world of manifestation, which includes body, mind, egoity, and all objects made up of the gross elements and subtle elementary particles.
Shiva pointed out to Subramaniam that this world was not a world at all, but only a frozen image of perfection. The purpose of a manifest world is to supply beings with the right cocktail of pleasure and pain, which eventually leads to self-knowledge. For this purpose it has to be in constant flux, and hence imperfect. Seeing the flaw in his world, Subramaniam freed Brahma to reinstall his old, imperfect world.
In this posture it is important not to collapse into the hips but to keep them supported. There should be a feeling of buoyancy in the hips and legs away from the floor. Ground the outer arch of the left foot and use it as an anchor to establish an outward rotation in the left thigh, which will lift the left hip back over the right. The right hip joint makes an attempt to dive through under the left one to stretch the right adductor group (see figure 17, page 101) in anticipation of the half-lotus and lotus postures to come.7 The right thigh rotates inward until the lateral rotation that brought us into the bone). This movement does not need to be performed by people whose arm is naturally in this position, which can be assessed by a qualified teacher. Indiscriminate outward rotation may lead to inflammation of the rotator cuff and an infraspinatus that is chronically in spasm.
Keep the shoulders down, away from the ears, by depressing the shoulder girdle using the latissimus dorsi muscle. The shoulder is kept up off the neck by abducting the shoulder blades with the serratus anterior muscle (see figure 9, page 48). Stay in the state of Utthita Parshvakonasana for five breaths.
FIGURE 9 SERRATUS ANTERIOR
The serratus anterior originates on the lateral surface of the ribs and (seen from behind) runs underneath the shoulder blade (scapula). It inserts on the medial border of the scapula, the side that is close to the spine. As it contracts, the serratus anterior draws the shoulder blades out to the sides, thus widening the area behind the heart. This action is of prime importance. Serratus anterior also strongly contracts during Shirshasana, Urdhva Dhanurasana, and handstand. It works together with the pectoralis minor in Chaturanga Dandasana, but is the prime mover of the shoulder girdle during the transition into Downward Dog and the jump back from the sitting postures.
The puffing out of the chest in standing postures is often achieved by contracting behind the heart. This action is performed by the rhomboid muscles. It represents an energetic closing and hardening, and can be counteracted by engaging serratus anterior.
Winged shoulder blades indicate a weakness of the serratus anterior muscle.
The head turns to face the raised arm, looking along the arm to gaze at the palm of the hand without contorting the neck. If all instructions so far have been followed precisely, the face will show an expression of serene bliss. If we are pulling a face of strain, effort, or ambition, the chances are that we have become lost in some extreme of the posture, and it is time to pull back.
If we have achieved the subtle balance between all muscles involved, freedom, lightness, and inner silence will result. This is yoga.
Parshvakonasana is a beautiful teacher for learning the balancing and embracing of opposites, as are many other postures. The complexity of the standing postures especially calls for simultaneous awareness in all directions. As Shankara says, “True posture is that which leads to spontaneous meditation on Brahman.”
Only after the effort that moved us into the correct posture (and not the perfect posture, since everything that is perfect is static and therefore dead) has been recognized as empty in nature can this moment of silence and lightness, which is true posture, be experienced.
Vinyasa Three
The inhalation carries us back up into the middle position.
Vinyasa Four
Exhaling, we repeat the posture on the left side.
Vinyasa Five
Inhaling,