When determining which yoga pose to highlight today, I could not help but ask our Co-Founder, Peter Agelasto, what pose is his favorite yoga pose. Why? Because Today is his Birthday. He has given so much time, effort and resources to this project. He is the ultimate Karma Yogi. So we thought we would veer a little bit away from our focus on backbends to consider Peter's favorite pose, Baddha Konasana, bound angle pose. I also remember it from my grade school PE and ballet classes as one of my first yoga poses, Butterfly Pose.
Baddha Konasana is a beginning hip opening pose. For those of us who spend a great deal of time at a desk or driving a car, this pose will be challenging. Sit on some height to encourage the pelvis to stay upright instead of curve backwards which is common for those of us who have tight hips, hamstrings and weak stomach or lower back muscles. Also we want to get some height under our sitbones, so that the knees can fall lower than the hips. If there is pain in the hips or knees, place a blanket under your thighs to allow the hips and groin to release. Lengthen the spine up, lift the center of your chest and lift up through the crown of the head. Try to bring the souls of your feet close to your perineum. And if your spine is long and there is no backward tilt to the pelvis, try extending forward from your heart .
There are several variations of this pose. You can find a step-by-step outline of the Basic Pose through Yoga Journal's Basics Column.
We hope you enjoy Baddha Konasana. Click on the images below to see more photos from these photographers.
Happy Birthday, Peter! We wish you many more. And thank you for helping to build the iHanuman Bridge.
Listen to the Pronunciation of Baddha Konasana. Courtesy of the Online Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide. [audio:http://www.ihanuman.com/media/audio/Sanskrit/Asanas/Baddha_Konasana.mp3]