Learning to stand on both your feet and hands is a life-affirming teaching in yoga. Of course, we begin with what we already think we know and then progress to turning our world upside down with complex asanas such as Sirsasana, Adho Mukha Vrksasana, and Pincha Mayurasana. These three inversions both build our physical strength and grow our confidence by confronting our fear of falling and/or failure.
Wall Stretch places us halfway between inverting and standing tall. It allows us to begin shifting half of the responsibility for standing on our two feet to our hands. When you take the pose, try to find a balance of effort and body weight between your four foundational connections of support (hands and feet). If you are able to find that balance across your four appendages, try Eka Pada Wall Stretch and find the Yoga Actions described below.
Click on the audio file below for my verbal instructions.
Yoga Action (Annamaya Kosha):
– Press the four corners of the hands (mounds of baby & index fingers; outer & inner bases of the palms) into the wall.
– Press the four corners of the feet (mounds of baby & big toes; outer & inner heels) into the floor.
Yoga Action (Pranamaya Kosha):
– On the INHALE, fill the front, back & sides of the thoracic cavity (middle chest & lungs). Feel the lungs fill and float up toward the throat.
– On the EXHALE, release the air from the pelvic cavity moving the lower abdominals (between the navel and pubic bone) back toward the spine. Feel the energetic lift of the Mulabanda.
Yoga Action (Manomaya Kosha):
– Rest in the pose by silently telling your brain “Balance my body weight between my two hands and two feet.”
NOTE: It may take more than one pose before you awaken these yoga actions or areas in your body and begin to feel the arising sensations and releases. In that case, apply the three yoga actions to the following poses –
EKA PADA WALL STRETCH
UTTANASANA (hands press into blocks)
ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
EKA PADA ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
For more yoga actions and teachings, click here. Namaste.
