Tips for Helping to work on Eka-Pada Sirsasana
“One-Leg-Behind-the-Head” is a very difficult asana and it’s considered to be a “gate-keeper” posture in the Ashtanga yoga Intermediate Series. This means that as a student, you will be stopped to work here for what might seem like a very long time if you cannot master this pose.
Many students when they get to this posture start to inquire about extra ways to work on it outside of their practice, things they can do to help speed up this long process of figuring out how to get their “leg-behind-their-head” and keep it there!
In this Wellness Wednesday video, I offer three different types of “supplemental stretches” that you can do to help explore and work on this difficult posture. You may discover that one or two, or perhaps even all three of these extra stretches are especially useful when this posture has you feeling stuck.
The first options is to use a ‘wide-pigeon’ position, keeping the sit-bone and thigh connected to the earth.
The second stretch is performed while laying on your back and working the knee behind the shoulder and your calf behind the neck.
The third variation is standing up and lunging against the wall, while working your head underneath your leg (if possible).
Remember to breathe deeply and try to stay in these passive stretches for a long as you are able to, while allowing the body and mind to relax and release.
It is very important to really spend some time here in this asana, deepening and feeling very comfortable while in this position. It takes time to build up the strength you will need in the neck and upper back to hold the leg in position.
You will see that within the Advanced A series of the Ashtanga yoga sequence, this posture comes back in many different variations. Below is a short video demonstration showing all five different variations of this same “one-leg-behind-the-head” posture. These five variations come at the beginning of Third Series.
If we avoid finding the depth of this posture in second series, it will make these more advanced asana-s nearly impossible.
