FOURTH CONNECTIVE SECTION

Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana

RECLINING THUNDERBOLT POSTURE WITH ONE FOOT UPWARD

Drishti Nose

OVERVIEW: This is a surprisingly difficult posture, as the binding of the half-lotus needs to be maintained during the transition. As usual, the key to success is to break down the posture into its constituent phases and isolate them.

CONTRAINDICATIONS: Knee injuries or tight adductors.

Vinyasa Count

Vinyasa Seven

Inhaling, jump through and, exhaling, lie down.

Vinyasa Eight

Inhaling, take both legs over into Halasana and place your right leg into half-lotus.

Exhaling, with your right hand reach around your back and bind your right big toe.

If you can’t reach your big toe, try any or all of the following:

· Stretch your quadriceps by sitting in Virasana to deepen your lotus.

· Place more emphasis on internal femur rotation to deepen your lotus.

· Practice Baddhakonasana with renewed vigor for the same reason.

· Stretch your pectoralis minor with exercise 2 on page 111 for enhanced shoulder flexibility.

· Dispose of excess adipose tissue stored around your waist. The location of body fat has been shown to be a more accurate indicator of weight-related illness versus the total amount of body fat. Adipose tissue stored around the waist is known as abdominal obesity and is an indicator for the development of coronary heart disease via formation of arterial plaques through low density lipoprotein (LDL). The removal of such tissue will not only improve your overall health but will also improve the likelihood of binding in the present posture.

With your left hand, bind the big toe of the still-straight left leg. Bring your right knee as close as possible to the left knee; ideally, both thighs would be parallel and the right femur would be radically internally rotated. Keeping the knees together is the key to the subsequent movement, which, although it looks quite easy, is one of the more difficult transitions in this series. Draw your right foot high up into your left groin and then bend your right arm, drawing your elbow as far out to the right as possible. In vinyasa nine, this will result in your forearm being at a right angle to your lumbar spine rather than over your elbow, allowing you to eventually roll over your forearm. If your forearm were instead over your elbow, your elbow would then be positioned diagonally across your low back and thus would impose all sorts of uncomfortable and unpredictable forces against your lumbar vertebrae.

Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana, vinyasa eight

Vinyasa Nine

We will break this difficult vinyasa down into phases to make it accessible to those who are lacking extreme flexibility of the hip joints.

PHASE 1 — BENDING THE LEFT LEG

With the beginning of the inhalation, bend your left leg and place your left ankle just outside of your left hip joint. Change your grip and take the outside of your left foot with your left hand. Use this hand now to completely flex your knee joint by stretching your quadriceps. The relation of your left leg to your left thigh needs to be the same as if you were sitting in Virasana without any padding under your sit bones.²⁹If you can’t perform this position, don’t attempt Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana, as this inability indicates that your quadriceps are not yet long enough to perform this posture safely.

PHASE 2 — DRAWING BOTH KNEES UP TO THE CEILING

Continuing the exhalation, draw both thighs together up to the ceiling by extending your hip joints. Do that by keeping your knees together and keeping both legs in position.

Keep your right foot bound and keep drawing your left leg into Virasana position. Once both knees point straight up to the ceiling, induce some lumbar arch, which will enable you to safely roll over your right arm. You are now in a shoulder stand–like position with one leg in half-lotus and the other folded. Both thighs, however, are vertical to the floor.

PHASE 3 — ROLLING DOWN

Exhaling, round your upper back somewhat (not your low back) and roll down over your arm, keeping your hip joints extended. Make sure that you keep your shoulders on the floor until both legs touch down. Keep your low back lordotic to reduce pressure on the spine and continue to draw your elbow out to the side while you flex it. Keep both knees together, as otherwise you will not be able to keep your right big toe bound. Before your knees and legs touch down, make sure that you press your left leg up against your left thigh, point (plantar flex) your left foot and flex (curl under) your toes. Failing to do so could result in hurting or bruising your toes, particularly the left big toe.

PHASE 4 — LIFTING THE TORSO

Once your knees touch down, immediately initiate the inhalation, start to flex your hip joints, and use the existing momentum to come up to a sitting position. As you rock up, continue to draw your knees together and to rotate your right femur medially (inwardly), while keeping your right big toe bound.

Once you are upright, place your left hand under your right knee, palm facing down and fingers under the knee, as you would in Bharadvajasana. The difference is that here you keep your knees together while in the posture dedicated to Rishi Bharadvaja, you draw your knees far apart.

Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana

Twist to the right and firmly ground your left sit bone. Lift the front of your chest and draw your shoulder blades down the back. As in all twists, drop your chin and lift your back of your head up to the ceiling.

Look toward your nose and take five breaths.

Exhaling, release your hands, swing around, and place your hands down ready for jump-back. Alternatively, you may straighten the right leg or even both legs if your knees feel sensitive to jumping out of half-lotus.

ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUE: Same as in Bharadvajasana.

WARM-UP AND RESEARCH POSTURE: Assume the end version of Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana and then slowly lie down on your back while keeping your toe bound and both knees on the floor. You will have to transit through this posture for an instant on your way to the final posture. Arch your back away from the floor to improve your hold on the big toe. Feel how lumbar lordosis rather than kyphosis improves your grip.

Vinyasa Ten

Inhaling, lift up into Lollasana.

Vinyasa Eleven

Exhaling, glide back into Chaturanga Dandasana.

Vinyasa Twelve

Inhaling, move into Upward Dog.

Vinyasa Thirteen

Exhaling, move into Downward Dog.

Vinyasas Fourteen to Twenty

Repeat Supta Urdhva Pada Vajrasana on the left side.