AustralianYogaJournal-April2018

63

april 2018

yogajournal.com.au

Stay safe

If you have injuries in your wrists, hamstrings, or pelvis, this posture may not be suitable for you. Your arms and

pelvis should feel stable before you move to straighten your right leg. Otherwise, you risk straining your right

hamstring, left hip flexor, or right rotator cuff. Once you feel stable, press your right leg into your right arm and reach

through your right foot to help keep your leg active, maintaining a lift through your pelvic floor. Avoid sinking into

the posture, which can put strain on ligaments in your hip and groin.

Visvamitra = the sage Visvamitra

(visva = everyone · mitra = friend) · Asana = Pose

Pose Dedicated to Visvamitra

Visvamitrasana

Strengthen your shoulders and back as you

move step by step into Visvamitrasana.

1

3

4

Benefit

Strengthens your hands, wrists, shoulders, lats, hamstrings,
and quadriceps; stimulates the intestines and encourages digestion.

Instruction

1 From Tadasana, inhale and raise your arms up. Exhale and fold forward.
Place your hands on the ground and step back so that your feet are about 3–4
feet from your hands. Begin to reach your sit bones back, press your hands
into the mat, and straighten your arms to come into Downward-Facing Dog Pose.

2 Inhale and step your right foot to the inside of your right hand. Turn your
left heel in and drop it to the mat, making sure it’s placed along the midline of
your body. Ground through your left leg, and tuck your right elbow behind your
right knee. Wiggle your arm and shoulder as deeply behind your knee as they
will go. You can use your breath to help work it deeper. Inhale, and hold
for a breath. Repeat this last movement.

3 Place your right hand on the floor several inches to the right of
your right foot, slightly in front of your shoulder with your fingers
facing forward. On an exhalation, engage your lower abdominals, lift
your pelvis, and begin to straighten your right arm. Keep lifting your
pelvis and find a lifting action in your left leg while your heel stays rooted.
Place your left hand on your right foot to help keep your leg hooked
around your right arm with your right leg lifted. Press your right leg
into your right arm.

4 Once you feel stability in your right arm and pelvis, begin to reach
and straighten your right leg. Keep extending through your leg, reaching
though the ball of your right foot; point your right toes. Find
a spinning action, as though you were trying to rotate the
bottom of your right foot, reaching it toward the ceiling.
Press and ground again into the outer edge of your left foot,
which will help engage your core and help with the lifting
action of the pelvis. Press your right thigh
against your right arm to maintain stability.
Press into the mat with your right hand, and
slowly begin to reach your left hand up in an
energetic line above your right arm. Open your
chest and draw your collarbones away from your ears.
Reach your tailbone toward your left heel to keep your legs
active and engaged. Hold for 5 breaths. Repeat on the other side.