Yoga Journal Singapore - June-July 2018

25

june / july 2018

yogajournal.com.sg

Modify Parsvottanasana as necessary

to find safe alignment in your body.

Powerful alignment

Tadasana can serve as a template for all other

postures. If you can understand and embody

its essential principles of sthira (stability) and

sukha (spaciousness) and find and cultivate these

qualities throughout your practice, the

possibilities will be truly limitless. It’s especially

powerful to apply Tadasana principles in so-called

advanced postures, where the temptation can be

to abandon the very alignment that is so crucial to

success. In these moments, returning to Tadasana

alignment can help you find the balance between

sthira and sukha, which is the goal of every pose.

The dynamic combination of steadiness and

openness that you experience in an aligned

Tadasana can be applied off the mat as well. It can

teach you to be alert and have clear boundaries

while remaining open and responsive to others.

If your hamstrings or shoulders are tight ...

TRY placing your hands on blocks instead of bringing your palms
together behind your back. Position the blocks on either side of your
front foot at a height that will allow you to straighten both legs. Engage
the quadriceps in your front leg, which will enable a gentle release of
your hamstrings. (When a muscle group on one side of your body
contracts, muscles on the opposite side release, so using your quadriceps
will facilitate lengthening in your hamstrings.) Continue to work to keep
the two sides of your torso equally long. Use inhalations to lengthen your
front body and exhalations to lengthen your back body.

If you hyperextend your knees or experience

knee pain ...

TRY placing a block at a diagonal behind your front calf. Start with the

block upright on your mat, about 6 inches behind your front foot, short

side down. Then, tip it forward on a diagonal, so that the other end

presses against the middle of your calf. Often, people who hyperextend

their knees can’t figure out how to engage their quadriceps without their

knees locking. In this modification, the block acts as a brake, inhibiting the

hyperextension of your knees as you activate your quadriceps under new

circumstances.

If you feel strain in your front leg or feel

unstable ...

TRY bringing more vitality into your back leg by practicing with your back

heel at the wall with your foot at a 45-degree angle. Because your torso

will be extended over your front leg, there may be a tendency to settle the

weight of the pose into your front leg, creating an energetic asymmetry.

Instead, embed your heel into the wall by vigorously pressing your back

femur (thigh bone)backward. Feel how having something to press against

engages your back leg muscles and balances the effort of the pose.