Tuesday, April 15, 2014

My Favorite Assist*: Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

*Except savasana assists, duh.

Tranquil Space (the studio in Arlington where I work at the front desk and practice yoga) is a hands-on yoga studio, in the best way possible. Instead of calling out steps to a sequence and demonstrating poses on a mat in the front of the studio the whole time, teachers walk around the room offering "assists" to students.

An "assist" usually doesn't mean you're doing something wrong, often it simply means that the teacher (or teacher's assistant) knows a way to help you get deeper into your pose. Sometimes, they'll come in with a corrective aligning of the hips or to hug your elbows in during chaturanga, but more often they will bring a steady hand to your pose that allows you to reach farther, bend deeper, or simply let go.
Photo by Yoga International.
A great pigeon assist does all three of those things. To refresh your memory, what we call "pigeon" is actually "half pigeon" or eka pada rajakapotasana. You come in to the pose by bringing the shin of one leg in front of you, ideally parallel to the short edge of your mat. Then, lengthen the other leg towards the back of your mat, reaching your toes as far as possible to the back of your mat and making sure your leg flows directly out of your hips (doesn't flail out, away from your body). Engage your front foot by reaching your toes towards your knee. Check in with your hips: often, the hip connected to the front leg is higher off the ground than the other. If that is the case, use a prop (my go-to is a blanket) to fill that space between your active hip and the mat. If you want to get deeper into the stretch, fold forward, allowing your arms and head to rest on a block or your mat.

Seasoned yogis are fairly unanimous about their love of this pose. It opens the hips, muscles that are thought to hold stress, anger, whatever sort of feeling you may or may not want to actually face. For me, it's always an intense stretch and whenever I find my edge in pigeon, I have to be consciously still, or I will get VERY figety. That being said, it's called "yoga crack" for a reason: it just feels great. It's the definition of release.

How can a teacher/assistant help with pigeon?  The best assists start from the bottom up, grounding before pushing yogis any further. So, with pigeon it's about grounding your hips. A teacher puts his/her hand on the upper back thigh of your extended leg, and the other in the hip crease of your bent leg. Using pressure to even out the hips, they can then lean on your back to push you deeper into your stretch or lift a hand off your back leg and press along your spine to encourage you to fold from the hips, not your back. Another option that encourages folding from the hips is to press hands in your lower back (sacrum). From this assist, teachers can use one hand to trace your spine and, if you're really lucky, give you a little neck massage. It's chicken soup for the yoga soul. I'm relaxing just thinking about it!

I hope you get a chance to experience the joy that is a well-executed pigeon assist! It is a thing of beauty.

XO,
KCZ

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