Mar

Kapotasana (King Pigeon Pose)

Kapotasana (King Pigeon Pose) is an advanced yoga pose that calls for quite a bit of preparation. Yoga beginners and other less experienced Yoga practitioners have many milder versions to practice before achieving this pose, as it is a slightly more challenging than other backbends. However, when done, it feels great in the shoulders, spine and hips. In Sanskrit, the word kapota, means, “pigeon” or “dove.” The name of this pose means one-legged king pigeon but, in the final stage, practitioners arch up their extended leg and clasp their foot behind their head. Doing Kapotasana entails having to open up the hip, chest and heart. You have to square your hips, bring your leg forward, draw your toe closer to your head and breathe normally.

How to do Kapotasana

1. To start the pose, go down on your knees keeping them slightly less than hip width apart. Keep your shoulders, head and hips, in a straight line, right above your knees. Press down into the back of your pelvis, with both hands.

2. Inhale and push your chin toward your sternum. Bend your head and shoulders as far back as possible without jutting your hips forward. Raise the top of your sternum and stiffen your shoulder-blades against your back. When your chest is raised to the maximum, slowly drop your head back.

3. Before bending all the way back and resting your hands and head on the floor, place both palms in front of your sternum in a prayer pose. Now separate your hands and take them over your head toward the mat behind you. Spread your hips far enough forward to offset the backward movement of your head and upper torso. Keep both thighs at right angles to the floor as you gently fall back. Fingers pointing toward your feet, rest both palms on your mat and let your head gently fall to the floor as well.

4. Raise your pelvis as much as you can, pressing your palms into your mat, stretch your upper spine and then walk your hands toward your feet. Now, drop your forearms, gently, to the mat. If you can, clasp your ankles (or your calves, if you are so flexible). Next, stretch your neck and rest your forehead on the mat.

5. Inhale and exhale deeply then press both forearms and shins against the mat. As you do this, stretch your tailbone toward your knees and raise the top of your sternum in the other direction.

6. Hold the pose for 30 – 60 seconds, breathing normally, expanding your chest with every inhalation, softening your abdomen with every exhalation. Then let go of your grip, move your hands away from your feet and, with a deep inhalation, raise your body back to an upright position.

7. Rest in Balasana (Child’s Pose) for a couple breaths before raising your head.