Today I'm going to show a variation of the pose I did yesterday. This is a variation of crane or crow pose and I'll show 2 different versions of it. The Sanskrit term for this pose is parsvabakasana. But enough talk and on to the pictures.
This is the more difficult expression of the pose with one's legs straight. On a scale of 1-10, for me this pose is about a 3 or 4 difficulty level. Below is a picture of a less difficult version where the knees are bent and kept closer to the body and it's maybe a 2. Please keep in mind I'm not trying to say this is an easy thing to do, it's just how I rank it in comparison to poses that are very hard for me which I'd call 9 or 10 difficulty level.
And this picture below is how you go about getting into this pose. You crouch down with your legs and knees close together and wrap your elbow and lower tricep around the outside of your leg and ideally your tricep will rest on your Iliotibial band (IT band for short). This is a little less scary for first timers than crow pose as you don't risk falling on your face quite as much in this pose when you're learning it. I still fall out of poses all the time when I'm learning them and it's just part of the process.
You can slowly begin to play with lifting one foot and then if you're comfortable proceeding maybe lift both feet an inch or two off the ground and play around with the balance point.
Below is a picture of me doing the other side for the sake of symmetry.
For poses which can be done in two ways that are symmetrical, it's good practice to do them on both sides so your muscles strengthen equally on each side as you become more comfortable with the pose.
I'm enjoying creating this series and I have probably 8-10 more to share that I can think of offhand. Photo credit goes to my wife @pretzelgirlsandy for taking the pictures today. You can see her in the mirror in the background in some of these pictures :)
I wish you all a happy Friday and a good weekend! See you tomorrow!
Namaste
Great idea for a series and good instructional guide! I wonder though, how do you find this pose when transitioning in a flow or sun salutation? Which pose would you do beforehand to create the smoothest transition into crow? I feel i sometimes lose my flow when moving from my feet.
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As soon as i pressed enter i thought - side plank! Keen to hear your thoughts though.
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A lot of times when I used to teach I'd have people go through sun salutation B and then from chair pose (utkatasana) bring your hands to prayer and slowly lower to a squatting position with your feet either together or hips distance apart. As you lower into the squat you'd wrap your elbow to the outside of your leg and then proceed into the arm balance.
You could also go into it from revolved side-angle pose but in that transition of course you start out with one foot a good distance in front of the other with your arm wrapped to the outside of the front leg. From there you can go into Koundinyasana B and then bring your legs together into side crow. That's a bit harder flow though.
You can also jump into it from down dog. I've done this a few times but you have to be really careful with your elbow so as not to hyperextend it. Once I start posting youtube videos here I'll post one of myself jumping into crane, side crow, and handstand from downward dog.
Excellent question! It's nice to have people engage me in conversation instead of just very short replies. Thanks :)
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Great! I love yoga!
Are that medals on the wall? Just curious...
Big hug
Steemitri The Mannequin
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thank you for posing these poses and also the way to get into them
i have been doing yoga for a while but mostly from apps lately but i guess i need to get a bit more out of my comfort zone and experiment...
this has given me an extra push
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