5/10/2023 0 Comments Pigeon stretch![]() Tuck your back toes under, and slide your back leg back. From hands (or blocks) and knees, bring your right knee forward and then out to the right. Sparse instruction can be confusing for pigeon novices.Ĭome in from hands and knees: Start on all fours (I really like to place blocks under my hands here, which makes it a little easier to bring the knee forward). Here are three different ways that you can approach pigeon pose: ![]() This doesn’t mean that “bring your shin forward” is a useless instruction, just that it may not be appropriate for everyone. Because this is a pretty well known asana, many teachers often assume that a cue from downward facing dog to “bring your right shin forward into pigeon” is enough to set up, but this sparse instruction can be confusing for pigeon novices (“My feet are all the way at the back of the mat right now, and you want me to bring my shin where exactly?”), and may also be inaccessible, frustrating, or scary for students with more limited ranges of motion or past knee or hip injuries. How the do I get into this pose?įor many students, the trickiest aspect of pigeon is actually getting into the pose. ( A Google image search will provide many examples, including the odd eka pada rajakapotasana mixed in now and then.) Though kapotasana is surely a fascinating pose worthy of an article of its own, to many practitioners (myself included), it’s not nearly as familiar or accessible as its asymmetrical cousin, eka pada raja kapotasana, which will be the focus of this article. A super big one of the forearms-meet-floor, head-meets-feet variety. Though not a direct translation, “pigeon” is often used to refer to (one-legged king pigeon pose), pictured below, or even more commonly its “prep,” which involves keeping the back leg straight and folding forward over the front leg, and has a reputation for being a quintessential “hip opener.” (Whether or not this is actually the case is a subject of another article, and I can highly recommend checking out the ever-awesome Jenni Rawlings’ “Let’s Forget About Hip Openers” if you’d like to explore this question more fully.) Technically, straight-up “pigeon pose” ( kapotasana) is a symmetrical backbend from the Ashtanga second series. Wait! What pose are we talking about here?Īnd okay, I know, before we delve into the alignment, we should probably be clear about what pose we’re actually discussing. And as teachers and practitioners, I don't think we can remind each other enough that it's always okay to skip or modify a pose. There are plenty of great pigeon alternatives, like succirandrasana, thread the needle pose, sometimes called "supine" or "lying pigeon" due to its similarity (that's the one where you lie on your back, cross one ankle over the opposite thigh, and pull that thigh toward you). ![]() Regardless of how popular a pose may be, there's no single asana that's so incredibly awesome that everybody should do it-especially if it doesn't feel safe for your body. Safety and alternatives for pigeonĭo keep in mind that no matter how many cool alignment refinements you learn, pigeon might not be your (or all of your students') thing, and that's 100 percent okay. But whether you’re a pigeon proponent or you shoot eye-daggers at your teacher when she announces that it’s time for “hip openers,” perhaps you’ll find some of them useful as well. And think of all the times this pose has graced the cover of Yoga Journal-seriously, it's a lot.) I’ve spent an awful lot of time practicing, teaching, and dissecting it in workshops over the years-and I've learned a few useful tips along the way for making pigeon more enjoyable, sustainable, and easier to explain to my students. ![]() But because pigeon is so prevalent (I’m hard-pressed to think of a vinyasa class that I’ve attended that didn’t wind down with some sort of pigeon option. I’ve long adored the forward bend variations, but the backbend variations? Not so much (at least not initially.I’m slowly learning to like them more). I certainly have my own love/hate relationship with the infamous bird pose. It’s at the same time the most requested and the most groan-inducing asana among my students. I don’t know that I’ve come across a more polarizing pose than pigeon. As I was preparing to write this article, I asked around the office to find out how my Yoga International coworkers felt about pigeon, and responses ranged from “Pigeon is the perfect pose to balance our modern lifestyle” to “I hate that pose.
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