Parivrita Parsvakonasana
Revolved Side Angle Pose
Drishti: To the palm of the hand
I remember a crazy woman apprenticing with Sheshadri when I was training with him. She had the most intense eyes I’ve ever encountered – they looked like they were going to come out of her head.
Every day when I was going in to this pose, she’d come over and push me into it. I think she thought I was quite strong or something, because she’d grab my shoulder and just start pushing. There were quite a few times when I thought my arm would come off.
I started to hate her. The way she’d look so excited when I was getting close to moving in to it, like she was anticipating the upcoming torture.
But I never said a word. Now, with sheshadri, if he started to push me too hard in a pose, all I’d have to do is to let out a little groan – "Uhn.." and he’d back off, understanding that if I could go further, I wouldn’t complain. With this woman, even a very intense "Unnghgh!" seemed to be mistaken for an expression of pleasure, as it only made her press that much harder!
I was twenty-two at the time, maybe I still had something to prove, maybe I still felt like I had to live up to the expectations of those around me. Who knows, but for whatever reason I refused to tell her not to push me any harder. Daily my shoulder started to feel worse and worse. Daily I started to dislike her more and more. When eventually she left Mysore, I was very glad of it, and suddenly found a new joy in my yoga practice.
So, was this her fault? Is she to blame for the constant soreness I had in my
shoulder for weeks? No. All I had to do was talk to her, either during, or maybe
even better, after practice, and tell her that the adjustments were too much for
me. How else was she to know? I must have seemed quite flexible and strong, and
after all I wasn’t complaining, so it must have been alright, right?
When it comes down to it, some teachers are better than others at reading your body, and your reactions, but none of them can feel what’s going on inside of it. It’s ridiculous to expect them to be a better judge of how much pain is too much when they can’t feel it. I think I learned a little from that experience that trusting your teacher means trusting them enough that when you give them some information about your body, they’ll know what to do with it. It doesn’t mean expecting them to read your mind. It was a decent lesson – I’m just glad I didn’t have my arm torn off in the process of learning it.
How to
With the right leg forward and the left leg back, make sure your left foot is turned to a 45 degree angle relative to the right foot. The right foot should be pointing straight forward.
The legs should be relatively far apart, maybe 4 feet depending on height, the best idea is just to see where you can get a slightly less than 90 degree bend in the knee. But just feel where you feel you are most stable and able to work into the pose.
Exhale as you take the left elbow to the outside of the right knee.
Take the left hand to the floor on the outside of the right foot, try to keep the shoulder on the outside of the knee. Take the left arm up and over the head. Gaze to the thumb.
Alternately take the left arm under the leg as the right arm comes behind the back and clasp the right wrist with the left hand for Badha Parivritta Parsvakonasana.
Modifications
Take the hands in a prayer with the left elbow across the right leg. Press the elbow against the leg and the hands together in order to help as you turn the right ribs up and back, gaze either to the side or up to the sky.
You may also lift the back heel off the floor, this makes it easier to keep the hips square to the front.
You may also drop the back knee to the floor, this makes it easier to hold the pose, and to stay balanced. Sometimes it helps to get a deeper stretch as well.
The following twists can be useful to help to develop that aspect of this pose:
Parivritta Parsvakonasana, which is slightly deeper than Parivrita Trikonasana, but requires less balance.
Ardha Matsayendrasana, a good beginner's twisting pose.
Transitional Poses