Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)

Let’s open the side body, strengthening the thigh, knee and ankle muscles. In addition, you can reduce the fat around the waist and hips with this pose, helpful during this holiday season. It can also help relieve sciatic and arthritic pains. The full expression of the pose places the palm flat on the floor outside the leg to achieve the fullest opening. There are several variations and we present two variations: arm on knee and using a block. If you are new to the pose, start with the arm on knee variation, then progress to the block variation, and then try the full expression once your side body feels ready.

Full Expression

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Exhale your right hand to the floor on the outside of your right foot. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, press your right knee into your right arm and extend through the left side of your body. Energy moving is from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep pressing your right knee into your right arm as leverage to open the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths. ** Note ** Students often compromise their alignment in this pose for depth. When this happens they lose the direct alignment of right sit bone to the right knee and the left ribs are unable to make the rotation up towards the sky. If you are practicing full pose and you are feeling this mis-alignment, start high and in proper alignment and move from here into full pose.


• Inhale coming up with straight arms and straight spine. Use breath and bandhas.


• Exhale and switch your feet and move into the left side. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep pressing your left knee into your left arm as leverage to open your belly. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Variation with Arm on Knee

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Exhale your right forearm to your right knee. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, Energy is moving from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep opening the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale coming up with arms outstretched. Use breath and bandhas.
  Exhale and switch your feet and move into the left side. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep your left knee and left hip in line. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Variation with Block

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Place your block on the floor outside your right foot. Exhale your right hand to the block. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is working to be parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, press your right knee into your right arm and extend through the left side of your body. Energy is moving from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep pressing your right knee into your right arm as leverage to open the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale coming up with straight arms and straight spine. Use breath and bandhas.


• Switch your feet and place your block outside your left foot. Exhale your left hand to the block. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep pressing your left knee into your left arm as leverage to open your belly. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Better Yoga Poses

As the year winds down and a new year begins, I find myself contemplating the nature of the concept to practice a yoga pose in the “correct way”. As a practitioner in a Mysore Ashtanga class, I have on more than one occasion observed or been the recipient of an adjustment by the teacher that is accompanied by the words “a better way to do this” or even “the correct way to do this.” When this opportunity to adjust my practice in a specific way occurs, I try to assess my own body, mind, and energy level at the moment as to whether or not it is a better for me. As a teacher, it is important for me to guide my students to listen to their own bodies when given an instruction and to determine if they need to do a variation that better suits them. I try to encourage my students to try easier and glide through their practice. Find a variation of the pose that feels good, use props as needed, and push gently to a comfortable edge. Forget looking at the person next to you or across the room who can easily move themselves into the full expression of the pose. Of course, there are wrong ways to do yoga poses that can cause injury at a specific time or over the course of repetitive practice. These are corrections that are important for yoga teachers to notice and to guide their students to understand and change. For instance, in Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose), you can place the palm of your hand flat on the floor on the outside of the bent leg. Some may not be able to place the palm flat on the floor and so they bend their hand with just the fingers on the floor. Over time, this can overstretch the tendons in the hand causing stress and injury. It is better to use the fingertips or to make a fist placing the flat space between the second and third joints on the floor or to use a block.

There is also the challenge that each style or lineage of yoga (Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, etc…) has its own guidance on the specifics of the full expression of a yoga pose. In addition, each teacher through their own personal and teaching experiences may find adaptive nuances that they develop as a teaching preference. For instance, an example is the differences in instruction for a simple squat. One approach is to instruct the student to have his toes and feet in a straight ahead parallel position with heels down. For some students, this works for them anatomically and if they have not had any knee injuries. For many students, it is better to keep their toes and knees in alignment which is easier on their knees and simpler to put the heels down. One of my favorite differences is whether or not your toes are pointed or flexed in a pose. In Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana D (standing extended hand to toe pose), I have been trained by my Ashtanga yoga teacher that you can point or flex your toe. However, I have been told by some Ashtanga yoga teachers to point the toe and some to flex the toe. Obviously, there are some different muscles engaging, however, every time I am instructed on a specific direction on pointing or flexing, I find myself smiling and adjusting to the instruction.

The full expression of a pose is beautiful to observe and is an expression to help guide the direction of one’s practice. However, for many of us, due to previous injuries, anatomical uniqueness, or age, we may never achieve the full expression of the pose. It’s not the goal to achieve the full expression of a pose, it’s the journey. Learning to understand ourselves, discipline ourselves, and find balance between us and the world are key events in our journey. Uniting our mind, body, and spirit is a learning process and because each of us is unique, our journey will be unique. Better yoga poses come from a practitioner’s growing awareness of themselves. Listen to your internal guidance and make your own recipe.