Vinyasa Yoga: Cobbler Pose

Video Transcript

"So Baddha Konasana, cobbler pose; characterized by the feet coming together, and earlier on in this series I talked about the root, and the sitting bones moving together and apart. And usually with a hip opener like this, the sitting bones would move away from each other. But what's unique about Baddha Konasana is, to me, is that even though it's a hip opener; even though it's a forward flexion the sitting bones are pushed together by the angle of the legs, and feet, and so forth, so it's actually quite a demanding posture, although you'll see it in gentle yoga, beginner yoga, you know, basic yoga. I think to do it well can take some time. So, with the feet together and the seat down, the sitting bones down, I press the feet gently into each other, and that's going to draw the leg bones deeper into the hip sockets and further close the root. You may have a chance to pull the root out a little bit; meaning widen the sitting bones a little bit, but they're just not going to go as far as they would were the legs in a different position, and this just does limit your forward flexion. You know, some folks are a little bit more open, just go down all the way, no problem. In this case, I really think it has a lot to do with the shape of the pelvis and the position of the leg bones within the hip sockets; that the hip sockets are a little bit more forward, or a little bit further out. Makes a big difference. So we really are working with our deep structure now. When I first started going into this pose I would go about this far, and I'd think that's it, but as I stay a little bit longer, you know, I'll start to lengthen out. Really key here is that since the root is not going to be fully open, it's orientation I think really ought to be down and not up. That is, I'm pressing my seat down, and I'm asking my spine to cover the distance between my tail and my head. In other words, I'm not coming towards the pose with a lifted root; pulling forward and up, and back and down, and they're just draping the spine forward. When you're all the way down, it's nice, you know, you really want to feel the feet against your your mid-section, not up against the head."