Hatha Yoga Tip
KAKASANA – Crow pose –
Squat on all fours. Sit up on toes, heels together, knees wide apart. Place hands in front, fingers spread wide apart creating a foundation to balance on. Bend elbows. Tuck the upper arm under each shin. Weight forward into the hands evenly, looking forward to a dristhi point. Pause. When balanced, lift one foot off the ground, then the other, slowly moving forward, balancing into the fingers. Remain as long as possible, balancing and concentrating onto the dristhi point.
Benefits:
Strengthens arms, wrists and fingers
Stretches fingers, wrists and forearms
Increases breathing capacity
Increases power of concentration
Removes sluggishness
Promotes mental and physical balance
Yoga is a life of self-discipline. Yoga balances, harmonizes, purifies and strengthens the body, mind and soul. It shows the way to perfect health, perfect mind control and perfect peace with one’s own Self, the World, Nature and God. – Swami Vishnudevananda
This yoga asana is an edited contribution for the Sivananda Gurugram partly sourced and edited from the Sivananda Publication: “Yoga: Your Home Practice Companion” – Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre – 2010.
Sense control leads to peace and happiness. – Sri Swami Sivananda
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Glossary
DRISHTI – view, gaze, point of focus
Drishti is a specific point for locking the eyes or inner vision onto. Drishti is used most commonly during meditation or while holding a yoga posture. The ancient yogis discovered that where our eyes are directed our attention naturally follows. The practice is believed to help cultivate insight and inner wisdom through the third eye.
There are two main categories of focal points. A bahya drishti is an external gazing point that is used in asana yoga practices. An antara drishti is an internal gazing point that is used in meditative practices to encourage pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses).
An early reference to the practice of Drishti occurs in the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna instructs Arjuna to “hold one’s body and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose.”
There is no greater obstacle to divine life than the craving for pleasures. – Sri Swami Sivananda