TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why, how and benefits baddha konasana | bound angle pose.

How

From dandasana (staff pose), bend your knees and bring your heels in toward your perineum. Then bend your knees out to the side and bring the soles of your feet together. Take the feet with your thumbs in between the soles and then open the feet like a book.

This will help ease the knees down toward the floor. Take a deep inhalation as you lengthen the sides of the waist up towards the sky, root your sit bones down into the earth, low back concave, and heart lifted high.

Exhale, fold forward, keeping your back completely straight and the heart lifting forward. Press your elbows against the inner thighs to keep the knees grounded and bring your chin down onto the earth. If the chin does not easily reach, place the head down for now and work toward getting the chin down. Stay here for five to ten steady, even breaths.

Baddha means bound, and kona means angle. This seated pose strongly stretches the adductor muscles of the inner thighs and also stretches the groins and knees. Anyone with tight hips will benefit from daily practice of this pose. Baddha konasana stimulates the abdominal organs, ovaries and prostate gland, bladder and kidneys.

Mild depression, anxiety and fatigue can be relieved with this posture and it also helps soothe menstrual discomfort and sciatica. For pregnant women who practice this pose consistently, it will help ease childbirth and also prevent varicose veins.

I particularly enjoy baddha konasana because it feels so great getting that stretch in the inner thighs and groin that normally don’t get stretched in this particular way. It has taken me time and patience to come into the full pose. The journey in getting there has been met with much resistance and shouting from my groin.

But these days it is met with confidence and gratitude as my groin and hips happily surrender.

Who

Over the course of the past eight years of my practice, I have been slowly peeling away the layers of myself like an onion to get to as close to what is at the core of who I am; mybaddha konasana true Self. I have found that the essence and core of any living being is of love, peace, light, truth and joy.

And it is our responsibility to get in touch with this so that we are living to our fullest potential and so that we can be of service to others. And we start by having a consistent practice with our yoga and getting in tune with our own bodies, our breath, and ultimately, gaining control of our minds and emotions.

Once our mind, our heart and our body are aligned, we are capable of sharing all that we have with the rest of the world. This is what I want to impart to my students.

Watch a video of how to practice, get into baddha konasana bound angle pose here below