daṇḍāsana – part one

Daṇḍāsana is to sitting what tāḍāsana is to standing. All seated poses (including twists and seated forward bends) are born from this pose.

Phonetic pronunciation: dun-dah-suh-nuh[1]

daṇḍa = walking stick/staff
āsana = pose

“Imagine your spine as the “staff” at the vertical core of your torso, rooted firmly in the Earth, the support and pivot of all you do.”[2]

Benefits[3] (who would have known what this deceptively simple pose can give)

• Regular practice of this āsana improves your posture when sitting
• If you are prone to anxiety or mood swings, practicing this āsana helps to increase your will power and enhance your emotional stability
• Relieves breathlessness, choking, and throat congestion in asthmatics
• Strengthens the muscles of the chest
• Tones the abdominal organs and lifts sagging abdominal walls
• Tones the spinal and leg muscles
• Lengthens the ligaments of the legs

Basic Instructions for Entering the Pose[4]

• Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you
• Raise each buttock slightly to move the flesh out to the side so that you are resting on the sitting bones (The sitting bones in daṇḍāsana are like the feet in tāḍāsana)
• Keep your thighs, knees, ankles, and feet together
• Place your palms on the floor beside your hips, fingers pointing forward
• Push your heels away from the body with toes pointing upward
• Lift your upper body through the waist area
• To lengthen your front torso perpendicular to the floor, think of energy streaming upward from the pubis to the sternum, then down the back from the shoulders to the tail bone -- Then imagine the tail lengthening into the floor
• Hold the pose for one minute or longer
• Breathe

Props[5]

• Lay one to three 10-pound sandbags across the tops of your thighs at the hip crease to help ground your thighs
• A blanket or bolster under your buttocks to lift the pelvis if the hamstrings or lower back is tight

Cautions - If your spine has a tendency to sag, or if you are experiencing a sever attack of asthma, practice this asana with the length of your spine supported against a wall.[3]

__________________________________

[1] Stick figure instructions, pronunciation, and translation provided by http://www.yogablossom.com/.
[2] http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2480
[3] Yoga, The Path to Holistic Health, by B.K.S. Iyengar (DK, 2008), pp. 102-103.
[4] Instructions, modifications, benefits, and contraindications combined and modified from the following sources: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2480 and Yoga, The Path to Holistic Health, by B.K.S. Iyengar (DK, 2008), pp. 102-103.
[5] http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2480