asana: adho mukha supta padmasana

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adho mukha supta padmasana
„lying lotus position with face down“


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Last modified: 30.12.2018
Name: adho mukha supta padmasana
Trivial name: lying lotus position with face down
Level: FA

classification

psychomental: calming
physiological: horizontal hip opening

Contraindication

Effects

Preparation

In this pose, the capability to abduct is required less than the capability to turn out Practice the latter:

  1. baddha konasana
  2. supta baddha konasana
  3. half lotus forward bend
  4. hip opener at the edge of the mat
  5. hip opener 3
  6. warrior 2 pose
  7. parsvakonasana
  8. counter

For abduction in general, practise stretching poses in which the affected leg is not extended so that the gracilis does not reduce the effect:

  1. baddha konasana
  2. warrior 2 pose
  3. parsvakonasana
  4. counter
  5. caturkonasana

High tension (of the monoarticular parts) of the quadriceps often leads to the heels remaining well away from the pelvis. Then practise:

  1. quadriceps stretch 1
  2. virasana
  3. krouncasana
  4. tryangamukhaikapada pascimottanasana

As the attachment of the iliopsoas to the lesser trochanter is pulled significantly laterally in this pose, shortened hip flexors can lead to a hollow back. Reduce this effect by:

  1. hip opener 1
  2. hip opener 2
  3. upface dog
  4. warrior 1 pose

Follow-up

If your buttock muscles feel tense after the pose, try to remedy the situation by:

  1. half lotus forward bend
  2. hip opener at the edge of the mat
  3. hip opener 3
  4. parivrtta trikonasana
  5. parivrtta ardha chandrasana

If the lower back feels uncomfortable after the pose due to a hollow back, the following poses can help:

  1. parsva uttanasana
  2. virasana forward bend (child’s pose)
  3. parsva upavista konasana
  4. parivrtta trikonasana
  5. parsvottanasana
  6. half lotus forward bend, also the parsva variation
  7. karnapidasana

Derived asanas:

Similar asanas:

Diagnostics (No.)

(711) Hip flexors

An excessively hollow back in this pose can be caused by shortened adductors or shortened hip flexors. If the hip flexors are the cause, there is usually also a general tendency towards a hollow back. For the risks of a hollow back, see the FAQ. It is then helpful:

  1. hip opener 1
  2. hip opener 2
  3. warrior 1 pose
  4. upface dog
  5. urdhva dhanurasana (back arch)
  6. ustrasana (camel)

and further backbends with extension in the hip joint.

(751) Adductors:

The adductors are stretched in this position. Among other things, this allows damage to be detected:

  1. Shortenings.
  2. Irritation of the tendons of the origins and attachments, which manifests itself in pulling pain with an elongated course. These are insertional tendinopathies, e.g. gracilis syndrome, even if this term is misleading here, as the origin of the gracilis cannot be involved in the discomfort due to the bent knee joint.
  3. Tension that causes an agonizing feeling in the muscles that goes far beyond normal stretching.
  4. Tears/partial tears of adductor muscles which, in the event of a tear, make a loud noise and may be followed by hematoma formation and swelling.
  5. side discrepancies in flexibility, which can cause pelvic obliquity and consecutive scoliosis, see the FAQ.

(704) Hip joint:

The widely turned out, abducted poses and movements in particular cause pain in the case of existing hip damage:

  1. Arthrotic/osteoarthritis change (degenerative with cartilage atrophy) of the joint
  2. Arthritis (inflammation of the joints) of various kinds
  3. Perthes‘ disease would classically react strongly to this pose
  4. Dislocation / subluxation, which would cause a significantly increased sensation of tension in various muscles covering the hip joint
  5. Joint trauma, which may cause pain in the joint even after many weeks or months

Variants:

(P) Pressure on the sacrum

Instructions

  1. Sit in dandasana and bend the left knee as for janu sirsasana. Take the lotus position with the next two steps:
  2. Bend the right knee, lift the right foot over the left leg lying on the floor and place it on the left thigh. During this movement, use your right hand to turn out your right thigh as far as possible. The right ankle should come to rest on the thigh as close to the pelvis as possible, approximately in the middle.
  3. With a movement analogous to 2), place the left foot on the right thigh as close to the pelvis as possible.
  4. Pull your knees as far together as possible.
  5. Support yourself and roll forward over your knees to lower your upper body.
  6. Pull your upper body forward to avoid or reduce an uncomfortable hollow back.

Details

  1. Turn out both thighs as best you can before placing your feet on the other thigh. Turning out is probably the most important prerequisite of the pose, see below.
  2. Pull both feet wide onto the other thigh to avoid too much supination in the ankle. The ankles should lie approximately in the middle of the thigh so that the feet can move easily and so that there is no permanent pressure in the ankle, which could be annoying during prolonged execution and possibly painful for a short time after the pose has ended. The feet are pulled far onto the thighs, which means that the thighs must be able to turn out well in the hip joint.
  3. The second main difficulty is the pressure between the lower legs, which is clearly present in the hip joints when the capability to turn out the leg is low and forces the performer to leave or change position after a more or less long period of time. Feet that fall asleep can also be the result of insufficient capability to turn out the thigh.
  4. Turn the soles of your feet towards the floor.
  5. The arms can be placed next to the upper body or, if the head rests uncomfortably on the floor, the arms can be folded under the head. If the pose is held for a longer period of time, it is advisable not to keep the head turned to one side the whole time, but to alternate between the sides in consideration of the cervical spine and its muscles. A forearm can reduce the need for rotation, as can be seen with many stomach sleepers. However, if the head is to lie straight, the forehead can be raised slightly so that the nose is not squeezed too much. However, the elevation should be as low as possible to minimize reclining of the cervical spine.
  6. This pose can lead to a hollow back, partly due to the hip-flexing effect of the adductors, but also because the iliopsoas is clearly pulled laterally towards the lesser trochanter of the femur. Pulling the upper body forward at the lower chest with one hand while the other relieves the weight can help a little. If this is not enough and there is still too much of a hollow back, it may be necessary to use the glutes during the pose to tilt the pelvis out of an existing flexion. In principle, the upper body can also be placed in a slightly elevated position.

known problems that can occur even when executed correctly

Knee pain
As is always the case in lotus-style leg poses, depending on the health of the knee, you may experience pain in the inner knee. Tricks for dealing with this type of knee pain can be found in the FAQ.

Lower back
As the adductors have a hip flexing effect and the attachment of the iliopsoas on the lesser trochanter of the femur is pulled laterally, the pelvis tends to tilt more or less clearly into a hollow back. Use of the gluteus maximus (which would typically be passive in this pose) can help, as can repeated attempts to pull the front of the upper body forward from the pelvis with the hands or a slightly elevated position of the upper body.

Variants

(P) pressure on the sacrum

Instructions

  1. Take the pose as described above. The supporter presses the sacrum slightly towards the floor and clearly away from the back towards the feet.

Details

This is a support that is analogous to some other prone poses that tend to cause an uncomfortable hollow back.