yoga book / asana / natarajasana

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Last update: 30 Dec 2018
Trivial name: Bird of Paradise
Level: A

• Classification
• Contraindication
• Effects
• Preparation
• Follow-up
• derived asanas
• similar asanas
• Diagnostik
• Instructions
• Details
• Varianten

Classification

classic: standing posture

Contraindication

Effects

• (711) Dehnung der Hip flexors

Preparation

One of the main preparations is for flexion in the hip joint of the leg:

1. uttanasana as a generally effective and efficient stretch of the ischiocrural group to prepare for flexion in the hip joint of the support leg in this posture
2. prasarita padottanasana, very similar to uttanasana
3. parsvottanasana as a stretch that goes beyond uttanasana
4. pascimottanasana
5. janu sirsasana
6. tryangamukhaikapada pascimottanasana
7. Dog head down is also a good preparation for the ischiocrural group when the pelvis is tilted powerfully, especially in the „narrow“ variation and the one-legged variations
8. Hip opening 5 as a very effective stretch of the ischiocrural group that goes beyond uttanasana.
9. Warrior stance 3
10. trikonasana
11. parivrtta triconasana
12. parivrtta ardha chandrasana

The leg to which the upper body is moving must turn out as far as possible in the hip joint so that the pelvis can tilt to the side as far as possible. Prepare with:

1. baddha konasana
2. baddha konasana Forward bend
3. supta baddha konasana
4. adho mukha supta baddha konasana
5. Half lotus forward bend
6. Hip opening at the edge of the mat
7. Hip opening 3
8. Warrior position 2
9. caturkonasana
10. parsvaconasana
11. Theke
12. janu sirasana
13. parivrtta janu sirasana

Follow-up

derived asanas:

similar asanas:

Diagnostics (No.)

(721) (724) Ischiocrural group

Various disorders can be found in forward bending movements (flexion in one/both hip joints), but also under load in the muscles of the back of the leg:

1. Verkürzungen der Ischiocruralen Gruppe, siehe FAQ.
2. Damage to the ischiocrural group, which causes pain or functional limitations, can also be easily detected here, from simple tension to strain to muscle (attachment/detachment/tear) tears. Tears would lead to a reduction in strength when leaving the posture quickly.
3. Irritation of the ischiadicus nerve: irritation of the ischiadicus nerve, which innervates the leg and foot, can become symptomatic, especially when bending forwards, even if they are otherwise rather calm. See the FAQ for more information.
4. Irritations of the origin of the ischiocrural group at the Tuber ischiadicum (at the ischial tuberosities, also known as PHT: proximal hamstring tendinopathy) will become clearly evident in this posture and require protection from intensive stretching, as this posture demands.
5. Baker’s cysts cause a feeling of tension or a foreign body in the back of the knee, see FAQ.

(751) Adductors

In this position, the adductors are stretched. This allows you to recognise damage to them, among other things:

1. Shortenings
2. Irritation of the tendons of the origins and insertions, which manifests itself in pulling pain with an elongated course. These are insertional tendinopathies, e.g. gracilis syndrome
3. Tension that causes an agonising feeling in the muscles that goes far beyond normal stretching
4. tears/partial tears/ruptures of adductors, which make a loud noise in the event of a tear, followed by haematoma formation and swelling if necessary
5. lateral differences in mobility, which can cause pelvic obliquity and consecutive scoliosis, see the FAQ.

(276) Endorotation in the shoulder joint

In this posture, deficiencies in the endorotation ability of the shoulder joint become apparent in that the arm cannot be twisted in far enough to bring the hand to the back or behind the buttocks. This should not be confused with the inability to hold the elbow lower than the thigh so that it can be bent under the thigh, This is a lack of flexion in the hip joint when the knee joint is extended, i.e. a lack of flexibility in the ischiocrural group. In addition to the arm that grasps the thigh, the other arm must also rotate, but the requirement there is somewhat less.

Intra-articular pain during endorotation may indicate disorders such as subluxation. A hypertonic infraspinatus would trigger a dorsal pain sensation. A limited endorotation ability can result from the activities and sports performed; if it is clearly different on the sides, there is a GIRD, which often occurs when performing one-sided overhead sports and overhead activities. Of course, sleep habits must also be analysed when looking for the cause. Swimmers often have a bilaterally restricted endorotation ability.

(246) Retroversion in the shoulder joint

In this posture, both arms must be brought into a retroversion in the shoulder joint. Shortened frontal abductors can prevent this or limit it to the extent that it is not possible to bring the hands together behind the body. Painfulness other than the sensation of stretching during retroversion may indicate disorders in the shoulder joint such as a SLAP lesion, a biceps tendontendinitis or a coracobrachialis-insertion tendopathy.

Variants:

with wall

Instructions

1. Stand in tadasana.
2. Bend the left hip joint as far as possible with the lower leg hanging passively.
3. Grasp the lifted thigh from the inside to the outside with the arm turned in wide.
4. Bring your right hand behind your back to your left hand and grip it firmly.
5. Extend the lifted leg in the knee joint.

Details

1. This pose has a clear balancing character, which also goes a little beyond vrksasana. This means that a lot of attention needs to be invested in the stillness of the standing foot.
2. Dependent on the mobility of the ischiocrural group, but also others, monoarticular hip extensors such as the gluteus maximus and the adductor magnus, pars ischiocondylaris, the left leg can be lifted to a greater or lesser extent. The strength of the left hip flexors should rarely be a real limitation. The longer the upper body is in comparison to other limbs, the higher the thigh has to bend, i.e. the further the hip joint has to be flexed. The question of how far the left knee joint can be extended depends almost exclusively on the flexibility of the ischiocrural group.
3. In all cases, lifting the left leg, but even more so extending it in the knee joint, leads to a more or less pronounced straightening of the pelvis or even to this being extended in the hip joint of the leg. This occurs via the traction of all hip extensors of the raised leg, less via the ischiocrural group when the knee joint is still clearly flexed, but mainly via this group when the knee joint is widely extended. Depending on the flexibility of the hip flexors, this straightening of the pelvis can cause the knee joint of the leg to flex to a greater or lesser extent. The quadriceps of the support leg must therefore work continuously to extend the leg. Another effect of the pull of the ischiocrural group is that the pelvis tilts sideways (upwards) away from the lifted leg. To counteract this movement, the hip flexors of the lifted leg must pull it towards the pelvis and the adductors of the support leg cancel out the resulting abduction.
4. The less flexible the ischiocrural group is, the less the lifted leg can be stretched and the more difficult it is to grip its thigh.
5. Grasping the thigh of the lifted leg requires a clear endorotation in the shoulder joint. If this is not available, it will not be possible to bend the intended arm in the required direction and place its hand on the buttocks or back. In addition, this arm must be brought into a certain retroversion. Shortening of the frontal abductors of the shoulder joint such as the biceps brachii, the deltoid or the coracobrachialis can also prevent the required arm posture and hand position.
6. It is helpful to keep the knee joint of the support leg continuously extended in order to maintain a stable stance. As described above, however, there are complicating factors. The advantage of a knee joint that is stretched with calm, consistent force and attention is, among other things, that it can – and at the same time must – be balanced clearly and perceptibly from the tension system of the ankle of the stance. Another popular balancing movement is to tilt the pelvis away from the lifted leg and back towards the lifted leg. Of course, this causes a significant shift in mass, which is generally suitable for balancing, but it also involves moving a large body mass, which, due to mass inertia, can usually be done neither quickly nor sensitively enough.
7. The related postures vrksasana and hasta padangusthasana sideways, which implement the same theme, are very suitable as preparation for this pose, but in the case of vrksasana does not require the flexibility of the ischiocrural group and in the case of hasta padangusthasana does include this, but at least still has a free arm that can be used to shift mass for balancing if necessary and also has a significantly lower bend in the raised leg. Other good preparations are trikonasana and ardha chandrasana, the former mainly because of the very similar position of one leg, namely wide flexion, abduction and exorotation in the hip joint, while the latter has less flexion in the hip joint, but has the character of balance.

Varianten

Instructions

1. Assume the posture as described above, but do not reach overhead to the foot, but rather in retroversion of the arm. Extend the other arm horizontally forwards.

Details

1. The retroversion grip to the foot is much easier for most people than the overhead grip. Nevertheless, the required retroversion is not available to all people, so that the hand cannot be brought up far enough to reach around the foot. In particular, less flexible frontal abductors of the shoulder joint make retroversion more difficult, including the monoarticular coracobrachialis, the monoarticular deltoid pars clavicularis and the biarticular biceps, which, in addition to retroversion, can also hinder extension of the elbow joint.

with wall

Instructions

1. Perform the pose sideways near a wall so that the side of the pelvis away from the lifted leg is leaning against the wall and later release from the wall if possible.

Details

1. This variation is possibly much easier, as gripping the thigh in the original usually has a detrimental effect on stability. Here, the two steps are separated and once the thigh is gripped, you can detach yourself from the wall and focus on balance.