This is a very popular and well documented technique in many yoga styles, not only Iyengar and Anusara yoga.
The principle is that by rooting the femurs deeply into the acetabulum (ball joint of the hip) this gently softens and spreads the connections between the lower back/lumbar spine, sacroiliac joints (SI) and sacrum, allowing less muscular tension and relaxing the back for many students. This can be accomplished a number of way:
- using a strap on the heel of the foot in supta padangustasana (tolerableand even relieving for me with a limited amount of pressure)
- placing blankets or bolsters or the like on the tops of the thighs in a supine position
- variations on the blanket / bolster approach with a partner assist giving more pressure, even possibly sitting on the prop on the mid thighs
Unfortunately in my body this causes mild to extreme discomfort and in the case of the partnered bolster version, momentarily paralysis and intense pain. What a normal SI / lower back junction experiences as relieving is in my body, terrifying and destabilizing. So after trying for years thinking that it was just me who wasn't GETTING it, I realized that this principle of alignment is CONTRADICTORY IN MY BODY.
Lightbulb! So I don't do these things anymore, I focus on alignment which involves feet wide bent knees wide, which reinforces the security in the hips/si and doesn't try to broaden across the sacrum.
It can be quite interesting to explain to teachers who don't know me in class.
The principle is that by rooting the femurs deeply into the acetabulum (ball joint of the hip) this gently softens and spreads the connections between the lower back/lumbar spine, sacroiliac joints (SI) and sacrum, allowing less muscular tension and relaxing the back for many students. This can be accomplished a number of way:
- using a strap on the heel of the foot in supta padangustasana (tolerableand even relieving for me with a limited amount of pressure)
- placing blankets or bolsters or the like on the tops of the thighs in a supine position
- variations on the blanket / bolster approach with a partner assist giving more pressure, even possibly sitting on the prop on the mid thighs
Unfortunately in my body this causes mild to extreme discomfort and in the case of the partnered bolster version, momentarily paralysis and intense pain. What a normal SI / lower back junction experiences as relieving is in my body, terrifying and destabilizing. So after trying for years thinking that it was just me who wasn't GETTING it, I realized that this principle of alignment is CONTRADICTORY IN MY BODY.
Lightbulb! So I don't do these things anymore, I focus on alignment which involves feet wide bent knees wide, which reinforces the security in the hips/si and doesn't try to broaden across the sacrum.
It can be quite interesting to explain to teachers who don't know me in class.
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