Makarasana

Hi, we're here with Betsy and Ilana, and this is the start of a backbend sequence, although this first pose is not particularly a backbend. The name is Makarasana, M-A-K-A-R-A, and in modern yoga it is a backbend, and it's usually interpreted as something like the crocodile or the dolphin or something like that. But in fact, Makarasana is a sea monster, and you'll see why it's called that in just a moment. I would like you both to lie down on your belly, please. Your legs stretch back toward the back of the sticky mat.

Yes, as I mentioned, this is a backbend in modern practice, but what I'm going to ask these two helpers to do is to cross their forearms and lay their foreheads down, then on the forearms, and then take the feet about as wide as the sticky mat and then turn the feet out, in other words, evert the feet so that they lay the feet down on the inner sides of the feet. And as you can see, this does sort of look like a whale or something with a large tail fin. And the use of this pose is as a resting pose in between the upcoming backbends, because the backbends will require a very strong internal rotation of the thighs to protect the lower back. So as you can see, this is a very extreme external rotation which balances out the backbend internal rotation. And it's a fairly nice resting pose.

Anytime that you lie on your belly to do an asana is a good opportunity to practice breathing into the back of your torso. When your belly is pressed against the floor, it's very difficult to breathe into the belly. So if you want to focus on this space in between the shoulder blades and direct your inhalations into that space, this pose, and especially like a child's pose, are both very good opportunities to learn how to breathe into the back of your torso. And you want to do that because if you took a plane, a PLA, and cut your torso in half front to back, what you'd find is that most of the area of your lungs is behind that plane in the back of your torso. So it's very useful, it's very important for a breathing practice, and breathing in general, I suppose, to know how to breathe into the back of your torso.

We're mostly accustomed to breathing into the front. So this is makarasana, this is the sea monster, and we'll be using this again to relieve the back in the backbend poses coming up next. Thank you very much. You can push back in the child's pose if you like, bring your feet together, turn your toes in a little bit. Now, when you come back, be sure not to arch back, but push straight back into the... That's exactly right.

And then you can either lay your hands on the floor beside your hips with your palms turned up, Betsy, or Ilana, you can stretch your arms forward toward the front of your sticky mat. And both of these are variations of child's pose of balasana. Very nicely done. Come up from the tailbone with the long front spine, inhale. Makarasana, the sea monster. Thank you.