Flow of the Week - One-Legged King Pigeon
How to do Eka Pada Rajakapostasana (One-Legged King Pigeon)
Make sure you have a strong and stable pigeon stretch first. Both hips should be square to the mat in the pigeon stretch. To work on your pigeon stretch, refer to this post.
Shoulder and upper back opening - Open up the shoulders and upper back thoroughly with poses like puppy pose and even downward dog.
Mid back opening and hip flexor stretching - Warm up the back and hip flexors with camel pose, low lunge and other variations of backbends. If you have access to a yoga wheel, use it!
Attempting the pose (to make this easier, let's say we have the right leg forward):
a. Come into pigeon first. Warm up by lifting hands off the mat, extending both arms up to the ceiling and pulling the shoulders backwards, squeezing the back.
b. Bend the left leg and lift off the left foot.
c. Externally rotate the left arm, so that the palm of the hand faces towards the back of the room. Grab the left foot with the left hand. Thumb of the hand will be on the sole of the foot, with four fingers on the top of the foot.
d. Now, internally rotate the left arm to bring the arm overhead, elbow pointing to the ceiling.
e. Externally rotate the right arm, reach the arm overhead and grab the left foot with the right hand. Now both hands are grabbing the foot, both arms overhead.
f. Hug the elbows close to your head instead of allowing them to flare out. Drop the head back gently, extend fully from the back and use both hands to pull the left foot to touch your head.
Modifications:
a. Wrap a strap or towel around the back foot and grab the other end with both hands overhead. Slowly pull the back foot closer to the head.
b. Place a block under the front thigh if the front hip feels tight or you are opening up the hip excessively on one side (if hips aren't square to the mat, you will fall over once the hands are lifted off!)
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