Koundinyasana ( sa, कौण्डिन्यासन,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ''kauṇḍinyāsana''), or Sage Kaundinya's pose, is a hand-balancing

asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

in modern

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has ...

. It may be performed with both legs bent (Dvi Pada Koundinyasana), or with one leg over the supporting arm, the other leg straight (Eka Pada Koundinyasana). Eka Pada Galavasana (Flying Pigeon Pose) has one leg bent, the foot hooked over the opposite arm under the body.

Etymology and origins

The pose is named after

Kaundinya Kaundinya (Sanskrit कौण्डिन्य), also known as ''Ājñātakauṇḍinya'', Pali: ''Añña Koṇḍañña''),who was one of the first five Buddhist monks ( Pancavaggiya), follower of Gautama Buddha and the first to become an arha ...

( sa, कौण्डिन्य), an Indian sage, and ''āsana'' ( sa, आसन) meaning "posture" or "seat". The variations for one and two legs include the Sanskrit words for one (''ek'') or two (''dvi''), and ''pada'' ( sa, पद) meaning "foot". The pose is not described in medieval

hatha yoga Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...

. It appears in the 20th century among the asanas described by

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...

in his 1966 book ''

Light on Yoga ''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postur ...

'', and those taught by

Pattabhi Jois K. Pattabhi Jois (26 July 1915 – 18 May 2009) was an Indian yoga guru who developed and popularized the flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga vinyasa yoga. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mys ...

in Mysore in his Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Both Iyengar and Jois were pupils of

Krishnamacharya Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "the father of modern yoga" for h ...

Description

Koundinyasana is traditionally entered from tripod

headstand The headstand, or sometimes head stand, is a pose that is an inversion posture of standing head down. The technique is used in different settings such as yoga, breakdancing, acrobatics and beginner gymnastics. Health risks If the headstand is no ...

, a variant of

Sirsasana Shirshasana (Sanskrit: शीर्षासन, IAST: śīrṣāsana) Salamba Shirshasana, or Yoga Headstand is an inverted asana in modern yoga as exercise; it was described as both an asana and a mudra in classical hatha yoga, under differ ...

, but one can also get into the asana from Parsva Bakasana. The knee needs to be far enough up the triceps of the opposite arm before bending the elbows to engage the core muscles and help to prevent the leg from sliding down.

Variations

Eka Pada Koundinyasana has one leg stretched out straight in line with the body. Eka Pada Galavasana (Flying Pigeon Pose) has one leg bent, the foot hooked over the opposite arm under the body. The full pose, Galavasana, has the legs crossed in Padmasana, one knee tucked between the arms. File:Parivritta Eka Pada Koundinyasana.JPG, Eka Pada Koundinyasana I
(lower leg on arm) File:Eka Pada koundinyasana.JPG, Eka Pada Koundinyasana II
(upper leg on arm) File:Mr-yoga-galavasana-one-leg (cropped).jpg, Eka Pada Galavasana (foot hooked over elbow)

References

Sources

* {{Yoga as exercise Balancing asanas Asymmetric asanas

Etymology and origins

Description

Variations

See also

References

Sources