Enter
- Sit with both legs extended.
- Bend your left knee and hold your ankle and calf.
- Rotate your hip outward; place your lower leg behind your neck.
- Exhale and recline, keeping your right leg extended.
- Cross your arms over your chest.
Steps
Support
Back, pelvis, and free leg resting on the floor.
Hold
- Keep your free leg extended on the floor.
- Move your tucked hip away from your waist.
- Press your neck back against your leg without lowering your chin.
- Keep breathing continuously.
Exit
- Uncross your arms and sit up, supporting yourself with your hands.
- Hold your ankle and release your leg from behind your neck.
- Extend both legs; rest and repeat on the other side.
- Breathing
- Breathe deeply and continuously.
- Gaze
- Toward the space between your eyebrows, as an alternative.
- Duration
- About 20 seconds per side.
Adapt
Adaptations
- Hand supportHold your ankle and calf instead of crossing your arms.
- Cradle preparationCradle your shin before your chest without moving it behind your neck.
- Leg over the shoulderRest your leg over your shoulder; support it with both hands.
Variations
- Kāla Bhairavāsana: side balance on hand and foot.
- Supta Eka Pāda Śīrṣāsana: free leg vertical, palms together.
Signals of effort
- Deep flexion and external rotation of one hip.
- Tucked leg resting against the back of the neck.
- Asymmetric leg position.
- Weight on hand and foot in the side balance variation.