Half Pigeon Eka Pada Rajakapotasana.
From Downward facing dog bring your left knee towards your left wrist.
Now bring your attention to your back leg: Make sure you are on the top of the knee and thigh, your foot is laying flat and the back leg is in line with its own hip socket .You want to avoid the common pitfall of externally rotating the back leg. Keep the internal rotation.You can also establish this neutral leg by tucking your right toes under and straightening your right leg so that the thigh and knee come off the floor. Lift your right inner thigh up toward the ceiling and move your right frontal hipbone forward so that it is parallel to your left frontal hipbone. You want to have your hipbones square toward the front of the mat. As you roll your right hipbone forward, draw your left outer hip back and in toward the midline of your body.
When the hipbones are parallel in Pigeon, the sacrum is less likely to be torqued, and you can practice the pose without straining your low back. Maintaining this hip alignment,
Flex the front foot.Now observe your left outer hip. If, after you square your hips, the area where your thigh and buttock meet doesn’t rest on the floor, add a block underneath. Do not fall into the left hip, instead prop up the hip with a block to stay aligned.This is crucial to practicing the pose safely. If the outer hip doesn’t have support, the body will fall to the left, making the hips uneven and distorting the sacrum. Or, if the hips stay square but your left hip is free floating, you’ll put too much weight and pressure on the front knee. Neither scenario is good!
Remember to keep the shoulders relaxed and the abdomen engaged.
If your knee is sensation free (hooray!), extend the arms forward across your left shin for better length through the spinal muscles. Release your head to the floor or use head support (such as a block) if needed not to strain the neck.
Your left knee will be to the left of your torso , and your flexed left foot will be just alongside the right side of your rib cage or left heel inline with your belly button. As you fold forward, turn your attention inward. We tend to hold this version of Pigeon longer than more active postures, so see if part of your practice in this pose can be to stay mentally focused once you have settled in.
Pose Benefits:
- Increases external range of motion of femur in hip socket
- Lengthens hip flexors
- Stretch deep glutes
- Stretch groins and psoas (a long muscle on the side of your vertebral column and pelvis)
- Relieve impinged piriformis and alleviate sciatic pain
- Pigeon pose elongates the back, opens the hips, groin, hamstrings, and relieves pressure on the lower back and sciatica. Your hips are a keystone to your body and its proper functioning. Open hips improve your posture, alignment and overall flexibility. Open hips also release the negative feelings and energy from your system since stress, tension and anxiety are often stored there.
