alright so today we're going to take a look at Garbha pindasana and more specifically i'm going
to show you a really cool way to get the arms through once your legs are locked into padmasana
because as many ashtangis will know the entry for this one can be one of the biggest moments
of struggle in the whole primary series and using this technique that i'm about to show you could
make a big difference to the overall quality of your pose or it might even give you the option to
stop setting up by using the most widely accepted prop in the Mysore room which would be that silly
little spray can of water so the reason we use that is obviously so the arms can slide through
more easily there's less traction when the skin is wet but what some people won't realize
is that there's also less traction when the skin is completely dry so if you're not sweaty at all
or if you tend to practice in longs and sleeves then a lot of the time it won't really be useful
to start spraying yourself down before you do the pose it's when you're in that in between range
where you're a bit sweaty but it's not really like dripping that makes this really challenging and
you won't be able to wipe the skin completely dry just by using your towel so it seems like
the next easiest thing to do is to literally stop what you're doing abandon the breathing technique
altogether take a long confused look around the yoga shallow then clamber up off your mat and
start walking around looking for this watering can so you can eventually hose down and start
doing the pose and it all just feels a little bit unfortunate to have to break the continuity of
your moving meditation just for this but what can you do you can't really make the arms any smaller
so they can fit through but what we could do maybe maybe is we could try making the gap
a little bit bigger now a proficient padmasana and healthy knees are an obvious prerequisite for
doing this pose at all but once you're comfortably in your lotus position start by taking the right
hand through first by aiming close to the ankles and drawing this diagonal line across the body
towards the left corner of your mat and rather than fighting for every inch try to be a little
more assertive here and just use a very definite exhale and push through until the whole forearm
and elbow are free on the other side so we use that space near the ankles as opposed to
underneath the calf and the angle going across the body so that we're moving into this area
that has the most space to slide through and that is invariably easier with the first arm the right
when you take the left arm through you generally won't have quite as much space to fit through
and of course it's really great if you can just do the same thing quick and easy with the left
but if it feels tighter on that side and usually it does then set up by taking your free hand the
left hand and assisting your left foot up into your right armpit it's kind of like you're trying
to straighten the leg to come out of padmasana but just enough so that you can open up a little gap
to get your left arm through again exhale keep the back round and assertively slide the arm through
if you've got the elbows all the way through squeeze the knees together bundles engage round
back and you should be able to catch the sides of the face and hold for five breaths if that's not
quite happening then it's really worth taking your time to try and squeeze out the last few
centimeters because every single one will make a big difference to how much reach you can get with
the arms so you might kind of feel like you're a good 20 or 30 centimeters away from reaching the
face but actually you only need to get one or two centimeters deeper for the elbows to clear
which should then give you all the length you need to make contact with the face hands over the ears
hold for five breaths then move the fingers to the forehead and try to keep that contact as you roll
exhale down inhale up is the breathing pattern go for big confident rolls keep the back round core
engaged then nava: kukkutasana roll all the way up head up eyes down looking at the tip of the nose
hold for five breaths and again this will feel so much more stable if you manage to get the
arms through properly now keep the knees up stay compact lifting through the pelvic floor then
exhale come down dasha inhale lift up ekadasha chatvari jump back dvadasa inhale trayodasa exhale
alright so i hope that helps with getting the arms through the next thing that you'll
want to get really clear on is the exit from Kukkutasana, being able to lift up from your
lotus position and jump back cleanly to chatvari so feel free to check out
this little tutorial over here and subscribe for more videos see you in the next one
you