Namaste and Welcome to Namaste Yoga.
My name is Surbhi. I am a Yoga Teacher.
The Goal of my Channel is to tell you
all those little tips and tricks that
many Yoga teachers know
but somehow in class setting
they do not get conveyed to the students.
I have been getting a lot of requests about Ardhsidhasana.
Show us how to do Ardhsidhasana.
This is Ardhsidhasana.
I will be telling you today how you can sit in Ardhsidhasana
without any discomfort.
But before we start lets get some facts straight.
Yog or Ardhsidhasana is not a magic.
If you think you are not able to do Ardhsidhasana.
You are going to watch this video, learn some tips
and you will be able to do it in 2-3 weeks
then I am sorry to say but this is not going to happen
This is not a magic.
If you still want to continue you can keep watching the video,
otherwise don't waste your time.
However old you are
May be 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 60
however old you are
That is how long you have practice
of sitting in wrong posture,
or sitting slouching down like that.
Or not folding your legs, because these day all of the people are sitting on the couch
or chair, office chair, they don't really fold their legs.
So that many years of bad habit you have in your body.
Your body is used to sit like that
In order to sit comfortably in Ardhsidhasana, you need to have
flexible knees, flexible pelvic joint,
flexible SI joint and a good spine posture.
Then Ardhsidhasana would be very easy for you.
So I will be telling you today what you can do
to open up your pelvic muscle, open up your SI joint
and make your posture good but
Having a constant practice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
and for so many years, however old you are
weighs a little higher than doing yoga practice for one hour or 30 minutes a day.
So you need to take care of some things that you do on regular basis.
That will really expedite your process
of sitting in Ardhsidhasana.
The very first thing is try to sit
in Sukhasana, or try to sit with your legs folded
as much as possible.
Whenever you are sitting anywhere, just like that legs folded.
Whether you are sitting on the couch watching TV,
you are eating dinner on the dining table. I usually sit on the dining table with my legs folded.
S as much as you can try to sit with your legs folded.
That will train your muscles to keep your legs in folded position
and your journey to comfortable Ardhsidhasana will start.
Second thing our lower back, when we sit
When I say comfortable spine, so your spine should be at its natural curve.
And naturally in our lower back there is a curve, right here
So when you sit, try
Sit in that way that you are not loosing this curve, so you are not going down like this.
So, sit with a cushion or a blanket underneath you.
Put a blanket underneath and just keep sliding forward
till you feel a little tilt.
Till your hip bone comes on the edge of the blanket,
and you will feel that your pelvic is tilted a little bit.
That will force your lower to move forward and come in the natural curve.
So whether you are sitting on the office chair or on the ground, try to sit like this.
So these are the two things that you need to focus on regular basis.
Other than that what you can do so your body feels comfortable sitting in Ardhsidhasana:
First of all practice Baddhkonasana.
Now Baddhkonasana also you can practice when you are sitting down.
As I said watching TV, just sit like this.
So keep both of your heels together, feet together.
Try to bring your heels as close to your pelvic as possible.
If you cannot, its OK you can keep them far.
but at least start practicing.
Make your muscles get used to it and slowly slowly you will be able to bring them closer.
If your knees are high, its OK, don't worry about it. Just start doing it.
Once you are doing it then imagine (I will show it to your from the side)
then imagine that someone is pushing you from your lower back.
Just like I said use the blanket and tilt a little bit.
Either you can do that or just imagine someone is pushing you from your lower back..
So when you inhale, imagine that push
So your lower goes up, imagine its getting higher
Now inhale, keep it higher and exhale bend forward.
Then again inhale, keep it higher and exhale bend forward.
When you do that you will be able to feel the stretch on your lower back.
As if your vertebraes are getting longer.
Someone is pulling you, do that.
And just try to go as far as possible.
If you cannot go all the way its fine, however much you can.
Everytime you inhale pull your lower back, pull your spine up.
Everytime you exhale bend forward.
Inhale up, exhale down. In the same way come back.
Keeping your back straight. Inhale up, exhale back.
Keeping your spine straight. So this is the way Baddhkonasana.
Even if you don't have to come forward all the time.
If you are watching TV, talking to a friend, just sit like this. Just sit like this normally.
Second thing that you can do is Titliasana or Butterfly.
Keep your feet this way in Baddhkonasana.
And many people when they do Titliasana, they just do that.
This is not doing any good.
When you do Titliasana, you need to move your legs full up and down.
And while you are doing that your breath should be a little deeper.
My mike is very close to my nose
So when I breathe, its going to be loud. You are not supposed to breathe loud.
You are supposed to breathe deeper. So first take a deep breath.
Relax
And start breathing a little deeper and start flapping.
Full flaps up and down.
If you start to get tired, you can reduce the speed.
But do not reduce the distance of your flaps, so don't start doing this.
Recuce the speed but do full flaps.
That will open up your pelvic joint
Third thing in order to make your spine strong and flexible
you can do is Cat-Cow breathing.
For Cat-Cow breathing come on all four
The key to come on all four is distance between your knees
should be one arm. So one arm distance between your knees.
And the distance between your knees and your hands should be one arm, and a palm.
and then you come on all four.
If you measure this properly, then your shoulder and your wrist should be in one line.
And your hips and your knees should be in one line.
Once you have this, as you start to inhale look up, chin up, belly drops down.
You should be looking all the way up till you feel a little stretch on your throat.
Then keep breathing, do not hold your breath.
And once you start to exhale, keep exhaling, curl your back, chin to chest.
Keep breathing, do not hold your breath.
Then again, inhale look up, chin up, belly drops down.
Keep breathing.
Exhale, curl your back, chin to chest.
Come to the center.
So, do this at least ten times or based on your capacity.
Every person is different. Some people might feel tired after 2-3 times.
Some people may be they can do for 20 times.
So, its totally your choice. There is no cap on it. You can do as much as you want.
This will strengthen your lower back and bring that curve in your lower back.
Once you start to feel comfortable doing it,
you can add your leg. So once you inhale, look up chin up, raise your right leg up.
When you raise your right leg up, make sure you are only raising your leg, you are turning your hip like this.
So, keep your hips looking down, only raise your leg.
If you cannot raise your leg all the way up, however much you can do is fine.
But don't turn your hips up.
And when you exhale, bring it down.
Then inhale, look up, chin up, raise your leg.
Exhale down.
Keep switching the legs.
Now when we doing the legs, many times people ask me
when we bring leg back, it doesn't come back at the same point,
it moves forward or backward.
So, what you can do is, keep your toes touched to each other.
So, when you are bringing your leg up, inhale, when you are bringing it down, touch your toes.
That way it will be a nice guide for you where to stop.
Once you feel improvement in your flexibility, in your sitting posture,
that when you fold your legs you are not hurting so much.
Once you feel a little bit of improvement, then you can add Shishupalasana or Rock the Bany in it.
I am taking Shishupalasana at the end, because this asana needs a lot of back strength.
Shishupalasana, keep your left heel close to your pelvic,
and make a baby with your right leg.
So your heel goes under your elbow,
and you hold your knee like a baby, like this.
You might not be able to do this at the first time.
Many people cannot keep their leg up, they can only do this much.
Its OK, just do this much.
However much high or low your leg goes, its totally fine,
its OK. Just make sure you are not compromising your spine.
Your posture should remain straight.
So even if you can do this much, its fine.
So make a baby with your leg, keep your posture straight.
Then again start taking a little deeper breaths.
Not louder, deeper. Deep breaths, and rock the baby, like that.
However long you can do this, 10 sec, 30 sec, one minute.
Start building up to it, you should be able to do it at least for two minutes.
All the time, keep your spine straight, keep your posture straight. And then relax.
And don't forget to do the same thing on the other leg.
So, this time keep your right leg close to your pelvic.
Make a baby with your left, spine should be straight, and rock the baby.
So, do this for at least two minutes or build up to two minutes.
As you feel that your body starts to open up,
the time to sit in Shishupalasana will also increase.
As your body start to open up,
you will see that you are able to sit in Ardhsidhasana for a long period of time.
Now, how to sit in Ardhsidhasana?
Keep your left heel close to your pelvic. It should be touching your perinium.
If its not touching its OK, don't worry about it.
May be its just because you are not flexible enough. It will eventually get there.
So, keep your heel close to your pelvic.
And your right leg in front of your left. Thats it.
Both of your sit bones should be on the ground.
If this knee is coming up, its OK, don't worry about it.
If you want you can just put a blanket underneath.
Like that.
So your muscles don't get tired and you don't get agitated in between your dhyan practice.
But please please please, do not make this a crutch.
Don't rely on this.
Do all the exercises I told you and
build your body so you can do it without the support of the blanket.
So just keep your heel close to your pelvic,
and the right leg comes in front of the left.
Hands in Dhyanmudra, spine straight at its natural curve.
This is Ardhsidhasana.
So practice all the exercises that I told you,
specifically start sitting with your legs folded,
and with the curve in your lower back.
that will be very helpful.
I hope you enjoyed the video today.
If you have any question or concern please feel free to write it in the comment box, I would love to answer that.
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I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Day.
Namaste.