Mat Matters, Episode 45: Bird of Paradise

I think it's about time that we talk about Bird of Paradise, or Svarga Dvijasana. It's one of my favorite poses (but only on my right side, ya know?!) and I got a reader request for a video on it (shout-out Alanna!). 

The thing about BoP is this: it's a really hard pose for about 90% of people. Why? Because you're not only balancing on one leg, but you're also binding, wrapping your body up like a pretzel, opening one of your hips in a CRAZY way, and then in the final stages, you're supposed to straighten your leg (hello, hamstrings!). There's a lot to open up before you work on this pose.

That being said, please don't attempt this pose without being super warmed up. I've demonstrated it many a time when I was not as warmed up as I should have been, and I've tweaked my back more than once when doing so. 

But I don't want to scare you--if you're warmed up, this is a great pose to work with! And when you come into the final stages of the asana, it feels really amazing and powerful. Give it a try!

Oh, and please note that it's totally normal to only be able to come into this pose on one side, or to be much more open on one side than on the other.

You'll see in the video that I can do the full pose on one side, and on the other (the side I start with), it's a little more...er...crunchy.

Have fun playing with BoP! You can watch here or on my YouTube Channel.