Karandavasana: duck pose, advanced scorpion variation

What u need for the pose?

• A steady scorpion.
• An easy intimacy with the lotus.
• An ability to stay calm as everything rocks about u and inside of u:)
• Strength.

I realise...

... that bringing the palms together after locking my legs in the lotus gives me a lot of steadiness in the pose.. Also it sort of happens on its own. When I used to resist that hands from shifting closer, I used to fall off the pose. So, u must find a way to remain up there even as u rock!



Mmm, I don't like repeating myself, but seems I have no choice seeing  I deleted all previous posts (over 2000!). So here is the duck-scorpion version.

I used to think that this is a fluke thing with me, but happily it seems not:)  Some of my students are moving into the scorpion, but not as fast as I would like it to happen. My first student who got the scorpion was Sanjeev Sharma: on first attempt, thus fooling  me into thinking it was easy to teach. But I tried it with R and N -- the former now a Sivananda teacher. They would not raise their head from the headstand, or when they tried to kick up into the force, not move the legs back enough.  So I knew it was not going to happen so easily with others.

I don't know which of my next student will do a confident scorpion:  Amitabh makes a brave attempt, often gets the pose, with a slight support  from my palms. But he has had always had a stiff back, sometimes painful,  so I unfortunately I have to take him off the list of scorpion-doers. 

But my students are doing some nice stunts .. Walking in the wheel(Mayank, Sonia, Mansi), doing most wheel variations(Rima), the bhumisparsha sirpadasana (Jeet).. it is exciting to watch their growth... So keeps my learning curve steep, I cannot stop learning, na?
So revisiting some poses that I have not practised in a while, and hence this duck-scorpion .. At the Attc camp this March, Prahlada introduced us to its version from lotus-in headstand. I find that tough. I rather go into scorpion first, then tangle my legs into the lotus. I find that easier!

Happy sadhana:)