Koundiyasana: sidecrow variation

Among the arm balancers, the side-crow is one of the toughest. And this version, named after sage Koundinya,  with the legs split takes it to another level. I myself last practiced this version while at the ashram, an year ago, because some of the young men who were training in the advanced teachers' course could do it so well. I recall while learning B-boying (Oh, where is Heera, my teacher?) that there is a freeze that takes off from this pose.  In fact, a lot of B-boying freezes are yoga-based, which is why my daughter used to feel envious while we practiced in the class:) And there was a silly B-boy  teacher,  in another dance studio, who wanted to teach only `young people' in his class. From what I saw, an `aunty'  yoga teacher was way ahead of all the young things in her class:)!! So, where do these teachers come from, who cannot teach an `older'person...
Any case, this is great variation. and may be attempted from the side-crow by splitting the legs when up mid-air. The other version, which I also tried long ago, takes the opposite leg in a similar split. More difficult. Getting back to this pose... soon, my entire batch should be doing it!!

(The Koundinayasana, shot from the top)

Now, the most interesting thing about all this learning, is that just today I learnt another way of entering the pose, without moving from the side-crow. It is sooo easy, that I can teach it far faster to my students, who will learn it sooner than I did (I took an eternity, and am still struggling:)

Happy sadhana!

(Tomorrow, some more stuff on that sage Koundinya)...