Ardhabaddhapadmottanasana:half bound lotus intense stretch pose

Half bound lotus intense stretch pose.
A very exciting pose.
Not just for the flexibility it demans (screechingly:), but because it involves some acute balancing also. I have started trying out lotus in serious poses, since the knee injury, only recently.

Apart from headstand, scorpion and peacock in the lotus, I have kept off most other lotus poses. Even seated in meditation, I can go up to a point on certain days, after which my back slides down, to accomodate the intense pain that shoots up from the knee. But later, on my knee:)

Can this be bettered: sure, the palm should be flat on the ground. Soon there, sure...:)

So, yes, I love this pose, simply because to reach down involves a lot of balance. And balance excites me, simply because it is, next to backbends, the weakest in my practice. I mean not in that I practice them less, but that I still approach them with an Amen:)

This pose requires practice in several other poses:

• Lotus( Padmasana)
• Tree, one legged pose (Vrkasana)
• Ardha baddha padmasana (half bound lotus in the seated version -- there are forward bends, and twists in this series).
• Then, a good uttanasana (standing forward bend/translated to mean intense straight/stretch pose)

But all these do not necessarily add up to this final beauty of a pose. You need to be a bit gritty to drop the head down and grope for the ground because this reaching down is very disorienting. But a great pose for just that reason. What I call a pose which gives a super high!!!

Happy sadhana!