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sarvāṅgāsana

Shoulderstand, which “the body striving dynamically against gravity into the graceful, candle-like line.”¹

Heinz Grill about the shoulderstand:

In the shoulderstand, the practitioner can move into a rather unusual order of his body members. He lets the head, which stands for thinking and generally the perception of the senses, rest on the ground, as if the root of the plant rests in the earth. The respiratory system with the lungs and the heart organ form the middle, which is erected over the head and shoulder girdle. It corresponds to the leaves of the plant. The belly, the seat of human willpower, rises in reverse. It corresponds to the flower of a plant. Thus the human body in the shoulder stand is like a flower that bobs with its blossom against the sky, forms its center with the leaves, and is grounded in the roots.²

Notes:

sarva = all

aṅga  = the limb

āsana = the sitting

(1) Heinz Grill, The Soul Dimension of Yoga, Lammers-Koll-Verlag 2003, ISBN 3935925573, p. 70

(2) Heinz Grill, Harmony in Breathing, Lammers-Koll-Verlag 2018, ISBN 978-3980423045

Image fonts:

Featured image by Jürgen Treiber on pixabay, sarvāṅgāsana-Heinz Grill, Das Hohelied der Asanas, Lammers-Koll-Verlag 2001, ISBN ISBN 3935925980, p.39

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