Eka pada viparita dandasana – One legged wheel pose

The yoga online exhibition represented on this website  has a story and points into the future, because it serves to explore the question, how we can create the beauty of the body. So how can we manifest a light and attractive expression in the yoga-āsana? As a viewer, you are welcome to participate in the research project with your own yoga photos. Do you have any experiences on the aspect of beauty and aesthetics in yoga practice? For an easy upload of an image file you can use the image upload page. And do not forget to leave an entry in the guestbook!

vṛścikāsana in eka pāda cakrāsana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scorpion Pose in One-Legged Wheel Pose, a movement like “the harmony of the infinite”¹

Differentely to B.K.S. Iyengar, who developed this extremely demanding – and certainly one of the most beautiful – yoga position, beginning from the headstand,  Heinz Grill starts the performance from the Scorpion Pose. Therefore different names are possible for this perfect yoga position. Some photo examples on Google show that it is worth for advanced yoga practicioners trying it.² But, separate from hard fisical training, doesn’t it take a special mental attitude to carry out such a great position? The particularly poetic description in the book The Spiritualizing of the Body by Heinz Grill suggests this assumption:

The Headstand and the Scorpion Pose

The Scorpion Pose, which is a new and very advanced Yoga Pose, can either be developed from the calm of the Headstand or independently of it with a daring jump.

The Headstand is the beautiful, upright, inverse pose, which matches in the delicate plumb line and describes the calm of a motionless dimension by emphasizing the statics. The Scorpion Pose, on the other hand, is the game of moving. In this Yoga Pose, the practitioner leaves the static posture in a daring balance act and places the weight of the curved body entirely on the hands and forearms. Or he takes a daring leap from the floor to the high, upright position. Both positions belong together, the resting Headstand and the playfully moving Scorpion Pose. The Headstand is like the unmoved element, safe and straight, and shows itself like a centre. The Scorpion Pose is like the nature of movement, and it shows itself in dynamism and flow.

eka pāda viparīta daṇḍāsana

The variation from the Scorpion Pose with the legs to the ground is a very advanced āsana, which combines the extreme backward bending with the balance, as well as with the inverse pose. This movement could be interpreted as a heavenly gesture that performes a circle and a top and bottom in a finely tuned rhythm. By moving down the legs, the body gains a lower posture. It rounds off and forms the almost closed circle of an extreme backward bend. From the finely balanced position, the practitioner lifts one leg vertically upwards into the free space. So he is only connected to the ground with one leg and the forearms resting on it, while he strives skyward in the smooth guidance over the circle. And this happens in a inverse pose. It is a sign of love for the earth. And the movement is like a beginning without an end and an end without a beginning, and it is the harmony of the infinite.¹

 

Text fonts and notes:

vṛścika = the scorpion

āsana = to sit

eka = one

pāda = foot, leg

cakra = wheel

viparīta = round

daṇḍa = the stick

(1) Heinz Grill, The Spiritualizing of the Body, Lammers-Koll Publisher, ASIN B01K95VJ2, pp. 171/172

(2) You may have a look at Jack Cuneo (left), David Meloni (right) or the girl (centre), whose picture Yina Huang has put on Pinterest:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image fonts (20-07-20): Featured image-Image of Thomas Sabatier on pixabay, Scorpion in one legged wheel pose-Heinz Grill, Das Hohelied der Asanas, Lammers-Koll Publisher 2001, p. 39, Jack Cuneo-https://www.jackcuneo.com/blog/2015/5/19/eka-pada-viparita-dandasana-ii-one-legged-inverted-staff-pose-2, Pinterest-https://www.pinterest.cl/pin/109001253464618928/, David Meloni-https://www.facebook.com/David-Meloni-IYENGAR-YOGA-213869358641601/

Back to the Online Exhibition