Home arrow Yoga Poses arrow Sitting Poses arrow Baddha Konasana (Restrained Angle Pose)
Baddha Konasana (Restrained Angle Pose)
Baddha Konasana ensures the pelvis, abdomen and back get a plentiful supply of blood and are stimulated. It keeps the kidneys, the prostate and the urinary bladder healthy and helps prevents hernia. The pose helps the ovaries to function properly and strengthens the uterus.

Benefits:

This pose is good for:
  • Urinary disorders.
  • Sciatic pain.
  • Pain and heaviness in the testicles.
  • Irregular menstrual periods.
  • Pregnant women as it helps them avoid varicose veins.

Contra-indications:

None.

Instructions

  • Sit on the floor with the legs stretched straight in front (Dandasana).
  • Bend both the legs at the knees and bring the feet toward the groins.
  • Bring the soles and heels of the feet together.
  • Hold both the feet near the toes, bring the heels near the perineum.
  • The outer sides of both feet should rest on the floor, and the back of the heels should touch the perineum.
  • Breathe normally.
  • Widen the thighs and lower the knees towards the floor.
  • Extend the groins and rest the knees on the floor in line with the thighs.
  • Pull the heels closer towards the periuneum, keeping the calf muscles in juxtaposition with the inner sides of the thighs.
  • Interlock the fingers of the hands, grip the feet firmly, press the knees, the ankles and the thighs towards the floor and stretch the spine upwards.
  • Gaze straight ahead or at the tip of the nose.
  • Extend the groins towards the knees.
  • Press the sides of the shin bones down.
  • Extend the trunk from the navel upwards.
  • Keep the shoulders broad and the shoulderblades tucked in.
  • Hold the pose for a minute, or longer as you become more practised.
  • Place the elbows on the thighs and press them down.
  • Exhaling, bend forward, rest the head, then the nose and lastly the chin on the floor.
  • Hold this position from half a minute to a minute with normal breathing.
  • Do not tighten the floating ribs.
  • Do not raise the buttocks from the floor.
  • Keep the hips, the thighs, and the shins firm to extend the trunk forward.
  • Inhaling, raise the trunk from the floor and come back to the upright position.
  • Then release the feet, straighten the legs and relax.

BKS Iyengar is generally acknowledged to have refined and systemised the yoga poses that those in the West know today. The above instructions are a consolidation of those given by BKS Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and senior Iyengar Yoga teachers, both from their books and from classes personally attended. We pay our deepest respect to BKS Iyengar and to his senior teachers, and recommend books by the Iyengar family as the most authoritative sources of yoga instruction.