Pincha Mayurasana

by anandena

Pincha mayurasana, or peacock feather, is a challenging inversion that requires both flexibility and strength through the shoulder girdle. We are asking our arms to stay bent parallel and then reach back behind our ears.

So let’s start by working on flexibility through the shoulders. Take hold of either end of a strap in each hand with quite a bit of strap between your hands. You should be properly warm before trying this stretch. Now reach the arms straight up and then reach them behind your back until both hands and the strap reach your bottom. Try to keep your arms straight. If it is too tight and your arms bend, widen the distance of your hands. Alternately, if you don’t feel anything, move the hands a bit closer together. Do about 5-10 rounds of this. You can also open your shoulders through practicing prasarita padottanasana c (standing straddle bend c), garudasana (eagle pose) or gomukhasana (cow pose). I am making a mental note to cover all of these poses in future on the blog.

Now let’s try a pose called dolphin, a variation of downward facing dog or adho mukha svanasana. Place your forearms on the floor with your hands and elbows shoulder width apart. Tuck your toes under and lift your hips up and back to straighten the legs. The shoulders should now be in line with the elbows, not forward of them. Look down at the floor, keeping your head lifted. If your neck bothers you it is fine to look straight back behind you. Keep drawing the ribs in towards the spine and lifting strongly through mula and uddiyana bandha. Stay for at least 5-10 ujjayi breaths.

After you’ve come down and rested in child’s pose, take stock of your dolphin. Was it a struggle or did you feel pretty steady? If your chest felt like it was collapsing and the shoulders kept coming forward of your elbows, you need to work on opening the shoulders. Stick with the shoulder openers and gaining strength and flexibility in dolphin as it is not appropriate for you to kick up just yet. Or, if you feel like your legs and hips were really tight and you could not straighten them, you’ll need to practice hip and leg opening before you’re ready to progress. Try agnisthambhasana (double pigeon or firelog pose) and supta padangusthasana (reclining big toe pose). If your hands were really sliding inwards, try placing a block between your hands with the block above the outstretched thumb. And it can be helpful to try to catch the skin on your outer elbow on the floor and really widen your hands to counteract the slipping.

If you were feeling steady in dolphin, you may wish to try kicking up. There is a chance you may flip yourself over so make sure the area is clear around your mat. Find your dolphin position again with the forearms down. Strongly draw the mula bandha or root lock upwards, lifting the pelvic floor diaphragm. Also draw the belly up and in, towards the spine. Bring the shoulders over the elbows and gaze at a steady point. Now step one leg half a step in. This will be your kicking leg and your power comes from it. Lift the other leg, keeping the leg and foot active. Now hop, trying to lift both legs into the air. Ideally, the top leg goes enough past the center line that the bottom leg lifts as well. Then draw through your tailbone to bring the legs together.

Hop at least 5 times on each leg. You might feel very far away, in which case, just keep practicing! Remember what Guruji, Sri K Pattabhi Jois, would say, ‘Practice and all is coming’. If you did manage to get up, that’s great! You probably got up and had a mini freak out that you were actually up there and fell out of it. But from those few quick tastes of the pose evolves a steadiness and calm that allows you to maintain the posture. If you did get up, there is also the chance that you kicked over too far and flipped. We hope that you are okay! Everyone has to flip when they are learning inversions. And no one has ever died (as far as we know!). You learn to flip into a backbend or roll. It’s really a great sign because it means you are actually going for it. Just get up and try again. If you’re really worried, you can ask a friend to spot you (tell them to be careful and duck their head) or use a wall. However, the wall is very addictive so try not to use it if you can help it. Also, having both feet on the wall will make you banana and stick your ribs out; instead, bend one knee and place that foot flat on the wall and then straighten the other leg up towards the ceiling to lengthen your torso.

Confront abhiniveshah or your fear of death and give this beautiful pose a go. Think of the peacock feather that this pose is named after and try to feel light and elegant by really lifting your bandhas, energizing your legs and drawing the ribs in to reach up towards your highest intention. Also, don’t think too much — focus on your breath.

Tomorrow we will look at practicing a variation of this pose with partners!