Parshvottanasana (, ) or Intense Side Stretch Pose is a standing and forward bending

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

in modern

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of asana, postures, often connected by vinyasa, flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by pranayama, breathing exercises, and frequently ending with savasana, relaxation lying down or ...

Etymology and origins

The name of the pose is from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

() meaning "side", () meaning "intense", () meaning "to extend", and (), meaning "seat" or "pose". The pose is unknown in medieval

hatha yoga Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word ह� ...

, but is described in

Krishnamacharya Tirumala Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga as exercise, yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "Father of Modern ...

's 1935 ''Yoga Makaranda'', and taken up by his pupils

Pattabhi Jois K. Pattabhi Jois (26 July 1915 – 18 May 2009) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yoga guru who developed and popularized the vinyasa, flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yo ...

and

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is the founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga ...

in their respective schools of yoga. A similar pose appears in

Niels Bukh Niels Ebbesen Mortensen Bukh (15 June 1880 – 7 July 1950) was a Denmark, Danish gymnast and educator who founded the first athletic folk high school in Ollerup in Funen, Denmark. He achieved international fame as a gymnastics trainer for the D ...

's 1924 ''Primary Gymnastics''; Mark Singleton suggests that Krishnamacharya, influenced by the general gymnastics culture of the time, adopted gymnastics poses into his flowing style of yoga.

Description

The pose is entered from

Tadasana Tadasana (), Mountain pose or Samasthiti (; ) is a standing asana in modern yoga as exercise; it is not described in medieval hatha yoga texts. It is the basis for several other standing asanas. Etymology and origins Tāḍāsana is from th ...

. The hands are pressed palms together in prayer position behind the back, fingertips upwards. The feet are placed about a leg length apart, both legs remaining straight. The forward foot points directly forwards; the rear foot is turned forwards some 60 degrees. The hips are aligned at right angles to the feet, so that the body can move downwards in a forward bend straight over the front leg. The hands may be taken to the floor to intensify the stretch.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Yoga as exercise Standing asanas Asymmetric asanas