Kukkutasana

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Kukkutasana
Bahr al-hayat
c. 1602

Kukkutasana (

IAST: Kukkuṭāsana), Cockerel Pose,[1] or Rooster Posture[2] is an arm-balancing asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, derived from the seated Padmasana, lotus position.[3] It is one of the oldest non-seated asanas. Similar hand-balancing poses known from the 20th century include Pendant Pose or Lolasana, and Scale Pose or Tulasana.[4]

Etymology and origins

The name comes from the Sanskrit words kukkuṭā meaning "

cockerel"[5] and asana (आसन) meaning "posture" or "seat".[6]

Kukkutasana is described in medieval

Tulasana and Lolasana are not described in the medieval hatha yoga texts. Tulasana (

IAST: Tulāsana) is from Sanskrit tula (तुला) meaning "balance";[10] it appears in the 20th century in Swami Yogesvarananda's 1970 First Steps to Higher Yoga (spelt Tulasana),[11] and in B. K. S. Iyengar's 1966 Light on Yoga (spelt Tolasana).[12]

Lolasana (

Description

Kukkutasana is entered from Padmasana (Lotus Position). The hands are threaded through behind the knees, and the weight of the body is supported by the hands pressed down on the floor, the arms straight.[15]

Variations

In Urdhva Kukkutasana, the arms are not threaded through the legs; instead, the body is held nearly horizontal, the legs brought up close to the chest and resting against the backs of the extended upper arms. The point of balance is well forward of the wrists, so the arms are straight but are tilted forwards.[16][17]

Parsva Kukkutasana has the body is twisted to one side, so that the left knee comes down to the outside of the right elbow, with the right knee above it; it may be entered from Sirsasana and the head then raised and the arms straightened to enter the balance.[18]

In Tulasana, the legs and feet are crossed in Padmasana, as in Kukkutasana, but the arms are held straight beneath the shoulders, with the palms on the floor on either side of the hips.[12]

In Lolasana, the legs and feet are held in gomukhasana, and the hands are kept by the hips. The body is elevated and held up by the hands, fitting the descriptive term lola, meaning "dangling like an earring" or "a pendant".[19]

  • Lolasana
    Lolasana
  • Tulasana
    Tulasana
  • Tulasana with a variant hand position
    Tulasana with a variant hand position

See also

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. ^ Anon (28 August 2007). "Scale Pose". Yoga Journal.
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ Mallinson, James (9 December 2011). "A Response to Mark Singleton's Yoga Body by JamesMallinson". Retrieved 4 January 2019. revised from American Academy of Religions conference, San Francisco, 19 November 2011.
  8. ^ Mallinson & Singleton 2017, pp. 87–88, 104–105.
  9. ^ Gwaliyari, Muhammad Ghawth; Ernst, Carl W. (trans.) (2013) [1602]. Yoga: The Art of Transformation | Chapter 4 of the Bahr al-hayat, by Muhammad Ghawth Gwaliyari. Archived from the original on 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  10. .
  11. .
  12. ^ a b Iyengar 1979, pp. 134–135.
  13. .
  14. .
  15. ^ Iyengar 1979, pp. 140–141.
  16. ^ Iyengar 1979, pp. 320–322.
  17. ^ Birch, Beryl Bender (28 August 2007). "Asana Column: Urdhva Kukkutasana (Upward Cock Pose)". Yoga Journal.
  18. ^ Iyengar 1979, pp. 323–325.
  19. ^ Iyengar 1979, p. 116.

Sources