To feel instead of force in Parsvakonasana

Parsvakonasana or Side angle pose is a powerful standing pose that can encourage us to move deeply into stretch while requiring us to engage a lot of strength and grounding. It involves using many essential muscle groups: legs, ankles, groin, chest, lungs, shoulders, spine, and the abdomen.

The feeling is about letting down our guard, release the layers of armor (samskaras) that we’ve build around the deepest aspects of ourselves and dare to feel it all, the good and the bad. This pose expose us fully, and to teach us how to peel away the layers of our effort and allow our true self to shine true at the center of the effort. A courages self.

All we need is to slow down and watch, to explore that additional space. We may find that it reveals a great deal about our willingness and ability to live in and from our heart."To allow yourself to open fully, you have to lean into the spaces that may initially feel uncomfortable or sometimes back off of the intensity to allow yourself to feel instead of force." says Kelly Golden.

This pose promotes better breathing as it tones the muscles that supports good breathing. It also trains your mind to be single focus as you learn to focus on many details in the pose simultaneously.

Parsvakonasana pose is an opportunity to know ourselves more fully, and requires only that we be willing to try. To be willingly completely ourselves.

~Kelly Golden, yoga practitioner and student of University of Tennessee in 1998