crescent Moon
Crescent moon (sanskrit: anjaneyasana).
Anjaneyasana, in English…Anjana pose. Often poses are named after figures in mythology so that as we practice the posture, we assume the quality and character of that figure. This pose encourages us to acknowledge that these things have laid out the path before us and that we can this path as the Universes’s flow toward our life purpose (dharma).
On the physical level, low lunge is everything to me, for my personal home practice but also as a teacher planning sequences.
Anjaneyasana, in English…Anjana pose. Often poses are named after figures in mythology so that as we practice the posture, we assume the quality and character of that figure. Anjana was a celestial dancer who once cursed a great sage. In doing so, she was turned into a monkey and was forever at that point made to live out the rest of her life in this form. Regardless of this curse, she accepted the consequence of her action and was able to move beyond this event, making a life for herself including marrying someone. Her heart’s desire was to have a child and so she daily prayed to the gods and continued her life. Her faithful prayers reached the god of the wind who gave her a child whom she named Hanuman. Anjaneyasana teaches us to accept our circumstances with grace, whatever they may be just as Anjana accepts her curse. It also teaches us that our practice and our devotion to it will help us connect to our heart’s longing. At the core of this pose is the opening of our heart to trust and accept our actions and outcomes. This pose encourages us to acknowledge that these things have laid out the path before us and that we can this path as the Universes’s flow toward our life purpose (dharma).
On the physical level, low lunge is everything to me, for my personal home practice as well as a teacher planning out sequences.
For my personal home practice, I love moving into this shape to get a feel for how my hips and lower back feel. The primary muscles I’m interested in for myself are the quads and psoas for the back leg. The front leg acts as my stabilizer so I can either work on stretching the front muscles or contracting the back muscles of the back leg. I use blocks to give myself space to explore the movements. With my tailbone pressing down, I hold my hips in place to keep them facing forward with no tilt in either direction. I squeeze my glutes and hamstrings to release the hip flexors and quads which then creates a sensation of release in my lower back. To extend and stretch the psoas, I raise my arm that’s on the same side of the back leg and inhale a deep belly breath, at least three cycles (5 if my schedule permits), the I switch to the other side. After this I settle into a child’s pose as a counter stretch. Next, we will explore the affects of raising both arms overhead and why I include this in my home practice and reasons why I would chose to leave this option out.