Keep your neck off of the floor by bringing your shoulder blades together.
This is the first time that Alice has been looking forward to doing Supta Konasana in a long time. This was not always the case. In the past every time she moved her hips up off of the floor and over her head, there was a lot of pressure on her neck and it was hurting her.
Alice had talked to her teacher about her problem and now she is able to do the pose without hurting her neck.
Her teacher showed her how to protect her neck in the pose. Once she had her neck protected her teacher showed her some other modifications that she could use to work through the rest of the pose.
What is Supta Konasana
Supta Konasana is a pose from the Primary series of Ashtanga yoga. It appears near the end of the Primary series and is one of the few poses that are done from a reclining position.
This particular pose works on increasing the flexibility of the neck, spine and shoulders as well as the hips.
How to do Supta Konasana
You start this pose like you start most seated postures. You are in Dandasana, seated on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
From Dandasana you exhale and lay on your back with your legs straight and your arms at your side. While laying on your back bring your shoulder blades together to elevate the base of your neck off of the floor.
On your next exhale bring your hips above your head, take your legs beyond your head bringing your toes to the floor. Once your toes are on the floor spread your legs apart and hold onto your big toes with the first two fingers of your hand with your palms facing each other.
You hold here for several breaths with your gaze down the nose towards the ceiling.
To exit the pose you inhale and roll up to balance with straight arms and legs while holding onto your toes. You stay balanced here for an instant and then you exhale, land softly on your legs and bring your torso to the floor between your legs.
Where is there a problem with Supta Konasana
This is the first reclining posture of the Ashtanga Yoga Primary series where you have your hips over your shoulders and as a result there is a lot of pressure on the neck and shoulders. You need to protect your neck from injury when you bring your torso above your head.
How to protect your neck
Before you move your hips up over your head you need to make sure that the base of your neck is off of the floor and that your head is not turned to the side.
You accomplish this in three steps.
Step 1 – While you are still laying on the floor, move your shoulder blades towards each other. This slight movement will move your neck off of the floor a little bit.
Step 2 – When you move your hips over your shoulders you can move your shoulder blades together some more. You can shift your weight from shoulder to shoulder as you move your shoulder blades towards each other.
Step 3 – If your hips will stay balanced over your shoulders then you can remove your hands from your hips, interlace your fingers and bring your arms to the floor. Once your arms are on the floor you can once again move your shoulder blades even closer together by shifting your weight from one shoulder to the other.
As your shoulder blades move closer and closer together your neck is moving further and further from the floor.
Alice is able to protect her neck and she is able get her hips to stay over shoulders without holding on to her hips.
Next steps
Ask your teacher to help you with this pose. They can make sure that you are protecting your neck properly as you move through the various modifications.
