This is one of the most powerful poses which displays grace with strength and thus should be tried by all.
This is a very advanced and a complex asana and one needs a lot of practice to perfect it. However with regular practice one can easily master this pose. One can follow the following steps to perform this pose -
Start this pose by Adho Mukha Svanasa with your hands and shoulder width apart. Next step your left foot far forward, passing the outside of your left arm and place it on the floor, in the front of your left hand.
Next step is to bend our left elbow and twist your torso to the right, dropping the left shoulder and the whole left side of the torso as low as possible on your inner left thigh. Now pressing your thigh toward your torso slide the left upper arm and shoulder as far as possible underneath the back of the left thigh just above the knee. Place the back of your thigh as high up as possible on the upper arm.
Now keep your weight centered between your hands and start to creep your left foot forward along the floor. This will ensure that more and more of the weight of your leg come onto the arm. Let the foot naturally move a little to the left as you do this. Now once you are not able to walk the foot any farther forward without lifting it off the floor, straighten the knee as much as you can, powerfully reaching the foot forward and out to the left side.
Now bend both your elbows and shift your weight far forward between your hands until you can lift your back leg. Lift strongly until that leg is parallel to the floor, then, keeping the knee extended, press straight back through the ball of your foot.
Now lift your chest until your torso is parallel to the floor by pressing it strongly down it through your inner hands to help maintain this position.
Lift your head and look forward. Keep your eyes and forehead soft and in the meantime breathe evenly. You can hold the pose for about 20 seconds or even longer and then step back into the Adho Mukha Svanasana.
You can repeat the same steps on the other side and hold the pose for about same 20 seconds.
There are several benefits of this pose. Some of them are as follows -
It strengthens the hands, especially the wrists and makes the more flexible.
It helps to tone your spine.
It helps to improve your sense of balance.
It is also beneficial in improving your concentration.
It is also good in building the abdominal strength and helps to tackle problems related to digestion.
It enhances the flexibility in your legs.
It helps to boost the coordination among your eyes, hands, belly and legs.
This pose is also helpful in coping with stressful situations.
Even though this is a very beneficial pose there are certain contraindications and cautions one needs to be careful of. It is best to avoid this pose if one has any wrist or lower back injury as it tends to put pressure on these areas. It is also advisable to get the help and guidance of a trained yoga professional before trying out any poses of yoga to properly understand the benefits and contraindications of the poses. It should also be avoided by those who have Carpel tunnel syndrome.
Since this is quite a complex pose it will take some time to get used to the pose. It will take some practice and effort to support the front leg on our arm before trying to lift the back leg. It will be easier to lift the back leg if you tuck your right arm under your body so that your elbow comes roughly to your right hip.
Some of the poses one can try out before trying out this pose are - Supta Padangusthasana, Chaturanga Dandasana and Upavistha Konasana.
One can follow up this pose by the Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend Pose) and Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose).
You can make this pose more interesting once you have perfectly mastered the basic pose. If in the beginning you have been practicing this pose with the right elbow tucked under your body, work on bringing it out so that it hugs your right side. Try jumping back.
This is a challenging yoga pose for many and thus if it is practice on grass or on a sand, it could be beneficial as well as provide stable pose to them.