Pincha Mayurasana

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These posts are NOT meant to be instructional.  They are about a personal endeavor of mine.  Some of these postures are extremely dangerous and can result in severe injury.  This type of yoga is ADVANCED, takes years to master and should not be attempted without the direct supervision of a well-qualified yoga instructor.  

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I have been working on this posture for about a month and for some reason it has been evading me completely.  Prior to reading this book I was barely able to get my feet six inches off the ground.  For some reason the balance of this posture just was not making sense and I felt as if I was going to break my neck every time that I attempted it.

My first error in regards to this posture was the name.  I was just calling it "pincha".  David Swenson expanded my understanding of the terminology associated with this posture in his book, Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual.  According to Swenson, the full name of this posture is "pincha myurasana" (178).  He writes that "pincha = feather" and "mayura = peacock" (178).  From earlier reading I have also learned that "asana" means "posture" (7).  Thefore the full name of this posture can be translated to mean, "feather of the peacock posture" (178).

For this posture, David suggested starting in dolphin pose (179) (this is the beginner version), which is a part of my daily practice.

Swenson's next suggestion is what really tipped my practice over the edge: he suggested using a chair in order to establish the balance for this posture (179).  The chair was a miracle.  The balance clicked and after only using the chair a few times, I knew I was ready to move on.

I was ready for the advanced version.  It took me a few times with my feet on the wall and then I was actually holding my first pincha ever!!!  I found that making certain to point my toes to the sky, as David suggests (179) really helped me to balance.  I also made certain to flex every part of my body and found that the balance was much easier with these elements in place.

As Swenson writes, "yoga is a lifelong journey" (264) and just having hit this posture a bit is not enough for me.  My next goals will be to hold it for 15 seconds, then 30, then a minute and finally to figure out some interesting variations.

I am wondering if any other yogis out there have found props to be helpful in mastering a pose?

Citation:
Swenson, David.  Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual. Korea: David Swenson and Eric Sod, 1999.