Garbha Pindasana, must keep working on it

JC approach me the other and pointed out great wisdom about garbha pindasana. The pose seems to have a stigma of sorts, which is that once it gets to be "doable" we tend to "stop working on it" and just let it be, at least I do, the comment was, after all, for my ears only.


He is right, of course, ever since I was able to get into the lotus position in spite of my meniscuses story (they were removed),  I thought to myself that this was it, paradise. I mean if I could get into the lotus even in spite of the limitations of my body then why more? why bother?.

However, just because something looks like Garbha Pindasana it does not mean it is Garbha Pindasana.  The benefit of having a teacher!

The good Garbha ashtangi in the picture (above) is Arjuna, from this website.

The point in my own specific practice is that the feet need to come up higher in the leg and the knees need to keep working on coming closer towards the center, it all needs to be tightened. I must maintain the lotus throughout.

One thing that bothers me is that the sprayer is never in the room, so I would like to know, what other practice uses a sprayer? and for what?
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12 comments:

  1. Hi Claudia, nice post! Garbha used to be my least favorite pose, but now it's one of my favorites, not least because gravity is doing at least half the work for me!

    I never use a sprayer, not even in the cold winter months, when I don't sweat so much. Here's my totally inelegant way of getting into garbha: I get into padmasana, and then gather as much sweat as I can from my neck, face, and upper arms, and apply it to my wrists and forearms. This gives me enough lubrication to get my arms through my legs. Of course, I probably look totally weird doing this; but then again, I practice by myself, so it doesn't matter. I don't know how it'll look in a shala, though...

    I just think that having to reach for a sprayer or worry about where it is is so distracting and disruptive to the flow of the practice.

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  2. Oh, btw, I really like the new blue color of the title heading of your blog :-)

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  3. Hi Nobel, I am beginning to experiment with what you speak of, using sweat, I am affraid I do not sweat much but on the last led class at the shala I noticed that because the room was full and hot I actually was able to get the arms through...

    As per the blue, thanks, thought it would go well with the winter

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  4. I bring my own sprayer. I do not sweat enough to do it without the sprayer. This is one of the poses I am working hard on since Kino showed me how to get my arms in past my elbows. I always get stuck after about 4 rolls but I refuse to give up!

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  5. "However, just because something looks like Garbha Pindasana it does not mean it is Garbha Pindasana."

    You hit the nail on the head! It took me a few weeks to successfully get my arms through the legs up to the elbows, touch my chin with *one* hand and rock without beaching that I feel so satisfied to the point of complacency :D I use a sprayer as well, although like you, I took a led class once and was happy to see that I didn't need it that one time.

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  6. Laura good for you! like the attitude :-) yeah!

    Danielle, I hear you! and also, what is it about led classes that make us more sweaty? I do go slow on my own, so it cannot be that, I just wonder... maybe the synchronized energy of a group of people?

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  7. Here in Vegas we pretty much only have 1 led class a week. I notice most people in led class don't even attempt to put the arms through in Garhba, even if I slide my spray bottle over to them.


    I love the ridulousness of this pose. Practice should have some humor in it.

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  8. yes, I am one of the guilty ones, dont know why I get a bit lazy on this one, dont want to use the spray... but I must!!! and yes, it is a very funny pose

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  9. Having had giant struggles with this pose (which I *think* are mostly behind me now...) I would say that the thing which helped me most was to think about the TUCK. This was a combination of Kai talking about her chicken neck (sorry Kai!) and my teacher explaining that the tuck was the key - both involve having the chin nestled right into the hands with the hands resting either side of the cheeks (this is the clear difference between your photo and arjuna's). Also if you really think about the *tuck* it makes the initial static part of the pose more of a balance, and this also seems to help with the rocking.I can get around without getting beached now (some days - finally!) but still need to work on maintaining contact between fingertips and forehead - my teacher says that as soon as you lose this contact you lose the bandhas...still so much work to do!
    And I can only do without a water spray when in Thailand ;)

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  10. Hi Daydreamingmel, makes sense this "tuck" very interesting the connection between it and the bandhas. And yes, I remember that in Thailand it was much easier to not use the sprayer as well!, that room was hot! :-)

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  11. What is strange is that this pose came to me very easily when I started this practise. Never used a spray bottle, no need, and too messy.
    So why, when this was never a challenge, I still after yrs am struggling w Kurmasana. Sometimes I just feel like crying when I get to this pose. Perhaps one day.....

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  12. oh, Anonymous, I relate to you in SO many ways! I hear you, my drama is on dropping back... but new year resolution is no more drama for me!! :-)

    You are lucky you do not need the sprayer!

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