Featured Pose: Krishnamacharya's Bow

Brian chose this month's theme pose.  This bow is a lovely physical reflection of the theme "What are you Offering?"  It is an image that Brian has loved and been inspired by over the years.  

Krishnamacharya's Bow:  We share this photograph each year with OWY's teacher trainees.

This photograph and text was taken from the book Health, Healing, and Beyond by T.K.V. Desikachar, Krishnamacharya's son, which is a book we highly recommend for a good general read on a variety of yoga topics.  In this book I especially like some of the history.  H, H, and B describes the life of a brilliant man who looked around, saw the changing times, and changed accordingly.  Yoga changed with him. Desikachar also discusses the major historical texts like Patanjali's Yoga Sutras in clear, understandable language as taught to him by his father.  More about Krishnamacharya here.

 Still shot of Brian demonstrating Krishnamacharya's Bow

We love practicing this bow as a part of our sun salutations!  It it a nice deep stretch for the shoulders and pulls the shoulder blades down the back in a very satisfying way.  Brian likes to flex his wrists, which engages the back, or it can be done with the more cupped alignment of Krishnamacharya for a sweet and deeply opening, weighted feeling.

...And an abastract painting of the bow by Brian. (painted years ago)

The image of this yoga pose has always meant a lot to Brian.  As his partner, I can say that it reflects some of the quality that I see in him - He is humble and full-hearted when he makes an offering.

 -Shannon