Reading Ramaswami's post on legs together backward-bending this afternoon reminded me of giving these a trya few years back, (videos below) disconcerting but doable although I quickly went back to the more stable knees apart approach.
Looking forward to week nine of the Yogasynergy Fundamentals of Yoga Course when we look more closely at backward-bending, may come back to this post then with more to add.
UPDATE: I asked Simon Borg-Olivier for an Anatomy and Physiological perspective on backward-bending with the feet/thighs/knees together, he came back with some advantages and disadvantages.
Here's Ramaswami's original fb post.
"....To involve the entire spine including the sacro-coccygeal portion, it may be good to keep the legs (thighs) together in back bends like urdwadhanurasana, bridge pose, dhanurasana, ushtrasana and several others. Keeping the legs/thighs together helps to open the pelvis and not the hips. In several back bends my guru would ask us to keep the legs together". Ramaswami Srivatsa
Pictures of Ranjit Babu and Tatiana Popova from "Complete Book of vinyasa Yoga"
And see my permeant Srivatsa Ramaswami and Vinyasa Krama Resource Page at the top of the blog.
Looking forward to week nine of the Yogasynergy Fundamentals of Yoga Course when we look more closely at backward-bending, may come back to this post then with more to add.
UPDATE: I asked Simon Borg-Olivier for an Anatomy and Physiological perspective on backward-bending with the feet/thighs/knees together, he came back with some advantages and disadvantages.
"re backbends with feet together - I used to do them - but less so now and the advantage is that it gives a deeper backbend
However the disadvantage is that it tends to go into your back at the weakest point and then if there is no weak point in your back but your back is stiff it can go into your sacroiliac joint or more likely into your knees.
I prefer to keep the legs about hip width apart and have the feet slightly turned out and then they are in a position that allows you to try to turn thighs inwards - this is like what you are meant to do in the back leg of virabhadrasana - many people teach that the feet should be turned inwards in backbends but in fact you should position them turned outwards and be trying to turn them inwards - if you turn them inwards as many people teach this disallows the activity of the internal rotators and adductors of the hips - also in this case if the back bend is strong in the lower back many people engage the buttocks muscles to protect the lower back, but these muscles (gluteus maximus in particular) are also external rotators of the hips and so they will be trying to turn the thighs out and so if the feet are turned in then this could cause pain and injury in the knees
All of these problems could also occur if the thighs are together as well I think but I am always of the opinion that there is no wrong or right in yoga or life and there is just an effect".
My own feeling is that may not be one right in yoga or life but there is still plenty of wrong, if it throws your knee out or buggers your back.... then I'm going to go with a wrong for that one ( in that particular case at least)
Here's Ramaswami's original fb post.
"....To involve the entire spine including the sacro-coccygeal portion, it may be good to keep the legs (thighs) together in back bends like urdwadhanurasana, bridge pose, dhanurasana, ushtrasana and several others. Keeping the legs/thighs together helps to open the pelvis and not the hips. In several back bends my guru would ask us to keep the legs together". Ramaswami Srivatsa
Pictures of Ranjit Babu and Tatiana Popova from "Complete Book of vinyasa Yoga"
 |
| LINK to google preview |
Ramaswami's page http://vinyasakrama.com/Main_Page
And see my permeant Srivatsa Ramaswami and Vinyasa Krama Resource Page at the top of the blog.
 |
| Dwipadapeetam |
"This posture which is casually practiced with the feet apart and thighs spread out leaves
out the the spine in the pelvic region. Hence it is necessary to keep
the feet together, tighten the gluteal muscles, draw in the rectum and
gently push the tailbone/sacrum up and feel a healthy stretch at the
bottom of the spine. Any back bending done without fully involving the
sacro coccygial region is a less efficient back bend and tends to put
more strain on the lumbar spine".
The video below is from this earlier post which includes the pea in the bellybutton trick for a more royal kapotasana.
Dropping back feet and legs together
There is also the suggestion of a feet together drop back and return in Ramaswami's book, interestingly, coming back up on the exhalation. I remember this scared the bejesus out of me
The above video comes from this post on one of my other sister blogs
Argument
from THIS post
In Ramaswami's Sept 11 Newsletter, on Spinal exercise, he writes about performing backbends with the feet, knees and thighs together. He doesn't mention Kapotasana or the dropback back I wonder if the same reasoning applies.
The relevant section is below, the full newsletter can be found HERE and an illustrated version of the Spinal exercise article including the exercises HERE
'For the back bending exercises it is necessary to protect the lumbar
spine. Towards that, the flexibility and the strength of the sacro-
coccygeal region is to be necessarily cultivated. The pelvic push is
efficiently facilitated by a simple but effective asana called
dwipadapeetam (pages109-115) or desk pose . This posture which is
casually practiced with the feet apart and thighs spread out leaves
out the the spine in the pelvic region. Hence it is necessary to keep
the feet together, tighten the gluteal muscles, draw in the rectum and
gently push the tailbone/sacrum up and feel a healthy stretch at the
bottom of the spine. Any back bending done without fully involving the
sacro coccygial region is a less efficient back bend and tends to put
more strain on the lumbar spine. Again my Guru used this posture to
teach to almost anyone. This upward pelvic push is to be done on
inhalation generally but, it can be done while exhaling smoothly by
the elderly, the obese, the pregnant, the highly strung etc. Because
the feet and back of the head are well anchored it becomes easy to
control the back bend very well and one can improve the stretch step
by step. Other poses that are in this group would be catushpada peetam
or Table pose ( page79 ) and Purvatanasana or the anterior stretch
pose (pages78,79). The other back-bends in the prone poses such as
Bhujangasana, dhanurasana and salabhasana (pages 138-145) also may be
done with the thighs and feet together to keep the sacrum and tailbone
engaged and stretchered. To ensure this condition, the teacher may ask
the student to keep the feet and thighs together by placing a piece of
paper between the feet and not let the paper drop to the floor while
raising the legs up in asana like Salabhasana. In these prone
exercises keeping the legs together enables to exercise all parts of
the spine, especially the oft neglected sacro-coccygeal area.'
from Ramaswami's September 2011 Newsletter
The relevant section is below, the full newsletter can be found HERE and an illustrated version of the Spinal exercise article including the exercises HERE
'For the back bending exercises it is necessary to protect the lumbar
spine. Towards that, the flexibility and the strength of the sacro-
coccygeal region is to be necessarily cultivated. The pelvic push is
efficiently facilitated by a simple but effective asana called
dwipadapeetam (pages109-115) or desk pose . This posture which is
casually practiced with the feet apart and thighs spread out leaves
out the the spine in the pelvic region. Hence it is necessary to keep
the feet together, tighten the gluteal muscles, draw in the rectum and
gently push the tailbone/sacrum up and feel a healthy stretch at the
bottom of the spine. Any back bending done without fully involving the
sacro coccygial region is a less efficient back bend and tends to put
more strain on the lumbar spine. Again my Guru used this posture to
teach to almost anyone. This upward pelvic push is to be done on
inhalation generally but, it can be done while exhaling smoothly by
the elderly, the obese, the pregnant, the highly strung etc. Because
the feet and back of the head are well anchored it becomes easy to
control the back bend very well and one can improve the stretch step
by step. Other poses that are in this group would be catushpada peetam
or Table pose ( page79 ) and Purvatanasana or the anterior stretch
pose (pages78,79). The other back-bends in the prone poses such as
Bhujangasana, dhanurasana and salabhasana (pages 138-145) also may be
done with the thighs and feet together to keep the sacrum and tailbone
engaged and stretchered. To ensure this condition, the teacher may ask
the student to keep the feet and thighs together by placing a piece of
paper between the feet and not let the paper drop to the floor while
raising the legs up in asana like Salabhasana. In these prone
exercises keeping the legs together enables to exercise all parts of
the spine, especially the oft neglected sacro-coccygeal area.'
from Ramaswami's September 2011 Newsletter
