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The Extended Side Angle pose is known as Utthita Parsvakonasana in Sanskrit. The three Sanskrit words, namely utthita means extended, parsva means side, and kona means angle. Asana you already know refers to pose.
You generally move into the Extended Side Angle Pose from the Downward Facing Dog pose. To do that you first stand straight again after you complete the exercise in the adho mukha svanasana or Downward Facing Dog pose.
The pose offers you several health benefits. It helps exercise the muscles in the groins, the hamstrings in the legs, and the muscles in the sides of your neck. Besides, it also helps to open out your shoulders and your chest too.
How to perform Extended Side Angle Pose?
The term Extended Side Angle Pose itself gives you a fair idea of what you need to do to come into the pose. Extended refers to placing one of your lower limbs out almost at a right angle to the direction in which you are facing. Side angle refers to turning that limb out at an angle at your knee, with the heel touching the ground.
It also refers to twisting your body from the waist upwards towards the side in which the lower limb has been already extended. Then you need to so position the upper limb (closer to that side) so that it hangs straight down from the shoulder and touches the floor. Beginners generally find it hard to touch the floor so they must initially at least touch the top surface of a cubic block of wood placed on the floor.
Experienced individuals, who can touch the floor with their fingers, can dispense with the block altogether. The other upper limb you will need to simultaneously straighten up so that it points vertically upwards. Your face then must point upward so that your eyes look up in the direction of the palm of the raised upper limb.
After being in the position for a minute or two, you need to reverse position so that now the other lower limb is extended out similarly in place of the earlier one. In the latter case, the other upper limb hangs down, whereas the originally referred one gets raised up. Also the upper body this time bends towards the direction of the currently extended lower limb and your face points upward in the direction of the originally referred upper limb which this time is raised upwards.
Experienced practitioners of the Extended Side Angle pose can later try out some advanced variations of the Utthita Parsvakonasana. One of the variations lays stress on putting most of your weight on one palm as it rests flat on the floor, while stretching the opposite lower limb.
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