Reclining Angle Pose

Supta Konasana — "reclining angle pose (supta = reclining, kona = angle)"

A wide-legged relative of Plow Pose from the Ashtanga finishing sequence: legs sweep overhead and apart, hands holding the big toes. It stretches the whole back body and the inner thighs at once.

Step by step

1Lie on your back with your arms alongside you, palms down.
2On an exhale, press into your hands and sweep both legs up and over your head, as in Plow Pose.
3Separate your feet wide apart and, if your toes reach the floor, catch your big toes with the first two fingers of each hand.
4Keep your legs straight and active and some length in the back of your neck — look toward your belly, not side to side.
5Take a few steady breaths, letting the back body and inner thighs stretch.
6To come out, roll slowly back down one vertebra at a time, keeping hold of the toes as long as is comfortable, then release the legs to the floor.

Benefits

✓ Stretches the hamstrings, inner thighs, and back body together
✓ Builds control moving the legs overhead and back with the breath
✓ Prepares the body for Plow and Shoulderstand
✓ Wakes up coordination — hold, balance, and breath all at once

Make it yours

· Let your toes rest on a bolster or two blocks behind your head instead of reaching the floor.
· Hold your outer shins or ankles if the big toes are out of reach.
· Support your shoulders on a folded blanket, as you would for Shoulderstand, to keep the neck free.
· Practice Wide-Angle Seated Forward Fold first if the overhead version feels like too much.

Take care

Take care if your neck is sensitive — weight overhead is similar to Plow, and this shape isn't the place to push it.
In pregnancy, this inverted, on-the-back position is one to skip.
Ease off if your lower back rounds painfully; tight hamstrings can be accommodated with props first.

This is general practice guidance, not medical advice. If something hurts, ease out of it.

Practiced in

Ashtanga — as “Supta Konasana” (#42)

Props that help here

8-foot cotton strap — Extends your reach in hamstring and shoulder work — the honest substitute for grabbing a foot you can't yet reach. Get 8ft, not 6ft. find one
Yoga blanket — Folded under the hips in seated poses, under the knees in kneeling ones, under the shoulders for shoulderstand. A firm household blanket works too. find one

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