Yoga 101: Staff Pose Helps Stabilize Whole Body

This week we enter into dandasana, or the staff pose. This is a nice complementary pose to follow the butterfly pose.

Helping our legs, hips, pelvis, abdomen, back, shoulders and neck, dandasana is a full body stabilizer. We use our own strength and body weight to help align the internal organs and the spine.

This pose will speak loudly to the practitioner who has tight hamstrings or if you suffer, as I do, from lower back pain and stiffness. For these limitations, we will offer modifications that should be used to help avoid injury.

Remember, yoga should not be painful. There should be no more than an occasional “sweet discomfort” as you get to know your body and begin to understand your physical and mental edges. Awareness will deepen, and so will everything else. Flexibility happens over time, not by wishing it or getting caught up on limitation. Embrace all that is you today, and everything else will happen over time.

Let’s begin. From sukhasana, lengthen your legs, move the flesh from your sitz bones and engage the legs as you would if you were in tadasana. Most yoga postures embrace the key actions of tadasana (the mountain pose), so bring your mountain to the ground.

We want to create a 90-degree angle with the body. Legs are long and feet are standing on an imaginary floor. Bring your palms down on each side of your hips, or slightly behind the hips if that feels better.

Inhale, and as you exhale press your hands down and flex your feet, engaging your legs and pulling your lower belly in toward your spine as you tuck your chin and roll your shoulders back and down. Pressing into the hands, the heels might rise off the floor a little. You can feel the spine elongate as the shoulders roll down and the heels press away.

Stay engaged for about five breaths.

Tightness? Pain? Embrace it, and honor your body. If you have tight hamstrings, use a blanket to raise your hips up a bit. If you have any lower back pain or tension, take a reclined version of this pose. See the photos for examples of modifications, and follow the directions accordingly. 

Before you begin another variation of dandasana, release extra tension by shaking your hands and legs, rolling your wrists and your ankles and tapping your knees out.

Extended Staff Uttitha Dandasana

To practice this variation, start where we left off in dandasana, but this time your arms are extended up into the sky. If you have any shoulder discomfort, you can reach forward instead. 

As you inhale, lift your arms up to the sky with your palms facing each other. As you exhale, spread the toes, pull the belly in, drop the shoulders and look up. If your neck is uncomfortable, it might be best to look forward.

As you inhale, root down the back of the legs, filling the chest up with breath. On every exhalation, pull your belly in as the torso rises away from the hips evenly. As you hold the posture, feel the space created in the spine, ribs and internal organs. Hold this position for five or more breaths.

When you are finished, shake out any residual tension as we did after the first position, and then lie back and take savasana. Relax the entire body for three to five minutes.

Staff pose helps us feel rooted to the earth and lets us reach for the stars. I hope it helps you today!

Namaste!