Hot Yoga Pose Forums > Supta Vajrasana: Fixed Firm Pose
For me this pose has been an ongoing process. I love the blood as oil analogy to the knees. That tourniquet effect is really great for me. As a runner I’ve had trouble getting into full extension as my knees and hips are so contracted but with this pose and the heat flowing in me I can open my hips and bring my knees closer together each time. I hold space for my body, as each day is different for me in this pose. I like it especially when we hold this for a double set instead of going in and out of it for 2 sets.
maria
Its always best to be kind to your body - and you deserve it, and its not about your age! Sometimes students tell me they are doing things in hot yoga they COULDNT do as a child! So age is really not the factor her: mindset often is. But just because mind is stronger than body is no reason to push yourself into a pose...ANY pose! - - mostly because if you do, you miss all the wonderful luxurious stretching that comes incrementally in the asanas, especially this one, as we so rarely stretch open the front of our bodies as we do in Supta Vajarasana! Luxuriate as you think of all those "thankless" organs like liver, spleen, pancreas, digestive system getting their due now....
This is called Fixed Firm pose, but it also referred to as Reclining Hero...can you guess whats heroic about it?
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Wow—so, I knew this was a complex pose already as I am always in a different place each class with this pose. This chapter confirms it even further. Four phases! Five backbends! This is definitely a pose I look forward to each class because I never know where I’m going to be. I only recently went all the way down for the first time which was exciting but it’s not something my body is always ready to do.
Recently Rhonda pointed out to me that my feet need to be glued to my hips, this was something I had not been aware of and am grateful for this tip.
Pamela
Asanas have so much richness to them - more than we initially think, mostly because initially we approach them from just the physical level. Each asana has a link to the nervous system, and an emotional "key" waiting to be turned.. There is so much opening with poses like Fixed Firm where there is the complete "exposure" of your most vulnerable physical area - the midsection of the body - and it takes some courage to do so (this pose has also been called Reclining Hero. Think of your beloved dogs, Pamela, and how dogs will only show you their underbellies once they trust you but once they do, they willingly lie down at your feet for belly rubs whenever they can!). I do love how you take in every tip you get in every pose Pamela - little moments like "feet close to the hips" are not seen as small by you, and know that just as these tips align your body they are also factiiltating that deeper level of experience for you. Allow yourself to feel every part of the asana, Pamela, and try to stay at the 'feeling" level and let the thinking mind rest while in Asana...this too will show you a completely new side of every pose. And PS - congratulations on getting your hips to the groundf or the first time...exhilarating isnt it?! Have you "felt" the tip of "dropping your lower back into someone's hand' yet? Try that imagery and see what happens to your breathing....
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I am still working on getting my hips to the floor--when I went to class with my daughter she went right back--probably the years of ballet training. My hips are just a tiny bit from the floor now--maybe a half inch. That is what I love about this practice--there is always more progress to be made. And I do think I am positioning my legs incorrectly--the woman in the picture has her legs out to the side rather than under her--mine are kind of a hybrid. I am going to examine that in class tonight.
irenem
Irene, you may be right my ballet training makes some things easier for me. It also caused plenty of injuries. I wish you had been in class this morning with Rhonda. She spoke a lot about the thing I think so many people forget. Progress is usually not linear and no one body is the same from day to day. I wonder if you didn't think about hips to the floor if one day they would just drop right down? I find the more I worry, the less I get.
I love this pose like crazy! My hips get to the floor and sometimes my knees are together and other days they are like "oh hell no"but what I adore is the quad stretch. I have really muscular defined quads and I dont get much from general quad stretch exercises and pigeon twist is a bit too much most days. Reclining Hero is the perfect amount of pull for my entire frontal quad and sometimes when its over I just want to stay there for another 2 or 3 minutes.
Paula
I love/hate this pose. It is the only pose I really felt the emotional release in (tearing up, electricity like movement of energy). After a year I am still working on getting my his to the floor. i am very close!!! Looking forward to the day I can move to the part 2-getting my back on the floor.
Irina
Such interesting comments on Fixed Firm! We all have such a strong desire to explain our limitations...such as when you say, Irene, that your daughter's ballet helped her in this pose and is what makes it difficult for you...but at some moment the light will go on and you will get it: your WORDS belie your beliefs and it is that repetition of your belief that holds you in the position of explaining why you CANT. Ask yourself: is this what I want? No? Then stop explaining why it is so!
Paula your comment spot on; the secret of I CAN is to not worry about it AT ALL. Focusing on why you cant - even if you think youre explaining it - HOLDS YOU IN I CANT LONGER! And yes, progress can be linear - as in, you do a little more each time and you soften your belief in I CANT until one day it falls away....OR , one day you GIVE IT UP - you're exhausted from all this I CANT! - and BAM instant pose!
And Irina - one day you will actually treasure the asanas that offer you this kind of emotional release...these are the stellar moments of hot yoga!
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I love this pose now that I learned to 2 mat secret. I feel such stretch and release from this pose coming out is a rush.
Erica
This posed used to be so eady for me... and now everytime i do it i am at a different point. Sometimes i am not sure if i should go back; my hips are on the floor but my knees are popping up- usually because i am bloated! Bloat happens and is not kind in this pose! Should I or Shouldnn't I. I have experienced tears rolling down my cheeks for no reason while in this pose. I usually feel relief after this pose. But with bloat, sometimes i feel struggle....hmmm now my brain is ticking!!!what am i struggling with that is causing the bloat- mentally not physically....Louis Hay has a book about this. I will pull the bool out and see what it has to say and this pose will tell me of the bloat passes...
Lisa N
Lisa, Supta Vajrasana can sometimes offer relief to gastrointestinal moments including bloating, as it stretches the front body which can make "more room" for the digestive tract to lengthen. Try to approach this pose with curiosity about what might happen if and when you are in any gastrointestinal discomfort...remember you can always move into Savasana if it feels off. Yes, Louise Hay has written many interesting books on the emotional sources of physical discomforts.
Please correct your many typos before you post your forum posts - what you have to say is interesting but the typos make it hard to follow
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Yes, agree, Jeanne, so much potential for stretching the entire front of the body. When I was a kid, 8 or 9, took acrobatics,, did ridiculous things with my body. Sitting between my bent knees and lying back was a no brainer. Well 50+years later, my body needs a bit more "kindness" and time to ease itself down to the mat. So will continue to practice wiggling my hips, not putting pressure on my knees. I feel myself getting lower to mat ( maybe butt just sagging), but looking forward to feeling for my feet and they're there, lying backwards at some point and getting that full stretch.