Eka Pada Sirsasana or Foot Behind the Head Pose

Eka Pada Sirsasana at a Glance

How to Do Eka Pada Sirsasana?
Follow the Step-by-Step Procedure

Even if you are an advanced yoga practitioner, do warmups and preparatory poses to stretch and make your body more flexible to enjoy this pose.

1. To start with sit down on a yoga mat or any soft surface to avoid hurting your body and to make yourself comfortable.
2. Sit in the Dandasana or staff pose, keep your legs straight, extended, and active in front of you and your spine straight and elongated.
3. Take some deep breaths bend your right leg at the right knee and bring it toward you, your knee should be pointing to the right side and the sole of the right leg should be facing the left knee.
4. Let your right thigh and knee touch the mat feel the stretch and open your hip easily for the final pose.
5. Continuing your breath, hold the ankle of your right foot with your right arm inside the right thigh inhale, and bring your right shin toward your chest and hug it.
6. Now hold (grab) your right ankle with your left hand, slowly rotate your right thigh back, bring your right knee near your right shoulder, and fit your shoulder beneath your thigh and right knee.
7. Here you can slightly move your right shoulder in front to get your right leg on your shoulder comfortably. Here your right ankle will be behind the neck and left shoulder.
8. Maintain this position so the left leg is straight and active and when you feel your right leg is tucked behind the head comfortably, inhale and raise both your hands and bring in the prayer pose and your hands touching the chest.
9. Keep your core engaged and keep breathing, in this final position and hold the pose for about 4 to 5 breaths or as per your comfort.
10. When you release, inhale, and slowly bring your hands down unlock your leg gently, and come to the Dandasana pose and relax by stretching your legs.
11. Then repeat this same procedure, by practicing, the Eka Pada Sirsasana pose with your left leg and lifting the left foot.

What are the Benefits of Eka Pada Sirsasana?

• Eka Pada Sirsasana is an excellent hip joint opener when practiced regularly.
• This pose helps to strengthen your thigh, hip flexors, hamstrings, calf, and ankle muscles and enhances flexibility.
• This pose can help to improve the blood supply to the tissues, muscles, and many other parts of the body.
• This pose helps to boost cell growth and helps the proper functioning of the internal body organs.
• This helps to engage your and strengthens your abdominal muscles.
• Regular practice can give you a strong and flexible back.
• This pose helps you lengthen your psoas, glutes, and hamstrings and reduces stiffness in your body.

Health Conditions that Might Benefit from Eka Pada Sirsasana

• People can do this pose to improve their muscle strength, as it strengthens their neck, back, and spinal muscles.
• Practicing this pose tones your abdominal muscles, which activates the digestive system to activate the digestive fire and helps with better digestion and absorption of nutrients.
• Individuals can improve their body posture with regular practice of this pose.
• This pose is good for people with nervous problems and helps to reduce their stress and anxiety.
• This can help you to improve your hemoglobin level and also flush out your toxins.

Safety and Precautions

• Avoid this pose if you have sciatica, hernia, or tight hamstrings.
• Any injury in your neck, spine, back, hips, or ankle should be avoided.
• Be slow and progress gradually or else you may end up with pain or injury.
• This is a challenging pose, do it under the guidance of your yoga teacher.

Common Mistakes

• Beginning with warm-ups and preparatory poses can avoid injury.
• Not listening to your body and ignoring the pain.
• Any health concerns consult your doctor for guidance.
• Don’t hold your breath.

Tips for Eka Pada Sirsasana

• Practice this pose on an empty stomach.
• Follow the physical alignment principles.
• Always do the counter poses after doing the one-foot behind-the-head pose.
• Keep breathing throughout the pose.
• Use props whenever needed and don’t stress yourself to get into the pose, develop gradually.
• Do the preparatory hip openers and yoga postures before you do these poses.

Physical Alignment Principles for Eka Pada Sirsasana

• Sit on your sit bones and squeeze your sit bones towards each other.
• There is an external rotation in your left hip, so be sure your knee is open and pointing to the side.
• Keep your neck strong and your shin pressing to it.
• Your hands should be in the prayer position.
• The Left thigh should be pressed to the mat and kept active,
• Tilt your head forward and left shoulder forward slightly to get your left leg over your left shoulder.
• Your left or right calf muscle should be behind your shoulder.
• Gaze upward and keep breathing gently.

Eka Pada Sirsasana and Breath

Breath is an important part of any yoga pose, simple to advanced- see that your pose movement should be coordinated with your breath, with an inhale or exhale or gentle breathing.

Take a deep breath while you sit in the Dandasana pose ease yourself and prepare mentally for this pose. Inhale deeply bend your left leg and hug it exhale deeply and let go of the stress and tension. Now inhale and open your hip, catching your left ankle, taking toward your left and exhale and engaging your core, tuck your calf and knee over the shoulder. Inhale and bring your hands in the prayer position keep breathing gently feel the stretch and maintain balance with your breath.

Eka Pada Sirsasana and Variations

• Uttana Eka Pada Sirsasana.
• Two-legged shoulder pose.
• Reclining bird of paradise pose.
• For supporting your leg, you can do it by the wall support.
• You can also use a yoga strap.

The Bottom Line

When we hear the pose name, one leg behind the head pose, the image itself is unimaginable and so you can figure out, how challenging and advanced this pose is. You would need strong, physical and mental persistence and a great level of flexibility to attain this pose. Make sure you do the warmup and preparatory poses before you start this pose. This pose is not for the beginner as it takes time and needs consistent practice and patience to get into it. People with any health concerns, avoid doing it. Do it under and only with a trained yoga professional.

The yoga journey of opening your hips in the Eka Pada Sirsasana helps to release physical and mental tension from your body and mind.

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