Upavistha Konasana: Seated Angle Pose
By Arthur Kilmurray

When the spine is relaxed and the brain is quiet, the mind can awaken to new levels of awareness

In the last two asana columns, I have discussed the ways in which yoga practice can put us in touch with planetary and cosmic rhythms. In this column, I would like to use a seated forward bend, Upavistha Konasana, to explore some of the inner dimensions of consciousness. In a well-performed Upavistha Konasana, the legs are grounded, the brain is quiet, and the spinal column is relaxed. In this state, we can become aware of subtle planes of consciousness that are normally inaccessible to us. To help us in our exploration, we can use the maps of consciousness provided by ancient sages and yogis, augmented by some Western scientific insights. In traditional yoga philosophy, the human soul is encased in five koshas, or sheaths--layers of interpenetrating "bodies," each one subtler than the one beneath. Through asana practice, each of these bodies can be awakened and refined.

To the beginning yoga student, this discussion of subtle bodies may seem abstract and confusing. When we first begin to prac tice, we focus almost exclusively on our physical bodies, developing our flexibility, strength, and sensory awareness. However, as our sensitivity increases, we begin to become aware of other dimensions of our being. Understanding how ancient teach ers have experienced these different dimensions can help us in our practice, but we should not be frustrated if our experiences do not precisely match those they have described. Rather, we can use their descriptions as guides to help us under stand our own deepening practice.

The first sheath the sages have described is the anamaya kosha (literally, "food sheath"), the physical body, which is composed of tangible matter and is destroyed at death. From the perspective of Newtonian physics, the anamaya kosha is our inertial mass, which interacts with gravity and resists change. (Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force.) The voluntary nervous system has evolved to mediate our interactions with inertia and gravity, and the mastery of this system through asana practice harmonizes these interactions.

The pranamaya kosha, or "breath sheath," is composed of subtle energies that control the physiological functions of the physical body, including the respiratory, circulatory, excretory, digestive, endocrine, and reproductive systems. From a Western perspective, this "energy body" corresponds to the autonomic nervous system, which alternates between the dynamic sympathetic mode (fight or flight response) and the quieting parasympathetic mode (relaxation response). Breath is the link between the physical body and the energy body, and freeing the breath through asana practice awakens us to this link. The practice of pranayama (control of the breath) leads to the refinement and eventual control of the prana maya kosha

The manomaya kosha, or "sense-mind sheath," assimilates and coordinates information from the sense organs to create a coherent representation of reality, and organizes unconscious actions in response to the information received. (Many of our actions are habitual, conditioned responses to familiar stimuli.) Through asana practice, we experience subtle, unfamiliar sensations; focusing our awareness on these sensations helps to awaken the manomaya kosha. Through the practice of pratyahara (control of the senses), we explore the relationship between the sense organs and the mind, further refining the manomaya kosha.

The vijnanamaya kosha, or "intelligence sheath," governs the highest processes of reasoning and judgment. This is the sheath of consciousness, where decisions are made and actions inititated from a fresh, unconditioned state of attunement to the present moment. In asana practice, we make conscious decisions about where to place the bones, how to move the muscles, and where to direct the breath. One action may feel right one day, another action another day, and some days nothing will feel right at all. So we learn, experiment, and grow. In time, through the deepening practices of dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (absorption in meditation), our intelligence stops wavering, correct action flows spontaneously, and we gradually master the vijnanamaya kosha.

The anandamaya kosha, or "bliss sheath," is the subtlest manifestation of consciousness: the plane of trancendent ecstasy. According to the ancient yogis, tiny sparks filtering down from this plane into our normal consciousness give us our feelings of pleasure and well-being, which are trivial compared to the conscious awakening of this level. The higher levels of samadhi allow us to refine and master the anan damaya kosha. Itzhak Bentov, in his essay "Micromotion of the Body as a Factor in the Development of the Nervous System," gives us a physiological model for awaken ing this level of the consciousness. Bentov describes a series of feedback loops in the body that are activated when the rhythm of the heart is precisely coordinated with the rhythm of the diaphragm, a state that spontaneously arises in deep samadhi. Accord ing to Bentov, when this synchronization is achieved, the normally chaotic vibration of the cerebrospinal fluid becomes an even pulse, and an electrical current is triggered that flows over the sensory cortex in a closed loop called the "kundalini circuit," stimulating "ecstasy centers" in the brain.

In Upavistha Konasana, we have an opportunity to awaken the subtler planes of consciousness and get a taste of divine ecstasy. We must begin, of course, with the anamaya kosha, the physical body. The bones, the densest concentration of matter in the body, are the core of this kosha and are designed to provide an interior form of support and stability. When our awareness is centered in this core, we are grounded and physically stable. However, most humans today do not center their aware ness in their bones. Instead we try to derive physical stability by hardening the muscles, or by collapsing the muscles and hanging on the ligaments, cartilage, and tendons. As described in my Tadasana article (January/February 1990), the skeletal mus cles play a major role in circulation. If they are too hard or too soft, the circulatory process is disturbed. This in turn disturbs the breath (the respiratory, circulatory, and muscular systems are interconnected), which agitates the mind. When the mind is agitated, the subtler bodies cannot awaken. Therefore, we must begin by establishing our awareness in the bones, thus freeing circulation and respiration and awakening the pranamaya kosha. Then we can begin to experience ourselves as moving energy rather than static flesh.



To begin, sit on the floor with the legs extended and spread them to form a 120 degree angle. (Figure 1) (Note: Do not con fuse Upavistha Konasana with Samokonasana, the side splits, where the legs are separated to 180 degrees and the torso remains upright. The groins are not designed for bending forward with the legs spread that far apart.) Find the bones of your legs and ground them firmly onto the floor. Let the pelvis be perpendicular to the floor, with the weight distributed as evenly as possible between front and back and between right and left sitting bones. Recreate Tadasana in the torso by elongating the anterior spine upward from the floor to the collarbones and grounding the back body downward from the top back rib cage, along the erector spinae muscles, through the buttocks, into the back femur bones, and into the floor. For students with restricted groins and hamstrings, this action will require leaning back onto the hands and the back of the sitting bones (Figure 2). In this seated position, become aware of the bones and visualize the breath moving from the bones into the skin and back to the bones, especially through the thighs and pelvic region. This will allow the energy body to awaken.

A primary gateway between the physical body and the energy body lies in the groins (See "Yoga for Hips and Thighs," May/June 1989). Confusion and conges tion here can clog the channels and prevent deeper penetration of awareness. Slight misalignment of the femurs can create and perpetuate this confusion. By slightly twisting the pelvis in relation to the femur, you can center the hip joint, releas ing tension in the groins and further open ing the energy body. Place the right hand behind you and the left hand in front of you. Do not turn from the head or shoul ders, but carefully twist by moving the inner right hip joint into the outer right hip, creating a hollow shape and feeling to the inner right groin. Maintain that feeling as much as possible, and then repeat on the left side (Figure 3).(A variation of Upavistha Konasana can be done by adding a forward bend to the twist, bending first over the right leg and then over the left.)