Have you taken a yoga class with me? If so, you’ve probably done side angle pose in nearly every one of the classes you attended. I love the pose for so many reasons, but it’s the subtleties of the pose that keep it from getting boring. The pose is accessible to most, making it a great beginner yoga pose, but there are several difficult variations keeping the pose interesting for the seasoned practitioner.
These pose posts have gotten pretty long so I’ve added some convenient links for you to jump forward to each section.
There are two basic forms of side angle pose: Parsvakonasana (side angle), Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle), and Baddha Parsvakonasana (bound side angle). I didn’t separate the two into different videos because it’s essentially a variation of the arm that changes the pose.
Basic Position
The Legs
The feet are typically wing-span distance apart (about the distance from one wrist to the other with the arms lifted up from the side at shoulder height).
Traditionally the heels are on the same line, like standing on a balance beam.
Front toes point towards the top edge of the mat
Back toes turn in between the long edge and top of the mat, traditionally at a 45° angle.
Front knee is bent and in line with the middle toes striving to be stacked directly above the ankle.
Back leg is straight.
Important Notes
If it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to line up your heels like standing on a balance beam
Your back toes only need to turn in as far as comfortable
Front knee can be bent as little as you would like. The deeper the bend, the more you have to work.
Front knee should not go past the front toes, and again you should aim to have your knee directly above the ankle. If you find yourself in this situation increase the distance between the feet.
The Upper Body
The spine is neutral. Before moving into side angle, the tailbone draws down towards the ground, and the hips are neutral (not tipping forward or backward).
The torso is leaning forward over the front leg (the one with the bent knee)
The torso is in the same plane as the legs
The sternum (breast bone) is not pointed down towards the ground.
Use your core to keep your torso lifted looking for a straight line from the back foot through the torso.
Traditionally the gaze goes up towards the ceiling
Important Notes
Although your breast bone should not be pointed down towards the ground, it can roll up towards the ceiling
Even though it’s traditional to turn your gaze up towards the ceiling, it’s ok to keep your gaze straight ahead, or down to the floor as long as the gaze is moving from a safe rotation in the neck and not from the torso or the hips.
Bottom Arm
The elbow is bent and the forearm is lightly resting on, and perpendicular to, the top of the thigh.
Important Notes
Keep lengthening the bottom arm away from the body creating space between the shoulder and the ear.
Though the forearm is typically perpendicular to the thigh, you can also have your arm in whatever position is most comfortable for you.
Side Angle Top Arm
The top arm lifts straight up with fingertips pointed towards the ceiling so that the arm is in the same plane as the rest of the body.
Important Notes
Keep the shoulder moving away from the ear.
Extended Side Angle Top Arm
The top is straight and alongside the ear with the palm facing down.
Important Notes
Keep the shoulder moving away from the ear.
Try to find a straight line from the outer edge of the back foot through the fingertips.
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Moving in and out of the pose
In ashtanga (the foundation to vinyasa flow yoga) you fluidly move from warrior 2 into extended side angle (though it’s not cued). I personally like to come into side angle from warrior 2, it just feels the most natural. There is no one right way to move into this pose, but you should always be present and mindful as you move into any pose.
Start in warrior 2
Make sure your tailbone is pointing down
The space below your belly button is engaged (your transverse abdominis)
Front knee is bent, over the ankle, and in line with the middle toes
Feel the thigh of the front leg engaged
Think about pressing the feet down into the ground and lengthen the crown of the head towards the ceiling keeping the spine long
Imagine you’re between two planes of glass
Moving from your hip, lean the front leg side of your torso towards the front thigh
Stopping the lean before you move past sensation (not in pain), turn your torso towards the floor, or collapse onto your thigh.
The same side forearm as your front leg goes lightly on top of your thigh
Breathe
To come out of the pose, lift up back into warrior 2 making sure your shoulders are stacked over your hips.
Modifications
For Tight Upper Bodies
There are a variety of reasons why you may not be able to do traditional side angle or extended side angle. Maybe you have tight muscles in the shoulders, chest, or side body. Maybe you have an injury or frozen shoulder. Or maybe you just don’t feel like lifting your top arm up. No matter the reason, here are a few other options for your top arm in side angle pose:
Cactus Arm: elbow bent. (The arm can be lifted as high or as low as you would like.)
Hand on the hip
Arm alongside the side body.
For Sore Knees
I mentioned it above, but if you have sore knees or really tight quadriceps you can decrease the bend in your front knee to a place where it is comfortable for you.
Curious on how to modify more poses to fit your needs?
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Challenging Variations
Side angle is a great pose for everyone because of its versatility. If you want to increase your challenge in the pose here are a few options (These are covered in the video if you want to follow along):
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Going Deeper
The first step for making the side angle more challenging is to bend the front knee deeper. Again, you want to try to keep the knee directly over the ankle.
Option 1
Bend your front knee deeper getting your thigh closer to parallel to the floor
Option 2
Bend your front knee deeper keeping the thigh parallel to the floor (you may need to take your feet further apart to make this happen)
Lower your bottom arm hand (same side as the bent knee) onto a block (your block has 3 heights try rotating it for different levels of support)
Option 3
Bend your front knee deeper keeping the thigh parallel to the floor (you may need to take your feet further apart to make this happen)
Lower your bottom arm hand (same side as the bent knee) so the fingertips graze the floor, or the palm is flat on the floor.
Option 4
Bend your front knee deeper keeping the thigh parallel to the floor (you may need to take your feet further apart to make this happen)
Lift your bottom arm so you are fully unsupported by your arms.
(option) Both arms over head to increase the effort
Taking The Bind
The bind (Baddha Parsvakonasana) is often seen as an advanced variation of the pose. It requires a bit of shoulder mobility and a lot of core and leg strength.
Half Bind
Start in traditional side angle pose
Top arm (same side arm as the back straight leg) goes behind the back so the back of the hand is touching the sacrum.
Hold a yoga strapin the top arm hand (same side arm as the back straight leg)
Top arm goes behind the back, elbow bent, so the back of the hand is touching the sacrum and the strap is hanging down behind you
Bottom arm reaches towards the ground in front of your thigh
Bend the bottom arm elbow and reach for the strap
Walk your hands towards one another along the strap as long as you feel comfortable
Make sure your torso is lifted off of your thigh
Roll your sternum up towards the ceiling
Draw your shoulder blades towards one another
Bind
Start in traditional side angle pose
Top arm (same side arm as the back straight leg) goes behind the back, elbow bent
Bottom arm reaches towards the ground in front of your thigh
Bend the bottom arm elbow and reach for the other hand
Connect your hands in any way possible
Make sure your torso is lifted off of your thigh
Roll your sternum up towards the ceiling
Draw your shoulder blades towards one another
Breathe
Anatomy of the pose
This section was requested by a reader so I thought I would throw this in here. I’ve touched on what you should feel in both bridge pose, and crow pose, and how to adapt for different anatomical challenges in child‘s pose. But this time I’m pulling it out and being more specific. Let me know if you find this helpful in the comments below. Anatomy is complex but the goal here is to hit the big points.
Lower Body:
Back leg is between neutral and internally rotated (turned inward) depending on your mobility. You might feel a stretch on the outside of your back leg. The muscles stretched will depend on your flexibility and the turn in of your back foot. The average person will feel a small stretch in the gluteus medius and minimus (the smaller muscles underneath your gluteus maximus).
Front leg knee is in flexion (it’s bent) forcing the quadriceps (muscles on the front of the thigh) and hamstrings (muscles on the back of the thigh) to engage to support and stabilize the bend in the knee.
The front leg is in hip abduction (it’s away from the centerline of the body), and the front knee is in line with the middle toes. In order to do this the gluteus medius of the front leg needs to work to create hip abduction (keep the hip open).
The torso should be in the same plane as the legs. This isn’t a large action but there is a little bit of gluteus maximus action going on so you don’t fold forward (hip flexion).
Trunk of the Body:
There is a lateral bend of the upper half of the body from the hips and torso. This causes a lengthening of the muscles of the side body: obliques (side muscles of the abs) and latissimus dorsi (muscles alongside the ribs and back, and end in the armpit).
There’s a slight rotation of the trunk towards the ceiling to keep the torso over the front leg. The obliques do the majority of this rotation work.
To keep the lower spine long a couple things need to happen. The hips must first be in neutral. This needs to be found when in warrior 2 before moving into side angle. Generally to keep the spine and hips neutral the transverse abdominis (the deep girdle abdominal muscle) needs to be engaged.
To keep the lift of the torso up the core (all of the muscles) do the work.
Traditionally the bottom arm (same arm as the front leg) is just resting on the knee or on the ground. It should not be doing much, if any, work.
Upper Body:
In all variations of side angle pose the shoulders are moving away from the ears.
The top arm traditionally lifts straight up towards the sky for Parsvakonasana (regular side angle). In this position the posterior deltoid and middle trapezius are slightly engaged to support the pose. In this position you’ll feel a stretch in the pectoralis major and possibly a little in the pectoralis minor (both are muscles of the chest).
In Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle) the top arm goes alongside the ear with the palm facing the ground (shoulder flexion and external rotation). In this variation the anterior deltoid (front side of the shoulder) is engaged, consequently the posterior deltoid (back side of the shoulder) is stretched. The Lower trapezius helps draw that scapula (shoulder blade) down the back to support the lift of the arm. The latissimus dorsi (a muscle along the ribs and the back) are being stretched.
In Baddha Parsvakonasana (bound side angle pose) both arms are internally rotated (turning inward). The top arm is reaching behind you (shoulder extension) and the elbows are flexed (bent). The challenging part in this variation is keeping the pectoralis major (the main chest muscle used for push ups and bench press) long while the pectoralis minor does the internal rotation (shortened). You need length through the pec major to get the hands bound behind the back. Once bound, engagement of the rhomboids and middle traps (muscles between the shoulder blades) to move into scapular retraction (drawing the shoulder blades together) are important in finding the opening through the chest center
Gaze
Traditionally the gaze goes up toward the ceiling, making sure to keep the head in line with the rest of the spine.
Muscle Break Down
This section was requested by my husband after reading the section above. He’s never shown interest in yoga other than supporting me, and being a willing participant when I needed to practice Thai yoga massage. 😆 So as requested:
Muscles Worked
Gluteus Medius: Used to abduct (move away from the midline) the front leg
Gluteus Maximus: Used (just a little bit) to prevent hip flexion (hinging of the torso forward)
Quadriceps: Used in the front leg to stabilize the bent knee and prevent collapsing to the floor. Used in the back leg to keep the leg straight.
Hamstring: Used in the front leg to stabilize the bent knee by keeping it bent.
Transverse Abdominis: Used to support the spine
Obliques: Used to hold the lateral bend in the torso
Posterior Deltoid: Used in traditional side angle (Parsvakonasana) to abduct the top arm (move away from the midline)
Middle Trapezius: Used to retract the top scapula (move towards the spine) in side angle (Parsvakonasana)
Rhomboid: Used to retract the top scapula (move towards the spine) in side angle (Parsvakonasana)
Middle Trapezius: Used to depress the top scapula (move towards the hips in extended side angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana)
Muscles Stretched
Adductors of the front leg
Quadratus Lumborum
Obliques
Erector Spinae
Latissimus Dorsi
Posterior Deltoid in Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle)
Pectoralis Minor
Pectoralis Major in Parsvakonasana (side angle)
As far as the subtleties of the pose, that I mentioned at the start of this post, it’s the slight shifting each time I move into side angle. Noticing what’s engaged, what’s being stretched, what happens if I move slightly one way or another. There’s always something to discover. What have you discovered?
Alright! After ALL of that hopefully you have a good idea how to do this pose, how it should feel, ways to modify it, and how to advance the posture. Let me know how it goes. If you made it this far and haven’t watched thevideo yet, go watch it!
