About this Asana Digest

Pose

Svarga Dvijasana (Bird of Paradise)

Objective

Become knowledgeable about the pose and review detailed teaching considerations.

Description

Explain the Sanskrit naming; contraindications and cautions; associated benefits and typical effects; instructions and cues for setting up and practicing the pose; variations to meet particular intentions and needs; and more teaching considerations.

Prerequisite Knowledge

Asana Digests focus in on teaching specific poses. Please be aware of the groundwork and teaching support here: Asana Category – Balancing Poses

Svarga Dvijasana

“dvija” = twice born
“svarga” = paradise, heaven
Bird of Paradise Pose
The Bird of Paradise is a tropical flower.

“Twice born pose.” As in “bird” and “egg.” – Kat Heagberg link

Heart of the Pose

• Standing Balance (requiring both stability and flexibility)
• Shoulder and Hip Stretch

Trivikramasana & Durvasana

We didn’t find this pose in any book, including those by authors Iyengar, Swenson, Stephens, Frawley, Birch, Long, Yee, LePage, Brown, Vishnu-devananda, Austin or Pappas. All coverage was via online sources. The closest we found (outside of online sources) was in The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga 2005 p 97.

Srivatsa Ramaswami features a series of poses he calls  “The Conqueror of the Three Worlds Sequence.”

• The first pose in this sequence is Trivikramasana.
• Some refer to Trivikramasana as Standing Splits (including Yoga International here and Kino MacGregor here). It is like a very deep Utthita Padangusthasana (Extended Hand to Toe) to the side.
• The next pose in the Conqueror sequence is Durvasana (Pose Dedicated to Durva), also found in the advanced third series of Ashtanga Yoga. This pose takes the hip opening of Bird of Paradise to a more extreme level — with leg behind the back rather than binding with arm — as shown here.