Bakasana, and the similar Kakasana are balancing asanas in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. In all variations, these are arm balancing poses in which hands are planted on the floor, shins rest upon upper arms, and feet lift up. The poses are often confused, but traditionally Kakasana has arms bent, Bakasana has the arms straight.
Etymology and origins
The names for the asanas come from the Sanskritwords बक baka or काक kāka, and आसन āsana meaning "posture" or "seat". While different yoga lineages use one name or another for the asanas, Dharma Mittra makes a distinction, citing Kakasana as being with arms bent and Bakasana with arms straight. B. K. S. Iyengar's 1966 Light on Yoga describes only Bakasana, with straight arms. In Sivananda Yoga, Swami Vishnudevananda's 1960 Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga describes only Kakasana, with bent arms. However, practitioners in the west often mistranslate the Sanskrit "Bakasana" as "Crow Pose". These balancing poses can be dated at least to the 17th centuryHatha Ratnavali, where Bakasana is number 62 of the 84 poses said to have been taught by Shiva. The 19th century Sritattvanidhi describes and illustrates both Kakasana and Bakasana. In his 1969 book Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga uses the name Bakasana for a different pose entirely, standing on one leg, the body angled down with the other leg straight out in line with the body, the arms straight and grasping the standing big toe.
Description
These asanas are arm balances. According to B.K.S. Iyengar there are two techniques for entering them. The simple method is by pushing up from a crouching position. The advanced method is to drop down from a head stand.
Variations
Asymmetric variations include:
Parsva Bakasana in which one thigh rests on the opposite upper arm and the other leg is stacked on top of the first
Eka Pada Bakasana/Kakasana in which one leg remains in Bakasana while the other extends straight back.
Eka Pada Sirsa Bakasana has one leg behind the head.
Twentieth century advocates of some schools of yoga, such as B. K. S. Iyengar, made claims for the effects of yoga on specific organs, without adducing any evidence. Iyengar claimed that this pose "strengthens the arms and abdominal organs since the latter are contracted."
