Lolasana


Lolasana or Pendant pose is a hand-balancing asana in modern yoga as exercise.

Etymology and origins

The name comes from the Sanskrit words Lol meaning "fickle", "trembling", or "dangling" and Asana meaning "posture" or "seat".
The pose is unknown in hatha yoga until the 20th century Light on Yoga, but the pose appears in the 1896 Vyayama Dipika, a manual of gymnastics, as the balancing movement exercise called jhula. Norman Sjoman suggests that it is one of the poses adopted into modern yoga in Mysore by Krishnamacharya. The pose would then have been taken up by his pupils Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar.

Description

The practitioner kneels with ankles crossed over each other allowing the buttocks to rest in the cradle of the heels. Places hands besides folded legs and leans forward slowly to curve back and shoulder blades pressing the shoulders towards the floor. Raises legs off the ground holding in this pose for at least 20 seconds.

Modifications

Advanced variations include:
Beginners can start with Navasana.

Follow-up asanas

Counter asanas are Adho Mukha Svanasana and Chaturanga Dandasana.