Natarajasana



sanskrit: Natarajasana
aka: Lord of the Dance Pose
aka: King Dancer Pose
aka: Dancer Pose
aka: Cosmic Dancer
aka: Shiva's Dance Posture
aka: Natraja Asana
aka: Natraj Asan
...any others?


all photography credits can be found by clicking on photos.

5 comments:

thedancingj said...

in bikram the basic pose in the first pic is "standing bow pulling", dandayamana dhanurasana, and the variations where the foot/ankle is held with both hands like in the 2nd pic are called "full standing bow" or dancer's pose. my favorite. :)

Annelise said...

The first picture reminds me of uttytha ardha dhanurasana. Nice blog! :)

Anonymous said...

The Yoga Bible calls the pose in the first picture Utthita Ardha Dhanurasana / Standing Half Bow Balance. I learned it as the Dancer Pose. The Yoga Bible shows the Dancer Post or Natarajasana. Yoga Anatomy calls it the King of Dancer Pose. For a while I had thought the first one was Dancer and the second one was King of Dancers. Yoga Journal calls it Lord of the Dance and it is a combination of both pictures. Geez! :-)

excelsior yogini said...

My understanding is, in the Standing Bow pose the knee will drift away from the body, opening up the hip, chest and shoulder of the leg/ ankle being held; the holding arm extends straight back and to the side of the body. The "free" hand, will reach forward parallel to the floor. While, in Lord of the Dance/ Natranjasana you keep you the body completely squared. The shoulders, hips chest and knees are all aligned straight ahead, everything is facing forward; one (or both) hand will reach over the head (w/ elbows pointed upward) to clasp the big toe behind the head. If there is a free hand it will usually extend toward the heavens, or parallel to the floor as above.

Unknown said...

Top pose is upright standing bow. Dandayamana dhanurasana.
Second photo is dancers pose, natarajasana.
No leaning forward in dancers pose and the point is to round the back so foot rests on head.
In upright bow you're basically doing a standing hanumanasana.