Te'ana

To get into this posture you first go up into downward dog and roll onto whichever foot you are doing first. Then slowly rest your other foot on the bottom foot and put your hand on your hip. Then you put your foot right above your knee, then put your arm straight up, then when you are ready put your head facing up. In this position you have to hold your core strong and breathe throughly. I like this position because there are a lot of modifications and you can go at your own pace.

He'enalu doing Vasisthasana

While performing this posture, I felt extremely calm and in tune with my entire body once I initiated every body part I was using.  I noticed that my wrist, arm and shoulder were working hard to hold my weight.  The core also gets a good workout from keeping it tight so that your body doesn't fall out of alignment.  The thighs, legs, belly and spine are necessary to correctly do the posture.  Everything must be tight and remember to keep breathing so you can send the breath to every part of the body.  To do this pose, you must start in downward facing dog and then place your left foot on top of your right foot, while placing your left hand on your hip and turning to the left side.  Next, find your center of balance, reach your right hand in the air and try to keep it in line with your left hand.  Finally, BREATHE!  You must send the breath to your feet and push into the earth to keep everything in line.

Awareness During Vasisthasana

When doing this posture, I feel my core tighten and my arms are flexing so I can maintain a steady pose. Even though I'm focusing on being steady, I feel relaxed and calm. When in the modified posture, I focus my energy to my bandhas so I can open up my heart center while remaining steady. I Keep my head in line with my spine and focus my gaze upwards. 

Personal Awareness

Personal Awareness
LJ


This pose is somewhat difficult, but I tend to warm up and it gets a tad bit easier.  In order for me to be in proper alignment, I would need to increase my core strength.  I could do this by performing planks, this posture, or other core strengthening exercises.

Awareness (Vory)

When I do Vasisthasana (side plank) I can feel my core tighten. I also feel balanced and strong. When I do this posture I need to activate my right leg so that both of them are stacked on each other and are active. I also need could look upward after I have found my balance.

Full posture

Relaxing Music

Elements of Pose, Awareness, and Physical and Therapeutical Benefits of Asana

                The first step to preforming the asana is by having a focused state of mind. You can't carelessly speed through vasisthasana because it requires  concentration. After you cleanse your mind and start to focus, you want to start by turning lying on the ground on a chosen side.  Extend the arm closest to the ground so it lifts your body off the surface.  Do not let your body sag; lift your hips and feel your foot push into the ground.  Now is the time you should take breathe deeply and feel your ribs expand. Once you feel balanced enough, you can bring your opposite free arm off the ground and straight up into the air while in line with your other shoulder. Everything from the head to your feet should be in line; arms and shoulders should be aligned respectively.  Should you feel balanced still, you can stack one foot on the other, place the foot furthest from the ground at a right angle onto the work surface, or go into the full posture.  To go into the full posture, place the leg furthest from the ground above your knee.   After you are done performing vasisthasna you can relax with something like Downward Dog or Child's Pose.
                During vasisthasana you work your torso, hip muscles, thigh muscles, and serratus muscles. By doing this pose it helps to strengthen your wrists, arms, shoulders, abdominal muscles, back, thighs and buttocks.

   
     A benefit of Vasisthasana is that it helps to strengthen your bones. It also helps you become more stable in your core. If you practice vasisthasana you will come to realize that your balance and core strength has improved and you can go to a harder modification of the pose the more you practice it. So overall, it improves your balance and posture, it helps strengthen your bones, and it works muscles such as your thigh muscles, abdominal muscles, serratus muscles, shoulders, and wrists. 



References:
http://www.durgaya.com/vasisthasana/
Vasisthasana, a variation for everyday practice!
I accessed background information from this URL such as how Vasisthasana is important for us and how we can modify it to our level of flexibility.

http://www.yogaglo.com/blog/tag/how-to-do-vasisthasana/
How to do Vasisthasana
This URL just basically gave me a step by step guide how to do the pose and the modifications to the pose. I used this URL to answer #4 (How to preform the asana)

http://www.yogaforfocus.com/2012/05/side-plank-pose-vasisthasana/
This website gave me information on what muscles were worked during vasisthasana. And it also gave brief summaries as to why vasisthasana is beneficial.

http://media.yogaanatomy.net/images/vasistasana.jpg
This picture gave me the diagram of vasisthasna

http://www.tracis.info/tracis.info.pictures/Side%20Plank%20Modification%201.jpg
This was a picture of a professional displaying how to do vasisthasana


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7NMH_O5Ck#t=8841
Relaxing Music


             

Modifications

      3)     Here is a picture displaying Troy, Josh, and LJ doing the different variations of Vasisthasana. Vasisthasana is good because it offers different modification's for every skill set.
Because of this you can go at your own pace depending on how strong you are. Vasisthasana is a good pose because it doesn't limit you to your level of flexibility; you can adjust the modifications so that it is do-able for you.  In the picture, LJ is doing the modification 1 form of Vasisthasana.  Here is a picture of a professional demonstrating this pose.

    Troy is doing the modification 2 version of the pose; which is the most common version of Vasisthasana. The picture to the left is a professional demonstrating this pose and the picture to the right is a diagram of the pose.

Josh is doing the modification 3 of Vasisthasana. Below is a professional demonstrating this pose where the foot is placed above the knee.

Vasisthasana - Side Plank Pose

Vasisthasana (a.k.a Side Plank Pose) is translated as "Most excellent Pose".  Vasisthasana is derived from the Sanskrit word, Vasistha, which means the most excellent, best, or richest. Vasistha, also the name of several well known Seers in Indian Culture, was one of the lords of creation and wrote several Vedic Hymns.