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