Sukhasana is the easiest pose in the yoga asana, after Shavasana. It is also the favorite pose of all the yoga cadets. Sukhasana poses simply demands you to sit in a lotus pose. It is way very easy if you can sit in Sukhasana without any external support.
As you age, you will know how difficult it is to sit in Sukhasana and get up, without any external support. This lotus posture is the very primary and effective way of knowing how your health is.
Most probably the very first sign of aging is – needing support to sit in Sukhasana. If your knees are aching while sitting in Sukhasana for longer, you might need to practice it right. If practiced rightly, you will be able to sit in Sukhasana for years and decades. Many monks, meditators, and yogis choose to sit in Sukhasana.
Here’s everything you need to know about Sukhasana:
Sukhasana Benefits That Will Make You Question the Simplicity of the Lotus Pose.
When you are sitting in a lotus pose as you wish to, you can sit in there for hours. On the daily basis, many people sit in a lotus pose. Many schools and colleges demand you to sit in the cross-legged pose. Many Indian homes, even today, eat by sitting down on the ground, in the cross-legged pose. The pose has many benefits.
If you are sitting with a bent back, the pose might not help much but is still beneficial. It is also proven that if practiced the pose with a righteous guide, you will not even get nature’s call to urinate and stool. You can comfortably sit there for a whole day. This is the reason, why many yogis prefer this pose.
Optimizing the Sukhasana pose
Sukhasana is done to serve several purposes. By optimizing the Sukhasana pose a little bit, you will be able to resolve so many minor health issues with ease. Let us discover the same in brief, below:
Sukhasana Pose for the Spine
If you sit straight in Sukhasana for half an hour straight, you are sorted. You can avail yourself too many benefits of Sukhasana, just by sitting straight.
If you are performing some worship rituals in the temple, Sukhasana is the best position to be in. While sitting for long, instead of keeping your legs handing down, Sukhasana is anytime a benefit. Here are the optimizations of the Sukhasana pose for Spine:
Raise your hands above the head to join them and stretch
- Sit down in a lotus position on the mat.
- Raise both the hand above the head.
- Join them together and stretch it as far as you could.
- Hold on to this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Repeat 10 times.
Take up your hands to the back of your head and lower them a bit
- Sit down on the mat, in a lotus pose.
- Keep your spine straight.
- Raise your hands above the head, and join your hands.
- Lower the hands in a joint position, without bending the back or separating the hands.
Sukhasana Posture for Hips
For your pelvic glands, Sukhasana is the basic pose. It also helps you keep your hips tight and in perfect shape. When you are sitting in Sukhasana, your hips are stretched and are in the best position. Especially when you are sitting for a longer period, you will find Sukhasana as the best pose to be in. Even when you are having a sitting couch or cushion, you will still go to Sukhasana naturally. Here is the best Sukhasana optimization for your hips:
Hands Stretched in front:
- Sit straight on the mat in a lotus pose.
- Raise your hands up and join them together.
- Stretch them forward and bend down to touch the ground.
- Hold on to this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute and repeat it 10 times.
Sukhasana Posture for Knee Pain
Sukhasana pose is actually very beneficial for knees. But the irony is, when your knees or joints need to be worked upon, they ache while sitting for longer. Hence, maintain your calcium if you feel that a longer sitting lotus pose is hurting you or making you discomfort. Simply sitting in a lotus pose or cross-legged at any age is beneficial for your joints and other health parameters.
Sukhasana Posture for Relaxing
The day full of work and stress will make you feel relaxed instantly. The tiredness of the whole day will go away once you sit in Sukhasana. It is also recommended in Ayurveda to sit in Sukhasana while drinking water.
Note: The bonus note to mention here is, never ever drink water while standing. Whenever possible, sit down for a moment and then drink the water.
Sukhasana Pose for Digestion
Sukhasana is the best pose for having your meal. In the Indian culture, everyone from child to senior citizen sits down in Lotus pose for having their meal.
This pose has the best digestion benefits. It supports the digestion process to the great extent. Also, you sit cross-legged through the day, you will not feel tiresome. The concentration level in this pose is at the peak.
If you sit straight, you will not feel sleepy too. Only if you bend your back, you will feel sleepy and start yawning. This is the best pose for sitting in a classroom and for having a meal.
Sukhasana posture for Meditation
As mentioned, and as you already know, many meditators, many yogis, and many worshippers prefer sitting in Sukhasana for their Sadhana or Siddhi.
It also has great benefit in activating or opening your chakras. As you stay grounded or constantly in touch with the earth while sitting in Lotus pose, you get benefitted from activating the basic chakra – root chakra.
Conclusion
The Sukhasa pose is the simplest pose as everyone feels. It also seems to be the simplest until it is practiced for hours. You might have felt that numbness after every long sitting in Sukhasana. But for meditation to hold the mudras in, this is the best pose as it keeps your spine straight.
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