Vasishtasana or Side Plank
You may recognise the above photo as the good ol’ Side Plank, or in Yoga it’s called, Vasisthasana. It’s a wobbly pose that tests your balance, shoulder stability and core strength.
I feel like I was doing Side Plank at the gym and in traditional aerobics classes long before I started a Yoga practice. It would be interesting to know how old this pose actually is, and if the western sports world adopted the pose from the Yogis of India decades ago. Or perhaps the Yogis adopted it from an other tradition?
Credit: www.maadurgawallpaper.com
This pose is named after the revered Rishi (sage) Vasistha. He is not a Hindu God, he was a real human, but he definitely holds some weight when it comes to Yogic philosophy. There aren’t many poses that are named after real people, so I figure that he is considered a God in the eyes of those who followed and still follow his teachings. He was a scholar and wrote the seventh book of Rigveda. He opened a school to teach his philosophy which encouraged optimism, truthfulness and sharing.
Do you have any thoughts on the sage Vasistha? Or perhaps you’ve got a story about Side Plank? Feel free to leave a comment below.