Posture of the month: Ganda Bherundasana

In Indian mythology, the Ganda Bherunda is a formidable, powerful bird with two heads, who is believed to have tremendous magical powers. It was an emblem of the Mysore kings and found its way all the way into the Western world, to the Roman and Byzantine empire, in the form of the double-headed eagle. I will forever be fascinated by such cultural exchanges and how closely related many of our myth, legends and national emblems are ...

In Sanskrit, Ganda Bherundasana means formidable face posture. (From Ganda: face/cheek, Bherunda: terrible/formidable/frightening and Asana: posture).

As an advanced backbend posture, Ganda Bherundasana requires proper warmup before trying it. It strengthens your core as well as upper, middle and lower back, and many other muscle areas from your arms all the way to the legs. In addition, it activates 3 chakras (root, sacral and throat chakra) and is said to connect the spiritual and physical aspects of the body.