Health Benefits of Baddha Konasana

In this world of excessive work pressure, physical activities have become mandatory to maintain fitness and health. However, working for long hours without activities can cause spinal and back pain. Baddha Konasana is a yoga pose that helps to improve your posture, thereby eliminating such issues.

Do you wish to find out the health benefits of Baddha Konasana? Then, keep reading this article to get a better idea.

Baddha Konasana, or Bound Angle Pose, can be the perfect yoga asana for opening the hips and stretching the inner thigh muscles. It is a Sanskrit term where "baddha” means bound, “kona” is angle and “asana” means pose. This pose helps to target various angles and body parts to enhance your physical strength and endurance.

This pose is also known as the Butterfly pose. It resembles a butterfly since your feet are tucked close to your groin with clasped hands. It is also known as the Cobbler's pose since it resembles a cobbler at work. While practising Baddha Konasana, your back and core muscles keep working, improving their strength.

As this yoga position targets specific angles, there can be multiple health benefits of Baddha Konasana. Knowing about these will motivate you to perform it. Here are the common advantages you will find with Baddha Konasana.

1. Acts As a Hip Opener

Pain and tension in the hip joints are common in the current times of excessive work pressure and sedentary living conditions. Baddha Konasana acts as an excellent hip opener. When you sit in this pose, your sitting bones on the floor contribute to opening the hips, which helps to make your posterior feel lighter. This way, your hips receive gentle massaging and blood circulation, releasing tension and relaxing muscles.

2. Releases Fatigue and Tiredness

Feeling tired in the morning is a common problem, which continues throughout the day. An early morning practice of Baddha Konasana can be useful to get rid of such issues. It helps to stay in meditation and targets various body parts, restoring energy and spirit. Practising it regularly will control your nerves and reduce the feelings of fatigue.

3. Improves Digestion

Digestion issues are common in recent times because of unhealthy eating practices. It can cause various challenges in daily life. Practising Baddha Konasana can be useful to improve the digestive system and stimulate its functions. It targets the abdomen and works on this area. As a result, you can avoid common diseases and digestion related problems like constipation, bloating and irritable bowel syndrome.

4. Opens the Connective Tissues

The connective tissues in your body can cause pain and discomfort if there is no stimulation or circulation. Usually, these tissues are connected, so blood circulation might be low. This can cause pain and cramps. With Baddha Konasana, you get to form a diamond shape, keeping your feet away from one another. It helps open the connective tissues and increases stimulation in these areas.

5. Relieves Stress

Regular stress from work and other complications of life is not rare in the current world. While there can be various means to reduce stress, Baddha Konasana is probably the easiest and most healthy way to do so. It improves your mental health by collecting your thoughts and helping you with meditation. During this time, you can go over all the stressful events and try to develop positive thoughts.

6. Improves Mental Health

Baddha Konasana is a meditation pose that can improve your mental health conditions. It is an ideal pose where you reflect on your activities and thoughts from the entire day. Moreover, you get to calm your nerves and impose a better control over your emotions because of rigorous and deep meditation.

7. Ignites the Chakras

Various chakras in the human body play a part in mental well-being. This yoga asana targets two lower chakras, Muladhara and Sacral. While the former is connected with feelings of safety and security, the latter mainly deals with various emotional needs. Therefore, practising this asana helps stimulate your chakras, improving your physical and mental well-being.

8. Increases Flexibility

While practising Baddha Konasana, you need to sit with widely stretched legs for a long time. It helps to increase your flexibility in the inner thighs and groins. Moreover, this asana can also be effective for increasing the flexibility of your knees. It can improve the overall posture and mobility for a long time.

9. Relieves Menstrual Discomfort

Menstrual cycles are inevitable and often bring pain and discomfort, which are difficult to ignore. Practising Baddha Konasana can help you control these problems. It exercises the pelvic region, relieving pain and stiffness from the stomach, back, hips and thighs. It, therefore, helps to reduce the pain and cramps during these cycles.

10. Improves Abdominal Health

The abdomen is responsible for multiple functions and activities. As Baddha Konasana targets the abdominal muscles and organs, it ensures proper maintenance of these parts.

Moreover, it looks after other organs like the ovaries, prostate gland, kidneys and bladder. It can help you fight against common diseases and discomfort in these areas.

11. Helps to Deal with Urinary Disorders

Urinary diseases are common and extremely uncomfortable. Their treatments might be lengthy and expensive. However, Baddha Konasana is capable of improving the functioning of the overall urinary system.

As this position stimulates the kidneys and bladder, it can improve blood circulation across the body. Moreover, it can strengthen the muscles in pelvic and genitourinary regions, relieving the common symptoms of urethral strictures.

12. Reduces High Blood Pressure

The fluctuations in blood pressure can be a common problem for most people. Yoga postures like Baddha Konasana can be effective in reducing high blood pressure. It stimulates the heart and improves blood circulation.

In addition, long and deep breaths can effectively control your nerves, lowering the chances of high blood pressure.

You must be curious to know the ways to perform Baddha Konasana. The following steps will help avoid making any mistakes:

Step 1: Start with sitting in the Dandasana (Staff Pose). Keep your spine and back erect.

Step 2: Bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together. Keep the heels close to the perineum, and ensure that the thigh muscles are relaxed.

Step 3: Now, hold your feet or ankles. Move your heels towards the groin as much as possible.

Step 4: Clasp the feet with both hands. Now, gently bring your knees off the floor upwards while inhaling deeply.

Step 5: Breathe out and let your knees down to the ground. Keep your arms relaxed.

Step 6: Now, press your sitting bones on the floor. Point the crown of your head towards the ceiling to elongate your spine.

Step 7: Hold this pose and repeat it 10-30 times.

Performing Baddha Konasana can be challenging for beginners. Therefore, the following tips will be beneficial for them:

1. It is ideal to consult a fitness professional when performing this asana. It will be easier to achieve this position with their advice.
2. Initially, practise this asana for a lesser period. Then, slowly, increase the practice time as the expertise grows.
3. If your knees feel uncomfortable in this position, move and spread your feet further out.
4. To intensify this routine, place your hands behind the outer thighs, and pick up your hips about an inch off the floor.
5. You can use a blanket or cushion to support your sitting for a long time in the beginning.
6. Practising it in the early morning is ideal to reap its benefits throughout the day.

Baddha Konasana is generally a simple yoga asana. However, it is not free of some precautions and contraindications. It is important to know these in advance to avoid common mistakes and negative consequences. These are as follows:

• If you have a groin or knee injury, you should avoid practising Baddha Konasana, as it can pressurise these areas.

• Those suffering from a torn ligament, worn down joints or rheumatoid arthritis should also avoid this asana. It might increase the pain and discomfort, triggering those muscles.

• Younger people who have recently undergone knee, ankles or hip surgery should avoid practising this asana until they recover completely.

• Pregnant women should avoid this yoga asana till they reach the second trimester of pregnancy . Hip opening before this time can lead to miscarriages.

• If you have undergone trauma and are still struggling with mental health, it will be better to perform this initially with yoga professionals. It might bring back memories during meditation.

• People with heart problems should avoid performing this yoga asana for a long time.

• If you are suffering from Sciatica, do not try to stretch the back and spine beyond your capability.

• Forcing your knees to stretch to push them to the ground can be dangerous, as it might lead to injuries and pain.

Knowing about the easy modification of Baddha Konasana will help you get started if you find it challenging to perform. Here are some easy modifications that can help you out:

• Reclined Goddess Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana) can be a replacement for this yoga position. It is a similar hip opening position, where you get to lie down instead of sitting straight.
• You can place some padding under your sit bones, such as blankets or cushions. This can be beneficial to prevent your hips from rounding forward or avoiding tight hips.
• If your knees are far from the floor and feel painful, you can keep some yoga blocks under your knees. It will help to avoid discomfort.
• You can sit against a wall to take some back support if you are feeling pain in the back or spine.
• You can move your feet far from each other to avoid the pain and tightness in the knees.