Side Plank Pose

HOW TO PRACTICE Side Plank Pose IN YOGA (Vasisthasana)

Benefits, How to Instructions, Modifications, and Common Alignment Mistakes for Side Plank Pose

Side Plank Pose (Sanskrit name: Vasisthasana) is a versatile core-strengthening yoga pose with many great variations. 

The full form of Side Plank – one-arm balanced on one side with the top leg extended upward – is extremely challenging. Most yoga students prefer a toned-down version of Side Plank with the legs stacked on top of one another. Even this version can be challenging on the wrist of the weight-bearing hand, however. Until strength has been built up, it’s useful to start with a side-balancing variation of the yoga posture that places less demand on the weight-bearing arm.

Benefits of Side Plank

Side Plank safely strengthens the core. In fact, physical therapists currently advise people to avoid crunches to strengthen the abdominals, and to instead practice poses like Phalakasana (Plank Pose) and Vasisthasana and its many variations (including the forearm version and forearm flow located in our Yoga 2.0 Tab). 

Vasisthasana strengthens the abdominal muscles (transversus abdominis, obliques, and rectus abdominis), plus the quadratus lumborum and the erector spinae of the back. It also strengthens the latissimus dorsi muscles, the entire shoulder girdle, and even gets the side hip/gluteus medius muscle working. 

Side Plank Pose and its many variations strengthen the entire body, specifically the abdominals and back muscles. When practiced on the forearm instead of the hand, it is safe for most bodies. It can be modified in many ways to make it even more accessible.

How to do Side Plank Pose

1. Begin in Bharmanasana (Tabletop Pose) on a yoga mat with your hands directly under your shoulders (shoulders-width apart) and your knees directly under your hips (hips-width apart). 
2. Press downward with your hands as you lift your knees off the ground and extend your pelvis up into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose). Take a breath or two in Downward Facing Dog Pose. 
3. Now internally rotate your right leg so that your outer right foot is contacting the floor. 
4. Rotate the rest of your body to the right so that you are facing left and you are supporting yourself on your outer right foot and right palm. 
5. Lower your pelvis, adjusting its position so that your body is in a long, continuous diagonal line. 
6. Stack your left foot on top of your right foot. 
7. Extend your left arm up toward the ceiling, expanding your chest and extending outward through both arms.
8. Make sure to press upward through the ribs, pelvis and legs on the underside of your body (the right side). There is a strong tendency to allow the pelvis and legs to sag downward in this yoga pose, so make sure you actively lift your pelvis, legs and ribcage. Your body should be in a long, continuous diagonal line.
9. Look straight ahead, finding a neutral position for your head and neck, so that you are neither letting your head drop downward or lift upward. Keep your head and neck in line with the rest of your spine. If you’d like to look upward, take care to rotate your head from this neutral position.
10. Take a few deep breaths in Side Plank Pose, then rotate back to Downward Facing Dog Pose. 
11. Rest in Dog Pose for a few breaths, and then repeat on the other side.

Forearm Side Plank Pose

1. If your right hand or wrist is feeling at all stressed in the above position, leave the pose and return to Tabletop Pose. Next time around, practice the same movements to enter Side Plank Pose, but instead of practicing Tabletop and Dog Pose on your hands, bend your elbows and support yourself on your forearms. 
2. From Dog Pose with parallel forearms, internally rotate your right leg so that your outer right foot is on the floor. 
3. As you rotate your entire torso (as in step 4) turn your right forearm 90 degrees so that when you are in Side Plank, your supporting arm is at a 90-degree angle to your body. Lower your pelvis, adjusting its position so that your body is in a long, continuous diagonal line.
4. Stack your right foot on top of your left foot.
5. Extend your left arm up toward the ceiling, expanding your chest and extending outward through both arms.
6. Make sure to press upward through your ribs, pelvis and legs on the underside of your body (the right side). There is a strong tendency to allow the pelvis and legs to sag downward in this pose, so make sure you actively lift your pelvis, legs and ribcage. Your body should be in a long, continuous diagonal line.
7. Look straight ahead, finding a neutral position for your head and neck, so that you are neither letting your head drop downward or lift upward. Keep your head and neck in line with the rest of your spine. If you’d like to look upward, take care to rotate your head from this neutral position.
8. Take a few deep breaths in Forearm Side Plank Pose, then rotate back to Forearm Downward Facing Dog Pose. 
9. Rest in Dog Pose for a few breaths, and then repeat on the other side. 

Extended-Leg Variation of Plank Pose

1. Follow instructions 1 through 9 above to get to the first stage of Side Plank Pose. 
2. Lift your left leg slightly off your right leg to test your balance. If your balance feels shaky, lower your foot back down and continue to instructions 10 and 11 above. If your balance feels solid here, continue to the next instruction.
3. Flex your left hip and bend your left knee to draw your knee in toward your chest. 
4. Take ahold of your outer left foot or the inner side of your left big toe. Then slowly straighten your left leg up toward the ceiling. As you extend your leg, give attention to maintaining stability in your right arm, torso and right leg. Keep lifting up through your leg, hips, and ribcage to maintain the continuous, diagonal line of your body.
5. Take a few deep breaths in this position. 
6. Bend your left knee and lower it back down, drawing it in toward your chest before straightening it back out and laying it on top of your right leg again. 
7. Rotate back to Downward Facing Dog Pose. Rest here for a few breaths, and then repeat on the other side (starting with instructions 1 through 9 above and then continuing with instructions 1 through 7 in this section).