How to do Fixed Firm in the Bikram Series safely.

What is Fixed Firm in the Bikram Series ?

  The Fixed Firm in the Bikram Series  is also called Reclining Diamond or Thunderbolt and called Supta Vajrasana in Sanskrit. Even though the most common name in the Bikram Series is Fixed Firm, the Sanskrit term Supta Vajrasana translates into English: Supta has the definition of "reclining," vajra has the meaning of "thunderbolt." Asana has the description of "pose." The Fixed Firm is the ultimate posture where you need to not force your way in and just listen to your body and notice your breath as you go into the pose, and the moment you see pain or discomfort, you need to take a step back. Let the pose up to you up and do not try and force your way into it. Doing one percent of the posture correctly will give you all the pose benefits, so take it easy on yourself. 

Start slow 

  So to start the Fixed Firm pose, come to the top of your mat, bring your knees more together, and open up your feet. Take a moment and notice how you feel in the pose and how you are breathing. You may feel tightness in your feet, ankles, knees, or thighs, but this is perfectly normal. If this is too much for you and you feel discomfort, do a modification. Come forward and place your hands on the floor in front of you as if you are a tabletop if you feel pain. No need to worry because you are getting the opening of the pose your body needs, so you go deeper into the fixed firm in the future.

If you are ready go deeper during the Fixed Firm in the Bikram Series

  Students who feel comfortable standing on their knees with their feet spread open are ready to go to the next step in this posture. Try and drop backward by bringing your right elbow back and then your left elbow back. Again, if this is too much and you feel discomfort, take a step back and return to the original position. Stand on your knees with your feet open and try to sit between the heels. If you feel comfortable resting in a backward bend on the elbows, drop your head back and lift through the chest. You need to make sure your knees are on the floor throughout the pose.

 Go even further into the Fixed Firm in the Bikram Series

  If you feel good here, you are ready to take the next step and bring your upper body back down to the floor. Drop the upper body back and rest the upper back, the neck, and the back of the head on the floor. Slightly tuck in your chin and grab the elbows above your head. Once again, make sure that your knees are on the floor through the entire posture. You should notice a comfortable stretch along the front of your body when you come into this part of the posture. You should see the lower portion of your back arching as well.

  When you come out of the posture, come up one elbow at a time and immediately get into your Savasana to have all that freshly oxygenated blood flow to the lower body to get all the healing benefits of the pose. Doing Savasana is as important as the pose itself since it will help you get the healing benefits you had come to class for, to begin with, so make sure you do not skip. 

Conclusion

  The Fixed Firm Posture or Supta Vajrasana has meaning healing benefits, but you must be patient with the pose and do it consistently. When you feel discomfort in this posture, take a step back to a place you feel more comfortable. You need to feel like you are working in it but do not force your way in because you can injure yourself by pushing things in the Fixed Firm.

I like to use the analogy that you are in the woods on a rainy night and looking to get warm. You see a fire in the not too far distance, and you walk towards the fire to get warm. You do not jump into the fire to get warm instead you get close enough to get the warmth of the fire but not so close that you get burned and feel discomfort and pain. Keep this in mind for all your poses, and you are going a long way to having a positive yoga practice. In this series, you do two sets of Fixed Firm Posture for twenty seconds each which is a minimal price to pay for this poses immense benefits. 

 New Teachers and beginner's cheat sheet

• Start by coming up on your knees
• Try and bring the knees more together
• You need to open up your feet with the top of your feet pressing into the floor
• Sit down between the heels
• If you feel any tightness while sitting down between the heels, take a step back
• Do not force this posture. Go to where you can go even if it is means both hands are on floor like a table top
• If you do feel like you can go further bring your right hand on the floor behind you then the left hand
• Fingers facing the front
• You feel good still lower your right elbow then left elbow to bring the upper body to the floor
• Your knees need to remain on the floor and they do not lift up
• If you are able to slightly tuck in the chin
• The back of your head, neck and upper back are resting on the floor
• Feel a comfortable stretch along the front of your body
• Try and grab your elbows above your head
• Hang hear for a few moments and just breathe
• Come up. Lift your body up one elbow at a time
• Get into your Savasana so blood can flow to the lower body

Benefits

• Stretches and massages whole front of body
• Heals knee and ankles injuries
• Good for circulatory system
• Assists in digestion
• Stimulates the lymphatic system
• Moves, stretches and massages inner organs
• Stretches and strengthens the thighs, abdomen and pelvis
• This posture helps strengthen the whole spine
• Helps open the front of the feet and the ankles