80 Years of "Hands To Feet Posture"

One of the simplest movements in the body is bending forward to touch the toes (not that it is necessarily easy!). This position is often called Padahastasana, which means "Foot Hand Posture", basically putting the hands by the feet. It has been around for nearly as long as any standing, athletic yoga posture, which is to say about 100 years. Its instruction, even within this lineage, has varied slightly. This is an exploration of the evolution of the posture from its earliest known iteration in 1938 to the present day.

Buddha Bose, Padahastasana 1938

BUDDHA BOSE, 1938
Buddha Bose was the first great yoga student of Bishnu Charan Ghosh. The two traveled the world with Paramhansa Yogananda. Buddha demonstrated the asanas while the two teachers lectured.

Here are his instructions for the posture:
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"Bend forward slowly and place the palms on the floor in front of the toes, keeping the knees and elbows straight. Then bend the head toward the knees until the forehead touches them..." For fat and inflexible persons who have difficulty, "bend forward as far as possible and...slightly bend the legs, so as to be able to touch the floor with [the] palms, or at least the tips of [the] fingers."

BISHNU CHARAN GHOSH, 1961
Ghosh wrote a small pamphlet in 1961 called Yoga Cure which included 32 postures for beginners. The photos are of his youngest daughter Karuna, who went on to found the Ghosh Yoga Institute of Japan.

His instructions:
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"Bend your body forward keeping the knee joints straight and locked till you can place the palms of your hands at the back of your heels---then holding the heels pull your body so that your forehead touches the front of your legs."

Karuna Ghosh, from Yoga Cure by Bishnu Ghosh, Padahastasana 1961

Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji, Padahastasana, 1963

DR. GOURI SHANKAR MUKERJI, 1963
Dr. Mukerji was a successful student of Ghosh in the 50s and 60s. After learning yoga in Kolkata, he moved to Germany for several years and became a medical doctor, pioneering medical research in yoga.

Here are his instructions:
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"Bend forward until your palms touch the ground, the rear edge of the palms at the tips of the big toes, the fingertips facing forward. Try to bring your nose between the knees, which should not be bent."

"If this is not possible, grasp both ankles with the hands, and try to bring your nose between the legs. Loosen all muscles of the body. The knees, however, have to stay locked."

BIKRAM CHOUDHURY, 1978
Ghosh's most famous student in recent decades is Bikram Choudhury, who organized 26 postures into a repeated series and called it "Bikram Yoga".

Here are his instructions from 1978:
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"Bend forward from the hip joints, all in one piece...go down as far as you can...When you can no longer keep the legs straight...bend your knees, and reach around your legs, taking hold of your heels with your hands...Touch your stomach on the thigh muscles, chest on the knees, and face below the knees...Your goal is to touch forehead to toes...Pull on your heels with all your strength and lift your hips toward the ceiling..."

From Bikram Choudhury's "Red" Book, Padahastasana 1978

From Bikram Choudhury's "Blue" Book, Padahastasana 2000

BIKRAM CHOUDHURY, 2000
In 2000, Choudhury published a second edition of his 26-posture sequence. The written instructions are the same, but the position in the accompanying photograph is slightly different, especially the position of the fingers, which are now underneath the heels. 

THINGS WORTH NOTING
Buddha Bose and Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji instruct the posture almost identically, with the palms on the floor in front of the feet and the forehead or nose against the knees. Interestingly, they suggest two different methods for anyone with difficulty. Bose suggest slightly bending the legs while Mukerji recommends grasping the ankles with the hands to pull the head toward the legs.

Ghosh's 1961 instruction to hold the heels and "pull your body" is almost identical to Choudhury's method. These match Mukerji's instruction when there is difficulty putting the palms on the floor, to "grasp both ankles with the hands" and pull the body down more.

The photograph in Choudhury 2000, with the fingers underneath the heels, seems to be an innovation designed to gain more leverage to pull the body down. Interestingly, his written instructions did not change at all from the 1978 version.

It is as if there are two different postures being instructed here, clearly distinguished by the distance of the upper body from the legs. Bose and Mukerji emphasize placing the head close to the legs, but their bodies have visible distance from the thighs. Ghosh and Choudhury have instructed postures with the torso touching the legs and using the arms to pull the body into the position.

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