Saṃkaṭāsana — the difficult, arduous posture. Saṃkaṭa means narrowness, tightness, difficulty. It is a posture that challenges the practitioner to overcome resistance.

Like other principal postures, it is a “destroyer of impurities.” The difficulty itself is the purifier; in overcoming it, we eliminate physical and mental blockages.

The poetic invocation prepares the disciple for a teaching that will require effort. Not all postures are comfortable; some confront us with our limitations in order to transcend them.