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Yoga Pose Notebook: Practice & Teach Tittibhasana (Firefly)

Alignment for Tittibhasana | Jason Crandell Vinyasa Yoga Method | JasonYoga.com
{illustrations by MCKIBILLO}


There are 3 ways to use this blog:
1. You can simply practice Tittibhasana using the illustration above.
2. You can learn the steps get into the posture in the “How To” section.
3. Or you can geek out on the sequencing and anatomy details for Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose) by skipping down to Part II.

Don’t forget to pass this along to your students and colleagues!

If you want to learn more, join me live at my 500-hour Certification Program or join me online for my Sequencing and Anatomy Online Courses


The key to doing Tittibhasana is being light, strong (everywhere), flexible (everywhere), balanced—and, if possible—young (twenties would be nice). If this sounds like you, stop reading and go do the pose, OK?

If, however, you can’t relate to the above characterisitics—and I certainly can’t—the pose is pretty tough. It’s doable, but skillful preparation is paramount. Also, Tittibhasana is a balancing pose and it works a little bit like an old-fashioned scale. You’ll need to let the weight of your pelvis drop down and back behind your elbows to help you lift your feet off the floor. Let’s take a closer look:


It’s a good idea to open the hamstrings, adductors, and outer hips before launching into Tittibhasana. It’s also wise to do a few core strengthening poses to warm-up your hip flexors and abdominals. (Read Part II if you want specific suggestions, otherwise, I’ll leave the preparations to your choosing.)


1. Take your feet a little wider than your hips and rotate your feet slightly outward.
2. Forward bend and tuck your shoulders behind your knees. With you hands, hold the back of your ankles.
3. Take a couple of breaths, folding more deeply and easing your shoulders behind your knees. Be mindful of your lower back and sacrum. If they’re uncomfortable with the forward bend, come out of the pose and work on your hamstrings, inner legs, and outer hips in more accomodating postures.
4, Place your hands behind your heels with your fingers pointing forward. Look at your thumbs and make sure they’re not in a crazy position (you’ll know what I mean when you do it). If your hands don’t come all the way to the floor, they may in the next step. If they don’t come to floor in the next step, you can put a wedge or folded mat under the heel of your palm. If you need something higher, it means that your hips aren’t quite ready for this pose—stick to leg-opening postures for now.
5. With your fingers facing forward, bend your knees and your elbows, sitting back so the weight of your pelvis is on your arms.
6. Squeeze your legs against your arms, lift your feet, and straighten your legs. Focus on reaching your legs straight forward while you squeeze the inner legs toward the midline to minimize how wide your legs go.
7. Now that you’re in the pose, work on the key teaching points in the infographic above!
8. If you’ve crashed and burned, get up and give it another go. If the pose feels impossible, content yourself with a few more weeks or months of preparations.


If you still need to build strength for the pose, practice a combination of core, shoulder, and arm strengtheners. Be consistent with Paripurna Navasana (Full Boat), Ardha Navasana (Half Boat), Plank, Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose), and Salabhasana (Locust). If you need more flexibility for Tittibhasana my three favorite preparations are Lizard Lunge, Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend) and Upavistha Konasana (Wide-legged Seated Forward Bend). Bakasana (Crane) is also a great pose to practice if you’re unable to do Tittibhasana.


The short answer is your core, shoulders, and arms. Here’s a more detailed look:

Your abdominals and pelvic floor
All of your abdominal muscles engage to lift your pelvis and support the weight of your center. Most notably, your transverse abdominus draws your navel toward your spine and your rectus abdominus helps to maintain the slight flexion (rounding) of your spine.

Your hip flexors
Your psoas and rectus femoris fire strongly to flex your hips, keep your legs lifted and straighten your legs.

Your inner legs
One of the most challenging components of Tittibhasana is the dynamics of your inner-legs, or adductor muscles: You have to strongly engage the adductors to keep your legs from sliding down your arms. Ath the same time, the pose requires a deep stretch in these muscles.

Your shoulders
Tittibhasana works all of your shoulder muscles, specifically:
The rotator cuff muscles which help stabilize your arms.
The anterior deltoids and pectoralis which help you lift your body in the pose.
The scapular muscles (especially the serratus anterior) which help you broaden your upper back in the pose.

Your arms
Your triceps are working harder than any other muscle group in your arms here. Your forearm muscles also gain strength in this posture.


Your hamstrings
Tittibhasana stretches all three hamstrings—especially the two medial hamstrings, your semitendinosus and semimebranosus.

Your adductors
All of your adductors engage, which enables you to both hug your legs against your arms and straighten your legs. The gracilis and adductor magnus, due to their functional relationship with the hamstrings, get the greatest stretch in this family of muscles.

Your outer hips
You may not feel your outer hips stretching nearly as much as your hamstrings or adductors. However, your gluteus maximus, piriformis, and other external rotators are working eccentrically. This means you engage them and lengthen at the same time! (The way you do when you lower a weight in a biceps curl.)

You can find a fully-illustrated, 16-pose sequence for Tittibhasana here.


I offer both online trainings and live, in-the-flesh ones around the world. Here are a few of the courses that are currently open. (For a full schedule, go to my Schedule page.):

Essential Anatomy Online Course
The Art of Yoga Sequencing Online Course
500-Hour Training in San Francisco (2016)

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Peak Pose Sequence: Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose)

Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose) Yoga Sequence | Jason Crandell Vinyasa Yoga Method | JasonYoga.com


In my 500-hour Teacher-Training Programs I have my students compare Bakasana and Titthibhasana, or Firefly Pose, with the aim of learning how to create effective sequences for each of these postures.

When the trainees look at the two poses side-by-side, they see something they usually haven’t noticed before: Bakasana and Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose) are nearly the exact same pose. However, the one major difference between the two postures has significant sequencing implications. We’ll get to the yoga sequencing implications in a moment. But first, let’s look at the similarities between the two poses. Take a moment to compare Bakasana and Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose) below.

titthibasana va bakasana images | Jason Crandell Vinyasa Yoga Method
Bakasana and Titthibhasana share the following similarities:

1. Both poses flex the spine.

2. Both poses broaden the scapulae while strongly engaging the serratus anterior.

3. Both poses require strong core engagement, most significantly the transverse abdominus, the rectus abdominus, and the illio-psoas.

4. The shoulder joint (or gleno-humeral joint for you fact-checkers out there) is at approximately 90 degrees of flexion in both poses.

5. Both poses strongly flex the hip joints and require the adductors (inner thigh muscles) to engage to prevent the legs from sliding down the arms.

In simple terms, the arms, shoulders, shoulder blades, spine, core, and hips are doing the same thing in Bakasana and Tittibhasana.

The one significant difference between the two poses is that the legs are bent in Bakasana and they’re straight in Tittibhasana. That’s all folks.

But—and this is a big BUT—straightening the legs has far-reaching implications that makes sequencing for Tittibhasana different than sequencing for Bakasana. When you straighten your knees in Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose) you:

1. Stretch your hamstrings. The hamstrings are contracting in Bakasana, but they’re stretching in Tittibhasana. This means your students need plenty of hamstring preparations in the sequence that you create.

2. Stretch and contract your adductor muscles. Tittibhasana requires you to stretch the adductors since the legs open at a slight angle when you straighten the knees in this pose. At the same time, the pose requires you to engage your adductors so that your legs don’t slide down your arms. To facilitate this, your sequencing needs to include both adductor opening and strengthening.

3. Engage your core (even more). If your hamstrings and adductors are the least bit tight, they will pull the weight of your body down as soon as you start straightening your legs. To counteract this downward pull, you have to fire up your core and create even greater lift than you do in Bakasana.

4. Engage your quads: Engaging your quads straightens your knees in Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose). Your quads also work with your core to flex your hips and support the weight of your pelvis. Your sequence and your verbal cueing should include postures that help your students tune into these muscles so they know how to engage them once it’s time for Tittibhasana.

Practice the 16-pose sequence above and notice how all of these layers are incorporated. Let me know how it goes in the comment section below!

See also Essential Sequence: Bakasana 

When you understand the nuances of postures like Bakasana and Tittibhasana, you can help demystify these poses for your students. Even more, you can create logical, effective sequences that keep your classes fresh and help your students do more than they ever thought they could.

Developing effective sequencing for all levels, including more advanced postures like these arm balances is one of the pillars of my Teacher Training Programs.  I offer my 500-hour Advanced Certification in San Francisco, London, and Hong Kong. If you want to deepen your practice, advance your teaching, and learn to create more effective sequencing, please join me!

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{illustrations by MCKIBILLO}

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