ZLATA Goddess of flexibility

Zlata sat excitedly in a cave in India. She had been specially invited to attend a rare demonstration given by an Indian yogini – reputed to be the most flexible woman in the world. The cave was about 7 metres across and about 4 metres high. There were about twenty people seated on wooden benches in a horseshoe around the edge of the cave, and spotlights focused a bright light onto a matted area in the centre of the cave. To the sound of music, four robed figures entered the cave. Judging by his face, the man who led the small procession was elderly, but he moved with lithe steps and his back was perfectly straight. Then came a woman, who Zlata guessed to be about 40, dressed in a beautiful flowing jewelled robe in greens and blues. She was flanked on either side by young men dressed in simple white robes. The figures came to a halt together facing the audience and bowed very deeply. The elderly man in front now began to speak. He introduced himself as a yogic guru and explained that Miss Deva had been brought to study yoga with him by her parents at the age of three. At sixteen, already an advanced yogini, she had dedicated her life to increasing her flexibility and mastering new and unusual poses and other yogic feats. He introduced Miss Deva who stepped forward a little, bowed again to the audience. She then unclasped her robe and allowed the two men to remove it from her shoulders. Underneath she was wearing what looked like a very exotic bikini, again brightly coloured in blues and greens. In reality, Zlata noted that it was three smallish triangles of cloth held together by blue string! Her body was beautifully toned, with not a hint of spare fat anywhere. Zlata could see that she was strong with hints of well developed muscles and six-pack abs. The small audience clapped in appreciation and anticipation. The guru continued with his introduction. He explained that he had personally supervised Miss Deva on her journey, building her gradually up to eight hours yoga practice a day. He added that the he had introduced the two assistants into her training to help provide assistance with the stretches and contortions that she sought to achieve. He observed that he would often have her held in an extreme position for half an hour with the assistants gradually applying more pressure to deepen the stretch. He concluded by pointing out that such advanced positions and training could only be attempted by someone who had spent their life developing flexibility and who had become gradually accustomed to the significant pain involved in pushing beyond their limits. The assistants now disrobed, revealing well muscled bodies wearing only white loin cloths. Miss Deva seated herself on the floor and neatly folder her legs into a lotus, without using her hands. The lotus position was really tight with both feet high on her thighs and feet almost hooked over the opposite thigh. She breathed deeply for a few moments and then nodded to the assistants. They took up positions on opposite sides of her body, kneeling against her thighs. They then caught hold of the foot on the opposite side and began to pull it up and towards them. Miss Deva`s lower legs were now twisting at the knees. When each leg had been pulled far enough, the assistants were able to place the feet together, high up on the yogini`s chest. Zlata watched amazed at what she was seeing, noting that there was a still relaxed expression on Miss Deva`s face. But this was about to change. The assistants now sat facing each other with their feet braced against the yogini`s thighs. Once again, they took hold of a foot each and continued to pull the foot outwards. Miss Deva`s face twisted into a pained expression. The assistants looked towards the elderly guru, waiting to see if they should stop but his face encouraged them onwards. Their muscles were straining now as they applied maximum force and managed to tuck each foot under her armpit, so that the knees had rotated about ninety degrees. The assistants left her in this position for about two minutes, as she clearly struggled to control the pain showing in her face. Slowly the assistants released her feet from their resting place. Next she sat between her feet on the ground and then lent back all the way to the floor in hero posture. Whilst holding down her hips with one hand, her assistants now grabbed a foot each and lifted it upwards off the floor. Gradually the feet were raised above the hips and still they pulled even harder until her lower legs were at an angle of about thirty degrees to the floor. The feet were then lowered again to the floor and now the assistants started to swing the feet away from Miss Deva`s body. Passing 45 degrees they pushed on until both lower legs were out at right angles to the yogini`s body. Holding her knees to the floor, they then began to raise the feet off the floor again. Zlata knew from her own training that this required amazing flexibility. Again, they stopped with the feet about 25 centimetres off the floor and held the position for a minute before releasing. Sitting on the floor, Miss Deva now placed both feet behind her head in a knot, without using her hands. Her assistants pushed down on both feet until she was able to place both arms over her ankles behind her. Releasing her arms, they now pushed first one leg and then the other all the way down her back until both feet were almost on the floor behind her. Zlata could not believe what she was seeing, knowing that both hips must have been partially dislocated to achieve such a position. Releasing the yogini once more, they now laid her face down with her arms down by her side. The assistants then joined her hands together behind her back and lifted the linked arms away from her back and up towards her head. They kept going as the arms passed through the vertical until Miss Deva;s hands were about 20 centimetres above the floor over her head. The assistants now shifted positions; one pushed down between her shoulder blades whilst the other continued to force the arms down and eventually onto the floor. Zlata could see the shoulders again being partially dislocated. Now the arms were returned to the vertical and the hands unlinked. The assistants sat each side of Miss Deva with their feet braced against her side. They took hold of opposite arms and began to pull so that her arms were now crossed behind her back. This continued until each hand was no more than about 20 centimetres from the floor. Zlata wondered how the yogini managed to endure this stretch for so long. Next Miss Deva stood up and then slid down into a perfect Chinese or box split, and then lowered her torso flat onto the floor. One assistant placed a foot on the base of her spine to ensure her lower torso stayed on the floor. The second assistant began to lift one foot off the floor in an oversplit. When the leg was at about 60 degrees to the floor, the first assistant also took hold of the leg and began to pull, increasing the power of the stretch until finally Miss Deva`s leg was at nearly ninety degrees to the floor. The guru commanded the assistants to push harder and the leg eventually made it to the vertical where it was held for a full minute before being released and returned to the ground. This was then repeated with the other leg. Zlata was open-mouthed at the amazing oversplits. For her final stretch, the yogini folded herself into a triple fold with her arms fully extended through between her legs. One assistant sat in front of her, braced his feet against her thighs, took hold of her outstretched hands and began to pull with all his strength. Miss Deva`s head slowly began to slide further through her legs as her spine coiled even tighter until eventually it protruded beyond her knees. With the first assistant still pulling as hard as he could, the second assistant began to press down on Miss Deva`s torso, stressing her back even more, eventually resting his whole weight on her back. Zlata could not believe how tight the backbend was that she was witnessing! After a minute, the yogini was released and stood to rapturous applause from the small audience. She bowed gracefully many times as the appreciated audience continued to clap the amazing performance they had just witnessed.