I love this guys yoga blog! Check out this cool hip opener! I have never seen it before, and that is saying alot considering I have been doing yoga for 10 years now!
Numerous variations of the staff pose can be found in our advanced training syllabus. These amazing stretches open both the outer hips and inner thighs and make poses like eka pada sirsasana, (foot behind the head) infinitely easier to accomplish. The extreme external rotation of the leg found in this pose will also create the requisite flexibility to flip the legs into lotus without using using your hands. If you want to do this in postures like padma sirsasana, (lotus headstand), these variations will help you get there.
As far as I can tell, the variation shown below seems to be practiced primarily by Yoga 23 practitioners in the Ukraine.
Kukhahnyoga's Blog 