This aspect of Shiva is his personification as the supreme or the ultimate awareness, understanding and knowledge. Perhaps it is no surprise he is seated in a half-lotus (figure four) pose as this targets glutes, deep rotators (including piriformis), and hamstrings as well the psoas and abdominal muscles.
I used to hate this position as it makes me very aware of the the inflexibility in my hips. Every time I visit it, I have to battle with my ego. Yes, I was able to do full lotus as a child, but I lost the ability somewhere between the ages of nine and seventeen. It's hard for me to refrain from beating myself up for not maintaining the agility of childhood, and it becomes easy to dwell on how awful those years of adolescence were for me. So a big part of this exercise is about grieving for all the losses I experienced, forgiving myself for my perceived failures, and reconciling myself to the process of aging. It's still a work in progress. Wisdom, like strength and flexibility, doesn't happen overnight, it comes from constant practice, it happens in fits and starts. But we keep coming back to the mat so that, over time, through the process of accepting ourselves and embracing our flaws, we will find ourselves wiser, in addition to stronger and more flexible.