Rox Does Yoga

Pose Name:Side Plank Sanskrit Name: Vasisthasana Steps: Begin in downward-facing dog. Shift your weight forward into plank pose. Place your left hand directly under your face. Rotate the left foot to press the outside edge of the foot against the floor, and stack the right foot on top of the left. If this version of the pose is too challenging, there are two variations you can try. Either variation will add stability to the pose. You can drop the left knee to the ground and keep the right leg extended with the inside edge of the right foot on the floor. You could also keep the left leg extended, but bend the right leg and plant the right foot on the floor in front of you. Once the feet are settled, open your body to the right and extend the right arm straight up overhead, supporting yourself just on the left hand and left foot (or variation as appropriate). Keep the body straight. Try to make the body one long straight line from the outside edge of the foot to the top of the head. Engage your core muscles to hold yourself up. Hold the pose and focus on your breath. To come out of the pose, drop both knees to the mat. Press back into either downward dog or child’s pose if you need a rest. Repeat the pose on the other side. Benefits: Side plank greatly strengthens the arms and core muscles. It’s also helpful for improving balance. Counterindications: Those with wrist problems may want to avoid this pose, as it places a lot of pressure on the wrist; working with dolphin pose and dolphin plank, or just resting in child’s pose, may be good alternatives for these students.

My Experience with Side Plank:

Side plank has been challenging for me for some of the same reasons that regular plank is challenging: I have to rely on my arm strength to hold me up. However, side plank is even worse because in this pose I have only two points of contact with the ground (one hand and one foot, instead of both hands and both feet). So in addition to putting pressure on my wrists and wracking my weak arm muscles, side plank requires me to balance precariously on an arm that I know to be untrustworthy. It’s no wonder that side plank is a constant struggle for me. When I try to practice the pose without dropping a knee, my arm shakes and I can rarely hold the pose for more than a few breaths. Even with dropping the knee, the pose requires a strong conscious effort to focus on my breath and keep my breathing slow and even.

With side plank, I don’t feel the disappointment and frustration that I feel when practicing regular plank. Regular plank seems like it should be achievable but stays just beyond my reach, while attaining a solid side plank is clearly pretty far down the road for me. It’ll be a long time before side plank will be a pose where I can find the line between challenge and ease.

Right now, side plank is all work. I try to practice the pose dynamically, dropping a leg down when I need to rest and raising it up again when I feel able. I learned a different modification at an anusara studio last summer – rather than dropping the bottom knee, now I can try bending the top leg and planting the foot out in front, which requires more work than having the knee down but still adds stability. Having a few different techniques for modifying the pose gives me more confidence that I can eventually conquer it.

Pose Name:

Warrior 2

Sanskrit Name:

Virabhadrasana 2

Steps:

1. Begin in mountain pose (tadasana).
2. Step the right foot back and plant the heel. The distance between your feet should be about the length of one of your legs. Your left foot should face forward; your right foot should be at about a 45-degree angle.
3. Open the hips to the right so that your body faces the right wall. Raise your arms to shoulder height, parallel to the floor (left arm forward over the left leg, right arm back over the right leg).
4. Keep your right leg straight and bend the left knee deeply. Ideally, the left knee will form a 90-degree angle just above the left ankle. Don’t let the knee come out past the ankle!
5. Turn your head to the left and gaze out over your left hand at an unmoving point in front of you.
6. Keep the left leg in line with the body – don’t let the knee swing out to the side.
7. Keep your spine straight and your torso centered over your hips. Press your weight not just into the front foot, but also into the outer edge of the back foot.
8. Keep your breath slow, deep and even. Engage your abdominal muscles and focus on the breath.
9. Come out of the pose by dropping your hands to the floor on either side of your left foot. Step the left foot back and into downward facing dog. Move through a vinyasa if you wish.
10. Step the right foot forward to repeat the pose on the other side.

Benefits:

The warrior poses are excellent for building heat, strength, and stamina. Warrior 2 strengthens the thighs and the arms. It can relieve backaches and have a therapeutic effect for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Contraindications:

Contraindications include diarrhea and high blood pressure. Those with poor balance may want to practice this pose near a wall for extra stability.

My Experience of Warrior 2:

I like warrior 2 because it makes me feel strong. When I practice this pose, I feel balanced and rooted. It’s a pose that makes me feel confident and fierce like a warrior; confidence and fierceness aren’t exactly natural to my personality, so I love how warrior 2 brings these qualities out in me. Even on days when the pose is physically more challenging for me, it still inspires these positive feelings of strength, giving me the power to practice tapas and remain in the pose for longer. I like to practice warrior 2 in the mornings, especially on days when I have a big meeting or challenging project at work. Starting my day strong and fierce with warrior 2 helps give me energy and strength to last me through the day.

(Side note on the photos with this post: (1) I don’t know why my head’s tilted forward, but it shouldn’t be, I should be looking straight over my shoulder, and (2) my back leg actually is straight, I’m just curvaceous.)

Pose Name:

High Lunge

Sanskrit Name:

No official Sanskrit name, but it’s sometimes called Ashva Sanchalanasana.

Steps:

(This pose is often practiced as part of a classic sun salutation series. For brevity, these instructions will start with downward-facing dog rather than go through the whole sun salutation.)

1. Begin in downward-facing dog.
2. Step the right foot forward and plant it between the hands. Keep the left leg high, left toes pressing down and left heel stretching toward the floor.
3. Keeping the left leg straight and balanced, bend deeply into the right knee. Bring your hands to the knee and distribute your weight evenly between your front and back feet.
4. Tuck the chin, keeping the neck long, and gaze at an unmoving point in front of you.
5. Stay here, or if you feel steady, stretch the arms up straight overhead.
6. Engage the abdominal muscles and breathe deeply and evenly.
7. To come out of the pose, bring your hands down to the floor and step the right foot back to downward dog.
8. Repeat on the other side.

Benefits:

Lunges improve balance, build heat in the body, and build strength in the legs, as well as in the arms when arms are extended. Balancing on the rear foot is good for the foot muscles.

Contraindications:

Those with balance problems may want to modify the pose – practice near a wall for stability, or drop the back knee down to the mat for a low lunge instead. Those with serious knee problems may want to avoid this pose. Those with neck injuries can try looking down at the floor instead of straight ahead.

My Experience with High Lunge:

Before coming to East Eagle Yoga, I rarely practiced lunges. The vinyasa-style yoga classes I attended in the past didn’t include lunges in sun salutations, and I almost never did them as part of my home practice. so when I first came to East Eagle, all the lunges were a huge issue for me: my thighs burned, my arms ached, I couldn’t keep my balance and I wobbled all over the place. Coming from a vinyasa-focused practice, I found it difficult to hold poses for a long time in the classical way, and this made lunges even more difficult. Classical sun salutations quickly became my least favorite part of hatha yoga classes at East Eagle.

I’m happy to say now that my experience with lunges is turning around. With continued practice, both at the yoga center and at home, my balance and stamina have improved tremendously. I’ve been able to find a level of comfort in just holding the pose, and now I’m able to push myself further and deepen into the pose. Having some sense of ease in lunges means that my mind can relax too; I can clear my mind better and focus more on the breath (rather than on the discomfort). Lunges still aren’t my favorite, but I can tell that I’m making progress!

Pose Name:

Chair Pose (also known as Awkward Pose or Fierce Pose)

Sanskrit Name:

Utkatasana

Steps:

1. Begin by standing in mountain pose (tadasana) with hands in prayer.
2. Breathe in and reach the arms overhead. Either keep the arms parallel, palms facing inward, or press the palms together.
3. Breathe out and bend the knees deeply so that it looks like you’re sitting on a chair. Try to bring the thighs to be parallel to the floor. Press your knees together and keep them facing straight forward – don’t allow them to fall out to the sides.
4. Tuck your tailbone under (this protects your spine).
5. Balance your weight evenly over your feet. You should be able to lift and flex your toes – if you’re pressing all your weight into your toes, redistribute!
6. Tuck the chin slightly; roll the shoulders down the back; keep the spine straight (don’t hunch!). Engage abdominal muscles to help support you in the pose.
7. Keep your breath steady and even! Bend your knees a little deeper and stretch the arms a little farther.
8. To come out of the pose, breathe in and straighten the legs, rising up. Breathe out and bring the hands down to prayer in front of the heart.

Benefits:

Chair pose builds heat in the body and works and strengthens the legs, especially the thighs, as well as the extended arms. Chair pose can improve balance and is also good for the feet.

Contraindications:

Contraindications include headache, insomnia, and low blood pressure. Those with knee problems should take care to keep knees aligned properly in this pose to avoid injury.

My Experience in Chair Pose:

Chair is one of my least favorite poses to do. My thigh muscles always burn and it’s very uncomfortable to stay in the pose. In addition to the burning muscles, the pose also makes my ankles hurt. I almost always have these experiences of discomfort, even when I practice the pose regularly, which I find discouraging – it’s nicer when I can see myself improving, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. With chair pose, I often feel defeated before I even begin.

Of course, this pose is awkward to do and it feels awkward to hold. With so many things to remember in the pose, I find it difficult to relax or find any ease in the pose – it’s all work. I also worry that I’m missing something and not doing the pose correctly. In hatha yoga class, I’ll look around and it always seems as though everyone else is bending deeper than I am, and then I feel embarrassed.

I need to remember that it doesn’t matter how anyone else does the pose. Looking at other can inspire me to push myself further, which is good, but it shouldn’t make me feel badly about myself. If I can only bend a little bit that day, that’s okay. Also, I should keep in mind that I am tall, and, practically speaking, someone shorter is going to look as though they’re bending deeper in the pose, since the shorter person already has a head start, so to speak. If I’m looking at the tops of my classmates’ heads in chair pose, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole class does the pose better than I do. We all have different bodies and it doesn’t do any good to compare my chair pose with anyone else’s. What matters is staying focused on my own experience of the pose and practicing tapas to stay with the pose, continually working to improve.