inner thighs

Preparation for Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose

From the feet together position bring the arms up over the head and take a big step to the right with your right leg – at least 4 feet. The wider you go the easier it is and it will tone up those inner thighs a treat while you’re at it! The feet should be pigeon-toed unless you have sciatica when it is best for them to face straight ahead. Correct alignment always helps with the posture so make sure your heels are in one line – as if you could draw a straight pencil line behind them. I know it sounds a bit fussy but it truly is worth it as you will improve much faster in the postures if you take care of the details. At the same time bring your arms down so they are parallel to the floor. Nothing floppy about those arms – you need them tight and firm keeping your fingers and thumbs together.

Going down….

Suck the stomach in (makes you so much stronger, gives you great tone and feels fab too) and slowly bend down from the lower spine towards the floor. Now the head stays up, with the chin forward so you can see yourself in the mirror for as long as possible. The knees should be locked (it is Bikram Yoga after all!). Grab your heels with the usual Bikram grip – meaning thumbs and fingers together – no air holes! If you can’t reach the heels grab the outsides of the feet.

Now we get to the Bikram technique – not just hanging there but using your arm and back muscles to pull on the heels as hard as possible to stretch your body down further to the floor. Keep the knees locked throughout the posture and roll the body weight onto the toes. The aim is to touch your forehead to the floor. Of course you may be quite a way off so in that case you should widen your feet as much as possible which will automatically bring the head down lower.

This is not a passive posture so once you are in position you keep pulling continuously, eventually the spine will straighten from the coccyx to the neck and your forehead (not the top of the head) will touch the floor between the feet. Simples! ( I jest!)

This posture will first stretch the legs, then the hips, then the lower spine and eventually the whole spine will get a workout and you should feel a stretch from the coccyx to the toes, and coccyx to the forehead.

If your head is nowhere near the floor in the first set, make your stance wider for the second set. If you are pretty flexible and your head touches the floor – bring the legs in a bit to make it more of a challenge – if you like that sort of thing of course!

If your legs are locked you can even try bringing your forearms in a bit so they touch the calf muscles. This will really give you great arms too!

Just a quick tip that helped me – I used to struggle and strain in this posture until one teacher told me to just RELAX into it first and let the weight of my head pull me down and then “give it some welly” once in that position by using the arm and back muscles to pull the body down lower to stretch the spine more.

Summary of the main points of Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose:

Step to the side as wide as you can

Keep the knees locked throughout the posture

Keep the head up, chin forward and look in the mirror as long as possible

Suck the stomach in to the spine

Grab the feet as instructed – you need the leverage

Don’t just hang there – pull on the heels to stretch the spine more

Aim for forehead to the floor in between the feet

Roll the weight on to the toes

Once more advanced and with locked knees bring the forearms back so they touch the calves

Well after a couple of strengthening postures it’s now time to get some flexibility into the joints of the body and you can be rest assured that the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles will all benefit from the Eagle Pose. And of course because it is the start of a few balancing postures it’s great for your focus and centering of the mind. In fact in order to balance you will need to have your mind focussed! The easiest way for me is to gaze at one spot in the mirror and hold it there. This I find gives me so much more strength and determination than if I look at different things and let my mind wander.

The Arms

You start off the posture as normal with your feet together and then give your arms a big swing out sideways to get the momentum to be able to cross them. If you’ve given your arms a big swing you should be able to cross your elbows. If possible bring your palms together (if not – no worries – just interlace your fingers for now). The thumbs stay uncrossed but they should be facing you and the pinkie fingers will be nearest to the mirror. Then make sure you pull the hands down so the fingertips are below the nose. This Bikram adjustment differs to most methods of yoga but it will make sure that the heart is being worked. Again as always if you cannot get into the whole posture just do the best you can!

The Legs

Now to get the leg wrapped around the other, bend your knees and keep your back straight. The dialogue says to sit down as if your hips are touching the chair. If you lean forward you will find it much more difficult to wrap the leg around as you’ve made a bigger distance to cover. The easiest and best way is to keep straight but just bend the knees, then lift the leg as high as possible. This will definitely make it easier to wrap your leg around the standing leg.

Naturally everybody is different and for some students it may seem impossible to be able to do this but just know and be willing that shifts in the body can happen at any time so don’t write it off as impossible – I have seen many miracles with this yoga! If you give your 100% effort you will get 100% benefit no matter whether you are in the full position or not.

By the way as this is a left and right brain exercise ( a bit like Brain Gym!) if your right arm is under, your right leg is over and vice versa.

Once in position there’s still stuff to work on – it is Bikram’s after all! Squeeze your legs together as if like ropes – this will also do wonders for the inner thighs! If you can, try and get the foot underneath the left calf muscle by sliding it down towards the ankle so there is no gap between them and eventually you will see your toes in the mirror!

By now it’s also time to try and straighten the spine by pushing it back (just like in Awkward Pose). Then as if you haven’t got enough to concentrate on, bring your knees to the right and upper body to the left just enough for you to align the body so that all the joints e.g. feet, knees, elbows and hands are in one line down the centre.

If you find that the foot is slipping out just bend the knees more and sit down lower and by leaning back a bit more you will be able to hold the balance. To top it off you suck in your stomach just like in almost all of the Bikram postures. Believe me, when I was told to pull in my stomach as well as everything else, I have to admit I was saying a few naughty words under my breath! However now I know that this adjustment alone has an amazing effect on the body, the mind, and the posture. To finish, pull the elbows down more (works the heart) and give that spine one last lean back towards the end.

Then you have the same pleasure to repeat on the other side!

A summary of the main points are:

Keep your eyes focussed on one spot on the mirror in order to balance
Give a big arm swing and aim for palms together if you can
Bring the elbows down the front of the body so that the fingertips are below the nose (works the heart)
Bend the knees but don’t lean forward in order to get the leg wrapped round
Aim for no gap between the ankle and calf muscle by sliding the foot down towards the ankle to get it below the calf muscle
Squeeze those legs together and twist them like ropes – great for the inner thighs!
Adjust your legs and body so all the joints are in one line down the centre of the body
Sit further down with a straight back to keep the leg and foot wrapped around
Straighten your spine and lean back a bit to keep the balance
Pull the elbows down one more time at the end

Phew!

The benefits of Eagle Pose are:

Creates flexibility in all the joints of the body – shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles
Fresh blood goes to the sexual organs and kidneys increasing sexual power and control
Firms the limbs
Great for getting a stretch to the upper back, neck and shoulders to relieve tension
Flattens the stomach if you pull it in during the posture
You can get away with doing this posture at work!
Centres and focusses the mind

Next up is Standing Head to Knee in a few days or so….Beverley

Posture # 8 – Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose

Preparation for Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose

Going down….

Summary of the main points of Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose:

The benefits of Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose:

Posture No 4 – Eagle Pose

The Arms

The Legs

A summary of the main points are:

The benefits of Eagle Pose are:

Archives

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