Getting The Hang of Things…

Poses of the Week

Extended Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)

2-3 minutes

While I’ve certainly seen and done the triangle pose before, it was reintroduced to me by some of my classmates in PE class! The stretch I felt in in my hamstrings, hips and arms was very refreshing, so I decided the triangle pose will be one of my main poses of the week!

Steps:

1. Extend legs vertically (left leg forward) until your feet are about a foot past your shoulders. Extend arms vertically parallel to the floor, stretching out your shoulder blades with palms facing towards the ground.
2. Point left foot straight forward and right foot to a 90º angle, aligning both heels together. Turn right thigh outward, aligning the knee cap with the back ankle.
3. Exhale and extend torso to the right and over the right leg, bending from the hips. Strengthen legs and press left heal into the floor while twisting torso to the left (slightly backwards). Release any tension remaining in your hips.
4. Rest right hand anywhere between shin and ankle (as far as you can reach while keeping your torso straight). Reach left arm towards ceiling while keeping it align with your shoulder. Rest head in a comfortable position where you can see your left thumb.
5. While coming up, inhale and press your heels into the floor. Reverse your feet and arms and repeat on the opposite side.

Detailed step-by-step guide and animation at Yoga Journal

Low Lunge (Anjaneysana)

3-5 minutes

The low lunge is a great way the stretch out the thighs and hips, but be careful not stretch father than you are capable because you do not want to pull any leg muscles! I sometimes alternate between extending my arms parallel to the ground in opposite directions and towards the ceiling like pictured above.

Steps:

1. From downward dog position, exhale and step right foot between hands until knee is aligned with the heel. While keeping right foot in place, lower left knee to the ground and slowly slide left foot backwards, extending the left leg until you feel a stretch in the thighs and groin area and the top of the left foot is resting on the floor.
2. Inhale, extend torso upwards and extends arms towards the ceiling. Hips and pubic bone should be aligned with the belly button. Apply a slight curve between the shoulders and lower back.
3. Look up towards the ceiling while keeping your neck loose. Hold for a minute before exhaling and slowly releasing back to downward dog before repeating with the opposite leg forward.

Detailed step-by-step guide found at Yoga Journal

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

1-2 minutes

The bridge pose is one that I’ve chosen because of my history of lower back pain. While it can be slightly uncomfortable in the neck and bum area at first, it is quite relieving when you finally get relaxed and used to the unnatural position. While stretching out the spine, it is also a great way to stretch and strengthen the legs and hips!

Steps:

1. Lie down on your back with legs bent, parallel to your feet and spread a hip-distance apart.
2. Move feet closer towards your bum, push heels into floor while inhaling and lifting your thighs and hips off the floor.
3. Press shoulders and heels into the floor and thrust pelvis towards the ceiling while resting hands either on the floor, clasped together or grasping the backs of your ankles. Rotate thighs slightly inward while keeping them parallel to each other. Hold for as long as comfortable (usually 30-60 seconds).
4. To release, exhale while using your hands to slowly lower your body to the floor.

Detailed step-by-step guide and animation found at Yoga Journal

Summary

This week I’m really starting to get the hang of things and becoming more and more eager to learn more poses, but I’m aiming for quality over quantity. To warm-up before my yoga sessions, I’ve mostly been using jump-rope because it’s a convenient way to get warm fast! Along with these poses of the week, I’ve also continued to practice my first poses from last week (the child’s pose, cobra pose, corpse pose and the conquers breath) and it’s awesome having more poses to chose from and continue to perfect! The mixing of these poses has me feeling very refreshed, and dependant upon the speed and effort put in, I use them to either wake me up in the morning or help me feel more relaxed before bed! The process is still going great, and I’m excited to choose my next poses of the week!

My Goals for Next Week

First, I will of course choose my next poses of the week, with a focus on finding more standing poses. I think I will also make up my own quick 10 minute routine that I will post and use for my morning yoga practice, rather than just randomly alternating between the poses I’ve learned so far. I’m also getting a little bit sick of my music playlist, so I’m also going to update that and share it on here next week as well!

Sources

All poses and step summaries listed are from the “poses” section of Yoga Journal and do not have any authors or creators listed.

Images from Unsplash and Freepik