Challenge Pose : Flying Lizard

Flying Lizard Pose - Fun and Funky Rolled Into One

I personally love practising and teaching Lizard Pose (Utthan Pristhasana). If you attend classes at Prana Yoga KL, you'll see this asana, and all of its variations in my Basic, Strong and even Prenatal Yoga classes.

Utthan Pristhasana is far from the mental image that its English translation portrays.  It's a fantastic gateway to deeper hip openers, as it warms up the inner thigh muscles and hip rotators, stretches the hamstrings, groins and hip flexors. 

Flying Lizard Pose is a creative extension of its cousin. It combines the hip opening, with the element of an arm balance. The result? A Fun and Funky Flight!

Step 1 - Warm the Lizard Up
Here are some of my go-to poses to warm up the hip rotators, quads and IT Band. Begin with 8-10 rounds of Surya Namaskar, add in these hip openers, and fire up your core with poses like Navasana (Boat Pose), Dolphin Pose and Bakasana (Crow Pose). 

Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose)

Pigeon Prep

Hoist Your Backpack

Step 2 - Lizard Pose (the Vanilla version)

Utthan Prishtasana (Lizard Pose)

From Downward Facing Dog, step your right foot forward and place it outside of your right palm. Snuggle your right shoulder under your right leg, and just like the Backpack warm up pose above, place the leg as high up the arm as possible. If it's accessible to you, place both forearms down onto your mat, and powerfully extend through the back leg. Keep extending the chest forward, engage your Mula and Uddiyana Bandha, and stay here for 9-12 breaths before switching sides.

One option is to place the back knee on the mat. If you're unable to comfortably place your forearms on the floor, prop your forearms up on yoga blocks, continue practising Step 2, and keep your flight plan in your back pocket for now.

Step 3 - Take the Flying Leap

Ready, Steady, Fly

It's now time to piece all of that together, and fly! From Utthan Pristhasana in Step 2, grab hold of your right heel with your right hand, and lift your right heel off the mat. Squeeze the right leg into the arm/shoulder, and keeping your core engaged, lean forward until the back leg lifts off. Power through that straight leg, and keep extending it strongly up and back to maintain your balance. An alternative is to bend that back knee. Lower down after a few breaths, and switch sides.

If you'd like to practise with me, I'll be teaching a 2-hour Special Class on 29 March 2015, at 9.15am, entitled "Root To Rise". We will be exploring the techniques of Foundation Asanas before rising up to Inversions and Arm Balances. Suitable for Advanced Beginners and Up. More details can be found here. 

See you on the mat! xx

"Root to Rise" at Prana Yoga KL, 29 March 2015, 9.15am

Get Twisted To Untangle

I have to confess. I dislike twisting postures. I avoid them like a plague in my personal practice (except for the supine twists at the very end, right before Savasana). When attending classes, trainings or workshops, I cringe every time we are asked to twist, and I break out in cold sweat when the twist involves a bind! I go mental, and my Ujjayi breathing sounds like a dragon about to go into labour, as I corkscrew my spine and contort my short arms into something that remotely resembles a version of the graceful demo by the teacher in the front of the room.

This twist, I can marinade in. Gimme gimme gimme!

So, imagine my horror when a dear friend and mentor, invited me to co-host a 15-Day Instagram Challenge involving twists. 15 Days of twists?? Easy for you, if you have long, rubbery limbs and liquified butter as joints! 

As I sat down to write down my contribution to the Challenge, I pondered on why I loathe twists. You often hear the saying, "the poses that you dislike, are the ones you need the most in your practice". Sure, we have heard the whole nine yards on how twisting asanas can benefit you physically and mentally. They keep the spine healthy, relieves spinal decompression (especially in the lumbar), detoxes your gut, lubricates your joints, tones the abdominal muscles, trims the waist, aids in digestion, and energizes the mind. And yet, all of this does not seem enough to motivate me to include twists diligently in my daily asana practice (not even "trims the waist"!).

Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) had me fumbling
and wobbling all over the mat during my early Ashtanga days.

Perhaps it was a sign from the Universe to approach twists from a different angle, and look at the subtler silver lining, rather than the obvious positives highlighted in every yoga magazine that's been published.

As I dived into my practice and posted twists after twists on Instagram, I started to identify with my aversion to twists. I discovered little physical imbalances and limitations in range of motion, that would so often be labeled by many as "the weaker side", and it dawned on me, that the poses I shunned were actually compounded by feelings of inadequacy and the need to avoid unpleasantness.

Baddha Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Far from being 'perfect' with the back heel up, but
my practice is mine and mine alone to feel
alive, free and loved.

With just a few more days to the end of the Challenge, I pretzel myself into Baddha Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (Bound Side Angle Pose), with new insight into this purification process. As I surrender into the bind, I find internal expansiveness, setting myself free from the self-imposed obsession on how I should look in the pose. "There is no such thing as the perfect pose. It's all about the practice", I often say to my students. Time to walk the talk, sister!

Like a jar of pasta sauce, you'll need a good twist to get to the yummy stuff. Don't let something you dislike tie you up in knots. It may take a while to finally see the light, but hey, that's why the journey of yoga in itself is far more important than the final destination.

Namaste.

Tapas : Stoking Your Yogic Fire

The ever-elusive handstand press on my soul-mat with my daily mantra

'Tapas', in Patanjali's 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, refers to heat created in the body through either movement (Asana) or breathwork (Pranayama). The heat created through these actions, however, is defined as 'tapas' only when the intention behind the production of this heat is one of purification and self-discipline. By simply showing up for a daily practice, being non-attached to any desires or outcome of the practice, is 'tapas'.

When a practitioner first experiences 'tapas', there is often a strong reaction of rejection... the urge to turn the other way... the desire to ignore. The discomfort that this metaphorical fire brings as it burns away the ego, past habits and our material attachments, will eventually be reduced, and in its place are the residues of clarity, inner calm, and relief. The awakening from constantly stoking our yogic fire and experiencing 'tapas' in our yoga practice, leaves our mind, body and heart open to exploration and higher consciousness.

Namaste.