SUPTA PADANGUSTASANA OR HAND TO BIG TOE SERIES

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Regulars to my classes or workshops will be very familiar with this: the supta padangustasana or hand to big toe series. It helps you access the muscles on the back, inside and outside of your leg/hip. 

To practise this at home you don't need a proper yoga strap. You can use a dressing gown (or normal clothes) belt, a scarf, towel or pretty much anything you have to hand. One really common issue with this posture is that when people (including me) take their top leg wide (ie top right photo) they find it really difficult to keep the bottom one anchored down. If the bottom leg lifts in this position then the action of taking the top leg wide is going to come less from motion in that leg, and more from the pelvis tipping to one side. So you won't be getting much of a stretch along the inside of your top leg because your pelvis is just tilting to the side. 

There's an easy way to stop that happening. Say you're starting with your right leg: lay on the floor with both legs straight. Take your hand to your right hip and find the bony part at the side, at the widest part of your hip (anatomy fans: this is your greater trochanter). Put a yoga block on the floor next to you, snugly up against that bony part on the right side of your hip. Probably most comfortable will be one of the flatter blocks, but if not a brick block will work too. And if you don't have blocks try a firm cushion, or a rolled-up towel, or a book (whatever you have nearby!). Leaving that support where it is, bring your right knee into your chest, place your strap around the ball (widest part just below your toes) of your right foot and take that leg up to the ceiling. Then take that top leg out to the right. Notice how the support next to your right hip helps stop the weight of that leg pulling your pelvis off centre. And if your pelvis can stay square, the motion will be coming more from your leg and you may find you get a more effective stretch on your inner thigh. Most people also find that being able to relax into the support by their hip means they can hold the posture a little longer too. 

There's also a simple way to deepen the stretch in the bottom right photo. Say you have the strap in your left hand and are taking your right leg across your body (as I am in the photo). Take your right thumb into your right hip crease, so below the bony part at the front of your hip and just where the top of your leg joins your torso.  Your thumb is right at the very top of your leg and your fingers wrap around towards your bum. Use that hand to move your hip away from you. And rather than just pushing with your hand, instead think roll your outer hip down and away from your face. The hand holding the strap makes sure that your foot doesn't move away from your face at the same time. It's a reasonably strong movement with your right hand (within reason, obviously!). And remember: don't just push with that hand; roll your outer hip down and away from you. 

See how these adjustments work for you and send us a message if you have any questions! 

revolved triangle or parivrtta trikonasana

There's a lot going on in this posture, revolved triangle or parivrtta trikonasana: flexibility in front leg to reach your arm down; in the outer hip of the front leg to turn towards it; in your back to be able to twist round. The list goes on! 

My main tip for this posture is to spend time getting your set up right before you try to move into it (although that probs goes for every other yoga pose too! 😂). 

- Stand at the front of your mat and take a step back with one (eg left) foot

- Then here's the key bit: you want your hips to be facing straight forward towards the front of your mat. The tendency will be for them to face to the side of the leg you stepped back with - here my left. If that happens to you there are two ways to make it easier to square your hips forward...

- Firstly, step your back foot nearer to the edge of your mat, so that your feet aren't one behind each other (they're more like hip width apart)

- Secondly, check your back foot isn't turning out to the side. If it is, turn it so that your toes are pointing to the top (for me here it's the top left) corner of your mat. Both of those should help you to turn your hips forward

- Once your foundation (ie legs and hips) is set, you'll have a more solid base to move on. On an inhale lift your chest, and as you exhale fold forward

- Move your front hip (here my right) a little towards the back of your mat. Inhale lengthen your spine forwards and as you exhale start to turn your chest towards your front leg

- Take your opposite hand (here my left) to the outside of your front leg. It doesn't matter if it reaches the floor, your ankle, your shin or the outside of your thigh

- As you inhale lengthen the top of your head forwards, and as you exhale turn your chest more. Once you feel stable enough reach your other hand up to the ceiling

- Come out on an inhale. Repeat in the other side 🌟

WARRIOR 3 OR VIRABHADRASANA III POSE

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We're checking in with warrior 3 or virabhadrasana III pose in class at the moment. It's one of those postures that looks deceptively simple, but because it involves standing on one leg it's often hard for students to stay in position long enough to think about their alignment. There's a couple of things going on in the top picture here that I generally cue my students to correct. The first is that I'm not using my back muscles enough to keep my torso lifted, so my chest has kind of drifted towards the floor and I've lost the natural inward curve in my lower back. The second, which would probs be easier to spot if you could see my top foot (it's been chopped off by a combo of having a small space to practise in/ small camera width/ long leg 😂) is that in an effort to lift my top leg higher I've let that side of my pelvis lift. You can see it if you look closely! If you could see my toes they'd be pointing towards the camera rather than down to the floor. My right hip is turning out and is higher than my left, so there's a slight twist in my back, and for me it also makes it harder to balance. 
In the second photo I'm not thinking about how high I can lift my leg, and instead have dropped my right (top leg) outer hip way down. My toes are now pointing straight down to the floor. To help correct the position of my upper body I have fired up the muscles along my back to lift my chest higher. My preference is to keep my chest slightly higher than my hips in this posture. There are so many chances to stretch the back of your body in the style of yoga I teach that it's good to take the opportunity to strengthen that area when it comes up! Reaching your arms back will make it much easier to lift your chest. Once you feel like you're comfortable in that position, you can make your back muscles work harder by keeping your chest lifted while either having your hands in prayer position, reaching them out to the side or even stretching your arms out in front of you 💪🏼