Bakasana - Crow

TAKING FLIGHT
Bakasana/Crow is one of my favorite arm balancing poses. I remember the feeling of achievement when I finally took flight after many failed attempts and tumbles. While yoga poses are not to be conquered and ticked off a list, they do give you the opportunity to challenge yourself and feel proud of yourself. As long as you don’t grasp at poses that are not suitable for you or have no benefits for you beyond making shapes. Arm balances teach you the principles of finding balance physically in your practice and mentally in your everyday lives. Learning when you fall you can get back up and keep going is all part of yoga and life practice. If we didn’t face challenges we wouldn’t learn how to deal with difficult situations. Remember, no matter how gracefully the person beside you pops up into crow pose, they have their own challenges that yoga offers them. It is recommended that you can hold Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dog and Phlankasana/Plank comfortably before you consider putting the full weight of your body on your wrist joint.

THE BENEFITS OF BAKASANA/CROW
Bakasana/Crow gives the opportunity to take an arm balance with a smaller distance from the ground than bigger arm balances like Adho Mukha Vrksasana/Handstand. Bakasana/Crow strengthens the shoulder, arms, core, hip flexors, glutes, groins and hamstrings and stretches the spine. It builds confidence, stamina, focus, concentration and coordination; boosts circulation, the immune system and energy levels. A strong, reactive and supple core will help you to take a controlled lift and find your centre of gravity. Good news is that it’s the foundation pose of lots of other arm balancing poses – so once you grasp it, it opens up a whole range of poses to you.

EXPLORING BAKASANA/CROW IN YOUR PRACTICE
Journeying into Bakasana/Crow with awareness of the different areas that need to be prepared makes it easier to give it your best shot. As you run through the prep poses, notice if there are particular ones that you find more difficult, spend a bit more time on these poses and breathe deeply in them.

If taking flight in Bakasana/Crow is completely out of your comfort zone, place a pillow or blanket on the ground in front of you, most people find that they have the courage to lift up if they have an insurance policy for potential face planting! Practice Lolasana/Dangling Earing on blocks first to work on your core and hand strength. For your first Bakasana/Crow lift the feet up one at a time to start with and work upto lifting both feet together. When you’re lifting up, if the second foot isn’t ready to follow, practice lifting the right foot first, hold for a few breaths and then lift the left foot and hold. Play with your centre of gravity by tipping your weight forward. Like the principles of a seesaw eventually the legs start to feel light as the arms take the body weight.

ALIGNMENT CUES
You will start to prepare yourself for Bakasana/Crow from the start of the sequence to make sure you are ready to give it your best shot. If Bakasana/Crow is not a pose for you, concentrate on the rest of the sequence which will give you all benefits of Bakasana/Crow distributed amongst a collection of other poses. You will have two opportunities to try Bakasana/Crow, you can add more rounds or just do one depending on your energy levels.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From Malasana/Squat, step your feet together, bend your elbows and place your hands forward on the ground, shoulder width apart.

• Place your knees high up on your upper arms, hug your knees to your arms.

• Strongly draw your navel towards your spine, round your upper back.

• Lean forward and shift your weight into your hands, lift your hips up high.

• Exhale, lift up onto the balls of your feet, with control lift your feet up towards your buttocks, one at a time or both together, working towards straightening your arms, press into your hands, gaze slightly forward.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Uttanasana - Forward Fold

SHIFTING YOUR MINDSET
Uttanasana/Forward Fold is a pose I have had a rocky relationship with. As a runner I have tight hamstrings and contrary to popular belief tight does not necessarily mean strong. I am inclined to overstretch the back of my hips if I get caught up in the ego of the pose. One of the keys to staying injury free in this pose is to be patient and to have no expectation of how far forward you think you can fold. Each practice is different, your Uttanasana/Forward Fold in a morning practice will be completely different to an evening practice. Try not to be attached to destinations in your poses, this one in particular. The journey of your practice is the point of yoga, not the picture perfect pose. When you feel sensation in your pose you are getting all the same benefits as the person who seems to effortlessly touch their toes. Stay in your body and with your experience of your practice. Striving and grasping at poses will lead to frustration and injuries.

THE BENEFITS OF UTTANASANA/FORWARD FOLD
Uttanasana/Forward Fold stretches the hamstrings, glutes and spine along the back of the body, and strengthens the hip flexors at the front of the body. Forward bends are a very therapeutic family of poses. They aid digestion, eases constipation and bloating, eases insomnia, eases menstrual & menopause symptoms, eases fatigue, stress, tension and anxiety and boosts the immune system. They also ease headaches and lower blood pressure. In Uttanasana/Forward Fold the head is below the heart which makes it an official inversion pose too, adding extra benefits like increasing circulation, energy and metabolism.

EXPLORING UTTANASANA/FORWARD FOLD IN YOUR PRACTICE
Moving gently between stretching and strengthening is a preferable way to warm the muscles for this pose rather than going straight into a deep forward fold. The hamstrings are the most commonly overstretched muscles in yoga practitioners. They originate at the sit bones on the base of the pelvis, cross over at the back of the thigh, and attach to either side at the top of the shin bone. Their job is to flex the knee and extend the hip. Uttanasana/Forward Fold deeply stretches the hamstrings.

The sooner you establish the difference between the feeling of a muscle stretching, which is a dull, evenly distributed sensation, and a muscle overstretching, which has a pinching sensation, you will be less likely to cause yourself an overstretch injury. It is also important to note that if you are like the majority of people, yogis and non yogis alike, you will not be anywhere near the human sandwich version of this pose you see in books.

Before you fold, lengthen your spine up and lift out of your pelvis to find as much space as possible to tilt forward from. Exhale as you fold forward to lift the organs up out of the lower abdomen and engage your core muscles to support your lower back. When the pelvis can tilt no further, start to pour your upper body over your legs like you are tipping the contents of your head out. If you struggle to get the pelvis to tilt forward try having your feet hip distance apart, rather than the traditional feet together version of the pose. If you have issues with your lower back keep a slight bend in your knees to release the hamstrings and use your hands on your knees to support you as you tilt forward. At your final destination soften what can soften - your shoulders, your arms, your neck, your face. Have a sense of what parts of the body are on duty and what parts can be relaxed.

Before your first Uttanasana/Forward Fold you will have started to open the back of your hips with a supine warm up, Supta Padangusthasana/Reclined Hand to Big Toe and Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Facing Dog. The Uttanasana/Forward Fold MINI FLOW A features in full on the first row and then your will repeat it after each standing flow indicated by a ‘MINI FLOW A’ before each subsequent standing flow. You will go through four rounds of the Uttanasana/Forward Fold flow throughout the sequence.

You can also check out my Instagram post on Uttanasana/Forward Fold to add a few different versions of the pose with and without props into this sequence. You will definitely notice a difference between your forward folds at the start and end of your practice as the muscles gradually open up for you.

ALIGNMENT CUES
You will come through three rounds of Uttanasana/Forward Fold. Start gently and have no expectation of how deep you will fold forward. See do you notice any change between the first round of Uttanasana/Forward Fold compared to your final round.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From Tadasana, inhale, lengthen up through the spine.

• Exhale, slowly fold forward from the hip joint as your pelvis tips forward.

• Hands to your shins, to the ground in front of you, or beside your feet.

• Press your heels into the ground, lift your sit bones up.

• Inhale, lengthen through your spine to the tip of your crown, exhale, fold forward a little more.

• Broaden through the collarbones, gaze to your shins.

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To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Malasana - Squat

HIP MOBILITY & STABILITY
Recently I’ve been sitting writing articles more than I usually would and my hips are feeling it. This spurred me on to explore Malasana/Squat as my pose of the month. When I first practiced this sequence I found the repeated rounds of Malasana/Squat tough going but as the week progressed my hips started to feel stronger, more flexible and I was able to hold Malasana/Squat for a longer period of time. I have been practising this sequence for the last two weeks now and my hips are singing with glee. Malasana/Squat has so many hidden physical and mentally benefits and I’m definitely feeling them all.

Malasana/Squat was once the way we all sat before we invented the humble chair and is still the sitting method for many cultures. It is very strengthening on the leg, core and pelvic floor muscles. The ability to squat is important to maintain for everyday mobility. We squat down in our day to day life when we pick something up from the ground or tie our shoes. My son is a keen rugby player and squats for five minutes everyday as a way to keep his hips, knees and ankles strong and injury free. You don’t have to be on your mat to take a squat. Malasana/Squat teaches the body to find the natural curves of the spine again and is perfect to add into your movement breaks if you are sitting for long period and working from home.

THE BENEFITS OF MALASANA/SQUAT
Malasana/Squat stretches the inner groin and hips, strengthens the hip flexors, lower back, knees and ankles. It is a very good pose for keeping the knees and ankles flexible and strong at the same time. It encourages strengthening of the pelvic floor, increases circulation to the abdominal organs, aids digestion and eases constipation. As with backbends and twists it stimulates a healthy gut which has a strong link to our moods and emotional well-being. Stress leads to gut issues and similarly gut issues lead to stress. 95% of serotonin (the happy hormone) is produced in the bowel, stimulating the gut and releasing these happy hormones into the system relieves stress, tension and anxiety.

EXPLORING MALASANA/SQUAT IN YOUR PRACTICE
This sequence will gradually prepare your hips for Malasana/Squat. Malasana/Squat mini flow is preceded by a Utkatasana/Chair mini flow. Utkatasana/Chair is a perfect prep pose for Malasana/Squat. It strengthens the glutes and has many of the same muscular actions as Malasana/Squat – hip and knee flexion, spinal extension and grounding down through the three points of the feet. For the first three Malasana/Squat mini flows move in and out of the pose with a steady and lengthened breath. Look for the point in your descent where you want to speed up and try to consciously slow it down. For your final Malasana/Squat before you come to your seated poses, pause for three to five deep breaths and feel the full opening of the pose.

You can also check out my Instagram post on Malasana/Squat to play around with different versions of the pose. If you notice your knees collapse in it is an indication that you might have tight inner groins and weak glutes – squeeze your outer glutes to externally rotate your hips and only go down as far as you can keep your knees in line with your feet. If you notice your lower back rounds forward you might have a weak lower back – place bricks under your hands and press into them to lengthen up through the spine.

ALIGNMENT CUES
You will come through three rounds of Malasana/Squat and a final one before you come down to your seated poses. Notice how the first round feels compared to your final round in terms of comfort and depth of the pose. If you practice this pose for a week or two you will start to notice great improvements in your hip mobility.

Have a read of the tips below and either print out the sequence or save it onto your device:

• From Tadasana/Mountain, inhale, feet wider than hip width, feet slightly turned out, hands in prayer position, exhale, bend your knees and sit down in a deep squat.

• Press your elbows against your thighs, hug your outer hips to the midline, let your pelvis become heavy down towards the back of your heels. Lift your inner arches and inner ankles.

• Broaden through the collarbones, draw your navel towards your spine, lift your pelvic floor. Lengthen through your spine to the tip of your crown, gaze forward.

Subscribe to my newsletter & get a FREE YOGA BENEFITS INFOGRAPHIC as a thank you!

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru