admin Regardless of your strength or flexibility level, transitions between poses in your yoga practice can challenge you in all kinds of ways. Because transitions between poses require dynamic movement instead of static maintenance, they ask more of your ligaments, tendons, and all your connective tissues.
It will increase your flexibility, improve your ability to move and make your body more injury resistant. The transitions between poses can be a challenge for your core. You must stay present and aware of your body to ensure you are moving safely.
Chair with High Legs
Start this transition by starting in the Chair Pose. You should be firmly grounded on your heels, and all ten of your toes are gripping the mat. This will give you stability and balance. Your pelvis should be tilted so that your tailbone is tucked under. This will provide you with a flat lower back and also engage your core.
Draw your belly button toward your spine to protect your lower back. Pull your shoulders down and back, with your palms facing one another. This will create space between your ears and your shoulders. Take one foot and hover two inches above the mat. Step backward with your foot in a high lunge, keeping your hips at the same level.
Important Points: Your front knee should be at a 90-degree angle above your ankle in your final high lunge position. Try to straighten your back leg while keeping your tailbone tucked in for a flat lower spine. This should test your hip flexors.
Level up: To try a variation of this exercise, try the Twisted chair and then a Twisted high lunge. In a twisted chair, you should keep all the same things in mind. However, in this pose, your knees must be in the same plane. One shouldn’t come in front of the other. When you twist with your left elbow on your knee, your right foot will lift and step back.
High Lunge To Warrior Three
Start in High Lunge. Tuck your pelvis for a flatback. Keep your core engaged. Lift your arms overhead, with shoulders relaxed, down, back, and away from your ears. Keep a strong, straight line along the spine. Slowly begin to shift your weight forward.
Slowly lift your back foot from the mat, using your core for stability and balance. As you move forward, aim to have your torso in line with your back leg. Slowly straighten the standing leg while maintaining a slight bend in the knee.
Important Points: Keep your hips in line. It’s a great challenge for your core and legs, but don’t let your floating hip go above your standing hip. Don’t allow your shoulders to creep up. Keep your arms at your ears with your biceps. Imagine your fingertips and heels being pulled in opposite directions to form a long line.
Triangle Half Moon
In Triangle Pose, your front leg is perpendicular to your back leg. Your front knee is bent to prevent it from locking, with your shoulders stacked on top of each other and your chest opened to the side. The top hand should be in line with the top shoulder.
You can transition into Half Moon by bending your front leg as far as necessary to place your hand on the front foot. Slowly shift your weight to your front foot while lightly gripping the ground with your fingertips. Lift your back foot off the floor.
Keep your hips on top of each other and your shoulders in a line. Slowly straighten your standing leg, and then work to align your torso with the portion in a line parallel to the ground.
Key points: Flex your back heel and engage the entire top leg. Keep a micro-bend in the standing leg while keeping all ten of your toes engaged. Take your gaze to your full hand. This will challenge your balance. If you prefer, look to the side or the ground, depending on what is comfortable for your neck. To improve your balance, pull the belly button toward the spine.
Level up: Lift the bottom hand off the floor so you are balancing only on your standing leg. This is what we call a floating half-moon!
Plank to Side Plank
Start in a tabletop pose with your hands directly under your shoulders. To create a line between the neck and shoulders, pull the shoulders back and down from the ears. Keep your gaze on the floor in order to avoid straining your cervical vertebrae.
Lift your knees off the mat with an engaged core to create a strong line that runs from your crown to your toes. Transition into your side plank with feet hip-width away by transferring weight to one hand. Slowly rotate through the chest and take the top hand over the top shoulder. You can stack your feet on top of each other to make it more challenging or stagger them so that the leading foot is behind the bottom for stability and support.
If you want to reduce the stress on your wrists and fingers, grip the mat with the entire hand.
Important Points: Do not allow the shoulders to creep up towards the ears. In Side Plank, don’t allow your hips to sag. Keep them lifted. The wrist should be directly below your shoulders. Keep the hips, feet, shoulders, and head in the same line. If you were standing against a wall, all these parts of your body would be touching it.
Level up: While keeping your alignment, raise your top leg as high as you can. You can go even further by wrapping your peace sign fingers around your toes and extending the full leg out and upwards, away from you. This option will help you keep your hips and shoulders from collapsing.
Dolphin to Headstand
Try this balance pose for an added challenge! If you are not yet confident enough to do a headstand without assistance, start with your hands on the base of the wall. Use the wall as support.
Measure the distance between your forearms and elbows. Then, lace your hands to form a cage in which your pinky fingers are flat on your mat. In a dolphin pose, lift your hips to the ceiling and place your ears between your forearms.
Keep your eyes looking through the gap in between your feet so as not to strain your neck. Place your crown against the cage created by your fingers when you have walked your feet as close as possible. Lift one foot, then the other slowly off the ground. Tuck your knees in your chest. You can extend both legs at once or one leg up at a time.
Key points: Engage your core to prevent your spine from curling in your final Headstand pose — stay long and lifted throughout the spine and neck. Your forearms, shoulders, and neck should provide all the support you need for your inverted body.
Level up: Have fun with your legs! Try out different leg variants — spread them into a V-stretch or use gravity to practice splits. Also, try to maintain your form as you move your legs above your head.
Try to incorporate these combinations into your next practice and create a flow based on them. Remember to breathe, go slowly, and move with mindfulness.
