How to do Crescent Lunge - Yoga Education (Anjaneyasana)

Transcript

hello magnificent human beings my name is Landon welcome to yoga New Mexico where we focus on empowerment alignment and strength thanks so much for being here so this is a how-to on Crescent lunges that is the theme for the week if you haven't subscribed please do so already wait if you haven't already subscribed then please do so that's how that should work anyways so go ahead and roll out your mat or get a cup of coffee if you're just going to watch this whatever it may be I want to give you some tips and tricks on how to go deeper in your Crescent lunges and really to watch for your alignment as well so thank you so much and let's roll the intro screen okay so I know you've probably done Crescent lunges before and if you have questions about it i hope to answer some of those and maybe you just want to go deeper in your Crescent lunges and if that's the case I definitely have a tip or trick for you we'll get there so let's first of all start off by giving you some options right so sometimes you could be in a position where down dog is actually a little hard for you so um starting off in just kind of like a modified situation you're here in your Crescent lunge and then our here Crescent lunge your tabletop and you bring this left foot up in between your hands right here and then boom Crescent lunge modified but still a crescent lunge and this pose actually ain't no it's a modified lunge you can still really feel this in this front part of your hip flexor here so just switching sides just briefly so if you have kind of like a draw a straight line from here all the way down here then you know that you're keeping your hips Square and everything is nice and straight but the second that you start to tilt back at that torso you're gonna feel this whole front part of your hip flexor here just ignite so that's a great tip if you want to deepen a little bit is just to come on back so it's kind of like this nice thing right where if you don't want to come into a full Crescent lunge but you still want to get some of the more deeper elements of it you can just tilt back a little bit continuing on this same train of thought if you are in your Crescent lunge and you want to get a little bit deeper here then just come on back and you're going to feel it all along that front side of your hip so those are just a few you know basic tips there and the best ones coming up so you know hold on for that one but let's talk a little bit about alignment specifically so regardless of how deep you are in your Crescent lunge if your way deep like this or if your way back here these principles still apply so make sure this knee is stacked perfectly on top of your ankle it's not in front it's not behind this is probably the most common misalignment I would say that most people make so just make sure your knee is stacked on top of your ankle you don't want it bending this way or that way or you know whichever your foot strong toes on the mat they grip the mat a little bit but not like a death grip you know it's just like you feel the mat right so strong foot and then hips here r square with the mat kind of like you know it's the old west and you pull out well it's New Mexico it is the old west right as you pull out your guns and like they're right here or you know like you got two headlights on your hips shining straight in front of you so keep that cue in mind as we talk about the back leg so your back leg you'll notice if these are my hips if I start to really try to open up my hips are gonna sway back right so there's a difference between bringing this foot back and bring your hook your your hip back as well so if you want to deepen a little bit then keep your hips square but you're going to need to sync your weight down so that you can keep your hips square not push this back either so also your back foot you should be high on the back ball of that foot and in almost every yoga posture there's this kind of push and pull right like some parts you want engaged and others you want to be relaxed as possible so quick recap before we get to the back foot front toes strong this knee on top of the ankle right hips Square and then the back ball of that foot you don't want this heel to be sagging because you're going to inadvertently bring that hip back right you want that you want to be high on the back ball of your foot which helps keep your hips nice and square so staying right here this is your Crescent lunge and you actually gently push into the back of that foot so strong toes strong back of your foot you know it's like feel the mat you feel the earth underneath you here in your Crescent lunge arms come on up overhead now here's the kind of dichotomy again right in our yoga postures you want to grow through your torso in your Crescent lunge but you also want to relax your shoulders down and you relax your shoulders you relax those muscles in your face because you don't need the muscles in your face right how is that going to help you do your Crescent lunge and I think we get so focused on like oh I have to do this Crescent lunge just perfectly and we're all in our minds and in our heads but allow some of those innate processes in your body to take over once you've kind of learned the fundamentals right and then you will be able to kind of relax a little bit more so to keep balanced I'm going to switch sides here so here in that Crescent lunge and you lengthen through your torso but you relax your shoulders down so there's a big difference between you know between this and this so it's real subtle right like this is lifting your shoulders up but you're like relaxing your torso versus lifting your torso and relaxing your shoulders okay so that is the alignment portion and now here's a good tip for coming deeper in your Crescent lunge so um this is hard for people to hold for any length of time and this is an excellent tool to use when you want to get a lot more out of your yoga practice right you know maybe you only have 25 minutes or like a half hour or something oh wait there's a class for that it's on Monday so yeah I know shameless plug right but this is a really great tool to help kind of deep in in your Crescent lunge so find yourself in plank and go ahead and take those toes and bring them all the way up so they're in line with your fingertips so you're setting yourself up for a really really deep Crescent lunge so when you do this don't cheat and bring this foot up right so toes in line with your fingertips and then envision that you have a steel rod through your hips you can't lift your hips you can't sink them you can only hinge from this point so staying right here slowly hinge at your hips on up come on down so that is an excellent way to really like fire up your practice and I think that's about it I'm probably forgetting a couple things because as in every posture there's a million cues and a million little things you can you know ask of help bring you into better alignment but that is it for today thanks so much for being here if you have not subscribed please do so and if you have any comments questions whatever it may be go ahead and hit that up in a comment box below otherwise thanks for being here remember you are a magnificent human being you are in the right place capable and strong namaste you [Music]