How to do Mermaid Pose || Jenna Raynell Yoga

Transcript

[Music] hi there this is Jenna Rell today I'm so excited to share with you one of my absolute favorite pose is this is mermaid pose so to get into this pose we're going to start in downward facing dog so let's go right there tucking your toes under lift your hips up to the sky feel all 10 fingers spreading nice and wide take a few breaths here send your left leg back behind you goow nice and long through the back of your leg and then exhale bring your knee to your nose and set yourself up for Pigeon pose so stretch your right leg long behind you kind of Half Point Half Flex that left foot so that your toenails are kind of pressing down into your mat that'll give you lots of extra support through the left side of your leg if this is really intense on this left hip you can always take a block and slip that right under there or a blanket if the block is too high that's always an option so from here you're going to start to gently bend your right leg back behind you trying to keep both of your hips squared off to the front of your mat as much as you can gently reach back and grab that foot so this already is a variation of mermaid pose and is this if this is where you're at this is a great place to stay and work because you're going to feel a pretty intense stretch through your right soas your right quad muscle so if you need to just breathe and relax here go for it if this is feeling pretty good you can start to hug that foot into your body even more maybe your foot starts to slip into the little crook of your elbow maybe come into like this nice little mudra if you feel really good and really steady steady through your left leg you can float your left arm up overhead and match that same mudra and if you want to you can reach for a bind grabbing onto your fingertips or your hands and gently back bending through the upper back keep breathing we'll stay here for three more breaths one more nice deep breath gently release that top arm bring it back down to the mat gently release your back leg I don't want it to have any boomerangs ricocheting back there so gently release that back foot and relax down onto the mat so another variation if you're having a hard time reaching for that back foot you can always take your strap make a little loop with it and hook that around your foot so you get a nice good stretch that way you can pull on it that way if you want to really work on your back bend you can square off your hips and your shoulders to the front of your mat feel your low belly strong and then reach both hands back for your strap so maybe you start to continually pull on that foot and gently back bend through your upper back so this is a pretty extreme version of mermaid so just breathe with it wherever you are and then very gently release one arm At A Time release that strap and that leg nice and gently and then walk your hands out to Pigeon pose allow yourself some time to rest and relax from that pose rest your forehead down and take about five deep breaths here take one more deep breath and then CH we walk your hands back and come to downward facing dog and stretch out that hip a little bit it might feel good to Pedal out your legs awesome and then we're going to switch and do the other side downward facing dog coming to downward facing dog sending your right leg back behind you this time we have to make sure we do both sides so that we're nice and even inhale bring your knee to your nose shoulders over your wrists and then relax your right leg down onto your mat stretch your left leg back behind you so again start to Half Point Half Flex that foot underneath of you so that really activates your whole right leg and if it's really intense on your hips slip something under there like a blanket or a block or something okay sitting up nice and Tall right hand is firm onto your mat gently bend your left leg reach your left arm back to grab that foot if you want to reach for your strap at this point it's a good time and then as you breathe just gently start to bring that foot in a little bit closer to your body maybe your foot slips into that little Nook in your elbow and maybe come to this nice little mudra bring you right to the present moment and then your right hand might meet it if you want to work for a little back bend start to gently back bend through the upper back and clasp your fingertips keep breathing wherever you are one more deep breath gently release that Top Hand bring it down to the mat very gently release that back foot so it releases gently awesome let's take our strap and work through that little bit more challenging version of mermaid so take your strap make a little Loop bending your back leg hook that loop around your foot and then start to bend your elbow in close to your body so you're like hooking it around this way start to square off your hips and your shoulders to the front of your mat and then gently work your elbow overhead so your elbow starts to point towards the ceiling and you can stay like this or you can reach your right hand back to meet it and gently start to back bend dropping your head back pulling your foot in a little bit closer breathe let's take one more deep breath and then gently release your right hand first bring your elbow back down to your body and gently release your left leg leg walk your arms out rest in Pigeon pose for a few breaths allow your forehead to rest either on a block or on your forearms and just breathe nice full breaths into your rib cage exhaling them out completely one more nice deep breath and walk your hands back can make your way back to downward facing Dog release that hip a little bit you put a lot of pressure on it so give it some time to release some of that tension and then just gently drop your knees down to the ground awesome work today mermaid pose is a very challenging pose um so just stick with it keep working on it it can take a lot of weeks of practice so take your body where it's at right now and just work through this stage with your breath and you're going to be a beautiful mermaid before you know it awesome if you enjoy this video there's new videos coming out every single Monday um and I cannot wait to practice with you again namaste