Lizard Pose Tutorial - How to do Utthan Pristhasana, Plus Variations and Modifications for Beginners

Transcript

hello my loves welcome back in this video we're going to talk about how to do lizard pose it's kind of a step-by-step tutorial i'm going to include a couple of modifications and tips and tricks at the same time but first if you're interested in a yoga flow class all about lizard pose then come join my patreon community each month you'll get two videos and one of the videos this month was all about lizard pose we explored all of the variations of lizard and we did a lot of prep work for the pose so if you're interested then sign up today i would love to have you as part of my patreon community the link is in the description all right let's dive into litter pose come on to your hands and knees now you'll notice the first thing that i've done is i've placed a blanket folded up underneath my knees i like to give myself a little bit of cushion for my joints spread the fingers wide tuck the toes lift the hips up and take downward facing dog float the right leg up and away from the floor into three-legged dog bend the knees step the right foot through between the hands drop the left knee to the floor so we're gonna build up from the beginner's version first take the hand to the inside edge of the right foot and walk your right foot out to the right side now as you walk the right foot out to the right side have it turned out a little bit here it might feel a little more comfortable as we have our hip in a little more external rotation now as you find that the hands will be connected to the floor you're pushing into the floor here the shin of that right leg is a vertical knee over the ankle right foot connected to the floor the left toe is tucked under so we have weight in the hands weight in the right foot weight in the left knee and weight in the ball of the left foot we're not sinking into the floor we're rising we're pushing we're opening so i want you to notice where are you feeling the sense of tension or tightness or length it could be in the hamstring of that right leg it could be in the inner thigh of your right leg especially if you have the toes turned out and the knee opening away it could be in the left hip flexor notice now if this feels comfortable then let's work on some more challenging variations maybe you bring forearms to some blocks now if you bring forearms to the blocks again don't think about collapsing push into the forearms push into the floor if this feels comfortable take the blocks out maybe the forearms come down towards the floor again think about pushing into the forearms think about those contact points to the floor other variations of the pose you have the arms straight to begin maybe you lift that left knee away from the floor active through the ball of the foot active through the right foot and again options forearms to blocks forearms to floor and from here i want you to think about how this feels different with the leg extended to how it feels with the knee bent wherever you are here push back to the hands drop the left knee to the floor walk the right foot back into center connect the hands lift the left knee step the right foot back all right let's try the other side because this side may feel different let the left leg rise step the left foot through drop the right knee again walk that left foot to the left edge toes turned out a little here the shin vertical how does it feel on this side does it already feel different maybe your forearms come down to a block again pushing into the forearms not collapsing crown of the head reaching forward maybe the forearms connect to the floor wherever the hands are maybe you lift that right knee away from the floor active through the leg maybe the forearms come to blocks maybe the forearms come to the floor whatever variation works for you [Music] how does this side feel compared to the previous side you feeling the sensation of stretch gripping tension in a different place wherever the hands are bring them back drop the knee walk the left foot back in lift the knee send the left foot back lift the hips back up drop the knees to the floor sit the hips back and that is lizard pose [Music] all right i've shown you the options with the blocks and i showed you that because quite often we collapse into the shoulders into the chest and the thing is if you want to come into more challenging poses like flying lizard then you need to be pushing into the forearms you need to be pushing into the hands however if you're here and you're feeling tension in the wrist then either use fists connected to the floor or come down onto your blocks so that you can be supported you have something to push into another mistake i see is that people often come into this with the knee shooting over the toes bring the foot further forward so that the shin is vertical allow yourself to open through the inner thigh and if it doesn't want to come of its own accord help it with your hand the biggest thing that i can say about lizard pose is that it takes time so notice when you're doing this pose how does it feel different with the knee down on the floor when with the knee lifted away from the floor it hits slightly different areas for me personally when i have the knee down on the floor i feel it more into my hip flexors when i have the knee lifted i don't feel it in my hip flexors as much so i prefer to keep my knee down on the floor if i'm working on my hip flexors if i'm working towards flying lizard or arm balancing poses then i lift my knee away from the floor to get more strength and stamina into my upper body alright my loves i hope that helped give you some insights tips and tricks into lizard pose if you enjoyed this video give me a thumbs up and if you're not already and remember my loves that karma is only a if you are so be nice be kind and be the change that you want to see in the world [Music] you