Yoga Tutorial: Eight-Angle Pose (Astavakrasana) | Joan Hyman

Transcript

hi my name is Joan Heyman I'm a Vinyasa based yoga teacher here at Yoga Works in Los Angeles today I'm going to teach ashraa which is called Eight limb pose with my student Jenny this pose is all about being strong and flexible all right so we're going to actually start in dandasana right pressing down through the sit bones and making that connection to your pelvic floor all right we're going to need this when we start to lift the hips up off the floor okay so take a deep breath in feel the pelvic floor lifting good and then she's going to go ahead and grab her right big toe with her middle and index finger and on your inhale lift the heel pull the knee back and come into Archer's pose right you can slide this left hand forward a little bit so the more you pull the knee back you're going to get into the hamstring all right take a couple breaths here good all right and then when you're ready you're going to bring your left hand to the foot and hold the foot with both hands and we're going to start to open up the knee so we're working the rotation exactly in the hip now right notice how she's keeping a nice lift in her lower back she's pulling the heel up to the chest and she's opening that inner knee this is a ver basana two leg all right and when you're ready she's going to pull the heel back thread that right arm through and try to bring the leg up on the shoulders mind you if your hamstrings are a little tighter it may only go to your arm it's a start all right so go ahead and press your palms down on your inhale hold here this is the blueprint of the pose pubic bone pulling back she's connecting to the pelvic floor all right now go ahead and cross your bottom leg over your ankle and squeeze really work your inner thighs and send your chin forward yeah so you're finding chatarunga position here the squeezing of the inner thigh is going to keep the pelvic floor lifting good and when you're ready here's the hard part inhale lift exhale pull the right heel through try eapa aun yasana great and then jump back chatarunga inhale upward dog and then exhale downward dog good and then when you're ready just lightly jumping down to your hands and knees and that was excellent all right and then come take my class here at yoga vibes