284 classes in 274 days.
Eagle Pose:
This is one of my favorite postures. It's the last of the "warm-up" postures before the first and only official water break and it great for working the various joints in the body. I noticed benefits quickly from this posture shortly after starting Bikram yoga. It quickly opened up my shoulders, which are fairly tight on most people, particularly guys.
Of course, the most noticeable thing to me about this posture is if you can get the leg wrapped around. This is an obvious measure of the depth of the posture, but it's not the only one. I can get my right leg around fine, and I'm almost there on the left leg. I actually can get the left leg around, but I have to sacrifice some other important things, so I currently balance things out.
The point I get corrected on the most (not very often anymore) is to stick my butt out like awkward and then lean back so I'm relatively straight. Leaning back creates a great lower back bend. This posture has a lot to it, and it's quite difficult if you do all of the parts well, arms pulled down, butt sticking out, legs wrapped around, leaning back, sitting down, etc.
I've used this posture (or part of it) as a simple demonstration to people of what Bikram yoga consists of. I showed one friend of mine just the beginning parts with the arms and his eyed practically bugged out of his head. He couldn't come close to doing it. He works out regularly too, and was quite impressed.
Next up...Standing Head to Knee
Greg
I still can't wrap my legs. But I'm getting closer. Perhaps this explains my unexpected baby fever as of late.... :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't wrap my foot around my leg for the first couple months, but do it quite easily now. Think low sit, weight into the heel. You should FEEL the cutting off of circulation, both in the arms and the pelvic region. If not, probably not working hard enough. :) I can consistently get the hands around chin level on one side (when it's right arm under left), which is way beyond where I was during the first 2-3 months. It's all about progress.
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