Fundamentals Practice: Spiraling the Legs and Torso (Standing Poses)

Disclaimer

Fundamentals practices are appropriate for all levels. They are drawn from a relatively accessible syllabus of poses that covers all the important shapes and movements that will open, strengthen and balance the body. The instruction given is intended to be simple and broad, giving practical guidance for beginners and offering a starting point for deeper exploration for those who are more seasoned practitioners. Brand new beginners and those with injuries or physical conditions that might be affected by the physical practice of yoga should seek out the guidance of a trained teacher before starting.

About The Practice

The practice begins with seated poses to wake up the ankles, feet and knees. It follows with reclined poses to stretch out the backs of the legs and to open the hips in outward rotation. After that come lateral standing poses, in which the theme of the day, the spirals in the legs and torso, can be optimally employed. It ends with restorative poses to settle and center the system.

General Hints for Standing Poses

The most important feature of standing poses is that they ground us through the legs. They strengthen and stabilize the muscles and joints of the legs and help to open the hips and reorganize the back. If the legs, hips and/or back are tight, however, we can be too grounded and become pulled down towards the floor.

If this happens, the actions of the torso are unable to fully integrate and we will only be creating more hardness and imbalance in the body. Thus, we must balance the grounding of the legs with the lifting and opening of the torso as a whole.

If you are unable to truly lengthen, widen and deepen all four planes of your torso (front, back and sides) in any standing pose, always modify by placing some kind of support, a block or more, under your hand or hands. Not going all the way into the classic pose will actually allow your body to strengthen and open sooner and more safely than pushing toward what you perceive to be the full pose.

Practice Tips

There is a common notion that the hips should in some way be squared off in the lateral standing poses. “Between two panes of glass” is a description I often hear. To this I repeat the words of my teacher, Donald Moyer: “Squarers beware!” The body simply isn’t arranged in hinges and right angles.

Although in a pose such as Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) the hips are generally in a sideways orientation in comparison to, say, Parshvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose) where they are generally in a horizontal orientation, attempting to square your hips off will be like bashing a square peg into a round hole, putting inordinate stress on your soft tissues and joints. As you go through the practice consider the following:

• Balance the weight evenly between the inner and outer edges of your feet, as well as your toe mounds and heels.
• Draw your torso up (or up and out if more horizontal) from your hips towards your head.
• Allow your thighs to follow the direction of your feet in the later standing poses: your front leg turning out and your back leg turning in.
• Allow your hips to follow your thighs, turning slightly in the direction of the pose.
• Spiral your ribcage back in the opposite direction.
• Soften and widen across the backs of your thighs, your outer hips and lower back.

Sequence

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose) blanket behind knees, bolster across ankles

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose) ankles crossed

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose) feet crossed

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose) toes turned under

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose)

Reclined Ankle to Knee Stretch

Supta Padangusthasana (Reclined Big Toe Pose) Cycle:

1. Supta Padangusthasana 1 (Reclined Big Toe Pose 1) hamstring stretch with foundation leg bent
2. Supta Padangusthasana 1 (Reclined Big Toe Pose 1)
3. Supta Padangusthasana 2 (Reclined Big Toe Pose 2)
4. Supta Padangusthasana 1 (Reclined Big Toe Pose 1)

Tadasana (Mountain Pose) feet hip width apart

• Manually separate each of your toes and draw them forward away from each other and from your heel.
• Lift each heel and draw the skin back.
• With your fingers, ground through the toe mounds of each toe, from little toe to big toe, as you lengthen your toes out across the floor.
• Return to standing and spend some time alloying your weight to settle into your feet before moving on.

Uttanasana (Intense Stretch Pose) hands on blocks, spreading feet and grounding toe mounds once again, as above

Utthita Hasta Padasana (Extended Hands and Feet Pose)

• Spread your feet and balance your weight evenly between their inner and outer edges.

Parshva Hasta Padasana (Side Hands and Feet Pose)

• Turn from side to side two or three times to practice turning your feet, thighs and hips as you keep your arms, chest and back reaching wide.

Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior Pose 2)

• Manually turn your thigh out in your hip socket as you bend your leg while keeping the weight balanced between the inner and outer edges of your front foot.

Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior Pose 2)

Utthita Parshvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose) manually turning thigh out as you go into pose

Utthita Parshvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose)

Uttanasana (Intense Stretch Pose) feet hip width apart, hands on blocks

Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose) manually turning thigh out as you go into pose

Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose)

Parighasana (Gate Pose) manually turning thigh out as you go into pose

Parighasana (Gate Pose)

Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) [2 times]

Uttanasana (Intense Stretch Pose) feet hip width apart, hands on blocks

Adho Mukha Shvanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose)

Virasana (Hero Pose) blanket behind knees, block under sitting bones

Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclined Bound Angle Pose)

Viparita Karani (Upside Down Pose)

Shavasana (Corpse Pose) bolster under knees, blanket under head

About Yoga: Art+Science

This post originally appeared on my former blog, Yoga: Art+Science, a passion project that I ran from 2004 to 2014 that accumulated more than 1000 posts and articles. It appears here as part of a project to revisit all that material and update it to make it fresh and relevant to a modern yoga practice.

If you enjoyed this practice and would like to experience my approach to yoga in a live, interactive online setting, sign up for one of my classes.