Transitions: Side angle pose to half moon pose

In part two of our series on transitions, here is another fundamental one! I really like shifting between these two poses slowly because I feel my outer hips working A LOT (and outer hip strengthening is great for long term yogis because we stretch that area of our bodies so often). I sometimes say to my students that as far as most yogis are concerned we can think of your outer hips as having three main jobs: they create motion both by turning your legs out and swinging your legs out to the side, and they also act as stabilisers when you are shifting your weight around.

When people move into half moon pose it is fairly common for their front foot to turn inwards. I’ve found that switching on my outer hip in that leg helps prevent my front foot turning in. So here are the steps I took my students through:

Start in side angle pose as shown in this first image. You may want to have a block under your bottom hand; for my proportions using a block works better than reaching for the floor.

Have your bottom hand just outside your front ankle so that your arm lines up with your shin. Gently press your leg out against your arm and see if you can feel your outer hip switching on to press your leg out.

Put your top hand on your top hip (this is optional but it keeps your arm from waving around and pulling you off balance!). Keep pressing your front leg gently out against your bottom arm so you’re engaging the muscles you need in your front hip for when we make our next transition.

My last blog post contained a short video of a correction you can do to yourself by hooking your thumb into the front of your hip - that adjustment can also be useful in your front hip here.

Keep that same action of pressing your front leg out going as you step your bottom hand forwards (this action is key to stop your front foot turning in!).

Place your bottom hand about the length of your torso in front of your front foot. Slowly shift your weight forwards on to to your bottom hand and front foot until your back foot lifts off the floor.

Keep working same area of your bottom hip that you could feel when you were pressing your leg out against your bottom arm (even though your arm isn’t there any more!). Slowly shift a little more weight on to your front foot to allow you to lift your back leg higher. Of course I’ve managed to cut my top foot off again here 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 But what you can’t quite see is that my top toes are pointing towards the camera (ie my top leg has turned out as well as lifted up. You may be able to feel the outside of your top hip working to lift your leg.

If you feel steady you can reach your top arm up. And if you feel really steady try looking up! Before you come back down think about where you want to place your top foot, and then as slowly as you can shift back to side angle pose.

Bonus strength drill!

The steps above will take you through the transition from side angle pose to half moon. But below is a little strength drill I also had my students doing to work their hips a little more. If you wanted to add this in during your transition it would fit nicely after the first two photos above and before the second two.

Come into the position shown in this last image, except with your back toes still on the floor. Press your front leg gently out against your bottom arm to engage the outside of that hip. Then shift your weight forwards on to your front foot just enough to hover your back toes off the floor (as shown here). Keep your front knee slightly bent, keep pressing your front leg against your arm and lower your back toes back down to the floor. Lift and lower your back foot a few times, but keep the movement really small (smaller is harder!). Then the last time you hover your back foot hold it up for a few breaths. Let me know how you get on!

Transitions: warrior 1 to warrior 3

Our last focus area in class was transitions (which is simply the yoga word for how you move from one pose to the other). It’s easy to just focus on the individual postures in this discipline but spending some time thinking about how you’re moving from one to the other has a few key benefits:

• It’ll probably make you slow down. This is useful to help you pay more attention to what you’re feeling in your body, and also because moving slowly builds more strength (in the transitions we looked at this month, moving slowly was building strength in students’ legs, hips, core and shoulders)

• Slowing your movements down in flow yoga should also slow your breathing down. And with everything that’s going on around coronavirus right now breathing a bit slower and deeper sounds like a good idea!

• More broadly, this kind of practice can help you train yourself to keep paying attention and not get overwhelmed in a challenging and shifting situation

The first transition we looked at in detail was warrior 1 to warrior 3. We were using the arms alongside your body variation of warrior 3 – I like that one because I like how it switches on my back muscles. But you can have your arms reaching forward/ hands in prayer/ however you like! Here are the steps we went through and one key adjustment I was cueing for my students:

We start in warrior 1. I like to practice and teach this posture with my feet hip width apart across my mat, rather than one behind each other. This foot placement feels nicer in my back and also makes me feel more balanced (which is useful since we’re about to stand on one leg!).

See my earlier blog post about foot placement in warrior 1 here if you have any questions about this!

From warrior 1 bring your arms down by your sides. Shrug your shoulder blades down your back away from your ears and squeeze them a little towards each other.

Turn your palms to face forwards and feel your upper back switching on. Try and keep that feeling in your upper back as we move through the next few steps!

In some bodies when you lean forward like this the extra weight being carried by your front leg will make your hips skew out to that side (ie towards your front leg). The video below shows how I cue my students to minimise this.

If it feels like your hips skew out to the side when you lean forwards, put your thumb in the crease at the front of that hip (ie in the fold in your body where your torso meets your leg). With your hand guide your outer hip towards the back of your mat and a little in towards the centre of your mat. Then try and keep your pelvis in the position as you remove your thumb and reach your arm alongside you again.

Then, once your hips are set as shown in the above video, lift your back heel and pivot slightly on your back foot so that your hips square a little more towards the front of your mat. This step will help your hips be more even when you shift into warrior 3.

Notice that there is more weight on your front leg now and the extra effort that requires of your front leg. Don’t let that freak you out! Take a couple of slow breaths and just notice how it feels. Shifting your weight forwards like this has started the transition to our next pose.

Keep shifting more of your body weight forwards on to your front leg until eventually your back leg gets so light it lifts off the floor. Once you’re in warrior 3 press down through the big toe of your standing foot and feel that foot making lots of continuous tiny adjustments to keep you upright.

Then when you want to come up don’t let your focus go! Think about where you want to place your top foot when it lands, then bend your standing leg and as slowly as you can shift your weight back again to warrior 1.

PS Excuse that my leg got cut off in that last photo! Trying to fit yourself in the camera lens while at home because the country is in lockdown doesn’t always work…. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 And, as always, please comment below if you have any questions!