Four yoga poses to improve your peak pose versatility

Good afternoon folks,

Today's topic is all about discovering four yoga poses to help you get into those dream yoga poses most yogis have pinned on their Pinterest boards (at least I do). A lot of these more advanced poses require overall body strength, flexibility and some form of advanced balance as most of the poses require you to balance either on your arms, hands or head lol!

Regardless if your goal is to touch your ears with your knees, or balance your body on your hands, these poses discussed today will help you improve your overall flexibility and well being. These stretches are designed for all skill level and body type. If you enjoy these yoga demonstrations, consider taking my Yoga Fundamentals Course. This course has over 8+ Hours of yoga demonstrations & pose breakdowns to ensure you know everything you need to do yoga safely and effectively. Read about the course HERE.

Let's get stretching!

Wrist Stretches

Often overlooked, wrist stretches are incredibly important for overall wellbeing- especially if you work in a profession where you do repetitive movements with your hands. Carpal tunnel is a serious injury which requires surgery to resolve and can target just about anyone in any profession including: hair dressers, mechanics, secretaries, massage therapists, musicians, painters, cashiers, carpenters, nurses.. the list goes on. If you often find yourself typing computer reports or doing repetitive hand movements, than these wrist exercises should be done daily to prevent serious injuries. Wrist stretches also help the yogi explore more advanced arm balances like "flying pigeon" and "eight angle pose".

Technique: Begin in a table top position with your knees under the hips and with your wrist, elbows and shoulders in alignment. Spread your fingers as wide as possible than rotate your fingertips towards the knees. Ensure that your index finger is pointing straight at the knees and that the back of your wrist is straight and in alignment with the top of your yoga mat. Apply an even distribution of weight into both hands by pressing evenly into all 10 fingertips. Gradually begin to send the hips towards the heals, about half an inch, to an inch back at a time. Hold each deeper stretch for 2-3 breaths before deepening into the stretch another 1- 1/2 inch closer towards the heels. If experience intense pain or discomfort in this stretch at any point, gently walk your knees towards the hands. This will help to alleviate some of the pressure felt in the wrists and will allow more control over the intensity of the stretch. Once you have peeled off the entire palm and fingers off of the ground, interlace your hands and begin to trace a figure 8 pattern with the hands and wrists. Shake our the hands and voila! You are done! Note that this entire stretch progression should take anywhere between 2-5 minutes. BONUS: You can follow these same guidelines to stretch out your forearms. Simply repeat this exercise but instead of having your palms anchored to the ground, you will flip your palms up to the sky. This variation is a lot more intense so remember to walk your knees in towards the hands if the stretch is too intense. Also remember to keep your arms straight! No bending at the elbow joint!

Wide Legged Forward Fold

Elevating your hips on a cork yoga block will assist you in deeply opening the areas of the hips and groin which are critical when practicing advanced poses like ""firefly pose", "compass pose" or "flying compass". The elevation of the hips with the use of a block can help you find a deeper range of motion than doing the same pose without the block.

Technique: Start by sitting on a cork yoga block. Seperate your feet as wide as possible with your toes flexed to the sky and knees pointing upwards. If your knees start to buckle inwards, shorten your stance. Make sure that you are maintaining a micro bend in the knees to ensure that you do not hyper extend the backs of your knees. Leading with your belly, begin to fold over towards the centre of your yoga mat. The aim is to push your belly forward in order to keep your lower back flat. This will ensure a safe and optimal stretch for the groin, low back, hips, glutes, pelvis and hamstrings.

With your lower lumbar spine in a flat back position, you may want to rest your forearms on the ground or supported by another yoga block. Once you have found your positioning, relax the head and neck. You may also want to round through the upper thoracic spine, so long as you maintain a flat back and toes flexed to the sky. Rest here for 5-10 minutes at a time as you slowly begin to build your muscle elasticity. When it's time to move out of the stretch, do so slowly and carefully. Draw one leg down to the center of your mat at a time then rest there for a moment before removing the block from underneath your seat.

Splits & Split Variations

Aiming to achieve the front splits is regarded as a key element to getting into those super beautiful leg extended yoga poses like "standing splits", "three legged down dog" or "split side plank".

Technique: For the sake of consistency, i'll be explaining how to get into splits starting on the LEFT leg. You'll want to repeat all the following step for the right side afterwards.

If you are new to the splits, you'll want to start by practicing your "low lunge" which is demonstrated in picture #1. Start in table top position, step your left foot forward and make sure to keep your legs hip width apart (in seperate tracks). Ensure that your left knee and left ankle are in alignment, one on top of the other. Keep your hands down on the mat, shoulder width apart, framing the left foot. You can also prop your hands on blocks for added support. Draw your hips down towards the earth and forward towards the top of the mat. You should feel a deep stretch in your RIGHT hip flexor. Hang out here for about 3-5 minutes.

Next, keep the feet where they are as you send the hips back towards the heels like in photo two. This is our half splits pose. Keep a micro bend in your left knee and make sure that your right knee and right hip are in alignment. If needed, wiggle your left foot forward for better alignment of the right leg. Relax here for 3-5 minutes.

To transition into the splits like in photos 3 & 4 you will begin by extending your right leg further back and left foot further forward. If you would like support, place a yoga block on the mid level height under the left hamstring. As your body opens up, you can gradually widen your stance and lower the height of the yoga block until you no longer need the support. Key notes here is to make sure that your hips remain squared to the front of the mat. This will help to protect the hips as well as your RIGHT knee. You can keep your chest upright like in photo #3 to help open the groin and hip flexors or you can fold over your left leg like in photo #4 for a deeper left hamstring stretch. Hang out here for 5- 10 minutes. Repeat the same steps on the other leg.

Frog Pose

Frog pose is one of those love hate poses for me. I love how deep of an opening I get when I practice it regularly but man it's a tough one to hold! Frog pose allows us to get really open in our hips, groin, low back and inner thighs.

Technique: Begin by rolling your mat in half if you have sensitive knees. Come down in table top position with your knees on the folded yoga mat then part the knees as wide as you can. Next, align your ankles with your knees with the big toe side of your feet on the ground. Come down onto your forearms and begin sending your hips towards the heels. Relax the head and neck as well as the area of the Root Chakra (hips, groin, glutes & pelvic floor). Hold for 5 minutes. When it's time to release, do so very slowly as this is often the most intense part of the stretch. Begin by gently drawing the chest back to centre, then come up onto your palms. Slide one knee back to the centre of your mat and then the other. Sit in hero pose with your hips on the heels, for a few minutes before moving out of the pose. This will give your body and nervous system the time it needs to integrate the stretch and ensure that you don't tense everything back up again.

Et voilà, these are four amazing stretches you can begin practicing on a daily basis in order to help train your bodies flexibility to enter into some of those jaw dropping yoga poses!

In the weeks to come, I'll be guiding my yoga students into some of the peak poses described above. We will be deep diving into strategic yoga sequences that will help students dive into some of these more advanced yoga poses. We have been building overall body strength and flexibility over the past year and it's now time to kick things up a notch. We will be doing this by training the body with specific strength exercises, stretches and advanced sequences to help students safely and effectively explore more advanced peak yoga poses. If you're interested, consider joining us on Yoga On DEMAND for just 50$/month. Join us HERE.

Chat soon!