Pincha Mayurasana, for me, is one of the more challenging inversions. There is something about being on the forearms that seems harder and just a little bit scarier than being on the hands. The first step to doing anything challenging is to believe in yourself.

Downdog – start off in downward facing dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana. A strong downdog will translate to a strong inversion practice. In downdog, place your hands shoulder width apart, feet hips width apart, fingers wide, grip the mat, externally rotate the biceps, pack the shoulders in the sockets, move the bottom ribs towards each other, wrap the belly around the spine, engage your quadriceps, press your femur bones back and encourage the heels down.

Dolphin – keeping the external rotation in the arms, drop the forearms to the floor and squeeze your arms towards each other and into the mat. This is the perfect prep pose to build arm and shoulder strength while increasing your range of motion in the shoulder socket. If you have trouble keeping the elbows in, you can create a loop in your yoga strap. The loop is as wide as your shoulders and goes right above the elbows. Also you can place a block in between your hands with the index fingers pressing against the sides and your thumbs squeezing the bottom of the block.

Lift a leg – when you are ready, walk your feet in to the elbows as much as your flexibility allows. Look down, trapping your vision in the space between your hands. Keeping your hips internally rotating to lock the energy in your body, slowly lift one leg. You can start off with your dominant leg, and when you start to get the hang of, it practice using both.

Baby Kickups – Believe in yourself. Bend the bottom leg and gently press the foot off the floor bringing your knee to the chest and heel towards the glute. The knee to the chest is the counterweight so you don’t topple over. Both legs have to be extremely active. You work towards stacking the hips over the shoulders. When you can learn to stack the joints is when you start to find hang time with a little more ease.

Pincha Mayurasana – Once you are comfortable kicking into an L shape and catching it, you can start to bring the bottom leg up to meet the top. Think about hugging your muscles into your skeleton to go up into the full expression of the pose.

This pose is very challenging. Have patience. Shepard good thoughts. Believe in yourself.

Check out our schedule here at Wilmington Yoga Center Party pose for the holidays: Pincha Mayurasana

Pincha Mayurasana, for me, is one of the more challenging inversions. There is something about being on the forearms that seems harder and just a little bit scarier than being on the hands. The first step to doing anything challenging is to believe in yourself.

Downdog – start off in downward facing dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana. A strong downdog will translate to a strong inversion practice. In downdog, place your hands shoulder width apart, feet hips width apart, fingers wide, grip the mat, externally rotate the biceps, pack the shoulders in the sockets, move the bottom ribs towards each other, wrap the belly around the spine, engage your quadriceps, press your femur bones back and encourage the heels down.

Dolphin – keeping the external rotation in the arms, drop the forearms to the floor and squeeze your arms towards each other and into the mat. This is the perfect prep pose to build arm and shoulder strength while increasing your range of motion in the shoulder socket. If you have trouble keeping the elbows in, you can create a loop in your yoga strap. The loop is as wide as your shoulders and goes right above the elbows. Also you can place a block in between your hands with the index fingers pressing against the sides and your thumbs squeezing the bottom of the block.

Lift a leg – when you are ready, walk your feet in to the elbows as much as your flexibility allows. Look down, trapping your vision in the space between your hands. Keeping your hips internally rotating to lock the energy in your body, slowly lift one leg. You can start off with your dominant leg, and when you start to get the hang of, it practice using both.

Baby Kickups – Believe in yourself. Bend the bottom leg and gently press the foot off the floor bringing your knee to the chest and heel towards the glute. The knee to the chest is the counterweight so you don’t topple over. Both legs have to be extremely active. You work towards stacking the hips over the shoulders. When you can learn to stack the joints is when you start to find hang time with a little more ease.

Pincha Mayurasana – Once you are comfortable kicking into an L shape and catching it, you can start to bring the bottom leg up to meet the top. Think about hugging your muscles into your skeleton to go up into the full expression of the pose.

This pose is very challenging. Have patience. Shepherd good thoughts. Believe in yourself.

Up for the challenge? Check out our schedule and look for our Power and 5Elements Fire Flow classes for more practice with inversions.  [button url=”https://wilmingtonyogacenter.com/classes/yoga-class-schedule/” target=”_self” size=”small” ] Class Schedule [/button]

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese proverb