24 YOGA JOURNAL
PHOTOS: IAN SPANIER; MAKEUP: EMILY HARDINGER; CLOTHES: MODELS OWN1 ADHO MUKHA VIRASANA
DOWNWARD-FACING HERO POSE, variation
Stay for 5 breaths.4 FOREARM PLANK
On an inhalation strengthen your
core and shoulders.2 MARJARYASANA TO 3 BITILASANA
CAT POSE (inhale) to
COW POSE (exhale), variation
Repeat 3-5 times.5 SPHINX POSE
On an exhalation, then take 3 breaths.
Open your thoracic spine.7 DOWNWARD-FACING HERO POSE,
VARIATION
On an inhalation.10 DOWNWARD-FACING HERO POSE,
VARIATION
Stay as long as you’d like.6 SALABHASANA
LOCUST POSE, variation
Take 3-5 breaths. Strengthens your paraspinal
muscles and core and continues to create space in
your spine, even while backbending.9 PLANK POSE
Stay for 3-5 breaths.
Core galore.8 DOWNWARD-FACING HERO POSE,
VARIATION
On an exhalation. Stay for 3-5 breaths.KULA SEQUENCE: ROUND 1Creating a Kula Flow
sequence with a challenging
peak pose is like untangling
a rat’s nest from my
daughter’s hair: You can’t
just go at it. You have to
tease it out slowly, through
patient deconstruction and
repetition. In asana, that
translates to progressively
opening and strengthening
the body and channeling the
power of the breath. If you
slowly practice the shapes
and actions that comprise
a tricky pose, you might fi nd
you have more ability and
less fear when you fi nally
do get there. For example,
to safely practice Pincha
Mayurasana (Feathered
Peacock Pose, aka Forearm
Balance) with a stag-leg
variation, you need to open
your chest and shoulders
and prepare them to support
the weight of your body.
And you need to both open
and engage your hamstrings.
You need to wake up your
core, and you need to
open your hip fl exors and
quadriceps. Kula Flow is
creative, but the posture
choices are never arbitrary.
There should be a reason
behind everything that you
put into a given sequence.MAP MY SEQUENCEKeep your
forearms
shoulder-width
apart. Your
elbows will try
to sneak wide —
talk‘em down.Press your
forearms & palms
fi rmly against the
fl oor. Think of your
outer collarbones
smiling.Firm
your core!Isometrically
drag your
forearms & engage
your core to
prevent lower back
compression—
common in Pincha
Mayurasana.Focus on
maintaining
length in your
neck, which is
diffi cult to do
in Pincha
Mayurasana.Walk your
elbow-tips
forward with
every inhale, to
gradually
open your
triceps.Drop the
knees if needed,
to focus on
corseting your
abdomen and
lengthening your
lower back.Work your
arms like you
would in
Down Dog.
This is not a
resting pose!