FOREARM PLANK POSE
Begin in Sphinx Pose with
your toes curl ed under. Tuck
your tailbone. Press down
through your forearms. Peel
your belly, hips, and thighs off
the ground. Strongly radiate
energy through your heels to
activate and lift your legs. Con-
tinue to lengthen the tailbone
toward your heels while drawing
your navel toward the spine.
Pull your shoulder blades away
from each other. Next, add pul-
sations: Inhale, round your
upper back while increasing
the tuck of your tailbone, and
gaze toward the toes. Exhale,
length en your spine, and gaze
at the fingertips.SPHINX ROLL-UP
Begin in Sphinx Pose, rooting
into your forearms, palms, and
tops of the feet. Radiate muscu-
lar engagement throughout
your legs, creating equal aware-
ness of the big-toe and little-toe
sides of the feet. Tuck your tail-
bone, and notice how your low
belly engages. Bow your head
toward your heart as you start
to peel the belly, pubic bone,
and thighs off the floor. Lifting
through your low belly, round
the upper back and push firmly
into your index fingers, thumbs,
and the tops of your feet. Stay
for 3 to 5 breaths; roll back
down and repeat.The sequence given on these pages should provide
plenty of room for play—for wiggling into and out of pos-
tures, for feeling the edges of what is real and helpful
and meaningful for you. As Westerners, many of us have
grown up in a culture that has encouraged us to treat our
bodies—and abdominal muscles especially—as something to conquer, an animal to
beat into shape. Here, the idea is gentler personal exploration from within the
body, with a gentle mind.For instance, in Forearm Side Plank, how much do you really need to engage your
core to hold the pose? How much can you let go, and still hold it? Feeling the gentle
support of the block in Dandasana variation, can you see how you might find more
ease in future jumpbacks or Chaturanga Dandasanas?And don’t deny yourself any little bit of sensation or motion in the Sphinx Roll-Up or
Revolved Abdomen Pose. Both of these exercises offer uncommon practice for feel-
ing carefully and listening within. Let them become hypnotic for you; practice them
with their mantras. For Sphinx, try “I am an integrated being.” For Revolved Abdomen
Pose, try “I am flexible, capable, and strong.” You are that.feel your strength
YOUR 6-WEEK YOGA GUIDE TO BUILD STRENGTH YOGAJOURNAL.COM 45