yoga

33

december 2018 / january 2019

yogajournal.com.sg

11 PARIPURNA NAVASANA
Full Boat Pose
Keep holding your left foot with your left hand.
Reach your right hand to your right foot. Extend
both legs while holding your big toes. Flex your
feet, and pull your navel toward your spine. Roll
your shoulders back, and aim your heart
upward. Pause for 3 breaths to find stability.
Release your legs and feet, and lower down to a
Hollow Hold: Zip your thighs together and
activate your feet. Keep your shoulders lifted.
Press your navel toward your spine to ground
your low back to the mat. For more of a
challenge, take your arms overhead. Hold onto
your legs if you feel your shoulders and head
drooping, your hip flexors over-engaging, or if
your core needs help maintaining the integrity
of the posture.Repeat poses 6–12 on the other
side.

12 UTKATASANA Chair Pose

Full Boat Pose

From Boat Pose, hug your knees into your

chest, and gently rock up and down the length

of your spine from tail to head. After a few initial

rocks, try to gain enough momentum to plant

your feet flat on the mat, sweep your biceps by

your ears, and shift your weight back into your

heels while sitting your hips toward knee level.

Draw your navel back toward your spine, and

knit your bottom ribs together. Stay here for

3–5 breaths.

14 BALASANA Child’s Pose
From Downward-Facing Dog, roll forward to
High Plank. Lower your knees down to the
ground, separating them wider than hip width.
Feel free to wiggle around as needed to find the
distance between your knees that best supports
your body (which may be no distance at all).
Allow your forehead to find the mat as you
crawl your hands toward the top of it. Use the
pressure of your palms against the earth to sink
your hips closer to your heels. Stay here for at
least a minute.

15 HALASANA Plow Pose

From Child’s Pose, roll up to kneeling and swing

your feet around in front of you. Slowly lower

down to your back. Using more core than

momentum, put your hands and shoulders on

the ground, and lift your legs up and overhead.

To intensify the hamstring stretch, tuck your

toes on the ground behind you, and play with

bending and straightening your knees. If your

hamstrings feel tight or tense, keep your knees

bent. On an exhalation, pull your navel back,

and deepen the compression of your front

body. Hold for 3 breaths.

16 SAVASANA Corpse Pose

Slowly lower your spine back to the mat,

followed by your legs. Allow your legs to spread

out wide to the edges of your mat, and let your

palms rest face up on the floor by your hips. Close

your eyes, unfurrow your brow, and unclench

your jaw. Trust that all the strength and support

you cultivated in your practice will resonate in

your heart and mind. Right now, let go of the

need to control or manipulate the experience of

your stillness. Simply let go and just be. Stay here

for at least 5 minutes.

13 KAKASANA Crow Pose

Keeping your knees bent, plant your palms 6–12

inches in front of your feet. Shift your weight

forward into your palms and finger pads, lift your

heels off the ground, and put a soft bend in your

elbows. On an exhalation, nestle your knees to

your outer armpits, and hug your knees, elbows,

and core toward your midline. On an inhalation,

lift one big toe off the mat and then the other.

When you start to feel confident enough to lift

both feet off the mat, draw your big toes together

and your heels closer to your glutes. Hold for 5

breaths, then step your feet back to Plank Pose or

float your feet back to Chaturanga and move

through your variation of a vinyasa.

Teacher and model Kristin Calabria is a Los Angeles-based yoga and fitness instructor currently pursuing her master’s in social work.
Learn more at kristincalabria.com.