June 2019: Standing Figure Four
Standing Figure Four
This standing one legged balancing pose can be practiced after warming up your body with lunging postures, sun salutations, and forward folds. As always, keep your breath steady and your core active to help with balance and stabilization.
Steps:
Begin standing evenly in Tadasana with two feet grounded, hands folded at heart or placed on hips, gaze forward.
Shift your weight into one foot, crossing the other ankle over your standing thigh just above your kneecap. Flex your lifted ankle to stabilize that knee.
Activate your hips by pressing your lifted ankle into your standing leg. Modify for days of questionable balance by crossing your ankle much lower on your leg, even placing your toes on the ground, but still pressing the ankle into the standing leg.
Bend your standing knee and sit though your hips just like in chair pose, keep your torso upright at first, gaze still forward, sinking low enough to bring plenty of sensation to the hip of the lifted leg.
Hinging at your hips will lower your torso closer towards your lifted shin, dropping your gaze to the floor in front of you. Hands can stay where they were, or you could reach hands down to blocks, fingertips, floor or standing shin.
Final steps would be to send the gaze back behind you, dropping your head and releasing your neck while broadening upper shoulders and back.
Back out of the pose the same way you came into it, coming back to an even standing posture.