Posture of the Week: Crescent Lunge/High Lunge/Alanasana

Crescent lunge/high lunge is a nice way to build strength and stability in the legs, and it is also a nice opening for the hip flexors - try it as a break from your workday if you have a sedentary job.  Even though two feet are on the floor, the large distance between them can make this a challenging posture for balance.  Feel free to stand close to a wall or chair to hold on to if you need help with balance.  If you'd like a warmup posture, check out last week's posture of the week: Boxy Lunge!

Crescent Lunge/High Lunge/Alanasana

Crescent lunge.

To get into the posture:

Stand with your feet hip bone width (about 2 fist widths) apart at the front of your mat.  Step your left foot straight back a little more than one of your leg lengths, making sure the feet stay hip bone width apart side to side.  You can adjust the lunge to shallower or deeper front to back, depending on your strength and flexibility.  Make sure whatever depth you choose, your right knee is directly on top of your right ankle rather than in front of it.

Stand with feet hip bone width apart. You can measure hip bone width by two
of your own fist widths as pictured above.

Refining the posture:

Adjust your spacing front to back so that your right knee is directly on top of your right ankle.  If the knee presses forward of the ankle joint, the knee isn't happy.  Also make sure your lunge isn't so wide that you are unable to bring your knee on top of your ankle!  You can have as shallow or deep a lunge as you like, provided the right knee is on top of the ankle, AND the right hip doesn't go lower than the right knee.  In other words, the right thighbone doesn't want to go farther down than parallel to the floor.

Make sure your front knee isn't forward of the ankle joint as pictured above...

...and also make sure your lunge isn't so wide you are unable to put your
front knee on top of your ankle joint, as above.

You can have a shallow lunge as pictured above, depending on your strength
and flexibility.  A shallow lunge (with knee still directly on top of ankle) is
easier on both strength and flexibility.

Make sure you don't sink your hips lower than your front knee as above.

Make sure your belly isn't pressing forward and your low back collapsing.  Try to draw your belly in and up and lengthen the low back.  If this is difficult to feel, place one hand on belly and one hand on your sacrum (like we did last week in the Boxy Lunge post!), straighten your front knee and press the tailbone down and the belly in and up with the help of your hands, then return your arms to your chosen position.

Here I am collapsed in my low back, causing it to overarch.

To help adjust out of a low back collapse, straighten the front knee a bit,
place 1 hand on low back and 1 hand on sacrum, and draw the belly in and
up while sending the tailbone down toward the floor, with the assistance of
your hands.

After adjusting the position, sink back down into your lunge without
losing the position of the pelvis.

Adjust the back foot so the heel is stacked right on top of the ball of the foot, rather than pressing behind the ball of the foot.  This helps you to balance your weight between your two feet, provides even more length through the front of your hip left hip, and strengthens the back leg.

Make sure your back heel isn't falling back behind the ball of the foot.

Try to place the back heel directly on top of the ball of the foot and energize
the whole back leg.

Make sure your feet remain hip bone width apart side to side, rather than wider or closer together.

Viewed from the front, you can see my feet aren't hip bone width apart;
they are too close together, creating a "tightrope" effect.

And here my feet are farther apart than hip bone width.

Try to place the feet at hip bone width apart as above.

Make sure your shoulders are stacked right on top of your hips, rather than leaning forward or back.

Torso leaned too far forward, shoulders are forward of hips.

Torso leaning too far back.

Neutral - shoulders on top of hips.

Arm options for crescent lunge include pressing your hands to heart center as in the above picture, lifting the arms high toward the sky, or temple clasp (folding your hands, but pointing the pointer fingers toward the sky). 

Arms high.

Temple clasp.

Hold the posture for 3-5 breaths, then switch sides so your left leg is forward!

For a precursor and warmup pose for this posture, or if this posture seems inaccessible for your body, check out last week's posture of the week: Boxy Lunge!

Meowttakes!

I had kitties walking under my legs the whole time I was taking these photos.  :)

Riddick tickles my foot with his whiskers, and I am getting irritated that
my camera remote isn't working.  :)

Posture of the Week: Boxy Lunge/Anjaneyasana variation

Many of us (I definitely include myself in this!) have tight hip flexors.  We sit in chairs frequently, or even all day in many cases, which puts the hips joints in a flexed position for a large portion of time.  With all that sitting, the hip flexors get shortened and tight, which can create many issues for the body, and is one possible culprit of low back pain.  Try boxy lunge after a period of sitting, or to break up a period of sitting, to lengthen and release the front of the hips.

Boxy lunge is one of the most accessible low lunges, and it allows us to find the optimum position of the pelvis for other lunges; it is a nice preparation for deeper lunges like Low Lunge, or strength building lunges Crescent Lunge, both of which will be the subject of later posts!  :)  Boxy lunge is essentially making a square with the legs, hence "boxy."

Boxy Lunge

To get into the posture: Stand on your knees with your hips directly on top of your knees, thigh bones perpendicular to the floor, with a blanket or rolled mat under the knees if you have sensitive knees.  Bring your right foot forward to a lunge position, but keep your left hip on top of your left knee - so only your right leg moved, not your left.  Place your right ankle directly below your right knee, so you should now have a square shape with your legs.

Start by standing on your knees. Pad your knees with
a blanket if you have sensitive knees.

Bring your right foot forward to a lunge position, placing
your right ankle directly below your right knee and keeping
your left knee directly below your left hip.

Now, adjust your pelvis to a neutral position by bringing one hand to your lower belly and one hand to your sacrum.  As you engage the front core muscles drawing the belly in and up, use your hands for support to point the sacrum down toward the floor (pulling up with the belly hand, pressing down with the sacrum hand), and you will start to feel a bit of length in the front of your left hip.  If this is already enough stretch, stay here.

Adjust the position of the pelvis so your sacrum points
straight down, using one hand on belly and one hand
on sacrum.

Better view of the hand on the sacrum.

Avoid collapsing the spine and belly forward - you can
see that the front of my hip is not lengthened at all in
this position, but I am taking it in my low back instead.
The hands to sacrum and belly help you avoid this position.

But don't overdo it - in this position you can see my pelvis
is actually tucked, not neutral, which puts pressure on the
low back.

If you can hold your pelvis stable without your hands, you can press your hands down into your thigh without leaning back to help lift your chest and lengthen your spine more.

Hands to thigh, press down onto the thigh for leverage to
further lengthen the spine and the front of the hip.

You can also reach your arms skyward to increase the lengthening sensation in the front of the hips.

Reaching skyward. Roll the pinkies in toward one another
to allow the shoulder to come toward in line with the ears.

A more intense option for boxy lunge is to grab your back foot and pull the foot toward your bum, adding a deep stretch to the quadriceps.  If you can't reach, use a strap to get a hold of your foot. Make sure you have padding under the knee for this one, even if you weren't using padding before.

Pulling foot toward your bum for a deep quad stretch.
Make sure you maintain the position of the pelvis!

If you are unable to reach the foot with your hand, use a
strap to hold the foot! Here I have subbed in a resistance
band since I seem to have misplaced my strap... :)

Hold the posture for 5-10 breaths on each side.

Meowttakes!

My cats think yoga props are impromptu kitty beds. :)

Am I disturbing your slumber?  :)

Zen kitty.  :)