Active Reset
Hips, Hamstrings, Strength, Relaxation
This mini-flow melds strong poses with softer, relaxing postures. A perfect mini-flow to use as a reset in the middle of a strong vinyasa practice!
Side Plank Variation (Vasisthasana Variation)
Enter this posture mid-flow. With your right hand planted on the ground, rotate onto the inside of your left foot. Hug your right thigh into your chest. Reach your left arm up to the sky. Press through the right hand and out of the right shoulder. Engage your right obliques and right leg to keep your right knee tucked in close to your chest.
Fallen Triangle (Patita Tarasana)
Straighten your right leg and let the outer edge of your foot rest on the ground. Keep your hips lifted. Press firmly into the sides of both feet. Engage your core. Continue to press into your right hand and gaze up at your left fingers.
Keeping your feet and legs as they are, begin to slowly lower your hips down to the mat. You should be resting lightly on your right hip, with your legs on the ground at a 45 degree angle. Wiggle your right foot up slightly in the direction of the top of your mat, to create a 90 degree angle with the legs. You can rotate onto the top of the left knee and the top of the left foot.
Fallen Triangle Variation (Patita Tarasana Variation)
Fallen Triangle Resting Variation (Patita Tarasana Variation)
Keeping your legs as they are, rotate your chest so it is square with the top of your mat. Press both hands into the mat, and then walk your hands forward slightly to begin to lower your chest. Come down onto your forearm if that feels comfortable and let your head hang heavy.
Side Seated Wide Angle (Parsva Upavistha Konasana)
Walk your hands in towards your body and lift your chest. Pivot to the left and ground both sitz bones into the mat. Keep your legs open and a wide-angle, facing the back of the mat. Rotate your chest so it’s square with your left leg. Take and inhale and lengthen your spine, and on your exhale melt your chest forward over your left leg.
Revolved Head-to-Knee (Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana)
Inhale and lift the chest up to center. Keep your left leg long, but bend your right knee and place the sole of the right foot on the inside of the left thigh. Drape your left arm in front of your belly, resting on your lap. Reach your right arm overhead and side-bend over the left leg. Breathe into the opening in the right side of the body.
Half Lord of the Fishes (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
Inhale and lift back to center. Take your right foot and place the sole of the foot on the outside of the left thigh. Bend your left leg and tuck your shin under your right leg. Top of the foot and shin should rest on the mat, with right knee pointed up to the sky. Place your right fingers behind your right hip on the mat and with an inhale, lift your left fingers up to the sky. On your exhale, twist your chest to the right, hooking the left elbow on the outside of the right knee.
Wide Legged Forward Bend Variation (Prasarita Padottanasana Variation)
Take an exhale breath, twist the chest back through center and keep twisting toward the left. Plant your fingers behind the left hip, keep your feet where they are and begin to lift the hips. Follow the twist and twist around so you’re facing the front of the mat. Pivot your toes so they face front and straighten your legs. Let your chest hang in between your legs. You should now be in a slightly more narrow version of a wide legged forward fold. Shift weight into the balls of your feet. Grab for opposite elbows and let your head hang heavy.
Yogic Squat (Malasana)
Release your fingers down to the mat. Pivot your feet so your heels point in and your toes point out. Lift the chest and sink the hips in between the heels, coming down into your yogic squat. Bring your hands to prayer position at heart center, with your elbows pressing into the inside of your knees. Keep the core slightly engaged to avoid sinking into the hip sockets.
Crow (Bakasana)
Gaze forward and lift your hips slightly to plant your hands on the mat, shoulder-distance apart. Toe-heel your feet closer together, keeping your knees spread wide. Lift the hips higher to tuck your knees into your armpits. Shift your weight forward, into your hands, and find a 90 degree bend in your elbows. Lift both toes off the mat at the same time, hugging your feet in towards your seat. Press strongly through both hands and find a dome-shape in the upper back. Stay for five breaths and transition into the rest of your flow!
