Let me stop you right here. 

If I had to start all over again with Standing Bow Pulling Pose, also known as Dancer Prep Pose, I’d focus less on depth and more on alignment…

And also, working WITH my body instead of insisting it do wacky things, just to feel like I finally “got it.”

Let's get straight on this - this is a tricky posture.

And, it can easily be pulled out of alignment by leaning into your flexibility instead of your strength.

One of the best things that happened for me in this posture was having a teacher grill me out of my hyper extended knee.

When the knee presses back beyond the ankle, it’s a HUGE problem.

Why?

It directly affects the rest of the posture.

When you hyper extend the knee, the kicking leg hip pulls way too far up.

How do you know if your hip is popping up? 

When you look face forward in a mirror while in this posture, your kicking leg foot is over the opposite shoulder instead of directly over the top of your head. 

And, when this happens, the back bend and twist that should be happening through the thoracic spine, pulls into the low spine and is no good over time.

Also, all good posture alignment starts at the base.

Often I see students with their standing leg foot turned slightly in. Again, this will negatively affect the posture and is a quick fix if you put your attention on it. Simply get your toes to face forward.

A big tip that will help you increase the backbend and extend the kicking leg knee further is to relax the shoulder of the arm that is connected to kicking leg. 

The more you can relax this shoulder, the deeper the stretch through your shoulder girdle and and pectoral, helping you to create space through your shoulder joint and maintain your shoulder mobility with frequent practice. (A BIG win!)

My final tip: Press your head back toward your hips.

This will help to safely deepen the bend and give you something to kick against, allowing you to begin to straighten the kicking leg knee.

See you in class soon! 

Big Hugs,
Tori ♡

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