First part of locust: how and why…

Hello Martina

I agree! The photos of the single leg lift on the website do look as if the leg on the floor is engaged. I can assure you that the one on the hotyogadoctor Pose Gallery is totally relaxed. How do I know? Because I have another photo in the Pose Gallery that shows the same pose at exactly the same moment in an aerial view.

It is very hard to tell from the side.

How do you get to see the aerial photo in the Pose Gallery? VIP members get access to all the photos and not just the first 2. I won’t tease you anymore 😉 but will get on with answering your questions (which are incidentally also answered in detail on pages 213-215 in Hot Yoga MasterClass).

Leg height:
Have you ever heard the teacher say you are supposed to lift your leg to 45 degrees? Most people lift their legs to between 20 and 30 degrees. When you see 45 degrees it looks very high. You are right, you stretch it back to find length in the leg and then lift it. Too high is when you lift it up and the hip comes off the arm and one hip is higher than the other.

Paradigm shift:
Most people lie there and simply lift an extended single leg off the floor. And then they work like crazy to lift 2 legs up, as if they were 2 different poses.

From today I would like you to treat the single leg and double leg lifts as part of the same pose, inextricably linked, and not as separate poses. From today your link between them is the way you use your arms and NOT the way you lift your legs! Weight your hip as you lift your leg BUT use your arms to push into the floor. This is when the pose will change for you, forever. You will now find challenge in this pose. Once you really feel this link you will actually enjoy the transformation.

Go and experiment and then come back. If this instruction doesn’t revolutionize this pose for you, I will give you further instruction. If it does, come back and tell me too!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

PS my feet are blushing!

Hi Meissa

You will feel compression in your lower back for sure!

And the way to feel your upper back is to consciously and strongly push your arms and shoulders into the floor. This pertains to the points above re paradigm shifting!

Nah, you aren’t paranoid 😉 just becoming more conscious and body aware…

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I did not have success until I had a teacher tell me to press my heart into the floor. trying to press my shoulders into the floor felt like my chest was caving and my shoulders were rounding forward which I don’t need. Once I started pressing my chest into the floor I felt strength in my arms and back.

Hello Cindy and swanwoman

You both present very relevant points here. It really is a challenge to have a large bust in this pose. And yes pressing your heart into the floor is a fantastic way of bedding your upper body down (if you can do that ;)). When you do press that central part down it does favorably and appropriately reposition your shoulders. I do like that analogy. Thanks for that.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

This pose has been a challenge for me as well. I know I’m not doing it well. The confirmation that the bigger bust just may make the shoulders to ground impossible is helpful. I will try pressing the heart to the mat and see how that works. My other challenge is getting my arms flat. This position is still very uncomfortable for them. I’ve tried not putting them so close together, but some teachers really don’t like to see that.

Spring

Thanks Gabrielle. I will take a try at that tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Hi all.

Just wanted to ask whether anyone else has experience bruising from this pose? Whenever I go to class regularly, I get bruises just under my hipbones from this pose. I do bruise pretty easily but I’m just wondering if I’m weird or doing something wrong.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!