Crow Pose

Hi everyone, welcome to your practice today. Today we're going to be working towards crow pose and we'll also be doing some side crow pose variations. So let's get started. Come on down to your backs. Okay, so let your arms come out to airplane wings with your palms down and draw your knees up towards your chest, hug your knees towards one another.

And then you're just going to hop your hips about maybe an inch over towards the left and then squeezing the knees together, flaring your pinky toes, you're going to slowly lower the knees all the way down towards the ground. I just got a free chiropractic adjustment, maybe you did too. And you're not letting them like fling down there and you're not letting the knees separate the bottom knee really wants to come down, so keep drawing it up towards the top knee. And then you're all the way down, you can go ahead and pick up the head, turn the gaze over towards the left hand and take a big stretch here. It should feel sort of luscious and lovely.

Good. And then using your abs, draw the navel back, start to take the legs back all the way up. And when you get to the top, hop the hips over towards the right, squeeze the knees, lower your pinky toes, and then come all the way super slow lower. Drawing the left knee up towards the right knee, not letting them separate. And then when it comes down, lift your head up, turn the gaze over towards the right hand and let the head come down.

Sometimes there's a nice release to the side of the neck when we do it that way. You don't need to have your knees touching the ground or anything like that at this point. Good. And then keeping the knees together, come all the way back up, let the gaze turn back towards the ceiling, center the hips, and then this time you're not going to come down all the way to the ground, you're going to lower about halfway. So hop the hips a little bit to the left, hug the knees, and then start to lower them halfway over towards your right side.

And then when you get there, draw the navel back and turn the belly over towards the left. This is belly turning pose. Take a big inhale into your left shoulder. One more exhale, turn the belly towards the left, keeping the left shoulder down. And then inhale, come all the way back up, hop the hips over to the right, and exhale slow lower all the way down to the left, keeping the pinky toes flared, feet are awake and active, and then draw the navel back, keeping the right shoulder down, turn the belly over towards the right, big full breath into the right shoulder, exhale, turn the belly one more time, and then inhale, come on back up, hop the hips over to the left, either stay tight with bent legs for this one, if that's feeling like enough, or start to straighten the legs, keeping the inner edges of the feet together.

And as you lower, you're going to take your hands over towards the right, your feet over towards your right hand. And then you're going to pause, strong, straight legs as best you can, big breath into the left shoulder, turn the belly towards the right, left, excuse me, and then inhale, come on back up, hop the hips over to the right just slightly, and then as you exhale, lower all the way towards the left. And you're really pressing with the palms down in this position, you have that opportunity to press the hands and really anchor yourself, take an inhale into the right shoulder, exhale, turn the belly, and then inhale, come on back up, and exhale, place the soles of your feet on the ground. Good. Catch your hands underneath your hamstrings, rock yourself up towards seated, and let's rest in plank pose.

So come on out to plank pose, spread your fingers, what I want you to do here is let the hips be completely like moving kind of back, the sitting bones moving back towards the heels for this one, so you're not lifting the hips into a down dog shape, but you're going to press into your hands and start to round the upper back, making a Halloween cat back in your upper back. And then we're going to do three rolls over our toes, so you're going to roll all the way to the top of the foot, and then all the way back. And then all the way to the top of the foot, and then all the way back. And once more, all the way to the top of the foot, keep pressing, and all the way back. And then we're going to exit into downward facing dog.

When you're downward dog, ground through the inner and the outer hand, pull energy up into the hips from both sides of your feet, and stretch the back of your heart up towards your hips. Good. Step your left foot towards center, inhale the right leg straight back up and behind, and with an exhale, step to the outside of your right hand. For this one, you're going to keep the back heel lifted, but walk the hands over towards the left. So you'll notice that that back heel wants to do funny stuff.

Keep it pointing straight back, lift the thigh so that you're moving the femur into the back of the hip socket, and roll the right hip towards the back of the mat for a big hip opener here. It's kind of like devotional warrior, but with hands on the ground, which is nice. Good. One more breath, inhale. And then as you exhale, walk your hands towards the back of the mat.

You're going to turn your left toes out, and your right toes are going to come up to the sky, and you're in this Ardhamalasana, or Skandasana shape. Skandas, one of the sons of Shiva, Ganesh's brother. Good. And you're getting a nice stretch into the groin left heel, stays down if you can. If that means that your booty has to go higher, that's totally fine.

Good. And then walk it all the way back to the front of the mat, frame your front foot, and inhale, step back, downward facing dog. Good. Pause for the exhale, stretch your legs, and then step your right foot towards the center. Inhale your left leg straight back up and behind.

And with an exhale, step to the outside of your left hand, keep the right heel lifted, and walk the hands over towards the right. Good. Move as best you can, your right thigh into the back of the hip socket, and curl your left thigh towards the back of the mat. Whole sole of that left foot stays on the floor, inhaling, exhaling. One more, inhale.

And then as you exhale, walk your hands to the back of the mat, lift your left toes up off the floor, and your right toes turn out so you're in this Ardhamalasana, this half squat, stretching the groin. And you can even use your right elbow against the leg a little bit to get in there and start to make space in the hips. Good. Again keeping the right foot down on the floor. Nice.

Breathe in. And as you breathe out, walk the hands back forward to the front of the mat, and this time step back to plank pose please, and come back to that Halloween cat upper back. So push and round into your upper back, draw the navel back, and then we're going to bend into the right knee and the left knee. So both knees are bent, and then straighten the legs. And then left knee, right knee, straighten.

Keep pushing. Right knee, left knee, straighten. Drag the heels of your hands back to your toes. Right, left, straight, left, right, straight, and then downward facing dog. Awesome, good work.

On your next breath in, we're just going to slowly start to lift into the heels and step by step walk it all the way to the front of the mat, finding your forward fold. First one of the day, maybe make some space between the feet. I usually do my surya namaskar A's with lots of space, and that's totally fine. Good. And then inhale, start to res all the way up, and exhale, hands to heart center, please.

Inhale, reach your arms up into the sky. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, extend your spine long. Exhale, step back to plank pose. Inhale in your plank pose.

And forward, exhale, lower all the way down to the floor. Untuck the toes, and inhale, rise up just a little low baby cobra here. So from your elbow, push down into your hands, broaden the collarbones. Let the gaze lift, reach through the legs, and then exhale, lower forehead to the floor. Good.

Use your hands, press up to knees, tuck the toes, and stretch back, downward facing dog. Three breaths here. Breathing fully, exhale, inhale, exhale. Inhale lift high up into your toes, bend your knees back towards your, bend your knees and take your chest back towards your thighs, and then as you breathe out, hop right between your hands. Inhale, arda uttanasana, exhale, forward fold.

Exhale, rise all the way up, and exhale, hands to heart center. Good. One more A like that. Inhale, reaching up. Exhale, forward fold.

Inhale, arda, half lift. Exhale, hop back chaturanga if you're ready. Inhale, upward facing dog. Roll over both feet at the same time, exhale, downward facing dog. Breathing in, breathing out, breathing in.

As you exhale, bend the knees, look where you're going right between your thumbs and hop right between your hands. Inhale, arda, exhale, fold in. Inhale, rise all the way up, and exhale, hands to heart center. Good. We're going to start on a scar B with variations.

Inhale, reach your arms up, hug the sides of your waist in, stretch, and then exhale, forward fold. Bend in the knees, touch your hands back behind your heels, inhale, lift your chest. Exhale, fold in. Inhale, arda, half lift. Exhale, hop back, take your vinyasa.

Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale the right heel, straight back up, and exhale, step between your hands. Inhale, rise all the way up, high lunge, and bend into that back knee so that your right hip lowers down a little bit, and then just straighten the back leg. And let's do that one more time. So bend into the back knee so your right hip lowers down a little bit, and then just straighten the back leg, and then take your right hand to that inner thigh of the left leg and reach the left arm up for reverse peaceful, big stretch.

Good, inhale. And then exhale, you're going to sneak into warrior one, peeling the back heel down, reaching the arms up into the sky, and exhale, hands back behind you, make a clasp. Inhale, keep low in the right leg, pull your heart open. And as you exhale, bow devotional warrior. Like we did in that first downward dog lunge variation, wrap the right hip back, and lower your head to or towards your ankle, taking the arms up and over.

Good, inhale, sweep it back up, warrior one, and exhale, hands to the floor, take a vinyasa or skip it. Arriving in downward dog, inhale the left heel straight back up, and exhale, step between your hands. Rise up high lunge all in one piece energetically, and then bend into that back knee so that your left hip lowers and straighten that back leg. And then again, bend and straighten. One more, bend and straighten.

Take your left hand to your inner right thigh, back behind you, flip the right palm backwards, and then it's reverse peaceful warrior. Lift that back leg into your hand, and stretch the front of that hip. Good. Now you're going to sneak into warrior one, reaching the left arm back up, peeling the right heel down, inhale, stretch up. Inhale, hands back behind you, inhale, heart high, exhale, devotional warrior.

Again, tone that inner right thigh, peel the left hip back, and then lower your head to or towards the left ankle. Taking the arms up and over, squeezing the heels of the hands together, and then one breath in, warrior one, inhale, rise all the way up. And exhale, hands down to the ground, vinyasa, or downward facing dog, stretch your legs. Good. Resting here in the down dog, I have one teacher who believes that downward dog is a resting pose, and I have another teacher who believes that downward dog should never be a resting pose, but I think given what we just did, it feels right now like a rest.

But do stretch your legs, do reach your shoulder blades towards your hands, and the back of your heart up towards your hips. One more breath full, inhale. As you exhale, bend the knees, look forward, and hop right between your hands. Inhale, arda, exhale, fold, bend the knees deeply, and inhale to rise all the way up to utkatasana, exhale, stand up, hands to heart center. Good, we'll add on to that.

Inhale, reach up, exhale, forward fold, bend the knees deeply, touch your hands back behind your heels, inhale, lift your chest, utkatasana, exhale, forward fold. Exhale, extend your spine long, exhale, hop back, take your vinyasa, upward facing dog breathing in, exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale the right heel, straight back up and behind, exhale, step between your hands, inhale, rising up, high lunge shape, bend into that back knee as you did before, and then restreaten. Again, bend and restreaten. Take your right hand back to your inner left thigh, flip the left palm, inhale, stretch up, and then as you exhale, you're going to turn, catching your left elbow to the outside of your right knee, pressing palms, good.

And then look down, you're going to step your left foot to meet your right foot, and come into a tiny little squat. So you're going to lift your heels up, but you're still in a twist, and I'm going to turn this way so that you guys can see me. And then here's what you're going to do with your hands. You're going to let your hands point in the same direction as your toes as you set them down on your mat or beside your mat. And then hug the knees together as we did on the floor.

Your elbow should be about mid-thigh if that's possible, and then you simply shift your weight over towards the right. You're balancing on your left elbow. Have the feet together, and then some of you might try and straighten the right arm as best you can, good. Come back, turn for me, come back to your revolve dutkatasana, and then it's going to be a peaceful warrior for the exit. So you're going to step back with the left leg, peel the right arm up and open, inhale, and then exhale, hands all the way down to the floor, take your vinyasa or rest in your downward facing dog.

Breathing in, breathing out, when you get to your down dog, inhale the left heel straight back up and behind, exhale, step between your hands, inhale rising back up to your high lunge shape, bend into that back knee, and then straighten, and bend, and straighten. Take your left hand to your inner right thigh, inhale, stretch up, reverse peaceful, and then exhale, catch the right elbow to the outer left leg, press palms here in a twist. From here, look down, turn the belly, and then step your right foot to meet your left, and come down to a little revolve squat. And then again, your hands are going to go right next to you so that your fingers are pointed in the same direction as your toes. Sometimes people can get side crow before they can get traditional crow where your knees are on the outsides of your armpits.

So you lean the energy over towards the left. Your left elbow is not touching the thigh, squeeze the heels together, maybe straightening into that left arm, smile, breathe, good, come back, find your revolved lunge, excuse me, revolved Utkatasana, and then the exit again is going to be peaceful warrior. So winding it up and back, stepping the right foot all the way back to the back of the mat, lifting the left arm up, inhale, exhale, hands all the way to the ground. Take your Vinyasa, Chaturanga, upward facing dog, stretching out the belly after that. Exhale, downward facing dog.

Four breaths here, inhale fully, exhale completely. Exhaling, exhaling, inhaling, exhaling. Last one, inhale, exhale, you're going to start to walk your feet and your hands towards the middle of the mat and take the inner edges of your feet together and then squat just like you did before when we were in the twist. So drop your seat to your heels, lift your heels, and then you're going to separate your knees and snuggle your armpits way, way down your shins. And then you'll take the hands forward, you can grab your mat, tuck your chin and come into Malasana squat.

If this is going well, stay here. If you want to deepen it a little bit, take your right hand, reach it back so that your knuckles are on the floor and your armpits way down your shin. And then your left hand, reach it back, knuckles on the floor, armpit way down your shin. And then you walk the hands back and let the head bow towards the toes. And sometimes you can get your heels on the ground here.

This is a big stretch for the backside of your body. Okay, start to walk one hand out and then the other. Line up your fingers with your toes, push the floor down and forward, let the belly and the thighs stay connected and come up Uttanasana, straightening into the legs. Release, step your left foot to the back of the mat, step your right foot to the front of the mat, parallel the toes, and place your hands between your feet. So again, your fingers and your toes are lined up.

And we're going to take the extended spine variation of this Wide-Legged Forward Fold. So balance the weight on the feet, take the outer shins, draw them back so they're moving towards the back of your room, and then lift the inner thighs, zip them up, push the hands down onto the floor like Crow Pose and look up. Find a backbend. Reach from the big toes out, keep the outer shins drawing back, zip up the inner thighs and stretch. Should feel nice, good.

And then release, walk the hands over towards the front of the mat, step back, and take a brief Child's Pose drop to the knees. Let your hips rest back. Good, all right, start to walk your hands back towards your knees, good rest, and you're going to grab your block. So you can also use a stack of books at home or some object that looks like a black. And we're going to come to seated, and you're going to take your black and set it on the mid-setting parallel here so that the long side is parallel with the edges of your mat.

And you're going to take your feet around the edges of your block so that you have contact with the inner heels in the big toe knuckle. And then you're just going to lean back here, nice high heart, and then squeeze, whoo, high pelvic floor, squeeze the block with your inner edges of your feet. And you'll notice that there's a line that starts to happen of energy from the big toe all the way up through the inner thighs to the pelvic floor. And that's what we're looking for when we go up into a crow pose. So this is a great way to start to train that.

Good, all right, so go ahead and release that, shake it out for a second. And then you're going to bring your heels up on top of the block, and you're going to find that same sensation but without the block. You're going to squeeze the inner heels in the big toe knuckles, and then this is the hard part. You're going to lean back sort of like Navasana, and you're going to try and lift your feet up off the block without letting them fall apart. And that in and of itself is really hard because they want to go like this, like for most of us.

And so we're just squeezing and really finding that inner line of the leg that meets with the pelvic floor so we get that Uriana Bandha kind of lift. And again, we'll lift up, try and keep them together, good, and come back down. One more like that. Lift up, squeeze, try and keep them together, and then come back down. And then release off the block for a moment, shake it out, rest.

Now we're going to add in the crow-leg part. So very much like the devotional warrior lunges that we did or the little squats. We're going to take the inner edges of the feet together, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze till you feel your pelvic floor lift, and then lean back, lift the heels up off the block, and then draw your knees as close to your armpits as you can, squeeze, and then shoot it back. And then again, lean back, lift, knees open, squeeze, belly and thighs are close like the Uttanasana, release, good, lift. One more of those, squeeze, draw the knees to the armpits, closer, closer, closer, and then release, come back, take your feet off of the block, and relax for a moment.

We're going to set up for our first crow pose now. So bring the block to the medium setting and place it towards the center of your mat. And then we're going to come and perch like a tiny little bird on the block here. And what this does is that if our hips aren't quite open enough to be able to get the knees way up into the armpits, this gives us a little bit of height and can help until your hips begin to open if they ever do. It's fine to use the block for the rest of your life, no one cares.

If you're scared of coming forward and lifting your feet off the block, I highly recommend bringing a blanket and putting it in front of your face. You can even put your little paws underneath the blanket. And you're going to take your armpits way, way down your shins, inner edges of the feet together like we just practiced on the block, unavasana work. And then you're going to lean forward, keep, if you can, the inner edges of the feet squeezing together and you'll come to a little bent arm variation of crow. If you're going to move towards straighter arms, claw the floor, and then start to squeeze your triceps and begin to lift forward and up towards straighter arms, heels to the seat as best you can, feel that inner line of the leg, and then that's probably enough, release, come down.

And you can just come sit down and we'll remove the block, okay. So what tends to happen here, yoga teachers have a club where we talk about all the things that our students do. No, I'm just joking. We don't really have that at all, but there is, we do talk about how when we teach crow pose that everyone will just be like, yes, yes, I love that you're teaching it that way. And then they'll be like, whatever, I'm doing crow pose exactly the way I always do.

And then do whatever it is that they were going to do. And the actual pose, in the classic way that you enter the pose, the booty is really low. And so when we're entering the pose, if you walk the hands way forward and then try to get in with the hands way forward, your butt has to come high and you're kind of like crawling up your upper arms. But in this way, with the inner edges of the feet together, we're going to mirror what we did with that melasana squat and take the elbows kind of close to the feet as the armpits walk down the shins. And then you look forward.

I like to imagine that I'm a tiny little bird of prey who's going to go hunting at night. And you squeeze the knees in, you look forward. And it's not a shifting up, it's a shifting forward. Inner edges of the feet stay together as best they can to come into the bent arm variation. This is stage one.

And if you're moving forward, squeeze the triceps, that's what straightens the arms, and lift into the crow pose. And the booty stays low. That's the point. Strong belly, squeeze the inner edges of the feet, last breath, and then start to release, come down, and we're going to come on down to our backs. Good work.

Whoo, so there's some stuff to work with, my friends. There's the work with the block. That's stage one, squeezing the inner edges of the feet together. And then there's standing on the block, stage two. And then stage three is removing the block and working toward bent arm variation and then straight arm variation.

But I highly recommend filming yourself doing it so that you can see what happens with your booty if it's going really high or if you can stay low and get that forward momentum. So from here, reach your arms up above your head, take the soles of your feet on the floor, and make the mat width distance apart so that you have the pinky toes on the edge of the mat. And then let the knees swing over to the right, take your left hip point and move it toward your belly button, and take the pubic bone back into your body. And then that helps to settle the psoas back. And then take your right foot, place the right foot on your left thigh if that feels nice.

Keep settling that pubic bone back and then stretch, pull your right, your left wrist with your right hand and get a big opening to the front of the pelvis there. Should feel nice. Use the inhales to lengthen, the exhales to keep the length, great. And then release, come up, soles of the feet are nice and wide, knees knock in once more, arms up above your head, armpits open, and then release the knees over to the left. Take the right hip point, that bony part of your hip and move it towards the belly button, and then take your pubic bone into the back of your body.

Take the left foot, place it on the right thigh, and then grab your right wrist with your left hand and pull long through that side of the body. And you can kick with your left foot a little bit down and forward to get a stretch to come to the front of that pelvis. And it feels really lovely, good. Inhale to lengthen, exhale keep the length, and then inhale come on back up, release, pause, let the knees kiss for a moment, hands can come to belly. As always, if there's any other shape that your body needs before you take shavasana, honor that, otherwise stretching out your right leg and your left leg, letting the feet rock open, palms to the sky, and take your shavasana.

Remembering that whatever happens with these shapes that we've been working on together, it's not about the doing it, the achieving something, but it's about whether we can meet ourselves with self-acceptance and self-love, no matter what happens in yoga asana. If we start to use this practice as a way to beat ourselves up, that's something to look into, and rest. Inhale, exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Beginning to tune your senses back in. Keep the body still, just let the breath begin to deepen. Your exhale, rolling over towards your right side, letting your creative left side body be skyward, getting that sky energy, rolling a little more towards the floor. Use your hands, push yourself up towards seated.

Bring your hands to heart center, letting your head bow in, honoring this practice, your decision to return to the mat once more, and then taking a big bow down to that seat of expansive love that resides in each of your hearts. Namaste.