Foundational Stances

So here we're going to look at a foundational stance that I'll refer to as horse stance and also prasaditya parottanasana variations. And so these two postures, we have the legs a little bit wide, but how wide? Only so wide that we can still feel that sense of lift and space through the pelvis and through the lumbar spine. So before we widen the feet, let's just start with the feet about hip width apart, a little bit of a bend in the knees, and we'll feel the tail low and the hips forwards. If we bring the hands up in front of us, we can feel that length in the spine.

Now let's try for a moment, we take the feet out a bit. We have the feet facing forwards, we apply the bunda in the foot, in the ankle, in the knee, and can we still feel the tail down, the front of the hips ever so slightly forwards, and we feel integration in the hips? Notice how that feels. If we keep extending the legs wide, there may come a point where, if I keep going wider, I feel like I've lost that integration. And now, if I was to show this from the side, you'll see like when I'm here, I can keep this integration.

But if I go really, really wide, there comes a point, for me it's already come, where it's kind of collapsing. I can't really feel my pelvis coming together underneath my spine, it's kind of like I'm getting stretched apart, it doesn't feel integrated. So for me, I need to bring my feet a little bit closer. Same in the horse stance, with the knees bent, we're only going to take the horse stance to a width or breadth, where we can feel that the tail can move down, we can feel that we're drawing into the center. We're not kind of collapsing down, and the lumbar spine feels long and spacious.

So Simon Borgolivia, he talks about, you can have the gudjestana, the elephant stance, which would be wider, if you're sitting on a big, wide elephant, or you can have the horse stance, or you can go for the Shetland pony, a smaller horse. The width isn't so important, what's important is that you feel that lift and space through the body. So I'm going to go a little bit wider, something like this, and I'm going to feel the inner ball and outer heel, particularly, and the outer ball and inner heel, all connecting richly to the earth. So just try that, and feel then how the arch lifts, the arch in the foot lifts, and that sets in motion a sensation of internal lift in the ankle, in the knee and the hip, and I can feel in my pelvis, integration. Still can still go down, front steps can still come forwards, and if I bring my hands in front of my body, and lift them up, I can still feel that lovely sense of lengthening.

So let's do that together now, so we're going to do some spinal movements in the horse stance. Now you can also squat down deeper, but if we squat down deeper, can you still feel that integration in the pelvis? Can you still feel the tail is down, there's no collapse in this area? So just come down to a depth, and set the feet at a breadth that's appropriate and stable for you. Feel that length in the spine, tail down, front of the hips forwards, backs of the hands come together, and then we lengthen up.

Feel that space through the whole virtual column, and the hands come forwards into a forward bend, but all the while, the tail is down and coming forwards ever so slightly as the front of the hips come forwards. And now we get this lovely forward bend sensation in the thoracic spine, and then the hands can come down, reach behind the thighs, behind the hips, and then come through at the level of the floating ribs. The hands can then stretch back in the opposite direction, reach out and high. And then we come into this back bending variation, and then the hands can reach across to opposite elbows, reaffirm the way that the tail is down, front of the hips ever so slightly forwards. I'm going to lift out of the right side of the navel to lengthen the right side of the body.

Left hand can reach out to the left, right hand up and over a little bit to the left, and so we lengthen the right side body, minimizing any tendency of the left body to shorten. And then we'll turn the left hand, gather the energy up, reaching that left hand up to the height of the right. Take the hands to the opposite elbows, lift out of the left side of the navel, and slide the hands away to the other side, active in the hands and fingers, and then gather the energy with the right palm, reaching up to the level of the left hand. And without shortening the spine, gently invite the hands to lower down until they come more or less to the level of the upper chest. Feel the hips stable and facing forwards, and then gently from the navel, one vertebra at a time, rotate smoothly towards the left side, feeling space in the front and back of the upper body, and then gently opening the arms out, seeing both hands in the peripheral vision, and then gently turning the gaze to look at the front hand, checking the neck is space on both sides.

Then gather the energy with the left arm, bring it underneath the right, bring the hands once more in front of the upper chest, and then rotate from the navel, one vertebra at a time, towards the right side now. You can stay here or open the arms wider first, see both sets of fingers in the peripheral vision, and then gently turn the gaze to the front hand. Check the neck is space on both sides, and then gather the energy with the right arm and bring it underneath the left. Bring the hands back to the center, and gently back down to the start position. And then bend these a touch deeper, turn the heels in to come back to standing hip width.

So so far, we've been in this foundational horse stance, really good for stabilizing the body, and cultivating that integrated activity to the whole kinetic chain from the foot all the way through to the pelvis, not the spine, and we've done those different spinal movements of lengthening, bending forwards, backwards, laterally, and rotating. So it's a lovely kind of self-contained little practice, but we're going to add in a few little extra elements here. Let's come back into the horse stance. Again, check that the breadth and the depth is appropriate, and then we'll bring the hands in front of the body, lengthen up, and then we'll bend forwards, bringing the fingers forwards and downwards, and letting them then reach behind the legs, behind the hips, coming through at the level of the floating ribs, and then take the arms out and high above the head, and then once more, lengthen forwards, and this time, as the hands come back, interlace the fingers behind your back, look towards your navel, and feel that the tail continues to work downwards, the fronts of the hips stay forwards, and then move from the navel to lengthen the front body without shortening the back body. So the hands are interlaced, but I'm not closing the back body, I'm trying to keep the back body nice and spacious and open, even as I lengthen the front body, and then we'll release the hands, and the arms come out to the side with the fingers and thumbs working together and pointing downwards, and then we'll press the palms out, bending the fingers down at the knuckles, and then the opposite movement, thumbs and fingers together, working downwards, bending the wrist, and then press out with the fingers bending down, feel the activation in the arms, and then the things and thumbs come together, and we press out, things and thumbs come together, and then we press out through the palms, and then we'll bring the hands down in front of the body once again, interlace the fingers now, and then reach the arms in front of you, and up above the head, and now from here we're going to go to one side, we're going to go up to the left, so as we're going to go up to the left, we need to be very careful, we're going to keep this right hip anchored down towards the earth, so I'm going to lift up out of the navel, lengthen the right side of the navel, and as I lift up and over to the left, I'm then going to minimise the tendency for the left side to get shortened, so I get that lovely sense of lengthening the right side body, but both sides of the spine can still feel relatively spacious, and then I'm going to lift out of the left side of the navel as the left arm comes under a little bit to bring me back to the centre, and then I'm going to change the way I'm interlacing my fingers and go to the opposite side, so the hips are nicely rooting, I feel the hips stable, and the left hip's going to stay where it is as I lift out of the left side of the navel to lengthen the left side body, and then lift up and over, and bring the hands over towards the right side, but maintaining a sense of space even in the right side body, while I get that lovely sense of opening in the left, all the while feeling stable and grounded through the soles of the feet, then I'm going to lift out of the right side of the navel as the right arm comes forwards a little bit to lift me back to the centre, and the hands are going to come down, one more time, interlace the fingers, and lift the hands up above the head, and now we'll come into a rotation with the hands reaching up, tail continues to work down, front of the hips slightly forwards, then rotate from the navel towards the left, take it easy, check the next day is relaxed, keep reaching up through the fingers, and then gently come back to the centre, interlace the fingers the opposite way, and then again from the navel, smooth and easy motion, one vertebra at a time, rotating, feeling the activation through the legs, through the arms, and then coming back to the centre, and bringing the hands down, and then from here, we're going to come in to prasadipadottanasana, so we're going to make sure that the feet are more or less straight forwards, I'm going to keep my knees bent, and then I'm going to lower my hips towards the ground, and bring my hands towards the earth, lining up the fingers with the toes, keeping my knees bent, so I can really connect to the earth through my feet and my hands, I'm now going to activate the bandha in the foot and the ankle, in the wrist, in the elbow, in the knee, in the shoulders, in the hips, I feel like I'm drawing energy through the open soles of the feet, all the way through the joints of my legs, into my pelvis, and I'm feeling, as the arms also engage with that bandha action, the thoracic spine lifts a little, the neck can be relaxed and easy, and gently the chin can come towards the chest, without any strain, and notice how that subtle bandha action allows you to draw energy from the earth up into the body, and at the same time reaffirm that connection to the grounding, rooting, earthing element of the ground beneath you.

Notice how the bandha also can deepen that sense of being stable, firm, but relaxed and easy at the same time. Feel that you're lifting out of the earth, into the pelvis, and the two sides of the pelvis are working towards one another, so you're integrating, notice how you can still stay space in the front of the body, even as the back body lengthens, and then bend the knees deeper to lower the hips, and smoothly rise up out of the posture, and come back to the fore stance, bring the hands in front of the body, and then once more, lengthen the spine, let the hands come up in front of the body, let them come forwards, and downwards, bring the hands behind the back, let them come through the floating ribs, stretch the wrist back the opposite way now, lift the arms out and above the head, and then bring the hands down through the centre, and then once more, turn the feet forwards, bend the knees, and take the first two fingers around the two big toes, thumbs towards the place between the two fingers, bend the knees, and then from the earth, activate the bunders in the ankles, knees, hips, the legs may straighten, or move towards being straight, it's fine to keep them bent, but feel there's a kind of lifting of spaciousness through the legs, check the neck is relaxed and easy, and feel how as you lift through the soles of the feet, through the knees, into the hips, you can also lift up into the heart, and the thoracic spine rises a little, you feel a broadened space across the chest and the shoulders, then allow perhaps the spine to cascade forwards a little bit more from the hips, and then from here, allow the spine to rotate, so allow yourself to look beyond the left shoulder, and then smoothly come back towards the centre, and then look beyond the right shoulder, come back towards the centre, now look as it were, between the left arm and leg, kind of beyond the left armpit, and then back to the centre, and over to the right side, looking between the arm and leg, beyond the right chest or armpit, and then back to the centre, lift up a little bit in the thoracic spine, bend the knees, and rise back up, and step the feet closer together now, throughout hip width apart, so hopefully now, if you stand here, you may notice that by doing these wider stances, when you come and stand again with the feet hip width, you feel a good steadiness in the body, and so these postures, when we do the longer sequences, we'll incorporate these, but they also work as a nice little stand-alone practice.