Spread 'em Like a Pro

Remember in a previous post I said not to gawk around while practicing?

Well, we are gonna ignore that the next time the teacher has us all come in to hanumanasna (front splits).

Why are we ignoring previous sage advice? For a good cause, so it's allowed. Whatever.

Anyhoo, next time everyone comes into hanuman, we are gonna steal a glance.

Now, we aren't going to steal a glance at the bendy chick who can get into the pose no problems. No, no, no.

We want to be zeroing in on someone who isn't quite all the way into it, but who is making good progress and who is most of the way there.

Now, why are we doing this?

Well, the bendy chick is just gonna slide into it with no thought to form.

Whereas, the yogi who is making progress, but isn't quite there, well, they are paying attention to how they get into the pose. And there's a big diff.

My bet is that the yogi making progress slides their back foot backwards to get into hanuman.

Hip extension (sliding the back foot backwards) is a harder stretch than hip flexion (sliding the front foot forward). And I'm betting that's what the 'not quite there, but making progress yogi' is doing (at least they should be doing it, or they could have been there by now! Sheesh).

By moving the back foot backwards they are fully focusing on hip extension (the harder of the two stretches). And...

There's a million and one forward bends (hip flexion) that we do when we practice. So you've got that covered. Whereas, we don't practice nearly as much hip extension stretches.

Try sliding your back foot backwards for huge front split gains.

Happy hanuman. J

P.S. Try not to get busted stealing a glance. Remember, only newbs and non-serious yogis gawk around. Plus, you'll just look like a pervy git.