Dancing in the Forest

Guess what guys — I got out of the living room to film this one! The view is WAY better… although I have to admit the picture of me really isn’t. Whatever – you can hear me, you can see the shapes, and this flow was pretty great. Lots of open-hearted shapes, continuous movement, opening up all over the place.

Since we’ve been doing pigeon for a couple of weeks in flows, I thought we might dig into some variations. My teacher calls this “Queenie Pigeon,” as opposed to King Pigeon where you hold onto the bound foot with both hands from over your head and it’s kind of madness.

I’m still working on that one. On my good side, I can get there for a second or so with a LOT of warm-up on a really good day. So this practice won’t take us through that (but hey, if you have it and wanna work into it, be my guest man!) BUT “Queenie” is still a great backbend and fun shape to work with and we’ll explore the steps leading up to it as well.

Make sure you’re really focusing on what’s going on in your body as you’re working into that pose. Keep a lifted long spine to avoid pinching in the low back, and pay attention to the support from your thighs in your hips.

I really feel a lot better trying to wiggle into a longer spread of the legs and get my hips closer to the ground, but you might feel more supported by drawing the thighs into the hips. Personally, that strategy leaves me feeling somewhat precariously balanced so I prefer getting down for more foundation. If I’m making no sense at all feel free to comment and let me know “April, I have no idea what in the actual hell you are talking about.”

In fact, leave me comments anyways. Like and share this with your friends, and enjoy the beautiful mountain views. Follow me on Instagram @aprilkindarocks to see more from my trip to Mt Hood National Forest this past weekend. And keep looking forward to more field trips out of my living room over the next couple of weeks.

Cheers, yo!

-*- Namaste -*-

April