I have been mostly focusing on my shoulders with the Yin Yoga practices I have been doing but today I decided to give my hips some love. I did a Barlates: Barre Bootcamp workout this morning and my legs were really feeling it, so I decided to give this one a try. You only hold 2 different poses but I felt them both. They are both poses that I really enjoy doing in normal yoga but I will not lie–dragon pose became very uncomfortable. I also made some of my own adjustments to it. During dragon pose, Aprille continues to move deeper in the pose as your time progresses. For the final phase of the pose, I lowered down to my forearms because that just always feels good to me and it was actually the most comfortable part of the pose progression for me. Also, for the second phase of the dragon pose, Aprille was on her fingertips. This was very uncomfortable for me so I just placed my entire palms on the floor. For the second pose, for some reason Aprille cannot do the fire log pose but that is probably the preferred way of doing that pose, so if you are able (like I am) you’ll want to have your legs in fire log. But if you aren’t, then Aprille shows a different way to have your legs crossed. Finally, you also need a thick towel folded up for your knee while in dragon pose. I have a thick padded yoga mat that I use for mat work where you are on your knees a lot and that works fine for me but holding dragon for so long actually is hard on the knees so you will want the towel to protect them.
I think this is a great practice for your hips. I had a hard time feeling the benefits but that was because I had just finished a tough workout that already made my legs feel weak. And I still feel it throughout legs so I am sure I will be sore tomorrow. But maybe this practice will at least keep my hips from getting too sore?
Yoga Snack for Hips, Hip Flexors & Psoas is 14 minutes. Equipment: a thick towel folded up.
- Dragon pose variations: kneeling lunge with back knee on towel for 2 minutes; lower fingers to floor on either side of front foot and hold for 45 seconds; move both hands to inside of front leg and hold for 45 seconds
- Child’s pose
- Repeat #1 on other side of body
- Child’s pose
- Sit cross-leg (or fire log pose), elbows on knees and lean forward (she says you can also walk your hands out further in front of you) for 2 minutes
- Repeat #5 with other leg on top for 1:30 minutes
- Sit cross-leg with hands on knees
For more info on Yoga Ranger and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
Dragon is difficult for just about everyone. For me, I just couldn’t relax my shoulders but I’m getting there.
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For me, it is the Yin aspect of it. When I only hold some of these poses for 10 or 20 seconds they feel good but by the time I get to a minute I am getting uncomfortable. I also have a hard time relaxing in some of the poses. Maybe that’s why I had a problem with the second phase where Aprille is on her fingertips–it wasn’t just uncomfortable on my hands, the discomfort was in my arms and shoulders, too, so I was probably tensing up.
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Definitely don’t do anything that is consistently uncomfortable! Maybe you’ll just enjoy the stretching videos. My absolute favorite (so far) is called “Gentle Yoga Full Body Stretch for a Good Night’s Rest” and the thumbnail says “Bedtime Yoga”. (But then she says it could be used to start your day, too). It’s good for me to do quiet, guided stretching or Yin for at least a few minutes a day to calm my thoughts and focus on the now.
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I have that one saved to a playlist! I will definitely be trying it at some point. For the next month I will just be doing the Snacks but I plan to do the longer ones eventually.
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