Welcome to your Vinyasa Flow for Strength and Hips working towards Bird of Paradise!
Join me on the yoga mat today for a strong, creative flow building up to the beautiful Bird of Paradise. I know it’s an intimidating pose, it’s really so hard to first get the bind, then you have to take that step forward, and then on top of it all, you’re going to lift that leg. Not to mention straightening it 😅
No worries, you don’t need to get there today, or tomorrow or ever for that matter. This flow is about strengthening your hips (and the rest of your body of course) and just maybe make a tiny glance at that beautiful peak pose. Of course, I will present options for you to get there, and don’t forget, progress doesn’t happen in ONE class.
This is a class you might want to take over and over again!
That is how I have grown my practice, sure I practice new classes and discover new teachers (every now and then at least, I really have my favorites😀) but there are always classes I come back to, classes I have taken tens of times (maybe even a hundred times?) So don’t get stuck in the wheel of ”new classes all the time”, revisit classes on a regular basis, I promise you that’s when you will see real progress. I mean, look at the Ashtangis, they do the primary series literally hundreds of times before they even get to nibble on the secondary series. And when they do, they still keep doing primary several times a week. S, repetition for the win, I guess that’s what I’m trying to say.
So, Bird of Paradise – what are the benefits? Let’s agree that I challenges your focus, balance, strength, and flexibility (which yoga pose doesn’t…)
It really stabilizes your ankles, which is great because it will protect it from spraining or breaking.
The pose also requires your hips to be prepared and open, and that is always a great idea since you hold a lot of tension in your hips, not only physical tension but also a lot of mental tension. This kind of hip abduction (rotating outwards from the body) is also good because it’s something we rarely do in our daily life and it really builds a lot of strength in your hips, the strength that you will be able to use in your everyday life for running, getting in and out of the car, picking things up from the ground. It might sound like simple things, but don’t forget you want to be able to do them even when you are a lot older than you are today.
So have fun with this flow, don’t take it too seriously, laugh at yourself – I always do when I try new things, fall out and mess up. Just make it your own 💕
/Emilie
