Dance your way through the chaotic holiday season with King Dancer Pose! Though you may be feeling the hustle and bustle of the season, it’s never too late to roll out your mat… and practice.
This ancient method of syncing the body, breath, and the mind is a way to keep you grounded, peaceful, and able to take on any stressful remark or demand during the holidays. Yoga always has a special way of connecting us to that inner tranquility that exists within us, always, it’s just waiting to be tapped into.
This week’s Weekly Class Theme will be a short class built around King Dancer Pose, Natarajasana and includes all the versions of lifting your leg – even if you need a strap to connect your hands to your foot!
Weekly Class Theme Outline:
Puttering
For the puttering portion, we’ll focus on actions like stretching the hips and quads and reaching the arms up and back.
Poses:
- Virasana w/ Gomukhasana Arms
- Lizard Lunge w/ Quad Stretch
- Crescent Lunge (reaching the arms up)
- Cobra Pose
Sun Salutations
Rounds & Variations:
- 3-4 Rounds (as normal)
- Add in cues to lift the chest, gaze forward, and reach your arms up & back
Open Hip Standing Poses:
For this portion of class, we can keep it simple by introducing poses like Warrior 2 and Peaceful Warrior to help open the hips and find the ability to reach!
Poses:
- Warrior 2
- Peaceful Warrior
Balance & Twists:
Again, we kept this round simple, but adding poses like Vrksasana (Tree Pose) to Warrior 3 to Revolved Side Angle makes for a nice transitional flow focusing on balance & stability (much of what King Dancer brings to light).
- Tree Pose
- Warrior 3
- Revolved Side Angle
Peak Pose: Natarajasana (King Dancer) with all of the Phases
To explore the evolution of the pose, have students start by kicking one of their legs back into their hand. If they can do this, have them kick their foot into their hand and lift their leg. Keeping their hips facing forward, see if they can extend their leg a little more. Be mindful of the chest staying lifted, using the free hand to extend & reach forward for balance.
There is always the option for students to grab a strap, make a tiny loop to fit around the ball of their foot and swing the strap over the shoulder of the lifted leg to bring to light the connection of the hand grabbing the foot up overhead.
Take this progression slowly and let students feel it out in their own bodies! It’s important the peak pose is explored through varying skill levels and feels accessible for all students in the class.
Wind Down Portion of Class
You can also keep this portion pretty simple. A few reclined figure fours on their backs to massage the hips and get a little twist in and Legs up the Wall to relax their nervous system. And of course… sealing in all of the efforts with Savasana.
Happy practicing!
