This week’s peak pose is Eka Hasta Bhujasana, or Elephant’s Trunk Pose. Challenging yet fun, this pose allows you to find play in your yoga practice. In the Northern Hemisphere, we are just about rounding out the final month of summer – warm days and long daylight will soon start to taper off. But we can always turn to our yoga practice to keep the momentum and playfulness of summer alive!
Let’s explore. 🌿
Puttering Poses
You can start slow but strong – incorporating poses like Chaturanga and even plank in the beginning of class with help students find stability and strength in holding themselves up.
Here are a few poses you can put in the beginning section of class:
- Reclined figure four
- Lizard lunge, emphasizing the same arm of the leg that’s forward to reach under the thigh and grab the ankle
- Three-legged dog
- Low lunge twist
Standing Poses
This is the portion of class where students get comfortable standing on their own two feet. Simple yet strong poses go a long way! Start them off with a couple of classics and then you can get creative.
Here are a few poses we recommend:
- Peaceful warrior
- Extended side angle
- Wide legged forward fold (this can turn into Skandasana or any variation of grabbing behind the ankles to have the thighs over the arms)
Balance & Twists
Working on balancing poses can be challenging, and twists allows the body and spine to mobilize. Start them off with simple balancing poses and then have them work through the twists, eventually making their way to the ground for a variation of Marichyasana A.
Here are poses we recommend for this portion of class:
- Chair
- Chair twist
- Marichyasana A
- Lolasana (prep for the full pose, have them use blocks under their hands and lift themselves up a couple of times)
Peak Pose: Eka Hasta Bhujasana
This pose can be so fun and there are steps along the way where students can experience their efforts. Have them try it with blocks underneath their hands and make sure they practice slinging their leg over their arm while seated.
Eka Hasta Bhujasana (Elephant Trunk Pose)
Wind Down
Your cool down or wind down portion of class should be just as intentional as the beginning portion of class and should stay true to the actions you are trying to reinforce throughout class. In the wind down portion of class, you can either keep students moving in the same direction or incorporate some opposite movement to help them stretch out.
Here’s what we recommend for a cool down for Eka Hasta Bhujasana:
- Bridge or supported bridge pose with a block under the sacrum
- Supine twist
- Happy baby
- Savasana
Always be sure to leave your students with enough time in Savasana to not only integrate what they’ve learned in the practice but to allow the thoughts to quiet and mind to soften. This is always, as we say, the most important part of class.
We hope you enjoy it! See you on the mat.
