POW! (Pose of the Week)

This week's Pose: Tiptoe Pose - because it's nice to know you can always take it a step further!
I am not sure of the sanskrit name for this pose. Different sites list it differently: Pada Angushthasana. Samatvam. Prapadasana. All I know is that it's taking last week's pose (full lotus) one eencie, weencie step further, and this is how you progress in yoga. With each practice, you bring yourself one gradual step further, and eventually, you're flying in crow, or binding in Marichiasana (My eventual goal! Ha!)

So, Tiptoe pose it is for me today (and has been for a while). It lengthens your spine, really improves your balance, improves digestion and circulation, strengthens all those things that Lotus does, but steps it up a notch and relieves symptoms of sciatica! Whew! Just when I was losing hope there that this pose might not do enough...

Ever so slightly different from Lotus, this pose starts from Mountain Pose (tadasana). You balance on one leg - let's start on the Left today - and bring the right foot to rest in your left hip crease. This is a standing half-lotus. You were reading about half lotus on my blog 2 weeks ago, so this is old-hat. Big deal. But NOW, bend forward at the waist and touch the floor. Woah, nelly. That's a different sensation. You're still keeping that right foot in half lotus. Breathe a bit, it will get easier. NnOoWw, keeping your hands in contact with the floor, bend that supporting left leg, and come to sit/balance on the left heel. You will really feel this in your right hip, and as and when you're ready, you can balance by bringing your hands up to prayer. Tah-Dah! When you're ready to come out of the pose, you reverse all of your motions and repeat on the other side.

This pose is challenging, to say the least, and I am still working on it, after being introduced to it about 3 weeks ago at a Saturday practice. It's fun, though, and I like the fact that I'm nudging myself forward in my practice. Some days I can balance for a few seconds, other days, I can't balance at all...but that's the nature of the beast!

Today, remind yourself it's okay to take risks; even little ones can pay off!