From Issue 4 – you can buy it here!
Written by: CASEY LEE
Photo taken by: MORIAH OVERELL
Twist up in knots, unwind your mind; Eagle pose
This beauty helps loosen and strengthen our hips, ankles and legs as well as our wrists and shoulders.
it also releases tightness between shoulder blades and across the sacrum and improves our balance.
1. Standing straight with your feet together, bend your knees slightly.
2. Lifting your left foot up and crossing your left thigh over the right and hooking the top of the foot behind the lower right calf still balancing on the right foot. (If your foot doesn’t reach around the back you can keep it resting on your calf muscle as a variation.)
3. Stretching both your arms straight forward, parallel to the floor, spread your scapulas wide across the back of your torso. Cross your arms in front of you so that the right arm is on top of the left, then bend your elbows.
4. Snug the right elbow into the crook of the left, and raise the forearms perpendicular to the floor. the backs of your hands should be facing each other. now bring your right hand across to the right and the left hand to the left, so that your palms are now facing each other. the thumb of your right hand should pass in front of the little finger of the left. now press the palms together (as much as is possible for you), lift your elbows up, and stretch the fingers toward the ceiling. to increase the quad burn sit low (bend your supporting knee). stay at least 30 seconds, then unwind the legs and arms so you are standing up straight again. repeat for the same length of time with the arms and legs reversed. Tip: you will find it is easier to balance if you find yourself a point to focus on about eye height.
