Posing on Tuesday; Crescent

I think this photo is an accurate depiction of how I was feeling last night post gorging myself on leftover potato salad, wine, and gummi bears - all of which were delicious, by the way.

But I had a plan to stick to, and by golly, just because my husband couldn't be home to help take pictures of me in crescent pose didn't mean I didn't have to find a way to get some. In case you didn't know, the above "pose" is not crescent. It's nothing - unless you want to call it half wide leg forward fold with lion face.

CRESCENT
(High lunge, variation - no sanskrit name)

Sorry my head and arms are cut off. You'll see more of them later.

Crescent is one of my favoritey favorite favorites. Done correctly, it engages every single muscle in your entire body - both legs, core, shoulders, everything.

So, shall we begin with the easiest way to get into the pose? Yes! Let's!


Starting in downward facing dog, lift your right leg up and reach it towards the back of the room.

Bring your knee up into your chest and plant your foot between your palms.



Your knee is tracking straight out over the middle toe, and your front leg is in as close to a right angle as you can comfortably get it. Hips are square to the front of the room. Your back leg is straight and fully engaged. Heel is up.
Careful not to let it collapse inward or outward. This puts unnecessary pressure on the hips and knee. It also makes it more difficult to keep your hips even. Make sure that your feet are not on a tightrope. If someone were to look at your feet straight on from the front or back, they should see BOTH of your feet.

See this...

No bueno. Feet are on one line and heel is collapsed inward.

This...

Is much much better. Both feet are visible and the heel is pointing straight up.

OK, THEN!... Engage your core and lift your torso off your thigh. Then bring your arms up along side your body so that you are in one beautiful straight line from the top of your head to your heel.

Keep your hips where they are - facing straight forward - and lift your torso so that it is perpendicular to the floor. Then lift your arms along side your ears.

Then let your body sink into the pose. Get your front knee back into that right angle if you can.
Drop your shoulders down away from your ears and rotate your palms in to face each other.

See here, my shoulders are not relaxing down. Don't do this...

Do this instead. See the difference?

Keep your torso upright, go into a slight back bend if its comfortable for you, keeping the bend out of the lower back. This back bend is too deep and too much in my low back. I know it doesn't look like much, but the goal is just to extend and open your heart to the front of the room.

And then you've done crescent pose! No go out and conquer the world!

Questions? Comments? Want to make silly faces at the camera with me next week?