The pose of the week is Pendant Pose! Connect to your core, arm strength and balance in the variations you can do with this pose. The instructions below are with the knees curled in! Grab some blocks and give it a try! Make sure to warm up your wrists prior. 

Benefits:

Strengthens the arms, wrists, hands and core. Strengthens the muscles of the back and abdomen. 

How to:

  1. Begin in a tabletop position to check in how your wrists and knees feel. If there’s no pain or discomfort, proceed with the following steps.
  2. Align your hands either shoulder distance or a bit wider, whichever is most comfortable for you.
  3. Bring your knees up and place them between the hands, or as far forward as you can.
  4. Crouch down by pressing your s.i.t.s bones towards your heels.
  5. Root down into all four corners of your palm, lifting at the base of the wrist.
  6. Keep a micro bend at the elbows so that the arms are not locked out.
  7. Shift the weight forward so that the shoulders line over the palms.
  8. Engage your core and begin to lift the legs up off the mat as you round into your spine.
  9.  Widen across your shoulder blades.
  10. Reach the sternum towards the chin.
  11. Tuck the tailbone forward and underneath you, while lifting the frontal hip bones towards the front ribs.
  12. Curl the knees and thighs tightly to the chest.
  13. Cross at the ankles or the shins.
  14. Lift the ankles up towards the groin.
  15. Look forward slightly, gaze at the top edge of the mat.
  16. Relax the face and jaw.
  17. When you’re ready, gently lower back down and feel free to shake out the wrists.

Modify it:

Try practicing this with blocks underneath the hands. This allows for more space for you to curl into the body and balance. Practice other weight bearing exercises like downward dog and plank pose to build up some core strength and wrist strength prior to practicing lolasana. Remember that it’s all for fun and all about the practice! Showing up is what matters!