Sweet! That Worked!

In yoga teacher training today, we were workshopping some of our personal challenges in the practice, and considering how we could address them, and how we could help students approach them as well.  One of mine is the jump forward from adho mukha svanasana to ardha uttanasana, and a few people noted difficulty with the opposite jump from adho uttanasana to caturanga.  As we talked about the jump and what needs to be done to make it happen, Lisa, our instructor, taught us a very cool assist that can be offered to students to help them understand what needs to occur.  As the student folds into a position basically like uttanasana, with the hands planted by the feet (or slightly in front), the instructor stands facing the student, with his/her lower legs just in front of the student’s back.  The instructor verbally encourages the student to begin to bring his/her weight forward into the arms, pulling the hips up (which brings his/her back basically against the instructor’s legs).  As this occurs, the instructor reaches back and gently lifts up on the sitz bones, assisting in the lift of the hips, which allows the student to just swing the legs back and land into plank.  I wasn’t sure it would work, but it did, and was a really cool moment of feeling that float.  Ultimately, the goal is to get something that looks like the video below.  Amazing and beautiful!