April 2024
Humble / Fallen Flamingo
Vineeta Rajahamsasana
From our teaching team · Jen Villegas
A variation of pyramid that can be a pretty intense hamstring stretch — consider focusing on hamstring opening before offering it in class.
Practice safely
These guides are for general education and are not medical advice or a substitute for in-person instruction. Yoga is physical, and every body is different: practice at your own risk, move within your own limits, and stop if something hurts. Talk with your physician before starting any new physical practice, especially if you are pregnant, injured, or managing a health condition. The safest place to learn any of these poses is in the room with a teacher who can see you, and our teachers adjust for every level in every class.
Some tips
- Keep arms extended back and lift onto fingertips (Jen loves blocks under the hands here — for the right-sized class, encourage each person to grab 2 blocks before beginning).
- Hug triceps in; maybe cue "feel triceps squeezing toward the midline / center of your body."
- Draw shoulders back to lengthen the chest.
- Transfer weight into the fingertips and simultaneously press weight into the front heel. Toes can come up off the floor or not — neither is right or wrong.
- This may be enough work for people.
- If folks find it challenging to get here, encourage them to shorten their stance — more distance between the feet creates more tension on the hamstrings.
- To go even further, encourage balanced weight between fingertips and front foot, then draw the back heel in toward the glute.
- Encourage FUN. Trying something new, stumbling, and falling out are all good for our brains and bodies. We crave repetition, but we need newness.
The best way to learn it is in the room.
Our teachers break down poses like this in every class, at every level. First class is $8.
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