This week’s Pose for the Weekend: Low Lunge With Sidebend.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Benefits
-Stretches the psoas, quads, obliques, intercostals, anterior serratus and shoulders
-Opens up the hips
-Increases spinal flexibility
-Releases tension in the neck and shoulders
-Increases breath capacity
-Alleviates low back pain
Instructions
From downward dog, step your right foot in between your hands. Drop your left knee to the mat and release your back foot. Check that your right knee is directly above your right ankle. Inhale, sweep your arms out and up into crescent lunge, bring your palms together or shoulder-width apart. Exhale, drop your right fingertips to the mat and bend to the right. Reach through your fingertips. Stay in the pose for 5 deep breaths—in and out through your nose—feeling the stretch in the front of your left hip and down the left-hand side of your body. Bring your left hand back down to the mat, tuck your back toes and step back to downward dog for the other side.
Modifications
If your fingertips don’t reach the mat, you can rest them on a block or a cushion.
Watch more yoga poses and routines for surfers here.