Pose of the week: Sphinx Pose

This is one of my favorite poses- it always makes its way into my sequences because it can feel so dang good.

Benefits:

• energizes abdominal organs
• fights fatigue
• stretches and strengthens the spine
• stretches / opens chest abdominals
• stretches shoulders
• reduces anxiety

Coming into the pose:

• lie on your stomach, ankles together, top of feet and toes press into the floor, root down through pubic bone
• prop your self up by bringing your forearms to the floor, shoulder distant apart and parallel to one another, the elbows should be bent 90' and should line up under the shoulders.
• once in the pose make sure you keep pressing into your forearms and hands to avoid collapsing into the pose
• open the chest by pulling / drawing (without actually moving) your forearms and hands back as your chest  reaches forward.

Making it feel real juicy:

• keeping the form from above drop your left ear towards your right shoulder then repeat on the opposite side eventually making half circles moving your ears from one shoulder, chin down towards the chest, finishing with the ear to shoulder on the opposite side. 

 Prep and Counterposes:
Sphinx pose is a baby cobra (bhujangasana) variation, because it is not a deep back bend a round of cat/cow is a great prep for this pose. Sphinx can then be modified into full cobra. A gentle forward fold or twist feels great after sphinx.
Pic: www.wondermondo.com