Week 1
#2 HALF MOON POSE with HANDS to FEET POSE
Ardha-Chandrasana with Pada-Hastasana
Lateral
Audio File
The more you hear the dialogue, the easier it will be for you to remember it. These recordings are here for you to listen to whenever you have time (in the car, on a walk, while doing the dishes, on the bus, etc).
I suggest that you use the audio files as a study aid: Once you’re familiar with the dialogue for a posture, listen to its audio file, then do your best to repeat it.
As a part of your homework, you’ll be making your own audio recordings of each posture, so you can choose to study using my voice or your own!
Study Guide
Dialogue
About this posture:
As mentioned in the introduction, the setup in this posture is great because it gives you many of the elements that you will repeat in future postures, so rest assured that once you’ve memorised it, you’ll get to use it again later.
Half Moon is basically 3 postures in one, so we’re going to memorise them one at a time, starting with the lateral bend. Let’s break it down:
Set-up:
Your first job is to get the body into the initial position of the posture (feet, arms, hands).
Then warm them up with a side stretch. This is unique, as most postures don’t include a warm-up.
Make sure the arms are straight/elbows locked - this encourages lengthening of the spine.
Stack the major joints/body parts: heels, hips and upper body, head.
Finally, just before moving into the posture, inhale and stretch up to lengthen the spine fully.
Key cues:
Feet together, Arms up, Palms together.
Fingers interlocked, Release the index finger.
Stretch side to side.
Elbows locked.
Hips forward, Upper body back, Bodyweight in the heels, Head back.
Inhale, Stretch up.
Feet together, toes and heels touching.
Arms over your head sideways, palms together.
Interlock the fingers, release the index fingers, thumbs crossed.
Keep a nice tight grip, don't lose the grip.
Hands-palms glued together up to the wrists, throughout the entire posture.
Stretch up to the ceiling, and bend your body right and left several times, right and left, right and left.
Every time you pass the centre, stretch up and try to touch the ceiling, lengthening the spine. Create a stretching down both sides of the body, all the way up to the fingertips.
When you can't stretch any more, please stop in the middle.
Arms straight, elbows locked, arms always touching with the ears. No gap between biceps / arms and ears.
Push your hips forward a little bit toward the mirror, opening up your hips and pelvis.
Upper body leaning back a couple of centimetres, opening up your chest and rib cage.
Throughout the posture, maximum body weight in the heels.
Arms and head back. Chin up.
Concentrate one point in the mirror.
Inhale breathing, full lungs, hold the breath.
Stretch up out of the waist one more time. Touch the ceiling.
Move:
This paragraph moves the students into the posture while maintaining the lengthening of the spine by keeping the elbows and knees locked.
Key Cues:
Bend your body to the right.
Push your hips to the left.
*Slowly bend your body to the right, absolutely straight line,
without bending your elbows or your knees.
Continuously push your hips to the left, beyond your flexibility.
You are trying to create tremendous stretching feeling all over the left side of your body, from the inside-out, bones to the skin, fingertips to the toes.
Reset:
In the process of moving into this lateral bend, the hips and shoulders often shift out of alignment, which twists/rounds the spine, so we need to guide them back in place.
Key Cues:
Hips forward, Upper body back, Body weight in heels.
Left hip forward (when bending to the right)
Right shoulder forward (when bending to the right).
Hips more forward, upper body back more, body weight in the heels.
Push your left hip forward, to keep your both hips in one line.
Right shoulder forward, opening your chest like a flower petal blooming.
Deepen:
You’ve got them safely into the posture and adjusted their alignment, so now all you need to do is encourage them to go deeper .
Key Cues:
Push and push and push.
Come down and push, and push, and push.
Left Side Set-up:
This is a very condensed version of the set up to get the students in alignment before going into the left side lateral bend.
Key Cues are the same as in the initial Set-up.
Inhale breathing, come up and stop in the middle. Left side.
Glue your hands together. Arms straight.
Hips forward, upper body back a little bit.
Maximum bodyweight in the heels.
Chin up. Take a deep breath. Hold it.
Stretch up, touch the ceiling.
--[Repeat from * for left side (“Move” segment)]--