Health Fitness

Stand with your legs 4 feet apart. Raise your arms shoulder-height, parallel to the floor with your palms down. Turn your left foot in about 45 degrees, and your right foot about 90 degrees. Your front heel should bisect the back foot.

Bending from your hips, extend your torso to the right directly over your right leg, placing your right arm on a block behind your right foot. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, keeping your shoulders stacked in a straight line. Hold four or five breaths then straighten your torso and transition to Side Angle Lunge.

Bend your right leg about 90 degrees, so your right knee is directly over your right heel and your right foot is pointed straight ahead. Your left leg should be stretched straight back, with your foot turned in about 45 degrees and planted firmly on the mat.

Cross your right arm over the front leg, extended straight down with your palm facing out. Beginners can keep the left arm on the left side, or for more of a challenge, straighten the left arm up to the ceiling or over your ear, all the way forward.

For a more intense torso-twisting, leg-strengthening yoga pose, you can transition into Side Angle Bind. Reach your right arm back through your legs and drop your left arm back behind your body to clasp your right hand.

Hold for three or four breaths, or as long as feels comfortable, elongating the spine and keeping your back straight. When you release from side angle repeat steps 3 through 5 on the left side.

Begin in Downward Facing Dog. Bring right leg forward to the ground, placing right knee behind right wrist, and allowing right heel to draw in toward groin—the closer it is to the groin, the gentler the stretch. Using the arms to support body weight, lift chest and lengthen spine as you stay here for as long as you comfortably can. Return to Down Dog and repeat on opposite side.

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