ASHTANGA YOGA: JUMP BACK
Jumping back to chaturanga from a forward bend is a pretty simple movement, but many students make a loud “thump” or really push too hard in the process. The movement consists of 3 main parts.

1. Get your hands all the way flat on the floor.

2. Move your chest forward over your wrists

3. Lift your hips into the air and slide your feet backwards

NOT A HANDSTAND
The feeling as your jump backwards is not at all like a handstand. Students sometimes think they need to be very strong in their upper body to do a soft jump back, but this is not at all true. The movement is simple: transfer the weight from the balls of the feet to the palms of the hands and then allow the legs to move underneath you.

FREE YOGA VIDEO DEMOS

JUMP FORWARD
Jumping forward is the same movement, just in reverse. When done properly, your chest and chin will move forward and it can feel a little scary (as though you are going to fall forward). This is the correct feeling. We want to move our weight away from our feet where it lives naturally and into our hands, a new feeling for most of us.

Also, remember that this is not a handstand either. That is a different pose all together To jump forward takes just a little bit of energy.

Stay bendy,

Lucas Rockwood
YOGABODY Naturals LLC

Tags: anusara, ashtanga, bikram, iyengar, lucas rockwood, mysore, pattabhi jois, power, stretching, vinyasa, yoga, yogabody

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at and is filed under Stretching Exercises & Yoga Poses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.