Wild Thing, I KNOW I Love you!

Wild Thing in 2007

Wild Thing, Camatkarasana, the ecstatic unfolding of the enraptured heart -- is seriously, one of my most favorite poses in the entire world. I could practice this one all day from any angle and be happy happy happy.

I'm starting to teach it a bit more often as I find it is a wonderful pose for playing the edge. And I love it for introducing students who are new to Anusara to the joy of truly fully expanding into the play at the heart of this practice. I thought I'd share some tips for unlocking the pose if you're having trouble with it.

3 Tips for a Rockin' Wild Thing Pose:

1- Step back FAR -- on the bent leg side, step back way away from yourself. It's ok to go off the mat here to really get the reach. This will build a bigger, wider foundation to stabilize from. As long as you can still access Muscular Energy from that foot up into the pelvis, I say GO FOR IT!

2 - Step UP - also on the bent leg side, step not in alignment with your shin on the straight leg side, but step more towards alignment with your knee or even a little more. This allows greater leverage to push your hips towards the sky. It also sets you up to shift into Urdhva Dhanurasana if that is your next play.

3 - Elevate your Hips - Get them in the sky! from there you can drape your entire upper body up and over with a deep shoulder loop and curl yourself back towards the floor. But if the hips don't elevate, you're stuck because you're too close to the ground to have any space to back bend.

Those are the hints I've been giving students lately and I've found they've been more successful and found the unfolding more fully when they try these things.

So, if you get WILD in the next few days, let me know how it goes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.