A Glimpse of Leg, A Hint of Hip - 4 - Spiral to Sit
Spiral to Sit - in action - source: howcast
A Glimpse of Leg - 4 - Spiral to Sit
The graceful, elegant way to get up off the floor
A Variation of “Spiral to Sit” as taught Larry Goldfarb, GCFT®
Confession: it drives me NUTS to see even advanced yoga students execute lovely asanas only to scrunch their way out of shivasana. There’s a better way, sisters: Spiral to Sit.
You don’t have to be a break dancer to use gyroscope physics to spiral from supine to sitting. We won’t be trying the back spin (see the video, below), though it’s but an inverse variation of what we’ll be doing.
The trick to this elegant move is to create the momentum to spin around one hip.
We will start supine, using bent knees tipping side to side to roll weight onto one hip. Kicking back with one foot starts the spin. Add circling arms to increase the momentum. The bottom elbow gives a final push. Keep looking at the ground to engage the gyroscopic effect for that ‘ta dah!’ finish: flat to sitting in one smooth swoop.
We emulate the spinning gyroscope - notice how the ‘head’ always stays down. That’s the trick to spiraling up.
Set Up:
Lying on a mat
Science Nerd Candy:
Gyroscopes - a Wikipedia primer on how gyroscopes work. From helicopters to submarines etc.
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: The most elegant post-shivasana riser in your yoga class; Able to glide off the floor when playing with grands;
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