Today, Sarah Faircloth, certified Anusara yoga teacher, explains the second step in the Universal Principles of Alignment™, as outlined by Anusara® yoga – Muscle Energy. Appropriately, this is the second in her series of online yoga classes, filmed for YogaVibes.
In this class, you’ll experience a mixed-level, full-spectrum practice, focusing on connecting to and practicing Muscle Energy. You’ll discover the second Universal Principle of Alignment after you open to grace, creating space, softening and settling into a sturdy foundation. When you hug in, creating a lot of power in the poses, cultivating and calling on the energy you already have deep inside you, you have tapped into Muscle Energy.
Sarah provides excellent, detailed alignment cues throughout the practice, which includes a lot of standing poses, such as crescent pose (anjaneyasana), chair pose (utkatasana), standing splits (urdhva prasarita eka padasana), tree pose (vrksasana), and standing big toe balance (utthita hasta padangusthasana). Play with crow pose (bakasana) and kicking up to handstand (adho mukha vrksasana), and build up to the pinnacle pose: Eka Pada Koundinyasana II. Check out Sarah’s free yoga video in our Strike a Pose section to see her teach and demonstrate this advanced arm balance.
Eka Pada Koundinyasana II
End this lovely practice with a beautiful, cooling twist called parivrtta balasana (twisted child’s pose).
Muscle Energy - The Second Universal Principle of Alignment