Anjaneyasana – low lunge pose
Anjaneyasana – low lunge pose
Erin and Naomi have combined forces to inspire you onto your mat with beautifully illustrated yoga poses you can practise at home. This week’s pose and illustration is Anjaneyasana – low lunge pose. It’s based on our second chakra, the sacral chakra (otherwise known as Svadhistana chakra). Its colour is orange.
Svadhistana is the second energy centre along the spinal column. It’s located around the hips and reproductive area. This chakra is strongly linked with creativity, the birth of new ideas and them coming to fruition. When this chakra is balanced we are creative, able to express ourselves truthfully and feel in the flow of life. When out of balance we feel stuck, limited and uninspired.
This pose is great for beginners but can also be taken much deeper through the hip flexors for the more advanced yogi.
Step 1
Start on all fours. Bring your right foot forward and place it in between your hands on the mat. Check that your right knee is lined up over your right ankle and keep your left knee on the floor, behind the line of your pelvis.
Step 2
Inhaling, lift and lengthen your spine, raising your arms over your head and bringing your hands in prayer position. As you exhale, breathing into your hips, lower your pelvis down towards the floor. You are looking to feel a deep stretch in the front of your left leg and possibly a stretch around the right hip flexor, too.
Step 3
From here we breathe for eight steady inhales and exhales. If you would like to advance the pose further, you can work on taking your torso into more of a back bend. Reach the arms further behind you and possibly bringing your hands to your third eye centre between the eyebrows.
Step 4
Be sure to stay supported through your core muscles and avoid collapsing in the lower back. When you have taken your eight breaths here, place your hands on the mat by your front foot and step the right knee back to all fours. Repeat on the other side.
A little bit more about Naomi and Erin
We Heart Living – Naomi Constantino
Naomi has been teaching for over 10 years. She originally trained as a dancer and worked on stage, TV and film. It was through the emotional ups and downs of life and physical injury that Naomi discovered yoga. Here she found the transformational quality it can have on mind, body and spirit. Naomi shares her passion and understanding of working with the physical body as a gateway to healing through her teaching and writing.
We Heart Living – Erin Petson
With a pale face like a Bronte heroine and delicate hands, Erin Petson draws like a botanist on a light box. Having worked with Dior, Vogue, Victoria Beckham, Swarovski, The Guardian and many others, Petson’s story is a modern day fable of drawing your dreams on the sky and making them all come true, one by one.
You may also like our living room chair workout or our article on the power of de-cluttering.