yogis: what pose(s) do you struggle with the most and do you have goals for working toward them?

Sabine_Stroehm
Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
edited December 3 in Fitness and Exercise
For me it's Wheel.
http://embodyphysicaltherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/IMG_5817.jpg
For the life of me, I can't get there. My instructor and I both know I have the strength, but there's something about the back flexibility I don't yet have. Working on it!

Also working on side plank with my leg up. I can pretty easily do side plank tree pose but not with the leg straight up.
http://media.yogajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/SidePlankPose2.jpg

What are other yogis working on?
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Replies

  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    I got the bridge-up (wheel) last year, that was my goal for the year. Try doing a lot of Camel pose, that stretches the upper back in the right way, the curve in the backbend should be mostly in the upper back.

    Working on handstands this year, I can kick up to the wall but only hold it away from the wall briefly.

    Arm balances in general are tough for me.

    My least favorite pose at the moment is the reverse half moon, and in that or regular half moon I can't look up or I will fall over.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    edited September 2016
    Kneeling is really tough for me but I am getting better. Ankles and knees are very tight. n6m6kkt138n3.jpg


    And to add, any balancing pose is still hard for me especially when I look up.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
    I struggle with very deep yogi squats. But I keep trying.
  • S2tupidAss
    S2tupidAss Posts: 25 Member
    I sweat a lot doing anything using my legs to stretch. Last year I started yoga, I still struggle with my lower body.
  • olymp1a
    olymp1a Posts: 1,766 Member
    edited September 2016
    I love the wheel! I managed to do it sometime on the first 6 months of practice although I thought it would take forever to get there. Turned out it was easier than I thought. Camel does help a lot.

    I really struggle with headstand. Still practicing on the wall, I know I must improve core strength to do it and I'm working on this direction.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    olymp1a wrote: »
    I love the wheel! I managed to do it sometime on the first 6 months of practice although I thought it would take forever to get there. Turned out it was easier than I thought. Camel does help a lot.

    I really struggle with headstand. Still practicing on the wall, I know I must improve core strength to do it and I'm working on this direction.

    Headstand I can do. Sometimes! I can do camel. I'll get wheel. I think it's partly psychological!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    yesimpson wrote: »
    I struggle with very deep yogi squats. But I keep trying.
    Those are tough. But man they are great for leg definition!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Kneeling is really tough for me but I am getting better. Ankles and knees are very tight. n6m6kkt138n3.jpg


    And to add, any balancing pose is still hard for me especially when I look up.

    With menopause poses looking up or with eyes closed can be a challenge for me sometimes. :smile:
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    robininfl wrote: »
    I got the bridge-up (wheel) last year, that was my goal for the year. Try doing a lot of Camel pose, that stretches the upper back in the right way, the curve in the backbend should be mostly in the upper back.

    Working on handstands this year, I can kick up to the wall but only hold it away from the wall briefly.

    Arm balances in general are tough for me.

    My least favorite pose at the moment is the reverse half moon, and in that or regular half moon I can't look up or I will fall over.
    Arm balances are super hard. As is reverse half moon. That's challenging on so many levels: strength, balance, flexibility. It's one of my favorites, oddly.
  • Ninjaeema
    Ninjaeema Posts: 21 Member
    I'm struggling with the lack of flexibility that I have in my elbows. It's really frustrating. Everything else seems to be improving with every practice. I'm looking forward to being able to get into better poses as I love my belly fat. It gets in the way sometimes.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    Ninjaeema wrote: »
    I'm struggling with the lack of flexibility that I have in my elbows. It's really frustrating. Everything else seems to be improving with every practice. I'm looking forward to being able to get into better poses as I love my belly fat. It gets in the way sometimes.

    I've got one tight hip, so I can do things on the left, but not the right. I'm still a newbie (less than a year of practice) but I'd like to be able to do a plow. My core is very weak though, so I'm working on that too.
  • scr183
    scr183 Posts: 49 Member
    Crow is my nemesis. My instructor swears it's mental - I have the strength for it, but as soon as I feel like there's a chance I might fall I panic and collapse. But this is why I love yoga - I get to meet both physical and mental challenges on my mat. :)
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Crow. Holy crap. I fall over every time.
  • scr183
    scr183 Posts: 49 Member
    Ooh - and for some reason, eagle legs. I don't know if it's a short legs/thick thighs thing, or a lack of flexibility in my outer hips thing, but whatever it is, let's just say it's always humbling when I hear full eagle cued in class. My foot looks longingly at the backside of my opposite calf, but...sigh.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    I am able to do wheel but it makes me very dizzy and then when I come down I am nauseated. ugh. I, too, have short legs but a long body, and I find that some poses are physically impossible without yoga blocks.
  • scr183
    scr183 Posts: 49 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    I am able to do wheel but it makes me very dizzy and then when I come down I am nauseated. ugh. I, too, have short legs but a long body, and I find that some poses are physically impossible without yoga blocks.

    I hear you. Short limbs/long torso here. Staff pose makes me feel like a T-Rex. My fingertips barely touch the ground.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    Crow. Holy crap. I fall over every time.

    I put out a "crash pad" (my blanket) before I begin.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    scr183 wrote: »
    Crow is my nemesis. My instructor swears it's mental - I have the strength for it, but as soon as I feel like there's a chance I might fall I panic and collapse. But this is why I love yoga - I get to meet both physical and mental challenges on my mat. :)

    Yoga is awesome. A month or so ago someone, a moderator I think, said that yoga wasn't like weight training because it wasn't "progressive" or some such thing. I replied that there are multiple progressions in poses, and it can take yogis months or years of work to get through those progressions and when they do, it then leads to new poses with months or years of progressions... It's fabulous. The strength I've gained, after 19 years of weight lifting is amazing.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Working on Niralamba Sirsasana or a unsupported headstand. I've only held it for a split second a couple of times.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Working on Niralamba Sirsasana or a unsupported headstand. I've only held it for a split second a couple of times.

    You are my hero!!
  • fostersu
    fostersu Posts: 327 Member
    I'm just getting back to being a regular - I've always had tight hamstrings and lower back - so seated forward fold I don't really fold at all, I'm very rounded. Laying down I can't lift my legs straight up - when everyone else is at 90 degrees I'm at 45.

    I'm also struggling with lightheadedness! Reverse warrior I almost pass out and have to break the pose by lowering my arms and straightening my front leg.
  • smile_laughter
    smile_laughter Posts: 3,682 Member
    I practice Bikram Yoga....been doing it for 10 months now....most of my forms are not correct, but they keep getting better.
    https://www.bikramyoga.com/26-postures/

    I struggle with all of the balancing poses, but I keep trying.
    Can't do toe stand (yet)
    Can't do locust pose (my legs go about 1/2 inch off ground)
    Fixed firm hurts my knee (but I am almost able to get my tush on the ground....this pose is getting better)
    Rabbit - I can curl up, but I can't get my legs and knees at a 90 degree angle (yet)

    I am surprised at how much I love Bikram yoga.....I have never liked yoga. But....now I am older and my flexibility is pathetic, so I need to do this. My mental clarity afterwards is what makes me keep going back.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Anything involving more than a minimum of ankle, hip or hamstring flexibility. So, a lot.
  • Pandora2011
    Pandora2011 Posts: 1 Member
    As simple as it sounds I can't do downward dog. Such tight hamstrings. It always makes me sigh when our teacher calls it a rest pose. For me, it's more like holding in plank.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    The wheel and the crow.

    Downward dog I cannot do without a wide stance without my feet flat. Ugh.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    cerise_noir wrote: »
    The wheel and the crow.

    Downward dog I cannot do without a wide stance without my feet flat. Ugh.
    Glad I'm not the only one who struggles with Wheel!
  • fostersu
    fostersu Posts: 327 Member
    edited September 2016
    Here's to all the crow strugglers...
    Never have done a successful crow- maybe my toes cleft the mat for 1.5 seconds. Have not attempted it for a long time so didn't even think of it
  • alohajls
    alohajls Posts: 55 Member
    Child's Pose! Seriously. The easiest of poses and I absolutely cannot do it, my butt does not get even remotely close to seated. My quads are insanely tight! Some people want to run a marathon, I just want to do child's pose.

    I do, however, have super flex-y hamstrings and love doing downward facing dog and forward bends of all kinds. I'm definitely working on correcting this imbalance, but it feels like I never make any progress! And worse, my practice is on hold because of both a knee and shoulder injury...
  • Ninjaeema
    Ninjaeema Posts: 21 Member
    This thread is really encouraging. It helps to hear that other people are struggling with things I can do, and yet are able to do things I can't. It just shows how different all of our bodies are, and that success isn't measured by just one pose.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    kapha_cowsFace2.jpg
    This one. I never can stack my knees quite right, probably because I have short legs.
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