Exercise Profile: Skilfull Hunting For An Elegant Crane Posture

photo from TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION; Green Tara HP Yoga Program/Bakasana (Crane Posture). this and other photos by Wayne Williams.

excerpt from Actual Training Exchange with WF Online Student C:

***

Student:
in the Yoga Discipline:
Comment: i LOVE HP Yoga Sun Salutations Series C!
Regarding your instructions: "Work on Crane Pose - (or variation and/or into a HEADSTAND for up to 3 minutes total)"

what is the variation?

If it is the single leg crane pose, I cannot touch it YET. Do I move directly from crane into headstand or is that a separate pose? If directly, can you give some guidance?






Coach Responds:
if Crane Posture is being resistant to enter into your asana practice, then i suggest building the appropriate functional strength through holding a traditional Chaturanga (see photo above). Continue your "Chata Holds" until you develop the breath-regulated stamina to hold the true Chaturanga posture for one minute of steady Ujjayi Pranayama with exhalations slightly longer then the inhalations. Master this and ilg promises, Crane Medicine will be delivered unto your SweatLodge (your physical body).




Another option is to play around with the offset biodynamics held within Eka Pada Bakasana or One Legged Crane Posture, shown above. I suggest re-studying my descriptions of these postures in TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION.


Finally and perhaps most effectively:
You can also more quickly develop Crane Medicine by performing what my students have 'affectionately' termed an 'Ilgaranda':

How to do an Ilgaranda:


DL SUBSCRIBERS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT OF LEARNING...

Old School Spinal Mobility and Supple Strength

on today's DL Subscription format;
where multi-disciplined warriors earn, learn, and yearn...
since 1982

Exercise Profile; The Diagonal or "Classic" Stride

This is Vegaard..my ski training partner here at Two Tree Manor. as you can plainly see, Vegaard is also sponsored by PowerBar and is a nordic ski racer. "V" - as i call him - told me that it was about time to do an Exercise Profile on Nordic ski technique. "You're absolutely right, V," i replied.

Enjoy...


(yes, it took a few Herculean efforts to hoist Vegaard's tremendously powerful midsection into place!)

"...arms and legs dancing in symbiotic harmony with breath upon a pair of nordic skis is truly to me, the most magnificent of all yoga and when rightly used, gives Man purposed influence upon his Soul."



teaching and photos by coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
former member/U.S. Jr. National Nordic Combined Team

- click photos to enlarge for better biomechanics comprehension -



Let's go skiing, shall we?

i mean REAL skiing...
i mean like no chairlifts, no damned ski passes that cost you an arm and a leg, no obnoxious crowds...
i mean, like let's go REAL SKIING...let's go return to where ALL OF SKIING (and snowboarding) began yet is (at least in this country) nearly extinct as a sport; the Nordic Diagonal Stride, also known as, "Kick-and-Glide," or "Classic."



this is Ananda with Doko Oosliid, the Sacred Peak protecting Her. Ananda (aka;Joy to you new DL'rs) is the amazing Mother of Dewa. She is also the Beloved Partner of mine. less than five months ago, she had a baby. today, she is cranking out in Brahman's beautiful snow, taking a Classic Ski lesson from me during a nordic jaunt about a serene ponderosa mesa about 10 minutes from our home. yep, that's right, we finally got a babysitter and the first thing we did? GO SKIING BABY!!!! we ain't no dummies.


i taught Ananda the basic mechanics of the Classic Stride in less than 8 minutes.

i'll teach you too, just like the many, many others i've taught this elegant movement to throughout the decades. you won't need much. just an ol' pair of cross-country skis and some open space with a little snow on top of it.


***

The basic mechanics of the Classic Stride on a beginner can look a lot like walking with a glide, aided by poles for balance. This allows pretty much anyone to enter into the nordic skiing world regardless of coordination, age, or fitness level. In fact, when i lived in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, i taught my then 60+ year-young mother how to Classic Ski and those memories remain among our most precious. Though easy to learn, the technique is easy to do poorly. the new generation of Skate Skiers who do not grow up doing the Classic Technique are missing not only helluva workout, they are also missing out on gracefulness and balance that would only help their Skate Skiing.





The components of the Classic Stride are the Push, the Weight shift, the Glide
and the Leg Recovery.

DO NOT MISS THIS TEACHING ON THE MOST IMPORTANT, ENJOYABLE EXERCISE MOVEMENTS OF HUMAN HISTORY...The Civilization of the Northern Hemisphere would not have survived if not for this movement! Don't you think you owe it to your Ancient Ones to at least learn it?!?!

coach just won the Flagstaff Classic 10k last weekend and is also the overall Champion of the Santa Fe Classic 10k and Taos Mountain Stampede.