CHAPTER 5

Power Poses and Sequences

The poses and sequences within this chapter create the deeply physical center of the power yoga practice. These postures are challenging and designed to train you to find the edge and ease of every pose. They can be held for longer periods to build strength and focus or linked together with one breath per movement to create more flexibility and flow. These power poses will help sculpt your entire body, build strength and endurance for your overall practice, and cultivate confidence. When you strengthen physically, you also strengthen mentally and spiritually.

Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold on to the truth within yourself as to the only truth.

Buddha

Power Poses

Standing, balancing, and twisting poses comprise the strengthening and sweaty center of your power practice. These power poses will help you find and fortify your foundation, where every pose starts. Work your poses from the ground up to maximize your power. It doesn’t matter how far you go in any of the poses; instead, focus on igniting the power principles within your experience and use the alignment cues to build poses that work for you. Keep your breath and concentration intact as you add more dynamic movement, increase your challenge, and begin to sweat.

Standing Poses

Standing poses are essential to this practice because they build power, strength, and focus. Standing poses are dynamic and get energy flowing to work the entire body. They increase strength and stamina in the legs, hips, core, and back, thereby creating a strong foundation for the body to open and energize. These poses can be held for a breath within a flow or for several minutes, depending on your needs. As you power up with these postures, gently meet your edge within each pose with curiosity and calm and watch your edge grow as you stay focused and breathe.

Warrior II

Virabhadrasana II

About the Pose

Warrior II creates dynamic expansion through the whole body and increases stamina. It strengthens and stretches the legs and ankles and opens the chest, lungs, and shoulders. Warrior II creates focus and teaches you how to hone your power and concentration, and how to powerfully fill your space

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

Reverse warrior: With your right foot forward, flip your front palm, reach your right arm to the sky, and slide your left arm down your back leg. Stay low and rooted through your warrior II legs, with your front knee bent at 90 degrees. Lift your chest away from your pelvis and lengthen through both side ribs. Your gaze can be up to your top hand, down at your back foot, or neutral—whatever feels best for you. Reverse warrior is a great transitional pose within a flow or a strengthening pose when held for 5 or more breaths.

Extended Side Angle

Utthita Parsvakonasana

About the Pose

This full-body power pose creates total body integration and expansion. It opens, stretches, and strengthens the legs, groin, spine, waist, chest, and shoulders while cultivating overall balance and coordination.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Extended side angle with a bind: A bind will help to deepen the pose and open more across the chest and shoulders. Wrap your top arm behind your back and your front arm under your front leg. Interlock your fingers, draw your shoulder blades together, and lift and lengthen your chest forward. For a half bind, wrap your top arm behind your back and reach for your inner thigh of your front leg.

Triangle

Utthita Trikonasana

About the Pose

Triangle is an expansive pose that enlivens the whole body as you stretch in all directions. It requires deep roots through your legs to lift into your center and cultivate abdominal strength. It strengthens the vital organs and stimulates digestion. Triangle pose stretches and strengthens the legs and ankles, while opening the shoulders, chest, and spine.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • If it doesn’t feel good to have your front hand on the floor, your chest is turning toward the ground, or you are crunching through your side ribs, support your bottom hand or fingertips on a block.
  • Extended-arm triangle: To strengthen your abs even more, keep your torso as it is, lift your bottom hand, and reach toward the front wall, with your biceps by your ear. For more challenge, reach both arms overhead to fire up and tone your core. Hold for 5 balanced breaths or more. Bring both hands back to your hips. Root into your feet and lift using your core strength to stand up and switch sides.

  • Reverse triangle: With both legs straight, flip your front palm and reach your right arm to the sky and your left arm down your back leg. Press down through your feet and lift your chest and top hand high as you lengthen through both side ribs.

Humble Warrior

About the Pose

Humble warrior is a warrior I variation. It adds a bind for chest and shoulder opening as well as a fold that requires fierce roots with your feet and legs as you press down and hug in, and surrender through your torso and head.

Alignment

  • From warrior I on your right side, interlace your fingers at your lower back and create a bind.
  • Bend your elbows deeply and hug your shoulder blades together.
  • With your collarbones broad, straighten your arms, lift your chest, and gaze up as you inhale.
  • On your exhale, bow your chest and head to the floor and hug your right shoulder to the inside of your right knees.
  • Set your gaze to your back ankle and let your head hang heavy.

Modifications and Adaptations

You can use a strap, towel, or your shirt as a connector if your hands don’t clasp in a bind. Create the general shape in a way that works for you, and remember to balance strength with ease.

Crescent Lunge

Virabhadrasana variation

About the Pose

This full-body pose trains all of your muscles to work as one unit and helps you set your gaze and energy forward. Crescent lunge is often called high lunge.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Low crescent lunge (anjaneyasana): Place your back knee down to your mat. Working with your back knee down can help build strength and stability with your legs, build core strength, and integrate your whole body. If you need more stability, tuck the back toes. You can place both hands on the ground for low lunge.

  • Low lunge with quad stretch: Come into a low lunge with your right foot forward. Stack both hands on top of your right thigh. Hug your legs toward your centerline, engage your low belly, and shift your hips more forward. Bend your back knee and reach back with your left hand to catch your back foot. You can use a strap or towel as a connector. Continue to root down through your front foot and pull your lower abdomen in and up. Lift your sternum, widen across your collar bones, and hug your arm bones back. To come out of the pose, gently release your back foot, place both hands to the ground, and step back to downward-facing dog. Repeat on your second side.

  • Low crescent lunge with a bind: Interlace your fingers at your lower back. Bend your elbows deeply to access your upper back and hug your shoulder blades in toward your centerline. As you inhale, straighten your arms, stretch your hands toward the ground, and lift your heart and your gaze high.

  • Fire lunge: From a full crescent lunge, set your left knee to the mat. Untuck your back toes and press the top of your left foot down into the ground. Build your strong foundation, plug into your mat through all four corners of your right foot, and pull your heel toward the back of your mat. Activate your legs, squeeze your inner thighs, and pull into your centerline. Lift your arms and your chest high. On your inhale, lift your left knee up off the earth. Set your drishti and generate your full ujjayi breath. Continue to squeeze your inner thighs together, anchor your tailbone down, and activate your core. Feel the heat build in your legs, butt, and core as you tone and strengthen. Hold for 10 full breaths or more and switch sides.

Star Pose

Utthita Tadasana

About the Pose

Star pose lengthens, opens, and energizes the whole body. This is a great transitional pose within a mandala sequence as you turn to face the opposite end of the mat.

Alignment

  • Step your feet wide apart, facing the long edge of your mat, and spread your arms up and out to the sides. Align your ankles under your wrists.
  • Press down into your feet and pull up through your legs and core.
  • On your inhale, reach out through the fingertips, lift through the crown of your head, and expand your body out in all directions, like a five-pointed star.

Wide-Leg Forward Fold

Prasarita Padottanasana

About the Pose

This wide-standing fold increases flexibility as it stretches and strengthens the inner legs, calf muscles, hamstrings, and muscles along the spine. It’s a great stretch for runners, cyclists, and other athletes with tight hamstrings. The folding action tones the vital abdominal organs, calms the brain, and creates a deep release.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Use blocks underneath your head or hands to help lift the earth to you for more support. Try bending your knees slightly to lessen the intensity of the fold.
  • Wide-leg forward fold with arm variations: Walk your fingers to line up with the arches of your feet and press up onto your fingertips. Interlace your fingers behind your back to create a bind to open and rinse your shoulders; or seal your prayer hands at your back into reverse namaste to open your shoulders and strengthen your wrists. Your fingers can be pointing up or down your back.

Big Toe Pose Leg Lifts

About the Pose

This variation of big toes pose elevates a forward fold into a strengthening lift. Press down into the floor and lift your core to power up your leg.

Alignment

  • Step to the top of your mat in a standing forward fold, your feet hip-width apart.
  • Unite your peace fingers, your index and middle fingers, and slide them between your big toes and second toes and grab hold of your big toes.
  • Press down into all four corners of both feet, and inhale lift your chest into a halfway lift. Firm your leg muscles.
  • Shift your weight onto your left foot and stack your left hip over your heel.
  • Lift your right thigh bone into your hip and float your right foot a few inches off the earth.
  • Activate your glutes and leg muscles, lift into your core, and extend your right heel up and in line with your right hip. Repeat on the other side.

Pyramid Pose

Parsvottanasana

About the Pose

This pose translates to “intense side stretch.” It tones the legs, gets deep into the hamstrings, improves balance, releases the spine, and inspires self-reflection.

Alignment

  • From your warrior II or triangle legs, step your back foot up toward the top of your mat a third of the way to shorten your stance.
  • Straighten both legs while keeping a slight bend in both knees.
  • Bring your hands to your hips and steer both hip points forward to face the front of your mat. Squeeze your inner thighs.
  • On your inhale, lift your chest high and slightly arch your back.
  • On your exhale, hinge at your hips, fold forward over your front leg, and drape your belly button over your front thigh. Release your hands to the ground.
  • Relax your neck and set your gaze to your back foot. Keep your eyes open as you breathe deeply.

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Set your blocks on both sides of your front foot and use them as support for your hands in your fold.

  • Reverse Namaste pyramid: Before you fold forward, spread your arms wide and unite your palms at your back in a prayer position to open your chest and shoulders and strengthen your wrists.

Goddess

Utkata Konasana

About the Pose

Goddess is a squat that builds heat, tones the legs, and opens the hips.

Alignment

  • Come into a wide stance with your feet about one leg’s distance apart. Turn your legs and toes out about 45 degrees.
  • Bend your knees deeply to create a 90-degree angle and press your knees toward your pinkie toes. Pull your lower abdomen in and lengthen your tailbone down.
  • Stack your shoulders over your pelvis as you reach the crown of your head toward the sky.
  • Unite your palms together at your heart.

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Goddess with eagle arms: Work arm variations into longer holds. Try eagle arms for shoulder opening.

  • Goddess twist: Press your palms into your thighs and dip one shoulder to center. Repeat on the other side. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths or add simple movements with breath.

  • Try adding some organic movement as you shift slightly from side-to-side or forward and back and continue to ground through all four corners of your feet. You can also use this pose as a transition in a flow on an exhale.

Big Toe Pose

Padangusthasana

About the Pose

The big toe pose is a standing forward fold that stretches the hamstrings and lower back.

Alignment

  • With your feet hip-width apart and parallel, ground down through all four corners of your feet.
  • Hinge at your hips to fold your torso over your thighs and release the crown of your head toward the ground.
  • Connect your index and middle fingers together, and slide them in-between your big toes and second toes. Grab hold of your big toes. On the inhale, lift halfway and extend through your crown, lengthening your spine.
  • On the exhale, hinge at your hips and fold forward. Use your arm strength to help you fold deeper by pulling your elbows out to opposite sides. Bend your knees as needed to lengthen your lower back as you rotate your inner thighs back. Tilt your hips toward the sky and stack them over the tops of your heels.

Gorilla

Padahastasana

About the Pose

Gorilla is another type of standing forward fold that lengthens and strengthens the hamstrings and lower back and puts gentle pressure on your hands to release your wrists.

Alignment

  • In a standing forward fold, slide your palms under your feet with your toes facing the heel of your hands and your toes up to the creases in your wrists.
  • On an inhale, come into a halfway lift.
  • Stack your hips over your heels. Let your head and neck hang. Soften the muscles of your face.
  • With your exhale, fold back down into a standing forward fold.

Fire Toes Pose

About the Pose

Fire toes pose will stretch and open all the muscles of your feet. You can also add some arm variations, like eagle arms or arm circles linked with breath.

Alignment

  • Come into a kneeling position on your heels. Tuck your toes under and sit back on your heels.
  • Hug your inner ankles together, squeeze your legs toward your centerline, and lift your hands to prayer.
  • Slide your tailbone down, lift your lower abdomen, and breathe as you feel the transformative fire in your feet. Hold for five deep breaths or more.
  • To come out of the pose, bring your palms to the ground, untuck your toes, and flap out your feet on your mat.

Yogi Squat

Malasana

About the Pose

This squat in most of the world is a common shape in daily life. However, for many of us who spend hours each day at a desk or driving a car, this squat can be a deep stretch for the hips, groin, and lower back.

Alignment

  • Separate your feet wide enough so that both heels are on the ground as you come into a squat. This may mean lifting your hips high, and that’s OK. Adapt the squat for your body.
  • Press down into all four corners of your feet to create a solid foundation.
  • Bring your hands to your heart center and press your triceps into your legs and your legs back into your arms. Use this connection to stabilize and lengthen your tailbone down.
  • Lift your lower abdomen up and in and reach your chest high to meet your prayer hands.

Modifications and Adaptations

If squatting feels difficult, try sitting on a block for more support.

Bear Pose

About the Pose

Bear pose is a fusion between chair pose and yogi squat, and it builds serious strength and opening in the legs and hips.

Alignment

  • From yoga squat, press down into the floor and lift your hips in line with your knees. Squeeze your heels in toward the center of your mat.
  • Interlace your fingers, extend your arms long, squeeze your triceps into your ears, and press your palms away from your hips. Align your chest with the ground and create a line from your hips through your palms.
  • Gather your power into your core, lift your belly, and expand your breath into your side ribs and back body.

TEACHING TIP

Effective Sequencing

Sequencing a yoga class is both a science and art. With your sequences and cues, as a teacher you are directing someone else’s life force energy. There is a lot of information and opinions on how to properly sequence classes, how to inform the body for peak poses, and how to follow the rules and traditions of yoga. Expert teachers and teachers in studios all over the world share a lot of incredible creativity. In power yoga, we honor the traditions as well as our own unique physical and energetic needs and goals. Don’t worry about breaking the rules of yoga or doing it the way you’ve been taught or have always done it. Instead, learn the principles and use them to guide your experimentation. The point is that there is no one way to build into any pose and no one way to practice yoga. Every time you get on your mat, you’ll gain new understanding about how to get into poses and how your body works, and so will your students. The practices in this book provide you with well-rounded sequences to build into peak poses and tips to create sequences that empower you to master poses that are calling you. As a teacher, it’s essential that you study the art and science of yoga, be committed to your practice, and ultimately make sure that what you offer creates real results for your students. When you share what feels empowering and good to you, it carries energy and will make you a more powerful and authentic teacher.

Balancing Poses

Balancing poses demand your full attention and presence. These poses require a combination of effort and ease as well as strength and surrender because they teach you how to be balanced and centered through challenge and turbulence. Balancing poses help you tune out distractions and tune in to what is essential in the moment.

When you change your focus from limitations to boundless possibilities and from doubt and fear to love and confidence, you open your world in entirely new ways.

Baron Baptiste

Establish your foundation first, then build your pose from the ground up. If you lose your balance, fall out of the pose, or get frustrated, simply begin again at your base. The pose is not the destination; the reward is what you learn within the pose and the balance you create in the process of the pose. Learn to cultivate equanimity within these poses and sequences, and you’ll tap into your true power.

Eagle

Garudasana

About the Pose

As you stand on one leg in this balancing bind, you’ll tone your legs, open your hips and shoulders, and stretch your upper back. This pose demands your full presence as you balance with strength and ease.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Eagle with arm variations: To modify, hold opposite shoulders or press your forearms together.

  • Nested eagle: Crunch your elbows down to touch your knees, hug everything in, and pull your lower belly back. Shift your gaze down to the floor. This can be used as a transitional pose in a flow on an exhale.

Standing Leg Raise

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana

About the Pose

Standing leg raise tones and stretches the legs and opens the chest, and has many variations. Set your gaze to a stable point to ground your vision in this challenging balance pose.

Alignment

  • Stand at the top of your mat, your hands on your hips.
  • Root down through your left foot, lift your right knee up to hip level, and flex your foot.
  • Either hold your right knee with your right hand, or your right big toe with your right peace fingers and extend your foot forward. Stabilize your center by pulling your belly button in and up.
  • Draw your upper arms bones onto your back and broaden across your chest.
  • Set your gaze straight ahead at the horizon.

Modifications and Adaptations

  • To modify, you can always bend your knee, hold your knee, or use a strap.
  • If you find yourself hunching over with your leg straight and rounding your shoulders, bend your lifted knee and pull your shoulders back. Maintain the lift of your chest and integrity of your spine rather than compromising the wholeness of your pose just to grab your foot.
  • Standing side leg raise: Rotate your right leg out to the right side. Keep your heel away from your body as you flex your foot and firm your leg muscles. Either keep your left hand on your hip for more stability or extend your left arm. Lift through your crown as you expand out in all directions.

  • Standing leg raise twist: Start in standing leg raise and face forward. Switch the grip of your hands and hold your lifted knee or foot with your opposite hand. Twist, extend the arm of your lifted leg, and reach to the wall behind you. Walk your gaze along the side wall and set your vision to your hand reaching back. Root down through your standing foot and lift up through the crown of your head. Look forward to the front wall, slowly unwind, and return to center.

Tree Pose

Vrksasana

About the Pose

Tree pose creates balance and stillness in the body and mind, opens space within you, and invites your intention to take root. It tones the legs, strengthens the lower body, and improves overall balance. Tree pose trains you to be firm in your foundation while adapting to the changes in weather that naturally occur.

Alignment

  • Standing at the top of your mat, ground down through all four corners of your right foot and lift your left foot to the inner thigh of your standing leg. As you root down, lift through the crown of your head.
  • Stabilize your center by pulling your belly button up and in and slide your tailbone down.
  • Unite your palms to prayer position at heart center and bring your intention back to the forefront of your mind.
  • Draw your upper arm bones back and broaden across your chest.
  • Repeat on the other side (shown).

Modifications and Adaptations

  • To modify, you can bring your lifted foot to your calf or even rest your toes on the ground and your heel against your standing ankle.
  • Your arms are the branches of your tree. Create a shape that feels good and emphasizes the focus of your practice. You can extend your arms overhead, create a shoulder-opening bind at your back, interlace your fingers and press your palms to the sky, or move organically.

Dancer

Natarajasana

About the Pose

Dancer pose cultivates grace, focus, and power as you balance your effort with ease. This pose teaches us how to be grounded and stable while building strength, balance, and poise. As you come into the pose, set your vision to one point and remember your intention.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

Dancer with flexed foot: Flex your lifted foot and align your toes at twelve o’clock. Just like you would when standing on the ground, with press through all four corners of your lifted foot, stretch out through your toes, and power your shin to the wall behind you.

Full dancer: To add more challenge and skill, bring both hands to your lifted foot, kick up and shine your chest high.

Balancing Half Moon

Ardha Chandrasana

About the Pose

Balancing half moon helps develop both stability and flexibility as you draw into your core and expand out through your legs and arms. It strengthens the ankles and legs and opens the chest. The moon carries a lot of symbolism in yoga. The sun and the moon are two opposing energies. Look to expand the lines of energy within your body as you radiate out in all directions.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • If you are straining to reach the ground or your chest is facing the mat, use a block underneath your bottom hand. This will allow you to lengthen your chest forward and extend through your side.
  • Sugarcane pose (ardha chandrasana chapasana): This variation of balancing half moon adds a front body stretch and a deep backbend. Bend your top knee and hold your foot or ankle with your top hand. Affirm the foundation of your standing foot and activate your core. Kick your foot into your top hand to create a bow and expand into new possibilities with your bind.

  • Revolved half moon (parivrtta ardha chandrasana): This variation requires you to stay grounded and balanced while adding in a deep, spacious twist. Release your top hand to the mat and square both hips to the ground, and keep your back leg lifted. With an inhale, lift your chest forward into a halfway lift, and lengthen from your back heel through the top of your head. Tone your lower abdomen to stabilize on your exhale. With an inhale, lift your other hand to the sky. Continue to lengthen on your inhales and twist on your exhales.

Warrior III

Virabhadrasana III

About the Pose

Warrior III is a pose that uses every muscle in the body to achieve stability, expansion, lightness, and balance.

Alignment

  • From tadasana, use your core strength and lift one knee up toward your chest.
  • With your exhale, hinge at your hips, align your torso with the earth, and kick your lifted heel to the wall behind you. Flex your lifted foot. Align both hips toward the ground.
  • Reach your arms straight ahead and extend your biceps by your ears. For less intensity, you can keep your hands at heart center.
  • Tuck your chin slightly toward your chest so that your neck is neutral. Set your gaze to the floor.

Modifications and Adaptations

  • While still working on balance, you can keep your back toes on the mat.
  • Create a bind at your lower back to emphasize leading with your chest and opening your shoulders.

  • Airplane pose: Sweep your arms along your side, with your palms facing down and open your arms like wings. Lift your shoulder blades back and create the action of upward dog through your chest; lead with your heart.

Standing Splits

Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana

About the Pose

Standing splits is a balancing pose, a deep hamstring stretch, and a forward fold. It strengthens the thighs and ankles and stretches the hamstrings, calves, and groin. The forward fold element helps calm the nervous system and stimulate the liver, kidneys, and vital organs. Standing splits is a great preparatory pose before a handstand within a flow.

Alignment

  • Begin in a standing forward fold and ground your feet.
  • Inhale, lengthen your spine into halfway lift, and press up onto your fingertips.
  • Shift your weight onto your right foot. With your next inhale, lift your left leg to hip level. Roll your left inner thigh up and reach through your heel.
  • With your exhale, bow your chest forward over your standing leg.
  • Keep your standing leg slightly bent and lift your left leg high.
  • Repeat on the other side (shown).

Modifications and Adaptations

  • You can also enter standing splits from any other balancing pose or a lunge.
  • Place your hands on blocks under your shoulders for more support. To intensify, bring one or both hands to your standing ankle.

Twists

Twisting poses help cleanse the body and vital organs of toxins and excess, boost your metabolic power, and help relieve lower back pain. Twists create incredible internal massage that stimulates digestion and aids elimination. The core is the power center in the body, and core strength affects every pose. Powerful abdominal muscles help create more ease and efficiency in your movements and transitions both on and off the mat. The major energetic center at the core is ignited through twists, cultivating your inner fire and strengthening both your will and your personal power. These twisting poses and sequences will help you get deep into your core to unlock strength and lightness. To maximize the power of your twists, you must lengthen your spine before you twist to create the space for rotation.

Chair Twist

Parivrtta Utkatasana

About the Pose

Chair twist builds heat and creates flexibility and strength in the middle and lower back. It squeezes and rinses your digestive organs and kidneys. Chair twist is a powerful pose to detoxify your organs and glands, which boosts overall health and well-being.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

Open-arm chair twist: Reach your left arm forward and right arm back. Extend your hands away from one another as you open across your chest. Open-arm twists are great variations for pregnant women because these twists avoid crossing the centerline.

Crescent Twist

Parivrtta Parsvakonasana

About the Pose

This deep, powerful twist rinses out toxins and tension your vital organs, like your liver, kidneys, spleen, and digestive system, and infuses them with fresh energy and blood. Crescent twist improves balance; stretches the legs, spine, and chest; and increases stamina.

Alignment

  • In crescent lunge, connect your hands at heart center.
  • Inhale and lift your chest to meet your hands and lengthen your spine.
  • On your exhale, twist. Hook your right arm over your left thigh. Press your arm into your leg to lift your torso off your thigh and lengthen your chest forward.
  • Work your thumbs toward the center of your chest or spread your arms wide.
  • Look up over your top shoulder.
  • Ride your breath to lengthen on your inhale and twist as you exhale.
  • Repeat on the other side.

Modifications and Adaptations

  • To lessen the intensity of the pose, set your back knee down to the mat.
  • To create more challenge and stability, seal your back heel to the mat and work your twist with warrior I legs.

  • Open-arm crescent twist: Reach your left arm forward and your right arm to the back of your mat. Stretch your arms away from each other and open across your chest. Maintain a long spine, with your shoulders stacked over your hips. Lengthen the sides of your torso with each inhale and twist more with each exhale.

  • Reverse open-arm crescent twist: From open-arm twist on an inhale, turn your left palm up and extend your left arm up to the sky. Slide your right hand down the back of your left leg. Look down at your back hand, over your right shoulder, or up to your top hand. Repeat on the other side (shown).

  • Dragonfly twist: Plant your left hand to the mat under your left shoulder, open your chest, and reach your right arm to the sky. To modify, lower your back knee to the ground. This open-arm twist is also a great variation during pregnancy.

Seated Twist

Ardha Matsyendrasana

About the Pose

This seated twist stretches the shoulders, opens and energizes the spine, and stokes your digestive fire.

Alignment

  • Sit on the ground and extend both legs forward.
  • Bend your right knee and step your right foot over your left leg to the outside of your left thigh. Keep your right knee pointing to the ceiling.
  • Slide your left foot to the outside of your right hip.
  • Tent your right fingers behind your sacrum.
  • With your inhale, reach your left arm high. With your exhale, hook your elbow over your right thigh.
  • Hold and breathe deeply as you unwind.
  • Repeat on the other side (shown).

Modifications and Adaptations

To modify, keep your bottom leg extended forward or wrap the hinge of your elbow around your bent leg and hug your torso to your thigh. For more support, you can sit on a blanket.

Twisting Triangle

Parivrtta Trikonasana

About the Pose

Twisting triangle is a counterpose to trikonasana. It’s a twist that requires focus, balance, and skill. It stretches the legs, hips, and spine and opens the chest. The deep twist stimulates vital organs and helps relieve back pain.

Alignment

Modifications and Adaptations

  • Your bottom hand can be placed to the inside, outside, or in front of your right foot. Use a block underneath your hand to open space through your spine to empower your twist.
  • It’s common for newer students to have a hard time keeping the back heel grounded. If the back heel lifts, the pose can become very unstable. Try adjusting both the length and width of your stance to find the distance that works best for you and allows you to build a solid foundation with both heels firmly rooted.

Wide Down Dog Twists

About the Pose

This downward-facing dog variation adds a twist that tones your core muscles and lights your inner fire.

Alignment

  • From downward-facing dog, step your feet wide, off the outer edges of your mat.
  • Walk your hands halfway back to your feet and connect your thumbs at the center of your mat.
  • Root down through your right palm. With your inhale, reach your left arm high and open your chest to the left side of the room.
  • On your exhale, wrap your left arm under your right armpit and hold your right ankle. Pull your belly up and in on each exhale to empower your twist.
  • Switch sides.

Modifications and Adaptations

Bend your knees as much as you need to in your downward-facing dog variation.

Power Sequences

After your opening sequence and sun salutations, your body is ready to go deeper. These energizing power sequences will get your heart pumping, open your whole body, strengthen your core, tone your muscles, and clear your mind. Allow your breath to lead the way as these poses help you embody your power.

I recommend using these sequences in a couple of ways. If you are just getting started with your power yoga practice, I suggest working through the sequence once on each side and holding each pose for 5 to 10 breaths, or more if you’d like. Use the sequence to get into your body. Notice the patterns and sensations you feel within each pose and how the pose changes as you hold and stay focused and steady with your breath. What you feel reveals where to put your attention. Notice where you feel coordinated and shaky, tight and open, and flexible and sturdy. The more you practice the poses and use your breath to deepen into them, the more your body will respond. Use this embodied wisdom as you progress into linking the poses in a flow of one breath per movement.

If you want to build more heat, sweat, and flow, I recommend moving through the sequence multiple times. The first time through, hold each pose for five breaths to let the pose land in your body. Use the alignment cues to detail the pose and see what unfolds and works best for you. After the sequence and individual poses are activated within your body, repeat the sequence two times or more, moving one breath per movement. Linking the poses together and repeating them with one breath per movement in a flow will increase the cardiovascular benefits of your practice, warm your body, and prepare you for what’s next in your practice—backbends, peak poses, and deeper stretches.

Do the thing, and you will have the power.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remember, all the poses and sequences are adaptable. If something doesn’t feel right, leave it out. If you want to add or change a pose within a sequence, do it. The poses and sequence are general roadmaps for you to follow and find what feels good to you. The more you practice, the more you’ll tune in to the needs of your body to restore balance and ignite the power within you.

TEACHING TIP

Sequencing Power

When teaching a dynamic power sequence that includes standing, balancing, and twisting poses in a flow at the pace of one breath one movement, it’s helpful to guide your students through the sequence multiple times. The first time through the sequence, I recommend holding them in each pose for five breaths. Detail the alignment and actions of the pose so your students can understand how they feel within the general shape and where they sense an opportunity for growth. The second time through, lead them through one breath per movement and emphasize the breath. If the sequence is more than a few poses, I recommend breaking up the sequence. Lead them through four or five poses the first time through, then the same poses at one breath per movement, and then add poses with more breaths for exploration. Once you’ve led them through the full sequence a few times and have given them the whole sequence at one breath per movement, then you can set them free. This takes trust in your sequence, cues, and your students, and it creates a whole new level of empowerment for everyone involved. Let your students get deeper as they use the power poses in a dance of body and breath.

10-Minute Power Sequence

This sequence packs a lot of power in a short amount of time. It creates a full-body stretch and expansion, a shoulder and chest opening with the bind in humble warrior, and a deep balancing twist in twisting triangle. Work this sequence on the right side and then repeat on the left.

  1  Downward-facing dog
(page 80)

  2  Down dog splits
(page 81)

  3  Warrior I
(page 91)

  4  Humble warrior
(page 123)

  5  Reverse warrior
(page 118)

  6  Triangle
(page 121)

  7  Pyramid
(page 131)

  8  Twisting triangle
(page 158)

  9  Vinyasa (pg. 98) to the other side

15-Minute Power Sequence

This expansive twisting sequence will create a soulful coordination of your body and breath. Move from your core in the transitions and allow your body to flow. I recommend working through the sequence the first time through to reverse warrior, then vinyasa, and repeat on the other side. The second time through, add the rest of the poses. Then repeat the whole sequence at one breath per movement.

  1  Downward-facing dog
(page 80)

  2  Down dog splits
(page 81)

  3  Crescent lunge
(page 124)

  4  Open-arm crescent twist
(page 156)

  5  Reverse open-arm crescent twist
(page 156)

  6  Warrior II
(page 117)

  7  Reverse warrior
(page 118)

  8  Extended side angle
(page 119)

  9  Reverse warrior
(page 118)

10  Balancing half moon
(page 148)

11  Revolved half moon
(page 149)

12  Standing splits
(page 151)

13  Vinyasa (pg. 98) to the other side

20-Minute Power Sequence

This sequence will build full body power and meditative focus, and you move your body with your breath. This sequence adds the element of a mandala, creating a circle on your mat as you flow. You’ll turn to the back of your mat to complete the sequence on your right side and return to facing the top of your mat to complete the sequence on your left side.

  1  Downward-facing dog
(page 80)

  2  Down dog splits
(page 81)

  3  Down dog splits with knee-to-nose
(page 81)

  4  Down dog splits
(page 81)

  5  Low crescent lunge
(page 125)

  6  Lightning lunge with arms back
(page 126)

  7  Crescent lunge
(page 124)

  8  Airplane
(page 150)

  9  One-leg tadasana with left arm under in eagle arms
(page 79)

10  Eagle
(page 140)

11  Lightning lunge with arms back
(page 126)

12  Star pose
(page 127)

13  Goddess with right arm under in eagle arms
(page 133)

14  Crescent lunge
(page 124)

15  Crescent twist
(page 155)

16  Reverse triangle
(page 122)

17  Vinyasa (pg. 98) to the other side