As a daily Bikram Yoga class is part of my training protocol to get me ready for shows, I will be posting a lot more yoga related articles as I dial in for my end-of-summer show, the WBFF World’s coming up August 27th in Toronto, Canada. This posture is the first of the Standing Series in Bikram yoga. In the beginners class you do not have to release the hands; this is the advanced expression of this pose. You do need to develop a lot of abdominal control as well as the hip flexors and quadriceps. Both knees must remain locked out, (VMo and VL muscles), the kicking leg must stay parallel to the floor, the foot flexed back beyond perpendicular, and the forhead must touch the knee exactly. Make sure you have a 10-fingered grip 3 inches below the toes, and bring the elbows down below the calf muscles.
