Foundation, Core, Expression Transition from Low to High Lunge

I could write an entire essay about this journey. It’s an incredible way to dissolve the habitual tension that builds along the spine and to hug into your stability and core center before expressing the final pose. Yet too often I see students come up with imbalanced movement that over-arches the back and compresses the lumbar spine.

Follow this sequence as you move from your Low Lunge into any standing pose, and you’ll re-unite the front and inner body and experience more power and freedom in each moment.

Note: You can pause at each stage to feel your alignment, but eventually you want to do steps 2, 3 and 4 as one fluid, wavelike movement.

1. Begin in Low Lunge with your back heel stacked over the ball of the foot, the front foot forward directly under your bent knee, hips squared, and your fingertips on on either side of the forward foot. As you inhale, create space by lifting your hips and lower belly slightly and letting the breath travel like a wave along your spine.

2. As you exhale, ground strongly into your feet and let the downward press begin to engage your lower belly so your hands lift naturally. Notice how following your organic motion would not ask you to be in a backbend, but rather moving like a wave originating in the lower and middle areas of your pelvis. Remember: This motion should not be entirely in your lower back but shared with the lower abdominals. You’re not undoing the lumber curve–just supporting it from the front body as well.

3. Maintaining a strong core and lumbar curve, keep the wave going as you begin to draw the side waist, abdominals, and front of your spine in and up from root to crown. Meanwhile, keep your chin down and shoulder blades wide as you wave towards High Lunge, stretching the upper back, neck, and shoulders along the way.

4. As you ground into the Earth and move up from your core, you’ll likely notice a corresponding lightness in the chest and shoulder areas. My arms lift like the final, victorious Crane Pose in Karate Kid, but yours might want to come out to the sides or just straight up. Let your body tell you how it wants to move from day to day.

5. Once you’ve come into High Lunge, notice the difference in your pose. Is it shared with the whole body or do you feel it only in the back? What else has transformed because you stayed in alignment from the ground up?

Stay here for 5-10 rounds of Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), and then firm your belly as you lower your hands back down to the floor and switch legs.

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