Goddess Pose Variation
On a physical level::
It helps to stretch the inner thighs, groin and hip area, strengthen the legs, tone the core muscles, activate the pelvic floor and also open the chest
To find the correct alignment:
Find a standing straddle position with the legs about 3 feet apart, turn your toes out from your hips and start bending your knees making sure that the knees stay pointing over the toes as you squat down. Go as deep as it is available to you, eventually finding your thighs parallel to the floor. Keep pulling your belly button towards your spine and drawing the tailbone down towards the floor.
Press the backs of your hands to the inner part of your knees and allow that motion to help you open your shoulders and your chest as if your heart is radiating a light forward.
On an energetic level this pose helps you connect with your inner divine energy and awake your powerful female energy. What I love about this pose is that it is simultaneously a hip opener (where we hold a lot of emotions) and a hurt opener, which makes this a very strong stance that gives us access to our vulnerability, helps us deal with a lot of stuck hurt and become open to love!
Happy practicing!
Please follow Hara on the instagram @hara_yoga
Biography:
Hara Zi is a dancer, actress, registered yoga teacher, and strong chess player born in sunny Athens, Greece and currently based in New York City. She began studying Chemical Engineering but soon was captivated by dance. She graduated from the Professional Dance School “Anna Petrova” in Athens. In 2010 she was awarded the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation Scholarship and came to New York to pursue her studies at the José Limón Institute. In 2011 she continued her dance training and movement research in New York as a scholar of Attica Tradition Educational Foundation. Some of her favorite credits include BAM Fischer, TED Platform in Connecticut and TED Athens, Dancespace Project at St Mark’s Church, Figment NYC. She loves yoga, theatre and contemporary dance, but also exploring and training in different dance styles, improvising and creating movement, thinking of the body as an organic instrument with no limits, just expansions. Yoga and dance are part of her life, not only when she is in a studio or on stage, but when she walks barefoot on the beach, when she swims and feels the water run through her skin, when she interacts with people, when she seeks grounding and inspiration.
