Pincha Mayurasana – The Peacock feather pose

Pincha Mayurasana is a posture I love to practice when I’m feeling strong and solar in my energy.  It’s a wonderful posture to help relieve stress, find inner strength and a sense of balance.  You can use a wall if you are a beginner or new to posture.  When you feel ready you can practice in the centre of the room.  This posture can bring up fear (it did for me for many years!), breathe through it and be gentle with yourself on your journey.

• Come onto the hands and knees and place the forearms down with the elbows shoulder-distance apart (you can wrap the top third of the fingers around the upper arms if you’re unsure how wide to go)
• Place the wrists shoulder-distance apart, making a capital letter L shape between the thumbs and middle fingers
• Tuck the toes under and walk into a dolphin, trying to get the hips as high up above the shoulders as possible
• Look forwards and down between the thumbs and raise one leg as high as possible to almost be able to step up into the pose.  It’s all about the top leg so really energise it and extend it up to the big toe and beyond.
• Inhale, then as you exhale take a small hop and use the top leg to take you up into the split forearm balance, trying to use as little momentum as possible
• Press the forearms down into the mat as you engage the core and inner thighs to bring the legs together, reaching the toes up towards the ceiling/sky