Fallen angel

Earlier this week, I saw a picture of Amber, a teacher from my yoga studio (yes, I’m calling it mine) in an awesome inversion arm balance pose. Right away, I thought to myself “must try this pose now!” However, I decided to wait, because it’s not a good idea to throw yourself into a pose you don’t know.

When I went to the stuido later that day, Amber was there. I told her I just had to know how to get in to the amazing pose. She told me it’s called fallen angel, which is just perfect, because I fall all the time! Then she pulled out a mat and demonstrated how to get into in, right there in the lobby, because she’s awesome like that.

Today, since I have the day off, I figured it would be a great time to try it out. I stretched out my neck first, because there is a strange face-pressed-into-the-floor thing going on. And then, I did it! Sort of. It’s not perfect, but it was my first time, so I’m just happy I tried and managed to somewhat get into it.

First, I started off in side crow.

Then, I placed the side of my face onto the floor. You don’t want to smush your face too much here. Also, here is a great view of my butt for you.

After that came the tricky part. I had to lift my left leg straight up, leave my right knee on my elbow and point the toes up.

My first try looked like this. Notice the intense look of concentration on my face.

I tried again (many, many times) and finally got it to this point. My right shoulder is only about a millimeter off the ground, and it should be level with the left shoulder, and my right leg is not pointing up enough, but come on, this is freakin amazing!

You can come out of it gracefully, going back into side crow, then slowly coming up. Or, you can do what I did and tumble out in one big heap. Either way works well.

You can check out Amber in fallen angel. How fabulous is she?

I think this might be my new favourite pose. If any of my teachers are reading this, can we please do this pose next time?