Transitions: Side angle pose to half moon pose

In part two of our series on transitions, here is another fundamental one! I really like shifting between these two poses slowly because I feel my outer hips working A LOT (and outer hip strengthening is great for long term yogis because we stretch that area of our bodies so often). I sometimes say to my students that as far as most yogis are concerned we can think of your outer hips as having three main jobs: they create motion both by turning your legs out and swinging your legs out to the side, and they also act as stabilisers when you are shifting your weight around.

When people move into half moon pose it is fairly common for their front foot to turn inwards. I’ve found that switching on my outer hip in that leg helps prevent my front foot turning in. So here are the steps I took my students through:

Start in side angle pose as shown in this first image. You may want to have a block under your bottom hand; for my proportions using a block works better than reaching for the floor.

Have your bottom hand just outside your front ankle so that your arm lines up with your shin. Gently press your leg out against your arm and see if you can feel your outer hip switching on to press your leg out.

Put your top hand on your top hip (this is optional but it keeps your arm from waving around and pulling you off balance!). Keep pressing your front leg gently out against your bottom arm so you’re engaging the muscles you need in your front hip for when we make our next transition.

My last blog post contained a short video of a correction you can do to yourself by hooking your thumb into the front of your hip - that adjustment can also be useful in your front hip here.

Keep that same action of pressing your front leg out going as you step your bottom hand forwards (this action is key to stop your front foot turning in!).

Place your bottom hand about the length of your torso in front of your front foot. Slowly shift your weight forwards on to to your bottom hand and front foot until your back foot lifts off the floor.

Keep working same area of your bottom hip that you could feel when you were pressing your leg out against your bottom arm (even though your arm isn’t there any more!). Slowly shift a little more weight on to your front foot to allow you to lift your back leg higher. Of course I’ve managed to cut my top foot off again here 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 But what you can’t quite see is that my top toes are pointing towards the camera (ie my top leg has turned out as well as lifted up. You may be able to feel the outside of your top hip working to lift your leg.

If you feel steady you can reach your top arm up. And if you feel really steady try looking up! Before you come back down think about where you want to place your top foot, and then as slowly as you can shift back to side angle pose.

Bonus strength drill!

The steps above will take you through the transition from side angle pose to half moon. But below is a little strength drill I also had my students doing to work their hips a little more. If you wanted to add this in during your transition it would fit nicely after the first two photos above and before the second two.

Come into the position shown in this last image, except with your back toes still on the floor. Press your front leg gently out against your bottom arm to engage the outside of that hip. Then shift your weight forwards on to your front foot just enough to hover your back toes off the floor (as shown here). Keep your front knee slightly bent, keep pressing your front leg against your arm and lower your back toes back down to the floor. Lift and lower your back foot a few times, but keep the movement really small (smaller is harder!). Then the last time you hover your back foot hold it up for a few breaths. Let me know how you get on!