Partnering

My sister (left) and me (right) doing yoga together!

Last week, I read this lovely post on Adult Beginner about prenatal yoga partner poses and it got me thinking.  I used to really, really, REALLY hate partner poses in yoga.  Touching sweaty strangers is one of the more unpleasant things I imagine doing.  This is one of the reasons (out of many) that I refuse to try Bikram; the thought of someone in a humid hot room getting their sweat on me makes me throw up in the back of my mouth a little.

That being said, when I started my yoga teacher training, I learned a few partner poses that I actually quite like.  In fact, there are a few that I love!  I've found that they can challenge me in different ways and even teach me something about my alignment in the postures.  And is touching someone in yoga the worst thing?  How does that song go?  Reach out and touch somebody's hand....

More on yoga partner poses that I love with photos after the jump!

In reverse warrior II

Reverse Warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana)

I love the partnered version of this pose because pressing the back heel into another person is very grounding (this is a teacher assist for students actually).  Also, reaching back to find somebody's hand really makes me feel that stretch in the side body!

Doing tree pose with the trees!

Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

It can be difficult to find your balance in partnered tree pose, but it feels so rewarding to achieve it!  They should make corporate people do this as a trust and team building exercise (maybe they already do, I've never been a corporate person).  I could stay in tree pose for a long time just fine, but where is the fun and edge in that?  Partnering is just one of the many variations I like to mix up tree pose with-- also try waving your arms around, coming onto your toes or closing your eyes!  The most important part of tree pose is falling out of it with a smile.

We couldn't quite get this one together...

Upward Facing Boat (Paripurna Navasana)

This one is just fun.  Yes, it stretches your legs and makes you engage your core, but the fun part is trying to bring you legs from inside your arms to outside of your arms, without disconnecting at the feet.  As you can see from my photos, my sister and I fell out of it even though I was gripping her feet with my toes!

*Thank you to my partner for taking these pics.  Stay tuned for a beautiful guest post from my sister tomorrow!