Learn How to do Wild Thing Yoga Pose

Wild Thing: Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1

Begin in Downward-Facing Dog. Focus on broadening through the collarbones, sliding the shoulder blades down the back body and engaging hasta bandha (hand lock).

Step 2

Keep the above engagement and lift your right leg into a Downward-Facing Dog split, spreading through the toes and pressing out through the heel.

Step 3

Move forward into Plank Pose, keeping your right leg lifted and engaged. Bring shoulders directly over your wrists. Do not let your hips sink — keep them level with your shoulders. Draw your navel toward your spine. Breathe.

Step 4

Rotate into Side Plank, keeping your right leg lifted and foot flexed, anchoring into the outer edge of your left flexed foot. Make sure shoulders and hips are stacked. With hasta bandha engaged in the left hand, lift your right hand toward the sky, reaching up and out through the fingers. Gaze toward your right fingers.

Step 5

Slowly bend your right leg, releasing the ball of the foot onto the ground behind you, resting almost beneath your right hip, legs hip-width apart. Your left leg is still extended. Your right arm will reach up and overhead.

Step 6

Press into the ball of your right foot and allow your pelvis to lift upward, letting the head and neck relax toward the back body. Feel your right shoulder turning down to open the chest. Reach fiercely through your right fingers as your right arm frames the right ear. Take 5 rounds of breath. The lifted hand can be placed on the heart.

Step 7

Exit by turning the gaze back down toward the ground. Pressing into the outer edge of the left foot, rotate your right shoulder and hip down toward the earth and release your right hand to floor, returning to Plank. Rest in Child’s Pose or Downward-Facing Dog. Repeat on the left side.

Source Yoga Journal