Beginner - Remember to breath! You will never have a better yoga teacher than your own breath! If you’re breath doesn’t come easily into a posture, you may have gone too far and should gently and slowly move out of the pose. Mastery of the breath, will lead to the depth of the posture.
Intermediate - Engage your toes! Lifting the all of the toes in standing postures can be a quick fix for lazy feet. Spreading the toes in certain standing and seated postures also helps to strengthen the feet and pull the rest of the leg into proper alignment. Can’t move your toes to save your life? Neither can most people beginning to work with the feet, butdon’t be discouraged! Practice while at your desk, brushing your teeth, or watching your favorite show. It also helps when starting to use your hands to move your toes and feet in order to build muscle memory. If they’ve never spread or lifted before your muscles will not know where to go!
Advanced - Drop the tailbone and lift the pelvic floor in certain asanas (poses). Engaging of mulabhanda (root lock) helps to bring the entire body into proper alignment. This can be engaged easily on the exhale and understood better if the exhale is held out for a moment. While seated place your hand directly on the tip of your tailbone, exhale completely and hold it out, try to lift the pelvic floor and breath, release. If you felt the tailbone move slightly inward you’ve done it. With more practice, it becomes more of an energetic movement in that area and less of a physical movement of the tailbone.
