Standing Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) with YogaGlo’s Tiffany Cruikshank and Exploring MyYogaOnline

Last night I did a YogaGlo workout with Tiffany Cruikshank called “Short Hip Flow.” It was a 30 minute class to create heat in the hip muscles with more active work and then use static poses to get into deeper stretches.  My hips get tight so easily ever since my Boston Marathon injury, so I am working hard at trying to improve strength and flexibility of my hips.

In this workout, I made use of my new yoga accessories, my yoga block and strap. The standing half moon pose (Ardha Chandrasana) is pretty difficult for me since it really utilizes the hip muscles and requires a lot of balance but it has been getting easier as I practice more and with help from my block.   After the class, I was interested in learning why this pose was good for you.  I found that MyYogaOnline has some great resources on how to do poses including written steps as well as a video clip and the benefits and cautions of these poses.  Some of the benefits of half moon pose listed on MyYogaOnline were:

• Increases mobility of hip joints and neck
• Expands chect and shoulders
• Lengthens spinal muscles
• Strengthens and tones muscles of thighs and calves
• Stretches hamstrings and groin muscles
• Increases the sense of position in space of the feet and ankles

Later in my workout, I needed to use my second accessory-my yoga strap.  I’m not sure the name of this pose, but I had to extend my leg over to one side and having the strap allowed me to control how deep the stretch was.  I used to do this stretch without the yoga strap and I can definitely feel the difference!

Men say that woman may have too many accessories, but my yoga block and strap are some necessities for a yogi in the making!  I’m

What are some of your favorite work out accessories?

My  yoga block and yoga strap!  I also am loving my 3 lb weights because I can do my Jillian Michaels or P90x workouts with weight!