Yin Yoga · Full-body · Flexibility · Beginner · Hips
Shoelace with Eagle arms — hips and shoulders at the same time
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Ten minutes, no props, and really just one shape done twice.
You sit in Shoelace — half if the full version is too much — and settle there. Then Eagle arms are layered on top of it: one arm out, the other threading underneath, holding opposite shoulders or twisting the forearms so the palms meet. Elbows lift only as far as they lift.
So the hips and the outer hip are working, and the shoulders and upper back are working, at the same time, for two minutes.
Then the arms come down and a seated twist takes the spine — hand behind you, other arm hooked against the top knee, inhale to lengthen and exhale to turn.
The whole round again on the other side, some windshield wipers, and that’s it.
It’s the stacking that makes this fit into ten minutes. Most short classes rush through six poses; this one holds three areas at once and doesn’t rush any of them.
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By stacking shapes rather than queuing them. Shoelace works the hips and the outer hip; Eagle arms go on top of it for the shoulders and upper back; the twist afterwards takes the spine. Three areas in one sitting position, which is what makes it fit.
Half is the bottom leg straight out with only the top leg crossed over, and it's plenty. Full crosses both. Katie offers half first for a reason — and either way, check that both seat bones are pressing into the mat and you aren't sitting on your own foot.
Then hold opposite shoulders instead — that's the first option given, and it reaches the same upper back. The twist of the forearms so the palms meet is the deeper version, not the correct one.
As high as they go today and no higher. Katie's phrase is playing one edge at a time — wait for the invitation to lift, and if it doesn't come, stay. Two minutes at the first edge beats thirty seconds at the last one.
For this, yes — the holds are still two minutes, which is where Yin starts working. It's a good one for a busy day, or for the days when the alternative is nothing.
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