Using a Yoga Strap to Improve King of Dancer's Pose

[Oh haha, the freeze frame struggle is too real!]

Working on King of Dancer's Pose from the floor

One of my favorite tips for working on King of Dancer's Pose was from my friend CapFeb--she told me to work on this from the floor. It keeps you from having to deal with balance at the same time that you're simultaneously perfecting that tricky hand grip and working your stretch.

Solution: work on pigeon to King Pigeon

The secret to good form when you're not flexible

A yoga strap! Before I used my own DIY version--just recently I received a yoga strap from Five Four Ten in exchange for an honest review and it's been very helpful. Using any sort of a yoga strap will keep you all lined up. Think of the way the body aligns when yogis grab their feet--it makes these really great lines (#goals). Without having that foot-to-hand connection it's so much harder not to end up at odd angles.

How I use my yoga strap to improve my King of Dancer's Pose

[All of this is described in the video below so feel free to scroll past and click play button.]

1. Loop your strap through the buckle. I'm using a thick yoga strap with a metal buckle by Five Four Ten.
2. Get your yoga strap around your foot. Go around the arch, pulling the strap tight enough to stay comfortably put. Be sure to keep the buckle between your torso and your foot rather than at the back of your foot.
3. Get into Pigeon Pose. Remember we're working our flexibility from the floor so technically we'll be doing close to a King Pigeon.
4. Arch back gradually into King Pigeon Pose. This is where the grippy-ness of the strap material helps--inch your fingers down slowly. As you get close to your limit you'll find you can get a slightly deeper stretch using a yoga strap. 
5. Strengthen. As you get better focus on doing more of the work with the muscles involved, so getting your foot to your head with less pulling and more positioning, because ultimately strength in your new poses will maintain your flexibility.

The good, the bad, the lovely:

I love that the Five Four Ten yoga strap is so grippy.
When I first was working on King of Dancer's pose what helped me get it was being able to pull on knots I'd made in my DIY yoga strap; with this strap the whole length is easy to pull along. Also, the ability to grip my foot without feeling like I'm strangling it is really nice.

The one improvement I'd make is to find a way to have the same foot grip without the metal buckle, although I'm not really sure how that would be possible. I've seen other straps with a plastic buckle, which is the same issue but easier to break, or with a continuous loop which makes it less intuitive to use (read: it might sit at the bottom of my drawer waiting for me to figure it out). In any case I found it very easy and painless to work with.

My favorite part is having a pretty bit of gear. Honestly, I've made more flexibility progress by finding ways to enjoy stretching. My workout room is already a bit of a "torture chamber" without dismal gear. It makes a difference to take some time to oneself and enjoy every aspect of it.

What are your goal poses?

Do you have a love for back-bendy poses like me? Are you way too concerned with splits to care about anything else? Let me know below, I love comments!

Remember to subscribe and stay inspired!