I have been enjoying all of these power practices.  I can feel the benefits of the strength and balance practice as well as an awareness of how much power I have.  The cues on pulling the abdomen across created much deeper twists for me  and at the end of the practice I feel calm, open and ready for my day.  Off the mat benefits: I take the energy into my day! Thank you Nathan.!  ( I came into side crow from a chair pose twist   - not sure if this was an allowable alternative....)

M Angela, yes :) That is definitely an allowable alternative. I feel that if a pose is difficult to enter then using alternative methods is great. Once you’ve felt the pose and become more comfortable in it, we can explore more traditional ways of doing it. These traditional methods often create a lightness in the pose or emphasize a particular action or sensation to help us take it to the next level. But we have to know the pose first :) And, great job on working through the Power section. That’s a tough series! 

I struggled at first with the concept of manually moving the abdomen, but I did find more space in the twists as a result. I will keep working with this!

Creative entry into sidecrow!!

Ali, I just love that manual abdominal movement. I’ve taught that in classes before and often students are shy about getting in there and moving the abdomen. But wow! How much deeper we can get in the pose. There is a true wringing feeling. Glad you like it! 

Thank you, Kate!

Power 5, what a great practice today. I felt the changes in my body's ability to hold / take poses, as opposed to day 1 That felt great! I held the supported crow pose, which I didn't think I could ... Yeah! and I did notice the difference in space in the chest after the spinal twists. Thanks Nathan! 

Lyse I love hearing it :)

Another “delicious” session.  All that deep twisting made the parva bakasana very doable, what a good feeling.

Hi. Love this practice. I have an issue with arm balancing. My arms have always been very weak, and even when I was practicing more I have never been able to sustain my weight on my bended arms. So no crow pose, or even dolphin. Is there anything I could do to work on this particular issue? Tx