Fallen Flamingo Pose is a unique & challenging yoga pose that will stretch and strengthen your hamstrings, tighten your core, and more…

Fallen Flamingo Pose – also known as Humble Flamingo Pose or Floating Pyramid Pose – is an interesting advanced variation on Pyramid Pose. This lovely and unique pose offers an intense hamstring stretch, as well as strengthening the core abdominals, legs, arms, shoulders, hands, wrists, and more. Although challenging, this is an introspective yoga pose, and is a great way to reflect on what you are grateful for this season!

Be sure you are fully warmed up before performing this pose. Doing 5-6 repetitions of Sun Salutations can help warm up the entire body to prepare for the pose – or you can simply do a sequence of hip openers, hamstring stretches, and forward folds of your choice.

To modify the pose, you can stop before lifting up the back foot and simply hold there, or try shortening your stance to reduce the strain on your hamstrings.

Those with knee, shoulder, or hamstring injuries should avoid this pose.

How to Do Fallen Flamingo Pose:

• Start in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose).
• Step your right foot forward to meet your hands and hop your back foot in about a third of the way, spinning your heel down to align your feet heel to heel.
• Bring your hands to your hips and stand up. Square your hips forward, evening out the sides of your pelvis. Roll your shoulder heads back. Keep your chest broad as you lift both of your quads.
• Keep the length in your chest as you fold forward over your front straight leg, bringing your hands to the floor. Stop when your spine begins to round. Take 8 breaths here before continuing to the next step.
• Keep the length of your torso over your front leg, as if you were trying to kiss your shinbone. Walk your arms back away from your front foot, spinning the fingertips backward. If it’s possible to drop your palms, you may. Otherwise, go for length on your fingertips. Keep your hips square, kneecaps lifted, and spine long (avoid rounding).
• Keep your arms extended back but pop up onto your fingertips. Hug your triceps in so you can feel them squeezing the midline of your body. Dramatically draw the tops of your shoulder heads back to encourage the length of your sternum bone.
• Transfer as much weight into your fingertips as possible as you dig weight into your front heel and peel the toes up. This may be all you can do for now. Or you may need to shorten your stance—the longer the stance, the more challenging on the hamstrings.
• If you’re ready to take it all the way, feel your weight like a pyramid, balanced between your fingertips and front foot, as you draw your back heel in toward your bottom. Your entire body will be alive and active. Try holding for a few breaths and then release.
• Take a Vinyasa to rinse out the body and do the second side. (See video here.)

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