Y Scales (Leg Holds)

Who this workshop recording is for:

Students looking to increase their flexibility for a higher standing side leg hold (aka “Y Scale”).

Suggested Prerequisites:

This workshop is geared towards “begintermediate” students with some existing hamstring flexibility. At a minimum, students are expected to be able to sit on the floor with legs straight, and a flat back (90* hip flexion with straight legs). More hamstring flexibility certainly helps, students who can already do deeper forward folds or are closer to flat splits will be able to work on flexier versions of this pose.

If you have super tight hamstrings and can’t yet sit flat on the floor with a flat back, I’d suggest you start with the 45-minute Starting Front Splits workshop instead.

This 75-minute* workshop covers:

• An hour long follow-along contortion style conditioning class, including

  • A full body warm up with extra emphasis on hip mobility

  • Active flexibility drills to strengthen and stretch our hips to support a deeper open split position: that’s a heavy hamstring flexibility emphasis, but we’ll also work on adductors and external hip rotation (turn out) as well!

• “Choose your own adventure” style skillwork practice: 15 minutes of how-to tutorials focused on leg hold shape variations, and optional deeper stretches you can add in for more challenging conditioning.

* This workshop was filmed with the intention of fitting a 75-minute practice, but students may choose to trim it down to 60 min, or continue practicing for even longer.

Recommended props:

• 2 yoga blocks

• Chair, low table, or bench

• Strap (can be stretchy or stiff)

• Uncluttered wall space you can lean against

Upon checkout, you will receive a PDF with a link to the workshop recording (Squarespace limits file upload sizes so I can’t actually upload the whole recording here). The recording is for your personal use only, not to be shared with others - thank you!