If certain cues mean nothing to you or seem to fall on deaf ears when you\u2019re standing in front of a class, then it\u2019s time to try alternate options. Approaching yoga cues with a less rigid mindset, whether you\u2019re a student or a teacher, can lead to alternatives that can help cut through the clutter and confusion and help you or your students find the engagement, the strength, and the stability that we need.<\/p>\n Perhaps the easiest place to start is in any scenario in which we want to engage the rectus abdominis, our so-called \u201c6-pack\u201d muscle, to round the spine as we do in poses like Bakasana (Crow or Crane Pose)<\/a> and even Marjariasana (Cat Pose)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Often it works best to reference the visible structures so familiar to us on the front of our bodies. This includes cues like \u201cscoop your belly\u201d<\/strong> or \u201chollow your belly,\u201d<\/strong> as well as \u201cdraw your belly in and up,\u201d<\/strong> \u201cpull your navel toward your spine,\u201d<\/strong> \u201ccoil in,\u201d<\/strong> or \u201ccurl in.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n But relating a cue to the action on the opposite side of the body can also catch our attention and invite a different sort of awareness. For example, in Crow, you could \u201ctry to stretch the skin across your low back.\u201d<\/strong> And in supine core work, such as crunches, you could \u201cpress your low back into the floor.\u201d These same core work cues that help you scoop your abs and round your back won\u2019t help you in backbends. These poses require you to find the opposite engagement and movement in your body.<\/p>\n In poses such as High Lunge<\/a> and Ustrasana (Camel Pose)<\/a>, where gravity can move us deeper into a backbend than our low back might appreciate, more subtle core support is required. To create a coordinated effort between the chest and anterior hips, try \u201cdraw your front ribs in and down\u201d<\/strong> to focus on front body engagement rather than focusing exclusively on the low back.<\/p>\n Or you can instead draw attention to the back body. \u201cInflate your kidneys\u201d<\/strong> can highlight more targeted action in the upper portion of the rectus abdominis. To highlight the required action in the lower portion of the same muscle, try \u201cdraw your pubic bone toward your navel,\u201d<\/strong> \u201clift your lower abdomen,\u201d \u201clengthen your sacrum,\u201d<\/strong> or even \u201czip up your jeans.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Poses that require us to find an upright and neutral spine can be cued with common phrases such as \u201creach through your crown,\u201d<\/strong> \u201cstand tall,\u201d<\/strong> and even \u201cpress the ceiling away,\u201d<\/strong> such as Tadasana (Mountain Pose)<\/a>, Virabhadrasana II (Warrior 2 Pose)<\/a>, and Vrksasana (Tree Pose)<\/a>. These cues subtly recruit our deepest abdominal muscle, the transversus abdominis or TVA, which encircles our waist. Somewhat like the corset it resembles, the TVA draws our abdominal contents slightly closer to the spine and makes us feel taller, a subtle postural action called axial extension.<\/p>\n That same axial extension requires more deliberate effort when we are asked to hold the spine neutral in a horizontal or inclined orientation to gravity. Here, the increased downward pressure or pull on our midsection from gravity creates the potential for sagging. Imagine being in Plank,<\/a> Forearm Plank<\/a>, or the variation to Tabletop with opposite leg and arm extended and hearing the suggestion to \u201chug the midline,\u201d<\/strong> \u201ccinch in around your waist,\u201d<\/strong> \u201cnarrow your waist,\u201d<\/strong> or \u201clengthen from head to heels.\u201d<\/strong> These can help you engage in a manner that sustains the necessary engagement to lift throughout your core.<\/p>\n The challenge of maintaining a neutral spine in a pose increases as we factor in our limbs. In Navasana (Boat Pose)<\/a> or reclining leg lifts, where the weight of our legs could cause our backs to inadvertently arch, a cue like \u201cdraw your front hip points toward each other\u201d<\/strong> can help increase the level of TVA engagement.<\/p>\n The load increases even more when you factor in the placement of your limbs, such as in single arm or leg Plank variations or a neutral spine arm balance like Eka Pada Koundinyanasana II (Hurdler\u2019s Pose),<\/a> it can help to add superficial muscular reinforcement to the more subtle support of the TVA. In this instance, you could up the ante with a cue like \u201cbrace yourself like you\u2019re ready for a punch in the gut.\u201d<\/strong> (It runs counter to the principle of ahimsa<\/a>, but it works!)<\/p>\n See also:<\/em> Planksgiving: A Month-Long Plank Challenge<\/a><\/p>\n We often overlook the fact that core work includes twists and side bends. These types of postures demand engagement from less familiar core muscles, including our oblique abdominals and the quadratus lumborum along the side body.<\/p>\n Action-oriented cues can help us eke out that extra strength. In Utthita Parivrtta Anjaneyasana (Revolved Lunge), think \u201cdraw your sternum toward your front knee.\u201d<\/strong> In an open twist such as Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose)<\/a>, consider \u201cturn your chest toward the side wall\u201d<\/strong> or \u201clift your side waist away from the floor.\u201d<\/strong> When you\u2019re balancing in Vasisthasana (Side Plank)<\/a>, try \u201csqueezing your low ribs toward your hip.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Feeling-oriented cues, such as \u201crinse out\u201d<\/strong> or \u201cwring out your abdomen,\u201d<\/strong> also work in a similar way in twisting poses.<\/p>\n Moving mindfully from one position to another is one of the most functional ways we can employ our core muscles in yoga and in life. And, as with most things, less is more. A cue as simple as \u201cexhale\u201d<\/strong> could be the simple reminder we need to tap into the subtle contraction of the TVA. Adding a single word or descriptive phrase, such as \u201cslowly,\u201d<\/strong> \u201csoftly,\u201d<\/strong> or \u201cwith control\u201d<\/strong> can help us benefit from the coordination of core muscles without having to think about them directly or individually.<\/p>\n In stronger or higher velocity transitions, some mindful cues include \u201cland light\u201d<\/strong> or \u201ctread softly,<\/strong>\u201d for example, when stepping forward from Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)<\/a> to a lunge or bringing your foot back to the mat from Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)<\/a>. You could try \u201cfloat forward\u201d<\/strong> to encourage control during the transition between Down Dog and Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)<\/a> and \u201cfloat back\u201d<\/strong> for the opposite movement. I once heard a teacher suggest that we \u201cimagine a sleeping baby at the top of our mat\u201d<\/strong> to inspire quiet landings during handstand hops.<\/p>\n We rarely think about the need to contract our core in everyday life. It\u2019s simply instinctual. We engage our core muscles in various ways that support other muscles in an array of situations.<\/p>\n So in active yoga poses, perhaps the most effective way to trigger core engagement might be to reference the types of actions or sensations that are most familiar to us or students.<\/p>\n \u201cPress through your heel(s)\u201d<\/strong> or \u201cpress through the ball(s) of your feet\u201d<\/strong> works well in poses where we are vividly aware of the need for strong legs supported by a strong core. Think of Plank, Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand-to-Big Toe Pose)<\/a>, and Navasana (Boat Pose).<\/p>\n \u201cSqueeze your legs together\u201d<\/strong> and \u201cmagnetize your feet toward each other\u201d<\/strong> tap into the abdominal muscles via the fascial connections to the hip adductors and can be effective in poses such as Plank, Side Plank, Warrior 2, and Utkata Konasana (Goddess Pose).<\/p>\n Even an action seemingly unrelated to the core, like \u201cpress your palms together\u201d<\/strong> in Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal or Prayer Hands)<\/a> or \u201chug your forearms toward the midline\u201d<\/strong> in Plank work to engage lesser-used parts of our core.<\/p>\n Our core muscles sometimes work most efficiently when we don\u2019t think about them at all. So play with language that taps into a feeling, movement, action, or outcome. Whether these cues work for you or inspire you to come up with others, you have nothing to lose from experimentation.<\/p>\n About our contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n Rachel Land<\/a> is a Yoga Medicine instructor<\/a> offering group and one-on-one yoga sessions in Queenstown New Zealand, as well as on-demand at Practice.YogaMedicine.com<\/a>. Passionate about the real-world application of her studies in anatomy and alignment, Rachel uses yoga to help her students create strength, stability, and clarity of mind. Rachel also co-hosts the new Yoga Medicine Podcast.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because different poses ask you to use your core in different ways.<\/p>\n The post 44 Essential Cues to Help You Strengthen Your Core in Any Yoga Pose<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-8564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mountain](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose.png\")
Poses that ask you to round your spine<\/h3>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Camel](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose.jpg\")
Back bends<\/h3>\n
Standing poses that ask you to keep your spine neutral<\/h3>\n
![\"Boat](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose-1.jpg\")
Horizontal or inclined poses that ask you to keep your spine neutral<\/h3>\n
![\"Extended](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose-2.jpg\")
Twists and side bending poses<\/h3>\n
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose.gif\")
Transitions between poses<\/h3>\n
![\"Plank](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose-3.jpg\")
Sneaky ways to cue the core<\/h3>\n
How to navigate cues in general<\/h3>\n
![\"44](\"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/44-essential-cues-to-help-you-strengthen-your-core-in-any-yoga-pose-1.gif\")
<\/figure>\n