Anantasana and sphinx make up this brief ‘Vinyasa Short’

Anantasana is one of those sneaky poses…looks easy but it’s really not.

By starting this short sequence in sphinx, you end up traveling across your mat laterally. And yes, you’ll also end up rolling off the mat a bit. C’est la vie!

This sequence starts belly down in sphinx, then rolls off to one side for anantasana, then finally onto the back for supta padangusthasana, and then back again to anantasana and back to sphinx. Fun!

Here are some helpful hints to pulling this off smoothly, which is the objective.

• First, as you turn onto your side from sphinx, immediately flex the bottom foot to create a kickstand. Then lift the top leg, using a strap or taking the big toe, as shown here.
• Then when you roll onto your backside for supta padangusthasana, really pull the lifted leg back into its socket and draw up mula and uddiyana bandha strongly. This will engage the deep stabilizing muscles and keep you from flopping onto your back.
• Again, as you return back up into anantasana, kickstand the bottom leg quickly and hold it strongly by pressing out through the heel.

And then of course, there’s no denying, this anantasana/sphinx/supta padangusthasana sequence just takes a lot of strength to master. So give it time. Your intermediate students will probably have fun with it, while your beginning students will probably get a few laughs from it.

As always, modify the movements to suit your body and your students’ level of practice. And take it slower than what I’m showing here.

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I hope you enjoy plugging this anantasana/sphinx/supta padangusthasana sequence into your classes and seeing what happens.

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