It is said that those who achieve the Four Pillars in yoga pose will dominate the world. For experienced yoga practitioners, the Four Pillars may be the most common pose, but for beginners, the Four Pillars seem like a mountain peak, and it is really not easy to climb them. Today, let’s talk about what beginners need to pay attention to when practicing the Four Pillars, in order to lay a solid foundation for completing a standard Four Pillars and transitioning from Four Pillars to Upper and Lower Dogs for further advancement..
From the beginning of practice, it is important to develop many wrong starting points and practice habits, which can lead to a bit of twists and turns on the road. To break these habits in the future, it will require more time and energy. Therefore, it is important to practice from the beginning and avoid turning back and taking detours..
I won’t go into the steps of practicing the Four Pillars. Let me introduce a progressive exercise method for beginners: kneeling push ups. Below image.
The only difference between the four pillars is that the four pillars have legs suspended in the air and feet on the ground, which is knee landing. This moves the support point of the lower body from the feet to the knees, which is equivalent to shortening the distance between the entire body, making it relatively easier..
Kneel on a four legged stool and move your hands forward about half the distance of your palms. Five fingers wide open, pressing down on the ground..
Move the center of gravity forward a bit, expand the groin, (at this point, the pelvis tilts backwards, and the thighs and ground form an oblique line).
Maintain 1-2 breaths here and look for shoulder stability and abdominal adduction..
Rotate your upper arms outward, turn your elbow sockets straight ahead, unfold your collarbone, press your big thenar and tiger’s mouth against the ground, and lower your shoulder blades to pull towards your hips..
Maintain another set of breaths, this time maintaining shoulder stability and abdominal adduction. Push the palm to the ground, activate the arms, and stabilize the shoulders. That is to find the connection between the palm and the shoulder..
Inhale, hold still on top, bend your elbows, pull them back against your body, and do not tilt them outward. (Note that this is not a downward movement of the body. The body actually remains stationary, but with the bending of the elbow, the distance between the shoulders and the ground becomes shorter, and as the body descends, all the forces in front remain unchanged.).
Even if it goes down, the two most common mistakes for beginners during the process are: 1. Elbow outward. So I ask everyone to turn their elbow sockets forward first, not to let energy and strength dissipate, and gather towards the center of their body. 2. shrug, so that the collarbone is open and the shoulder blades are always pulled back..
After reaching your own range, hold for a while. For beginners, the most important thing is to check that your abdomen is not loose, your elbows are against your body, and your shoulder blades are walking towards your hips..
Exhale and collect your abdomen, pull your shoulders and back upwards, and push your hands to straighten your arms..
When we went on, as we mentioned earlier, all the force on the body remained unchanged, except for the elbow bending, the distance between the shoulders and the ground becoming shorter, and the body going down. In fact, it’s the same when you come up, the force remains the same, but your arms are straight and your body is elevated..
The most common problem for beginners here is that they lose the power of abdominal adduction, the power of their back is also lost, and only the power of hand pushing is left. So it looks like pushing the ground with hands, arms stretched out, lifting the chest up, and lifting the chest up brings the abdomen up again. It’s not like making four pillars, but rather like a deformed cobra..
Before you want to push your body up, retract your abdomen and lower back.
