After consulting with our resident astrologers, The AstroTwins, I’ve put together 11 yoga poses to expand and release — two major cosmic themes under any given full moon. With tonight’s full moon (June 2) falling in Sagittarius, it’s also a time to harness your inner adventurer and bring forth your bold and fearless self. Begin in Mountain Pose (Tadasana), rooting the tailbone down and pressing through the soles of your feet. Release your shoulders as you reach palms to sacrum, fingertips pointing downward. Draw your elbows together and use your hands to press your hips forward, bending through the thoracic spine. Allow your head to gently drop back, lengthening through your Throat Chakra as you breathe deeply. Continue pressing the hips forward as you bend back, only going as far as what feels good. Hold for 3 deep breaths and press into your sacrum to come back to Tadasana. Fold forward to relieve any compression in the lumbar spine. Breathe deeply for 3-5 breaths, feeling the space being created between the vertebrae and heart opening under the moonlight. Press down through the feet, using your hands to guide you back up. Release your hands by your sides and take a breath in Tadasana. Release the hands and eagle wrap the right arm under the left, with the left arm over the right, drawing your palms together. Feel the deep release in your trapezius muscles as you draw the fingertips just below your nose. Inhale to send the palms overhead, still wrapped, exhale to bow yourself forward. Breathe deeply for 5 breaths. From Devotional Warrior, release the wrapping of your arms and inhale to windmill the arms out to either side while still bending deeply through the front knee. Flip the front palm skyward and tip your torso back on an exhale. Draw the other hand down the back leg and keep the right shoulder away from the ear as you allow the chest to open to the sky. Gently release the head back if it feels good. Take 5 deep breaths, finding more length on the right side of the body with each exhale. The glutes work with the psoas of lifted leg to keep it from floating back, as the oblique abdominals allow the side of your trunk to bend. Your triceps are working to draw your elbows toward straight as you extend the left arm to the sky. Let your gaze naturally follow. Reach for the moon with your fingertips and smile. Hold for 3-5 breaths, keeping your gaze soft, yet focused — maintaining your drishti. Keep spinning your chest and gaze toward the sky, opening your heart to let the moonlight pour in. Breathe for 3 breaths and release the foot back to Half Moon. On an inhale, sweep the arms overhead to interlace all of the fingers except for the index fingers. Exhale to soften the shoulders down your back. Inhale to lengthen through the thoracic spine, exhale to extend the lumbar spine out of the pelvis to prevent compression. Breathe deeply for up to 5 breaths and then use your hands to guide yourself back up on an inhale. Exhale to soften. Release your fingertips to either side of the front foot. To practice this pose safely, ensure you are keeping your hips lifted. Instead of just throwing the head back, keep the neck lengthened and the gaze following the right fingertips overhead. Keeping both knees slightly bent, ground through the outer edge of the left foot. Hold for 3 breaths and then press into your left hand and foot to flip yourself back to a Downward Dog split with the right leg lifted. The legs are forming an expansive triangular shape as you rotate the heart open, lifted through your hips. Hold for 3 breaths and come back to Downward Dog. To go further, release the tops of your hands to your heels and keep the shoulders dropped away from the ears. Gently release the head back, mindful to not compress the cervical spine. Breathe deeply in and out of your nose for 3 more breaths, then use your palms to press yourself back up and tuck your chin. Sit back onto your heels and send your knees wide, bringing your hands to Namaskar (Anjali Mudra) at your heart’s center. Close your eyes and notice what may have come up. Inhale to find more length out of the waist, exhaling to find more release. You can rest the weight of your torso to your forearms or release to the ground beneath you. Breathe deeply for at least 10 breaths, finding release and restoration with every exhale. Revisit your intentions for the full moon here — what is it that you need to let go of? What is it that you need to bring forth? Take a vinyasa and repeat each pose on the other side of your body. Gallery Credit: Beth Kessler for mindbodygreen
