In his first draft of his post for yesterday Featured Pose: Extended Side Angle Pose Baxter wrote "This is one of our favorite poses!" Haha, very funny, I wrote back. I'm taking that sentence out because this one is definitely on my list of least favorite standing poses. He replied, "I had no idea." Well, I've written before about how our body types and areas of flexibility are very different (I'm much more flexible in the hamstrings and he's more flexible in external rotation of the hips), despite years of practice for the both of us, so the differences in our experiences of this pose might something to do with that. But I also wondered if it might have something to do with the difference in the shapes of the male and female pelvis, because my discomfort in this pose (and, trust me, I've tried all kinds of different alignment tips and tricks over the years so it's not an issue of finding the right alignment) is in the hip joint area. Baxter thought this an intriguing possibility, and suggested that I do a poll.
So what do you say? Are you up for it? Would you be willing to respond in the comments or send me an email (see the Contact Us page) specifying your gender and listing your three favorite standing poses and three least favorite standing poses? Maybe we'll see some interesting patterns. But even if we don't, it's always helpful for people to see the wide variety of responses people have to various yoga poses.
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