How to Side Crow: Hard Yoga Poses Made Easy

Side Crow: Where twisting meets arm balancing (and fun is had)
In the ‘Hard Yoga Poses Made Easy’ series, we focus on a particular yoga pose or skill that seems (or is) very difficult and we make it a lot easier by breaking it down into actionable, realistic, and sequential steps.
Side crow is a fun pose to teach because it’s more accessible than a lot of other arm balancing poses and it also has a lot of elements coming together to make the pose happen.
There is a bit of a ‘cheat’ in this pose and, sadly, the cheat has become a pretty common way for people to get into this pose for the first time. Many teachers will offer the option to “create a shelf” with both elbows, allowing you to rest your body weight on your elbows instead of getting the full experience of the pose.
In this tutorial and progression, we won’t cheat. Instead, we’ll begin with simpler versions of the pose, master them, and then earn the ability to do the pose the right way.
For athletes, this is an amazing progression to work through as it develops dynamic core strength that emphasizes stabilizing a twist, as opposed to momentuming (made up word) through a bunch of bicycle crunches that seem like they’re doing more for you than they actually are.
There are also some pretty cool leg variations you can take, which I’ll also show you at the end of this progression of steps:
1) Side Crow on your back: For twisting core strength and building muscle memory of the shape of the pose.
2) Chair Pose: To start feeling what it’s like to hold a twist in a physically-demanding pose that’s not an arm balance.
3) Get a Feel: To start feeling what it’s like to approach the pose without cheating. This one is really important because it’s very tempting to cheat and avoid the full enchilada.
4) Start to Lift: To start feeling what it’s like to hold a twist in a physically-demanding arm balance. This one combines steps 2 and 3 to give you a very solid foundation for step 5.
5) Full Side Crow: Now, you’re ready for the full pose and you don’t have to cheat. You’ve earned your core strength and body awareness, so I’ll also give you some fun little leg variations to play with as well.
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[@beakf1]

I tried this by myself and it was impossible but I got it first try watching your demo and following. Thanks 😊

[@brunowolfe9172]

Amazing. You are extremely good. Ty. Side crow is a pose I’ve never attempted. . Ima follow your system on this, c what happens

[@quinnvids]

THANK YOU this is the most helpful side crow video I've found

[@georgemaniere7919]

I found you about a month ago and I wanted to let you know that you are an excellent teacher.
I like the way you break asanas down into 5 bite size pieces and explain with clarity the dos and don'ts
Thanks

[@hujin4378]

Excellent explanation. I thought the body weight spread on both arms might be easier. The demo you showed here needs to hold the body weight all on one arm which seemingly very challenging. Side crow is just so much harder for me in terms of the weight balancing.

[@SethPierceClimbing]

That was awesome. I can't wait to get it down

[@sacharose517]

This is fantastic!! Thank you!!

[@TheHitchkick]

Thank you for this video. I just wish you would take it all a little bit slower, there are a lot of words in a very small amount of time, makes me feel very rushed and hectic. But I will try it with your help anyway. Thank you

[@KhadijahJoySams93]

Cool channel name

[@AungKaday-m8q]

So talkative

[@at0m1k38]

You have a great channel and very good step by step videos, thank you brother 👌 for the time you put in the videos 🟣🙏🕉 Paramashivoham

[@AungKaday-m8q]

So talkative