Lunges do alot to stretch the groins and strengthen the legs. They are an integral part almost all yoga postures so they need to be worked on before you can progress in hatha yoga. But, if done incorrectly, can leave you limping and grumbling. And we don't want that, so described here are 3 progressions for working with lunges.

The first progression is done with the hands on chairs and the knee on the ground. On all lunges, it is imperative that the knee stays over the ankle and does not either drift forward or to the side.

To begin, perform the chair lunge.

Chair Lunge Sequence

1. Place your hands on the chairs and then place the left knee on the ground as shown here.



2. Then begin to work you back knee away.
3. Turn your back toes under and begin to straighten your leg shown here.



3. Hold for 5 breaths and then stand and switch legs.
4. Pull the pit of the abdomen up and drop the tailbone down
5. Repeat 3 times on each leg gradually moving the bottom knee away from front leg.
6. Again, you should be able to breath freely and legs should not shake.

Block Lunge Sequence

Once you have mastered the chair lunge the next is to perform the same steps as above but using blocks shown below.