My research poses..

Whenever I have the time, I try to do some of this stuff apart from the primary series...

For the core:
1. Headstand
2. Ardha dandasana
3. Navasana
4. Piking on my exercise ball (as in do plank on the ball and try to lift the hips up high like in handstand, and roll back down)
I'm pretty sure if I could manage it properly, going up into a handstand with control would be fabulous, but I can't without jumping up and down..so I can't say anything about it.

For my hips:
1. Baddha konasana - with a wall behind me so I can push myself forward to the floor
2. Supta baddha konasana - with my butt on a block cos I think it gives my adductors much more stretch
3. Frog - not the bhekasana one..but with the knees wide apart and elbows on the floor..and then sliding the knees apart until I get flat.
4. Agnisthambasana - the square pose. I think this one is the ultimate pain in the butt...
5. Janu Shirshasana
6. Sleeping pigeon - and if possible move the feet further forward so its close to my head when I lie down.
7. Half tarasana - or diamond pose. Half because my hips are mighty tight, and I have back pain if I sit too long in the diamond pose. This I do with one leg bent like in janu shirshasana, and the other leg further in front, so when I bend forward I can put my head behind the foot.
8. Padmasana on my stomach, I think it has the same effect as the frog, except with a different rotation.


Backbends:
1. Lying over my exercise ball
2. Ardha supta virasana but with the non virasana leg bent and pulled towards my chest - again ardha because my quadriceps are tight and if I do both legs together there is a huge arch in my back. I discovered this stretch in Donna Farhi's book - Yoga mind, body and spirit. I think its a fabulous stretch.
3. Crescent lunges - for the hip flexors
4. Sit against the seat of a folding chair and put my arms through the opening at the back. REAL big shoulder stretch for me.
5. Putting the head on the floor in downward dog - another shoulder stretch
6. Holding a block between my hands, putting the elbows on the seat of a chair and pressing the shoulders towards the floor. I do this in preparation for the day I will officially receive kapotasana ..hahahah..I always bend too much in the lumbar spine and need more opening in my shoulders. This one is super hard for me too.

Others:
1. Ragdoll for the hamstrings
2. Supta padangustasana