The Vinyasa Show Artwork
Season 8 - Episode 7

Love Thy Belly

50 min - Practice
21 likes

Description

Nicole guides us through a Vinyasa practice to awaken our core and generate heat in the body. We begin with Udiyana Kriya, Agni Sara, and Nauli Kriya to increase our digestive fire and help relieve back pain. We play with standing, balancing, and twisting postures. You will feel more clear, cleansed, and energized.
What You'll Need: Mat, Block

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(waves splashing) Welcome back. We're gonna do a core practice today that I like to call Love Thy Belly. We're gonna be learning some Kriyas: Uddiyana Kriya, Agni Sara, and Nauli. This practice takes practice, so if it's brand new for you, don't worry. If you do this practice every day for two weeks, I guarantee by the end of two weeks, you will have it down.

So just do your best today and we'll have fun together. Okay? So we're gonna start in Tadasana, and just give ourselves an opportunity to get landed. It's always a good idea to have a look at your feet. How are you down there?

And then stretch out through all ten toes, broadening, and land back into your heels now. And for my hyper-extenders at home, we don't want to lock out our knees, we want to keep it nice and soft. (inhaling) Expanding your breath. (exhaling) Feeling that length rising and falling. You can close your eyes here to drop into the sensation of your body.

(inhaling) (exhaling) Just practicing using our breath to get that sense of lifting. (inhaling) You might notice how the ribcage literally lifts out of the waist, helping to lengthen the lower spine if you inhale full enough. Let's just take three more breaths here together, really working the breath nice and big. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) All right, so we're gonna move right into our Kriya practice. Uddiyana Kriya, we're gonna begin with, so you're gonna open up your feet, mat-distance apart.

In this position, as you come down, you're gonna plant your hands on your knees and we're getting into a huddle position, just as we would if we were a team getting ready to plan our next move. So your arms are nice and straight, you're braced on your legs, and your legs are bent, and you're sitting back into your hips and your heels. And then I'm gonna pull up my shirt so you can see what we're doing here. And there's gonna be a breath movement to help get that deep hollow of the belly. So we're gonna be inhaling fully.

(inhaling) Exhaling fully. (exhaling) And then, it's at the end of the exhalation, you're gonna hold all the air out and that's when you hollow the belly in. So it's really important, don't breathe in when you go to pull the belly in. Just like this, here we go. Inhaling.

(inhaling) Exhaling. (exhaling) (inhaling) When it's time to breathe again, you're gonna completely relax the belly, let it hang out and breathe in. And we're gonna try to do this a couple of times, and we're gonna hold it for six, eight, 10 counts. You see what feels best to you. You're your captain of your ship.

I'm your navigational system. So together, let's check it out. Uddiyana Kriya is a great way to help build our digestive fire and it'll help release back pain, lower back pain especially. Inhaling together. (inhaling) Fully exhale.

(exhaling) (inhaling) And I'm just moving my hands out of the way so that you have a better vision if you want, but you go ahead and leave your hands down on your knees. Let's do it one more time together. Remember, when we exhale and empty out all our air, we're gonna hold it out and then pull the belly in, but we're not gonna breathe in at that moment. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And that's Uddiyana Kriya. So now we're gonna do Agni Sara, and Agni literally refers to our digestive fire, and Sara is actually the word that creates a pumping mechanism in our body, like those old school bellows, where you would use the bellow to pump, fan the flame of the fire.

So with this practice, we're literally fanning the flames of our digestive fires. Really great for our organs, such as liver and spleen. And it's gonna be the same thing, so what we're gonna do is that same breathing technique. We're inhaling, we're exhaling, we're pulling the belly in, but instead of holding the belly in, what we're gonna do is move it in and out once we've exhaled all our air. And again, you just do your best, have fun, play with it.

Together, here we go, inhaling. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And again, I'm moving my hands out of the way so that you can see. You keep your hands down. I'll show you what it looks like with the hands down this time. (inhaling) Let's do it again together.

Full inhale. Full exhale. (exhaling) And you relax, breathe in. (inhaling) One more time. Fully empty.

(exhaling) (inhaling) And that was Agni Sara. The last one we're gonna do is called Nauli. Nauli is a lateral abdominal rolling, and we go clockwise. This being 12, moving out to the left first, coming around, and that's how our digestive system, how our intestines travel, in the clockwise position. (inhaling) (exhaling) So as you're starting with this practice, do Uddiyana Kriya first, just like we have been doing, and then you're gonna practice pulling the abdominals over to the left, laterally moving them.

Together, inhaling. (inhaling) Full exhalation. (exhaling) Hollowing in. (inhaling) Second time, nice big inhale together. (inhaling) Full exhalation.

(exhaling) Hollowing in. (inhaling) (exhaling) And again, yours may not look like mine today, don't worry. Just do your best and feel for that abdominal movement. Listen to thy gut. One more time together, ready?

(inhaling) Great, big inhale. Great, big exhale. You're gonna hold the breath out at the bottom of the exhale. (exhaling) Hollowing the belly in. (inhaling) (exhaling) That concludes our abdominal Kriya practice.

Yogi Amrit Desai was famous for saying that if you practice these every day, all your dreams will come true. So we're gonna come back in to Tadasana, finding our standing position. Just giving ourselves a moment to drop in, feeling all that movement and heat we just created in our bodies with our belly work. (inhaling) Let your arms, palms face open. Pulling your breath from the ground, from the feet, all the way up through your whole body as you inhale.

(inhaling) And all the way down as you exhale. (exhaling) Just two more breaths here. (inhaling) (exhaling) Just keep landing in the belly. (inhaling) As we move into our core practice, we're gonna work our integrated hinge. So we're gonna open up that stance again, nice big, wide mat-distance apart.

You're not gonna turn your feet out. You're gonna keep them nice and straight. So the hinge refers to this angle right here where the hips pull back, right where the hip and thigh meet. And so we're finding our hinge. It's like third position in our Sun Salutation practice, but we're actually up a little bit higher.

Our chest is a little bit higher above our hips. And we're doing abdominal strengtheners here. We're pulling in that lower panel of our lower abdomen, and we're lifting our chest. Be careful not to push your ribs forward. Keep the bottom of your ribs drawn in and your transverse abdominals nice and tight.

So then we're gonna take our arms back and do decompressive breath through our whole spine. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And I want you to pull the breath so strong that you feel that lengthening through the spinal column. (inhaling) Keeping the abdominals strong, start to squeeze the feet towards each other without moving them, so the legs engage, and then reach your hips back a little bit more. As we inhale, we're gonna take the left hand forward. (inhaling) Nice and high and wide.

As you exhale, take it back. (exhaling) As you inhale, the right hand, forward. (inhaling) Nice and high and wide. (exhaling) Exhaling, taking it back. And then we're gonna do both hands, high and wide.

Inhaling. (inhaling) See if we can melt the shoulders down, keep pulling in from the abdominals. You might even feel some fatigue in the small of your back. You're helping to build the strength of your lower spine, (inhaling) helps to build the muscles in the sacrum. Just two more breaths here.

(exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And then to release, we're gonna drop into a squat. So we're gonna put our hips right behind our knees as we exhale. (exhaling) And then you're gonna squeeze out of it, lifting from your buns. Inhaling, the arms go up. (inhaling) Exhaling, sit back.

(exhaling) Pull the belly in. Do your best to really flatten the panel of your lower abdominals' back. Inhaling, squeeze from the buns. (inhaling) Two more here. (exhaling) (inhaling) As we exhale, going down.

(exhaling) Nice squeezing, drawing the belly back as you inhale out. (inhaling) And exhale, just let those arms come down. Give them a throw around. And we're gonna work the feet back into Tadasana for Salutations. (inhaling) (exhaling) As you exhale, your hands to your heart.

(inhaling) (exhaling) Together, moving through Sun Salutation A. Inhaling. (inhaling) As you reach your arms up into the sky, lift your gaze. Exhaling, pulling the arms down through your midline. (exhaling) Halfway off your shinbones.

Extend and lift your chest as you inhale, and then exhaling, we're gonna plant the hands and step back into plank. And for this first one, we're moving slow, inhaling ourselves into our plank. (inhaling) Strong thighs, strong belly, squeeze the hands, looking slightly forward as you exhale and lower to the floor. Inhaling for Cobra. (inhaling) Keeping the shoulder blades drawn down deep as you exhale.

Downward-Facing Dog, lead from the hips, pressing back. Three full breaths here. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) Softening around the neck, head, and shoulders, lifting the bum. (inhaling) Don't worry if your heels aren't on the floor, your knees are bent. Do what feels best for you today.

(inhaling) Exhale, bottom of your exhalation. We're gonna inhale, moving forward to our hands. You can step or spring. And then we're gonna inhale halfway. (inhaling) And exhaling, let it hang.

(exhaling) And inhaling ourselves back to standing. Reaching the arms out and up as you lift the spine, coming up with a long, extended back. Exhaling, hands are turning to the heart. Two more together. Inhaling, the arms out and up.

(inhaling) Exhaling, hinging from the trunk as you fold down over the legs. Inhaling, halfway, hands up the shinbones, lengthening, exhaling. You can jump back here if you like, planting the hands, and spring from the feet for Chaturanga. Continue with Cobra or Upward-facing Dog as you inhale. (inhaling) Nice, strong belly as you pull back and up into your back.

Into Downward-Facing Dog, exhaling. (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Bottom of the exhalation, we'll try the spring forward together. Look between the hands, feel a little springing in your knees, bending, and then inhale. (inhaling) Halfway as we arrive, exhale soft and fold. (exhaling) Inhaling, to the sky.

(inhaling) Exhaling, pull it back through your midline. (exhaling) Last one, inhaling, the arms out and up. (inhaling) Exhaling, hinging out and down, finding that long, extended spine, let your head drop. Inhaling, halfway. (inhaling) Exhaling for plank, Chaturanga Dandasana, moving right into your exhalation.

(exhaling) Inhaling together, up. (inhaling) And exhaling, Downward-Facing Dog. (exhaling) (inhaling) Feel free to adjust your stance, find that rootedness in your hands. (inhaling) Letting your head relax and your breath fully move freely through your whole body. (exhaling) (inhaling) Bottom of your exhalation, feet back to the hands.

Stepping or springing with your inhale. (inhaling) Extending in that inhale, halfway as you arrive. Exhale, let it go. (exhaling) Inhaling, to the sky. (inhaling) Exhaling, hands back to the heart.

(exhaling) We're gonna move into a standing side stretch, so we're sweeping our arms up over our head, interlacing our fingers, reaching through the index finger. Do your best to settle your arms around your ears, but then hug your shoulders down. Legs are nice and active, squeezing together as you reach to the right. Do your best to not rotate your hips, keeping your hipbones square to the front. (exhaling) (inhaling) You can lift the gaze.

That'll help lift out of the ribs, so that we're not collapsing down into the right side of our waist. And then we'll inhale, come back to center, and exhale, going to the other side. (exhaling) (inhaling) And again, use the breath to help elevate and buoy the ribs skyward. (inhaling) (exhaling) Nice, strong legs pushing through the feet. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Inhaling, coming back to standing, and exhaling, releasing the hands down.

(inhaling) So one of my favorite practices to do is the shaking practice. And we're gonna just do this for a minute together. It comes more from Qi Gong than the classical Yoga practice. And what we're doing is we're getting all the flesh shaking off the bones. And you just wanna find that good jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.

Getting the thighs moving and the hips moving. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) Good, and then just let yourself stand, relaxing. (inhaling) (exhaling) And shaking is such a great way to warm up the body without doing Salutations. Three minutes of shaking every morning can just replace your coffee. Inhaling.

(inhaling) We're gonna start with some Salutations, lunging. And together, we're gonna bring our hands to our heart, letting ourselves land, drawing into our centers. (inhaling) (exhaling) Listening to your breath. (inhaling) And together, arms out and up, inhaling. (inhaling) Exhaling, out and down.

(exhaling) Halfway. (inhaling) Exhaling, Chaturanga Dandasana. (exhaling) Cobra. Draw the shoulder blades down the back, give a really good squeeze. Sometimes I like to come up onto my fingertips rather than my palms, you could try that.

Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. (exhaling) We'll step the right foot all the way up between the hands for high lunging. (inhaling) (exhaling) Sinking into the hips. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And exhaling, we're gonna move through that lunge sequence. So stepping the right foot back, Chaturanga Dandasana for our Cobra.

(inhaling) If this sequence here of Chaturanga, Cobra, and Downward-Facing Dog ever gets to feel like it's just too much, you can always skip it and go right to Down Dog. (inhaling) Left foot forward for lunging. (exhaling) (inhaling) Softening your shoulders as you reach your arms skyward, sinking into the hips, pressing strong through that left heel and squeezing your right bum. (inhaling) Great, big breaths. (exhaling) (inhaling) So here, you could go through the Chaturanga, Cobra sequence or you could just skip it, plank to Downward-Facing Dog.

Your choice. (inhaling) (exhaling) We're gonna move into a balancing sequence, stepping our right foot forward. You might want your block. We will be transitioning into Half Moon, it's nice to have the block to support your reach. (exhaling) So we're gonna inhale all the way up, pressing through the right heel.

(inhaling) And then we're gonna come out for balancing sticks. Start with our hands at our heart as we push off that back leg. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Nice, big breaths, squeezing your legs strong. (inhaling) Keep lifting that back leg, lowering your chest just a little bit more. You could stretch your arms out.

And then we're gonna transition to our Half Moon, so you'll bring your right hand down, you can grab your block, setting your right hand, and then revolving the body open. Lifting that left heel nice and high to the sky. We do our best to keep that right foot nice and straight. (inhaling) And then you start to build that energy with the core by squeezing into that left oblique, and you can take the weight off of that right hand. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) As we exhale, we're gonna release that left hand down.

We're gonna move the block over to the left side. Oops. And then we're gonna do our revolving Half Moon. Let your body spin out in the opposite direction, doing your best to drop that left hip down, but keeping that left leg nice and high. (inhaling) As your right arm revolves into the sky.

Inhaling and exhaling. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) We're gonna transition from here, right into Revolving Triangle. So we're gonna find that left foot, stepping it back. Look down the midline of your mat and see where your heels are in connection to one another, so that right heel isn't crossed in front of the left foot. It actually has a little space.

And then when you put your block down, open and out. If you don't have a block at home and you need a little lift, you could use your fist. That'll give you an extra few inches as we reach that right arm into the sky. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) Squeezing the sit bones towards one another. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And then we'll exhale, releasing the right hand down, letting your head drop.

(inhaling) Taking a breath. (exhaling) One more full breath. (inhaling) (exhaling) And then we're gonna transition through to the other side. So you're reaching that left foot back for a lunging stance to set up for our Chaturanga. (inhaling) Exhaling.

(exhaling) Inhaling, baby Cobra, nice and low, strong buns. (inhaling) Exhaling, Downward-Facing Dog. (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) Nice, steady breaths. (inhaling) We're feeling the sides of the ribs expand. And then we're gonna be stepping our left foot forward for our lunging sequence.

Lunging, balancing, together. (inhaling) It's a great way to strengthen our abdominals, working with our balancing. So we're drawing up from the floor of the pelvis, drawing in from the low belly as we inhale, our arms up. (inhaling) (exhaling) And then we're gonna be moving out into our balancing stick, so exhale. Go ahead and bring your hands down to your heart and you're gonna push off of your back leg, elevating it off the floor.

As you come out onto your left leg, begin to lower your trunk and raise that right leg. (inhaling) You can play with your arms as you're breathing fully, extending them out to the sides. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And then we're gonna transition into Half Moon. So let's bring the hands back to the heart and then we're gonna exhale, left hand down to the floor. Remember, you can use your block if you've got it.

Otherwise, you could try it with the fist. And then we're gonna inhale and rotate our hips open, stacking that right hip on top of the left hip, squeezing through that right thigh. Right heel gets a little elevated, right arm begins to extend. (inhaling) (exhaling) And then you can play with the working of the obliques here by squeezing into the abdominal muscles, taking more and more weight off of that left hand. (inhaling) You can really play with getting off of that left hand.

(inhaling) And then we'll exhale, we're gonna bring that right hand down. (exhaling) Can move the block over to the right side for the Revolving Triangle. And we'll drop that right hip, so now it's more level with the left hip as we inhale, revolving our left arm open, rotating the trunk. (exhaling) Hm-hmm. (inhaling) Great, big breaths, squeezing the thighs.

(inhaling) And give the right bum a really good squeeze to lift that leg just a little bit higher. (inhaling) And then we're gonna exhale, we're gonna transition into Revolving Triangle. So we're stepping that right foot back, look down the midline of your mat, so you have that good space between your heels, your feet aren't getting crossed into the same lane. You can use your block or your fist or the palm of your hand. And we'll inhale, the left arm revolving the trunk skyward.

(inhaling) To help with the alignment of the hips, squeeze the sit bones, inner thighs towards one another. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) Breathing fully through your whole body. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And then exhaling, bringing that left hand down. We're gonna transition, plank, Chaturanga Dandasana. (exhaling) Exhaling, and then inhaling into Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog.

(inhaling) And exhaling into Downward-Facing Dog. We're gonna step right into our Warrior sequence. Right foot is coming up between the hands. As we inhale, our left arm across our face, spreading open our arms. (inhaling) And settling into the hips.

Move the feet a little bit, feeling your heels, feeling your toes, stretch them out. And then exhale into your side angle. You can look down (exhaling) and set that right knee right out over your right ankle here. (inhaling) (exhaling) If you wanna reach a little further, (inhaling) you can reach down to the floor. You can also use your block here.

Inhaling. (inhaling) And exhaling. (exhaling) (inhaling) And together, we're gonna reverse. So our right knee's still bent, we're just sweeping that left hand back to the hip, and the right arm to the sky, reaching it, arcing it back. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And as you come into your Warrior, we're gonna straighten up through that left leg and pivot around, moving to our left side for Virabhadrasana, be on the left side.

So settling into the bend of that left knee. (inhaling) And turning your gaze out of your left fingers. (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) See if you can lengthen your breath (inhaling) even a little bit longer than your last one. (exhaling) And side angle. (inhaling) So that left hand is coming down.

You can rest on your left elbow. Have a look down your left shoulder, make sure that knee is right over the ankle. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) When you inhale, practice drawing in from the low belly. (inhaling) Giving lots of support to the hips here. (inhaling) And fully exhale.

We're gonna inhale ourselves back up to standing for reverse. Keeping that left knee bent, the right hand comes back onto the hip as the left arm arches. (inhaling) Just riding your breath wave. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And then inhaling, we're gonna come up and we're gonna move that left foot back center, we're gonna pause here, center, for Prasarita Padottanasana. (inhaling) And exhaling, hinging forward.

(exhaling) Letting your head hang and your hands drop to the floor. (inhaling) Smoothing out our breath. (exhaling) (inhaling) See if you can even allow your head to hang heavier, letting gravitational pull take it to the earth. (inhaling) Letting go of your cheeks and your jaw and your brain. (inhaling) (exhaling) And then inhaling, halfway, lift the trunk, come up onto your fingertips, spin around back towards your right foot, and inhale yourself into plank.

So we're gonna move through our Vinyasa sequence and we're gonna move into side plank. Inhaling, nice and strong. (inhaling) Exhaling, Chaturanga Dandasana. (exhaling) Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog, inhaling. (inhaling) Exhaling, Downward-Facing Dog.

(exhaling) Together, inhaling for plank and then exhaling side plank. So we're gonna move onto our right side, stack our legs, rolling to the outside edge of your right foot. As you inhale, sweep your left arm up. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Exhaling, draw in through the navel. Get a little cat spine here.

Get it nice and squeezed and then come over to the other side, so the abdominals are super-engaged as we move to that left side. Feet are flexed, stacking, squeezing the legs strong. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And exhaling. (exhaling) Feel free to move back through Chaturanga or right into Downward-Facing Dog here. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And we're gonna come down to seated.

(inhaling) And exhaling, you can just lower your knees. If you enjoy jumping through, you can certainly practice your jump throughs. Moving into seated side angle, we'll stretch our right foot forward. And it's like Janu Sirsasana, but the knees are wider. So you're facing open towards the side and you're reaching your right hand down your leg as you open out here.

(inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Letting your breath expand fully. (exhaling) Sweeping the left arm up if you like. (inhaling) You can even sweep it over. If you need more ease for the neck and shoulders, you're welcome to sweep the arm around behind your back, and just let your head hang. (inhaling) It's not quite as stretchy, but it's the softer pose.

You see what feels best. And then inhaling together, back to seated. (inhaling) And then we're gonna turn and rotate so that we're facing forward. And you can either do Janu Sirsasana or you could practice Half Lotus. (exhaling) Do what feels best to your body.

And then we're gonna reach the hands forward. (inhaling) (exhaling) When we reach forward, we wanna do our best to work that hinge. So remember, we worked with that at the beginning of the class, the hinge right where the thigh meets the bottom of the pelvis, the hip. So that we're not rounding back into our backs, but we're actually lengthening our diaphragm forward. (inhaling) You want the light of the diaphragm shining the path in front of you.

(inhaling) (exhaling) And then inhaling, we're gonna come up for a twist. So we're gonna sweep that left hand around and the right hand comes out to the knee. You can do this whether you're in Janu Sirsasana or your Half Lotus. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) With your twist, feel that length pressing, reaching down into the sit bones, so the tailbone isn't rolling out behind you. (inhaling) (exhaling) And give a little squeeze, feeling the ribs turn.

You could even soften the turn of the head and see if you can rotate the ribs a little bit more. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And then exhaling, let's release our hands. We'll set that right hand behind the hip. If you're in Half Lotus, come back to Janu Sirsasana, and we're gonna lift up, inhaling. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Pressing up onto that left shinbone, reaching our bodies out to the side.

(inhaling) And exhaling, coming down. (exhaling) Inhaling, pressing the left foot forward, and we're gonna change sides. And I'm just gonna spin around so you that you can see me. I'm gonna move into that side angle. We're bringing our right knee in and our left leg is extended out.

(inhaling) And so you can play with how wide you want your angle. And my hyper-extenders at home, be careful to not overly press and lock out this knee, keep it soft as we go into our reach. (inhaling) (exhaling) Inhaling. (inhaling) Feel the lift and exhaling, little rotation. You can play with the movement of the arm as it feels best to you.

(exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And then together, inhaling, coming back up to seated. And we'll be doing the Janu Sirsasana, where we just move the foot into the thigh from this bent knee position or you can practice your Half Lotus. Exhaling, the hands forward to the foot. Again, remember, we wanna use our reach, lengthening our back. If you're having a hard time grabbing the foot, just place the hands on the shin or you could even bend this knee a little bit to create more length in the spine.

(inhaling) (exhaling) As you exhale, letting yourself bow forward. It's not so important how far down you come, but rather that lengthening outward motion. We do wanna give our heads the opportunity to just have a rest. (inhaling) Relaxing the lips and cheeks, neck and jaw. (exhaling) And then together, we're gonna come into our twist, setting the right hand back behind you, wrap the left hand over the right knee.

Inhale, get long. (inhaling) And then exhale, begin to rotate the ribs back. And go ahead and play with the head, so take the head out of the turn a little bit. Inhale, get long again. (inhaling) And then exhale, little bit more rotation from the ribs.

(inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) Letting the eyes soften as your breath deepens. (inhaling) (exhaling) And then we're gonna come back around and do our lift off. So that left hand comes behind the left hip. If you're in Half Lotus, you're gonna drop it to Janu Sirsasana and we're gonna inhale, the right hand up, and stretch out the front of that right thigh. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) And exhaling down.

So now we're gonna roll onto our backs. And stretching out that right leg, walking your heels into your hips, stretch your arms forward, drop your chin to your chest and squeeze your belly. We're gonna really slow this down. Pull your shoulders down out of your ears and squeeze all the way down, rolling vertebra, put the vertebra down to the floor. (inhaling) (exhaling) Until you land, don't give up.

Don't let go until you're all the way down. Beautiful. Let's stretch our legs up into the sky. Remember our shaking, we'll do some shaking here. So you just give it a really good kick, kick, kick, kick, kick.

(inhaling) (exhaling) Nice, big breath, jingle, jingle, jingle. Get that movement in the ankles. If you make a little sound at home, everything's vibrating. And then little kick in the pants, so the heels make contact with the sit bones. This is a great way to loosen up the knees, and loosen up the hamstring attachment at the seat.

And then we'll pause here and we'll take a breath in, waterfall. (inhaling) With our legs extended into the sky. (exhaling) Letting your whole body settle into the earth. (inhaling) Just feeling your breath circulating. And then we're gonna finish with a lying twist before Shavasana, so we'll bend our knees.

Make sure your arms are nice and wide, and dropping the knees over to the right. (inhaling) Letting your head turn to the left as you exhale. Letting your legs get heavy. Circulating the breath freely through your whole body. And then we'll inhale, bring the legs back to center.

(inhaling) And exhale to the other side. (exhaling) Letting your head turn away from your knees, letting your legs get heavy. And then inhaling, and we'll sit up and stretch out for final resting pose, Shavasana. So you're gonna let your legs open about mat-distance, arms are out. You can do the tuck of the tail to get the sacrum nice and rooted.

Gently move your head a little left and right and settle in. Letting all the muscles come off the bones for the next few breaths. Just keep following your breaths softer and softer, and deeper into your body for a couple minutes here. In a moment, I'm gonna come to seated and sing you out of your Shavasana. (inhaling) (exhaling) (singing in a foreign language) (bowl chiming) (bowl chiming) (bowl chiming) (bowl chiming) Beginning to deepen your breath, bringing movement back to your body.

So you wiggle your fingers and your toes, hugging your knees into your chest. Giving yourself a big squeeze of appreciation, knowing that it takes courage to show up to the mat. Our success is in that we are here practicing. Go ahead and bring yourself up to seated. Take a moment to sit tall.

And that concludes our practice. It's an honor to be here with you. Namaste.

Comments

Diyana Dobberteen
Yup, 'loving my belly" is just what I need as an antidote to all these holiday meals...Such a beautiful closing to this session! Ahhhhh!
Megan M
2 people like this.
Oh wow! So many yoga gifts in this practice.

The agnisar kriya set me up for a light, floating practice and the twists that followed kept a gentle fire burning brightly in my belly. I felt centred still and strong which on a 35 degree day here in Sydney was awesome.

Loved the little pieces of Qi Gong throughout #happydance

And as Diyana mentioned (and I won't spoil the surprise) the closing was exquisite.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Nicole.

Om shanti shanti shanti x
Nicole
@MeganMacGregor I hope you will forgive my delayed response! It has been a busy month of teacher training and curriculum workbook completion!! I'm SOooooo happy the sequence gave you such ease and joy in Sydney!! Wow! I love it!
Bless your precious heart dear woman
Rachel A
2 people like this.
Wonderful, deep practice. You really got to my "kishkas" (as they say). Thank you!!!!
Nicole
@Diyanna Diyana Dobberteen (A.K.A. Dianne McCutchan) I'm so grateful and honored you've been enjoying my season, thank you love xoxo
Nicole
@Rachel Rachel yay!! That's wonderful to hear.
Magda Duran
Awesome practice! I really feel the power in my belly after doing it, Thank you so much, specially for the mantrs song at the end. Really inspiring

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