60-Minute Yoga Flows Artwork
Season 3 - Episode 6

Trust Yourself

60 min - Practice
47 likes

Description

Move toward your edges with ahimsa, non-harming, as we play into advanced poses like Splits and Handstand to find a place where you are challenged but not overwhelmed. You will feel strong, vibrant, and self-aware.
What You'll Need: Mat, Blanket, Block (2)

Transcript

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Hi, welcome to our yoga practice. So in today's practice we're moving towards a couple of peak poses. One is hanumanasana splits and the other one is handstand. Of course they're all optional and I will move you one step at a time towards these poses and you can choose to stop right before and we just want to do the best we can. So I'm going to start on our backs, lie down and we'll just start by taking a couple of belly breaths. So you can bring your feet a little bit of wider apart than your hips and turn your feet in slightly, let your knees knock together. Place your hands on your belly and allow your eyes to close and just taking a moment to arrive onto your mat and into your body, meeting yourself in this moment exactly as you are and knowing that you are perfect the way you are. And from that place, tuning into your breath and allow your belly to rise as you're breathing in and to fall back down as you're breathing out. And then bring your feet in a little bit closer about hips width and one leg at a time, straighten out your legs on the floor, feet about hips width. Bring your legs to neutral toes pointing straight up and flex your ankles, spread your toes and imagine heavy sandbags on top of your thighs. Then reach your fingertips up towards the ceiling, imagine you're holding a block, firm your triceps in, then inhale stretch your arms behind your head and as you exhale bring your arms back up. Twice more inhale stretch your arms behind your head and exhale bring your arms up. Inhale stretch your arms behind your head, palms of your hands facing one another and as you exhale as you bring your arms back up, hug your right knee into your chest, flex your right foot, keep the top of your left thigh heavy. Then inhale stretch your arms behind your head, straighten your right leg back out onto the floor, exhale hug your left knee into your chest, top of your right thigh heavy. Inhale back to starting position, straighten your left leg out onto the floor, arms behind your head we're going to add on. So exhale hug your right knee into your chest and then lift your head and upper back, moving your chest towards your thigh, thigh towards your chest, relax your shoulders. Inhale back to the starting position, exhale left knee to your chest and lift your head and upper back, relax your shoulders. Inhale stretch your arms behind your head, straighten your left leg out, exhale as you bring the right knee into your chest and as you lift up just reach your fingertips straight ahead, again top of your left thigh bone heavy. Inhale back to starting position, exhale left knee to your chest, lift up reaching your fingertips straight ahead top of the right thigh heavy. Inhale back to starting position, exhale right knee to your chest, pausing at the end of the exhale, draw your navel towards your spine, inhale back to starting position, exhale left knee to your chest. Now do two more rounds on your own, so find your pace pausing at the end of the exhale and as much as you can breathe in and out through your nose, so maybe just do one more round and when you completed that round stay in the starting position and as you're pressing the back of the legs into the floor gently firm your belly and lower ribs in. Your thumbs may likely not touch the floor, not a big deal, see if you can keep your back ribs on the floor. Just take one more deep full breath in here and when you're ready bring your arms forward, bend your knees, hug your knees into your chest for a moment. Now feel free to rock back and forth to sit up or just simply like I'm doing bring your feet down roll over onto either side and please sit up. You're going to come onto your hands and knees, come into a tabletop position, so wrist beneath your shoulders and knees beneath your hips, spread your fingers evenly apart with your index fingers parallel to one another and then as you inhale open up your chest, arch your back, cow pose and exhale round your back, cat pose, inhale open up your chest, arching your back and exhale round your back and just do a couple more rounds on your own, synchronizing movement with breath, deepening your inhalations and lengthening your exhalations. After those two rounds find your way into a neutral position of your back, so kind of a plumb line from your tailbone out through the crown of your head, root through your inner palms from the triceps in and then tuck the toes onto the left foot and slide your left foot back, firm the outer right hip in and move your belly front ribs up towards your back body, so stabilize your trunk and then raise your left leg until it's about parallel to the floor and reach your right arm forward as if you're shaking someone's hand, right ear in line with the right inner upper arm and with your left hand push the ground away from you, reach your sternum forward, two more breaths, one more breath and then come back to all fours, tuck the toes under the right foot and slide your right foot back, pin the left hip in, firm your belly front ribs up, shift the weight into your right hand and as you lift the right leg lift your left arm, toes of the right foot pointing straight down, so this pose looks deceptively easy, right, but if you're in it you know this pose, it requires definitely a lot of work, so a couple more breaths here, push the ground away from you with the right hand, firm your belly front ribs up, one more breath come back to all fours and take a breath, now inhale arch your back, open up your chest and as you exhale round your back, inhale open up your chest and then once again find a neutral position up your back, tuck your toes under, slide your left foot back, slide your right foot back and you're in plank pose, so as you press your heels back reach through the crown of your head, firm your belly front ribs up, imagine you're pressing the back of your legs into the ceiling like you're pressing the back of the legs into the floor when you're relying on your back, keep firming the triceps in and then when you're ready move into downward facing dog and then from downward facing dog walk your feet up to your hands, half your feet hips width, exhale uttanasana, inhale open your chest, arda uttanasana, exhale hands to your hips and inhale standing up, you can step your feet together if you prefer as we move into our sun salutations, standing in tadasana palms of your hands facing straight ahead, as you inhale circle your arms overhead and as you exhale hinging from your hips fold, inhale open your chest, reach your sternum away from your navel, exhale step into plank pose, either lower all the way down or chaturanga dandasana, inhale cobra or up dog, exhale we meet in down dog, once in down dog take three full breaths, so deepen your inhalations and lengthen your exhalations, press firmly through your inner palms, firm your triceps in and at the bottom of your next exhalation look between your hands and lightly hop or step your feet up between your hands, inhale arda uttanasana, exhale bow, inhale spread your arms out to the side, rise up and exhale hands to your heart, two more inhale circle your arms overhead and exhale fold, always fine to bend your knees here, inhale open your chest, exhale step into plank pose, lower down, can always bring your knees down first, inhale cobra or up dog, exhale down dog, see if you can spread your toes a little bit more and hide your heels behind your toes, evenly press the inner and outer thighs back, bottom of your next exhalation step or lightly hop, inhale open your chest, you can bring your hands to your lower legs, exhale fold, inhale arms out to the side, rise up and exhale hands to your hearts, inhale circle your arms overhead and exhale fold, inhale open your chest and exhale step into plank pose and slowly lower broaden across your collar bones, inhale up dog or cobra, exhale down dog, three full breaths here bottom of your next exhalation, step or lightly hop, inhale open your chest and exhale fold, inhale arms out to the side leading with your chest, rise up and exhale hands to your heart, just take a moment here, maybe close your eyes, smooth out your breath, allow your eyes to softly open and lower your arms, inhale circle your arms overhead and exhale fold, inhale open your chest, Ardha Uttanasana, exhale step into plank pose, so just pausing here for a moment and just a reminder and whatever I remind you of is because I remind myself to firm your belly front ribs strongly up towards the back body so feeling that trunk stabilization as you come forward with your chest because this is really easy here to forget about that and we start to sway the back so maintain that as you slowly lower some of you do chaturanga some of you lower to the ground inhale cobra or up dog and then exhale down dog now I'm gonna have some fun or try to have fun doing this inhale raise your right leg behind you so leading with the inseam of the leg so that right leg is in neutral just like we did on our hands and knees and bird dog earlier step your right foot up between your hands and you're going to stay on to the ball the back foot strongly press the left thigh bone up just like you were pressing the back of the leg into the floor earlier pin the right hip in and then bring your hands to your hips now as your hands on your hips it's a little easier as we transition into the next pose if you feel really steady and balanced spread your arms out to the side so optional really get a sense of standing on that right foot spread your toes firm your belly in and then step through with the left foot balancing on the right foot raise your arms overhead or keep your hands on your hips press the top of the right thigh bone back until you have more weight in the right heel notice the tendency to sway back here draw your belly front ribs in keep pinning the outer right hip in and then from this position come into a one-legged chair pose parallel your thighs lean forward now you can keep your arms out to the side or bring the arms out to the side or maybe for more stability hands to your hips and then from the one-legged chair pose you firm your belly in reach your left leg back into warrior three so if you like you can stretch your arms out in front of you it's a little bit more challenging for most of us or keep the arms out to the side I like to keep a little bend in my right knee to more easily firm the outer right hip in keep firming your belly front ribs up and then from this position you're going to lean forward place your left hand on the floor you may need a block here underneath your left hand and then grab hold of the right leg right ankle with the right hand and then raise maybe the left leg up a little bit more standing splits so as you lift the left leg leading with the inseam of the left leg and even in this position I like to maintain a little bend in the right knee two more breaths here one more breath and then happily lower the left foot next to the right feet hips width inhale open your chest and exhale fold and just take a couple of breaths here to uttanasana like a soft uttanasana utt means intense tan means stretch so it really implies an intense stretch in the back of the legs maybe the back body a little bit as well the back torso now if you like you can step your feet all the way together inhale spread your arms out to the side and rise up and exhale hands to your heart there's side number two okay so when you're ready please lower your arms and then inhale stretch your arms overhead and exhale fold inhale open your chest exhale step into plank pose slowly as you come forward with your chest keep your gaze forward lower down maybe all the way inhale cobra or up dog exhale down dog so sometimes I do chaturanga other times I'm just happy lowering all the way down inhale raise your left leg behind you so leading with the inseam of that leg pin the right hip in exhale step the foot up between your hands stay up onto the ball the back foot bring your hands to your hips press the right thigh bone up pin the left hip in firm your belly front ribs up towards your back body lift your shoulders option to take the arms out to the side and then when you're ready you know what's coming step your right foot through and if you like you can either bring your hands to your hips or stretch your arms overhead press the top of the left thigh bone back a little bit more weight in the left heel gently firm your belly front ribs in kind of what you did lying on your back earlier now from this position one-legged chair pose lean forward a bit parallel your thighs and more weight in the left heel you can bring your hands to your hips if you like and then when you're ready coming into warrior three you don't necessarily have to raise the right leg until it's parallel to the floor moving in that direction is fine keep a slight bend in the left knee pin the outer left hip in and if you like stretch your arms out in front of you and then from warrior three bring the right hand down maybe on a block left hand to the left ankle lower leg coming into the standing splits so as you lift the right leg it's tempting to open up the right hip see if you can lead with the inseam the inseam of the right leg two more breaths and lower the right foot next to the left feet hips width inhale open your chest and as you exhale fold cup the flow with your fingertips lift your shoulders and let your head dangle two more breaths feel free to step your feet together inhale spread your arms out to the side and rise up all the way and exhale hands to your heart inhale circle your arms overhead and as you exhale fold inhale open your chest and as you exhale step into plank pose luxuriously go through the vinyasa maybe stay for more than one breath in up dog or cobra and then we meet in down dog so options options are good feel free to stay in your down dog or come into child's pose or practice handstand if this is in your practice you practice this a lot you have really good balance then you can do it on your mat but if you're a little bit insecure about your handstand or have fear about handstand I would go to the wall so take a moment if you need to to go to the wall and maybe it's just practice kicking up okay so what's important is that you root through the inner palms firm the triceps in and I go into a little bit of a shortened down dog some days I can kick up and I'm right there other days I keep practicing simply kicking up so take a moment and just embrace where you are and do the best you can so I come forward until my shoulders are above my wrists firm the triceps in look in front of your hands so this goes for this for also if you're at the wall kicking up step one foot in not too close to your hands shoulders above your wrists and look in front of your hands firm your triceps in so either you're just simply practicing kicking up or maybe you're able to stay for a while let's see how it goes with me when you're ready let's find our way back into down dog and then walk your hands back to your feet slide your hands underneath the soles of your feet for Pada Hastasana so if you found yourself at the wall come back to your mat where you normally have it and a nice can of stretch for your wrists Pada Hastasana slide your hands underneath the soles of your feet and fold so working on balance and working on poses that are a bit more demanding more difficult keeping our ego in check by reminding ourselves that yoga is ultimately not about acrobatics or gymnastics but it's ultimately about moving more deeply inside and finding a place of stillness and balance and how we can take that off the mat and be kind and compassionate towards others making choices that are more in line with kindness and compassion and the inhale open your chest walk your hands forward into down dog now stretch your right leg behind you leading with the inseam of the leg and then as you exhale step your right foot up between your hands now I like to use blocks for the next pose and I typically do the highest level if you just have one block half the block to the inside of the foot and then slowly start to straighten your right leg stay up onto the ball of the back foot and then flex your right foot like this okay see if you can guide the little toes out of the foot back and then lengthen your spine so the blocks will help you to find more length in your spine could very well be that you can lower the blocks or get away with using no blocks but just do the best you can to elongate your spine firm the right hip in spin the left inner thigh up reaching your sternum away from your navel spread your toes as much as you can and I'm sure you feel this in your hamstrings calf muscles and as we're prepping for Hanumanasana this is a good one and then go ahead and bend your right knee bring your left knee down so you can stop at any point it may be that you want to stay right here in the low lunge with hands on blocks and then I use the highest level of the blocks and this might be a deep enough stretch for you you can also place your hands on your right thigh so we just take it one step at a time and then back out of the pose just a little bit firm the sides of the hips in towards the midline draw the lower belly in and up now if you have very thin padding underneath your left knee you might want to put a blanket underneath the left knee or if the left knee is just rather sensitive please use some padding underneath the left knee now lift your left foot reach back with the right hand grab hold of the ankle like so if this bothers your left knee please bring the foot back down if you got a cramp by lifting the foot you're not alone just go ahead and stretch out the leg for a moment so you may very well stay right here this may be plenty okay you can also place your left hand on the block to the inside of the right foot and maybe you can bend the right knee a little bit more turn your belly chest to your right you can lower the block or maybe not use a block okay I'm gonna move this block out of the way for a moment so as I go a little bit deeper into the pose I wiggle my right foot a few inches to my right and I turn my right foot and right leg out that will enable me to drop the left hip and I get more into the quads okay and then maybe coming on to your left form I have a smile on my face but I feel this quite a lot okay so pick the variation the step on this journey where you feel you know somewhat challenged but not overwhelmed you roll your right shoulder back sometimes we move into a pose and we go deeper and deeper because we think we should because we think it's better and it's really not any better so the idea is to meet yourself exactly as you are in your practice pick the variation that works for you so just a few more breaths here gently pulling that left heel may be in a little closer if you need more of a stretch and then go ahead slowly release I'm gonna wiggle that foot back a little bit to the left because I moved it to the right and then you're gonna straighten your right leg again and flex your right foot most of my clients this is enough and they're quite happy here some are runners some are marathon runners tight hamstrings and this is plenty plenty for most people for some of you and when you come into the next pose Hanuman Asana this is where the ego can get really busy right so we start to compare ourselves to others we start to think of well I used to be able to do the splits and I can't do it now so once again the idea is to meet yourself in this moment exactly where you're at right so if you feel this enough stay here otherwise start to slide the right heel forward until you feel a good challenge but please don't be aggressive go with the feeling right and I've done Hanuman Asana since I was 11 and my right side this has always been somewhat easier than my left my left side is not easy right but I've also done this since I was 11 so it's a little bit easier for me than other people who started stretching when they were in their 20s or 30s right do the best you can to spin the left inner thigh up pull the right hip back left hip forward lift the lower belly in and up roll your shoulders back and if you're quite okay I'm say comfortable in this pose you can maybe stretch your arms overhead I'm not going to do that today it feels better right here some people work with blocks underneath the hands by all means do that and then very slowly collect your legs coming to child's pose just for a moment child's pose I find is always a good position to kind of calm our ego to quiet our ego and then when you're ready there is side number two stretch your arms out in front of you find your way back into down dog now I like to kind of clear my palate by doing one vinyasa feel free to join me that was a time where I like to move a little faster but I love this lower pace can more easily kind of find good alignment now when you're ready inhale raise your left leg behind you three-legged down dog leading with the inseam of that leg and exhale step the foot up between your hands again you have the option to use blocks or a block straighten your left leg and flex your left foot think of using props as a way to find more space and sometimes more support in your practice so spin the right inner thigh back pull the little toes out of the left foot back and lengthen your sternum away from your navel and again you may realize you can lower the blocks or use no blocks so just a few more breaths here and then bend your left knee and bring your right knee down now you may very well stay here in the low lunge blocks underneath your hands and then I like to elevate the blocks at the highest height so that I more easily can roll my shoulders back so this is one option or you take your hands on top of your left thigh and back yourself out of the pose a little bit and then it's easier to pull the left hip back right hip forward to square of the pelvis and firm the sides of the hips in and lift the lower belly in and up you're gonna feel the right butt affirming in you accessing the hip flexor deeper hip flexor stretch maybe stay right here or you go ahead and you lift up your back foot reach back with the left hand grab the ankle and then inhale lift and open your chest hug your navel in gently twisting to your left maybe you want to stay right here or hand on the block to the inside of the foot maybe you lower the block as you bend the left knee a little bit more roll your left shoulder back so one step at a time it's also called vinyasa krama so b is special nyasa is to place krama is step by step so one step at a time we go a little bit deeper some of you not using the block and then move the left foot a little bit more to the left if you especially if you come on to your left your right form turn the left foot out left leg out slightly and allow the right hip to drop a bit more maybe stay here or come on to your right form so holding here for about another four breaths or so so again feeling a nice deep hip flexor stretch but not where it's a horrible experience and you can't think of just getting out of the pose be at a place where you can still breathe and enjoy the practice and then release that foot if you move the left foot more out to the left wiggle it back to the center and then straighten your left leg and flex the foot and you may want to just be right here you can use blocks underneath your hands and in fact when I do my left side I many times will use blocks and I have to come into my center here otherwise my ego will start to say well why is the right side better what's going on with the left side and you have that whole story that you're playing on and on in your head so connecting with your breath connect with sensation and then maybe slide the left foot forward a little bit more but pause so you're really not attached to the outcome of the pose or that perfect picture you have in your head maybe that you got from looking at Instagram or magazine so this is pretty much my kind of my maximum lowering on this side and I am plenty challenged but not overwhelmed and if you can tune into sensations rather than that picture you might have in your head right then the practice becomes more enjoyable so after just a couple more breaths spin the right inner thigh up pull the left hip back right hip forward to do the best you can to square off your pelvis lower belly in and up and then finally find your way back into child's pose just for a moment and thank yourself all right this is intense work especially hamstrings they get really tight and then please when you're ready move your hips to one side and stretch your legs out in front of you so I'm gonna give you an option or two here we're going to move into Pulvottanasana stretching the front of the body if that pose does not feel well just bend your knees do a reverse tabletop pose take your hands about a foot behind your hips and I like to turn my hands out like this there are different ways of doing it right and you figure out what works for you I'm right in the middle I like to turn my hands out start to press out through the balls of your feet some people can bring their toes all the way down it's if you have a lot of plantar flexion and a lot of us don't right but start by pressing out through the balls of the feet roll your shoulders back elbows back lift your sternum but keep your chin in for now tuck your chin in and then slowly start to lift your hips keep your chin towards your chest reach your toes towards the floor spin the inner thighs down lengthen your tailbone forward and up and if your neck is fine you have no neck issues if your chest is well lifted then maybe bring your head back and then slowly lower down sitting in Dandasana so wiggle on to the center of your sitting bones if your hamstrings are tight you may have to sit on a blanket so that you're not in this posterior pelvic tilt you may also have to separate your feet about hips width maybe bending your knees you can always put a rolled up blanket underneath your knees if you need to do this variation for tight hamstrings now inhale stretch your arms overhead elongate through your spine and then as you exhale hinging from your hips come forward grab hold of the sides of the feet you can also use a strap inhale lengthen your spine this is like Arda Utsanasana right and then exhale fold so a lot of people have tight hamstrings as I talked about earlier so they may very well not be able to lay on to the legs so bending the knees folding forward like this will be a little bit easier and again rolled up a blanket underneath the knees so we just do the best we can and then when you're ready inhale lift and open your chest and exhale come all the way up now cross your legs sitting in Sukhasana so we worked the body in ways where we had to really engage the outer hips so let's stretch the the glutes out a little bit so crossing your legs midway on your shins and then start to walk your hands forward so as you walk your hands forward here if you're not feeling a stretch and likely if the right leg is in front you're going to feel it more on the right hip left leg in front more on the left hip but if you don't feel a stretch you can walk your hands back and you can do double pigeons you can take that front leg and stack it on top only if that feels okay but in any case both positions you want to flex your feet and then you walk your hands forward welcome to place a block underneath your forehead we'll be here for about another four breaths so it's not about you squeezing yourself into a particular pose but rather that you find a pose that works for you if you have knee issues it's actually a good idea for you to come on to your back and do threat the needle position instead of this so any knee pain is not good when you're ready walk your hands back remember what leg you have on top or in front and stretch out your legs and change the crossing of your legs and weaving into your practice the principle the value of a hymns non-harming so you can translate that is into compassion walking your hands forward to if you feel any pain adjust until you don't feel pain so practicing a hymns in your practice of yoga so if you're not feeling a deep enough stretch you can take that leg that's in front and stack it on top into double pigeon and flex your feet to stabilize your knees and staying here for another four to five breaths see if you in a subtle way can breathe into where you feel sensations and with each exhalation soften into the stretch so a way to continue finding that sense of calm is to focus on your breath and to focus on sensations when you do that your mind doesn't really have a choice it has to start to quiet down when you're ready walk your hands back stretch out your legs for a moment and then bend your knees so now coming into a twist so go ahead and fold your left leg in and bring your right foot to the outside of that left knee we go on to the center of the sitting bones now if both sitting bones cannot be on the ground on the floor sit on a blanket or a block okay if your left knee is bothering you stretch out your left leg okay and it's really not about pulling that foot way way back the right foot the ankle is more in line with the knee so snuggle your sitting bones into the floor take your left hand to the right knee and very gently draw the knee towards your chest but keep the right sitting bone heavy inhale elongate through your spine and as you exhale start to turn your belly and chest to your right if you like you can wrap that left arm more tightly around the leg or you can take the elbow to the outside of the knee if you're sitting on a block or blankets you may want to put a block underneath your left hand if you're not you very likely have to just be up onto your fingertips so inhale elongate through your spine exhale again gently turn your belly your rib cage your chest and lastly turn your head and look over your right shoulder so arta matzia andrassana Lord of the fish pose and then come back to center and then coming into happy cow so you're going to stack the top knee more tightly above the bottom knee moving in that direction and you can still do that with the left leg stretched out if this bothers your knees or it's just not a really good experience for you you can do this lying on your back same position of your legs and you just hug your knees into your chest a grab hold of your ankles now press the little toes out of each foot into the floor you can start by sitting tall and maybe that's enough or you start to walk your hands forward so this is a little bit of a deeper stretch from most people and it specifically targets the piriformis the muscle that's deep within beyond the glutes it's an external hip rotator and sometimes the troublemaker that squeezes on the sciatica nerve but for most people this is pretty intense so just a couple more breaths here and walk your hands back stretch out your legs and bend your knees and then bring the right foot in bring the left foot across snuggle on to the center of your sitting bones and you may have to straighten out the right leg you may need to sit on a blanket or two and then take the right hand to the left knee and very gently hug it in towards your chest as you keep your left sitting bone heavy so inhale elongate your spine exhale very gently twisting to your left you can wrap that arm more tightly around the left leg you can also take the elbow to the outside of the knee so this is a variation of Lord of the fish pose so inhale press through your sitting bones and rebound up and out through the crown of your head and then exhale turning your belly and chest to your left lastly looking over your left shoulder so inhale to elongate exhale to turn see if you can take that left shoulder back a little bit more one more breath and come back to center come into happy cow so that's a variation of cow face pose or Gomukhasana so you have options you can keep that right leg stretched out you can also do this on your back you can simply stay seated tall spine or you can walk your hands forward so holding it for about 30 seconds or so sometimes I put a block underneath my forehead so again use the exhalation to soften into the stretch notice if you can soften your facial muscles a little bit more your shoulders a little bit more that's nice to find a balance between working hard in your practice and then simply kind of moving into a place in your practice where you can let go a little bit more focus on surrendering and walking your hands back stretching out your legs and then we are going to come on to our backs but I'd like to suggest that before you lay down that if you have a blanket you roll it into a tight roll and have it next to you and then when you lie in Shavasana you can put that roll underneath the back of your knees go ahead and make your way onto your back and then bring your knees into your chest stretch your legs vertically up take your hands in between your legs and bring eggs wide apart you may have to bend your knees to keep the weight center to the back of your pelvis so just a couple more breaths here pressing out through your heels spreading your toes and then bring your legs back up hug your knees into your chest and then a happy baby pose take a couple of deeper belly breaths here still unwinding bring your knees and feet together and bring your feet down then take your blanket if you have a blanket the roll and place it underneath your knees and maybe you have a blanket or a pillow that you can place underneath your head and neck get comfortable you may have to manually slide the buttocks towards the back of your heels and then bring your arms out to the side of it turn the palms of your hands to face the ceiling take a moment make sure that you are comfortable if you wear glasses maybe remove your glasses make sure that you are warm so if you're not warm take your time to get a blanket or maybe put on some socks I'm gonna be here for about eight minutes or so so with your eyes softly closed just take a moment to allow the back of your body to settle onto the floor since the back of your body from the back of your head to your heels and since the front of your body from your forehead to your toes since the inside of your body your body breathing and sense the surface of your body where your skin meets clothing air sensing your whole body now bring your attention to your eyebrows center either sense a point of energy or visualize a white light or a blue light well that sense of being able to breathe in and out through whichever point I take you to this practice is also sometimes referred to as nyasa it's it means to place the placing your attention it's part of a yoga nidra practice the sleep of a yogi so from your eyebrow center bring your attention to your throat center the space between your two collarbones core of your right shoulder right elbow right wrist palm of your right hand five fingertips right wrist right elbow right shoulder back to your throat center core of your left shoulder left elbow left wrist palm of your left hand five fingertips left wrist left elbow left shoulder throat center now bring your awareness to your heart center center of your chest right side of your chest heart center left side of your chest heart center navel center maybe that sense of breathing in and out through the center of your belly pelvic center the area right in front of your sacrum core of your right hip right knee right ankle sole of your right foot tips of your five toes right ankle right knee right hip pelvic center core of your left hip left knee left ankle sole of your left foot tips of your five toes left ankle left knee left hip pelvic center the area right in front of your sacrum navel center heart center throat center eyebrows center now bring your attention to your breath feel the air flowing in and out through your nose allow your breathing to gradually deepen imagine you can breathe through your toes all the way up to the crown of your head and exhale from the crown of your head to your toes and do that another round or two as you allow your breathing to deepen allow your ears to open up to sounds can place your hands on your belly if you like or your chest bend your knees and maybe bring your feet on the blanket bring your knees apart soles of the feet together and just take a couple of deeper belly breaths perhaps allow your face to softly smile and bring your knees together you can manually bring your knees together hug your knees into your chest as you're giving yourself like a nice hug thank yourself for practicing for taking this time to spend with yourself on your mat and then when you're ready bring your feet down if you're ready roll over onto either side and find your way up thank you so much for practicing with me I hope you enjoyed it have a beautiful day namaste

Comments

Jennifer E
4 people like this.
Thank you so much, Birgitte! I love the pacing of your classes; time to really explore and delve in!
Birgitte
Jennifer E Hi Jennifer, Great to hear. Having time to explore...for me.....is a way for me to dive more deeply inside and in addition makes the poses more potent. Happy to hear that you are enjoying the pace.  Thank you so much  for your feedback and for practicing with me. Namaste, Birgitte
Christel B
3 people like this.
Brigitte, another great class with a good pace.  I appreciate how you define the Sanskrit words by breaking them down and giving their meanings. Aloha, Christel
4 people like this.
This gave me such a profound appreciation for my body. thank you Birgitte. I will return to this series time and time again.
Birgitte
Ali Hi Ali, I am so happy to know that you enjoyed this series. Thank you for all your kind and warm feedback. Have a lovely weekend. Namaste, Birgitte
David G-
3 people like this.
Driving my mom to the airport (flight to Stockholm) and wanted to be calm for her and me. Thanks for reinforcing "the right pose for the moment". I laughed at "starting the stretching in the 20s and 30s". Now in my 50s it's possible to enjoy progress each week. The hip flexor stretch is my favorite. So much spice. Your handstand instructions moved me more calmly toward the inversion, and double pigeon opened up for me today. Namaste once again. Have a great Sunday. 
DD T
1 person likes this.
Beautiful practice. Love the pace for sure. Thank you. 
Birgitte
1 person likes this.
Christel B Hi Christel, Great to hear. The Sanskrit is interesting to weave in. Happy to know that you appreciate that. Thank you for your feedback. Warmest, Birgitte....and, greetings from LA. Birgitte
Birgitte
2 people like this.
David G- Hi David, Hope your mom is having a wonderful time in Stockholm. How nice that you shared your calm self with her on the way to the airport.....which always is a bit stressful. Starting yoga at anytime is great but definitely takes more commitment and effort as we get older. So, you are doing amazing! Wishing you a great week. Namaste, Birgitte
Birgitte
DD T Hi DD, Wonderful to hear. Thank you for practicing with me. Warmest, Birgitte
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