Andrea Marcum Yoga Tittibasana Time

Transcript

[Music] We're going to start out our practice today as she's doing now in a child's pose. If this doesn't work for your knees or if you're more comfortable starting your practice like in a seated cross-legged position or in a shioasana, something that doesn't produce a lot of sensation, something where you can really take a second to just drop in and land and begin to find your pranayyama, your breath work in this style of yoga, ui pranayyama. So that's in and out through the nose with a catch at the back of the throat. It makes a sound a little bit like the ocean or the wind which you probably know but I know for myself every time I practice a little reminder is a good thing. So as you find your breath that brings you to another one of the eight limbs of our yoga practice which is prachahara an inward turn. So the calamity of the outside world and the distractions outside are not invited into your sacred space that you're setting up here. It's part of the stopping so that we can start. And then from here, she's going to come on to all fours. And on all fours, she's going to step into a plank position. And if you need your plank to be a modified plank position, instead of that all fours we just did, the knees would go down a little bit further back like she's doing here. So, a little different than the all fours. And then you can keep the knees down or you can take the knees off the ground is your call. I want you right away to feel that you're firing up, drawing the belly towards the spine, pressing the thigh bones to the ceiling, 100% willing to put the knees down if that is really where it needs to be for you today. I'm big on reminding that ASA the poses is a tiny tiny star in a vast yoga universe. So if you get really caught up in needing to do the most rigorous aspect of what I'm suggesting or the craziest poses, you might be missing the vast universe for the tiny tiny star. Excellent. From here, she's going to glide back to downward-facing dog. And her head will relax in between her arms. There's a little udanabunda in the mix. So, a little concaving of the low belly towards the spine. Sitbones lift and heels descend towards the ground. And if they get there, fine. And if they don't, that's really great, too. We're all designed differently. If they're super easily on your mat, you might want a little bit more distance because really our adventure, our investigation is to create space. So that's going to look different on all of us and be different depending on the time of day that you're practicing, how long you've been practicing for, all kinds of factors. So you intuit it what feels good and where you need to be. And she's going to again inhale into her plank. can remember that that can be absolutely the modified plank with your knees down on your mat if that's better. Your driisti your gazing point is just beyond the front edge of your mat in this pose. And you're thinking length from the base of the spine out the top of the head. Highly recommended is to put your knees down as we take a chaturanga dandasana. So you can either do it or not. It's beautiful either way. Yeah. And we pause ideally belly not down on the ground. So that's why the knees become a very good friend to you as we chaturunga. And then she's going to straighten the arms. And she's going to head back into downward-f facing dog. And downward- facing dog is really just a contemplative pause, not so much of a resting pose. So if you need a resting pose, my suggestion is to turn return to that child's pose that you may or may not have done at the beginning of the practice. Nice. We're going to inhale back to our plank and then we're going to exhale into chaturanga dandasana which could be the version with the knees down on the ground. Really nice. And then either a cobra. She'll lower all the way down and come into the cobra. And that's great for if you've got a tender lower back or if you're really needing to take your time warming up. Or you can make it up dog where she'll slide her hands a little bit further back. lift everything but the tops of her feet and her hands off her mat. If you're feeling this in your lower back, it's really better to stick with the cobra instead. And then she's gonna curl her toes under and bring herself into downward-f facing dog. And up dog is a wonderful complement to down dog. Down dog's a bit of a forward fold, a little bit of an inversion, and up dog is a bit of a back bend. So, she's going to inhale to plank. We'll put it all together. She's going to exhale to her chaturanga. Very nice. And then erdva mukasanasana up dog or the cobra with the hips down. Beautiful. And then mukasanasana downwardfacing dog. And she's going to bend her knees and look at her hands and then step or lightly float to them. Terrific. Inhale gazing forward. Exhale fold it back in. Now inhale rise and reach. You can be soft with a little bend of the knees especially as we get started if you'd like. And then bring your hands to your heart for samastit. Gorgeous. So namaskar a. Inhale arms reach. Exhale lengthen and fold. Inhale arda utanasana. As she looks forward you can step it into plank which she'll do for the first one. So she'll step to plank. We'll show you the float if you don't know it. Maybe knees down. Maybe not chaturunga. Erdva mukasanasana up dog or cobra. Very nice. And then mukasanasana downwardfacing dog.