Lauren Peterson, Arm Balances, Step by Step - FULL CLASS I UDAYA.com

Transcript

[Music] hi I'm Lauren Peterson and I'm here with jod Sashi and Justin and we're going to do a flow class that emphasizes arm balances we're going to start easy we're going to start in child's pose so if you guys come to your knees and you can have the hands however you want them back or forward or rest your forehead on the hands and just take a take a couple moments take a couple breaths to allow your focus to shift from outside from wherever you're coming from to inside to into your own breath to into your own body so this time on your mat this hour on your mat is time for you to really nurture and nourish yourself and in that mindset make sure as you're doing this class which is a challenging class that you listen to your body over what I'm saying so if something doesn't feel right for you you stop where you are so start to breathe deeply in and out through the nose draw the air in through the nose but towards the back of the throat and in a pose like this you might feel the breath come more into the back of the ribs the back of the lungs and slowly exhale out primarily through through the nose occasionally a side through the mouth is fine and then from where you are here I just want you to walk the fingers forward we're still in child's pose but we're making it a little bit more active so like spiders walking out to the edge of the mat just walk the fingers forward so you feel your shoulders starting to stretch the arms get active and take just one more breath like that and then just come on up to the hands and the knees and if they're not there already move your palms right under the shoulders and have the knees right under the hips and just loosen up your spine push up into cat stretch go wide with the shoulder blades tuck the chin in Tuck the tailbone in exhale there and then inhale into dog tilt also called cow tilt in some styles of yoga so lift the chest up lift the sit bones up and then take a couple of those on your own exhaling cat and inhaling dog unless you feel particularly tight in One Direction or the other I'm fine with you taking an extra breath maybe in the back bend or in the back stretch maybe turning the chin a little side to side so we're starting slowly and I want you to really again take time to tune into what you're bringing to the mat today maybe you're fatigued or maybe you're anxious to get moving faster as you're here moving slowly also just kind of feel places in your body that maybe feel a little locked or tight and also get the breath moving and then just come to a neutral spine so not cat or dog we're going to come into plank pose just take the hands a little forward straighten the legs and hold yourself here for five breaths so arm balances I used to think arm balances when I couldn't do them we're all about the arms but as I got better at them I realized they're a lot about the core so we're going to here start to wake up the core as you exhale feel the navl pull in towards the spine let the shoulder blades draw in towards your back so you're not hunching the back and you're not sinking the back so try to pull everything towards the center line and take just one more breath here here and then lift your hips and pull back into a downward-facing dog now notice how the weight is on the hands try not to sink into the heels of the hands but press out into the palms of the hands as though you're making a hand print a lot of us either got from our kids or made for our moms those plaster handprints like you're making one of those plaster handprints and you want every bit of your hand pressing down evenly and that will I promise you save your wrists as you get into more and more arm balances and then inhale to plank pose again and you're going to Simply bring the right thigh into the chest the knee up towards the chin and hold it here for five breaths so again waking up the core too lift the foot as high off the floor as you can if you at home we having trouble with this just touch a toe three and four and lift it up up up five now straighten the leg almost take it to plank pose but keep the foot just a an inch off Theo floor and exhale take the knee to the right shoulder one and two 3 four five and straighten the leg and take it to the left shoulder one so here you get the obliques too 3 4 five and come to down dog so now down dog's like a resting pose take a great big breath here big inhale big exhale and we'll do that the other side come to plank pose and take the left thigh into the chest for five breaths one and two 3 4 five and straighten beautiful and take it to the left arm one left shoulder 2 3 four five and straighten and bring it across one 2 3 4 five take it to plank pose and then lay down on your belly just come all the way down take the hands back turn the head to the left for a couple of breaths and just really let yourself relax let your shoulders sink down into the floor let your body get heavy so when you come to rest really rest really Let Yourself Go you'll need it and then bring the head Center and come up onto your forearms so take the elbows uh as narrow as your shoulders and have the wrists as wide as your shoulders leaving the forearms parallel to each other we're going to take Sphinx pose press down into the elbows and lift your sternum up and then drag the elbows back to pull the rib cage forward so you're trying to get a little Traction in your lowerer back a little length in the lower back and now if you here you can see my collar bones kind of pushing out see if you can pull the shoulders back to open up the sternum more so it's like you're squeezing the shoulder blades towards each other and then gently push the tops of the toes down into the floor so that actually helps relax your back so relax the lower back lengthen and pull the chest forward and pull it forward forward forward now interlace the fingers press down into the wrists and we're going to lift the hips off again this is core we're going to do a forearm Plank and just lift the hips off for 10 breaths one and each time you exhale feel the navl drying towards the spine too feel the ribs expand as you inhale three press into the balls of the feet and four five try to stay calm relax the face relax the jaw six [Music] seven and if it's too much Take Your Knees Down eight just two more breaths nine and pull the navl in 10 and let the thighs come down and let the hands come back and turn your head left so rest on the other side and take a few breaths there and again just let the shoulders relax let the legs relax big deep breaths beautiful and then take the head Center and once again come into Sphinx pose so press down into the elbows pull the the chest forward and then turn the toes under and once again come into plank pose on the elbows and then I want you to bring the left arm across to the right take both heels to the left and come into a side plank one if you need to touch the bottom knee down too just five breaths and three if you want to you can stack the right foot on the left for it's a little more balancy and five and come on back down come back to the forearms and we'll right away go to the the other side bring the right arm across to the towards the left take both heels to the right bring the left arm up one and if you want stack the feet or have both feet down too it's a lot more core than you'd expect three and four and five and take both forearms down again so we're back in plank we're going to walk the toes in a little bit we're in a dolphin pose but with the hands apart it's a forearm balance prep pinch to Myas a prep pull the shoulders back feel the shoulders open press down into the palms and then if you can from here you're going to just push into down dog or go to your knees and come up into down dog so if you can you're going to push the elbows straight if that didn't work for you come to the knees come onto the hands and knees and we'll all be in down dog and this time in down dog I encourage my students just to do whatever feels good if you want to bend one knee Bend one knee stretch the other foot if you want to lift the heels and bend both knees you can turn the head a little bit side to side yeah take a leg up whatever is feeling good to you and then when you're ready when you've had enough of this just walk your feet forward just walk this first one forward and come into utanasana if you feel a little tight in your back or hamstrings feel free to bend the knees here the feet can be apart at this point or together it's up to you you could let the arms hang take them onto your legs or grab the elbows you could move around a little bit turn the head a little bit so it's important to let yourself take a little breaks even as you're doing poses find the places that you don't need to be working hard and then with an inhale take the hands to The Shins unless you can easily reach the floor and come to AR utanasana halfway up lift the chest and exhale fold down and if you hadn't done it before take the feet together and AR utas you can bend the knees especially if you have back things and exhale down if you have any back trouble and one more time halfway up inhale come halfway up exhale stay halfway up and inhale come all the way up sweep the arms up and exhale let the hands come to the side or right down middle and we're going to go into a slow serin Nam mascara a inhale sweep the arms up slow because we're going to hold the back bend and exhale fold forward come to ARA utanasana half utanasana inhale bend the knees step this first one back step back and hold plank just a breath inhale now you can lower to the floor like we did last time and come to COBRA pose lower down and inhale to COBRA pose we're going to stay five breaths if you want to work your way up into upward facing dog turn the toes under lift the thighs roll over the feet pull the hips towards the wrists lift the chest up towards the ceiling three so Cobra pose with the thighs down or upward facing dog four and if you're in Cobra the elbows are a little bit bent and five this is what I don't want to see straight arms with the thighs down okay and then come into down ug you're always welcome to go to the knees or or you'll see some of my students here not touching the floor just the hands and the feet touching the floor take a couple breaths here and you can again walk forward or feel free to hop your feet forward if that's something you're comfortable with inhale halfway up exhale fold all the way down inhale come all the way up and either open the arms to the side or take them right down the middle and we'll flow this one inhale sweep the arms up open up and exhale fold forward inhale take the chest up you can step back or hop the feet back if you hop back don't land with locked elbows soften the elbows inhale to up dog or Cobra pose and exhale come to downward-facing dog hold this down dog five breaths it's a good time if you need needed to go to child's pose and take a little break one feel the ribs expand as you inhale draw the belly in as you exhale to the navl in towards the spine and inhale again feel the weight to cross the whole palm of the hand three and four and again walk or jump to the front of the mat inhale halfway up exhale fold all the way down inhale come up with a flat back and exhale take the hands to the side or right down the middle now inhale come into chair pose UT takasa we're going to hold this one for five breaths one sit back towards your heels looking forward or up two Palms inward if you can take the hands together without hunching the shoulders up around the ears you can take them together if not keep them apart three so try to find the softness sua in the pose we know that there's the strength in this pose the stability sh and take one more inhale and exhale fold forward inhale halfway up step or jump back exhale chatarunga inhale up dog or cobra exhale to down dog stay in down dog simply bend the right knee for a breath or two just bend the right knee let the left heel stretch down and then right from here step the right foot forward inside the right hand and just hold High lunge lunge with the knee straight for five breaths one you can have the hands down or come up onto the fingertips too and see I'm moving a little bit forward and back feel free to explore hip flexors three quadricep and four and then drop the back heel down so heel to heel or a little bit wider make sure your feet aren't like you're on a balance beam Square the shoulders come into verad rasana one look forward or up for five breaths one feel both feet rooted and two and three pull the navl in towards the spine as you exhale beautiful four and exhale take the hands down and step back just lift the foot step back now anytime I say go to down dog make your way to down dog you can go straight to down dog or chatarunga upward-facing dog downward facing dog if it's all just a little much for you leave out some of those chaturangas simply bend the left leg stretch the right heel down for a couple breaths let the calf and the Achilles and the hamstring open up on the right side but try to keep the weight even on the hands and then with an exhale using that udana bonda that core strength step the left foot forward inside the left hand if it doesn't make it where you want it just grab the foot and pull it up stretch here five breaths and I always like to move around a little bit with this see how the hip flexors are feeling that day and take the back heel down heel to heel or a little bit wider Square the shoulders with the mat then there's a better chance they'll be square when you come on up for five breaths one Palms in maybe touching maybe not to gaze forward or up and three and now like we took time to make hand prints make footprints for how is that back foot do you have the whole foot down even inside and outside and take the hands down let the back heel come up make your way to down dog so if you're tired straight to down dog or chatarunga upward-facing dog downward-facing dog and just take two breaths here and take one more inhale and on the third exhale walk or hop forward inhale halfway up exhale fold forward bend the knees chair pose utana straighten up take the hands down and we'll put that all together s namaskara b inhale to chair UT tasana and exhale fold forward utanasana halfway up inhale step or jump back to ch chatarunga that's an exhale inhale to up dog exhale to down dog step forward left heel down when the feet down are down inhale the arms up and down and step back exhale chaturanga inhale up dog exhale downward-facing dog left foot forward right heel down inhale to Verras 1 and exhale chaturanga take EX extra breaths if you need to inhale up dog and exhale downward-facing dog five breaths here one and again this is a good time if you need it to go to child's pose too very nice and three so make sure your feet are parallel the heels straight back and four that's it beautiful there's not much adjusting to do these guys they're so good and walk or jump up inhale lift the chest up exhale fold bend the knees chair utas and straighten up and take the hands down so we're going to move back about a third of the way on the mat and turn the feet out and come into um a squat so if you can if you have trouble squatting you can sit yourself on a block like this okay take the arms inside the knees and gently press the knees open Lift the chest up take a couple breaths there so if you're in the squat pretty comfortably which everybody here is um try to get your back up a little bit straighter just press the knees open a little bit more a lot of you might have the heels off the floor feel free to have an extra mat roll it up put it under or roll up the mat from the back or if you have a towel or something you can put them under your heels you can do this with the heels up it's fine and take one more inhale lift the chest up and then just walk the hands out in front of you and let the back round just let your ribs go inside the thighs just kind of crawl forward with the hands and you can let the head drop down just breathe I like to move around a little bit with this breathe into your back open up your back great so everybody's got their shoulders inside the knees here now I want you to squeeze the outside of the shoulders with the knees and come up on Tippy Toe and then place the hands onto the mat we're working to the first arm balancing pose which is Crow pose bakasana so lift your heels up squeeze the outside of the shoulders with the knees raise your hips up round the back bird likee and then lean forward your feet might not come off the floor today or you might get one foot off if you can get both feet off go for it and I think most of the students here are doing beautifully and if you need more of a challenge once you're up in Crow pose maybe you can take the right knee to your chest so you're on just one leg and of course place it back and then the left knee to the chest if you need a a challenge takes a ton of core to do what he's doing here beautiful and then touch the feet for a moment take little breather you can come to the um back to the squat now if you can get your feet up off the floor in Crow pose you can jump to chaturanga a lot of students don't think they can or they're a little bit afraid of you know just collapsing but the key is to take your chest forward to look forward take the chest forward and if you really shoot your legs back the worst that's going to happen is you're going to land on your belly so the the wor first thing to do is stop halfway and then you land on your knees so if you anyone who wants to try jumping back we'll do Crow pose one more time so take the knees to the outside of the shoulders squeeze the shoulders with the knees lift the hips pull the heels in towards the sit bones and then look forward and think about shooting your chest forward and your legs back H maybe chataranga maybe you land on the floor and then upward-facing dog inhale and downward facing dog exhale beautiful take a great big inhale and a great big exhale if you want you can exhale through the mouth just side out and now while we're here take your right leg up you can square the hips or you can open the right hip or you can bend the knee whatever feels good for five breaths too and three keep the weight even in the hands though and even in the shoulders four nice and reach it up up up five and exhale step forward come again to Verras one inhale and now we're going to open up into Verras into two exhale and hold it here for five breaths one so you have the arms parallel The Gaze goes to the right hand middle finger too if possible if the hips are um open enough and the legs strong enough your right thigh is parallel to the floor three just relax the fingers a little bit beautiful and four and the dristy or the Gaze right hand middle finger nice and five and then just one breath stretch it back turn the Palm up inhale and stretch it out there exhale inhale come on up and reach back behind you now interlace the fingers take the right hand over the left and straighten the elbows inhale and take the rib cage just inside the thigh exhale and take five breaths here one let the shoulders stretch relax your neck breathe two three back leg super solid try to keep weight in that back foot four and five now we're going to take both hands down inside the leg so move your right foot a little bit to the right let the back heel come up take the left knee down and if you can come to the elbows so if your elbows don't reach the floor and you have a block or something just put your elbow on a block take a couple breaths there so working into the right hamstring and the left hi left hip and quadricep now this next pose working up to the next pose which is a challenging pose we're going to take in stages and wherever you get to is fine first thing we're going do going to do is straighten the back leg just push the knees straight so that gets us more deeply into the hip flexors and the right hamstring and then take the left heel back heel down so that's going to raise the hips a little bit higher and those of you who can slide the shoulder under the knee so bring the right shoulder under the knee and we'll take a moment here you might grab the ankle or pull the head to the ankle I don't know if any of you guys can take the head under for a breath that's kind of an interesting back stretch if you did take the head under slide it back out now you've got the shoulder under the knee take both both hands onto the mat and start to walk the right foot a little bit towards the left so phase one of this is just lifting the foot up like you're doing a push-up with the leg behind your arm maybe that's where you are maybe you stay with this next phase maybe take the left hand up so you're on the right hand okay if you have open hamstrings you might be able to grab a hold of the right foot and take it out straight Vash mitana or just take the arm up another version of iash trasa beautiful wherever you get to is great take one more breath there and then take both hands down if you can keep the right foot up and maybe you take it down maybe you go into count inasa float the back leg up and breathe and make your way to down dog you might step back you might crawl back it's all okay and back and down dog just take a couple of breaths you can walk it out if you want to and then take the left leg up and do whatever you want with it Square the hips open the hip bend the knee if you like just try to keep the weight even in the hands and inhale take the leg up straight exhale step forward come into verad rasana 1 Warrior 1 inhale and open up to Warrior 2 exhale and hold it here look to the left hand middle finger too relax the shoulders and reach out and notice if you tend to hold tension in your fingers three so straighten you up a little bit there four nice beautiful see if you can bend that knee a little deeper yeah and turn the left palm up and stretch it back just one breath inhale and exhale and inhale come back to verasa 2 Warrior 2 take the hands behind you left hand over right this time so you can even check if you're not sure straighten the elbows inhale and just inside the thigh come forward take five breaths here one in Humble Warrior and two and try not to lose your back foot three so you see if you can let your right shoulder the outside one drop down a little more four so you're facing towards the ground and then take both hands inside the leg scoot the left foot a little bit over to the left come up onto the ball of the back foot let the back knee go down and here's where if you can get to an elbow or both of them go ahead there maybe use the block and just kind of explore the quadricep on the right side the hip flexors on the left working deeper into the hips for that next pose which requires a lot of flexibility and then straighten the back knee that brings you up a little bit higher turn the back heel down that opens up the right hip a little bit see if you can sneak the left shoulder under your leg and here you might grab the ankle or not you might pull the head towards the leg or under and then with the shoulder tucked as far under the knee as you can get it take both hands down start to inch the left foot towards the right and you'll move the left hand back into place maybe you lift the foot up maybe that's it maybe you get lighter on the right hand that could be it or maybe this is up or maybe you grab the foot stretch it out if you've got the hamstrings for it or extend it up or and coming out of it maybe galavasana so if you can whoops I said the wrong pose how about cyas gavas I'm giving it away we're coming up to that and shoot it back and up dog and downward facing dog good take a couple breaths here and we'll take a little little break for the wrists walk or hop up inhale take the chest up exhale fold and just tow heel the feet apart and we'll take p hastasana i want you to slide the Palms right under the feet and maybe you can massage your wrists with your toes I like to do that massage the palms of the hands with the balls of the feet feel free to turn the head side to side if you're really flexible bend the elbows so you're stretching out the lower back and the hamstrings if need be bend the knees a little bit beautiful and then inhale lift the chest up and take the hands out from under the feet exhale take the hands to the hips inhale just stand yourself up you can soften the knees a little bit coming up and take the feet together inhale chair pose utana and exhale fold forward come halfway up inhale step or jump back to chaturanga Exhale inhale upward-facing dog exhale to downward-facing dog in inhale sweep the right leg up behind you and exhale step forward take the back heel down just one breath you're going to inhale to Verras one to take the hands right back down exhale you're going to step the left foot in a little bit closer and straighten both legs inhale and exhale fold towards your leg we're not going to stay here long but we're going to come back take the hands to the hips inhale come on up now bring the arms up and bend your left elbow and grab a hold of the elbow just give the shoulder a little stretch and then reach down with the right hand now if you find your hands grab the hands behind you if you don't if you have a strap or a belt at home feel free to grab a belt and you can put that and these guys have all got their hands okay but there's if if doesn't work out for you just use a belt and then you're going to inhale and if it's okay physically for you take a forward bend with this so the left elbow forward and you're gently pulling the right hip back so you're facing your leg breathe so you're welcome to stay standing up or folding forward beautiful and then push down into your foot to inhale come on up so now we're already pulling the left shoulder forward we're going to continue in that direction and reach out with the left hand and reach open with the right and take a big inhale here the next pose we're going into his revolved triangle pose good chance you might need a block for this you're welcome to grab a block and put it inside or outside the foot maybe the hand makes it to the foot or the leg eventually it goes all the way outside the foot to the floor try to stack the right shoulder over the left looking sideways or up so really strong base your legs your hips but there's a bit of a softness anytime you're taking a Twist a bit of a surrender in the yoga sutras they talk about practicing ASA with Shira and Suka steadiness and ease so find the ease now simply look down exhale reach out with the left arm inhale and like a cartwheel open up your arms readjust the feet if you need to for triangle pose uasa let the hip shift to left reach out to the right you might use the block again hand on the Block outside the foot or maybe the hand goes to the shin or the ankle in the asanga practice they take the toe some practices they take the hand to the floor beautiful most important the whole body is energized but not tense so there there's energy coming up the legs out both sides of the waist stacking the shoulder over the shoulder and the wrist up over the shoulder root the feet spread out the toes notice if you're gripping the mat with your toes now with the leg straight you're going to inhale come on up okay turn the right palm up take a stretch back with the leg straight exhale here and inhale come up again we're going to go a little bit WI slider and bend the right leg so it's back to Warrior 2 okay turn your chest open towards the sidewall we're going to take Eagle pose arms with the left elbow under the right so wrap the left elbow under the right and cross at the wrists if you can now if your shoulders are tight here you might choose to just grab the opposite shoulder but try to get the elbows to pass each other or you can have the hands back to back so from Eagle pose here relax your shoulders down lift the elbows up a little bit and like a karate chop move the hands forward so that's going to stretch those triceps now we're going to come into Crescent pose you're going to turn towards the front of your mat and pop the back heel up and this is going to get our hips and shoulders in a better position for the pose we're going to which is eal pose going to get that out of the way so hips and shoulders are squared you're on the ball of the back foot raise the left knee up towards your elbows okay and then cross the left leg over the right if you can double cross and Tuck the foot behind do and you'll lower down into Eagle there's a good chance you won't be able to get to there so you're welcome to just cross at the knees and even touch the toe all right or if you can't cross at the knees to here just a breath or two more fantastic now we're going to undo the arms take the arms up like chair pose arms and unhook the foot and we're going to go into like a one-legged chair pose take the ankle onto the knee and sit yourself down and take one more inhale reach up up up and then just reach down for the floor and you might hop back a little bit so your hands can be on the mat if you're at the front of the mat and here's the pose I was giving away a moment ago galavasana we're working towards so see if you can take the left leg across both arms the knee to the left the ankle to the right already it's a great hip stretch whether you go further or not next phase lift the heel maybe lean forward and lift the leg just the foot or extend the leg all the way out okay so you work that wherever you can work it more core than arms I promise you good and if you're able to float it back to chatarunga from there go for it or however you get out is great we'll meet up in down dog beautiful just done good and take a breath or two in down dog or take child's pose now if you want if you're feeling like you need it this is a good time and then inhale take the left leg up behind you exhale step forward inhale come into verad rasana one just one breath and exhale take the hands down and step in a little bit closer inhale and exhale fold down over the leg now root the feet take the hands to the hips inhale come on up sweep the arms up and grab a hold of the right elbow and give it a stretch and then take the left arm down and up and either use your strap or grab your hands so these are gomukasana cowface pose arms and once you've got the hands and got the strap whatever you need inhale lift up and if you're adding the forward fold go ahead forward try to square the hips and let the right elbow go towards the left leg breathing good keep both legs active so those of us who have a tendency to hyperextend like I do you got to watch that you don't lock back into the knee that's it Jody even keep for some of us a micro Bend happening and then pulling forward with the right elbow inhale come on up and then just take the right arm forward and take the left arm open open your chest up towards the side for revolve triangle pose grab your block if you need it so you can have the block inside or outside the foot wherever you can get it to you might be here which is fine trying to stack the left shoulder over the right lengthening the spine both feet root that back foot and then just look down there's your right hand reach out with it inhale and let it help open you up exhale readjust the feet if you need to to take Outi extended tonasa triangle pose so maybe the hand comes to the shin one thing you don't want to watch is that you lean into the knee you don't want to do that or maybe it's on the ankle or the foot or aanga style taking the big toe or on a block yeah you can maybe use the block if you want to no both sides of the waist long this right up over the shoulder uhhuh yes beautiful and then inhale come on up and turn the Palm up and exhale stretch it back and inhale step a little bit wider and exhale to verad rasana 2 take the right elbow under the left Eagle pose arms so first we're facing the side root both feet relax the shoulders down so getting into the hips and getting into the shoulders and then shoulders down elbows up and just kind of karate chop your hands forward so whether you get the legs going or not this is a great great work for the shoulders yes and then start to make your way around towards the front so we'll come into Crescent pose so we get the hips and shoulders squared for Eagle pose so right under left switch the arms take the other one under there you go that's it and then pull the right knee up towards your elbows cross it over if you can tuck the foot behind so even this you wouldn't think it but there's a lot of core work involved in keeping that Center so we're twisted up but the elbows are over the knees the shoulders are over the hips and that blend of sha steadiness and Suka ease to be able to get into it and let the arms come up like chair and unhook the foot and come into a one-legged chair so a lot of udab bonda here a little Mula Banda lift up from the root of the pelvis sit down a little deeper reach up a little higher and then touch the floor and whether you get the foot up or not I love just this stretch it's a nice hip stretch make sure you have some mat if you're a little scared you can put a pillow there take the leg across the arms play with leaning maybe lift the foot maybe extend the leg and this this is another one if you're going to jump it back you actually float it forward the chest forward and lift your face and we'll meet up and down dog so up and downward facing dog beautiful so we're we're going to go to sitting if you can hop through hop it through if you want to start to hop it through you could hop he's got it you could hop to like a cross-legged pose or a squat and then the key is try to pull the legs through before you sit down so we're sitting so let's take uh for a moment just this is doneas inap pose so STI is when we're at the front of the mat standing like preparing to do sun salutes I call dandasana the SAS of sitting poses it sets you up for the sitting poses to come so it gets you aligned so just take a breath or two here stacking the shoulders over the hips and then we're going to bend the right knee come into a pose called marasa a the mar chasa is our squat poses so there's several of them I know eight different marasas but they all have one leg attempting to do this so bring the right knee up towards the right shoulder and then and there's space you'll see between my right ankle and left inner thigh because I want this straight up and down now if you can sneak your shoulder in front of the shin and maybe this is it maybe that you get to there some of you can reach around and wrap and the more you go forward with this the more likely it is your right sit bone is going to come up and it's okay if it comes up it's allowed to come up for this pose so you're trying to keep the knee straight up and down and just bring the chin towards the inside of the shin and breathe open up your back how we doing great so scoot your right foot a little bit to the right yeah perfect so everybody in here has got the shoulder in front of the shin we're going to leave the leg like that okay we're going to leave the shoulder in front and you're going to sit up so your foot's going to come off the floor just sit up and let the foot come off the floor now grab a hold of the the right foot and bring it to cross towards maybe the left elbow so it's kind of like you're cradling the foot like that you can even Rock a little bit if you can't get the elbow there just hold it move and then this is kind of like what we're doing on on our feet bringing the shoulder under you're going to bring now the knee behind the shoulder so in a way we've been there before already today so see if you can tuck your shoulder or your arm under the leg yeah now you sort of have to pull everything towards Center so pull the knee in towards the shoulder and put your hands down so you use a little bit of core strength even to keep that leg in there and then maybe you can lift your hips up and lift your leg up so if you not able to do that you could put a block in front of you and see if that works for you okay and then set it down for just a breather and then we're going to go into a pose called ashraa the eight eight Crooks pose supposedly eight angles in this pose so press down and lift up like we did before and then see if you can cross the left ankle over the right and push the legs out and then you dip down like you're doing chatarunga like this so wherever you get to just work it there and then bring it up beautiful and sit it down and we'll try by side two with that so come to dandasana your shoulders up your legs straight and then bring the left knee up have a little space between the inner foot and the inner thigh and come into the marasa try to work the shoulder in front of the shin breathing the whole time let your sacrum and your back open up maybe bind it here if you can't bind you can reach forward and just keep the elbow there and then keep the shoulder in front of the shin and just sit up so the foot's going to pop up off the floor okay so we're trying to keep the knee right behind the back now grab a hold of the foot with the right hand Left Foot Right Hand and bring it across if you can cradle it cradle it and work that hip open and then see if you can sneak the knee behind the shoulder and then use a little bit of core a little bit of inner thigh to try to keep the leg up there take the hands down and maybe you pick it up here kind of a test run pull everything towards Center and give it a break and pull it up again and now we'll go for the OST of acrossing the pose pick it up maybe cross the right ankle over the left extend out and dip it down and and bring it up again and take a little uh pimot tasana here inhale up and exhale fold forward and I've got such a great group of yogis here we'll try one more we'll throw one more arm balance in so this one everybody can do some of so you're going to sit up again and simply bend your knees take the hands behind you so just a little bit of a bend in the knee and bring the right ankle onto the left knee and I love this hip stretch just there if you don't go any further than this it's worth your time so you can push the right knee open and start to inch your chest a little closer in towards the ankle as the right knee opens up so again feel free to stay just with this or take the left hand back a little bit you can start by this twist that we're going into by grabbing a hold of the left knee with the right hand and just twisting around coming across maybe that's as far as you go or see if you can get the elbow into the InStep of the foot can you go there and then see if you can slide the shoulder closer to the InStep of the foot so slide it down and I'm inching my left foot in a little closer as I get the um shoulder closer to the foot so if you can with this next pose you're actually going to stand on your right arm you'll stand up on the left foot first and lift your hips up take both hands to the floor so just bring yourself up and you can see I'm standing on my arm and I'm going to position the left arm also up and come into I've heard this called grasshopper or dragonfly so like that excellent so this one takes a bit of twisty flexibility there everybody's got it and sit yourself down let's between sides just come into a little banasa let the knees open up maybe sit tall so you might feel a little off you're are a little off we've done one side but we'll get it all evened out if you can fold forward fold forward and come on up and take the knees up bring the feet out in front of you and bring the left ankle to the right knee and Scoot yourself close explore side two they're not always the same and you might grab the knee start that twist lengthen your spine or bring the elbow in press against it roll the right shoulder open Twist around and then slowly slide the shoulder closer and closer to the instep so you're sliding your foot up the arm and then to come into the balance you actually stand on the right foot so take the hands down lift your hips up and the foot and the leg maybe go on the arm into grasshopper or dragonfly fantastic core core core see these guys have it without the second leg which is even harder good and sit down and you guys go once again to banasa do whatever kind of shake out you need I'm going to give you a little stretch there good work the tough stuff is done now remember when you're playing with arm balances to make it play if you don't get the finished pose don't worry about it just enjoy the work the first first time I saw bakas in a crow POS which was the first arm balance we did I thought I would never do it I was certain it was like for other people not for me and then a few thousand hours of yoga later I was doing things I never thought I'd do but I always tell my students a consistent practice in time is the is the secret so just consistent showing up whether it's for 20 minutes or 3 hours and giving yourself time and having patience with yourself and you never know what you might be doing so go ahead and you guys that I'm done adjusting lay down on your back in the same pose you can if you need to scoot forward on the mat do just allow yourself to lay back in soup to banasa for a few breaths hands can be wherever you want them maybe on your abdomen or to the sides or if you want to add a little shoulder stretch you can take the elbows up and over just take a couple big deep breaths and then take the hands to the outside of the knees and press the knees together and walk the feet apart to the edge of the mat and turn your toes in and drop your knees Inward and then walk the feet to hip distance and lift your pelvis up for bridge pose septu sarvangasana so different options with the arms if you can clasp the hands behind you you can do that and it makes it easier to scoot the shoulders open if you have trouble clasping the hands you could grab the edge of the mat and use the mat kind of press out to lift your sternum up lift your chest up the hips up the knees straight ahead make sure you feel the inside of the feet so turn your toes in especially the right foot a little bit sashan feel that part of your foot that's good and spread out those toes again chest up towards the chin beautiful so I'm going to give you a couple options from here all my students here have blocks if you want to go a little mellower you might grab that block and put it under your lower back and do supported bridge pose or if you want to go a little deeper get a back bend in today take the hands under the shoulders you can come down if you want position the hands for erva daasa Upward bow so you can take a supported bridge pose like flhy and once you're supported it's kind of nice on your sacrum if you walk the feet and knees a little narrower and these guys have these beautiful back bends so here you want to roll the shoulders in and lift your sternum up it's kind of nice after all the core work we did if you can get yourself into a back bend bridge pose or upward bow beautiful beautiful just let your head go yes now if you're on the Block go ahead and stay there if you guys are in upward bow go ahead and come down and it's always good to do another one of those the second one's always a little juicier so rest a breath or two and then when you're ready just push up one more time and to grab these elbows on your way up this time okay go ahead and push push p push there we go yeah so I'm just giving Jason a little more space in his upper back here by rotating the elbows in so the shoulders have a little bit of a wrap then beautiful they've got just gorgeous back bends beautiful practices and then when you're done you can remove the block or come on down give the knees a little hug and start to rock from side to side or Circle the knees around if you want to and I'm going to give you a choice with the final finishing poses as well so if you want to take shoulder stand you can kick the feet over the head in plow take the hands onto the back and bring the legs up to shoulder stand if you have a tight neck you might want to have a blanket or two to put your shoulders on and have the head off okay if any of you don't want to do shoulder stand at home a nice alternative is to grab that same blanket or a couple blankets or the block like this I'm not going to do it here um got this thing on my back but you can put it right under your lower back under your sacrum and bring the legs up in VY to karani yeah so we'll take a about 10 really super slow breaths here toes touching so you're not tensing up your seat the feet reaching right on up and just allow the back to relax into your hands to soften into your hands so the steadiness in this pose comes in the base which is the arms and lifting up and though there's action in the legs keeping the toes together I want you to just soften and let any tension any stress drain right out of your body right especially out of the lower back back it's a nice therapeutic pose for the lower back shoulder stand great and then slowly start to let the feet go over your head towards the floor if your feet don't make it to the floor keep your hands on the back okay keep your back supported so don't force never Force especially with this much weight on your neck so if they reach easily here like jod you can interlace the fingers and stretch them away beautiful you can take the carop DOA variation let the knees come down by the ears either keeping the hands forward like Justin or grabbing your heels like Jody and then when you're ready take the arms forward use your arms and your abs to slowly come on down if you do any Lotus variations anything you want to do is fine beautiful and then allow the hands to hug in close to your body if you did the shoulder sand plow variation it's nice to counter with matsas a fish so your sternum is going to lift up chest is going to lift up the head releases back so you can see what's behind you so press actively into your elbows a little bit and get that light on the head yeah so you're not sitting right on the head yeah now if you have trouble letting the head drop back you could roll over and take Sphinx pose again or just turn the head side to side and then when you're ready ease out of that and then before you take shavasana I just want you to assess and adjust anything that needs to be adjusted whether it's your clothes if it's cool where you are put a blanket on these guys you have those uh little hand things if you want to cover your eyes for shavasana maybe you need to give the knees a hug maybe you want to take a Twist really listen to your body feel what's going on and when you're feeling good stretch out the arms stretch out the legs and give yourself a good rest five or 10 minutes at least I'm going to adjust these guys and you take as much time at home as you need and I'll sign off Namaste so if you have a friend have them majest you