I'm Nicole,
Thanks for joining me today.
I have a super short yoga snack for you,
Predominantly reclined,
Seated and kneeling.
It's a perfect class to begin your day a little more mindfully,
But of course you can do this practice at any time of the day.
I've got one strap,
So feel free to grab a yoga strap if you don't have the strap,
Then a belt or a scarf,
Anything to loop around the foot.
I've got a block there which I'm just using to sit on at the end of class,
So if you don't have a yoga block you might like to grab a pillow or rolled up towel,
But it's certainly not necessary.
When you're ready,
Let's begin.
Come on down to your back.
And we'll take one of my favorite hip opening poses.
Beginning with the knees bent,
Allow the right knee to fall out to the side and then wiggle that right foot over to the left.
So that the foot is in between the left heel and the buttock.
Now I'm using my left hand to hold on to the right toes,
But if you can't reach the foot,
It doesn't matter.
You'll notice here that my knee is pointing down a little more towards the bottom corner of the mat.
Of course,
If this knee or hip are vulnerable,
Use your block or your pillow to prop up the leg.
Option one is here,
Option two a little deeper.
If you lift the left foot up off the floor,
Take a hold of that knee.
So right hand to the left knee,
Left hand to the right foot,
Or of course both hands to the knee.
Find your sweet spot.
Taking the next few moments to arrive in your practice.
Inhaling a little deeper into the lower body.
Observe the navel rise on the inhalation.
Ribs and chest expand.
And take a little pause in this spaciousness.
Before you exhale slowly.
Softening into the shape.
And let's take the next few breaths to set your intention for the day.
Something that you're needing a little more of.
Just keep it to the one word if you can,
Less opportunity for the mind to argue.
Your intention could be patient.
Clarity.
Compassion.
Let's lower the left foot to the floor.
Raise the right leg now.
Interlace the hands around the hamstrings.
And create a little bit of resistance between the hands and the legs.
So there's a little push-pull effect here.
And arch your lower back.
See if you can curl your tailbone up just a little.
And let's point and flex the foot.
Bring a little movement,
A little warmth.
Into that ankle joint.
Well done,
Yogis.
Recline Pigeon.
Take the right ankle to the left knee.
Cactus Arms.
If you can,
Lift the left foot up off the floor.
And just taking a little rock and roll from side to side.
Keeping the jaw relaxed.
Observing any changes in the jaw and in the breath when you start to challenge the body.
This lower left foot down to the floor,
Taking a hold of your strap now and just place it around the ball of the right foot and then raise that leg up towards the ceiling.
So a little hamstring stretch here.
You might choose to straighten and relax the left leg.
Begin to breathe into the right leg.
Option to stay here or take the strap in the right hand only and allow the leg to come out to the right as far as it will comfortably go.
The floor is not the destination.
And then we'll inhale that leg back to center.
Exhaling out to the side.
One more repetition and if you'd like to pause here with the leg out to the side,
Do so.
And coming back to center when you're ready.
A little bit of core here,
Let's lift up the forehead towards the knee.
Of course,
If you could reach the big toe,
You could take a hold of the big toe or the foot.
And lower down,
Well done,
Release the strap.
We'll do that same sequence on the other side,
So left knee bending,
Move the left foot over to the right,
Maybe you can hold on to the foot.
Option to lift that right knee as well.
And gently deepen the breath.
To deepen the pores.
Inhale your intention from time to time.
Let's lower the right foot down and raise the left leg.
Interlace the hands around the hamstrings.
Creating that little bit of resistance.
And moving the foot.
Or climb pigeon cactus arms.
Breathing into the outer hip,
Into the tension.
So meeting any tension that you feel in the body with the breath.
Not with judgment,
Not with force.
And let's lower that foot down,
Taking your strap.
Last posture with the straps.
If your back is feeling a little tender or a little niggly,
You might prefer to keep the right knee bent,
Otherwise straighten and relax the legs.
Feel free to take that movement out to the side,
If that feels okay for your hips.
And low back.
Well done,
Yogis.
Last repetition.
Feel free to pause somewhere along the way if you like.
And when you come back up,
Lifting head off the mat.
If you can,
Reach for the foot,
Otherwise the strap is fine.
And let's lower down,
Release the strap.
Coming up to seed and now you might like to take a few rocks forwards and backwards,
Building momentum.
Or of course you can roll to one side and push yourself up to seated.
So if you can,
Just a comfortable cross-legged position,
Only for a few breaths.
Of course,
If your knees are sitting up high,
Sit yourself up on your block or your pillow.
If your knees aren't happy here,
You can straighten and relax the legs.
Let's just take the hands to the side,
Left ear to the left shoulder.
And then keeping the head at this angle.
Simply nodding now,
Take a few yes and no,
So lift the chin.
And then lower down.
Maintaining that smooth,
Steady breath.
Next time you bring the chin down,
Let's drop the head forward in a semi-circle,
Slowly bringing the right ear around to the right shoulder.
And then same here.
Taking a few nods.
Well done,
Yogis.
Drop the head down again.
When the head comes to the centre line,
Simply lift the chin or give the shoulders a little roll there.
From here,
We'll come over onto all fours.
So very similar to our Cat-Cow stretches,
But we're going to practice this on the forearms,
So elbows underneath the shoulders if you can.
As you inhale,
Drop the belly,
Lift the gaze.
Exhale,
Round the spine.
Option one is here yogis.
Option two,
Include the left leg,
Knee to nose.
And then inhale.
The leg up.
Option to do a couple more rounds,
Otherwise tuck the right toes under and lift up into a three-legged dolphin pose.
As you exhale,
Knee down,
Kneading loads.
Inhale,
Lifting up.
Last one.
And then as you bring the right knee down,
Place the left foot behind the right knee.
The right foot and then press on up into a gate pose.
So you could always use your block underneath the right hand here as well if you need to.
Option one,
Stay as you are.
Little more of a challenge if you float the left foot up off the floor.
Roll the shoulder blades back onto the spine.
Press into the pads of the right fingers.
And let's lower the foot down and reach the left arm overhead.
Gently send the hips forward.
And exhale,
It's coming back into tabletop,
Left knee down.
We'll thread the needle from here,
Left arm underneath the right.
Bring the ear to the mat or of course you can use your block.
Let's point the right elbow up towards the ceiling.
And just have the fingertips on the floor,
Lift the palm off the mat.
Gently firm the left arm down into the floor and squeeze those shoulder blades together.
And press on up,
Well done yogis.
Let's do that on the other side now.
Come down onto the forearms.
Option one,
Just moving through your cat-cow stretching.
Option two.
Include the right leg this time.
Option three,
Take it up into a dolphin pose.
Keep moving with your breath.
And next time the left knee comes down,
Bring the right foot down behind that foot.
Let's press on up into our gate pose.
Option to hold it here,
A little bit stronger if you lift the right foot up off the floor as well.
Lower the foot down,
Take the arm overhead.
Breathe into the sideways.
And let's lower down table top.
And thread the needle,
Right arm underneath the left.
Once again,
Gently firm the right arm down into the mat.
And let's press on up.
Well done yogis.
From here,
We'll just take a very brief wrist stretch.
If you can,
Turn those fingertips around to face towards the knees.
If this is too strong,
You can always do one hand at a time.
We'll just take the hand out to the side.
Let's see if we can round the spine and lean back just a little bit.
Well done.
Coming down now into your puppy pose,
Keep the bottom up nice and high,
Reach the arms in front and then take the hands to prayer above the head.
Sitting back into child's pose.
Of course,
You can prop the head if the head doesn't meet the mat with ease,
Either with your hands or your block.
Otherwise,
If the forehead meets the mat comfortably,
You might like to rest with your hands next to the feet.
And just let those shoulders relax.
As you inhale,
Feel the back rise and expand.
Take a little pause.
Before you exhale and soften.
Into the shape.
And let's gently press on up.
Well done,
Yogi's.
Didn't take long to get fired up.
Take a hold of your prop now for your seated position.
So we won't be finishing in Shavasana today,
We'll finish in a seated position.
Just taking a few breaths,
A few moments to reconnect to your intention.
You might like to connect the next finger and thumbs.
Turn the palms down.
Ensure the spine is nice and tall,
Lift the crown of the head.
Relax the shoulders.
And a sense as though you're leaning back just a little bit.
And simply bring your awareness to your heart center.
Breathing into this space.
Not changing the breath in any way.
To simply breathing.
With awareness.
Into the heart center.
Inhale your intention into this space.
Thank you for practicing with me today,
Yogis.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
I encourage you to keep inhaling your intention throughout the day.
And I hope to see you on the Met again soon.
Have a lovely day.
