Hey yogis,
I'm Nicole.
Thanks for joining me today.
Another feel-good flow for you.
Two blocks for this practice and we'll begin on our backs.
So come on down when you're ready.
We'll begin in a low supported bridge pose.
So with those knees bent,
Lifting up the hips and placing the block underneath.
Finding that comfortable spot and just resting here for a couple of breaths as we take a moment to arrive in our practice.
Begin to gently deepen the breath along the front side of the body.
Noticing navel,
Ribs and chest expand as you inhale.
And gently placing the tip of your tongue where the teeth meet the roof of the mouth.
Commencing ujjayi breath.
Gently toning through the back of the throat and listening for the sound of your breath in the throat rather than the nose.
Let's frame our movement within the breath now.
On your next inhalation,
Take the arms out to the side and above the head.
And as you exhale,
Float the arms back down.
Take a little pause and then inhale,
Arms up.
A little pause and then exhale,
Arms down.
Let's do one more.
Take a hold of the left leg now.
Interlace the hands behind those hamstrings and straighten the leg.
Let's create a little bit of resistance between the hands and the leg and begin to arch your lower back just a little.
And then soften that resistance.
Maybe you can slide the hands up a little higher.
Feel free to point and flex the foot.
And then we'll bend the knee.
Keep a hold of the leg.
Either stay there or straighten and relax the right leg.
Just a few breaths.
And let's change sides.
Beginning with that little bit of resistance,
That gentle push-pull between the hands and the leg.
So we are engaging the hamstrings here while we're trying to stretch them,
Which is very therapeutic,
Especially if you're nursing an injury.
But it's also a great way to then deepen the stretch afterwards.
So as you relax that resistance and slide your hands up,
You'll probably find that your hands can go further than what they would have if we didn't take those few breaths with that resistance.
Feel free to point and flex.
And let's bend the knee.
Straighten and relax your left leg.
And relaxing the right leg down now.
Option to straighten and relax both legs just for a breath.
You might even like to stretch actively.
And then relax.
Let's remove the block.
As we do so,
Lift on up into an active bridge.
So gently press down and away through the feet.
Broaden the collarbones.
And then lift up those heels and slowly lower down one vertebrae at a time.
Once you touch down,
Let's lift up the feet.
Stack the knees above the hips and imprint your low back.
Option to lift the upper body off the mat.
Option to alternate the legs.
Yogi bicycles.
Keeping the jaw relaxed,
The breath smooth.
Then checking the position of your tongue.
And let's hug it into the chest.
Inhale,
Arms up,
Heels up.
Push through the heels.
Exhale,
Hug it in.
Let's do just one more of those.
And then we're going to rock and roll our way up to seated.
Coming all the way up and rolling straight over onto all fours.
Let's take a wide-legged child's pose.
So big toes to touch.
Let's lift the palms round the back as you sit the bottom back towards the heels.
Forehead to the mat or the block.
And keeping the elbows lifted today and the palms,
So just the fingertips on the floor,
Gently guide the shoulders back towards the hips.
And let's lift on up,
Moving into a forearm plank.
Tucking the toes under the tailbone and gently rounding out through the upper back and shoulders.
Option to step the feet in,
Dolphin.
Pressing the armpits towards the thighs.
Knees down,
Puppy pose.
Bring your hands into prayer above the head.
And let's press up into our downward facing dog.
From this downward facing dog,
Begin to walk your hands back towards the feet.
Option one,
Just take a ragdoll,
Collecting elbows,
Knees bending.
Let the body hang.
Option two,
Take the feet a little bit wider,
Lower the hips down,
Coming into a yogi squat.
And let's lower those hands down.
Take the hips up if you're in your squat and let's roll up to stand.
Coming all the way up.
Well done,
Yogi.
Stepping up to the top of the mat.
So let's have blocks close by here.
You'll definitely need one,
Maybe two.
See how you go.
Let's step our left foot back and have the feet hip width apart,
So it's like a pyramid pose.
Nice and wide though,
45 degree angle on that back foot.
We'll keep a micro bend in the front knee and gently press the feet away from one another as though you're stretching the mat.
As you inhale,
Bring the arms back,
Little back arch.
Exhale forward,
Then allow the spine to round.
Come down,
Touching the leg wherever you like.
Inhale,
Pressing back up,
Strong in the legs and in the back.
Exhale,
Slight bend in the knee,
Folding forward.
So continue to press the feet away from one another to better support your back and hips.
Last one,
Inhale to come up.
And exhaling down.
So you can take a hold of the leg,
You can use your blocks,
Or if you can reach the floor with ease,
You might even like to take those hands towards the back of the mat.
Palms are lifted,
Just high on those fingertips.
Breathing into the back side of the body.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's recruit a block now.
Take the left leg back a little further,
Lunging as you inhale,
Right arm up and as you exhale,
Take the hips back,
Right hand to the left thigh.
Inhale and lunge with your twist.
Exhaling,
A variation of pyramid pose.
Let's just do one more.
And then moving into your lizard pose.
So you can always use the blocks here if you're quite tight through the hips.
Instead of creating that sensation as though we're stretching the mat,
Like we did in our forward fold,
Let's do the opposite now.
Feel as though you're trying to squash the mat,
So the feet are squeezing towards one another.
And just notice how that offers a little more support around those hips.
Let's broaden the collarbones,
Really reach the heart forward.
Option one,
Stay here.
Option two,
Bring your blocks with you if you need.
Otherwise,
Hands can walk along the floor as we bend in the left knee,
Straighten the right leg.
Hands can stay on the floor or you can come to prayer.
Here for just a few breaths.
And moving into a wide-legged forward fold.
Feet are parallel to the short side of the mat.
Palms underneath the shoulders.
Gently pressing the palms down and try to slide them forward.
Lifting through the arches of the feet.
Let's bring the heels in,
Toes out.
Bend the knees as you roll up to stand.
Warrior two legs.
Right toes pointing straight ahead.
Slide angle on that left foot.
Inhale,
Arms up.
Exhale,
Warrior two.
Inhale,
Reverse.
Exhale,
Triangle pose.
Option to keep the left arm where it is or bring it up towards the ceiling.
Taking that left shoulder back.
Pressing into both feet evenly and breathing into all four limbs.
Let's windmill the arms down,
High lunge.
Rock back and step up to the top of the mat.
Inhale,
Half lift,
Look forward.
Exhale to bow.
Belly to thighs,
Hands to calves.
Coming up via your chair pose.
Knees bending,
Arms lifting and press to stand.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's practice that on the other side.
Right leg back.
Taking the feet hip width or maybe even mat width,
Whichever is more comfortable for your hips.
It's important that we adapt our postures to fit our body.
When you're ready,
Inhale,
Arms back.
Exhale,
Forward.
Folding down.
Pressing to stand.
Last one,
Staying down this time.
Option to reach the fingers back or recruit your block.
And coming forward now,
Take a hold of one of your blocks.
Reposition the legs,
Getting ready for your lunge with a twist.
And then as you exhale,
Forward fold.
Left hand to the right thigh.
Transition into lizard pose.
Gently squeezing the feet towards one another,
Broadening the collarbones.
Option to stay there or walk your hands towards the right foot now.
Straightening the left leg,
Engaging the quad,
Drawing the knee up.
And wide-legged forward fold.
Feet are parallel to the short side of the mat.
Either pressing down and away through the palms or pistol grip those big toes.
Relax the hands,
Heels in,
Toes out.
Little bend in the knees.
Press up to stand.
Warrior two,
Left foot pointing straight ahead.
Adjust your right foot.
Inhale,
Arms up.
Exhale,
Warrior two.
Reverse.
Triangle pose,
Trikonasana.
Option to float the right arm up.
Inhale and exhale.
Windmill the arms down.
Downward facing dog.
And preparing for our pigeon pose,
Right leg up as you inhale.
Look forward,
Place the right knee behind the wrist as you lengthen the left leg back behind you.
You can always sit up on a block if you need a little extra support.
If this is not an option for you,
If there's any concerns with knee or hip,
Then bend the back leg and move that front foot forward so you've both legs bent and then you'll fold off a little to the side.
Otherwise,
Coming straight down,
Making a pillow with your hands or resting on the blocks.
Feeling the body move with the pulse of the breath.
Let's inhale to lift up.
We'll change sides straight away.
Take your variation,
The one that your body says yes to.
And follow the next inhalation to sit up.
This time we'll lean over to the left as you bring your right leg around.
Straighten your left leg and then we'll bend the right,
Crossing it over.
A seated twist here.
Let's continue to press down through that right foot and flex the left.
Interlace the hands around the knee.
Inhale to sit tall and as you exhale,
Just turn the head to the right.
Then inhale back to centre.
Feel the chest lift as you inhale and as you exhale,
Squeeze the navel in towards the spine.
Let it be a cleansing breath.
Last one.
Either stay there with the hands or wrap the arm around the thigh.
Take the right hand behind you,
Gently pressing down and trying to slide away.
Feel the in-breath descend and the navel expand.
Draw the navel in on the out-breath.
Let it ascend.
Let's return to the front.
Option to pick up that right foot.
Gently pressing the foot into the hands,
Hands into the foot.
And let's lower down.
Change sides.
Sitting tall and then exhaling,
Simply turning to the left.
Inhale back to centre,
Heart lifts.
Exhale,
Squeeze the breath out.
Moving into the final twist now.
And deepening your breath to deepen the twist.
Let's release.
Return to the front.
Option to pick up the foot for your last hamstring stretch.
And release.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's come back down now into an upper back bend,
A supported fish pose.
So for this one today,
Just do a little bit of a push-up.
Take the block a little higher under the head and just on the flat side under the shoulders.
So both blocks are running parallel to one another.
This bottom block is right at the base of the shoulder blades.
And then the top block,
We want the edge of the block to meet the base of the skull.
Feel free to keep the knees bent just for the first few breaths.
And slowly allow your head to fall to one side as you exhale.
And inhaling back to centre.
Exhaling,
Other side.
Feeling the back of the head roll against the block.
And taking as many repetitions as your body needs.
In your own time,
You can rest coming to stillness.
You might like to straighten and relax the legs.
Maybe even go a little deeper and lower the block underneath the head,
Or even remove it all together.
And let's prepare to release the pose.
Coming halfway up to seated if you need to,
Otherwise just rolling to the side,
Removing those blocks.
Let's place those blocks underneath the legs.
And for one last time,
Hug the knees into the chest.
As you inhale,
Heels up,
Arms up.
As you exhale,
Hands to knees,
Thighs to chest.
And lowering down into your Shavasana,
Taking up as much space as feels good.
Allowing the forehead to soften,
The eyes to roll back,
Tongue and jaw relaxed.
Inhaling a little deeper now.
Becoming aware of the body laying on the mat.
Feeling those meeting points.
Swallow if the mouth is dry.
Wiggle toes and fingers when you're ready.
Following any urges to move or stretch.
And when you're ready,
Rolling to your preferred side.
Eventually coming up to seated.
Thank you for practicing with me today,
Yogis.
I hope you found a little more space in the body,
Clarity in the mind.
If you have any class requests,
Feel free to make them in the comments below.
Have a lovely day.
