Hi yogis,
I'm Nicole.
Thanks for joining me today.
Today's class is especially therapeutic for the end of the day.
It's a great practice to undo the tension in the body,
Whether that's been accumulated through stress or through your posture,
Through sitting all day.
It's also a wonderful practice to help quieten the mind,
Reduce stress and soothe the nervous system.
So we have two blocks for this practice.
If you've only got the one block,
Then grab that block and you can improvise with a rolled up towel as well.
And we'll be using the wall.
So position your mat close to the wall and we'll come into legs up the wall to begin with.
When you're ready,
Sit sideways,
Nice and close to the wall,
So that as you bring your shoulders down and swing your legs up,
You're not too far away.
So a little bit of space between the bottom and the wall is fine,
Especially if you're tight through the back and the hamstrings.
Once you've arrived,
We'll use our blocks,
Either one block on the flat side,
Underneath your towel bone,
Or two blocks stacked on top of one another.
And taking the next few moments to arrive in your practice.
Softening any tension in the jaw.
Let go of any holdings.
Soften the forehead.
And gently place the tip of the tongue where the teeth meet the roof of the mouth.
I'm going to count your next few breaths.
We'll inhale 4,
Hold 2.
Exhale,
Fold.
Lifting the arms when you inhale and lower them down when you exhale.
When you're ready.
Let's inhale for one.
2.
3.
Holding 1.
Exhale,
One up.
2.
Inhale,
One.
Thanks for watching.
Three.
4,
Holding 1.
Exhale one.
Last one,
Feel free to take the arms out to the side this time.
Collect the elbows and rest here with the arms above your head.
You might like to maintain the count of the breath in your mind.
And of course,
If you can lengthen that out to five or six,
Then do so.
The magic in your practice lies with the breath.
This is a wonderful soothing pose for tired legs at the end of the day.
Let's lower those arms down.
Bend the knees.
And lift up the hips to remove your prop,
And then lower down to the mat.
Let's take a reclined pigeon here.
Left ankle to the front of the right leg,
Either above or below the knee.
A little bit deeper if you bend the right leg as well.
Just keep your bottom on the mat.
Arms out to the side,
And we'll take a little rock.
From side to side.
Softening any tension that may have crept into the jaw.
And meeting the tension in the outer hip with your breath.
Let's change slides.
And when you're ready,
Releasing.
Roll to your preferred side.
And then we'll come off the wall,
Pressing up into tabletop.
So once you've found your tabletop,
Have those hands nice and wide,
Pinky fingers meeting the edges of the mat,
Tuck the toes under,
Let's inhale,
Little back bend.
As you exhale,
Round the spine,
Sit back towards child's pose.
And inhale,
Return,
Backbend.
This time we'll exhale and round the spine.
Downward facing dog.
From this downward dog,
Walk your hands back towards the feet.
Take a little ragdoll,
Hold the elbows,
A little sway from side to side.
So your yoga practice is a conversation.
Between mind,
Body,
And breath.
Be attentive to your body.
Relax the elbows,
Bend the knees and roll up to stand.
Are you all the way out?
Well done,
Yogi.
Step up to the top of the mat.
Come to stand with those feet hip width apart.
We'll take the arms out to the side as you inhale.
Left hand will take the right wrist.
Bend the left knee and lean over to the left.
Breathe into the right side waves.
Let's change sides with the right hand.
Return to centre,
Chair pose,
Lower the hands to the heart,
Slowly bend the knees,
Feel the heels gently squeeze in towards one another.
Will help to support those needs.
Inhale.
And exhale,
Forward fold.
Now you can use your blocks here or you can take your hands to the floor.
Let's inhale halfway up,
Either hands on the blocks,
The knees,
Or the floor if you can keep your back flat.
And then exhale and bow,
Bend the knees just a little.
Chair pose.
Lift the arms,
This time palms facing one another.
And then we'll press to stand,
Hips forward,
Hands down.
Well done,
Yogis.
A little standing flow,
And then we'll make our way back down.
Left leg steps back.
Take your feet nice and wide,
Tracking about hip width apart,
And find that 45 degree angle on the back foot,
Otherwise high lunge if you need to.
Right hand to the low back.
Slow breath.
When you're ready,
Inhale,
Bend the right knee,
Lift the left arm.
Remember the count of your breath.
And let's exhale,
One.
Two,
3.
Four.
Let's go again,
Inhale one,
Three.
For exhale 1.
Last one.
Both hands this time.
And once more,
This time turn the palms to face one another.
It's your standard warrior one.
So chin lifts the rope forward.
Gently pressing into both feet.
Finding that balance between effort and surrender.
Let's inhale.
Finish your exhale,
Wrap your hands around your hips,
Look back to your left heel.
Side bend,
Right arm up as you inhale,
Lean back.
And then as you exhale,
Press the floor away,
Return the hands to the heart.
Let's step up to the top of the mat,
A few baby steps if you need to,
And then lift up that left knee.
Either pause here for a balance,
Otherwise one-legged chair.
Just briefly,
Left ankle to the right knee.
And let's release.
Well done,
We'll practice that on the other side.
Right foot back.
Feet tracking hip width apart.
Feel as though you're stretching the mat with your feet.
When you're ready,
Let's inhale,
Right arm.
And exhale to lower.
It's harder to go slower.
Third and final time.
Grab your hat.
Palms face one another.
Settle into the Poe.
Finding a softness in your strength.
Exhale,
Twist.
Inhale,
Left arm up,
Lean back.
And return to the star.
A few steps in.
Either hover with the knee lifted,
Toes pointing up to the ceiling,
Otherwise one-legged chair.
Gently send the right foot to the left.
And release.
And let's inhale,
Both arms up.
Exhale,
Forward fold,
Stack the palms on your lower back.
In how Halfway Out look forward.
Exhale to bow,
Come all the way down.
Downward facing dog,
Step back.
Hold here as you inhale.
And then as you exhale,
Slowly return those knees to the mat.
Inhale,
Little back bend,
Drop the belly,
Lift the gaze.
Exhale round the spine,
Either child's pose or downward facing dog.
Sending chest towards the thigh.
Old as you in here.
And then exhale,
Knees slowly lost.
Backbend.
Your last downward facing dog for this flow.
Hold for an extra breath.
Let's come forward into plank.
Option one,
You can lower the knees to the mat,
Otherwise holding your plank,
Rounding out the upper back and shoulders.
Bring the body forward as though you're looking over a cliff.
And then make sure those elbows brush the ribs as you descend all the way down onto your navel.
From here,
Let's reach the arms out in front,
Superman Cobra.
Feel as though you're dragging those hands back towards the feet.
And release,
Let's lower down.
Bring those hands next to the hips,
Palms facing down.
Let's inhale,
Lift the right foot just a few inches off the floor.
And then exhale the leg down.
Inhale,
Lift leg up.
And lower.
Inhale,
Both legs.
And exhale to lower.
Let's go last time,
Inhale both legs and the chest.
Broaden the collarbones.
Either rest there or hover those palms off the floor,
Squeezing the shoulder blades towards one another.
And lower down,
Turn the head to one side,
Palms face the ceiling.
Next posture is our pigeon pose,
So you can either roll onto your back,
Practice a reclined pigeon,
Or you can come up to seated.
So reclined pigeon,
Left ankle to the right knee,
Either rest here,
Or you can place a block under the foot,
Or you can take a hold of the right knee.
Otherwise pressing yourself back up to tabletop position.
You can find a brief downward facing dog.
Left leg lifts.
Left knee behind the left knee.
Lengthen the right leg behind you.
As you settle into the pose and gently lay yourself down.
So if you've come into this variation and your knee or hip aren't happy,
Roll over onto your back for me.
You'll achieve the same release without any compromise on those joints.
And once again let go of any holding in the mouth.
Come back to the ebb and flow of your breath,
Moving the body.
Changing sides when you're ready.
If you're in a seated pigeon,
Push back to downward facing dog.
And we'll change legs straight away.
Meet any tension in the body with your breath.
Not with force.
And not with a story.
Just the breath.
And let's release the pose.
If you're laying on your back,
Bring yourself up to seated.
If you're in a seated pigeon,
Just bring that left leg around.
Who will all come to meet.
With both legs out in front.
Let's bend those knees now.
Have the heels pressing down and the toes pointing up.
Feel as though you're dragging your heels back towards your bottom.
Inhale the arms up.
And as you exhale,
Hinge forward,
Bring your belly to meet your thigh.
Inhale,
Back up.
Exhaling forward.
Once more.
This time staying down,
Take a hold of your calves,
Your ankles,
Or maybe your feet.
And you can either rest here,
Breathing into your back,
Or you can start to straighten the legs.
Just try not to lose contact between belly and thighs.
So this variation of our forward fold today is about the back,
Not so much the hamstrings.
So I want you to try and puff out your back with your breath.
If you can't breathe into the back,
Then you might be pushing a little too hard physically.
We can always deepen the pose if we deepen the breath.
Feel the inhalation spread across the back,
Pressing.
On those lines of tension.
Let's take a little pause.
Before you exhale slowly.
And soften.
Into the shape.
Let's take one last breath here.
And we'll exhale through the mouth,
Far out the breath.
And then let's slowly roll back up.
Well done,
Yogis.
Take those hands behind you.
Bend the knees and a little swish from side to side.
Option one is here.
Option two,
If your wrists,
Elbows and shoulders permit,
Reverse tabletop.
Broaden the collarbones,
Squeeze the heels in just a little,
Lifting up those hips.
And lower down.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's just briefly fold over those thighs just for one breath.
And then come to lean back,
Prepare for your boat pose,
Picking up the feet.
And release.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's come back now into our supported fish pose.
So this posture is one that I do in most of my classes and certainly I practice every day.
So many benefits to this partnership.
It's a wonderful pose to undo our bad posture.
It's also very good for the respiratory function as well.
So I've gone lower under the shoulders,
Higher under the head.
If you've only got the one block,
It's your rolled up towel that you'll place under your shoulders.
Block under the head.
Let's take a moment here with the knees bent,
Arms out to the side.
Inhale.
And as you exhale,
Cross the right arm on top of the left.
So either take the hands to the shoulders or eagle arms,
Binding once or twice.
Take a little sit up here,
Squeeze the elbows together,
Lift the head up off the top block.
Then return.
Inhale,
Unravel the arms.
And we'll exhale on the side.
Unravel the arms and we'll take rest.
If it feels comfortable for your back,
Straighten and relax the legs.
Some of you might like to go deeper under the head by lowering the block.
Or of course you can remove it all together.
And as you rest here for the next few moments.
Gently breathe into the heart center.
We'll take a moment to Think of what made your heart smile today.
What are you grateful for?
And begin to inhale that sense of gratitude.
Let's bend those knees.
Make sure the block under the head is on the flat side now and just see if you can slide out the block from under your shoulders.
And we'll come to rest here for just a short moment.
Allow your head to fall to one side as you exhale.
And then inhale back to center.
Exhaling other side.
We'll do one more on each side.
When you eventually come back to scent,
Remove the blob.
And then shift the hips over just a couple of centimeters to your left.
Place the block in between your thighs.
Let's bring our legs over to the right and have your knees resting at hip height.
Now you can use your second block to prop the legs if you need to.
Let's rest our right arm out to the side.
Take your left hand to the heart.
So a little somatic.
Some of you might be familiar with this one.
We're going to keep the legs where they are.
They're not going to move,
Just the upper body.
As you exhale,
Trace your left palm along the inner right arm,
Palms to meet,
Or maybe reach beyond,
Look down to the mat,
Maybe over your shoulder.
And then as you inhale,
Unravel,
Palm traces along the inner arm.
To the heart centre and out to the side.
Turn the head to the left.
Exhale,
Hand to heart,
Roll over.
Look down to the mat,
Maybe back over your shoulder.
Inhale to unwrap.
Last one.
And this time as you open out the left arm,
Let's rest there,
Making a T-shape with your arms,
Collarbones to face the ceiling.
Either keep the head in this neutral position,
Otherwise lift the head,
Move the back of the head to the right as you turn to the left.
And let's find a longer exhalation here.
I'll count the exhalation only,
This time to a count of five.
So together,
Let's breathe in.
Smoothly,
Deeply into the lower belly,
The lower back.
And then pull.
And exhale for five.
Inhale smoothly.
Deeply.
And pull.
And exhale for five.
Four.
3.
2.
Let's bring those legs back to center.
Shift the hips over to the right side a few centimetres and then take the legs over to the left.
Knees at hip height.
And shins will be parallel to the long side of the mat.
Let's bring our right hand to the heart and as you exhale,
Roll onto the left.
Look down to the mat,
Maybe back over the shoulder.
Inhale to unwind.
Exhale to twist.
Slow movement,
Slow breath.
Coming to rest in your twist.
Let's inhale together.
Smoothly.
Theme play.
And pause.
And exhale for five.
Four.
Three.
2.
1 Inhale smoothly.
Deeply.
And pawns.
And exhale for five.
3.
2.
1.
So let's return to our back,
Release the block.
You might like to take a brief moment,
Butterfly pose,
Bring the soles of the feet together,
Let the knees fall out.
Two blocks there to support the legs if you need.
Let's interlace the hands at the navel.
And then gently inhale the arms above the head.
Exhale and rest here.
Take one more inhalation.
And then as you exhale,
Bring the knees together,
Lower the arms,
Curl up into a little ball,
Hug the knees,
Forehead lifting up towards the knee.
And then lower into Shavasana.
You might like to have the blocks underneath those hamstrings for support.
And taking up as much space as feels good.
Once again,
Let go of any holding.
In the mouth.
Let the eyes roll back into the socket.
As you completely commit them to rest.
From the world of looking.
And save.
Let's return to the quiet observer within.
Where there's nothing to fear.
Nothing to reset.
We can simply Just think.
