Good evening.
My name is Angie and I will be guiding you through your Chandra Namaskar or Moon Salutation practice.
Welcome yourself to this gentle flow.
I'd encourage you to set up your space so that it's comfortable for you.
Perhaps dim the lights,
Light a candle,
Whatever brings you peace to wind down and let go of the day.
You may want to have a block nearby.
When we're doing our Skadasana pose,
You may want to have that available just to rest your sitting bones on.
It makes it a little easier.
Or you may want your block during your extended triangle pose.
Feel free to pause the recording right now and just get yourself set up.
When you're ready,
We'll begin on the long edge of your mat.
So come join me and we're going to face the long edge of the mat instead of the short edge of the mat.
We do this a little differently than our Sun Salutations.
And we'll come into Mountain Pose.
Feet are slightly apart and stacking your head over your heart and your heart over your pelvis,
A gentle bend in your knees.
And perhaps take this opportunity here to just lift your toes for a moment and then let them land slowly down on your mat.
In your Mountain,
Find your center and come back to your roots.
In our Mountain Pose,
We're going to take four long,
Slow,
Deep inhales and exhales.
And we'll take those now.
We're going to slowly transition into Palm Tree.
So interlacing your fingers loosely and then reaching for the sky,
Press your palms all the way up towards the ceiling.
Shoulders relaxed,
Lengthen your tailbone.
And we'll take our nourishing four inhales and exhales here.
And transitioning into Upward Salute Side Bend.
So take your hands over to the left,
Ground down through your right heel,
And we'll feel a nice stretch on your right side.
And if you've come too far in the pose to hold for four breaths,
Then definitely just come up a little bit.
And we'll take our four nourishing breaths here.
And come back to center and take into the other side.
So leaning our hands over to the right,
Grounding through your left heel and feeling a nice stretch on our left side body here.
And we'll take those long inhales and exhales here.
And softly unclasp your fingers and let them float down like you're moving through water.
Our Moon Salutation practice is all about slowing down.
We're going to come into Goddess Pose.
So lift your left leg,
Balancing on your right foot for just a moment,
And then landing it and coming into a wide stance.
So your toes are out,
Heels are in,
Your foot's at a 45 degree approximately.
From here,
Bend your knees and have your knees turning open.
Lift your arms a little bit lower than shoulders,
Bend in your elbows,
Open your chest and your palms face forward.
Find your strength and your softness in Goddess.
Let's take those four nourishing inhales and exhales.
And slowly and gracefully grow tall.
We're going to move into Five-Pointed Star.
So straighten your arms and push back gently through the pinky side of your hand.
And your chest is open and your knees are straight.
And we'll take our breaths here.
Transitioning into Extended Triangle,
Pivot your feet slightly towards the left,
Reach forward,
And then slowly lower your left hand down to your shin or to your block,
Whatever is more comfortable for you.
And then we're going to rotate,
Open our belly,
Our ribs and our chest,
And opposite arm lifts towards the sky.
Shoulders are stacked,
Micro bend in your knee.
And we'll take our breaths here in Extended Triangle.
Your gaze can be up at your hand or out straight in front of you.
Moving slowly like again,
Like you're moving through water,
Coming into Pyramid.
Your top arm goes over by your head,
Lowers and hands frame your front foot.
Adjust your feet as needed.
Lengthen your spine.
Slowly release the day and your forehead can lower towards your shin.
Knee is soft.
And we'll take those four long,
Slow,
Deep inhales and exhales in Pyramid.
Coming into Crescent Lunge.
Your back leg's knee is going to come down onto the mat and untuck the top of your foot and let the top of your foot rest on your mat.
And I'd encourage you to ground down through that foot just so it's more comfortable on your knee.
Torso lifts,
Arms lift,
And a gentle back bend here.
Gaze towards the sky,
Perhaps towards the moon if you are so lucky to see the moon tonight.
And your thighs are pressing,
Both of them pressing inward.
And our four nourishing breaths here.
And from here,
Your back hand comes around to meet your front hand and extend your back leg long.
And we're coming into Skadasana.
So extended legs,
Toes flip up,
Pointed towards the ceiling.
This is where you might want to have your block and you can place your sitting bones on your block.
You can come bring your hands into Anjali Mudra if you like.
Hands on the ground is totally fine.
And we'll take our four breaths here.
From here,
We're going to move through to the other side.
So I crisscross my hands and I come right through to the other side.
So bending the opposite knee now and the other leg is extended.
Toes are up towards the ceiling.
Again,
Place your block under your sitting bones if you like or balance on your own.
And we'll take those four deep,
Beautiful breaths right here.
And now circling around,
We're coming,
Going back through the series now and you're facing the opposite end of your mat.
And if you're not,
It's no big deal.
This practice is all about serving you and what makes you feel good.
So back knee is down,
Top of that foot is grounded,
Rounding down into the mat and we rise our torso and arms come up overhead.
And here's where you can offer yourself that gentle backbend crescent lunge.
Your gaze can come up if you like.
And we'll take those four nourishing breaths here in crescent lunge.
Frame your foot with your fingers,
Tuck your toes under and we're coming up into pyramid.
So bring that back foot a little bit more forward into a comfortable stance.
Knees are straight or a slight micro bend in.
Spine lengthens and this is where we get to let go of all the day's events.
Forehead comes down towards shin and breathe here.
And moving into extended triangle.
So your bottom hand can be on your block if you like or can come to your shin.
Opposite hand reaches up and your belly,
Ribs,
Chest open and your top arm is straight.
Shoulders are stacked and we'll take our four nourishing inhales and exhales here.
From here to transition into five-pointed star.
Bring your top arm to your waist and push yourself up slowly and adjust your feet back into that 45 degree.
So toes out,
Heels in.
Lift your arms slightly under your shoulder height,
Pushing back through the pinky side.
A little micro bend in your knees,
Spine tall and let's breathe together here in our five-pointed star.
And sinking your tailbone down just a bit.
Bend your elbows,
Palms face forward,
Spine is tall,
Pelvis is slightly tilted and we're in our goddess pose.
Finding your strength and your softness and we'll take our four breaths.
And letting that all go slowly again like you're moving through water.
Arms lower down and we're going to step our right leg in to meet our left.
So you may be at the opposite end of your mat which is where you should be and if you're not,
It's okay.
It does not matter.
And from here we're going to come into our side bends.
So interlace your fingers loosely,
Bringing them up over your head and we're going to tilt to the right.
So you're going to feel that nice stretch in your left side and we'll take our four breaths here.
And return to centre and opposite side.
So leaning over to your left,
Nice stretch in your right side body and breathing here.
And coming back to centre,
Pausing for just a moment in your palm tree.
And again,
Undo your fingers and let them float down just like you're moving through water.
Notice how slow you can go.
And we're going to come into mountain pose.
So bring your hands into Anjale Mudra,
So prayer pose.
Thumbs rest on your breastbone.
Everything softens to that slow,
Slow place.
Find your centre and come back to your roots.
Find here an exquisite stillness within you to end our practice.
I wish you a deep,
Peaceful sleep.
And thank you so much for joining me.
And I hope we can practice again together real soon.
Take good care.
