This simple practice introduces a few key seated poses with side bends, twists and forward bends. You may want to grab 1-2 blocks and a yoga strap or belt for this practice. Take a seat and let's begin.
Meet your Teacher
San Francisco, CA, USA
Transcript
Hello yogis and welcome. Let's begin in a cross-legged seated position. We call this pose Sukhasana or easy pose. Sit up nice and tall and close your eyes. Take a moment to ground into your space, Into your body, Into your breath. Feel the energy of the space around you. Feel held by the earth beneath you. And feel ready to explore this practice ahead. Cleansing breath together, Breathe in. Let the breath go, Exhale, Breathe out. You can keep your eyes closed or come to a soft gaze. We'll get moving. Inhale, Arms circle wide up and overhead, Reach to the sky. Bring your hands together and then exhale, Draw your hands right down through the central channel, Palm to palm pressing in prayer. Do that again. Inhale, Reach arms wide up and overhead, Palms meet at the top. Exhale, Bring your hands together in front of your heart. Three more, Maybe close your eyes again. Inhale, Reach up. Exhale, Let it go. As you circle the arms, Inhale, Invite vitality, Life force, Prana into the body. As you exhale, Draw all that good energy inward. One last cycle on your own. Exhale. Come to a soft gaze or open your eyes completely. Let's inhale, Reach your arms wide up and overhead first. We'll lean to the right. Take your right hand down, Stretch your left arm up and over, And then lengthen through the left side of your body. Sit up tall. Inhale. Reach up. Arms by your ears. Now to the left. Left hand down. Right arm up and over. Stretch through the right side. Sit up tall, Inhale, Reach up, Arms by your ears. Again, Right hand down, Left arm up and over. Stay to the right. Reach your left arm back to the ceiling. Turn your palm away from you. Reach towards the opposite side of your space and then allow your right ear to rest towards your right shoulder. Pause there. Breathe in. Let it go. Breathe out. Good. Blink your eyes open. Circle your left arm back to the ceiling. Circle your left arm up and over to the right. Now round your spine and then reach your fingertips towards the front right corner of your space, Bending over your front bent knee. Pause there. Breathe in. Let something go. Breathe out. Good. Now walk it all the way forward into a very mild, Moderate, Seated forward bend. Pause. Breathe in. And then offer it up. Breathe out. On your inhale, Roll on up to seated. And let's do all of that on the other side. Sit up tall. Inhale. Arms by your ears. Reach up. Now to your left. Take your left hand down. Arc your right arm up and over. Stretch through the right side of your body. Root down to rise up. Inhale. Arms by your ears. Reach to the sky. To the right. Right hand down and the left arm circles up and over. Start to wake up the body a little bit. Inhale, Root to rise, Reach up. And now again to the left, Left hand down, Right arm circles up and over. You'll stay to the left, But return your right arm to the sky. Turn your right palm away from you. Allow your left ear to rest towards your left shoulder and then stretch through the right side of your neck. Pause there. Maybe close your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Good. Reach your right arm back to the sky. Circle your right arm up and over again to the left. Now round your spine. Get a nice QL, Quadratus lumborum stretch. Go ahead and fold over your bent left knee. Come onto the fingertips, Puff into the back body and fold. Breathe in. Enjoy the stretch. Breathe out. Stay there or walk all the way forward once again into a very mild, Moderate, Seated forward bend. Pause. Inhale. Let it go, Exhale. Slowly rise back up to seated. This time we're going to switch out the cross of your leg. So whatever leg you didn't have in front, Go ahead and switch it out. Let's add on some twists. Circle your arms wide up and overhead. Let's twist to the right first. Take your left hand outside of your right knee and take your right hand behind your right hip. Grow tall. Breathe in. Twist a little bit more to the right. Breathe out. You can stay here or maybe add a half bind. You could take your right hand and reach it around to grab onto the top of your left hip or your pant leg or the actual top of your thigh. One more breath. Inhale. Rotate through the center of your torso. Exhale. Stay in the twist. Everybody, Reach your right arm alongside your ear, Fingertips towards the sky. And then keeping the bind with the left hand, Arc your right arm up and over to your left. Once again, That side bend stretch is a big one. Breathe in. As you breathe out, Bring your right hand to the top of your left knee. Stay with me. Cross your upper arm bones. Fold in slightly. Round your spine. Keep the cross of your upper arms and then bend your elbows. Bring your forearms or your hands together to touch. These are called eagle arms. Take an inhale. Elbows, Forearms, And fingertips reach to the sky. And then exhale. Round your spine. Bring your elbows towards your navel center. Fingertips tap down. Do it again. Up. And then exhale round, Elbows towards your navel, Your belly button. One last time. Inhale, Reach up. And then exhale, Curl and round. Beautiful yogi. Slowly release that. Arms wide up and overhead. And now we twist to the left. Take your right hand outside of your left knee and your left hand popped up behind your left hip. Sit up tall. Breathe in. Twist a little bit more to the left as you breathe out. Maybe take your left hand to the top of your right pants or the top of your right thigh, Whatever you can reach for if you want it. Breathe in. A little bit of rotation through the torso. Breathe out. Enjoy it. Don't force it. One more cycle. Good, Now stay in the twist. Release the half bind. Take your right arm alongside your right ear. And now a side bend. Right arm up and over to, I'm sorry, It's left arm up and over to the right. Pause there. Breathe in. And then left hand will come to the top of your right knee. Cross your upper arm bones and fold into yourself. Now release the grip of the hands. Bend your elbows, Forearms, Hands, And palms come to touch. Eagle arms, Other side. Inhale, Elbows formed and fingertips reach up. Exhale, Round your spine, Then cat pose, Elbows towards your navel, Fingertips can touch the floor. Do it again. Inhale, Elbows, Forearms, And fingertips reach up. And then exhale, Round. Elbows, Forearms, And fingertips tap down. One more cycle. Inhale, Elbows, Forearms, And fingertips reach up like a cow pose. And then exhale, You'll coil and round. Really good stretch for the upper back. Now, We'll release the arms. Circle the arms wide up and overhead. Now, Cactus your arms like you're doing a lat pull at the gym, If you know what that is. Take an inhale, Open your arms, Elbows and palms wide. And then exhale, Draw your elbows, Forearms, And palms together a chest press now. Breathe in, Open up, Elbows, Palms, Forearms out. Exhale, Adduct the arms, Elbows, Forearms, And palms come to touch. One last time. Inhale, Expand, Open the wings. Exhale and round. Now lift the elbows towards the sky. Bend both elbows and maybe the thumbs will graze the back of your neck. Nice tricep extension. Take your thumbs, Graze them along the crown of your head. The bridge of your nose your lips your chin and down to your heart space pause for a breath in Let the breath go out. Good, Let's move on. For Janurushasana, You'll extend your right leg out towards the side of the mat or the side of your mat. Bend your left knee, Kind of like you're doing tree pose standing. Pull the flesh from your outer right hip and then maybe roll the left outer flesh forward, If that makes sense to you. I've grabbed my blocks because these are nice to have. This is called forehead to knee pose. And you can either place the blocks on the second setting or maybe even the lowest setting if you have more mobility. Good. From here, Come onto the fingertips behind your hips. Find axial extension from tail to crown. And then as you exhale, Begin to tilt the pelvis. Let the heart guide you. Really let the femur bones tilt forward, The pelvis tilts forward, And then you can rest your hands on your blocks. Maybe on your forearms, Or some of you might have the capacity to actually hold on to your right foot. Plug into the right heel. Draw the right outer hip bone back. Create length every breath. Lengthen the spine. And then exhale, Maybe fold a little bit more over your right leg. How about two more breaths? Janusir Shasana, Head to knee pose. Good, To come out of it, Retrace your steps. Sit up nice and tall. Before we do the other side, Let's take a counter twist, Left hand behind your left hip, Right hand to your left knee, And then just a gentle rotation to the left. Great, Let's switch. Unwrap the legs and then switch sides. Left leg out, Right knee in. Once again, You can kind of hold your left hip, Pull your left sitting bone back, And then maybe roll the right inner thigh forward. That's a little complicated, But do what works for you. Tree pose basically in a seated position. Blocks or no blocks, Start off with fingertips behind you. That way you can really find this nice regal spine and the crown of the head high. Take a breath in. And then maybe as you exhale, You guide your heart forward and maybe bring your hands forward. This might be where you stay and that's fine. If you have more mobility, You can lower down towards your forearms or rest your forearms on the block. Or maybe even hold on to your left foot. Not the main purpose. Nice way to extend your spine with the support of the block. And maybe getting a little bit more length in the hamstrings and some relief perhaps in the lower back. How about two more breaths option once you've hit your edge to fold in towards your left knee. Breathe in. Breathe out. Close your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Good. Once again, Roll on up or rise on up to seated. Breathe counter twist to the other side, Right hand behind your right hip, Left hand around your right knee, And then you twist to the right. Come on back through center. We're going to go back to the first side, But we'll try the revolved version now. So Parivritta Janur Shasana, Revolved forehead to knee pose. So this one, You'll probably only need one of your blocks. I would recommend placing one of your blocks on the first, Second, Or even third setting inside of your right knee. Let's grab our strap. Unravel the strap if it's rolled out. And then take the middle of the strap, Around the sole of your right foot. You're going to take your right hand to both sides of the strap and hold onto the strap as close to the foot as you can manage. Maybe rest your right elbow to your block. You can always adjust the block or ditch it completely. Start off with your left hand to your left hip and then take a gentle twist to the left. Maybe that's enough for you and that's totally fine. If you want more, The left arm can go to the sky. Maybe just feel into that. It's kind of a big stretch. I like to start by bending my left elbow and that way I really feel the side body muscles engage. If you want more, You can take your left hand behind your head and give your head some traction, Your neck some traction. Some of you might be interested in leaning more to the right. Ooh, Yeah, Feeling that today. Maybe extend your left arm off to the right. Maybe hold onto the strap with your left hand, Release your right hand, And then turn your torso to the left. This is Parivritta Janarshasana, Revolved forehead to knee pose. Three breaths, Inhale. Exhale one, Maybe let the neck release, Right ear towards your right shoulder. Breathe in. Breathe out, Too. Breathe in. Breathe out. Okay, Don't rush this. Let's ditch the strap. Take your left arm back to the ceiling. Keep the upper body heavy, Press into your sitting bones, And then slowly, Slowly, Slowly rise back up to seated. I just love, Love, Love that release. Okay, Let's move the props off to the side. Our counter pose is something we call flash dance asana. You'll take your left hand behind your left hip, Slightly behind the shoulder or off of the shoulder. Take your right arm out to the side and then press into your left shin, Press into your right foot, Press the pelvis forward and then stretch through the right side of your body. Hold for three. And then once, Sit back down and then we'll switch. Left leg out, Right knee in. Janusha Shasana on the left side. And then maybe a block, First or second setting inside of the left knee. Reclaim that strap. Take the middle of your strap around the sole of the left foot. Grab for both sides of the strap with your left hand and grab as close to the foot as you can manage just so you have more control. Rest your left elbow on the block or on the mat inside of your left knee. Take your right hand to your right hip. Begin to twist your torso to the right. Again, Maybe this is enough for you. Sometimes this is all I need. Maybe right arm goes to the sky and you start to feel that side body stretch. Maybe you just bend your right elbow and you start to tune in to see how that feels. Maybe you take your right hand to the back of your skull and then press your head into your hand, Hand back into your head. Maybe you extend your right arm towards the left leg. Maybe some of you will have the capacity to reach for the strap with your right hand. And then turn underneath the right arm. For Parivritta Janashasana, The full expression with the strap. Let the left ear rest towards your left shoulder, Three breaths, You can do it. One more cycle. Okay, Ditch the strap. No hurries. Remember, We don't rush out of this. Take your right arm to the sky. Let the head and neck hang heavy. Press into your sitting bones and slowly, Slowly, Slowly, Slowly rise on up to seated. Remove the block and the strap off to the side so they're not in your way. Take your right hand behind your right hip and slightly off of the shoulder. Left arm off to the horizontal plane. And then you'll guide your left arm forward as you press into the right chin, Left foot, And press the hips forward, Stretching through the left hips now for three. And then one sit back down. And then we'll do one last, Well, Two last poses. First, We'll start in Baddha Konasana. So bound angle pose, Feet together, Knees wide. You can certainly take a more modified approach, Bringing your feet out into the space in front of you, More like a diamond. Open up your feet like a book if you have the grip of the feet. Find what works for you. Take an inhalation to lengthen your spine. Sit tall. And then exhale, Begin to hinge at your hip. Maybe take the elbows towards your knees. Knees press back into your elbows. Create length and space in your spine as you hinge forward and fold any amount. One more cycle of breath. On your next inhale, Rise on up to seated. You can always stay with this option or the final posture is Upavishtha Konasana. So wide angled pose. So I recommend using the length of your mat, But if you want to just face the front of your mat, That's fine too. Your just legs will be off of the side. We'll take the hands behind us and just lift the pelvis for a moment and scoot your hips any amount forward. I might need to hop back a little bit so you can see me. Legs are straight out to the side, Feet are flexed and active. Fingertips behind you, Same as we did in Janashashasana, Lengthen your spine and then begin to tilt the pelvis, Really the femur bones roll with the pelvis forward. And then maybe you walk your hands forward. Maybe you rest on blocks. Maybe you come onto your forearms or maybe you have the mobility to lower all the way down to the floor. Let's take three deep rounds of breath. You might notice that my knees and my toes are rolling inward. You can let that happen. As long as you feel comfortable in your hip joint and in the hamstrings and of course in your lumbar spine, Your lower back. One more breath. Stay here for as long as you like. Otherwise, Rise back on up. Two seated. Feels so good. And then bend your knees. Take your feet together. Land in Baddha Konasana, Bound angle pose. And then we'll just draw the knees together. And you can come back to cross-legged. Seated. At attention or seated position. Thank you so much for joining me for this practice. I hope you got a lot out of it. I'll see you next time. Namaste.
