Twist & Strength - Asana Practice

Beginner/intermediate yoga asana practice offering postures to build strength and twists to ring out stuck energy in your body. You know your body best. Please listen to it throughout the practice, not forcing or straining, finding your edge but not moving into pain, adjusting postures and resting as necessary. Know that each day your body is a little different and the practice will always change. Mountain pose is always an option during the standing series and child's pose is an option anytime.

Transcript

Welcome to Yoga with Forbsy.

Thank you for coming to the mat today.

This practice will begin with Mountain Pose.

I invite you to step up to the front of your mat,

Feet hip distance apart.

We're going to spend a minute here getting really settled in.

Take a moment,

Rock back and forth side to side,

Getting really grounded in your feet,

Feeling your weight evenly distributed all the way across the soles.

Moving up into your legs,

Engaging through your thighs,

Feel your kneecap lift slightly.

Slight internal rotation as your thighs move towards each other and back.

Neutral hips,

Neither leaning forward nor back,

Finding the center for your body today.

Lifting up through the chest,

Rolling your shoulders back,

Arms relaxed by your side,

Lifting up through the crown of your head,

Chin slightly tucked,

And breathe.

These gentle breaths into your belly,

Settling into your body,

Into this moment,

Into this space.

Take a few breaths here,

Gentle inhale,

Gentle exhale,

Really getting present with yourself in your body.

Now we will begin to move the breath,

Raising your arms up with your next inhale,

All the way to the top,

Exhale,

Lowering your arms again.

Inhaling up,

Exhale,

Release.

Inhaling up,

Exhale,

Release.

Repeat this three more times with your own breath.

Now we'll begin to get some movement in the spine,

Inhaling the right arm up,

Exhaling,

Bending over to the left,

Inhaling,

Coming back to center,

Lifting the left arm,

And exhaling,

Bending to the right.

The five interior repellents,

Sonya,

Your beautiful controlled feeling here on the seat.

Release the arms down.

Next we'll move into awkward chair.

So inhaling the arms up,

With an exhale,

Sitting back and down,

Coming into a squat position,

Solid in your feet,

Spine in line,

Tucking your chin slightly to keep your neck in line.

Taking a couple of breaths here.

Remember we're still warming up the body,

So being gentle with yourself.

With your next exhale,

Folding forward,

Keeping a slight bend in the knees,

As we stretch a little bit into the back of the legs and into the back.

You may sway side to side a little bit if this feels good for you,

Shaking your head yes or no to release through the neck.

With your next inhale,

Slowly rolling up,

One vertebrae at a time,

With your head coming last,

Leaning back in mountain pose.

We will repeat this again here,

Inhaling arms up,

Exhale sitting back,

Staying here for a couple of breaths,

Feeling the strength of your legs supporting you,

The extension of your spine as it extends all the way from the base to the top of your head.

Exhaling,

Folding forward,

And taking that gentle stretch,

Keeping a slight bend in the knees,

Feeling it through the backs of your legs,

Through your lower back,

Maybe clasping your hands along your elbows,

Swaying a little bit side to side to release a little more,

And then releasing your hands,

And with an inhale,

Slowly coming up,

Again rolling gently one vertebrae at a time,

With your head coming last.

Meeting back in our mountain pose,

We will move into a couple of half sun salutations to get a little bit of flow and a little more movement through the body.

Inhaling,

Arms come up,

Exhale folding forward at the hips,

Inhale coming halfway up,

Extending your spine,

Hands to your shins,

Exhale folding down,

Inhale bending your knees,

Coming all the way up,

Stretching all the way through your fingertips,

Exhale bringing hands to heart.

We will do this two more times together here.

Inhaling up,

Exhale folding forward,

Inhale coming halfway up,

Exhale folding,

Inhale bending your knees,

Coming all the way up,

Stretching all through your fingers,

Exhale hands to heart.

Inhaling up,

Exhale folding forward,

Inhale coming halfway up,

Exhale fold,

Inhale bending your knees,

Coming all the way up,

Stretch everything out,

Exhale hands to heart.

Take a moment here,

We'll give everything a little bit of a shake out if that feels good for you right now,

As we move into a couple of standing postures.

We will begin with tree pose.

So shifting your weight into your left foot,

Hands on your hips,

Gently bring your right foot to the side of your left ankle.

If this feels good for you today,

Stay here.

Everything is welcome.

Listen to your body.

If you would like to increase the challenge,

You can bring the right foot to the side of your left shin or up to the side of your thigh.

Remember to avoid your knee as it is not meant to bend that way.

Finding today's tree pose,

Take a couple of breaths.

When you're ready,

Bring your hands to your heart.

Breathing here,

Slow,

Gently,

Finding the grounding in your standing leg,

Expansion and extension through your upper body,

Which if you would like to increase,

You can extend your arms out to either side.

Couple of breaths here.

Bringing your hands back to heart,

Bringing your right knee forward,

Extending your leg and bringing your foot to the ground.

Now switching to the other side,

Balancing your weight in your right foot.

Again,

Beginning by bringing your left foot to the side of your right ankle,

Staying here if that feels right today.

If you would like to increase the challenge,

Bringing your left foot to the side of your right shin or thigh,

Checking in with your hands on your hips.

Are you balanced?

Are you level?

Grounding through that standing leg,

Lifting up through the chest,

Bring your hands to heart.

Take a breath here.

And if you would like to increase the expansion again,

Extending your arms out and up to either side.

Couple of breaths here,

Finding the balance between the strength and the extension.

Bringing your hands back to heart,

Turning your left knee forward,

Extending the leg and placing your foot back on the floor.

You will repeat this again on each side.

So shifting your weight back to your left foot,

Bringing your right foot to the ankle,

Shin or thigh,

Checking in with your hips,

Making sure you're not leaning in one way or another,

Finding your center.

Bringing your hands to heart when you are ready and extending your hands up and out if that feels right today.

Taking a few breaths here,

Really grounding through that standing leg,

Building strength and stability so that you are safe to grow and expand out from there.

Bringing your hands back into heart,

Turning your right knee forward,

Extending the leg and placing the foot back on the floor.

Now shifting your weight to your right foot,

Again,

Checking in that your hips are level,

Bringing your left foot to your ankle,

Side of your shin or side of your thigh,

Whatever your tree looks like today.

Finding that strength and stability and bringing your hands to heart.

Taking a breath here and if you choose,

Extending your hands up and out to expand your upper body a little bit further.

Gentle inhale and exhale,

Allowing the body to tell you how far you go today.

Bringing your hands back to heart,

Bringing your knee forward,

Extending the leg and placing your foot back on the floor.

Take a moment to step back into your mountain pose here,

Feet hip distance apart,

Finding that strength and balance and check in.

Has your body shifted a little?

Does it have any messages for you?

How do you feel right now?

Now we're going to move through awkward chair again,

This time with a twist.

So with your feet a little closer together,

Maybe toes touching,

Heels slightly apart,

Inhale raising the arms,

Exhale sitting back and down into your awkward chair,

Taking an inhale here and with your next exhale bringing your hands together,

Twisting to bring your right elbow to your left knee.

Continue to extend through the spine here,

Check in with your knees to make sure that one hasn't shifted in front of the other and just breathe.

With your next inhale,

Coming back to the center awkward chair,

Exhale bringing your hands together twisting to the right,

Bringing your left elbow to your right knee,

Continuing to extend through the spine,

Check in with your knees to ensure they're still in line with each other,

Breathing into your side and back body,

Coming back with the next inhale to awkward chair and exhale standing fully,

Releasing your arms by your side,

Shake it out if that feels good.

We're going to move next into a wide leg stance.

This can be either placing your feet either side of your mat or turning sideways on the mat,

Whichever feels more solid for you as you don't want your feet to slip while doing this.

Standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart,

Feet parallel to each other,

Bringing your hands to your hips,

Inhale lifting through the chest,

Exhale folding forward at the hips.

Come forward until you feel a gentle stretch through your back body,

Not straining,

Not forcing anything.

You can remain with your hands at your hips here,

Or if you are close enough you can place your hands on the floor in front of you for some support.

Take a couple of breaths here,

Drawing the gentle stretch,

Gentle opening through the back body.

If you have your hands on the floor,

Bringing them back to your hips,

And with an inhale rising up again.

Next,

Moving into goddess pose,

Keep your legs wide but turn your feet out 45 degrees,

Bringing your hands to your hips if they are not still there,

Coming into a squat position.

Depending on your body you may need to widen your stance slightly for this.

Do what feels right for you in this moment.

Then you will bring your arms up bent at the elbow,

Hands up beside your head,

Palms facing forward,

Chest lifted and open,

Taking a few breaths here.

Deep inhale through the nose and then an exhale out to the side through your mouth.

Bringing your hands back to your hips.

Reviews

Thank you kindly Forbsie, a beautiful practice 🙏🏻❤️