Christmas Yoga

Christmas is a season for happiness and joy. This lesson will help you explore the joy you can feel on your yoga mat. Let's stretch our stressed muscles so that we can feel the joy in movement through yoga.

Transcript

Christmas Yoga today. Christmas is a season of hope. And joy. Hope for a bright future to come in the next year. And joy in the present that we have here now. So what we want to do today is to find joy in our yoga practice. Every time we come to the mat. We should feel joy. Close your eyes if you'd like and start to breathe in and out through your nose. This is Ujjayi breath. And you dry breath. Works to warm up our body from the inside out. We use this warmth as we move in our yoga practice, As we move through the poses, Through the stretches. To keep our muscles active. And the sound of the breath that we can create. And keep us present, Our attention focused here. So that we can feel the joy. That's what we want. Pause to remember for a moment. If you empty yourself of yesterday's sorrows. You will have much more room for today's joy. Open your eyes. Let's take three joyful breaths together. Bring your arms by your sides. Inhale. Exhale. Good. Inhale. Exhale. And again, Inhale. Exhale. Roll onto all fours. Let's move through cat and cow pose. So our hands are right underneath our shoulders and our knees right underneath our hips. Take a breath, Inhale, Let your shoulders roll back, Chest open, Send your gaze to the sky. Exhale, Round through the spine, Pull and lift. Tucking your chin, Pulling your hips in. Inhale, Arch, Belly drops down, Looking up. Exhale round, Pull and lift. Inhale, Arch. Exhale round. One more. Inhale. There is joy in movement, Isn't there? Exhale. Come back to neutral, Lift onto your toes and let's reach up to Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog. Press back through your shoulders, Up through the hips and down through the heels. If you need to pedal your feet, Feel free. Just kind of move around, Right? Sometimes it feels good, Like I said, A joy in movement, Just easing things. Warming things as we go. Let's bend our knees and walk our way up to our hands. Fold yourself forward into your legs. Reverse swan dive. Inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. When you get to the top, Press your hands together and lean to the right so you're feeling that left side of the body stretch. Lengthen. Come up to the center, Inhale. Exhale, Lean to the left. So the right side of the body is stretching. Good, Then let's move into our vinyasa. Inhale, Bring your energy back up to the top. Exhale, Fold forward. Take your hands all the way down. They don't have to touch the floor, But just reaching down to feel the stretch through the back of the legs and the low back. Inhale, Look up halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down to the mat, Step back to plank. You can drop to your knees here if you'd like. Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Opening up the chest and the throat space there. Exhale, Roll back to Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog. Pressing those heels down, Lifting those hips up. Let me just breathe. First time through that sequence, Maybe we noticed areas that were tight or strained. Let's see if this time we can find some joy in the way but this sequence energizes our body. Bend your knees, Look forward. Inhale, Step or hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Samasthiti, Arms by your sides. Good. Again, To find our joy, Right? Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Throw down. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down, Step or hop back. You can drop to your knees, Always a choice. Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Release those heels down. They may not touch but they're headed in that direction. And then let's bend our knees. And bring our forearms down to the mat. And take your hands, Clasp around your biceps, And then just pull out and press down. So it's just kind of lining up our shoulders and our elbows. Then lift your feet or lift up your hips and walk your feet forward. This is dolphin pose. Not always an easy pose. Definitely going to make us feel the strength in our torso. In our forearms, In our shoulders. Biceps, Just remember, Choose happiness. Even when life is hard. Even when yoga poses are hard. Choose to recognize the happiness. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale, Walk your feet back, Stay on those elbows. So we're in a forearm plank. If you need to drop your knees, Please do. Anytime. Take adjustments. Good. Lift up through those elbows and shoulders. Press the ground away. Inhale. Exhale. Good job. A little warmth in our center. Drop the knees down. Lift up onto your hands and feet. And press back once again. Downward dog. Now maybe it feels a little bit easier. I don't know. Maybe not. Just decide, Just feel it. Enjoy it. Bend your knees, Look forward, Step or hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Samasthiti, Arms by our sides. Very good. Take your feet hip-width distance apart, Hands to the hips. Look up. Inhale. Exhale fold forward and as you go down you can grab your ankles. Your shins. If you can reach index finger and thumb to toes, You certainly are welcome to do that. Or a block even. Just reach for something. Take a breath, Inhale, Lengthen the spine. Exhale, Fold forward, Bending your elbows as you come. To feel yourself tilted over those hips. And lengthening the backs of the legs. We do get to use our biceps here. We don't always use biceps in yoga, So it's nice to give them something to do. As we pull closer. Beautiful stretch for our spine. Take a breath, Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale, Lift up all the way. Good. Exhale, Release your hands. Nicely done. Now step so that your right foot is forward, Whatever that is for you. Right foot forward and the left heel back. Right toes pointed toward the top of one end of your mat. Reach your arms up. Inhale. Exhale, Bend down, Right hand reaches down for the leg. You can place your hand on the leg. We've got the block here. You can utilize the block in the front of the foot if you'd like. All options are great. Maybe grabbing onto that big toe as well as an option. I love this pose when we're talking about joy because we reach down but we open up, Open up that heart space. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy. And keep choosing it every day. Now here's your next choice. You can either stay here with both feet on the floor. Or you can look down. Bend your right knee. Maybe you've got your block here. You can reach for your block with your right hand. And lift off. We're in half moon pose. You certainly don't need the block. If you can bring your hand to the floor, Great. See if you can find. Your balance today. Not always easy to balance. Keep breathing. Find something that feels joyful. For me? I feel a little bit of a lift today. It feels good. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale, Bend your right knee, Place that left foot down. Let's get our firm ground below us as we turn our toes toward each other. Take your hands to your hips now. Inhale, Look up. Exhale, Fold forward, Tilting at the hips and take your hands down to the floor or grab your block. Put your hands on your block. Press into the ground or the block. Inhale, Lengthen the spine. Exhale, Fold yourself forward. Shift your weight toward your toes so that you're getting into the backs of the legs here, All the way through the backs of the hips and the hamstrings. Beautiful pose. This is Prasarita Padottanasana A. Feels great to fold forward. Lengthen out that spine. Good, Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Press into the floor or the block. Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale, Lift up the rest of the way. Good. And exhale, Turn your left foot toward an end of the mat. So our left foot is our primary leg. Reach up, Inhale. Exhale, Fold forward, Trikonasana. On that left side. Remember your options you can utilize. A block here. You can feel that stretch through the hamstring, The side of the body. It's lovely into that hip on that right side. Maybe you can feel that. It's probably one of my favorite things about this pose. Now we choose. . . If we're going to make ourselves happy with a balance. Look down. Bend your left knee, Take your left hand forward, Perhaps you're utilizing that block. And you lift up. And we're in that half moon balance. You could choose to stay happy with two feet on the floor, Right? That's perfectly fine. Do what makes you feel joy today on your mat. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale, Bend your left knee, Put your right foot down, Lift up. We've found the firm ground again. Once more, Turning our toes toward each other. Hands to your hips one more time. A variation on Prasarita Padottanasana. Inhale, Look up. Exhale, Fold forward. Take your hands down to the floor or a block. And actually just leave them there. Don't walk them between your feet. Leave them right there. Let's reach the right arm, Inhale up. Reach it up. If it's too hard to reach the hand to the sky, Hand on the hip is a great choice. Either way. Choose what makes you feel joy. So we open up our chest. And tip our hips a little bit, Maybe finding some relief through the low back. Inhale. Exhale, Place that hand down. Inhale, Lift your left arm up. Four, Hand is on the hip. Remember that's a great option. Feel that reach. Beautiful. In the shield. Exhale, Feels great on my upper back today. Look up, Halfway lift, Inhale. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale, Step your feet together, Come to the top of the mat, Wherever that is. Let's take a vinyasa that brings us to our knees. Inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive forward down as deeply as you can go. Inhale, Look up halfway or less. Exhale, Hands down. Step or hop back to plank. You can drop to your knees. Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Bend your knees. Place them on the mat. And then lift up. So that we can take Ustrasana, A beautiful back bend. We're going to remember as we do this pose and open our heart. That our natural state is joy. Take your hands into fists. And then bringing them to your hips. Press into the hips and let your gaze fall to the sky. Opens up the whole front of the body. You can feel that beautiful stretch. Come up. Drop your hands down, Drop your head down. Maybe a little dizzy. Let's try it with reaching to the heels. Now you certainly don't have to do that. Here's some options. You could come up onto the toes, Which is going to raise your heels up so you don't have to reach quite as far. You can leave the toes down, Whatever. We can keep our hands and fists on our back. Let's start there. Bring your fists to your back and press. Maybe this is good for you. You're great here. Maybe you're going to try to reach those hands. For your heels. Let the head fall back. And stretch that front of the body. One more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Good job. Come forward. Let's let our knees open a little wider than our hips and sit back to a child's pose. Open up that sacrum, Drop your forehead down. Relax. Beautiful. Feel this space here, How open and free that is. Good. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale, Have a seat. Now it's going to feel wonderful to stretch out our low back through some forward bends after doing those back bends. If you have a strap, Grab it. And let's extend our legs forward on our mat. Bend the right knee. Lift it up. This is Janu Sirsasana A. The left leg is coming straight out from the hip and the strap maybe around your left foot. If you can reach your foot with your hands, You may not need the strap, So you don't need to use it. But if not, It's there to help you reach. Let's take a breath. Inhale. Exhale fold forward, Reaching for that foot. Take another breath, Inhale, Pull in through the middle, Lift. This is Uddiyana Bandha. Exhale, Fold yourself back down. Draw your shoulders down away from the neck. And let yourself fold. This should feel joyful on your back, Should make your back happy after being in that back bend. I love this pose because it also stretches the hamstrings, The hips. The low back, It's all there. Feels so lovely. Now inhale, Lift up. Very good. Keep holding your strap if you have one and draw your leg open to the side. We're going to readjust our right leg just a little bit. And do a side bend. Pravida Janusirsasana. So bend your left elbow. If you can grab your foot, Then you don't need your strap. So maybe you're grabbing your foot or you're holding your strap. Right hand to your hip, Pull your shoulder back, Open up this whole chest space, Extend your arm and then start to guide it overhead. Now we may not be touching our hand to our foot here, We might just feel that beautiful reach. If you are able to, Go for it, Just don't let yourself cave here, Keep everything open. Spiral it up to the side. Rumi said, The soul is I can't read my writing. The soul is here. For its own joy. Let's see if you can feel the joy. Good. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale Beautiful. Come up. Nice. That feels so good on the side body. I hope it feels good to you. Let's bend the left leg and now it's in front. Gomukhasana is where we're moving next. Couple of options for our legs. So imagine yourself folding forward. How's that going to feel on your outer hip? If this cross-legged is plenty, Then just stay there. If you think you might need a little more, You might stack your feet and your knees on top of each other. If you want to try the full version of gomukhasana, Your knees will stack on top of each other. So I've got my left leg on top of my right. Now let's do our arms. Take your strap and in your left hand and let it fall down your back. Your right hand comes from behind, Grab onto your fingertips. If you can grab your fingertips, Great. If not, That's why you have this strap there. Grab onto the strap and pull your hands toward each other. Take a deep breath, Inhale, You can look up. Exhale, Fold forward over your legs. Here's where you try to let your head relax, Your neck relax. We're pressing into our body as we fold forward so we can feel the outer hips. You might feel the left hip a little bit more simply because you have the left leg on top or in front. We've also got our tricep. And our shoulder and that feels good. Wonderful as well. Good. Inhale, Lift up. Excellent. Exhale, Release. Nicely done. Set your strap aside and open up to Baddha Konasana. One more pose here before we move into our left side. So sit as close as we can. This pose is a struggle for me, But I do it because it brings joy to my hips. Sit tall, Inhale. Exhale, Lean your torso forward over your legs. Then when you've gone as far as you think you can, You can just drop your head down. And feel how beautiful it is to open up through the inner thigh and groin. As you lean forward, You might be able to get those legs closer to the ground. Some of you may have your legs all the way flat on the ground. That is not my body, But like I said. Can feel the joy in my hips. As they open up. As they stretch out. Good, Let's take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Lift up, Nicely done. Exhale, Release the legs, Just straighten them for a moment, Bring them back. Back to center. Bounce them around. And we'll do the other side, All of those poses, Starting with Janu Sirsasana A. So you'll bend your left knee this time, The right leg stays straight. If you're utilizing a strap, It goes around the right foot. Sit tall. Inhale. Exhale, Reach forward along that strap and take that Ujjayi breath. Inhale, Pull in through the middle, Lifting the center. Exhale, Fold yourself back down. Relax your neck, Pull your shoulders away. Feel. Lengthened through the hips, The hamstring. Low back. All of it there. Good. I believe that this pose is going to target what we need. For me today. I'm feeling my hamstring. Each time we do it, It's different, Isn't it? Now inhale, Lift up. Great job. Exhale, Pull your leg open to the side there. Very nice. Bend your right elbow, Left hand to the hip, Draw your chest open. If you can reach your foot, You don't necessarily need the strap. Pull the left arm up and over, Reaching toward our leg. Some of you might be able to grab your toe, Just make sure the spiral open. Beautiful stretch. So much room for breath, Right? Love that. Good. Inhale, Lift up. We're gonna let go of the strap for just a moment. Exhale, Bend so that you have your right leg in front. Or you're taking that fire log pose, Stacking the knees and the ankles on top of each other, Or you're stacking the knees on top of each other with the right leg on the top. Then take your strap in your right hand, Bring it behind your back, Left hand from underneath, Grab on to your strap or maybe you can grab your fingertips there, Take a breath, Inhale, Exhale, Fold forward. Let yourself press down. You can feel that outer right hip there. We can feel our tricep and shoulder. On the tricep on the right, Shoulder on the left. Good. Excellent. Inhale, Lift up. Good work. Exhale, Release the hold. Nicely done. Last stretch. Paschimottanasana. Legs straight in front of us. Perhaps the strap is going around the feet. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale fold forward, Grabbing the strap, Grabbing the feet. Inhale, Pull in through the middle, Engage Uddiyana Bandha. Exhale, Fold forward. And in this pose where your body is still. We're a little quiet here. Find something that brings you joy. Maybe it's the way you feel right now. Maybe it's that you know you're going to feel better later. Maybe it's just something else about your life. It brings you joy. Take a moment to recognize that. Good. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale inhale lift up Exhale, Release your feet. You can set the strap aside. Let's come lay on our backs. For bridge poses. Starting with Satubhanda Sarvangasana. Our knees are bent, Feet on the floor. Arms by our side, Low back presses to the floor. Start to roll up one vertebrae at a time. And you can take your hands underneath, Clasp them together. And roll toward the edges of your shoulders. If it feels better just to keep your hands here, Do that, Yes? I love that you are taking the time today to do what makes your soul happy. That's what we want to do every day. Take the time. And do what will make our soul happy. This pose certainly makes our back happy. Gives us that strength in our lower back. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale, Release your hands. Lower down. Nicely done. If it would feel good to you to bring your knees into the chest, Do so for just a moment. We'll take one more bridge pose. So you can do it just like that or you can change it and I'll show you how. Lace those feet down. So again, Same bridge pose could be a good choice. You might decide to take a block. And put it underneath your hips and elevate yourself. And then you don't have to work so hard, But you're still getting the lift. This pose may bring you joy today. Or you could try doing a wheel pose, Urdhva Dhanurasana. Follow along with me and I'll show you how to do that. Take your hands back behind your shoulders, Fingertips on the floor, The whole palm on the floor really. And then start to press up. And lift your way up. So option A here, Option B, What we were doing before, Option C, A block. Find your way. And do your bridge pose. Breathe, Breathe. One more breath. Inhale. Exhale, Come on down. Tilt your chin as you come down. Nicely done. Pull your knees into your chest. Press that curve of the spine to the floor. Really good work. Feels great along that entire spine. And let's bring joy to our bodies with a spinal twist. Take your arms out to a T and let your legs drop over to the right side. So you're just falling down to the ground. And you can turn your gaze to the left side. You can use your hand to put a little pressure on the knees if you want. Just to feel a greater stretch along the hip and the back. And we want this shoulder that's on the ground to stay on the ground, That left shoulder So we feel open through the chest. A little spiral into the neck. And that stretch along the low back and along the hips. Come back to the center. And then let the legs float over to the left. And your gaze. Let your mind and body settle for a few moments. Into those nice deep twists. Joseph Campbell said, We cannot cure the world of all the sorrows. But we can choose to live in joy. I do wish for you to find some joy today. To carry it with you throughout the rest of the Christmas season. Bring your legs back to the center. Let your left leg go and just hold. Hold that right knee into the chest. You're welcome to move it around a little bit, Manipulate the hips one more time. Just to loosen everything up. And switch legs, Extend your right leg, Bend the left knee into the chest. Maybe move it around. Just being gentle through the sacrum. Roll back in the hips. Good. Then let's place our feet down in supta baddha konasana. We did this seated. It feels very different laying down on the floor. So one thing I love about it has how it lengthens out the torso. Gentle hip opener because gravity is just weighing down and pressing down. If you want to use your hands to kind of add a little pressure, You certainly can. Certainly it's a place where you can feel open, Open heart. Maybe room for a little happiness and joy right at the center of your body. And if you're feeling comfortable right here, Maybe just relaxing the arms so they fall off of your knees. This is a beautiful place to take Shavasana in this pose. If you prefer to extend the legs out more of a traditional Shavasana, Of course. Do so. Place whatever blankets you want on you, Any pillows underneath your knees. Now is your time to get comfortable. So that you can take a moment to absorb the good work that we've done. Feel the joy in your body from our yoga practice today. I will leave you here to relax. Take no worries or cares. I will wake you up with the sound of a bell. So just enjoy a little peace. A little stillness. Start to wake yourself up. Rotate through your wrists and your ankles. Point and flex your feet. Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your entire body. Roll over to one side in fetal pose. Gently press up to a comfortable seated position. Bring your hands to heart center. I'll leave you with this last quote. When you choose joy, You feel good. When you feel good, You do good. When you do good, It reminds others of what joy feels like. And it just might inspire them to do the same. Thank you for your practice today. Namaste