Embrace New Growth With Easter Yoga

Step onto your mat and tap into the quiet, powerful energy of renewal. This Easter-inspired yoga practice is all about fresh beginnings, gentle awakening, and reconnecting with the energy that’s already within you.

Transcript

Welcome. Thank you for joining me for Easter yoga today, A time of spring renewal, Finding youth, Finding new energy, Finding joy. Let's try to do that with our yoga practice today. So let's close our eyes. Pull our shoulders back. Tuck our chin down. We've got some length through the back of the neck. And just start to breathe in and out through your nose. Easter or springtime is a time to rejoice and be thankful for the gift of life, Love, And joy that we have. We can feel these things as we move and breathe in yoga. It is a time of new growth, Both in the world, Outside, In nature, And perhaps in our body, Minds, And souls. And new life as the earth starts to wake up. So as we practice today, Let's see if we can feel new life through our body. Open your eyes. Take your arms by your sides here. Inhale, Lift up to the sky. And exhale, Drop the left hand down so the right arm reaches over. And let's try to press this right hip to the floor and feel that stretch through the side of the body. Can you feel like you get greater length? Greater growth through that side body. Greater reach perhaps. Good. Inhale, Come back to the center. Exhale drop your left hand across your body your right hand behind you and move into our very first twist here. This is where we can kind of check in, See if we find areas that feel a little tight, A little stiff. Areas that might need a little bit of energy or attention. And then come forward and let's hang over our legs. This is going to feel great on our outer hips and our low back. Sometimes we get so tight, Just in our normal day, You might spend a lot of time sitting or standing, Repetitive movements. And this initial stretching can just feel really great to release some of those tense areas. Good now lift up a time for renewal right switch the leg that's in front This might be a less natural side, But that's okay. We crave balance when we do yoga. Let's take a breath together again. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale drop your right hand so the left hand is pulling over and again We're trying to press that left knee and hip to the floor a little bit of anchor so we can grow longer. On this site as well. Good. Come back up. Move your right hand across the body. Left hand behind for our twist. Try to keep your sides of the body nice and tall. As you spiral you'll just get more motion if you don't slump into it. Good. And then come forward and lay yourself down over your legs. Again, We get those outer hips. That low back and it just feels nice to take some of the pressure away. Feeling that release starts to lift up. And let's bring ourselves on to all fours. Now, If you have knee issues, You need a little padding, You can take a blanket. Put it down. And then just come onto those knees. So just an option if that helps you to just feel a little more comfortable. Let's do some cat and cow. So drop your belly down, Shoulders roll back, Inhale, Send the gaze up to the sky. Exhale round through the spine tuck and lift pull that center in Inhale, Arch, Belly drops, Send the gaze up. Exhale round. Find the movement in your body. Feel renewed. Inhale arch. Exhale round. Let's take one more inhale arch. Exhale round. Come back to neutral. Two options. You can just reach your arms straight forward and come into a puppy dog pose, Starting to ease into the back and into the hips. If you're ready for a little bit more, You can lift up to downward facing dog, Atamukhasvanasana. Pressing those heels toward the floor, Although they don't have to touch all the way. They're just reaching down. Feeling that stretch through the back of those ankles. Walk yourself up to your hands. Near the top of your mat, Wherever that is. And let yourself fold down into the legs. Now this is going to start to stretch our hamstrings. Low back and hips and if it's really tight there you can always bend your knees just soften a little bit through those tight areas. Eventually, We'll try to get that length there as we warm ourselves up. Let's roll up through our spine. Come on up, Drawing our shoulders back nice and tall. We're ready to start. Sira Namaskara A. And think for a moment. About how your body is waking up just like the earth is and finding that energy. Sura Namaskara A gets a little bit of everything. So we're just going to wake it all up. Let's see how we can feel. Inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive all the way forward down toward the body. Good. There's that back of the legs again. Inhale, Look up halfway lift. You're welcome to bring your hands as high as your shins. Exhale, Hands come down to the mat. Step back or hop back to your plank and take chaturanga. Inhale, Uravamukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Exhale, Press back to Adha Mukha Svanasana. Downward facing dog. Take a moment just to check in here. Do you feel a little bit of awakening? A little more energy, A little more connection to your breath perhaps. Bend your knees. Look forward. Either step up or you can hop up to your hand. Exhale fold down into your legs inhale reverse one dive reach up to the sky Exhale, Samasthiti, Arms down by our sides. Let's take it again. See if we can find that waking energy of spring. Inhale, Lift. Find joy in the movement. Exhale, Swan dive forward. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down, Step back, Or you can hop back and chaturanga. However you get there is fine. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Exhale, Atamukhasvanasana. Downward facing dog. Good. Breath stays strong. Even though our movement has stopped. Keep that energy flowing. Good. Bend your knees. Look forward. Inhale. Stepper. Hop up to the ham. Exhale fold down into your legs Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up. Exhale, Samasthiti. Good. Now take your hands behind you, Clasp them together back there, Press into your fingers and look up. And see if you can feel how this simple action just increases the energy, Increases the breath flow. Increases that heart space. All of it can lead to joy. Now we're gonna keep our hands clasped. As we shift our weight over to our right foot and let that left foot float off the floor. Now it doesn't have to be high. I'm showing it kind of low at the moment. You can make it more like a warrior three if you're able to. Find that balance. Gaze at the floor, Something that's not moving. Take a breath, Inhale. Exhale bend your right knee so you can drop that left heel down feel that support from underneath release our hands and reach up And we find ourselves in Warrior One, Virabhadrasana A. Nice and strong and steady. Now a way to renew the body is to twist to get that digestive system moving. So let's bring our hands to heart center, And we'll guide this left elbow to our right knee. Now it doesn't have to touch. We can just kind of hover something like this, Or we can bring it down, Angle it down toward the knee, Hook it on if you can, And pull that right shoulder up to the sky. Feel that squeeze at the center. Now if you want to, You can also open your arms. Take it even deeper through that upper back area. Whatever you choose to do. Inhale. Exhale, Bring your hands back to heart center if they were open. And let's keep going down to the floor. Can you feel that strength in the right hip? Drop down onto your left knee. Here's a chance to place that blanket under your knee again if you need to. And just press down into the floor. Now, I have long arms. Not everyone does. You can take your block to the inside of that right foot and place it on the ground. The block has different heights. So you can ease it up. You can even just simply place your hand on your knee. We do want to feel like we're pressing a little bit, Lengthening out this left hip flexor and putting a nice squeeze into the right hip and glute. So whatever works for you. Do it and breathe through it. Now let's lean back into the left leg so that we straighten out this right leg. You might pull your block with you if it's difficult to touch the floor with your hands. See how this right knee is straight? That's what we're trying to achieve. Nice long lengthened knee. Those of you who are comfortable moving into split, You could certainly do so now. So that would just look like coming forward and back at the same time. Choose that option if that is your Jam. Good. Either way, Stretching out those hamstrings. Now come forward back into that right leg. Lift up onto the left toe. And step back. Into downward facing dogs. Little half vinyasa here. Inhale come forward Exhale, Chaturanga. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Press back, Atamukasvanasana. Very nice come forward to plank and let's shift our weight onto our right hand and right foot so here's option a lifted off of our knee in a Vasi Stasana. Option B would be to drop that right knee to the floor for a little bit better balance. You're feeling uncertain and support for that right shoulder it's not quite as intense to have the knee on the floor Either option is good. I'll show back here again. Good. Find that strength. Feel that energy. Now, If you have your leg lifted like me, If you're in the Vashtasana, Lift that left leg, Drop it down behind you, And see if you can rotate your body into Wild Thing. So that's option A. If you are on your knee, Like here, Just go ahead and reach your arm over and lengthen that torso, That side body. So either way, We're getting some energy, Some opening. Can you feel new life? In these poses. Seek for that energy. Take one more breath wherever you are. Inhale. Exhale. Very nice. Bring it back around. Let's all find ourselves back into downward facing dog. And then walk our hands back to our feet. You can bring your block if you've got it handy right underneath you just to help you get your hands to the ground. As we feel the backs of those legs stretch and lengthen. Good, Roll up through the spine, Nicely done. Turn ourselves around so that we can do our other side. I'm just going to move this block out of the way. So we don't trip on it. And let's do vinyasa for moving on to our left side. Inhale reach up to the sky finding new life with every breath. Exhale swan dive forward. Inhale, Look up halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down. Step or hop your way back. Chaturanga Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukhasvanasana. Good. Bend your knees. Look forward. Step, Hop, Or walk up to the top. Exhale, Fold down into the legs. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up. Exhale, Samasthiti. Good. Now take your hands behind you again, Clasp them together, Press into our fingers and look up. Imagine the sun shining on your face. Imagine you're a little root reaching toward that sun. Having that energy of spring. Now let's shift our weight over to the left leg so the right leg floats off. And you can keep it low. You can even touch your toe to the floor. If the balance is a struggle. Or you can keep going even further. This side is a struggle for me. You'll see me shake around a little bit. Got to be real about my body for sure. Struggling is okay. It's part of our journey, Right? Take a breath inhale Exhale bend your right left knee put that right foot down release your hands reach up Virabhadrasana'e. How nice it is to have that ground underneath us. After feeling the struggle of the balance. That support of the earth. Bring your hands to heart center. Let's move into our twist. The left elbow, I mean, Sorry, Right elbow moves toward that left leg. We can press into it or we can just hover. Try to rotate that left shoulder to the sky. And if you want to deepen, You can open up. Feeling that deep rotation through the torso, Through the hip. Really nice. Come back to your center. Unwind and take your hands down to the floor so you can drop your right knee down Now remember, We've got our options to use our block. On the inside of that left leg, Or we can place our hand on our knee. Or we can just have our hand all the way down to the ground. All options are just fine. Feel that press into that hip. Stretching out those tight spots. Finding a little bit of youthfulness in our movement. Makes us feel like we can, You know, When we can move the way we want, Makes us feel young. Now lean back. Into that right hip so you can straighten out your left leg. I'm on the heel of that left leg there. And fold over it. So this is hamstring, Glute, Low back. Those of you who are comfortable with splits, This is your chance. Move into that split pose. Whatever you'd like to do. Very nice. Come back forward. Place your hands on the mat. Lift up onto that right toe so you can step your left foot back. Let's move into our half little vinyasa here. Inhale, Come forward to plank. Exhale, Chaturanga. Inhale, Uravamukha Svanasana. Exhale, Press back to Adha Mukha Svanasana. Inhale come forward shift your weight over to that right hand. I'm sorry left hand left leg and take vashistasana or the option to drop the knee. So that left knee is on the floor. Whichever you did last time, Just trying to do the same. Now those of us who are lifted here, We're going to hover that right foot, Take it behind us and flip it over. Get into that wild thing. Open up that chest energy. Those of us who are on the knee. Are gonna reach overhead. And just feel that length through the whole side of the body. Both options will increase. Our breath flow through our torso. Feel great. Good. Now wherever we are, Let's bring ourselves back, Placing both hands on the mat, Both feet, And push up to downward facing dog. Good. Take a breath right here. Inhale. Exhale, Drop down onto your knees. Let your knees widen a little bit from your hips and sit back. A child's pose. There's ways that we can adjust this pose as needed. You can put a block on the floor and rest your forehead on it. You can maneuver your bolster, Your pillow. Between the hips. And lay on it. That feels really nice. Whatever you'd like to do. Just enjoy the child's pose. And find a little new life in the rest. At spring time, At Easter time. The world is waking up. He's been asleep. This is our moment to just recognize that sleep, That restfulness that comes before the energy. Good. Very nice. Lift up. And let's come onto our knees. We're going to be on our knees for a few moments. So again, If you'd like to put the blanket underneath your knees, You are welcome to add that little bit of support underneath and that will feel good. So Ustrasana, I'm gonna take one arm at a time. This looks like reaching back with one arm and the other arm to the sky. So a couple ways you can do this. You can place a fist on your hip. And reach that way. You can reach directly for your heel. Or you can elevate. Let me move this so you can see. You can elevate onto your toes so your heels are a little bit lifted. And then you reach, But you don't have to reach quite as far. So those are three options for you to try. We're going to take the right hand down and the left arm lifting to the sky. Right hand goes to the heel. Left arm comes up. Let your head reach up as well. And feel that stretch through the front of the body. Backbends always bring energy because we stretch the front of our body. Sometimes we spend a lot of time folded or leaning forward a little bit because we might work at computers or drive in cars for a while or, You know, That repetitive movement. This is opposite. It's gonna stretch all those things out that we don't get a chance to use, Perhaps. Lift up drop your hand down and drop your head down It's a little bit of a head rush, A little bit of renewal of blood flow into our heads. We need to honor that. And let's do our other side. So the left arm is going down, Right arm is going up. Use the three variations like I mentioned before. Either on your heel or on your toe or on your back. And just stretch that front of the body. Feel that energy lengthen the front. Hips, Hip flexors. Torso, It's all there. Lift up Drop your hand. Drop your head. Nice job. Now we're going to try for both hands at the same time. All three of those options still exist. So you would have both fists on your back. So that's option A. You can come up onto your toes so there's less of a reach, Or you can come all the way down more reach. All right, Let's see what happens. Take our breath, Inhale. Exhale lean back into whatever position you can do let those hips tip forward let the head fall back Do not force something that doesn't feel right. Listen to your breath. Challenging doesn't mean that it's wrong. But pain means it's not great. So don't go with the pain. You can feel the challenge, That's okay. Good. Let's take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Nice job. Lift up, Tuck your chin. We're going to go all the way down, Taking our hands down to the mat and the top of the head to the mat as well. Exactly opposite this nice curved spine. As much as we're craving energy and renewal in this time of Easter and spring, We also need to honor our body. And get that balance as we stretch. So it's time for a forward fold. Reverse those three back bends. Let's gently lift up. Careful because you might have a little bit of a head rush, A little blood flow we've got moving through. And we'll swing our legs around in front of us. Now, You can elevate your hips on a bolster or a blanket, Especially if you have extra tight hamstrings. That will help you to sit at a 90 degree angle. You can also grab a strap. I will. . . Demonstrate with that. Take the strap around your feet. And as we sit tall here, Deep inhale. Exhale, Walk your way forward along that strap. The strap allows you to get closer to your toes without actually touching your toes. Some of you might be able to touch your toes. If so, Go for it. Keep breathing. Lift through your center. Inhale. Might get even a little deeper here. Exhale, Lengthen over the top. Every breath just might get us a little bit lengthened, A little bit longer. It feels really great to be in this fold after doing those back bends. Because we're bending our back the opposite way. So this is therapy for our back. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Gently lift up. It feels so nice after those three back bends. Release your strap. You can just set it off to the side somewhere close by. Let's swing our legs around. I'm gonna come to sit in front of you We're gonna take the right leg off to the side and then the left leg in front This is a variation of an open twist here. Sometimes we can place the foot up on the hip. And if that is comfortable for you, Then do that. Otherwise you can keep it down and that's fine too. Let's reach the right hand across, And we'll have this left hand behind us. I love this twist because we're still manipulating our spine, Moving our hips. But there's so much room for breath. Your whole front of your body is just open and free, Especially if you're drawing that left knee. I'm sorry, Left shoulder back. Feels nice just to take in as much air as we can. Think about that crisp, Clean air of spring when things are growing. We're celebrating Easter. Come forward. Nicely done. Let's switch our legs. Just simply one to the other. So now we've got our left leg hurtled and our right leg in front. Remember, You can take the option to place your leg on top if you'd like to go a little deeper with this twist. And then bring your left hand across. Right hand is behind. Enjoy all that new breath that you can feel through the center of our body. Takes a little pressure off of our hips. Because we are. . . Our hips are a little bit tilted as well, So take some pressure off the hips and the low back. That's nice. Come forward. Very good. Let's rotate this left leg and bring it together to meet the right for Baddha Konasana. This pose just reminds me of spring. It's like a flower. It's like a butterfly. All the things we might see in the springtime. But you can see that my knees do not go on the ground. Yours might not also. You could place your blocks underneath your knees. So that as you lean forward, Your knees have something to rest upon. You might enjoy how that feels. Let's see what happens as we breathe. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale, Tilt forward, Letting your head drop down. Letting your back lengthen, And as you come forward, You might notice that those knees get a little closer to the earth. You can utilize your inner thigh, The muscles there, To really press down and open up, And you should be. That's how you're going to get the best benefit out of the pose. By using that inner thigh so we're both stretching and strengthening at the same time here that's what's so fun about this one It feels really great on that low back where we did the back bends too. Good. Very nice. Go ahead and lift up. Beautiful. Get the blocks out of the way if they are there. We'll put all of our props off to the side and turn so that we're laying down on our back. Knees bent. Feet on the floor. Arms by our side. Ready to do a bridge pose. So from the base of the spine, Start to lift up one vertebrae at a time. You can just keep your hands on the ground or you can take your hands underneath and clasp them together. And with our hearts nice and open and exposed here, Just think of something that you're grateful for. This time of year as things wake up, Winter is. . . Melting away the earth is waking waking up it brings a lot of joy in the beauties of nature. And there's things to be grateful for. It might be nature that you're grateful for, Or it might be a person. You know, An experience you're having in your life right now, Just think on that for a moment as you breathe. Good. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale, Release your hands and come on down. Good very nice now grab one of your blocks And we're going to place it underneath our back. So the blocks have three different heights. One. Too. Three. You can choose one of those blocks, One of those heights. Put it underneath. And just rest your hips on it, Your low back. And hips on that block. And what's fun about this is we still get the benefits of stretching the front of the body, But now our back body doesn't have to work so hard. We can just feel the joy in the pose, In the hold. Without any of the strain, Without any of the work. See if you can find a little bit of relaxation right here. Even though we're being held in the pose we don't have to do the work the block is doing the work And we can find a little bit of sense of relaxation and rest. Again, Maybe think of the sun on your body. How nice it feels to have a little more sun in the day. Good. Take one more breath right here. Inhale. Exhale. We'll start to lower down, First lifting the hips up so that you can remove the block. Set it down off to the side. Pull those hips to the ground. Good. And bring your knees into your chest. And just rejoice in your body for a moment as you rock a little bit. Feel all those sensations that we went through today. We've built some strength. We detoxed a little bit with some twists. We stretched things out. All of that can just bring joy into our life because we're moving. We're building up endorphins and strength and resiliency in our movement. And with our breath work. So just enjoy it, Rejoice in it. And then take your arms out to a T and let your legs fall off to one side. It doesn't matter which side. Turn your gaze over the opposite side. And find one more moment of relaxation through the hips, The back. Shoulders, The chest, The neck. Bring your legs back to the center. And let them fall over to the opposite side. And turn your gaze again over that opposite shoulder. And see if you can relax. The low back. Helps chest, The shoulder, The neck. Few grateful breaths for the movement, For your body, For your life. Come back to the center and let's lay our legs down. One leg to each edge of the mat. You can place a bolster underneath your knees to help your low back pressure. You can put a blanket over your body, Whatever you'd like. This is your time to rest. And take in that new life that you found today. I will leave you here in this restful position for just a few moments. I'll ring a bell when it's time to wake up so you have no need to worry about anything or think about anything. Just enjoy the rest. Start to wake yourself up. Rotate through your wrists. And your ankles. And flex your feet. Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your entire body. And roll over on one side into fetal pose. Which signifies renewal. It's the perfect pose for Easter and springtime. Rebirth is what it is. Good. And gently sit up to a comfortable seated position. You can sit on your pulser or your blanket again or just on the floor. And we'll bring our hands to heart center. I'll leave you with this quote by Henry David Thoreau. To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun. The day is a perpetual morning. Thank you so much for practicing with me today, For honoring energy and renewal and youthfulness. Easter and spring. Namaste.