Modified Short Primary Series Ashtanga Yoga

Curious about Ashtanga Yoga? This 45-minute beginner-friendly class is the perfect introduction!

Whether you're new to Ashtanga or looking to revisit the fundamentals, this practice gives you a glimpse into the powerful and disciplined world of the Ashtanga Primary Series—at half the length.

You'll experience the breath-driven flow that defines Ashtanga while exploring modified poses to suit all levels.

We maintain the rhythm and structure of the practice, so you get an authentic taste without feeling overwhelmed.

Transcript

Welcome. Today, We're going to demystify the Ashtanga sequence just a little bit. The full primary Ashtanga sequence takes about an hour and 30 minutes to do. We have 45 minutes today, So we're going to shorten it a little bit and make it very accessible for everyone to be able to do the poses. The Ashtanga sequence is really great about heating up our body internally strength. So you'll notice pacing you'll notice modifications that i will show you along the way and you'll notice poses that maybe you don't see all the time in a typical vinyasa class that really belong in this ashtanga world And again, Just ways to get them adaptable for all of us. So I've got one block on each edge of my mat and I'm set up horizontally. This is for ease in camera as we switch back and forth from side to side. If you want to follow me here, Then you'll be mirroring me. If you do your sequence vertically, Then sometimes you will be facing away from the camera. So just so you know what your perspective is. And I'll just keep it behind me so that we can grab it in case we need it. Let's get started. We'll pull our shoulders back. Tuck our chin a little bit down and close our eyes In Ashtanga, As in all forms of yoga, But definitely Ashtanga, Ujjayi breath is very important. We breathe in through the nose and out through the nose if we can. And as we do this deep breath, It's going to help our lungs and our heart work a little bit harder, Which build up the heat internally. We're like a little furnace from the inside. Out. And this will help our body to feel strong as we move through the strength building poses, But also to keep us warm as we then transition into stretching. So let's establish that now, Just breathing in and out through your nose. Like i said before you'll notice that not all of the poses are going to be the traditional ashtanga primary series sequence but they're there to help us transition from pose to pose in a gentle way and in an accessible way. So let's open our eyes and come to all fours. We'll have our hands right below our shoulders and our knees right underneath our hips. This is to warm up our backs so that we're ready for all of the many downward facing dogs that we're going to encounter together. So a little cat and cow to start. Drop your belly down, Shoulders roll back, Inhale, Send the gaze up to the sky. Exhale, Round through the spine. We'll tuck our chin, Pull our hips up and in. Inhale, Arch, Belly drops downs and the gaze up. Exhale, Round pull and lift. Inhale, Arch. Exhale, Round. Come back to neutral that was just a quick little warm up but let's lift up onto our toes and shift back into our heels and our hips This is Anamukhasvanasana, Downward facing dog as many people call it. And hopefully that little bit of spine warming helps you to approach this. If it still feels really tight, Feel free to drop to your knees. And just reach your arms forward and this is more like a puppy dog almost a child's pose A little bit of an intermediate kind of position. If you're ready for that down dog though, Jump back up. And remember, As we move through our Vinyasa Sira Namaskara A, We're just going to get warmer and warmer. So let's do that now. Bend your knees, Look forward, Inhale, Step up or hop up or walk up to your hands. I just walked up as you saw. Exhale fold down into your legs inhale reverse swan dive let's reach up to the sky and exhale samasthiti nice just so you know what's coming we'll take three sierra namaskara a and two sierra namaskara b this is to warm our body and i will show you modifications along the way but we're going to try to get our pace set with these sequences so here we go Inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive down. Inhale. Excuse me, Look up halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down. Step back to a plank. If this is hard on your back, Lower to your knees. Chaturanga, Elbows bent. See if you can hover. I'm on my knees as you can tell. Inhale, Press up to upward facing dog. Exhale, Roll back through your toes or your knees, And we're in Atta Mukha Svanasana. Here's where we pause. We pause here for five breaths. Too much Drop to your knees. All these changes can be done. No one's gonna kick you out of class if you have to modify a pose. Really, It's a credit to you to listen to your body and listen to what your body needs. Bend your knees. Look forward. Inhale. Again, I'll step forward. You can hop forward if you want. Exhale fold down into your legs Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Arms by our sides. Good. Let's do it again. Inhale, Lift. We'll get used to the flow of it. Exhale, Swan dive forward, Uttanasana. Inhale look up ardha uttanasana hands can't stay on the floor bring them to your shins exhale hands down step or hop back to plank and into chaturanga this time i'm showing it lifted Inhale, Raise up. Urva Mukha Svanasana, Upward facing dog. Exhale, Atomukasvanasana. Downward facing dog Good. Feeling good. Keep that breath going. If you lost track of your breath, This is where you catch up. This is where you reestablish it. Right here. Good. Bend your knees. Look forward. Step or hop. This time I'll hop up. Exhale, Fold down into your legs, Uttanasana. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Urvahastasana up to the sky. Exhale, Samasthiti. Keeping track, Let's do one more of those. Inhale, Lift. Urva Hastasana. Exhale, Fold forward. Uttanasana Inhale, Look up, Ardha Uttanasana. Exhale, Hands down. Step or hop back. Chaturanga. Feel free to hop like I did. Stepping back is fine. Knees are fine. Inhale. Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukhasvanasana. Good. Are we feeling warm yet? I hope so. Ashtanga relies a lot on this warming sequence to get our bodies warm. So that we can move through it. Bend your knees. Look forward. Inhale. Step or hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Uttanasana. Inhale, Reverse one dive, Reach up. Urvahasasana. Exhale Samasthiti. Excellent. Now let's change it. Sira Namaskara B starts with Utkatasana. Inhale. Bend your knees. Come up to Utkatasana. Chair pose. Exhale fold forward Uttanasana this we recognize Inhale, Look up, Ardha Uttanasana. Exhale hands down step or hop back drop to your knees if you want to chaturanga Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale Adamukhanasvanasana. Here's where we get a change. We're going to take the first one on the knee. Inhale, Right foot steps forward. Drop your left knee down. Raise your arms either to the knee. Or up to the sky So this is a modification. A typical or a traditional Sera Namaskara B, We're going to be standing. We'll try that next time. But here is a modification to make this maybe a little more accessible for everybody. Take a breath here. Inhale. Exhale hands down. Step up onto that left toe so you can step your right foot back in Chaturanga. Here's where we build up beautiful arm strength with Ashtanga. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukha Svanasana. Other side, Same modification. Inhale, Left foot forward. Drop that right knee down. Hands either to the knee. That's great. Or overhead. Good. We're pausing here just a little bit to feel our hips warm up. And maybe to catch our breath if we're being honest. Inhale here. Exhale, Hands down. Lift up onto that right toe. Step back. Inhale. Let's chaturanga. Exhale. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atomakasvanasana. Here's where we get to pause again. We did pause a little bit on our knees, So we shouldn't be too winded, But always feel free if you need to drop to your knees for a child's pose. Bend your knees, Look forward. Inhale, Step or hop forward. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Inhale, Bend your knees. We stop where we started. Coming back into Utkatasana. And exhale, Samasthiti. Good. You're keeping track. We've got one more of those. Inhale, Bend and lift. Utkatasana. Exhale, Fold forward. Uttanasana. Inhale look up halfway lifts maybe hands to the shins always an option exhale hands down step or hop back chaturanga Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukhasvanasana. Now, If you liked your knee, Go there again. I'm going to show standing. Inhale, Step your right foot forward. Draw the heel or the knee down and reach up virabhadrasana a that's what it's called when we're standing inhale here Exhale, Hands down. Step that right foot back. Chaturanga, Feel free to drop to your knees at any point. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukhasvanasana. Inhale left foot forward drop the heel or the knee raise up virabhadrasana a we're just taking an extra breath here inhale exhale hands come down step that left foot back Chaturanga! Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Atamukasvanasana. Good. Now hopefully if we've done our job right, We're feeling warm. And this Adha Mukha Svanasana, This down dog, Feels different than that very first one that we took together. Catch your breath. Five breaths here. We're almost done. Let's bend our knees. Look forward. Inhale. Stepper hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Inhale, Bend and lift. Uchkatasana chair pose. Exhale, Samasiti. Nice job. Now we move into the standing poses. We take all this warmth with us to strengthen our muscles. So let's step our right foot back behind us and turn to the opposite side of the mat, Having the right foot in front. Extend your arms. Inhale. Exhale down to Trikonasana. Reach that right hand down and the left arm to the sky. Here you might utilize a block. Toe side of your foot. For a little bit more lift it's really important to keep this knee straight we don't want to bend it so we just bring the ground a little closer to us if you're a traditional Ashtangi you might be grabbing your big toe good we hold these poses for about five breaths I mostly talked through it So let's lift up. Inhale. Swivel our feet around. Just going to move that block. And exhale onto the left side. Do you see that quick transition? That's really typical for Ashtanga. We don't want to lose our body heat or our attention, Our focus, As we take really long transitions from side to side. So we just do it quick and move right into the next side. You'll know if you need to use the block because you used it on the first side, You likely will use it on the second side. Feel free to utilize these tools. Why we set them up for ourselves. Good. Now let's transition. Inhale lift up turning our toes all the way and our hips all the way so that we can twist this time we're going to take this left hand down to the right leg and move into pravita trikonasana so we've twisted our body this one's tricky use your block put it on the pinky toe side of your foot and extend that left arm up and right arm up into the sky Good. Our hips are swiveled. We're getting deeper into our digestive system. Nice job. Here's our transition. Nice and quick. Inhale. Windmill those arms around. Come through the center. Exhale. Bring it down. Right hand down to that left leg. Use your block. Extend that right arm up to the sky. Swivel those hips toward each other. Feel how that changes the pose. Little bit deeper isn't it Inhale lift up. We'll dump the block. Come back to our center and step back to the top. This is our reset. We've just done one sequence. Now we'll move into our second. Inhale, Step your right foot back again. Turn your body and this time begin in a warrior two. Virabhadrasana B. We usually don't see Virabhadrasana B until further in the sequence. But again, We're modifying, We're progressing today. So we're going to take it here for just a breath. Inhale here, Let's deepen part of the konasana. Exhale, Drop your elbow down. Start right here and pull overhead. This is not at all traditional to have the elbow on the knee, But it's a great modification. If you want to go deeper, Here's your block. Take it on the pinky toe side of your foot. And press into the floor or no block, Hand to the floor on that pinky toe side of your foot. Feel that strong stretch through that whole side body. Harzvakonasana, Extended side bend, Is what it means. Good. Now big transition. Inhale, Lift all the way up. Exhale, Rotate, Swivel your feet back into warrior two. This is our little prep. We're prepping our hips. We're prepping for our inner thigh. Take it down, Maybe starting at the elbow. Maybe reaching for that block, Pinky toe side of the foot. Maybe no block on the floor, Hand on the floor. Pinky toe side of the foot. Good. Big length through that whole torso. Very nice. Inhale, Lift all the way up. Exhale big step forward to the top of our mat huge adjustment of the hips let's square out our hips with prasarita padatanasana inhale step your right foot back and turn your feet Now I'm facing straight toward the camera. We're going to do all four of these poses today. So our toes are pigeon-toeing just a little bit. Hands to our waist. Inhale, Look up. Exhale fold forward take your hands down to the floor or You've got a block close by grab it hands on that block You'll know if you need a block if it feels like your knees want to bend If they are able to stay straight you probably don't need a block So that's how you can tell we're just bringing the ground closer to us My arms are long. I don't need a block So let's press into the floor, Inhale, Lengthen our spine. Exhale, Fold back down. Relax your neck. Relax your jaw. Shift your weight forward towards your toes. And we can feel it all through the backs of our legs. Good. We only hold each position for five breaths. Inhale, Press into the floor, Lengthen through your spine. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale lift up nice job prasarita b exhale pull your hands behind you squeeze those shoulder blades back there inhale look up Exhale, Fold forward. And keep those hands right where they are. Now it's tricky. You might want to shift back into your heels. Don't do it. Keep your weight forward on your toes as well. And keep that squeeze in your upper back. Good inhale lift all the way up nice work exhale release and bring your hands back behind you here's where a strap might be really helpful so if you have tight shoulders take the strap behind you and then you can adjust where your hands are placed along that strap press into the strap or your hands look up inhale Exhale, Fold forward, Pulling the hands away from the back. So I dropped my strap, But you might have your strap and you might be wider than me. And that's great. Find what works best for you. We're really stretching out our upper body as well as getting the legs in that lower body. How fun, Right? I think it's so fun. Good. Inhale, Lift all the way up. Nice work. Exhale, Release your hands. Prasarita D, Take a breath. Inhale, Look up. Exhale fold forward take your hands down you can grab your ankles your shins if you can grab your toes wrap your index finger and thumb around your big toe Inhale, Lengthen your spine. Exhale fold forward bending your knees and pulling yourself down I'm sorry, Not bending your knees, Bending your elbows. Wrong part of my anatomy here good this is our last stretch we've been here for a long time we can feel it it's beautiful Inhale, Lift all the way up. And exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale, Lift the rest of the way. Exhale, Big step forward to the top of our space. Nicely done. The Ashtanga sequence always includes a balance, A standing balance. We're going to take a modification today, Change it up just a little bit. So I'll face this direction so you can see what my legs are doing. We're going to lift that right leg, Reach down, And grab the big toe. Then extend the leg out. Now this might be too complicated to grab your big toe. So you can hand to the knee. You can also utilize a strap Placing that strap around the foot and lifting it up I'll stick with the strap since that's where I landed last. Everybody find their way. Tricky to balance, We have to focus on our breath and focus on our core. Good, Now we're gonna modify this a little bit. So we're gonna swing that leg down. Drop the strap and just hover behind us If you want more balanced support, Reach down for your block. Kind of like a modified Warrior 3. Sometimes this is called Dikhasana. Instead of warrior three, This traditionally Dikasana would be here. This side is hard for me, So I'm going to utilize that block. Take one more breath. Inhale. And exhale let it float down if you're down to the ground let's lift up very nice do the other side i'm going to turn Move my strap out of the way. Reach down. Grab your left toe. Or your knee or utilize a strap. Here we are. Holding it out This is Utita. Utthita Hasta Patagustasana. And we're just modifying by doing the front and the back instead of doing the side today. Take a breath inhale Exhale, Release the toe. Swing it through. If you can come into Dikasana, Warrior three, Here you are. If you need to take your hands to the ground on a block, Do so. Change it. Make it possible for your body. Whatever we choose, We're going to build up strength. One more breath. Inhale. Exhale lift up from the ground lift up and release nicely done in ashtanga we always do a vinyasa after a standing balance because sometimes we get frustrated in our head and we forget to breathe so let's breathe get that flow going again Inhale, Lift up to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive forward. Inhale look up halfway lift Feel so much warmer this time around. Exhale, Hands down. Step or hop back. Chaturanga. Inhale, Urva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Exhale, Shift back to down dog. Atta Mukha Svanasana. See how far you've come, How different it feels just changing, You know, After doing those warming standing poses. Much stronger and connected we feel Now let's change our focus to stretching on the floor. So bend your knees, Look forward, Step, Hop, Or walk your way through to sit. Or just swing your legs around and come to sit. Let's extend our legs out in front of us, Preparing for Janusir Sasana A. A strap is going to be really helpful here. So let's bend our right leg, Pull it up, And that left leg stays extended. If it's hard to reach your toes, This is where the strap will extend your fingertip reach. So use it. Hold on to it. Sit tall. Inhale. Exhale. Walk your way forward along that strap. If you can grab your foot, Great. If not, Don't worry about it. Mostly focus on keeping this left leg straight. Take a deep breath here. Inhale. Imagine a string attached to your belly button pulling up and in exhale fold yourself all the way down Good. This is where we can feel that outer right hip, The hamstring on the left side. And a low back as well. Good. Now inhale, Lift up. Exhale release normally in an ashtanga sequence. We would then move to the left side But today we're modifying we're going a little bit faster So we're going to change this position to Janus Sharsasana B You'll lift up and slide that right foot under so you can sit on it. Not everybody likes how this feels. There is a heel right in your pelvic floor. You may not enjoy that. So you could take a block instead. Prop up. Your hips. And then just tuck this right leg underneath. Option A here on the block. Option B to sit on your heel. I'll show it from the block this first side. So again, Take the strap around that left foot. Sit tall. Inhale. Exhale. Extend forward. One of the advantages. Oh, Take our deep breath. Sorry. Pull up through the middle. Inhale. Exhale. Fold down. One of the advantages of having this lift the block or the heel underneath it's going to make your hamstring work a little bit harder it's going to give some stimulation to the top of your foot It's hard to stretch the top of the foot. This is a pose that does so. So just enjoy what you can. If it feels strange and different, That's okay. Our bodies need challenges from time to time. But we listen to our breath and we don't push further than we're able. Very nice. Lift up inhale we did it exhale release come off of your block come off of your heel pull your knees up into the chest take your hands by your sides and just lift inhale Exhale lower down. That was a really quick vinyasa if you didn't know you it was there you'd miss it quick little bond a lift. Extend that right leg out. Left knee bent. Back to Janusirasasana A on the other side. Place your strap. Sit tall. Inhale. Exhale. Fold forward. Deep breath. Uddiyana Bandha engages. Inhale. Exhale. Fold back down. Even here in our seated poses, We're keeping our transitions pretty quick, Right? That's so that we don't lose the body heat that we built up in our standing poses. Because we're sitting on the floor so trying to keep that focus nice and strong Inhale, Lift up. Exhale, Release. Take that strap away. This time I'll show seated on the heel. So lift up. Place yourself on the heel. Place yourself on your block. Grab your strap again. Inhale. Tall seat. Exhale. Fold forward. Take that deep breath. Uddiyana Banda engages. Inhale. Pull up and in through the center. Exhale. Fold yourself back down. Relax your neck. Relax your jaw. Enjoy how it feels to have a little extra stimulation on that right hamstring. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale release let's slide that away slide the blocks away come off of your hip your heel and lay down on your back for bridge poses. We're going to do one Satubandha Sarvangasana bridge and one Urvadhanurasana wheel. Hands by our sides, Knees bent, Feet on the floor. Inhale, Roll up from the base of your spine one vertebrae at a time and take your hands underneath you, Clasp them together. Press into the floor, Pulling those shoulder blades toward each other as you lift and open through that heart center. If it's too much to clasp your hands, Just press them into the ground. That's great. That is a way that you can modify this pose. And take a breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Come on down. Release your hands. Lower all the way down to the mat. Nice work. Now you can repeat that same pose again. Or you can follow me through Urvajanurasana. We're going to place our hands. Right by our shoulders right behind our shoulders and then press into the hands and the feet to lift up. To Urvadhanurasana. If this is too much come down, Make sure to tuck your chin on the way down. If it feels great, Then stick with it. Keep breathing. Remember, You can always do that bridge pose set to Bandasarvangasana again. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale, Come down, Tuck your chin all the way down. Nicely done. Bring your knees into your chest, Everybody. Then let's roll up to sit. With our legs straight in front of us grab your strap one more time place it around both feet take a breath inhale exhale fold forward over the legs Deep breath, Udiyana Bandha engages. Inhale. Exhale fold now this should feel really nice on our low back after doing those back bends now we're lengthening out the spine how nice is that Beautiful. We just keep breathing here and enjoy how it feels to have that long length through our back. Through our hips Pretty. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale release. I lingered there a little bit. I thought it felt good Let's lay back on our back. We'll move towards shoulder stand, But I'll show you some modifications along the way So you'll need a block with you lay down and take that block first underneath your hips and then extend the legs to the sky so this is a modification of shoulder stand Takes a little pressure off of the abdominals. If it's hard to hold your legs in the air like that, Grab your handy strap. And use it and you're lifting up with the strap and with the block. So this is a great option. If you enjoy more stimulation, You've got some flexibility through your spine. Let's come down and we'll work through Halasana first. So that's plow pose let's bring our legs up and all the way over to try to touch I'm not going to stay here too long. It kind of changes the way I sound in my mic. So let's take our hands to our back. And then lift all the way up into shoulder stand. Squeezing those elbows toward each other, Working them toward each other, And feeling that lift. Good. Definitely pressure changes. Little bit we're putting some pressure into our neck and into our throat. So really good for stimulating the lymph nodes. And changing metabolism and circulation. Let's take one more breath right here. Inhale. Exhale, Come all the way down. Nicely done if you've got a block move it out of the way Let's bring our legs to the floor Take our arms by our sides, Lift up onto our elbows and arch your back so that the top of the head touches the floor. This is Uttanipadasana. It's going to stretch out our throat and our chest after that beautiful long Shoulder stand or or hold on that block and if you want more, You can lift your legs. If you want even more, You can lift your hands. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale come all the way down Good now this pose is not in the primary sequence, But I like how it feels let's reach down for the arches or that is and take a little happy baby There's a different pose that usually is here. This one's a little more accessible and we just want to make sure that we're cooling our body down after those challenging poses. So that we are ready for our Shavasana. Almost time. Let's bring our feet together, Knees open to the side. And just start our rest here in Baddha Konasana. I just have my hands lightly resting on my thighs. To help a gentle opening and a lengthening of the torso. If this feels great you can stay right here. If you would prefer to extend your legs, Into a traditional Shavasana then you're welcome to do so. Take whatever feels good to you. And enjoy your rest Ashtanga makes us work inside and out and rest is very important. So I will wake you up with the sound of a bell. You just enjoy laying there, Resting. Feeling your body relax. I'll wake you up when it's time. You 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 and roll yourself onto one side in fetal pose. This represents a new beginning, Resetting. Starting over after doing a beautiful warming, Stretching, Energizing sequence together. Gently sit up to a comfortable seated position and pull your hands to heart center. I'll leave you with this quote by Caroline Misty. The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind. Thank you so much for joining me in this practice today namaste