Welcome everyone we are going to have an exciting core workshop today where we will stimulate our abdominals our shoulders and our low back with the effort to ease back pain because if our core is weak sometimes we put too much pressure on our back So let's close our eyes for a moment and just connect to the breath.
Regardless of how we move today,
Our breath is going to be our most important partner.
And we can feel that deep inhale and exhale.
Coming and going,
Keeping us calm.
Keeping our attention focused in this moment this moment in time good let's open our eyes and just take a breath together in unity reach your arms by your side inhale lift up feel the energy all around you Exhale,
Release.
One nice slow breath together good now let's move on to all fours and come into a child's pose ways to modify this might be putting up that block that I told you to grab on the floor and you can place it right under your forehead that's a way to modify You could put a bolster if you have one between your legs and kind of lay down on that bolster.
Those are options to help it be a little more comfortable you may or may not need that bolster the block or the bolster But here in this child's pose,
We're just going to feel the back,
Feel the hip.
There might be some tension right back through here.
It might feel like it's a little tight or maybe certainly not warmed up yet because we haven't done a whole lot yet.
So,
We can just breathe.
And I want you to remember how this position feels right at this moment.
Because we're going to return to this position at the very,
Very end.
And I'm hoping that it will feel different by the time we get there.
On that other end of our yoga practice.
Good.
Now let's start to creep our way up.
Lift up onto your knees.
If you've got a bolster in between your legs,
You might move it out of the way.
And let's just walk our hands forward,
Keeping our hips lifted,
And press down through our shoulders.
So this should be a nice stretch through the sides of the body,
Through the shoulders and the upper back.
A little arch in our back there good and then let's go one step higher pull your hands back lift onto your toes and we'll take our first downward facing dog now again we're not terribly warm yet so feel free to move pedal your feet shift around through those ankles and calves maybe it feels good to hold still I don't know you're in charge of your breath and your body what do you notice Good,
Now let's move forward to a plank.
Come forward so that your shoulders,
Your wrists,
Your ankles are stacked and lined on top of each other.
Sometimes you have to step back a little bit,
Step forward.
I have to step back just a little bit from mine.
And feel that engagement right through the center of our body.
Now let's move through these two poses.
Inhale here.
Exhale shift back to down dog might be a little wider than normal.
Mine's a little bit wider than normal Inhale,
Come forward to plank.
Exhale shift back pull up through the center even there Inhale,
Come forward to plank.
Exhale shift back to down dog Let's do it once more.
Inhale,
Come forward.
Exhale,
Shift back.
Nice job now drop your knees down And let's step the right foot forward in between your hands.
So we've got our right leg forward of the left.
Just place your hand on your knee to begin.
We want to make sure that the knee and the ankle is in line with each other.
If your foot is way far back it puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the knee.
So feel free to move it forward.
Good and then just press down into the hips remember we're not terribly warm yet but we're getting there this is that hip flexor right here on the left and that squeeze in the right hip Reach our arms up and as we pull the arms to the sky,
Draw your shoulders down.
You might even take a goal post position because that might just relax the shoulders as much as you need them to.
Everybody's going to be different play around with it Like I said,
The shoulders are going to be part of our core work today.
So here we're just warming,
Kind of feeling where they are in our body and how the energy is there Take a breath,
Inhale.
Exhale hands come back to the mat.
Let's step this right foot back and into our downward facing dog and press back.
Just for a breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Drop down onto your knees again.
This time take the left foot forward.
Find that alignment piece,
Knee and ankle stacked on top of each other.
If you're way far back here,
Pull it forward.
Then just start by pressing the hand to the knee if that's where you want to stay great if you'd like to take your arms up that's great as well We're pushing slightly forward and down so that we can feel that hip flexor on the right and the squeeze on the left.
Make sure the shoulder blades are drying down remember you can take a goal post if that's more comfortable if you're very tight in the chest and the shoulders this feels really nice Take one more breath here,
Inhale.
Exhale hands come back to the mat lift up onto that right foot so that you can step your left foot back and into downward facing dog Now bring your feet together so that they're touching.
Normally our down dog,
Our feet are hip width distance,
But let's pull our feet together.
This allows us to squeeze our bondage.
Particularly,
We can feel the bond that's low the Moolabanda,
The one that's deeper down,
Right between our sits bones.
There's a lift and an energy there.
We're going to want to try to pull and engage that bandha as we move through our core exercises today.
Good.
Then you can feel a lift through the center of your body,
Right up in the middle at Udiyana Bandha.
As we pull up and in there,
Like we have two zippers.
We're engaging and lifting that energy source.
Awesome now walk your feet up to your hands.
We can step away from that kind of tight energy position.
And fold down into our legs Feel free to have the knees bent.
Maybe the knees are straight.
We have that lift in the Mula Bandha,
Lift at the Uddiyana Bandha.
And then roll up nicely from all the way up through the back.
We come up,
We pull our shoulders back.
Good,
Good.
Beautiful.
And we're ready to start Sera Namaskara A.
Let's do it.
Inhale reach our arms up to the sky This is where we get all nice and warm and connected to our breath.
Exhale.
Swan dive forward.
My hands touch the floor.
Yours may not.
Don't worry about that.
Look up inhale halfway lift you might be moving your hands higher up on your legs or maybe they're on the ground Exhale hands down step back to your plank And let's chaturanga.
You choose how you want to do this.
You might go all the way down to your stomach.
Or you might be hovering.
Then take a breath,
Inhale,
Lift to upward facing dog.
Now if you're down on your stomach,
You might just be lifting the upper back so it might be more like a cobra.
Exhale let's all come back through our knees through our toes and we're into downward facing dog Part of the challenge of yoga is figuring out the modifications that we need to take in order to stimulate our body but not to stress it out.
So I'm trying to offer some options for you.
Let's try that sequence once more so we can get it kind of in a good flow.
Step forward,
Hop forward,
Get up to your hands.
And fold down to Uttanasana.
Inhale,
Reverse one,
Dive,
Reach up.
Exhale samasthiti good let's try it again try to keep the modifications in mind all do a little better of a continuous flow this time inhale reach up to the sky exhale swan dive forward Inhale,
Look up,
Halfway lift.
Exhale hands down step back chaturanga hover or come to your stomach Inhale,
Your variation may be cobra or upward facing dog.
Exhale move back to ottomagasvanasana downward facing dog And just let that breath keep flowing.
Keep breathing.
Let the breath keep breathing.
That's what I said.
Almost.
Bend your knees.
Look forward.
Inhale.
Step up or hop up to your hands.
Exhale fold down into the legs inhale reverse swan dive we're going to add on a little bit here i'll face you reach up and grab onto that right wrist and then pull to the left side so you can feel that right side of the body stretching lengthening come back to the center grab onto your left wrist pull to the right Feel that shoulder.
Feel the oblique.
We're gonna work on those a little bit today.
Beautiful.
Come back to the center.
Release your hands.
Take them behind you.
Clasp your fingers together and press into the fingers.
Look up.
Make this like a back bend.
Not only are we pulling our shoulders down,
But we're expanding our chest.
Good now if this is very tight here you can take a strap between your hands and widen your grip You do not have to be as clasped as I'm showing.
Good,
Take one more breath,
Inhale.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Let's let go of the hands.
Let go of the strap if you have one.
And just let yourself hang forward and relax those shoulders.
Relax the neck.
Relax the head.
And slowly roll up one vertebrae at a time.
We get to the top.
We pull those shoulder blades back.
Nice job.
Nice job.
All right,
Let's keep our right foot forward.
We're going to grab the one block.
You can have two,
But I'm just going to notice with one.
And we'll put it near the pinky toe side of our foot because we'll use it at some point coming up.
So we've got our right foot forward and our left foot back here on our mat.
Squared hips that means our hip bones are pointed straight forward And it means that our feet are probably about hip width distance apart.
We are not on one straight line It's too much pressure for the knee so widen your feet a little bit to hip width distance So those hips feel really still they're not really working a whole lot right here More will feel this hip flexor and the engagement in the outer right hip So go ahead and raise your arms up and again drop your shoulder blades down.
Now these standing poses don't feel necessarily like their core poses,
But they are.
If you're not engaging your core,
Everything becomes harder to hold,
Harder to maintain.
Yes,
We start with our feet.
We move up the body and then the core engages.
We lift.
We make those muscles accountable right to hold our body weight Good.
Now we've got a block close by us.
Some of you might have a second block.
We're going to move toward a balance.
A couple options for you.
Balances are great for the core because we have to use our core in order to keep ourselves in place.
So let's come forward with our torso.
Option A is to hover,
Lifting that back leg and hovering.
This is warrior three.
Option B might be to grab that block that's down there I've got my second block here so I can just show you and you can lift off Now if I only have one block,
I'm just going to turn it so that I can put my hands on each side of the block for good support.
And I'm hovering that leg in the air.
If our hands are on the ground,
We can still lift through our core.
If our hands are off that block,
It's even more challenging.
This is my difficult side.
Take one more breath there.
Inhale.
Exhale release that foot to the floor if you use your block.
Let's move it back on that pinky toe side of the foot And raise back up to warrior one.
Now we have the ground underneath us,
So we're feeling a little bit more supported.
And a little less wobbly but energized at our center.
Now let's try to twist.
Twists also very much engage our core.
So pull your hands to heart center and guide your left elbow over to that right leg.
Not only are you going to be twisting through your shoulders and chest,
But also your hip.
Guide your right hip back as you press toward the leg.
I'm able to hook my elbow.
It's okay if your hands are kind of hovering.
That's perfectly fine as well.
Just feel that squeeze through our center.
Really utilizing those muscles to pull up and in.
And get deeper in that squeeze Awesome.
Now lift up back to center,
Straighten that right leg.
All of a sudden you're going to feel some relief in your right hip.
And take your left hand back down again here's where our block might be useful right next to our pinky toe edge place that left hand then either put the right hand on your hip or extend your right arm up to the sky And this is Pravita Trikonasana.
This one might feel like a balance all in and of itself.
It's tricky for sure.
We're definitely involving our core.
Some of you may not need the block.
You can put your hand directly on the floor.
Fine too.
Take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Release your hands.
Let's come down to the mat,
Bending our right knee.
And then step that right foot back.
Good.
Pedal your feet a little bit.
Relax that right hip.
You might feel it through that right hip quite a bit.
Don't worry,
We're going to get balanced.
And feel the left hip as well.
So let's do that now.
Bend our 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 nice job good move your block if you have two fine but move at least one of them over to that pinky toe side of your left foot now and maybe the second block is in the front if you know that you're going to use it for your balance yes okay so let's take the the left foot is going to stay front and the right foot will step back this time Draw that heel to the ground.
Find your hips hip-width distance apart.
Raise those arms up.
This is warrior one.
Left foot forward,
Right foot back.
Good.
Feeling that core engage.
We're not going to let our legs do all the work.
We're going to support through our center.
Really important as we start to move toward this balance so remember option A let's all come forward and maybe option A is hovering Option B might be reaching down for a block that's in front of you.
Whichever you choose,
It's going to be beneficial.
We're going to pull up through the middle of the body,
Really lifting the center.
Feeling that strength there.
And that support everything working together let's take one more breath inhale Exhale bend that left leg put your right foot down find the ground And feel supported.
Nice.
Good,
Good.
Balances are challenging take a moment to settle inhale let's move into our twist exhale bring your hands to heart center and guide this right elbow now over to that left side good you might be able to hook the elbow like i'm showing if not that's fine hovering is fine remember to pull back that left leg that left hip Good.
Nice.
And feel the engagement in our core.
Twists can release back pressure,
Which is wonderful for this low back sacrum area,
But also feel what's happening in the center,
How we're squeezing those abdominal muscles.
Nice job.
Now come back to the center.
Straighten out that left leg.
You're going to feel some relief in your hip already.
And then take this right hand down.
Find that block that's on the pinky toe side of your left foot.
Place your hand.
Pull that left hip back and extend the left arm or left hand is on your hip and that is fine too.
All those options are fine.
Feel that squeeze.
Right through your center.
Getting into our chest it's encouraging us to find a balance Remember this hand can be on the floor.
If that works for you,
Fine.
Okay,
Let's take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale bring it down good job release that block for a moment take our hands to the floor step our left foot back And just pedal your feet.
Sway your hips around.
We did both sides of those hips.
We could feel it through our core.
We could feel it through our chest.
Good,
And now we're gonna get down onto the ground.
So bend your knees,
Step,
Hop,
Or walk through.
Let's have a seat.
Keep one block close by i'm just going to set it here by my side And we're going to work on Navasana with a little bit of a variation.
So here's a good option for us.
Option A could be being on your elbows.
In that case it's going to look something like this.
We're going to switch legs,
Not this fast,
But we're going to switch like this.
If you feel like you can hover it,
Then it would look something,
Ooh,
I almost fell more like this.
That's too fast we'll go nice and slow this is going to stimulate our psoas right in the front and our low abdominals so let's give it a try choose your way we'll start up We're here.
Yes,
Here.
Or here.
Take a breath,
Inhale.
Exhale bend your right knee.
Inhale lift it back up Exhale bend your left knee.
Inhale,
Lift it back up.
Exhale,
Bend your right.
Inhale,
Lift.
Exhale bend your left.
We're just gonna do one more inhale lift Exhale,
Bend your right.
Inhale,
Lift.
Exhale bend the left.
Nice job.
Come on down.
Let's stretch our arms overhead because I think that just feels like it's necessary.
Reach through the chest,
Reach through the legs.
Through the psoas,
Nice and long.
Good.
And then take your arms to a T,
Put the palms on the floor,
And let's bend our knees.
We're going to have to adjust our back a little bit,
So sway your hips.
So that your back is flat on the floor.
And this time we're going to lower our legs so that they almost touch the ground.
So the toes are almost touching.
And then bring them back up.
Inhale lower down almost touch Exhale squeeze the air out.
Inhale,
Almost touch.
Exhale,
Squeeze.
Two more.
Inhale.
Almost touch.
Exhale,
Squeeze.
We can do one more inhale.
Almost touch.
Exhale,
Squeeze.
Nice job.
Place your feet down.
Take a little rest.
Bring your knees and let them just rest together.
So I'm pulling my knees toward each other.
And just rest.
Are we feeling it in our psoas right here?
I am.
Go ahead.
Now we're going to get into our oblique.
So we'll switch up the motion a little bit,
Get into the sides of the body.
Let's take our right ankle to the left knee and we're going to take our right left elbow our left hand to our head so my left elbow here is bent right hand is still on the floor take a breath inhale Exhale twist elbow to knee inhale down on the floor again exhale twist Try to get nice and high.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Twist.
Once more,
Inhale.
Exhale,
Twist.
Good.
Switch sides.
Let's put our right foot down left ankle to the knee bend your right elbow so my right elbow is a little chicken wing here Here we go.
Inhale on the ground.
Exhale,
Squeeze elbow to knee.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Squeeze.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Nice twist.
Feel those obliques.
Inhale.
This is our last rising.
Exhale squeeze Good job.
Place your foot down.
Our last little exercise here,
This is really repetitive stuff,
Then we'll get a little more smooth again,
Is bridge pose lifts.
So we've done our abdominals,
We've done our low psoas kind of area,
We've done our obliques.
Now we need to get our low back.
So take the arms back out to a T and put the palms on the floor.
And let's lift the hips.
Roll up.
Inhale.
Squeeze those glutes and low back.
Exhale,
Lower it down.
Inhale lift and squeeze this should feel nice it lengthens the psoas the front of those hips Exhale lower down We're going for five,
So this is three.
Inhale,
We're halfway there.
Exhale lower it back down Here's two.
Inhale,
Lift it up.
Exhale,
Lower it back down.
And your last one.
Inhale,
Lift it up.
Exhale,
Lower it back down.
Nice work.
Bring your knees into your chest.
Either hold on to the knees or the arches of our feet.
And let's do a little happy baby.
Just rock on that sacrum.
It should feel real warm in there.
Into that low back Really nice.
Good now all that hip work that we did earlier we're going to do a lovely stretch for it is one of my favorites so let's take our legs back down and we're gonna cross our right knee over the left.
So I'm sitting with my knees kind of stacked on top of each other.
Now let's pull our legs toward each other if you have a strap you can wrap the strap around your legs if you're able to reach your ankles you can grab each ankle and you can pull toward each other and this is going to feel really nice on that outer right hip nice and deep by the low back the low back area of the right hip.
Near that sacrum space.
I'm just going to squeeze our center.
We're pulling our legs up and in toward our middle.
So it reminds us to engage Uddiyana Bandha again,
Pulling the center navel lock down.
Down toward the spine good now release your legs but keep the crisscross and let's drop the legs over to the left side so I'm going to squeeze my right leg kind of with my left knee and then turn your head over that right arm.
You might bring your palms to the sky now.
Feels nice to relax the chest and shoulder a little bit there.
And just get this nice rejuvenating twist for our center and for this outer right hip.
And the low back too.
We can't ignore that it's going to work on that as well.
Come back to the center.
Unwind your legs.
Nice work let's do the other side cross that left knee over the right Take your straps around your legs and pull toward your chest.
Or if you can grab your ankles.
Grab it and pull Downward we can feel that outer left hip now And that low back is pressing right into the ground.
We're squeezing our center.
So we put that engagement into the core by just kind of squishing everything.
That's so technical we're squishing it Nice.
Release the hold bring your arms out and let your legs fall to the right side Still all criss-crossed.
So that we can get this good engagement in our low back and through this outer left hip.
I like to turn my palms to the sky at this point.
And feel that engagement there.
Good.
Now you might think we're done.
We're not quite.
We have one more warming thing to do because we need to work our way back into that child's pose.
Told us that I wanted us to feel it from the beginning to the end and to see if we noticed anything different So let's just take one more breath right here.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Come back to the center.
Unwind yourself.
Bring your knees into your chest so that you can rock yourself forward.
Can we rock up?
We might need to take a couple of them.
Get a little momentum.
It doesn't matter.
Get yourself up.
And let's bring our legs around.
Come on to your knees and drop your elbows to the mat So my palms are coming toward each other.
My elbows are on the mat.
This may be as far as you want to go,
Especially if your shoulders are feeling tired.
If you're staying right here,
Put a lot of energy into lifting at your center,
Pulling up and in through the center and pushing the ground away.
So if I just let my shoulders relax here,
I'm all relaxed.
I kind of sink into my upper back.
But instead,
If I push the ground away,
I'm going to feel lots of strength.
In between my shoulders This is a great modification for dolphin pose if you do not want to go any higher.
If you want to go higher,
We lift onto our toes and we walk our feet toward our elbows as far as we can go.
Then we feel that on our arms,
If we didn't already.
We feel it in our center.
Our center is warm.
It's engaged.
Nice job now let's walk our feet out to a plank if you're on your knees just go ahead and stay on your knees Walk your feet out to a plank if you were in dolphin with me.
Take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Lower the hips.
And let's take our arms by our sides now everyone please join me on our stomach We're going to do one last back engagement.
Salabhasana.
So our arms are by our sides.
Our legs are extended out.
You can lift just your chest.
Or you can add the legs as well so you choose whatever you do just look to the ground pull your elbows I mean your shoulder blades toward each other Look to the ground so that the neck is not straining.
This is not about the neck.
It's all about that low back.
One more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Come on down.
Use your hand to press yourself up and into child's pose.
So let's let our knees go a little wider than our hips.
And sink back to child's pose.
This signifies the end of the physical stuff,
Right?
We made it back.
We've made it full circle.
Now just take a moment as your breath starts to slow down.
To feel if this is different Are you warmer through your core?
Your shoulders through your back through your So your abdominals.
Are you more connected to your breath?
There less tension in your low back right between your hips I hope that these things are true for you.
Good.
Keep breathing strong and steady.
Take one more breath right here.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Gently lift up and move your way onto your back now if you do have back straining and you're it's tender to lay on your back then elevate your knees put a bolster a blanket blocks underneath your knees whatever you want to do take your arms out by your sides pull those shoulder blades under Close your eyes.
And just let your body and mind relax,
Drift away.
I'll leave you here for a few moments I will wake you up with the sound of the bell so try not to to be you know worried about the time or anything just enjoy the rest Start to wake yourself up.
Rotate through your wrists into our ankles point and flex your feet.
Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your entire body And roll yourself over to one side in fetal pose.
Which signifies starting over.
A reset.
Gently press up to a comfortable seated position.
Back on your bolster again or just crisscross,
Whatever's comfortable.
And we'll bring our hands to heart center.
I'll leave you with a quote by BKS Iyengar.
He's one of the founders of modern day yoga.
He said,
Yoga is like music.
The rhythm of the body,
The melody of the mind,
And the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
