Yoga in Practice

music Support for Yoga In Practice is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

Welcome to Yoga In Practice.

I'm Stacy Millner-Collins.

Joining us for class today are Eric and Lauren.

Please take a steady seat.

Enjoy the movement of your breath.

Close your eyes to feel more connected to yourself, and to simply pause.

There is a saying, yoga makes the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy, elegant.

Hearing these words, we are reminded that yoga, like life is a process of refining and evolving.

It is in the small acts of change that we commit to each day that shift our mind our vision and our health.

When you are on your mat, you have ample opportunity to try the possible and to make the easy elegant.

One of my favorite mantras is I like who I become when I try.

So ask yourself, what things can you commit to today that support the easy you may need.

Slowly open your eyes.

You will need a blanket and a block for class today.

Please come to standing at the front of your mat.

Plant your feet.

Make a good solid foundation.

Shake out your hands, roll your shoulders back, and now lifting from inside.

As you inhale, raise your arms out to the side, lift them overhead and when you exhale, float the arms back down.

Let's do that twice more.

Inhale (deep breath) and exhale.

(deep breath) One more time, inhale.

And then exhale.

(deep breath) Inhale, raise your arms one more time.

And this time, interlace your fingers above your head, rotating your palms toward the ceiling.

Exhale.

Lower your arms forward, and once your arms are forward, push out through your arms.

Gently lower your chin to broaden the space between your shoulder blades and to open your mid and your upper back.

Now unlock your fingers as you do so inhale, look up and sweep your arms behind you.

And then round forward.

(deep breath) Inhale open.

Exhale round.

(deep breath) Inhale open.

(deep breath) Exhale, round.

(deep breath) Inhale, raise your arms over your head and bend over exhale, taking a forward fold.

Please lift halfway, inhale, lengthening your spine.

And then exhale, and fold.

(deep breath) Inhale, rise to standing coming up.

And then exhale.

Move through a squat.

Just bend your knees, sit back, putting the weight back towards your heels and back towards your hips.

Turn your palms forward and bend your elbows down alongside your waist.

Holding your arms in place, squeeze your shoulder blades towards your spine to engage your upper back.

Now remain in your squat.

With your inhale, sweep your arms back up, stretching through the shoulders, (deep breath) and then pull back down.

Exhale.

(deep breath) Inhale, pull open.

(deep breath) And exhale down.

(deep breath) Inhale, lift.

(deep breath) One more time, squeezing in.

(deep breath) Inhale, rise up to Mountain pose, arms over your head.

Keep your arms over your head.

Just pull up.

Enjoy as you stretch up through the arms, relax the places where you may feel tight and tense, and try to make this easy just as you hold a good strong posture.

With your next exhale, please fold forward taking uttanasana.

Stepping your left foot back into a lunge.

Stay lifted to your fingertips and you can also do this kneeling if that's better.

Extend out and then inhale, stretch your right leg into a straighter position.

As you exhale, move forward through the lunge.

Inhale stretch.

(deep breath) Exhale forward.

Once again, inhale (deep breath) and exhale.

Good.

Step up with your left foot.

Take a breath.

Fold over your legs and lengthen down.

To make this a little easier, it's fine to bend your knees.

Change sides, taking your right leg back to the lunge.

Good.

As you inhale, stretch the left leg.

Now you may be tight through that hamstring.

just do this as well as you can.

Lunge forward.

(deep breath) Inhale.

(deep breath) Exhale.

(deep breath) Inhale.

(deep breath) And exhale.

Plant your hands.

Take downward dog.

(deep breath) Good.

We move to downward dog so often during a full sequence class.

So it is the possible and try to make this possible easy.

And then as you soften into your pose, from the easy, make it more elegant.

Notice the refinement of your hands, the breath, the softening of your upper back and the lengthening through your spine.

Inhale to a plank pose.

Push down through the hands.

Stretch your elbows.

Line up your hips, your shoulders with the back of your head.

And now inhale, stretch back through downward dog, and we'll move between these two poses a few more times.

So with your inhale, come to plank, grounding, strengthening.

Exhale back through Downward Dog.

Inhale forward to plank.

(deep breath) Exhale to down dog.

(deep breath) Inhale to plank one more time.

Last downward dog.

Go back.

Good.

Now pause in your plank, feeling the strength of your arms and then move through a push up.

It's fine to lower your knees or go straight down.

And then lift to cobra pose.

Just open up.

Maybe you're going to stay a little lower, making this easy, elegant, or finding the possible and making it a little easier.

Good, Please lie down.

Once you're all the way down, walk your hands forward, staying up on your fingertips.

Walk the hands even further in front of you, just stretching through the sides of your waist lengthening your spine.

Pull your legs back a little bit longer and breathe.

(deep breath) Good.

Now walk your hands back in line with your mat next to your side chest but the hands are off the floor.

Please stay lifted to your fingertips.

Raise the head of both of your arms up.

Engage the upper back like you felt in the squat, and then lift your chest fingertip Cobra.

Extend.

Slide your throat back.

Slide the head back.

Now push through your spine, and then exhale and release all the way down, bringing your hands next to your upper chest.

Inhale, lift to Cobra from here, using your hands more actively.

Pull up.

Pressing down through your hands, pull your hands back towards your hips.

And then guiding the front of your shoulders back.

Soften.

Good.

Exhale, roll down.

Push to table position, hands and knees, and then cat and cow pose.

Inhale look up.

(deep breath) Exhale, round to cat.

Inhale, forward.

Look up.

(deep breath) Exhale and round.

(deep breath) One more time.

Inhale.

(deep breath) Exhale.

Look forward to maintain the curve in your lower back and lift into Downward Dog.

So just like a standing forward fold, maybe finding this pose a little easier by bending your knees if you need to.

With your inhale, please raise your right leg off the mat.

With the exhale, pull the knee towards your nose and round in.

Inhale, sweep back.

Exhale forward.

Inhale backward.

Exhale.

Just feel the breath moving.

One more time, sweep the leg back, and now look between your hands and step up to a lunge.

You may need to take more than one step and you can also lower your back knee for kneeling.

Inhale, lift your arms.

Raise up.

So this is a high lunge.

Keeping the back heel raised helps your hips stay more in line, but to challenge yourself here, finding what may be impossible more possible.

Turn your back heel down.

Keep your arms raised.

Look up.

This is warrior one pose.

Join your hands above your head.

Stretch up through your arms and turning the hips, the ribs and the chest forward.

Lean back.

The weight is in your back leg.

Exhale.

Take your hands to the mat.

Pivot that back heel up and step to downward dog.

(deep breath) Take a deep breath, (deep breath) stretching out through the body, reaching down through your feet.

Inhale.

Lift your left leg.

(deep breath) Exhale.

Pull the knee towards your nose.

Inhale.

Take it back.

And you can also do this kneeling, round in.

Inhale, back.

(deep breath) Exhale.

(deep breath) One more time.

Inhale, take it back.

(deep breath) And now look up between your hands and step your left foot forward.

Raise your arms.

Come up, high lunge.

So you can stay here, working on the alignment of your hips, or take your right heel, turn the foot down flat.

Continue to turn your hips as far forward as you can, your ribs.

Look up to your hands, fingertips touching or you can interlace your fingers, just curling back.

So this pose is a wonderful posture for opening up the hips and the low back.

So feel that.

On your exhale, bring your hands to the mat.

Come down to plank pose, step back.

Pause.

Exhale through a push up.

(deep breath) and lie down.

Good.

Resting your forehead on the mat.

Sweep your arms beside your hips.

Shrug your shoulders towards your ears.

Pick your shoulders up.

Feel the upper back.

Good.

Now, lift your upper body, and if you want a little bit deeper, you can clasp your hands around your back, lifting.

Now also raise your legs.

So this is a shoulder extension, with the arms behind you.

Try to hug in.

Breathe and, lengthen through the back of your neck through the crown of your head.

On your exhale, come down.

(deep breath) Release your hands and move your left arm in front of your body.

Taking your right hand back, hold the foot bringing the heel into your hip, the hip up to the heel.

Tuck your tailbone.

Now you could modify this pose as well, by just going on your side.

It's a little bit easier since your whole front body is not on the ground.

Shoulders back, elbow up.

If you want to challenge yourself, come up a little higher on your left hand.

Breathe and then exhale, release.

Let's do the second side.

So shift your right arm in front of you.

Reach around for that left foot.

Hold on to the foot.

Press the knee.

Tuck your hips.

Look forward.

Come up a little higher if that's possible for you.

Head back.

Shoulders back.

Good, and with your exhale, lower down.

Release.

Press to child's pose.

Push up.

(deep breath) Open your knees apart.

Sit back on your heels.

Bow.

(deep breaths) With your inhale, lift your chest come up to seated.

We'll be using a blanket for the next two poses.

So I invite you to grab your blanket.

If you don't have a blanket, you can always use a thick towel instead.

Take your blanket and turn it to a longer edge approximately two, three feet long.

Roll the edge up, so you're going to make a tight bolster.

Once you've made that tight bolster with the blanket, place it on the half of your mat midway down, we're going to rest on this bolster with our hips.

So I want you to lean forward, adjust yourself so that the top of your thighs are resting across the blanket.

Good.

Pick up your legs, lengthen them behind you and lower your chest to the floor.

Bow pose.

So we're going to bend the knees.

Reach back, find the feet.

Once you have your feet, spread your toes, lift your shoulders and kick your feet backwards.

Now once your feet go back as far as you can get them, lift your thighs with the bolster under your hips, the fulcrum so to speak, you're going to get more lift here through your lower body.

So pulling up, up, up, hug in with your legs, keep your chest lifted, and then release.

Good, lower the feet.

Push up and shift your blanket farther forward.

So you're going to shift it forward, maybe about five, six inches so that the blanket is now resting across your solar plexus sort of right below your sternum.

Lie down once again, we'll do bow pose second one, and once you go down, breathe.

Hopefully you haven't had a large meal.

Just wiggle yourself into a decently comfortable position.

And then bend your knees.

Reach back.

Hold your feet.

Once you have your feet, spread your toes.

Pull the shoulders back and kick the shins back.

Now raise your thighs.

So with the bolster more forward this time you're going to get more lift in your upper body.

Focus on that.

Hug in and then release down.

Good work.

Release your feet.

Press yourself up and clear your blankets.

Good.

Come to Child's Pose.

Bow down.

Use Child's Pose here just to move your back a little bit.

So, it's fine to rock side to side.

You can also stack your fists and support your forehead on your arms.

Breathe.

Good.

On your inhale.

Bring your hands forward, table position.

Take a breath.

Please check your hands.

Are they well lined up?

Are you breathing?

Are you enjoying the breath.

Tuck your toes under.

Look up.

Downward dog.

Inhale, raise the right leg.

Pull the knee forward again.

(deep breath) Take it back.

Inhale.

(deep breath) Pull it forward.

Exhale.

(deep breath) Inhale.

Exhale.

(deep breath) One more.

Pull up, and step to a lunge.

Again, help yourself forward.

Walk your hands out in front of you.

Inhale, push off and raise your left leg.

Good.

extend forward, point your left ankle and firm your right leg.

Now tap the left foot straight down onto your mat and raise it up.

Tap down and up.

Down.

So you're just really isolating motion through your hip and low belly.

And one more time.

Tap down.

Lift up.

Good.

Walk your hands alongside your front foot.

Bend your knee.

Slowly, gracefully the elegant.

Step it back, and now take downward dog.

Push out.

Second side.

Raise your left leg.

Exhale, pull forward.

Inhale back so you could do this kneeling.

And exhale forward.

(deep breath) Inhale back.

(deep breath) Exhale forward.

(deep breath) And last one, inhale.

(deep breath) And then step to a lunge.

Good.

Walk your hands out in front of you.

Lift your right leg.

Strengthen your belly.

Balance your hip above your heel.

Extend through the neck and tap your toe down.

Inhale (deep breath) and up.

(deep breath) Down and up.

Breathe and up.

And once more.

Pull it up.

Good.

Walk your hands back.

Gracefully.

Step back slowly and take downward dog.

(deep breaths) Find that natural curve through the low back, engaging your shoulder blades.

Lengthen.

Good.

Now back out of your downward dog slightly by lifting your chest forward, pulling the arms forward.

Please bend your elbows.

Draw your shoulder blades toward your spine and lower your right forearm to the mat.

And then your left forearm down.

Look up.

So your forearms are parallel with each other.

Make sure your hands didn't slide closer together.

And as you gaze up towards your thumbs, draw your upper arms forward, but lean your chest back toward your legs.

Head up.

Good.

And on your exhale, lower your knees.

Inhale, lift your chest, and now we'll use a block.

So I invite you to take your block, turn it to its low point and you're going to hold the edge of the block with your hands.

So again, place it forward.

Squeezing the block is going to help you to engage your arm muscles, your biceps particularly.

So walk your knees back.

Make sure your wrists and your forearms are pressing down.

Draw your shoulders forward.

Lift your chin.

Look forward, and now raise your knees.

Come up.

Continue to look up and move your shoulders toward the block but move your chest back towards your legs.

Again, you could bend both of the knees if you want here.

You could even just do this kneeling.

It's much more about getting into your upper back, your shoulder girdle.

Breathe.

Squeeze the block.

Make sure your wrists stay down.

and then lower your knees to the floor.

Continue to hold your block.

Flatten your feet.

Open your knees for Child's Pose.

Sit back and as you hold the block, raise the block above your head, squeezing it between your hands.

(deep breaths) Good.

Lower the block.

Inhale.

Raise to seated.

Good.

Sit on your mat, cross legged.

So we call this cross legged pose, sukhasana.

The word suka means sweetness or nectar.

So enjoy your seat.

Take your right hand across to your left knee.

Hold on.

Take your right hand behind your hips and turn from the belly.

Turn from the waist.

Turn through your shoulders.

Look over your back shoulder.

Now, maintain the twist, but turn your head and look over the front shoulder.

Breathe deeply here.

Feel that uprising lift through your spine and make it elegant.

Soften some of your effort.

Inhale forward.

Release.

Second side, take your left hand across to your knee.

Reach your right hand behind you.

Pull up and rotate to the right.

Turn across the chest.

Look over your shoulder, and now turn your head and look across the front shoulder.

Breathe.

(deep breath) As you inhale, release.

Good.

Stretching your legs out in front of you with your knees bent, plant your feet.

Take your hands behind you with your fingertips pointed to the back of your mat.

The key here is not to have your hands too close together.

So make sure they're wide enough.

Now lift the chest, the heart open.

Roll your shoulders back.

Feel that expansion.

Pressing firmly through your feet.

Inhale, raise your hips.

(deep breath) Try to lift your hips as high as your chest, getting the head back without dropping your head completely back.

Just making this connection into the back body.

And then exhale, lower your hips.

Good.

Holding on to the backs of your legs.

Have your block nearby.

And I'd like you to lie down.

Good.

Make sure your head is on your mat and draw both of your knees into your body.

Hold on to your legs.

Take a full breath into your back.

Rock a little bit side to side if that feels appropriate.

And now lower your feet to the mat.

This is where the block will come in.

We're going to do bridge pose with the support of the block underneath your pelvis.

So place your feet a little wider than your hips.

Bring your elbows down beside your waist.

Roll the shoulders up to your ears and take them back so you feel this wonderful, opening along your chest and you feel more flexibility come to your upper spine.

Using your block, take it to its mid point.

If you need to, it can stay on the low point.

Inhale.

Lift your hips and slide that block directly underneath your pelvis.

Not on your spine.

The knees over your heels, use your elbows against the floor and get even more opening in the chest.

Good.

Now you can stay here just letting your hips settle.

If you feel this in your lower back, draw your ribs down, scoop your tailbone.

We'll transition this into a one legged bridge pose.

So bringing your left leg in, raise the foot.

Good.

Make sure the block is well positioned.

So if you need to adjust a little bit, do that.

And now bring your right leg in and stretch the foot up.

Good.

Join your feet together.

Lower your arms.

Pull up through your chest.

This is a supported shoulder stand.

So please make sure that your neck is not flattening down into the floor, that you're really feeling engagement in your upper back.

On your exhale, lower your knees one at a time.

Plant the feet, and then inhale.

Slide the block out from underneath you.

Clear your block.

Lower your hips.

Join your feet together.

Open your knees.

Rest your hands, and then simply soften.

I invite you to close your eyes here at this point of the pose.

(deep breaths) Reclined bound angle.

Good.

Now slide your feet out to the corners of the mat and shake your legs.

Sweep your arms out away from your body and just gently wiggle your fingers.

Close your eyes.

Enjoy your breath.

music Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

We are the change that we seek.

So I encourage you to stay here in this pose for as long as you may want or you may need today.

When you are ready to come to seated just move slowly, intentionally.

Move your toes, your fingers, bend your knees and roll to your right side.

Using the strength of your arms, push your hands into the floor and press yourself up to seated.

Please sit well and fold your hands to your heart.

May you like who you become today when you try.

Thank you for joining us.

Namaste.

Support for Yoga In Practice is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

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