Yoga in Practice

Support for Yoga in Practice is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina. Welcome to Yoga in Practice. My name is Stacy and I will be your teacher. Please close your eyes and breathe deeply. There is a beautiful image from India of Shiva in the dance of bliss called the Ananda Tandava. This dance demonstrates the cycle of life in all its beauty challenges and mystery in this form Shiva is ecstatically dancing and yet his gaze remained steady. He also holds a raised hand with the palm facing forward. This hand gesture or mudra means fear not and encourages confidence. It reminds us to dance with life how ever it may unfold. Please open your eyes slowly. Practicing with us today are Kathy and Heather. Let's begin on our hands and knees Take a deep breath to settle. Spread your knees apart, and sweep your feet together then shift backed into child's pose. Bow forward. And as you bow forward resting your head either on your mat or on your crossed arms, breathe fully into your back here. As you send the hips back in wide direct the breath into the fullness of your backs, you feel this opening and the breath starts to dance with you as we begin to move. Inhale. Shift into table position and bring your knees beneath your hips but keep the tops of your feet flat. Let's move rhythmically with our breath now. Exhale. Sit back on your heels, stretching the arms forward and then inhale, shift to table. Exhale. Lean forward, lowering your thighs, your hips, your abdomen and then lift the shoulders and roll to cobra. Roll back down. Touch your head. And shift to table. Let's do that twice more. Exhale. Sit back. Inhale. Table. Exhale to a push up. Inhale. Cobra. Roll down. Exhale. Table. Inhale. Once more. Exhale. Shift back. Inhale. Lean forward. Exhale to a push up. Just warming up our spine. Inhale. Roll to cobra and then roll down, tap your head and shift to table. Hold table pose. Tuck your toes and adjust your hands if necessary. Make sure your hands and arms feel strong. In integrating your shoulders onto your back Please raise them to downward facing dog. You may need to adjust your stance slightly from table, making sure your stance is long enough. Bend your knees forward slightly and lift upward through the hips Keeping the lift of your hip, stretch back through your legs. Pressing the hands forward, find that extension. And then walk forward into Uttanasana. Place your feet a little wider than your hips and join your hands around your back interlocking the fingers and raise the arms up. As you exhale fold forward. Release the weight of your head, and work on lifting the front of your chest up, opening the back and pressing from the hips down through the heels. Watch that you're not over extending your elbows. So you may want to soften your elbows a little bit if you're naturally quite flexible. Breathe deeply. And then exhale. Release your hands and touch the floor. On your inhale, lift halfway forward, extend out. and bend your knees into a squat. Cup your knee caps with your hands and lift the front of your chest, roll the shoulders back. Now let's add pelvic motion, pelvic tilts. As you exhale scoop around in, in then inhale and arch. Exhale. Tuck. Inhale. Two more. Exhale round. Inhale. And the last one. Exhale. Tuck and round. Inhale, look up. push through the legs and lift to mountain pose. Keep the hands down and stand well. Please shake out your hands. Keep your hands shaking and raise them up over your head. And then fold forward. Exhale, touch the floor. Lean forward, so your hips are above your heels and you feel a deeper stretch through the backs of your legs. You can always place your hands up on blocks in these forward folds. That's completely fine. or bend the knees if necessary. It's a process. It's a movement towards something we are going to. With your hands next to your feet, step your left leg back and lunge. Adjust the stance. Now we're focusing on the back leg here. So come up and rest your hands on the front of your thigh for support. You could also do this kneeling if necessary but lifting the back leg firmly up. Try to take the bend out of the knee so you feel the stretch of the thigh all the way into the hip and maybe into the lower abdomen. Now turn your left foot, your back foot down sideways and line up your feet with each other stay low in your lunge and then rise up into Warrior two. Taking your right arm in front, your left arm behind. Stack your shoulders, even with each other and balance your hips. Take a deep breath and just stay rooted. The eyes steady in the dance. And then bring your left hand forward, touch the floor both hands, downward facing dog. Step back. Hold your downward dog. Bend your elbows a few inches out to the side. Hug your shoulder blades, towards your spine. And then keeping that slowly re-extend your arms. And from your upper back, stretch out toward your fingers, lengthening the muscles underneath your shoulder blades. Inhale. Plank pose. Exhale to a push up. You can lower the knees down. Lift the shoulders. Inhale. Cobra. And then exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale. Raise your left leg. And step it forward to a lunge. In stepping forward you may have to take a few more shorter steps to get far enough forward. Come up and pause. Lifting through the waist, pull back through the right leg. Lifting the right thigh and extending through the right heel. rise through the crown of your head. Now staying grounded through your feet, spin your right heel down sideways and line up your feet. Warrior two. Inhale. Enjoy the breath Keep the breath flowing and have this confidence in this stance. Feeling strong in yourself fear not And now bring your hands forward. Touch the mat. Inhale. Step up to the front of your mat Bend over. Lift halfway Bring your hands to your hip bones and raise your shoulders onto your back. Inhale. Rise to standing. Release your arms. Good. Let's come into a thigh stretch. So standing on your left foot, ground your left foot make sure the toes are spreading. And take your right foot, tap that behind you. And then what we're gonna do is just lift the heel a few times, like flick it up to the back of your hips. And try to touch the foot with your hand and now hold the right foot. Bring your knees together. You could also place your hand on the back of a chair, a sofa, against a wall. Squeeze the knees in and scoop your tailbone. Now rising up, hold this. Breathe use your other arm for balance as necessary. You want to feel this through the front of your thigh. So the way that you scoop your tailbone is going to help. Exhale. Release the foot down mountain pose. Shift your weight onto your right foot, flicking your left foot up a few times. Just tap. I promise the foot is back there. And then grab the foot and hold it. Once you have your foot, bring your knees together, tuck your tailbone under and lift. Hold that tuck. Keep the knees parallel with one another and just breathe into your left thigh, maintaining your balance. Then as you exhale, step down, release the foot, mountain pose. Shift your weight again, Good. Please raise your right leg, bringing the knee to your chest. Now push your knee into your hands and your standing leg press it backward a little bit, lifting through the chest. Shift your grip around the right hamstring and interlock your fingers. Now simply push the leg down find a hold here if this balance is challenging for you. Or stretch the foot forward, spread your toes. Stretching into the hamstrings, so from your right buttock through you're right heel. Breathe. And then bend the knee and step down. Mountain pose. Shift. Standing on your right foot please raise your left knee up. Holding the knee Keep your eye steady, that's the whole thing about the dance. You may be moving but the eyes still never move. So push the left shin forward into your hands. Press your right leg back. Stand tall. now interlace your fingers around the left hamstring, pushing the leg down toward the floor. The more you root your leg into your hands, the more extension you'll get through the foot. and then exhale release. Step down, mountain pose, pause. Look down at your feet and squat. Slide your hands down your legs. Lift your arms out to the side bending your elbows. Now keep your elbows in line with the side of your body and then draw your shoulder blades closer together and hold that. Inhale. Stretch the arms up Exhale. Pull back. Engage. Inhale. Stretch up. Exhale. Pull down. Engage. Inhale and exhale. Bend forward. Uttanasana. Pause. Release the head. From your hips press down the legs and feel your spine cascading downward. With your hands beside your feet please step back to downward facing dog. Lower your knees. Table. Raise your right leg. Spread the toes. Raise your left arm. And breathe. Snowbird. It's fine to pause here or bending your right knee, sweep your left hand around behind you and once again find the foot and once you have the foot, press the foot backward and then begin to lift the foot and the thigh up. Feel movement here in the upper spine, a back bend that has an elegance to it. Exhale. Release. Move through snowbird, try to move gracefully in the dance and then exhale touch back down. Take a breath. Second side. Please raise your left leg, and your right arm and breathe. And then sweep around behind hold the inner edge of the foot. Kick the leg back and up. In this pose the lifted leg will tend to splay wide. So hug the left knee in and hold on to that center hold onto the focus. And then as you exhale release out through Snowbird posts And then back to table. And shift to child's pose. Sweep your feet together. Open your legs and bow. Enjoy your breath. And keep in mind just even in the wildness of the dance that there is a steadiness within. The idea of fearing not. So hold on to that inner confidence. Bring it with you today and then inhale. Come back up into table pose. Shift to downward facing dog. Draw your shoulder blades onto your back. And from the upper back stretch to your fingers. From your upper back, stretch out through the hips and through the feet. Inhale. Raise your right leg. Exhale. Step to a lunge. This can be done kneeling Inhale. Raise your arms, a high lunge, pulling up. Remember the back leg holding steady. And then sweep your hands forward bring them to the mat. And then step forward partially and shift your hands further in front of you. Please raise your left leg. Now this pose can be done with your hands up on blocks. It is a half standing split and you will be feeling your standing hamstring. Try to keep your hips balanced and parallel with each other. Stretching out, extend and now tap your left foot down. Just touch the top of the foot. And then inhale. Raise the leg back up. Exhale. Tap down. Inhale, lift. Exhale. tap back down. Inhale. Lift it up. Extend forward and slowly bend your right knee. Step back. Lunge. Inhale, raise up. You can do it kneeling again. Breathing here keeping the back leg steady. And then exhale bring your hands to the mat. Downward dog. Step back. Enjoy the breath. Draw in, extend out. The dance is the pulse. On the inhale, please raise your left leg. Exhale. Step the left foot forward. Keep the knee above the heel. And then inhale rise up high lunge, lifting your arms over your shoulders. Press up. Now if you need more balance, You could also keep your hands on your legs or even do it kneeling. Staying strong, sweep forward. Bow forward. Bring your hands in front of you. Now pushing off, walk your hands up underneath your shoulders or put em up on a block and point your toes. Keep your hips level. That's how you'll feel the hamstring and then tap down. And raise up, and down, and up. One more time down lift the leg parallel. Slowly bend your front knee. Walk the hands back and step to a lunge. Inhale, raise your arms. Pull up. Exhale, touch the mat. Downward facing dog. Hold and breath. Enjoy your breath. From the upper back, stretching down through the hands, but also extending up through your hips. Inhale, to plank pose. Now you can hold here like Kathy is demonstrating or with the breath, move into vinyasa. Come into a pushup. Lift forward into cobra and then everyone downward dog so we all are in the same pose here. Stretch back. Enjoy your breath. Please walk forward, all the way up to the front of your mat. Inhale, lifting halfway. Bring your hands to your hips and integrate your shoulders onto your back. Please rise to mountain pose. Release the hands. Look down. Make sure your feet are parallel. Let's move into the apex pose of this class Natarajasana nights called baby dancer. So you may want to move a chair in front of you. You can also move to a wall. And sometimes if you're on a very thick mat stepping onto a harder floor can also help with the balance. Standing on your right foot, ground. Lift the heart. And reaching back with your left hand, raise the left heel to your hip. Pulling the heel in, hug the legs together and bring your arm forward. Now that arm can go on to the chair on to the wall. Stretching out, kick your foot backward into your hand and just like we did earlier in the Ardha Dhanurasana pose, lift your thigh up. Now holding, lifting through the chest, if you can, start to extend forward, holding the back bend. Keep your eyes steady. And then inhale. Rise up. Exhale. Step down. Balancing poses are never easy. So know the dance. Fear not stand on your left foot bring your right heel up find the foot Pause. Get steady. Don't move too quickly. And then raising your left hand forward onto a chair, a wall reach it forward. Take your foot back. Hold on, squeeze the leg in toward the middle of your body as you lift your thigh higher and higher, lifting up through your arm. Enjoy your breathing pulling up. And then inhale, raise up. Mountain pose. Step down. Clear your chair if you've used one. Close your eyes and hold mountain. Deepen your breath. Please sit down. Open your eyes. Once you're on your mats, sitting down, you may want to sit up on a blanket. You can fold the blanket once, twice. Use two blankets if you need to. The rule of thumb is if your knees sit higher than your hip bones it's a good idea to prop yourself up to maintain good alignment in your lower spine. So with your right shin forward, press your shins against each other. And holding on to the front of your knees, lift up. Join your hands together at your heart. And then inhale. Raise the arms up, keeping your palms together. Exhale, open your arms up wide. Inhale, pull them back in. Exhale, settle. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, wide. Hands to your heart. Breathe out. Again, inhale. Exhale. Hands to the heart. Release. Place both hands on your legs. Once again refresh the curves of your back and position your right hand around your left knee cap. Bringing your left finger tips behind you pretty close to the back of your hips, pull up and then begin the twists right at the pelvic floor, across the abdomen, into the waist and finally turning through the heads. Keep in mind, the back of your body where the kidneys are. Breathe into that with a nice fullness. And then inhale, release forward. Change the cross of your legs. Hold on to your knee caps and rise up. And now taking your left hand across to your right knee, your right hand behind you, push down, rise up and begin the rotation. The hips do not twist with you just your waist, your spine, your shoulders and then finally the head. And as you turn your head looking over the right shoulder relax the gaze so your eyes your gaze is resting down more toward the top of your cheek bones, more toward the tip of your nose. Keep breathing into the back body where your kidneys are. This is also where the adrenal glands sit. So if we keep a fullness, a spaciousness in our back body, we'll help keep us centered and calm. Inhale. Release forward. And pause. Good. please stretch your legs out in front of you. Let's do a seated forward fold. So stay up on the blanket if you're using one and grab a strap if you need to. I invite you to adjust the hip underneath you wide. And then bring your hands down. Press your legs strongly flat, so the back of the legs are resting as flush to your mat as possible. Arch in with the lower back and then hinge forward. Now hinging forward may only go a few inches. If you're using a strap, place it across the ball of your feet and hold on to the strap in resist against the straps so you keep a lift through the sides of your body a length of your spine. Go as far, as deep as you are able to, but just take the time Forward folds are beautiful postures they help us to look within. Stretching out. If you're holding your feet, I invite you to bend your elbows. And raising the elbows up, lifting the arm pits up, please draw your shoulder blades closer again and then it's with the shoulder blade that you can elongate even more forward. This pose is stretching you from the back of your heels all the way up the back of your legs through the crown of your head. Inhale, rise up. Bend your knees. And holding onto your legs, roll down onto your backs. Take your time. Once you've rolled all the way down, clearing the blankets any other props you've brought with you, hug your knees into your chest. Just press your back into the mat for a moment and rock side to side. And then plant your feet on the mat. Join your feet together and spread your knees apart. Rest your hands across your abdomen and find the yoga not only through the body but including the face. Our yoga practice prepares us for what life may hold. The dance. And can we shift our perspective that it is a dance of bliss, even in the challenges, even in the mystery? As you inhale bring both legs back up together. Hug your knees once again into your chest. Take a deep breath and settle across the waistline Now keeping your right leg up into your chest, extend left leg all the way down onto the floor. Point your toes. You can move your ankles a few times. And then change legs. So bringing your left knee and then extending your right leg, reach it out. Point your toes. Maybe move your ankles. And then extending both of your legs on to the floor. And extending your arms over your head, extended mountain pose. Take a deep breath in. Stretch out through your arms, point your toes and then exhale. Let it all go. Inhale. Length and pull out through your arms, point through your toes. Exhale let it go. And once more inhale stretch out. And exhale. Release your arms down beside your body go ahead shake your legs out deeply. Bring your arms down and shake them out. Soften. Martha Graham said 'There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost. Remain in Shavasana for as long as your mind and body desire. When you are ready though bend your knees Roll to your right side, press down with your hands, lift up to seated. And adjust the seat. With your eyes closed fold your hands to your heart to honor your practice. Thanks for joining us today. Namaste Support for Yoga in Practice is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina. to purchase Yoga in Practice on DVD order online at shopSCETV.org Thanks for your support of public television.