Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 11

Sitting

In today’s yoga session, we’ll be putting together some of the thing you’ve learnt so far, so let’s start in a seated position…

If you can, come into a cross-legged position – ears over your shoulders, shoulders over your hips. The spine is long, the neck is long.

Take a few deep breaths through your nose here – lifting up on the inhales, rooting down on the exhales. There are opposing forces at work here, stretching you out from top to bottom.

Seated twist – RIGHT

Next, we’re going to take a seated twist to our right. So put your left hand on your right knee and put your right hand just behind you. Make sure you’re sitting up straight, because a rounded back will limit the depth of your twist.

On an inhale, lift up ‘out of’ your hips, and as you exhale being to take the twist, gazing towards your right shoulder. Inhale again – nice long spine… And exhale as you very gently pull on your right knee to open your chest further to the right.

Seated twist – LEFT

Back to centre on an inhale… Change your hands – so this time, you’re putting your right hand on your left knee, and your left hand just behind you. Inhale and lift… Exhale and twist… You’ve got it! A couple more breaths here, using this mantra: ‘inhale lift, exhale twist’. Really squeeze the lower abdomen towards the spine at the end of each exhale, to create more room for the twist.

Seated forward fold (legs crossed)

Next inhale, come back to the centre and place your hands in front of you, if you can. You might be able to walk your hands forward – perhaps you can even come all the way down. It’s different for everyone, so try not to judge your ability – just do what’s best for your body right now.

If you can come forward, be sure not to let the hips leave the mat – we want to stretch out the sides of the body. And if you’re looking up and scrunching up the back of your neck, just drop your head a little.

Seated chest expansion

Let’s get that chest opened back up now. So walk your hands back to the centre and take your hands behind you – either interlacing the fingers or, if your shoulders won’t allow that (this is often a problem for people who do a lot of weight training) just place your hands behind you, fingers pointing towards your body.

Then, either roll your shoulder back and lift from your sternum, if you have your hands together, or press your fingertips into the mat and lift your chest, if your hands are on the floor. Take a nice inhale here, feeling the rib cage expand and the chest rise… And Exhale as you release from the pose.

Forward fold – lunge – pyramid – standing splits – RIGHT

Come onto all fours, push back to downward facing dog, and then walk your feet to the front of your mat, and come into a forward fold.

Now plant your hands on the floor and inhale as you step your left leg behind you, into a lunge. Keep your back toes tucked under and lift your left knee away from the mat… Activate your quads by raising your kneecaps, and push back through your heel. You should feel your glutes engaging.

We’re moving into pyramid pose next, so keep your hands on the floor while you bring your back leg in a little, then drop your heel so your foot is flat on the mat. Find an angle that’s comfortable for your foot.

Right foot pointing forward, leg straight – but don’t ‘lock out’ the knee, keep a small bend.  Put your hands on the floor, your shins, on blocks or on your waist… and work here, lengthening through the spine on the inhales, aligning your hips on the exhales…

From pyramid, we’re going into a standing splits pose… So bend your right knee a little more and take your hands to the mat just in front of your foot. Then, before lifting your left leg, bring your hips into alignment – so both are facing forward – and then lift the left leg up. Relax your neck so you can breathe easily…

Coming out of standing splits… lower your left leg and bring your foot alongside your right foot, so you can move into a loose forward fold.

Forward fold – lunge – pyramid – standing splits – LEFT

From forward fold, step your right leg behind you, so you come into a lunge. Keep your hips even by pushing into the left foot to draw the hip back, at the same time as your push into the right heel to bring the right hip forward.

Next posture… pyramid pose. So hands stay on the floor while you bring your right leg in a little, then drop your heel so your foot is flat on the mat.

The left foot is pointing forward… The back foot is at whatever angle allows you to keep your hips aligned and facing the front edge of the mat. You can also step the left foot out a little to help with this.

Take a couple more breaths in pyramid, pressing into the inner edge of the front foot, to help maintain your balance. Find something to focus your gaze on – and keep that gaze point as you work up to standing splits.

Bend your left knee and take your hands to the mat. Check in with your hips – make sure they’re facing the front of the mat and, as you lift your right leg, take care not to lift the hip to help you bring the leg up higher – we want the hips to stay level. And relax your neck – let the weight of your head stretch it out.

Coming out of standing splits… lower your right leg and come into a loose forward fold.

Standing – chair pose – airplane arms – chair – airplane – RIGHT

From forward fold, roll up to a standing position, stacking the vertebrae one at a time…

Then either leave your feet hip-width apart or bring your feet together, before bending your knees and taking them forward as you drop your hips back and down into chair pose.

Place your hands in prayer position in front of your chest, or take your arms out in front of you, palms facing inward. Keep them straight and reach as high as you can without bringing your shoulders up to your ears – keep those shoulder blades down…

If you don’t have a lot of flexibility in your shoulder joint and reaching high isn’t possible just yet, you can bring your arms lower, or even put your hands on your hips.

One more inhale in this position, and then with an exhale, keep your knees bent as you sweep your arms down by the sides of the body and back, into airplane. Your palms are facing the mat, and you’re drawing the shoulder blades together, so you can really lift the front of the body.

With the next inhale, come all the way up to standing, bringing your arms over head – and keep your arms up while you have a good full body shake-out!

Now come back into chair, before taking your arms back into airplane…

Now bring your right knee to your chest, before slowly extending the leg behind you as you begin to straighten your standing leg and take your chest forward. Try to keep your hips level as you do this… Press back through the right heel at the same time as you draw forward with the head and chest.

And release from the pose, bringing your feet together in a standing position.

Standing – chair pose – airplane arms – chair – airplane – LEFT

Now for the other side… So again, either with feet apart or together, bring your arms up as you move your knees forward and take your hips back and down into chair pose.

There should be an equal amount of weight at the front and the back of the posture, so experiment with the positioning of your knees and hips until your feel the weight moving down through the centre of the posture.

One more inhale in this position, and then with an exhale, keep your knees bent as you sweep your arms down by the sides of the body and back, into airplane. Now as you do this, it’s possible that your gaze has lifted towards the ceiling – if that’s happened, lower your gaze a little to release the back of the neck.

With the next inhale, come all the way up to standing, bringing your arms over head – and then shake out your whole body.

When you’re ready, come back into chair, before taking your arms back into airplane – palms face down…

And now bring your left knee to your chest – this should feel like a crunch, mainly because it IS a kind of abdominal crunch! And we’re going to use that core strength to maintain stability in the pose as we extend the left leg behind us, into full airplane pose.

Keep lengthening through the body – all the way from the heel of the left foot to the crown of the head. This will also allow the breath to flow more easily… One more inhale here…

And release from the pose, bringing your feet together in a standing position. Now have a good shake-out!

You’ve worked on some strong postures today, really working your legs and core, congratulations for sticking with it! See you next time.