Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 14

Star pose

Instead of starting with our feet together, we’re going to step out to the left and take our feet really wide – and send our arms out wide too, in star pose! Feel your limbs getting longer… Enjoy the sense of expansion and spaciousness in your body! Okay, let’s move straight into our first sequence.

Warrior 2 – rebel warrior – downward dog – child’s pose – RIGHT

We’re coming into warrior 2, so turn your right foot towards the front of your mat and keep your left leg where it is. Now, as you bend your right knee, make sure it stays in line with your right foot – don’t let your knee collapse inward.

Your right arm should be pointing towards the front of the mat – cast your gaze in this direction too. Your left arm is pointing to the back of the mat. Both arms are active – you’re a warrior, remember! Warriors don’t have floppy arms!

From here, we’re going to come into reverse (or ‘rebel’) warrior pose, so keeping your legs exactly as they are, place your left hand on your left leg and bring your right arm up and over, so you feel a stretch through the entire right side of your body.

Check that your front knee is still in line with your toes… And make sure your back leg is straight and strong. If your right shoulder is scrunched up towards your ear, draw your shoulder back and down.

On an inhale, come out of rebel warrior and exhale as you ‘cartwheel’ your hands down to the mat, one hand on either side of your right foot. Step back and ease into downward dog. If you want to stay here, stretching out, you can, or you can drop into child’s pose.

Downward dog – runners lunge RIGHT – twist – wideleg forward fold – halfway lift – wide fold

Come back onto all fours and into downward dog. We’re going into runner’s lunge next, so inhale and lift your right leg behind you… Exhale as you bring your shoulders over your wrists and plant your foot outside of your right hand. The back leg stays straight, or you can drop down onto your knee if that’s too much.

Keep your left hand on the outside of your mat, press into it as you open your chest to the right whilst lifting your right arm up towards the ceiling.

You’re trying to create as much space between your shoulders and across your chest as possible. Your exhales will help you here: when you reach the end of the exhale, see if you can squeeze out a bit more breath and as you do that, draw your right shoulder and ribs up and back a bit more, while you bring the left side of your rib cage further under.

Exhale as you bring your right hand back down and turn to face the mat again.

From here, we go into our wideleg forward fold. So begin straightening your legs as you walk your hands around to your left.

Make sure your feel are parallel with each other, toes pointing straight ahead or turned in slightly. Your hands or fingertips should be shoulder-width apart.

Inhale up halfway and lengthen through your spine. And exhale as you fold back down.

Ninja pose – LEFT TO RIGHT – wideleg forward fold – star pose

From this wideleg position, we’re going into ninja pose – a dynamic posture which really works into the hips and builds core strength.

So, turn your toes out and bend your right knee as you bring your sit bones down towards the right heel. The left leg stays straight and the foot is flexed – toes pointing to the ceiling. You can put your hands in front of you.

Now, we’re going to be moving side to side in this posture and we do that by lifting back up to a wideleg position, and then bending the left knee and bringing the sit bones down to the left heel whilst straightening the right leg – toes turned up, remember.

So one more time lifting up… and then sinking down onto the right heel. Lifting up… and sinking down on the left heel.

If you want to start co-ordinating your movements with your breath, it works best if you inhale on your way up… and exhale as you move down on the other side. Try this at your own speed a few times.

Next time to you come back up to centre, stop there. Bring your toes back in, so they’re pointing straight ahead. Your legs are straight and your hands or fingertips are on the mat, directly beneath your shoulders.

Inhale as you lengthen through your spine. Exhale to forward fold. We’re coming all the way up to star pose next, so bend your knees a little, engage your core muscles, and come all the way up on an inhale, sending your arms up and out as you straighten your legs! All ready to do our opening sequence again, but on the left…

Warrior 2 – rebel warrior – downward dog – LEFT

So this time, turn your left foot towards the back of your mat (for this side of the sequence, the back of the mat is the front!) and keep your right leg where it is. As you bend your left knee, make sure it stays in line with your left foot.

Your arms are parallel with the floor – left arm pointing to the back of the mat, right arm to the front.

Now what often happens is, we put a lot of our weight into the bent leg – and this is usually because we’re reaching too far forward with the left hand. So keep your legs in the same place, but draw your right arm a bit further towards the front of the mat, which will bring your spine up into a vertical position.

From here, we’re going into rebel warrior pose, so place your right hand on your right thigh and sweep your left arm up and over. Keep your shoulder drawn down and look up towards your left arm.

Inhale here… And exhale…

Then on the next inhale, come out of rebel warrior and exhale as you ‘cartwheel’ your hands down to the mat, either side of your left foot. Step your left leg back and ease into downward dog – you’ll be facing the back of your mat now. If you want to stay here, stretching out, you can, or you can drop into child’s pose.

Pigeon pose (or modified box) – downward dog – RIGHT

Come onto your hands and knees and turn around to face the front of the mat again. This is a good time to grab a block, which could come in handy for our next pose, pigeon – especially if you have quite tight hips.

Now lift into downward dog once more. From there, bring your right knee forward and lay your shin, or the outer edge of your calf, on the mat. You can drop your left knee down too and come onto the top of the foot.

For people with really open hips, it’s possible to lay that right shin across the mat, so it’s parallel with top end of your mat. BUT – and this is a really big but – if your hips aren’t open enough, this is going to put a big twist through your knee joint, and you definitely don’t want to do that, unless you enjoy injuries!

So to be on the safe side, try putting your shin at an angle first time round. And flex your right foot, as this will help to protect your knee joint.

Before going further, check in with your hips – they should be level, but it’s very likely that your right hip is moving forward, so draw it back and then begin lowering your sit bones toward the mat, sliding your left leg out along the mat behind you as you do.

Eventually, you’ll be able to bring your right side down all the way, but it might feel like a stretch too far at this stage – if that’s the case, pop your block beneath your right buttock.

Next, slowly walk your hands out in front of you, until you’re resting your forehead on the floor. Again, if that’s uncomfortable – or if you feel too closed up around the front of your body – you can put something beneath your forehead – a block, if you have one free, or just two fists stacked on top of each other.

This is a restorative pose, so allow yourself to melt into the posture. Inhale and bring your awareness to your hips – imagine the breath filling your hips, expanding them, opening them. And then as you exhale, feel the breath leaving your hips – and the surrounding muscles relaxing.

Inhale as you walk your hands back up towards you. Tuck your left toes under so you can lift your hips away from the mat, and step back to downward dog. You might want to bend your knees here, one at a time, to ease out any tension in the hip joints.

Pigeon pose (or modified box) – downward dog – LEFT

Left side now. So bring your left knee forward and lay your shin, or the outer edge of your calf, on the mat – and flex your foot! Then drop your right knee and flip onto the top of the foot.

Remember, before sliding your right leg back and lowering into the pose, make sure your hips are aligned – facing the front of your mat. And if you’re using a block, now’s the time to put it under your left sit bone.

And now, slide your ride leg back and lower yourself down – and enjoy the stretch across the front of the right hip! You should also feel a stretch in the left buttock. That’s what makes this a great pose for runners and cyclists, who use their hip flexors and glutes a lot.

Walk your hands out in front of you, and rest your head on the floor, a block or your two fists, stacked on top of each other.

While you take a few breaths in pigeon pose, pay attention to how the posture feels on this side, compared to the way it felt when you did it on the other side.

Most of us are pretty imbalanced in our anatomy – mainly because of our daily habits and routines (always crossing our legs a certain way, for example, or driving a lot and using the right foot to press down on the accelerator…).

As our yoga practice develops, we become a lot more aware of the way our bodies work, and we can begin to address imbalances by adapting postures or making small adjustments – like using a block for extra support.

Okay, we’re coming out of pigeon now, so inhale as you walk your hands back up towards you. Tuck your right toes under and step back to downward dog. Again, take some movement to release the hips if they’re feeling a bit sore.

And then come down to your knees and we’ll move into our final posture today.

Supine twist (knees together) – RIGHT

You need to be on your back for this, with your arms spread out in a ‘T’ shape – hands in line with your shoulders.

We’re going to be taking a supine or reclining twist, so prop your knees up – heels towards your sit bones. Inhale here, and as you exhale, drop both knees to your right as you turn your gaze towards your left hand.

Let go of any resistance you might be feeling, especially in the outer side of your left hip and in your abdomen. Try to let your knees go as far as they want, and if your lower legs need to spring out of position a bit, let them. Relax your whole body.

After a few breaths, if your left shoulder is lifting away from the mat, you might want to lift your upper back away from the mat slightly and press into your hands as you deepen the twist in your spine – which should help you bring your left shoulder back down.

Bring your gaze back to centre, engage your core and then bring your knees back up. Take a breath or two here, and then repeat your reclining twist on the left.

Supine twist (knees together) – LEFT

Leave your arms where they are. Re-adjust your hips if you feel a bit wonky. Take an inhale, and then exhale as you drop your knees to the left as you turn your gaze to your right hand.

Again, let your body settle… Let go of any resistance holding you out of the posture… And then make any adjustments you need to, to bring your right shoulder down to the mat, if it’s lifting.

Relax here for another few breaths… Then with an inhale bring your gaze up to centre. Exhale. Inhale and lift your knees up to centre. Exhale. Inhale and bring both knees to your chest. Exhale and draw them in close.

Knees to chest – corpse pose

When you’ve stretched out your back enough, drop your feet back onto the mat, slide your legs out (or leave your knees propped up, falling inward so they support each other) and bring your arms a few inches from the sides of your body, palms turned up.

As you rest in corpse pose, notice how open your body feels. Visualise the energy you’ve generated moving around your body. And stay here a little longer, basking in the feeling. You made this happen, after all! See you for more of that next time.