Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 16

Standing – wide leg mountain arms raised – squat hand in prayer x 3

Starting in a standing position, with your feet as wide as the mat, toes pointing outwards…lift your arms over head on an inhale.

As you exhale, bring your hands into prayer position in front of your chest and continue to move down into a squat.

Inhale, stand up and shoot your fingers tips up to the sky… and exhale to a squat, hands in front of your chest.

Repeat three more times, co-ordinating your breath with the movement – inhaling up… exhaling down…

On the final exhale, stay in your squat and bring your elbows in front of your knees (hands still in prayer position) and gently push your knees back at the same time as you lift your chest.

Okay, we’re all set…

Downward dog

So place your hands in front of you, shoulder-width apart, lift your hips up and walk your feet back, into downward facing dog.

Once you’re there, you can bring a bit of movement into the posture… You might want to ‘peddle’ your feet, bending one knee and lifting the heel, as you simultaneously stretch and straighten the leg on the other side. Keep swapping sides until your calves feel softer.

We can also begin to lengthen the hamstrings here… So lift your heels up and bend your knees a little, then lift your hips up even higher. Push into your hands, stretch out the sides of your body – taking care not to let the shoulders ride up to the ears.

And then see if you can straighten your legs without altering the length and shape of your spine. Stay here for a couple more breaths – dropping your head if the back of your neck is tight.

Table top

Come onto all fours and check the positioning of your hands and knees – wrists under shoulders, knees under hips. Visualise an actual and you get the idea!

Spread your fingers, so your hands are ‘rooted’ to the mat.

You can have your toes tucked under, or you can place the tops of your feet flat on the mat – whichever feels most comfortable for you.

Next, bring your spine into a neutral position, and make sure there’s no tension in your neck. Breathe in through your nose… And breathe out through your mouth.

Now we’re ready to do a couple of rounds of cat-cow, to warm up the spine. So as you inhale, drop your belly and lift your gaze… And as you exhale, press your hands into the mat, lift up through the mid-back and bring your chin towards your chest.

Another round… inhaling as you lift your gaze and your bottom… Exhaling as you lower your gaze, lift your back, and tuck your tailbone under.

Two more rounds, in your own time…

Be mindful of your breath – and, like you did at the start of the session (lifting up to wideleg mountain pose and sinking back down to frog), try to co-ordinate your breathing with your movements, so that each transition lasts as long as it takes for you to inhale, and exhale…

One more round, keeping your movements soft and fluid. Inhaling as you lift your gaze and lower your belly, exhaling as you lower your gaze and arch your back.

Come back to table top pose, with a neutral spine

Runner’s lunge – RIGHT

In table top, step your right foot to the outside of your right hand. Now extend your left leg behind you, tucking your toes under so you can keep your knee of the mat (unless it gets too much – in which case, you can drop the knee).

If the leg is straight and you feel you can go further, walk your hands out in front of you – maybe even drop down onto your forearms. You’re going to really feel the stretch across the front of your left hip and inside the right hip. But if you end up with a rounded spine and a closed chest, lift back out of the posture enough for you to open the chest again.

Table top

To come out of the pose, we just reverse all the moves we did to get in. So walk your hands back up if you were on your forearms, drop your left knee onto the mat, and then bring your right leg back. Take a moment here, moving any way your instincts tell you – just move slowly and mindfully, so nothing jars.

Runner’s lunge – LEFT

Back into runner’s lunge, but on the left side this time. So step your left foot to the outside of your left hand and then lift your right knee away from the mat. The back leg stays straight throughout, if possible.

Walk your hands out in front of you, if you can, or come down onto your forearms. But remember to keep your chest open – that’s more important than getting your forearms on the mat!

Now, notice if your left hip is swinging forward and if it is, push into the inner edge of your left foot, to create strength and stability in the hip, and put it back where it needs to be (which is alongside your right hip!).

If you back leg is straight, push back through the heel to intensify the stretch across the front of the hip joint and help bring the right hip in line with the left.

Downward dog

Easing back out of runner’s lunge, you’re putting your hands back where they started, dropping your right knee to the mat, and then stepping your left leg back to meet it – in tabletop pose. Take any movement you need here and then, with an exhale, send your hips up and back, for downward facing dog.

Stay here for a few breaths, levelling out the sides of your body.

Hands and feet are shoulder and hip-width apart… The fingers are spread wide, palms pressing down… Your shoulders should be open – so rotate your upper arms outward to draw the shoulders back, whilst pressing down through the thumbs and forefingers. Bend your knees and lift your sit bones high as you inhale, and then use your exhale to begin straightening the legs.

Great! Now drop down onto your knees and come to a sitting position, with your legs stretched out wide – your lower legs and feet should be off the mat.

Half dragonfly (janu sirsasana) – RIGHT

We’ll come back to this wideleg sitting position in a couple of minutes. First, we’re going to take ‘half dragonfly’, or janu sirsasana, to give it its Sanskrit name.

For this, you need to bend your right knee so that you can bring the sole of the right foot to the top of the left inner thigh. Your shin and left leg should make a right angle.

Now, turn your chest to face your left leg – you’ll notice, as you do this, that the posture involves a spinal twist. The twist will likely make the left side of your body feel a bit scrunched up, so take a few breaths with your torso in an upright position, trying to bring some length back to the left ribcage. You’ll need to do the same action when you’re folding forward.

Now flex your left foot (your right foot should also be flexed, and pressing against your inner left thigh). Take an inhale… and as you exhale, begin to move your chest towards your left foot.

Notice how I said ‘move your chest forward’ and not ‘bring your head down’. This is a forward stretch – and that’s important because it means you keep length in the spine, which is exactly what you need for an effective twist.

Stay here for a few more breaths, using the inhales to lift out of the pose slightly and bring the left ribcage back, and using the exhales soften back into the posture as you bring your right ribs forward.

Okay, next inhale, come back up to centre and stay here a moment while your spine settles.

Half dragonfly (janu sirsasana) – LEFT

Left side now. So put the sole of the left foot on the inner right thigh, with your shin and left leg at a 90 degree angle.

Inhale here, and then with the exhale, slowly turn your chest to face your right leg, bringing that twisting action into the pose.

Remember to flex both feet so both legs are active. Take an inhale as you lift your spine ‘out’ of your hips… Exhale and draw the lower abdomen towards the spine as you move your chest in the direction of your right foot.

Once you’re settled in the pose, if you feel you can go a bit deeper, here’s a little trick. Take your arms out in front of you and cross them over. Now place your right hand on the outside of your right ankle and the left hand on the inside.

Inhale and lengthen the upper body whilst lifting the right ribs slightly, and then when you exhale, very gently pull with your left hand on the outside of your right ankle. You should feel the twist deepening.

Stay here for a few more breaths, using your breath to find some depth and ease in the pose.

And on the next inhale, slowly come back up to centre and stay here a moment while your spine settles.

Full dragonfly (wideleg seated forward bend)

Final posture now – and you don’t need to go anywhere for it – just leave your legs stretched out wide. We’ll also make a few small adjustments before going further into the posture.

First, let’s be sure your pelvis is tilting forward – the same direction it’s going to be going when you fold forward. There are a couple of way of doing this: you can put your hands beside your hips and lift your body up enough for you to be able to push the sit bones back, before lowering down again.

Or you can reach back and use your hands to lift each buttock and draw it back. Either way, you should end up with a nice lumbar curve – an inward dip in your lower back, like you have when your spine is in a neutral position.

Now make sure your legs are straight and your toes are drawn up – the feet are flexed. Try not to let your legs roll inward or outward – keep the toes pointing up to the ceiling.

Now, for some people, this alone is enough of a stretch through the adductors – the inner thigh muscles – and hamstrings. If you’re nodding your head, that’s fine – just stay here and rest your hands anywhere it’s comfortable.

If you can go further, put your hands in front of you and gradually move them further away, as your bring your chest forward.

Breathe ‘into’ your hamstring and hips – feel the breath opening those areas… and as you exhale, feel the release of that pressure and the resulting spaciousness. Continue to use this technique for a few more breaths…

Now, with an inhale, come back up and bring your legs together. You’ll no doubt want to roll the legs in and out a few times as your muscles come back to their resting lengths.

And that concludes today’s session. But if you have a little more time, lie down on your back, in corpse pose, and observe the effect of the practice on your body. Enjoy! And see you next time.