Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 17

Warm up

To begin with, I want you to come down to your mat and lie flat on your back. Take a few moments here, just observing your body – noticing any differences there might be between the left and right sides.

Take a long inhale through your nostrils… And exhale as you relax your entire body. Inhale again and lift your arms overhead – pushing away with your fingers and toes so you’re as long as you can possibly be!

And exhale as you bring your arms to your sides again. Inhale and lift your arms over head, and this time, leave your arms there as you exhale – already, you should feel a stretch in the muscles between your ribs and down the side of your waist.

Another inhale here… And then as you exhale, we’ll go into our first posture – banana pose.

Banana pose – RIGHT

Begin walking your hands and feet to the left, without letting your shoulders or hips come away from the mat.

Inhale as you extend fully through the right side of your body – from the tip of your right little finger, to the tip of your right little toe… And exhale as you increase the bend in the ‘banana’!

Keep this rhythm going, even if you’re no longer moving your hands and feet anywhere – there’ll still be a small opening somewhere.

A few more breaths here in banana pose… So use the time to check that your right hip and shoulder are still on the mat – if we go too far with this pose, they can start to lift away.

Notice, too, what your shoulders are doing – if they’re up by your ears then, yep, you guessed it, draw them down, so your neck is free of tension.

Now slowly start to walk your hands and feet back to the centre and stay here for a few breaths while the muscles on the right side of your body relax.

Banana pose – LEFT

Preparing to do the same on the other side, we’re just going to take an inhale here in a straight line… and an exhale – you can bring your arms down a moment as you do this, if you want to. Inhale and lift your arms overhead again. Exhale… One more inhale – reaching out through your fingertips and toes…

And on the exhale, start to walk your feet and hands to your right, so we can stretch out the left side of the body. Remember, keep the back of your body flat on the mat – don’t let the left side start to lift up or you won’t get the stretch we’re trying to achieve.

Stay here for a few more breaths, stretching and expanding on the inhales… And lengthening out the left side of the body as you relax on the exhales.

Slowly walk your hands and feet back to the centre… Inhale and take a full, straight body stretch. Then as you exhale, bring your knees into your chest and wrap your arms around your knees. Gently massage the lower back by using a small ‘push-pull’ movement on the knees – pushing away a little each time you breathe in, and drawing the knees closer each time you breathe out.

Supine twist – RIGHT

Stay where you are but bring your thighs up to a vertical position- so it looks like you’re sitting on a chair. And then spread out your arms in a ‘T’ shape – hands in line with your shoulders.

We’re going to be taking a supine or reclining twist to the right, so wait for an exhale to come… and then slowly lower both knees to your right as you let out your breath.

If your knees don’t come to the floor, you can rest them on a block – or it might be better for you to put the block under your feet and let the knees dip down from there.

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 abdominal muscles – breathe ‘into’ those areas, and consciously relax those same areas as you breathe out.

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 peeling 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.

Stay here for a few more breaths…

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 – LEFT

Leave your arms where they are. Re-adjust your hips if you feel a bit wonky, and bring your thighs to a vertical position. Take an inhale, and then exhale as you drop your knees to the left and 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 and bring both knees to your chest.

Corpse

When you’re ready, place your feet back on the mat and either leave them there, with your knees bent, or stretch your legs out along the mat and let your feet fall out to the sides. Your arms should be stretched out too – a few inches away from your body – and your palms turned up towards the ceiling.

Do what you need to do to feel comfortable and even throughout your body (remember, you can prop your knees up, or support them with a bolster or blanket).

And consciously relax any parts of your body where you’re holding tension – use your breath for this, the way you have been doing throughout today’s yoga practice.

It’s important to give yourself this time in savasana (corpse pose), at the end of a yoga practice, because it gives the body time to take on board what you’ve just done. Usually, after exercise, we take a shower and get on with the day, but by taking this time to relax, we allow the cells in the body to make a memory of all the work we did, so that next time, it’s a bit easier.

Now, prepare your body to come out of corpse pose, by bringing back some movement to your fingers and toes… then your wrists and ankles. You might want to take a stretch overhead too. Roll onto your side and slowly press back up to a sitting position.

Seated finish

With a straight back, inhale deeply through your nose… And exhale through an open mouth.

Well done for completing another yoga session. By now, you’ll hopefully be feeling the benefits of having a stronger, more flexible body and a calmer mind – one of the reasons why so many people are doing yoga these days. Good to have you in the gang! See you next time!