Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 4

Standing

Come to a standing position at the front of your mat, feet hip width apart, arms by your sides, spine long, and shoulders relaxed… Bring your awareness to your breath…

Gradually begin to extend each inhale and exhale… Feel yourself expanding and lifting each time you breathe in, and when you breathe out feel yourself ‘rooting down’ through your legs and feet, into the mat.

Chair pose

Our first posture is chair pose, so with your feet as they are or together – whatever works for you – bend your knees, as though you were going to sit down (the posture didn’t get its name for nothing!). Sink your hips down and back, whilst simultaneously drawing your knees forward.

Try to distribute your weight evenly, to avoid overworking the hip flexors.

Place your hands in prayer position, elbows out to the sides, and press your palms together to activate your shoulder muscles – you should feel your shoulder blades moving down. Try to make a memory of how that feels…

Now 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 joints, reaching high isn’t going to be possible just yet. If that’s the case, you can bring your arms lower, or even put your hands on your hips.

Make sure the back of your neck feels long, and take a slow and steady inhale through your nose. As you do this, feel your upper body moving upwards – as though you were lifting out of your hips.

When the exhale comes, try to keep the length you’ve created in your upper body, whilst sinking further down into your ‘chair’ – hips back, knees forward, your weight moving down evenly through your feet.

With the next inhale, straighten your legs and, if you have your arms raised, bring your fingertips towards the ceiling.

And as you exhale, bring your arms back to your sides.

Good job! That’s not easy! Give your arms and legs a good shake-out – no doubt they’ll need it!

Frog pose

For our next posture – frog pose – you need to step your feet a little bit wider than your hips and turn your toes out.

Put your hands on your thighs and begin to bend your knees – but make sure your knees stay in line with your toes – don’t let them collapse inward, as this can twist the joint.

As you continue to bend your knees, take your hips back and down – whilst keeping your chest lifted.

Frog twist – RIGHT & LEFT

We’re going to introduce a shoulder stretch to this pose now… So, still with your hands on your thighs, bring your left shoulder forward – with your arm straight – and look over right shoulder (this arm is bent). Take a bit of movement here – coax the muscles into stretching…

And now come back to the centre and switch sides… Your right shoulder comes forward this time – arm straight. And you’re looking over your left shoulder. While you’re doing this, press your knees away from each other with your hands.

Come back to the centre, stand up and shake out!

Stand up and shake out

The reason this feels so good is because it’s good for your body! After contracting and stretching our muscles, we need to bring some movement back to release the connective tissue, which can get ‘sticky’ and restrictive when we work our muscles.

Downward dog – lunge – RIGHT

Okay, so with your nice, loose body, come down to your mat and set up in downward facing dog. Hands shoulder width apart, feet hip-width apart, hips high – so your body forms a peak.

Inhale and lift your right leg up behind you. Then exhale and draw your right knee through to your chest, so you can step your foot as close to your hands as possible.  If your foot isn’t quite there, take a moment to put it where it needs to be.

We’re going into a lunge pose here, so keep your back toes tucked under and lift your left knee away from the mat… (You can drop down onto your knee any time you need to). Really try to keep your back leg straight. Activate your quads by raising your kneecaps, and push back through your heel. You should feel your glutes engaging…

Lift your torso to an upright position and place your hands on your hips. Notice how your right hip wants to swing forward…and your left hip is pulling back. We want to align the hips so that they’re facing the front of the mat – and pushing into both feet will help you do this.

You can also use that technique in the next posture – pyramid pose.

Pyramid pose – RIGHT

From lunge, bring your hands to floor, and walk your left foot forward a little – about 30 centimetres or so – before dropping your heel so your foot is flat on the mat. Straighten your leg and find an angle that’s comfortable for your foot.

You want your right foot pointing forward, and the leg should be almost straight – keep a small bend in the knee to avoid over-stretching the back of it.

You can put your hands on the floor, your shins, on blocks or on your waist – it doesn’t matter which, as long as you can keep your chest open and your spine long, like in a half forward fold.

Transition to lunge – then high lunge / crescent moon – RIGHT

So coming out of this pose… You need to bend your front knee with the exhale and place your hands on the floor, if they’re not there already.

Then lift your left heel so you’re on your toes again, and step back a bit, so you can lift your knee and straighten your leg.

Ready for high lunge? Press into your right foot, keep your back leg strong, and bring your torso and your arms into a vertical position – fingertips reaching to the ceiling.

Remember, if any of this is too much, you can always drop onto your left knee, and you can change the position of your arms. Just keep engaging your core and working your hips so they’re facing forward.

Inhale… And exhale through the transition to downward dog, and into child’s pose – resting your head on a block if you need to.

Child’s pose

While you’re in this posture, take the opportunity to feel the difference in each side of your body. Feel the breath filling up your ribs cage each time you inhale. And let go of any tightness that’s built up, with each exhale… Take a few more breaths here…

With the next inhale, come up onto all fours, and with an exhale, press back into downward facing dog, so we can repeat the sequence on the other side.

Downward dog – lunge – LEFT

Inhale and lift your left leg up behind you. Exhale as you draw your right knee towards your chest, and step your foot forward. We want the foot between the hands.

Keep your right toes tucked under and lift your knee away from the mat…

Keep both legs strong, so your gluteus muscles are activated. This will help you keep your hips facing forward, and it’ll bring some stability to the posture as you lift your body to a vertical position and put your hands on your left thigh.

Now you’re in the posture, check in with your breath – make sure it’s smooth and steady… each inhale helping you to lengthen your spine and each exhale taking your hips a little bit further forward and down.

Pyramid pose – LEFT

From lunge, bring your hands to floor, and walk your right foot forward a little, before dropping your heel so your foot is flat on the mat.

Your left foot should be pointing forward, and your leg should be almost straight – remember to keep a small bend in the knee to avoid over-stretching.

If you’re wobbling, you can take your left foot out a bit further – this will also help you maintain the alignment in your hips.

And now – with your hands on the floor, on your shins, on blocks or on your waist – draw the crown of your head forward whilst pushing back with both hips. Keep lengthening through your spine each time you breathe in, and try to let go of any resistance in the back of your left leg when you breathe out.

Transition to lunge – then high lunge / crescent moon – LEFT

On the next exhale, bend your left knee a bit more, so you can place your hands on your blocks or on the floor, if they’re not there already.

Now lift your right heel so you’re on your toes again, and step back a bit, so you can lift your knee and straighten your leg.

Let’s come up into high lunge…

Press into left foot and push back through the right heel. Activate the quads and glutes. And with a strong core, bring your body and your arms into a vertical position – fingertips reaching to the ceiling.

Remember, dropping your right knee and changing the position of your arms (to your hips or in a cactus position) are always options…

Feel the ebb and flow of the posture as you take a few more breaths here. Then, with the next exhale, bring your hands back down so you can come back to downward dog, and from there, into child’s pose.

Child’s pose

Allow your breath to settle if it’s become short and ‘choppy’. Breathe in through your nose… and out through your mouth… When your breath and heart rate have come back to normal, inhale up to all fours, and exhale into downward facing dog.

‘Iron man pose’

For the last posture in our sequence, you need to come down onto your stomach… Your arms should be stretched out behind you, about 30 centimetres away from your body, palms turned down. If your toes are tucked under, come onto the tops of your feet.

We’re all set for ‘iron man pose’. For this, you need to push down with your legs, feet and hands – so you can lift your chest away from the mat.

Don’t take your head too far back – keep the back of the neck long, so you can take a couple of slow, steady breaths in the posture. And notice how the inhale lifts you a little higher each time.

Next time you exhale, lower yourself down and turn your head to one side, so you’re resting on your cheek. If this is uncomfortable, take a rest in child’s pose instead.

Sitting/kneeling/cross legs

Slowly come up to a comfortable sitting position and, with a straight back, breathe in deeply through your nose, and breathe out through your mouth.

You’ve nailed another yoga session – great job!