Yoga Class by Katy Wright – Part 6

Standing – mountain – forward fold – halfway – plank – downward dog

Starting in a standing position, feet apart, toes pointing forward, lift your arms overhead as you inhale… And exhale into a forward fold. Inhale halfway – lift your gaze and lengthen your spine. Then put your hands on the mat (shoulder-width apart) and step back to a strong plank pose, hands directly under your shoulders. Inhale… And on an exhale, lift your hips high and press back to downward facing dog.

Warrior 2 – reverse (‘rebel’) warrior – extended side angle – triangle – half moon – RIGHT

Inhale as your right leg comes up and back. Exhale as you bring your right foot between your hands. Now drop your back heel down and, still with your right knee bent, lift up and open your chest and hips so they’re facing the long edge of the mat, to come into warrior 2.

Your right arm should be pointing towards the front of the mat, and your left arms towards the back.

Keep your back leg strong and straight, and check what your front leg is doing… We want the knee of the bent leg to be in line with the toes, to protect the knee joint – don’t let it collapse inward.

Now cast your gaze over your right hand and take a few steady breaths in the posture…

From here, we’re going to come into reverse (or ‘rebel’) warrior pose, so keeping your legs exactly as they are, lift your torso and 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.

Let’s transition to extended side angle…

Again, keep your legs where they are as you come back up through warrior 2, and then exhale as you bring your right elbow onto your right knee and draw your left arm up to vertical….or, if you can go a little bit further, bring it all the way across with the palm of your hand facing the floor, making a straight line all the way from your left foot to the fingtertips of your left hand. You can turn your gaze up towards the top arm.

On the next inhale, bring your body back up to a vertical position and – at last! – straighten your right leg. It’s a relief, hey?!

Now we’re set up for triangle pose…

So your right foot is pointing to the front of the mat… And your heel is in line with the heel or arch of your left foot. Your hips and chest are still facing the long edge of the mat.

Take an inhale here, with your arms parallel with the floor, in a ‘T’ shape. Lift your spine ‘out’ of your hips. And as you exhale, reach out over your right leg and then take your hand to the outside of your right calf. If that’s too far away, you can put your hand on your shin, or you can rest your hand on a block. Your left arm comes up to a vertical position.

Now from triangle pose, we’re going to move into half moon…

You might want to use a block for this, because you need to rest your right hand about 30 centimetres in front of your right foot – at the top end of your mat – whilst standing on your right leg. The left leg comes up, so that it’s parallel with the floor, outer thigh facing the ceiling, foot flexed. Your left arm is pointing up to the ceiling too.

Think about pushing away with your heel and drawing forward through the crown of your head. And keep your chest and hips open, facing the long edge of the mat, by pushing into the supporting hand and really reaching high with the left hand.

To come out of half moon pose, bring your left hand to your waist and then lower your left leg to the mat, so your feet both pointing forward. Place you left hand alongside your right hand and fold forward…

Inhale halfway… exhale fold forward, hands on the mat so you can step back to plank and then downward dog, so you can begin the sequence on the opposite side…

Warrior 2 – reverse (‘rebel’) warrior – extended side angle – triangle – half moon – LEFT

Inhale as your left leg comes up and back. Exhale as you bring your left foot between your hands. Now drop right heel and, with your left knee bent, lift up and open out to the right, to come into warrior 2.

Your weight should be spread evenly across both legs… And from that solid foundation, you can use the inhales to ‘lift’ your spine and your upper body ‘out’ of your hips.

Look across your left hand and keep your arms active – but make sure your shoulders are relaxed.

From here, we’re moving into reverse (or ‘rebel’) warrior pose…

So lift your torso and place your right hand on your right leg and bring your left arm up and over, so you feel a stretch through the entire left side of your body.

Don’t let your ribs push forward too much – keep your core strong to support your spine.

And now for the transition to extended side angle…

So with an inhale, come up through warrior 2, and then exhale as you bring your left elbow onto your left knee and draw your right arm up to vertical….or, if you can go a little bit further, bring it all the way across with the palm of your hand facing the floor. You can turn your gaze up towards the top arm.

On the next inhale, bring your body back up to a vertical position and straighten your left leg, ready for triangle pose.

Check that your left foot is pointing to the front of the mat… And your heel is in line with the heel or arch of your left foot. Your hips and chest are facing the long edge of the mat.

Take an inhale here, with your arms parallel with the floor, in a ‘T’ shape. Lift your spine ‘out’ of your hips. And as you exhale, reach over your left leg and take your hand to the outside of your left calf, your shin, or a block. Your right arm comes up to a vertical position.

If you find that your chest is facing the mat, rather than the long edge of the mat, bring your supporting hand a little bit higher and you should be able to open out more easily.

Now from triangle pose, we’re going to move into half moon…

So put your block in front of you, if you’re using one, or put your left hand or fingertips on the floor.  Now straighten your left leg as you bring your right leg up and extend your right arm up the ceiling.

And then extend in all directions – use your inhales to expand into the posture, and use your exhales to roll the right hip back and the left hip under, so your body is facing the long edge of the mat.

On an exhale, bring your right hand and leg down and come into a forward fold.

Inhale halfway… exhale fold forward, hands on the mat so you can step back to plank drop down into child’s pose for a well-earned rest!

Camel pose

Our next posture is camel pose, which builds the muscles which support your spine and opens the front of the body.

To do this posture, you need to come into a kneeling position to begin with. Then you’re going to lift your hips up, so you’re ‘standing’ on your knees. Now, for the first variation, you can have your toes tucked under, or you can rest on the tops of your feet – whichever is most comfortable for you.

If your knees are a bit ‘crunchy’, you might also want to put a blanket underneath them, or roll up your mat a bit, to give yourself some cushioning.

Then take your hands onto your lower back and draw your tailbone down. As you inhale, lift your ribs and chest, and draw your elbows towards each other behind you – as though you were peeling yourself open!

You don’t need to drop your head all the way back – just take your head back enough to stretch the front of your neck, without closing up the back of it. You still be able to breathe!

Each time you breathe in, let the breath lift your ribs and chest a little higher, into a small backbend, whilst pushing your hips forward. Take a couple more breaths here, then with an inhale come back up.

Camel 2

If that felt like it was enough for you, you can repeat the same posture again. Otherwise, we’re going to go a little bit deeper into our camel pose.

We set up in the same way, keeping the thighs vertical and lifting the upper body away from the pelvis before taking the back bend.

Remember to make sure you can breathe evenly – don’t throw your head back too far!

And keep moving your hips forward as you lift your chest and increase the backbend.

Gather your energy, engage your core, and with an inhale, come back up. If you feel dizzy – and that can happen with this posture – come back to a kneeling position and wait until your blood pressure has settled.

Camel 3 – hands on heels

The third variation on camel pose takes us into an even deeper backbend. For this one, you’re going to start on your knees as you did the last two time, but instead of keeping your hands on your lower back, you’re going to reach back one hand at a time, and put your hands on your feet. Obviously, it’ll be a bit easier if you have your toes tucked under.

Now, if you find you have to lean back a lot in order to take hold of your feet, you might need to keep your hands on your waist for now. In this posture, the thighs must remain vertical – that way, you’re able to lift out of the lower back before going into the backbend, which is important for protecting the lumbar region of your spine.

Take a few breaths here, and then when you’re ready to come back up, put your hands on your lower back and inhale to your high kneeling position. From there, you can lower your hips to your heels or come down into child’s pose.

Table top – small cat – downward facing dog

We need to counter that back bend – and remove any compression in the spine – with a small cat stretch. So come onto all fours and drop your head, while you gently lift your mid-back – not a lot, just enough to stretch out the back of your body.

Come back to table top pose on an inhale and exhale to downward dog.

Forward fold – chair pose – warrior 3 – RIGHT

Walk your feet up to your hands and come into a forward fold. Inhale halfway…. Exhale fold forward. Bring your feet together and bend your knees, then, as you sit back in your invisible chair, raise your arms in front of you, palms facing each other.

Exhale and bring your hands onto your hips. Inhale and gather your energy (our next pose is warrior 3, which can be pretty tough), and then as you exhale, begin to straighten your right leg a little whilst sending your left leg behind you, so that it’s parallel with the floor.

You can leave your hands on your hips, have them by the sides of your body, or out to the sides like an airplane, in prayer position in front of your chest, or – and this is the hardest variation – extended in front of you. Choose whichever one helps you maintain your balance.

Then find something to fix your gaze on, and push back with your back heel whilst drawing forward with the crown of your head.

Come down from the posture and into a standing position, then give your arms and legs a good shake-out!

Mountain – forward fold – chair pose – warrior 3 – LEFT

Starting from a standing position this time… Inhale as you raise your arms, and exhale as you swan dive into a forward fold. Inhale to chair pose and exhale as you place your hands on your waist, in preparation for doing warrior 3 on opposite side.

So as you begin to straighten your left leg, you’re going to send your right leg back – aiming to bring it up to a horizontal position.

Once you’ve found your gaze point and got your arms set up in the way that best suits your body, take a few steady breaths and then bring your awareness to your hips. It’s likely that your right hip is lifting up, so try to bring it into alignment with the left side.

Sstanding – shake out

Good job! Now come back to standing and, once again, shake it all out!

Forward fold – ‘candycane’ pose

Our final posture today can be quite tricky, so go steady and if it’s too much at the moment, you can always come back to it another time.

First, put a block in the centre of the front of your mat. Then come into a forward fold and put your left hand on the block – or the floor, if you can reach it without bending your left leg.

Keep your left foot point pointing toward the front of the mat and come into standing splits – lifting your right leg up behind you.

Now open your chest and hips to your right, as you put your right hand on your waist. You can stop here or go further…

To go further, bend your right knee and try to take hold of your foot with your right hand. If you’re able to do that, you can then draw the heel towards your body as you continue to open your chest and hips.

To come out of the pose, let go of your foot, bring your right hand to the floor or onto your block, so that your right hip is now level with left, and your chest is facing the floor. Then lower your leg and take a forward fold.

Now, of course, we have to do it all over again on the other side!

So this time, put your right hand on your block, or on the floor.

Your right foot is pointing forward and you’re lifting your left leg as you go into standing splits.

Open your body to the left and take your left hand to your waist. Then, if you’re steady enough, reach back for your left foot.

Come back out of the pose and into a forward fold with as much control as possible.

Mountain – shake out

From your forward fold, inhale up halfway, and exhale fold… Inhale all the way up to standing, arms overhead, and exhale as your bring your arms down. And we’ll finish the session with a good body shake-out!