Instruction
A complete Yoga session
Yoga does not subscribe to the philosophy "No Pain No Gain"! If you feel pain then you are doing something wrong or stretching too far. The idea is to relax into each pose. While you want to stretch far enough to feel the muscles you don’t want to hurt yourself. There is no competition in yoga. Everyone goes at their own pace and at their own level.
The writers and publishers are not responsible for any injury due to physical limitations, going beyond limitations or any other problems. If you practice yoga without a qualified instructor you do so at your own risk.
Welcome to yoga class (click pic 1)
Yoga means Union! Union with yourself and the infinite!
When we sit down the first thing we do is to take a few full deep breaths to ground and center.
Fill the lungs through the nostrils from bottom to top (click video in center) like a glass of water. When you breathe out push the last air out of the lungs with your tummy. I added the video to show the way I use the abdominal muscles to force the air out of the lower part of the lungs. If we do not use our full lung capacity we have stale air at the bottom of the lungs.
If you ever watch a baby breath its much like this, their tummy comes out as they fill the lungs completely and pushes the air back out. As we get
older we forget this correct way of breathing.
After grounding we do three Oms (click on pic3). Feel the vibration inside your body. "Om" is the root sound.
(For those of you who prefer, "Ahmen" works the same.)
After three Oms start with a few simple neck and shoulder rolls to loosen up the upper body. Begin rolling the neck by dropping the head forwards and rolling the head from one side to the other slowly coordinating it with the breath. Breathe in as you go to one side and then breathe out as you go to the other. Repeat for 3-5 breaths and then do the same at the back, now tilting the head backwards and rolling gently from side to side.
Roll the shoulders in a forward circular motion 5-7 cycles then reverse for about the same.
Then we move on to the "Ankles-Knees" pose by placing the feet flat against each other and drawing the knees toward the floor.
It is not necesary to bring your knees all the way down so do not force them. The muscles in the hip area will stretch in time.
Then, if you can, lean forward. You will feel a lot of stretch in the groin area. Again, only go as far as you can without forcing or hurting yourself.
There is no competition in Yoga. While another person may be able to bend further than you, you will receive the same benefit from going as far as your body will allow. Then come back up and take a breath.
Then we come to our hands and knees to do the "Cat and Cow".
The hands should be below the shoulders and the knees below the hips.
For the Cat and Cow breathe in while arching your back like a cat. Then breathe out while pressing the stomach toward the floor and raising the head. Breathe in to the cat then out to the cow. Do this a total of three times.
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Then lift off the floor onto the toes and hands into "Downward Facing Dog".
Stretch the heels toward the floor. If they do not reach the floor this is ok as it takes time for the muscles and tendons to stretch out.
You can easily use the poses to flow from floor to standing and from standing to poses that require lying on the floor.
What we will do is go from downward dog to a lunge by bringing the right foot forward to meet the hand with the left knee touching the floor, while looking up towards the ceiling. To keep things even bring the right foot back into downward dog hold for a couple of breaths then bring the left foot forward into the lunge on the other side. Anything you do on one side you want to do on the other.
Then bring the right foot forward into a standing forward bend. Hold for a few breaths just letting the top half hang and then raise up into the salutation and then prayer position.
The Sun Salutation Poses:
We start out in the mountain pose (click pic for vid clip), feet about shoulder width apart and arms at the sides. There are twelve positions to the Sun salutation, the first is the prayer position. Move from one position to the next with grace, kind of like doing "Tai Chi". You also want to hold the positions and feel the effect of each one. Beginner students should hold each one for 30-60 seconds
You can also coordinate your breath with the movements. From the prayer position inhale into the salutation. Let your breath out as you bend down to touch the floor for the third position.
Bring your right leg forward to meet your hands your left leg behind you, knee touching the floor and looking up (click on pic 6). Then go into the downward facing dog by bringing your right foot back to meet your left with your butt in the air, hands on the floor and pressing your heels toward the floor. From the downward facing dog drop your whole body to the floor with your knees and chest touching the floor (this is position 6). Then drop the rest of the body to the floor and raise the front half into the Cobra pose.
Then raise back up into the downward facing dog. Bring your left leg forward with the right knee touching the floor. For the next position bring your right foot forward to meet your left and into the standing forward bend. (Note: in the video clips I went through the positions rather quickly for time's sake. Please remember to hold each position and relax into them.) Next, raise up into the salutation and after holding return to the prayer position. Do three repetions of this series. For variety you can change which leg you put forward first in the 4th position.
The above pictures are the last three positions of the sun Salutation.
Warrior Two pose
For the remainder of the class Pictures will be used accompanied by instructions for the postures.
Again do a forward bend and go into the runners lunge just like you're going to do another round of sun salutation. This time though, from the lunge bring your hands up onto the thigh and then raise the arms up into Warrior Two.
In Warrior Two you want to make sure the knee is above the ankle not farther out, and you would like to be sure
your arm extending in the back is even with the other as opposed to pointing slightly down.
From here you can gently "cartwheel" over into trikanasana or the Triangle pose.
You want to look straight up the arm thats extended skyward. This gives a slight twist in the neck and shoulders. .
Again listen to your body and do not stretch farther than you are physically able to.
The next pose will be the Cobra.
Lie face down and place your hands even with your chest to the floor. Lift the front half of your body using the muscles of your lower back (as opposed to using your hands like in a pushup)
Again don't stretch further than you're able, you should feel the stretch in you lower back but DO NOT lift so much as to cause yourself pain.
Beginners should hold this pose 2-3 mins while level 2 students can hold a little longer.
Take a moment to rest between the Cobra and the next pose. You can turn your face to the side and lie flat.
The next pose will be the Half Locust. Lie face down with chin on the floor hands beside you and lift your right leg four or five inches off the floor. Hold for 2-3 minutes. Repeat with the right. Anything you do on one side you should do with the other to maintain balance.
After a couple of minutes rest, place the hands face up underneath your legs and raise both legs for the Full Locust pose (pic 12).
Hold for a minute and a half or two minutes.
You may now roll over on your back into Savasana or the "Corpse" pose.
Just lie on your back with palms up and rest.
This pose is an important pose for this is not only a good way to rest between poses but also used for guided relaxation.
The next pose we move into is the Sitting Forward Bend. (pic 14)
Raise up out of the corpse and sit with your back straight. Raise your arms over your head streching the spine and slowly bend forward.
Relax into the pose and and feel where the stretch and the tension is. Send messages to your musclels to relax so that no harm will come to them, you'll be surprised at how effective this is.
Relax back into savasana (the corpse) rolling your back down slowly, one vertebrae at a time.
The next pose is the Half Spinal twist. (pic 15)
From a sitting position with your legs in front of you take the left leg and cross it over the right leg and place it flat on the floor grabbing your knee (or the left foot) with your right hand.
Place your left hand flat on the floor behind you and look back over your left shoulder. Hold the position for a minute or two then reverse to the other side crossing your left leg with the right and putting your right hand flat on the floor behind you and looking back over your left shoulder.)
The Shoulder Stand
You can relax back into savasana for a couple of minutes before doing the shoulder stand. laying on your back swing your legs up over your body and raise up onto the shoulders by useing your hands with elbows on the floor for support (pic 16). Hold for 3-4 minutes. The inverted poses help your blood oxygen level as blood has a tendency to pool in your feet due to gravity. lay back down and rest is savasana.
now we will do the Plow (pic 17). Swing the legs over the body as in the shoulder stand except that you keep going untill the toes touch the floor (or as close as you can come without hurting yourself). Hold for about 2 minutes.
Now the yogic seal. This stores the energy that you have released. Yoga is desiged to break down the block of energy in our bodys. energy gets trapped due to many things. Things like stress, injurys and toxins and such.
To do this pose sit in a comfortable cross legged position and puit your arms behind you grabing your right wrist with your thumb and index finger of your left hand. bend down till your face comes to the floor (again or as close as you feel comfortable)
Hold for a minute or so and then slowly raise back up. It ahould take at least three or four complete breaths to raise up.
You are now ready for some pranayama (breathing exercises) This is an important part of any yogic work out
go to pranayama and then do some meditation. I've heard it said your not doing yoga if your not meditating.
Meditate
Finish your Yoga session with three Om's!
Thank you for coming and stop back soon. If you have any Questions you can email me or put them in the forum from the main page!
If we have enough participation we'll be adding new poses on a regular basis.
We've started to add some more advanced postures for those who are ready for a bit more of a challenge.
Peace,
Mark
