Yoga for Beginners _ 60 Minute Class with Annie Clarke _ lululemon

Hi , I'm Annie .

And today we're going to be moving through a full 60 minute yoga class .

I'm here with my friends Charlie and Santia who are gonna be showing you the flow .

Uh , but try to as much as you can listen to the queues and stay within your own practice as much as possible .

So let's begin in a comfortable seat and that can be whatever feels comfortable for you .

If you want to sit on a block or a cushion , we might be using blocks and straps in the practice .

They can be really helpful to , um , allow you to access uh postures and shapes .

Um , that might feel more challenging without them .

If you don't have them at home , you can always use cushions or books or a strap from a dressing gown , whatever you have .

So just gather what you need and when you're ready , come to join us in a comfortable seat and we're going to begin the practice here just to give you a few moments to settle in , especially if you're practicing at home .

You might have lots of distractions around you and it can be really challenging to find focus , especially in these first few minutes of class or later on , if it becomes more challenging , so know that that's very normal and you can come to stillness at any time whenever you need to pause and we'll use the breath to help us find a little bit of focus .

So any time that you feel the mind is wandering , you can come back to noticing your breath .

And as you find your comfortable seat , getting any fidgets out the way , begin to close the eyes and come to place your awareness on your breath .

So you're not doing anything to change the breath or force it into one rhythm or another .

You're just letting the mind rest on the breath and feel the way that the breath is moving your body as you sit here .

So as you're breathing in through the nose , you notice the breath traveling into the lungs , maybe the breath feels shallow or perhaps the breath moves all the way down into the depths of the belly .

And as you breathe out , the body softens and you release the breath back through the nose and you continue to just watch the way that the breath is moving in and out of the body .

And as we become more familiar with certain parts of the yoga practice , the breath becomes more and more of a focus .

We can start moving and breathing together so that each breath is connected to a movement .

But for our practice today just taking these first couple of moments to notice the breath as a reminder that this thread of breath always exists .

So if you feel challenged at any point , you can come back to this and just know that you're safe within your breath and within your body and then gather your hands to touch at the center of the chest .

We take this moment now to set an intention for your practice and maybe that intention is to be here as fully as you can to let the distractions of the mind or the rest of the day drop away this intention to carve out this 60 minutes of practice so that you can really focus on being here and everything else can wait or can drop away .

Maybe there's another intention that you choose to set , just let it be whatever this means for you .

And once you have that intention held really strongly in your mind and in your heart , let's take a nice big breath in through the nose and aside to let it go and in your own time , we're going to come to a child's pose .

So rolling over the shins , if you're in cross legged position and take the knees nice and wide on the mat , the tops of the feet come to the ground and the toes are reaching backwards and then your seat comes towards your heels .

If it doesn't touch , it doesn't matter , you can take your knees a little bit wider .

You can also place a little bit of pad padding between the seat and the heels if that makes it more accessible .

And then again , just finding the breath noticing the way that it moves in and out of the body .

And this child's pose is a great place to come to rest .

If any of the practice feels a little bit too strong or you want to take a breather , you can come back here at any time and join in whenever you feel ready .

So from here , we're going to tuck the toes and push into the hands and slowly lift the seat up and back to arrive in a downward facing dog .

So the feet are hip withs apart or perhaps a little bit wider if it makes it more comfortable .

And rather than thinking of pushing your heels to the ground , see if you can lift your bum a little bit higher so that the spine gets a little bit longer pushed down into the hands , but without locking out the elbows .

So the joints are supported by the muscles , the gaze comes towards your belly button and you can have a little bit of a wiggle , bend one knee , then the other .

If that feels good or otherwise , you can just be still and breathe in this pose , whatever feels good for you take that and then find your core .

So start to lift the belly button in towards the spine and bend your knees so that you can walk the feet all the way to the top of the mat .

And when you arrive at the top of the mat , you might need to bend your knees even deeper so that you can fold over your toes at the top , can have a little wiggle from side to side again and then catch hold of opposite elbows .

It's a nice way to release the shoulders and then notice how the jaw is .

So if you're concentrating hard , you might be clenching through the jaw .

So if you can just let that soften a little bit , relax the muscles in the face , let the weight kind of hang forward into the front of the feet , take a breath in through the nose and then flatter the lips as you exhale , rooting through the feet , release the elbows and slowly roll up the spine , stacking bone by bone .

So you get really slow as you come all the way up to standing and let your shoulders drop down the back of the body and feel the spread of your feet against the floor .

Notice if you're leaning the weight onto the insides , the outsides the front , the back of the feet and see if you can just even that out .

So you have this really strong connection between the soles of your feet and the ground .

Often in a yoga practice , we talk about grounding .

It's this sensation that we're really connected to the support of the mat or the ground beneath us .

So feel that through the soles of your feet and then imagine that you're lifting up , engaging through the muscles of the thighs , drawing your belly button in towards your spine .

Take the arms over your head or take a sun sanitation as you exhale , fold forwards , bending the knees .

If that feels good , then look up halfway lengthen the sides of the body using blocks .

If that helps , then place your hands to the floor .

Step back to find a high plank pose , long spine , lowering your knees to the ground and then bend the elbows .

As your chest comes down , the whole of the torso is straight .

Using an inhale for a cobra pose , you peel the chest away from the floor , but keep the lower ribs connected to the ground as you exhale , lower the chest , push into the hands and find your downward facing dog and a couple of breaths in downward facing dark .

And you can explore the positioning of the hands and the feet here and maybe make it a little bit smaller the step between the hands and feet or maybe a little bit longer just feeling into what works for your body .

It's different for each of us .

And then from here , we're going to step to the top of the mat .

So you can choose lots of little steps or a couple of big ones .

But eventually we'll land with the toes up by the hands lengthening halfway and then folding back over the feet as you root down , reach up and take the arms over your head , come all the way to standing and then bring your hands through the center of your chest to close the sun salutation .

This time will take a different variation .

Suria Namaskar B or sun salit bees should bend your knees and take a chair pose , lifting the arms alongside the ears and lengthening the navel good as you exhale , fold forwards and place your palms to the ground .

So just like before lengthen the spine as you inhale and exhale , place the hands to the ground , step back to a high plank , lowering your knees first and then your chest to the ground .

Squeeze through the outer hips and lower with control .

Co proposes you peel the chest away from the floor and exhale back downward , facing dark from down dog .

We're taking warrior one .

So our right foot is going to come between the palms at the top of the mat .

You ground the back heel to the earth , shorten the step if you need to and raise the arms over your head and feel this connection through the outside of the back foot to the earth .

But if the heel doesn't connect , you can always lift it and come into a high lunch .

Beautiful .

Take a breath and draw your lower ribs towards each other , then place the hands on the floor and step back to your high plank .

Same again , lowering the knees first , then your chest all the way to the ground .

This time , you can choose either cobra lifting the heart center or lift the thighs as well and come all the way up to an upward facing dock and then tuck your toes downward facing doc nice step the left foot forwards this time .

And if it doesn't get there in one step , you can always use the hand to help it , connect the back leg to the back foot to the ground and engage up the back leg .

Nice .

Take a breath in , then place your hands either side of your foot , step back to a high plank and lower knees and chest to the floor .

Elbows , drawing close , inhale through a co proposed chest up or upward facing dog .

If you lift the thighs and knees and just make sure you're engaging through the spine here , then tuck your toes and find downward facing dog as you lift the seat back , pushing the ground away with the hands and broadening the upper back .

So you're really supported here and then maybe have a little bit of a wiggle around , see how your body is feeling now that you've warmed up a little notice .

If there's anything that feels good or feels strong or feels tiring and if you need to take a breather , you can come to a child's pose from your downward facing dog .

Beautiful from here from down dog , you can walk your feet to the top of the mat lengthening halfway on an inhale breath and then folding over as you exhale , I bend your knees , take a chair pose , reach the arms alongside the ears , then push through the feet .

Come all the way up to standing , connecting the hands through the center of the chest and release them to the sides .

Take a moment , find the soles of your feet .

Feel that rooting down that grounding sensation lifting up through the crown of the hat .

If the mind is wandering somewhere else , come back to the feeling or the sound of your breath as it draws in and out of your body .

Nice and then raise your arms over your head .

Exhale folds , you all the way down , look up halfway , extend through the sides of the body , then place the hands to the ground and step back to a high plank and we're going to hold our high plank for a moment .

So if you need to drop the knees to the ground , you can but try to keep the whole of the body in one line , you're pushing the ground away and have this nice mushrooming , this rounding of the upper back .

Nice from here .

Take a breath in , then lower your knees to the floor , send your hips to your heels .

Take a child's pose nice , deep breath in through the nose .

Ho open your mouth , let it go big sigh , making your way up to a downward facing dog .

When you're ready , let's raise the right leg up and back behind you , then step the foot between the palms coming to a high lunch .

So you stay on the ball of the back foot and reach the arms over your head , lifting your torso and just notice the tug of the tail bone .

So if you're sticking your bottom out , see if you can send your pubic bone forwards just a little .

So you feel a stretch through the front of the left leg , the knee stacks above the ankle , take a breath in and as you exhale ground the back heel and open up into a warrior too .

So the chest and the hips become parallel to the long edge of the mat , the shoulders soften down the back of the body and the placement of your weight is in between your 2 ft .

So , rather than extending too far forwards or back , we're centering the weight between the heels .

The more you root down through the outside of this back foot , the more energized the back leg becomes and we find a strong foundation with the legs nice , just checking in with the front knee , making sure it's in line with the toes .

Then from here , straight in your right leg , reach your fingertips and your torso as far forward as you can a long spine , then take the back of the right hand to the inside of the right leg .

You can use a block if it's more comfortable to help you maintain the length in the spine .

And then you're rotating the upper part of the rib cage around .

So , rather than flaring your left arm back , can you keep your thumb in line with your eyes ?

Good .

Begin to bend your right knee , place your forearm to the thigh , keep it light .

So you're not collapsing into the , into the arm and sweep your left arm alongside your ear .

To come into extended side angle .

There's one long line from the outside of the foot to the fingertips , turning your palm down and lifting your gaze up towards the sky , softening the fingers and softening the jaw .

Good .

Now , press into your feet on an inhale .

You're going to come back to center and reverse the warrior .

So your left hand comes down the back leg and the right arm lifts up and over , then place your hands either side of your right foot at the top of the mat .

Step back to high plank .

And you can choose either take a child's pose or lower through your visa .

So knees and chest elbows in tight , lifting the heart space into cobra or lifting knees for up dark and exhale , tuck your toes downward facing , do maybe a nice deep breath in through the nose and a side to let it go .

If you're in child's pose , you can join us whenever you're ready .

There's no rush and then we'll take the left leg high with your breath .

So inhale all the way to the top , then step that foot between the palms for a high lunch .

So send your pubic bone forwards , reach the arms over the head and lengthen through the sides of the waist .

It helps to think of the ribs drawing in towards each other in the front of the body lifting up and lengthening through the spine .

Noticing the sensation in the front of the right thigh , take a breath in and as you exhale , drop the back heel and open the chest and the hips for warrior too .

And maybe it feels better to lengthen the step a little connect the outside of the back foot to the floor and reshuffle the feet .

If you need to , then sit your weight evenly between the 2 ft , making sure you're not leaning too far forward and back and let the shoulders soften away from the ears , beautiful guys and just notice your back foot .

If your toes are turning in the opposite direction to your front foot , bring them in a little bit .

So they're more in line with the short edge of your mat , then start to straighten the left leg , reach forward with the left hand and let the torso follow .

For triangle posts are taking the back of the hand to the inside of the leg .

Beautiful if this is uncomfortable on the neck to take the gaze up to the hand .

You can keep looking straight ahead of you .

But see if you can imagine your rib cage rotating around the spine , rather than twisting at the hips , root through the feet , start to bend your left knee and place the forearm lightly to the thigh , using the core for support , taking the arm all the way down and round until it arrives over the head and you spiral open extended side angle .

So with the full version of this posture , we take the hand to the floor , but keeping the forearm on the thigh helps to really focus on the lengthening and the rotation through the upper part of the body .

From here .

We'll take an inhale and bring you all the way up to a warrior tooth , then flipping your front palm and reversing it back .

So the right arm moves down the back leg , place the hands either side of the foot at the top of the mat , step back to your high plank and choose to take a visa or just come to a child's post , whatever works for you good as you inhale , peel your chest forward , lengthen your spine , no crunching into the back and exhale , tucking your toes downward , facing dog , maybe have a wiggle of the hips from side to side , perhaps coming to a child's pose for a couple of breaths or if there's anything else that feels good in your body , take that instead , this is your practice .

Let's all come down to your child's pose because that seems to be where we wanna go , place the palms together , send your elbows a little bit further forwards and then bend at the elbows and place your thumbs on the back of your neck .

So you get a nice stretch through the back of the triceps .

Maybe you shuffle the elbows even more if there's space .

And again , notice the way that the breath is moving in and out of the body .

Nice .

Let's take the hands onto the ground .

When you're ready , tuck your toes and come back up to a downward facing dock .

Have a little wiggle of the hips from side to side and then begin to walk the feet all the way to the top of the mat .

When you arrive at the top of the mat , look up halfway and exhale all your body over your toes , then catch hold of opposite elbows again and take a rag doll and just sway from side to side .

Feel the breath in the side of the body , feel the release through the lower back and bend your knees even more .

If that helps to find a bit of softness here , there's no point locking out the knees to try and get deeper into the fold if it brings tension into the lower back .

So keep everything soft .

Notice the jaw , let it relax and then release the elbows for your feet .

About hip with the parts , bend your knees and take the two piece fingers around the insides of the big toes .

As they come to the inside of the big toes , as you bend the elbows , they would move out to the side .

So let your head drop down , lift up through your seat and send your elbows nice and wide , then pull in through the core and imagine you're lifting your seat using the hamstrings , using the backs of the legs and that a little bit more weight fall into the front of the feet .

It feels like you're going to fall over , you're in the right kind of place .

Just trust your breath , trust your body , feel that sense of opening up through the back of the body , take a breath in through the nose and a size , you let it go and then release the toes , come up onto the fingertips halfway left and then folding all the way back down , gonna turn the toes out , maybe heal toe , the feet a little bit wider .

You gonna take a Yogi squat , so begin to lower the hips down , sending your pelvis forwards .

And if this isn't comfortable , you can take cushions or blocks and place them underneath the heels .

And if you've only got one , you can actually place it underneath the seat instead taking the outside edges of the arms to the inside of the knees and try to lift the chest forward .

So rather than rounding the back with lifting the chest and keeping the spine long .

Nice .

So this can be pretty uncomfortable for a lot of people and for some other lucky ones , it feels much more natural .

It doesn't really matter .

The most important thing is that we're here just experiencing this sense of opening up , keeping the mind resting on the breath .

Take another inhale as you exhale , place the hands onto the floor in front of you , lift your hips and slowly roll all the way up to standing .

So stacking bone by bone through the back of the body until you arrive at the top of the mat , maybe connect the hands at the center of your chest , soften your shoulders away from the ears , close your eyes and come back to the intention that you set at the beginning of the practice .

Just let yourself come back to that place of stillness , the feet grounding against the earth and then gently release the hands , blink the eyes open , going to take a big step out to the side of the mat .

So whichever side works , but we'll take the left foot so that we're turning to face , our friends , bring the big toes in towards each other .

So the outside edges of the feet are kind of parallel to the short edges of the mat and then maybe take the feet a little bit wider .

So the wider than the hips but not so wide that you're about to slip into a box split and then root through the outside of the feet , pull up through the thighs , take your hands onto your hips and draw your elbows back .

So your chest is lifted , take a breath in and as you exhale , begin to fold all the way forwards , pulling up through the thighs .

So you're not locking out the knees good .

You can keep the hands on your hips or the hands can come towards the floor .

Maybe you take blocks and place hands on blocks between your feet .

Now look up halfway .

So the spine is long and then folding back down again .

Just be here for a couple of breaths , rooting down through the outside edges of your feet , drawing up through the thighs .

Nice .

And if this is too much , the knees can soften , you don't have to stretch the legs and lock out .

The knees can just let this work for you and take an inhale .

Come up onto the fingertips again or lift up halfway and place the hands back onto the hips , inhale to lift your chest all the way up , push into the feet to come to stand and then let the hands drop down by the sides .

We're gonna take the same fold .

But this time with the hands interlace behind the back .

So you can interlace the hands .

But if that's not available , you can take hold of opposite elbows or you can grab a strap behind your back .

You're gonna use your inhale to lift the chest and first open up through the front of the body and then begin to fold all the way forwards using the legs and lifting up out of the knees , taking the fist over the head to create a little bit of space in the shoulders , softening the knees if you need to and breathe .

Notice if you're gripping through the jaw , can you let it soften a little bit more ?

Take one more breath then pushing through the feet , softening the knees and coming all the way up to standing , releasing the hands either side of the body .

Nice .

Let's step to the top of the mat .

Have a little bit of a shake out of the legs , have a shake out of the arms , maybe flutter the lips as you exhale .

Nice .

Gonna step back with the right foot .

So not as far back as we would in our warriors just bring the legs a little bit closer together and then straighten both legs by pulling up through the thighs .

So we're not pushing through the knees and locking out , but we're keeping everything lifted and energized .

You gonna take a reverse prayer behind your back .

But if that feels a little bit far away , you can take opposite elbows instead and just notice if the shoulders are up by the ears , just let them soften a little bit here .

Now take a breath in , lift up through your chest rooting down through the feet , folding all the way forwards over your left leg .

Nice .

Doesn't matter how far you fall .

Try to keep the chest lifted good , really nice .

Two more breaths .

Think of scooping out through the belly to let you forward a little bit deeper with your last exhale and then coming all the way up to standing , you're going to pivot on your heels and come to face the opposite direction .

Keeping the same distance between the feet .

So coming to face me this time and if it didn't quite work out , you can step the feet a little bit wider if you need to .

Now take a breath in and lift your chest and exhale , folding forwards , rooting through the feet , keeping the chest lifted good , nice long spine as you fold , soften the neck , soften the jaw , let the back of the neck lengthen .

Good .

I'm taking two more breaths and then bring your chest up , pivot around on the heels and step to the top of your maps , releasing the arms from behind .

You have a little bit of a shake and then bringing your feet together at the top of the mat .

Find the soles of the feet .

If it's more comfortable to have the feet hip with the part that's fine , just making sure that you're rooting down strong legs , lifting up through the top of the head , gonna take your right knee in towards your chest .

So balancing on the left leg , using the support of the thigh , bring your knee into your chest .

Good .

Keep growing tall through the top of the hat from here .

Release the front of your shin .

Take your hands to a prayer at the center of your chest .

Start to send your right heel to the back of the map .

But keep it lifted for warrior three .

So hinging at the hips , your chest comes down and your leg comes back behind you .

If it feels super wobbly , squeeze your core energize through the legs .

And if you fall out , come back in whenever you can beautiful lengthen through the spine , keep your right hip pointing down , take a breath in , then bend your left knee and step your right foot to the back of the mat .

Good reach your arms over your head high lunch , your back heel is lifted , your hips are square , take an inhale , exhale , place your hands to the inside of your left foot .

Heel toe , the left foot a little bit wider on the mat .

And you can choose either keep your back knee lifted or place it down to the floor .

So lizard pose was starting to work into the left hip .

Maybe you rock forwards and backwards , maybe you're moving around in little circles , whatever feels good .

Do more of that beautiful then take your left hand to the outside of the left foot and heal toe , the foot to the center of the chest .

Keep your back knee on the floor or let it touch down .

If it's lifted , then untuck your back toes and reach your arms over your head for a low lunch .

Feel the opening through the front of the right leg , lift up out of the waist .

Good , nice adjustment .

Sending your right hip forward , left hip back .

So the two hips are pointed forwards .

So lifting up through the spine , drawing your lower ribs in , take a breath in and then place your hands to the floor .

You're gonna step your back foot forward .

So right leg to meet the left , lengthening your spine and then folding down over your toes , moving , slow roll all the way up to standing .

Let's take the arms over the head , reaching tall .

I'm bringing the hands back to the center of the chest .

Good .

Have a little shake out of the legs .

Relax back into this standing pose , mountain pose at the top of the mat and we'll swap to the other side .

So this time the right foot is going to root down and your left knee is coming in towards the chest , squeezing it in and letting the left hip drop down , pulling up , engaging your right thigh .

Good .

Now , bring your hands to touch at the heart , start to push through your left heel , sending the leg all the way backwards and hinging at the hips .

So eventually you create one long line from the heel to the top of the head and just feeling all of the wobbles , squeeze everything a little bit tighter .

I bend your right knee and step the left foot to the back of the mat .

High lunch , keeping the heel lifted and reaching the arms over your head .

Beautiful .

And you can take the hands to the inside of the right foot , the lizard pose and you can choose whether or not the knee comes down to the ground .

Maybe you rock forwards and backwards .

Maybe you have little circles as you work into the right hip and just breathing and finding space and exploring how it feels to focus all of your awareness , your attention on that right hip .

And if you haven't already done , so you can place the back knee to the ground and start to walk your right foot back into the center of the mat .

So your right foot comes underneath the middle of your chest , you send your hips forward and reach your arms over your head , good lengthening through the spine .

So you're not collapsing into the lower back , squeeze your inner thighs together for support .

And because the back knee is on the floor , you can allow your front knee to come forward a little bit more .

If that helps you find a good stretch in the front of the left thigh , softening the shoulders , softening the jaw , then place your hands at the top of the mat , tucking the back toes and stepping the left foot to meet the right foot .

Lengthening halfway , lift up and folding back down over your toes , then roll all the way up to standing , stacking bone by bone , bringing the head up last , softening shoulders down the back of the body .

Let's reach the arms over your head .

Look up to your thumbs .

Catch hold of the left wrist with the right hand , root through the left foot and pour the body over to the right side , drawing the lower belly in so you can inhale .

Come back to center , swapping the hands and leaning over to the left side .

Then inhale , come back to center , bend your knees , take your hands behind your back , interlace the fingers and fold forwards , opening up through the chest , softening the head and the neck , letting the weight rock forward into the front of the feet , maybe bending one knee looking over the opposite shoulder and then the other then release the hands , bend the knees , take a chair pose , lift the chest , extend the arms alongside the ears .

Good .

Take another breath in exhale , fold forwards , place your hands on the floor looking up halfway inhale .

Then you can choose step back to a high plank or to a downward facing dock .

If you're in downward facing dog , lower the knees to the floor , take your hips to your heels for child's pose .

If you're in a high plank , take one more breath , then place the knees to the ground bend the elbows and lower the chest all the way down .

Take an inhale to peel the chest open cob propose .

And this time exhale just lower the chest back down to the floor .

If you're in your child's pose , you can come forward to lay on the front of your body and then we'll use the next breath to take a cobra pose .

So the toes are untucked tops of the feet to the floor and you bring your legs together into one line , hands underneath the shoulders and lengthen through the back of the waist until you peel your chest away from the floor .

Just a small amount of pressure between the hands and the ground .

Holding here for another breath , elbows , back , shoulders away from the ears and then your next exhale .

You lower your chest back down to the ground .

You can repeat the same again or take your hands behind your back and interlace your fingers , then use your breath to peel the chest away from the floor lengthening through the body , engaging your bum to support the spine .

The glutes are lifted , take another breath in and slowly lower yourself back down to the ground .

Release the hands , let the shoulders soften that the hips move from side to side .

And for this final back , bend on the front of your body , you can choose one of the variations we've already taken or you can bend your knees and take hold of the feet move into upward bow pose .

But the same thing applies rather than crunching into the lower back , we're really lengthening the body .

So if you're bending the knees , you take hold of the ankles from the outside , start to open up through the chest , start to lift the chest and the thighs away from the floor , but keep the spine long .

So you're not crunching in to get super high , you're just lifting gently away from the ground and keep the breath steady .

So if you're moving to a place where you can no longer breathe , soften back out and release the post , otherwise take one more breath in and slowly release maybe wiggle the hips from side to side , take a breath in through the nose and sorry to let it go .

Taking the hands underneath the shoulders , move very slowly to guide yourself back to a child's post .

Taking another deep breath in through the nose and aside to let it go walking your hands up to the thighs .

So you're sitting tall on your knees , connect your hands at the center of your chest and take a moment here to pause at the beginning of the class , you set an intention .

What can you do now in these last few moments , few minutes together to ensure that you're working with that intention till the end of the practice .

If there's something that's coming up in the mind that you're ready to let go of , take a nice big breath in through the nose and let it go .

Beautiful when you're ready .

Let's come to seated .

So just take your hands to one side , bring your feet from underneath you .

You're gonna bring your right knee into your chest .

Squeeze it in for a moment and then drop the knee out to the right side , flex your left toes towards you and you can use a strap or you can sit on a block or a cushion , make this comfortable for yourself .

So you're not overstretching , keeping the chest forward and the spine long , you're gonna begin to hinge at the hips to fold over your left leg .

It doesn't matter how far you fold .

The most important thing is the chest is lifted , the shoulders are softened and stay active through the left foot .

So you're peeling the toes towards you and pushing through the sole of the foot .

Good .

Let's take three more breaths and then begin to lift the chest .

Take your right hand behind you , releasing the strap , turn your fingertips to the opposite direction to your foot , then press into your hand and your right shin .

You're gonna lift your hips away from the floor and take your left arm over the head .

Nice big stretch and then slowly lower your hips back down to the ground .

Bring your right knee in towards your chest , give it a good squeeze and then send the heel forwards and swap over to the other side So hugging left knee in this time , keep the spine long , use the pull of the knee to lengthen the spine and then drop the knee out to the side .

And the foot can sit anywhere on the inside of the right leg .

It doesn't have to be up super close in towards the groin .

Then using the strap , if it feels more comfortable , begin to fold yourself forward over the right leg , the right foot stays active , the chest is lengthening forwards and the spine is long , softening the jaw , softening the shoulders , try to keep the chest forwards .

Let's take a couple more breaths and each exhale allows you to soften into the pose a little bit more , using the annex exhale to bring the chest up , taking the left hand behind your back , fingertips towards the back of the map , push into the left shin and reach the arm over your head as you lift the hips , drawing the left shoulder blade down the back of the body for support and then lower your hips down to the ground .

Beautiful hug that knee in towards the chest and then just lengthen the foot down onto the mat .

So bend the knees , place the soles of the feet where the knees were and either reach your hands out in front of you or place them either side of your hips slowly begin to lower your shoulders down onto the ground .

Good going as slow as you can use your hands on the mat for support , if it's too much on the lower back , and then eventually the shoulder blades come down to the floor , let the head touch down and bring your knees into the chest .

Good .

Have a little rock from side to side , forwards and back , massaging out the body .

And then we're gonna take that rock and roll from side to side .

So it starts to come up and down the spine .

So you're rocking forwards and backwards .

And eventually maybe you can build enough momentum to rock all the way up to seated , crossing the ankles and stepping to a downward facing dog .

And if it doesn't happen through momentum , you can make your way there in your own time .

So eventually we arrive at downward facing dog , pressing hands to the floor , feet to the ground and lifting up through the hips , have a little sway from side to side , bend one knee , then the other , it's really feeling into the body in these last few moments of class , then settle the hips in the middle and take the right leg to the sky , gonna place the shin at the top of the mat .

So bend the knee , taking the right ankle to the left wrist and deliver the shin to the top of the mat .

Start to walk the left leg back behind you for pigeon pose .

So you can place a block underneath your seat on the right side .

And if this is too uncomfortable .

You can come onto the back of the body and take an alternative pose to stretch out through the hips .

So from here , don't rush to fold yourself forwards , settle yourself into the pose .

And then if there's space , you can melt your chest down , only going to the point at which you feel is comfortable in your body .

And if none of it's comfortable , you can come down onto your back , you can place the sole of 1 ft to the opposite thigh and reach through to take hold of the shin .

So there's always options to suit your body and just breathe .

Find yourself in stillness , just watching your breath noticing how it feels to be here and then walking the hands back up towards your shin .

If you fold it forwards , pressing into the palms and tuck the toes behind you reach your right leg all the way up and back behind you and shake it out , let it release and then placing the foot back down to the floor will swap to the other side .

So the left leg rises high , bring the knee into the chest and take the ankle across to the right wrist using blocks or cushions or support if you need to under the left hip , taking a moment to settle into the pose here first before folding yourself down towards the ground .

And of course , if the other variation works better for you , you can stay on the back of the body and cross over the legs lying on your back instead .

And maybe this pose feels really different on this side compared to the other side .

Just be in a place that you're comfortable on this side of the body and then make your way back up , using the hands to lift the chest , tuck your toes behind you and extend your left leg all the way to the sky .

Give it a good shake .

Everything soften release and place the foot down to the floor .

Then taking the knees to the ground , send your hips to your heels .

Nice deep breath in through the nose and a big sigh out of the mouth in your child's pose .

Take another couple of breaths just landing here , letting the effort begin to drop away .

Just noticing the breath again as it moves in and out of the body and then in your own time , lift your chest , take your feet from underneath you and come to lie down on the back of the body .

There's no rush to get there just arriving in your own time .

And as you arrive with your shoulders against the ground , bend your knees , the soles of the feet to the ground and shift your hips just an inch to the right side , letting your knees drop over to the left side and taking your arms out at around shoulder height .

The arms can be straight or you can bend at the elbows and take the gaze over the opposite shoulder and then come back to center , shuffle your hips to the other side , letting the knees drop over to the right and turning your gaze to the left .

I'm just feeling the movement of the breath in the sides of the body and then coming back to center , hug your knees into your chest .

Give yourself one last big squeeze and take any other movements or shapes that feel good in your body today .

If there's anything else that you need now is the time to take it and then slowly lower your body down onto the ground , extend your legs onto the mat , leaving a little bit of space between the heels .

Yeah , if you need to shuffle the shoulders around again , you can get rid of all of the fidgets , make yourself super comfortable turning the palms up towards the sky , our final pose where we let go of the breath , we let go of the need to do anything at all .

And we just allow ourselves to be here in complete stillness in body and in mind letting the weight of the body rest against the ground , letting ourselves soften completely into this place of stillness , letting them drop away .

So that in each moment , you can relax even more and absorb all of the efforts of your practice .

And then slowly when you're ready , start to come back to the breath , notice the movement of the inhale and exhale through your body .

I'm starting to come back to the breath , just noticing the movement of the inhale and the exhale and then letting a little bit of that movement come into the fingers and into the toes as you reach the arms over the head and take a full body stretch .

And from there , gather your knees into the chest , squeezing them in tight and rolling onto the side of the body , Taking a moment to pause and then bring yourself up to seat .

It just like we began letting the sit bones settle to the ground trying to keep the eyes closed if you can for these last few moments and gather your hands at the center of your chest , just taking a moment , sit with the intention that you set at the beginning of class , allowing this practice to be even greater than just the physical movements you've worked through in your practice today .

And then taking a moment of thanks of gratitude for allowing yourself to step onto the meds to explore the practice of yoga and then take a nice deep breath in through the nose and a sigh to let it go , bowing the head down to the hands .

Thank you for your practice and I must stay .