All you need is a comfortable space to set your yoga mat… preferably 1/4 inch thick to protect the median nerve in the wrist joint.
Sit down in a crossed leg position with the sit bones rooting into the ground. . .As you push through your sit bones, lift upward, through the whole torso….Visualize the surface of the head reaching toward the ceiling. Draw your shoulder blades into your back. Broaden your collar bones, dispersing the torso muscles without pushing your front ribs forward. Pull your belly up and in toward the back… With every inhalation extend through your front ribs as though you had a balloon at the belly. With every exhalation contract your stomach, working the abdominal muscles to maintain your lower back lifting from their hips as you sit. Hold this for 5 to 10 minutes or until you feel as if you are fighting to stay lifted. Avoid any compression during the low back and use a blanket or cushion to sit on if the exercise is challenging for you. You would also benefit from the help of a brace if your knees are unable to drop toward the ground, which is a sign of tight shoulders and/ or hamstrings. Lifting up yourself onto a prop will enable you to feel far more at ease in the pose.
The beauty of yoga is that we do what we can, when we can. It’s your time with you… Listen to your body and adjust accordingly. All of us have good days and bad days and part of yoga is heightening the inner awareness so that we adopt precisely where we are now.
Staying seated in this place, drop the head toward the ground softly and roll the neck side to side… Do this for a few breathes or until your feel like your ready for another pose… Let every breathe initiate each motion rather than the opposite. Stay connected with all the breathe. If you get rid of the breathe, stop, and reconnect.
Next inhale the arms up over your head, interlace them with the palm of the hands toward the ceiling. Hold this for 5-15 breaths. Release the fingers and get to the torso forward, folding out front until you feel a stretch in the hips and lower back. Hold for 5-15 breaths. Reach the left, hold for 5 breaths, and then reach to the right, hold for 5 breaths. Bring back the arms to the middle, start to flatten the back and bring back the arms in toward the shins until your back into a seated, upright position.
Come to the hands and knees onto your own mat. Bring the wrists directly below the shoulders, and the knees directly under the hips. Begin to round the back, separating the shoulder blades, then reverse the movement, drawing the shoulder blades down the back, lifting the tail bone and then top of the head simultaneously. Do this for two minutes or until the muscles which home the spine start to feel warm and more elastic.
With the spine back and neutral to the hands and the knees, curl the toes, lift the buttocks and move into downward facing dog. Allow the knees to be bent and change the weight back to the legs. Move the shoulder blades down the back, and squeeze the arms to the ears. Continue to lengthen the spine and gentle beginning to work the top of the thighs, dropping the heels toward the floor, without forcing… Hold for 5- 10 breaths and come down to the ground, resting into”child’s pose”… (knees into the ground, hips drop back to the heels, arms rest along your sides). Continue this until you feel as if you need rest and try again…
You’re on your way to a yoga practice! Each day you may feel like you can hold each pose just a little bit longer. Stay current with the breath. The breathe is the single most significant factor of the practice.
