Learn Yoga

Hug your knees into your chest, feel the lower back become flush with the mat. Can even take this opportunity to massage the back a little bit, crawl the shoulder blades in together and down. Then I'm gonna bring the two arches of the feet together and widen the knees. Great. So I'm gonna imagine myself, we kind of know what the pose is supposed to look like so I am going to flip it here and use the support of the Earth. So You have to lift your tailbone up towards the sky and as you do that your navel, your lower belly, becomes (snaps fingers) instantly engaged. So for lack of better words my core, my center, is engaging so scoot the tailbone, draw the navel down. Find that sensation, or begin to find that sensation. Know that this is a practice, this is a journey so we can kind of approach it with that state of mind, that frame of mind and it kind of takes the edge off, like the pressure. So navels drawing down tailbone scooping up, knees are wide. You have to press palms towards the ceiling as if you were pressing into the Earth. You have to keep space, rather maintain space between my ears and shoulders & then You have to draw it in and all together.

Draw your knees up closer towards my elbows and the base of my hands closer towards my toes. Now wherever they meet, which will be different for everyone here, you have to squeeze, so wherever they meet whether its's all the way up here or right at the elbows, you have to practice a little give and take between the arms and the legs. Hard work here so I'm squeezing the legs in towards the arms and I'm pressing the arms out towards the legs. So I have a little bit of friction here, my core is engaged, tailbone scooping up, last part here I'm gonna point the toes. Breathe. Neck is nice and long and then I'll gently release (exhales) rotate the wrist one way then the other. And then cross the ankles, grab the outer edges of the feet you can do a little full body smile here rock a little side to side and then we're gonna rock it up flip our burgers and practice crow.

If you have a Yoga block grab it now. And if you don't have a Yoga block you might consider using a book which we say all the time and so I'm actually going to use the book today to prove to you that it is just as great. So this is a nice little way to get into the posture but it's not necessary if you don't have a book or a block than we can still build the pose right now. I'm going to use it as a little bit of a perch here so I am going to bring my toes onto the block or the book and I'm using my finger tips to stabilize here. Then I'm going to recreate the shape I did on my back bring the inner arches of the feet together widen the knees, breathe and then I'm gonna plant my palms, really spreading the fingertips, finding that integrity here as I draw the shoulders away from the ears and draw the navel up towards the spine. So there's going to be a couple different stages to this posture and we're going to approach them all with just a fun loving attitude and no toxic thoughts.

Remember we don't come to the mat to do Yoga but to practice, to have an experience. So I'm gonna draw my navel up towards my spine and then I'm gonna walk a little bit forward on my perch and then keeping the neck nice and long I'm just gonna see where the knees meet. So I'm not lifting the toes up or anything I'm just seeing where they meet, I'm finding integrity here, soft bend in the elbows. Most important thing is I'm gonna keep this extension in the neck and send my gaze forward. Take a deep breath in here and then exhale, comeback onto your perch. Relax. You can tent the palms here come onto the fingertips, take a deep breath in (inhales) and then exhale. Here we go again, planting the palms so shoulder width apart here, lots of space between each finger. The integrity here in the palms is so important because I'm not collapsing into my bones but like we've been doing in a lot of the Foundations of Yoga that are on the ground anyway. We are finding that upward current of energy, that hasta bandha as we call it. Here we go again, drawing the navel up towards the spine keeping the neck nice and long. This time maybe I find that my knees can come a little bit higher up on the arms maybe up towards the armpit, chest area. The neck is nice and long guys I can't stress how important it is to keep your gaze forward because otherwise, might do a little somersault forward. And if that happens, no worries, shake it off. Now this time we breathe and we might lift one toe up and then exhale, release. And then the other toe, just experiment (inhales, exhales) and then exhale, release. Take a rest, you can even check in with the wrist the opposite direction if you need to. If you're still building strength in that upward current. And let's try again. Breathing (exhales) finding that integrity as we draw the navel up walking (Inhale) we're crawling the knees up towards the armpit chest keeping that nice hollow upper back, navel draws up as I look forward and this time maybe we lift both toes up. Breathe. And then exhale release (exhales) Maybe you got up maybe you didn't let's see if we can remove the perch and just experiment without it. Or if you don't have the perch than we'll join you. It is kind of nice cause it gives you that little extra space. Let's just see, coming into our squat knees nice and wide (inhales) spreading the palms, and just play here we go (exhales) finding what feels good. So don't hold your breath like me make sure that when you're kind of playing with that suspension there that you're not suspending your breath, we want to keep the breath flowing. We're gonna take a quick break here by coming in downward facing dog and then just practicing a couple hurdles in between. Drawing the navel up towards the spine I like to do this as a crow prep because it keeps this integrity in my center and my core while I also spread the shoulder blades left to right. So I send it back and forward drawing your navel up I'm never sinking into my bones here but always keeping that pressing up and out of the palms activity going. One more time. And then we'll come back to the knees take a second if you're new to the practice or your wrists are screaming at you right now. That's okay, in time we'll build strength or maybe you've overworked your wrist in another workout already this week. So make sure anytime we need to do a couple of circles or just check in with the wrist that you do. And let's give it one more time together and then again remember it’s a practice it's fun to check in with it each day and I think you'll be really surprised how fast it evolves and changes and grows and informs you. So here we go. Either on your perch, or starting in a squat spread the palms wide press up and out first remember, that sensation we just had in our hurdles. So I am drawing the navel up and from their I'll head on in. (Exhales) (Exhales) So that was Bakasana our first arm balance in the Foundation Series. Full body strengthener, I feel like even more than just spouting off kind of the anatomical and physical benefits of this posture. I wanna say that it's an opportunity to again throw yourself off balance and have a little fun. It is nice to know where to put our bones but just trust yourself have a little fun, work with integrity, don't forget about your center and this line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone. But maybe on this Halloween we can all approach something that's a little scary with a little lightheartedness and a little fun loving attitude. So that's all I gotta say about that have a happy and safe Halloween my friends and I'll see you next time. Leave questions and comments below. Join us on Facebook and on Twitter.