Introduction
This sequence will energise and uplift you when time is short.
View sequence
Reclining Hero Pose
3-4 minutes
Lay on your back with your legs bent, your toes pointing backward.
Downward-Facing Hero Pose
45 seconds
Join your feet together under your buttocks and keep your knees far enough apart for your ribs to fit in between your legs as you fold forward. You can rest your forehead on the floor or on a block.
Downward-Facing Dog Pose
6-8 times
Press evenly into your hands and feet. The main aim is to elongate the back of your body and lift your hips up as high off the ground as possible without losing the stable foundation created by your hands and feet. If you lack the hamstring flexibility, bend your knees a little.
Modified Sun Salutation
4-6 times
Start in Tadasana. Interlock your fingers in front of you, raise your arms up slowly as you inhale. As you exhale fold into Uttanasana, release your back. Walk your feet out and stretch back into Adho Mukha Svanasana. Lengthen your spine and hamstrings as you lift the hips up to capacity. Walk your feet back into Uttanasana, decompress your spine. As you inhale, come back up into Tadasana.
Full Arm Balance (Handstand)
2 times
Open your hands into the floor and strengthen your arms as you lift your body up, one leg at a time, into an inverted balance. Use the wall for support if necessary. If pushing yourself up proves to be too difficult, you can walk your feet up the wall.
Downward-Facing Dog Pose
10 seconds
Press evenly into your hands and feet. The main aim is to elongate the back of your body and lift your hips up as high off the ground as possible without losing the stable foundation created by your hands and feet. If you lack the hamstring flexibility, bend your knees a little.
Extended Triangle Pose
2-3 breaths each side
Keep the toes and kneecap of your left leg pointed forward and, keeping your spine straight and long, stretch over your leg. Place your left hand on your ankle or on a block next to your foot. Look up towards your extended right arm.
Extended Side Angle Pose
2-3 breaths each side
Bend your front leg and place your hand by of your foot as you stretch your other arm up and over your head. Pull your waist away from the floor, keep your back straight. Place a block under your hand if necessary.
Chair Pose
5 breaths
Plant your feet firmly on the floor and sit your buttocks back as if sitting into a chair. Keep your knees pointing forward. Make sure your back stays straight as you lift your arms up over your head.
Warrior I Pose
2-3 breaths each side
Angle your back foot outward slightly and straighten your back leg. Lift from your navel up, bring your arms up, and lengthen through the crown of your head. Make sure your front knee and toes are aligned and pointing straight forward.
Wide-Legged Forward Bend
5 breaths
Plant your feet as wide apart as you can. Place your hands on the floor and lengthen forward through your spine. Once you have achieved the concave spine, start to walk your hands backward to capacity, aiming to lengthen and release your spine as evenly as possible.
Headstand 1
Activate your shoulders and upper back muscles as you lift your body up into inverted balance. Use the wall for support if necessary.
Four-Footed Pose
2 times, 5-6 breaths each
Lie down with your knees bent so that your feet are close to your buttocks. Grab onto your ankles and lift your hips up above the ground. Open your chest up and breathe.
Supported Bridge Pose
3 minutes
Lie down over support placed under the whole of your body from the thoracic spine down to your knees. The shoulders swoop down to touch the floor. Spread your arms outward or slightly at your side. Activate your feet and press them into the wall.
Plough Pose
5 minutes
Use support under your shoulders if necessary. Keeping your shoulders open, lift your hips up high above your head, dropping your feet down behind you. Place your hands on your back to help keep it from rounding.
Simple Cross Legs Forward
1 minute each side
Sit with your legs crossed. Keep your sit-bones pointing downward as you fold forward over your legs to capacity, lengthening your spine.
Corpse Pose
5 minutes
Lie down on the floor. Spread your arms and legs slightly at your side. Relax and concentrate on your breath.
Share
Save PDF and print
You are welcome to download the PDF of the sequence and print and distribute it freely. You may have to wait up to 30 seconds for the PDF to generate. Please credit the teacher who created it. All illustrations from Dona Holleman’s ‘Yoga Darśana’, RIMYI Institute texts and Yoga Vastu illustrators for original asana drawings.
By Pixie Lillas
Pixie is the founder of Yoga Vastu and runs the Balmain Iyengar Yoga Studio in Sydney, Australia. She has over 45 years of teaching experience and regularly runs teacher training courses. She regularly teaches workshops in Europe and New Zealand.
