In today’s miscellaneous class, we will be focusing on bringing life and openness to the shoulders, upper back, and chest. For the main part of the session, we will only be using a mat, two blocks, and a belt.
We begin in Supta Virasana to lengthen the back of the body and the front of the thighs. Then, we release our thighs down in Virasana Forward. This first part of the session is a time to observe the stiffness in the body. Stiffness can be useful. It can give us a better understanding of our limitations and a better sense of where the body’s boundaries lie. Through becoming aware of stiffness and tension, we also get a chance to observe how and when the body releases this tension, when it chooses to hold on.
After the invocations, we put aside most props, leaving just a mat, two blocks, and a belt. We begin this more dynamic part of the session in Uttanasana with the back straight, using blocks for support. The idea today is to move into poses gradually, to observe the levels of depth, how things change as we go deeper and deeper into a pose. We gradually lower our hands down to the floor.
This is followed by four repetitions of the Adho Mukha Svanasana to Virasana Forward transition. This helps us warm up the shoulders. Now we can move into Adho Mukha Vrksasana. As we do this, it’s important to continue being active in our practice. We can ask questions like, ‘What happens to my arms/shoulders in this pose? How and why is this useful?’
In Pincha Mayurasana, about halfway through the pose, we rotate our palms so they face upwards to see what this brings to the nature of the pose. Then, we proceed to free-balancing.
We return to standing. First comes Vrksasana. We begin by finding our balance. Then, once we’re standing firmly on one leg, we can lift up our arms and join the hands above our heads. Next comes Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana 1 and 2, first against the wall, then free-balancing. Here, we get a chance to compare the feeling of having support versus balancing freely.
We now do Utthita Trikonasana, with our foot to the wall. We then shift into Utthita Parsvakonasana and then Parsvottanasana with the chest parallel to the floor and the arms stretched straight back. All of these poses, including Prasarita Padottanasana, will prepare us for the next section, which involves Sirsasana and its variations: we begin with both legs straight up, then lower one leg at a time for the single-legged variation, then bend both knees out to the sides for Baddha Konasana legs in Sirsasana, and finally extend our legs back up into the full variation before lowering ourselves slowly down and into Virasana Forward where we can let throat and upper body soften and relax.
Before moving on to the sitting pose section, we will do a couple of poses to activate the core. First, we will do the toe-ring variation of Supta Padangusthasana 1 and 2. For this, we will need to create a loop in the belt for the big toe. We will then experiment with how far back we can draw the leg, doing this gradually, paying attention to the sensations not only in the back of the legs, but also, seeing as in this variation of Supta Padangusthasana 1 our arms are stretched backwards, in the shoulders, side of the chest, and armpits. Then, we will go into Supta Dandasana to prepare ourselves for regular Dandasana. Sometimes, experiencing a common pose from a less common, different angle can change the way we view the regular variation.
We move on to the seated postures. We begin in upright Dandasana, shifting gradually into Paschimottanasana, folding deeper and deeper in stages: first, with a belt around our feet, then holding our feet with our hands, and finally folding down completely. Then, we do some asymmetrical poses, such as Janu Sirsasana and Triang Mukha Eka Pada Paschimottanasana, to practice finding balance between the two sides. We then come into Baddha Konasana to see how a symmetrical pose feels now that we’ve practiced ironing out the stiffness in each side separately.
We finish with a short sequence of cooling poses. First, we do Chatushpadasana over folded blankets, then lift up into Sarvangasana. We come down into Halasana and Karna Pidasana before going up into Sarvangasana again, only this time with our knees bent and our feet reaching towards our buttocks. Then, we go into Virasana Forward to decompress the spine and do the usual final meditation in Savasana.
Video stills from this sequence
