Explore Standing Postures

Hi guys, welcome to the standing series. Step to the front of your mat and step your feet hip width apart. Bring your hands onto your hips. Inhale, lift the chest, shoulders down, push the throat and exhale, fold forward, grab a hold of your big toes. Again, inhale, pubic bone goes back, lift the kneecaps up, shoulders towards your hips and exhale. Slowly going forward, if you need to, bend the knees so your chest, thighs comfortably touch and with the chest and thighs touching, start to straighten the legs. Lengthen the back of the neck, shoulders away from the ears. As you continue to connect with your breath, can think about stretching your heels away from each other, feel the sitting bones spreading. At the same time, feel as if you're dropping your tailbone down towards your heels, lengthen through the crown of the head. Take one more breath in, lifting the sitting bones, exhale, dropping your weight down through the heels, tailbone drops and then inhale, keep pressing the tailbone down as you move the pubic bone back, lengthening through the crown of the head. Pull the shoulders towards the hips and exhale. Take your hands under your feet. Again, if you need to, bend the knees so your chest and thighs comfortably touch. As you inhale, lift the head and chest, try to keep the thighs and chest touching. Pull the shoulders to the hips and exhale going forward. Elbows move slightly towards the shins and then out to the sides. Spread the heels away from each other, lifting the sitting bones up, lift the kneecaps up. At the same time, the sense that you're dropping the tailbone down and lengthening through the crown of the head. Keep the face and throat relaxed, smooth, even breathing. One more breath in and then exhale all the way. Inhale, pubic bone goes back as you bring your shoulders towards the hips, the tailbone towards the heels, exhale and then bring your hands to your hips. Inhale, come up and step the feet together, exhaling. And then stepping out to the right side, bring the hands up and go into triangle pose. Turn your right foot out 90 degrees, turn the left foot in slightly, bend your right knee and bring your left hand behind the back, grab a hold of the left wrist and hold on to your right thigh. Bring your right hand up, palm face up, reach to the right side as you exhale. Come down, bring the hand onto the shin, draw your ribs in as you curl the tailbone under and turn the chest up towards the ceiling as you press the hips forward. Lift the right knee cap up and breathe. And then releasing the left hand and looking up to the hand.

If you can, you can come down onto the fingertips and then looking down, exhale, bend the right knee and then just stepping forward, coming onto the left toe tip, right fingertips, bending the right knee and then start to straighten the leg. As you straighten the right leg opening the left hip up towards the ceiling, straighten the left leg spreading the toes. If your balance is good, you can try to look up to the hand, otherwise keep looking down. Take another breath in and then as you exhale, bend the right knee, square the hips and roll the left hip down towards the ceiling. Keep extending that left leg and bring your hands up, fingertips towards the ears. Go into a twist, so bring the left elbow toward the floor, right elbow up toward the ceiling and then from there, straighten the left hand, the left arm coming onto the left fingertips and straighten the right arm and the right leg. If you can, looking up to the hand, take a breath in and then looking down, exhale, bend the knee, coming back to Adhachandrasana. Inhale and then bend the right knee, exhaling, stepping down slowly as you inhale to come back up. Turning to the left side, turn the left foot out, turn the right foot in slightly, bending the left knee, take the right hand behind, grab a hold of the wrist with the left hand, take the inner thigh and drawing the ribs in, reach out through the left arm, inhale and exhale coming down. Press your hips forward as you draw the ribs in and move the tailbone towards the heel and turn the chest up toward the ceiling, releasing the right arm, smooth, even breathing. If you can, coming down onto left fingertips, take one more breath in and then exhale, bending the left knee for Adhachandrasana, stepping forward to left fingertips, right toe tip, the right arm up and then lifting the right leg, opening the right hip to the ceiling, straighten the right leg, spread the toes. If your balance is good, looking up to the right hand, otherwise looking to the floor, one more breath in and then going into the twist, Bhagrita Adhachandrasana, opening the fingertips towards the ears, the knee bent and then twisting, bring right elbow toward the floor, left elbow toward the ceiling and then coming onto the fingertips, straightening the left leg and looking up to the left hand and then looking down, exhale, bend the knee and then coming back to Adhachandrasana, opening the hip toward the ceiling, so inhale and then bending the knee and exhale, slowly stepping down, inhale back up and exhale, stepping back to the front. Inhale, step out to the side, the side angle pose, take a wider stance and then turn your right foot out 90 degrees, left foot in slightly, as you exhale, bend the right knee over the top of the heel, keep the back leg straight, reaching to the right side as you inhale, coming onto the fingertips of the right hand, as you exhale, now bring the left arm past the face towards the floor, as you take the hand, spin the arm and as you inhale, start opening your chest up towards the ceiling, draw the ribs in as you press the hips forward, look up under the armpit towards the ceiling, take one more breath in and then exhale, look down and bring your right hand on the inside of the leg, make some space, bring the ribs on the inside of the thigh, try to bring your right elbow to the floor and then we're going to go into the bound side angle, so bring the right hand under the leg, take the left arm up, open the chest and try and catch your hands, press the hips forward, pull the shoulders down, tailbone goes under, ribs in, turn the chest towards the ceiling, try to extend the arms, take a breath in and exhale and releasing, coming onto the fingertips and coming onto the ball of the left foot, the heel of the right foot as you inhale, lift the head and exhale and then coming into a lunge, inhale, take the left arm up, straighten the back knee, draw the ribs in and then exhale, go into the twist, bring the shoulder on the outside of the leg and bring the hands together in a prayer, pull the shoulders away from the ears and either stay there or if you can take the left arm under the leg, take the right arm up and back, if you can holding the wrist, just looking down for balance or up to the ceiling if you can, take one more breath in and then exhale, releasing the left hand to the floor and then taking the right arm up, turn the hand and as you exhale, bring the arm past the face, keep looking up under the armpit towards the ceiling, take one more breath in and then looking down, exhale and inhale, coming up to the lunge, straightening the legs and turning to the side and exhale, turning to the left side, turn the left foot out 90 degrees, turn the right foot in slightly, bend the left knee, as you inhale, reach to the left side and exhale, coming to the left fingertips, the right arm comes past the face with the spin, as you inhale, turning the chest up towards the ceiling, ribs in, looking up under the armpit and breathe, take one more breath in and then exhaling and bring the arm on the inside of the leg for a bound side angle, if you can try to touch the elbow to the floor, stay there or if you can take the hand under the leg, take the right arm up as you inhale and back, try to hold the wrist as you exhale, straightening the arms, inhaling, press the hips forward, the left knee back, pull the shoulders towards the hips and look up towards the ceiling and then exhaling, release, coming onto the ball of the right foot, the heel of the left foot, inhale head up and exhale and then coming to our lunge, inhale, right arm goes up with spin, straightening the right knee and then exhale to the twist, coming into a prayer, pull the shoulders towards the hips, keep the back leg strong, stay there, if you can take the right arm under, left arm goes back, holding the wrist, either looking down or you can look to the ceiling and then exhale, releasing the right hand to the floor, left arm comes up with spin, as you take it past the face, keep the right knee strong, looking up under the armpit to the ceiling and then looking down, exhale and inhale coming up onto the side and exhale, stepping back to samasthiti heat, inhale, step it out to the side, wider stance, taking the hands onto the hips, turn your feet in so the outer edges of your feet are parallel with the ends of your mat, take a breath in and exhale, bend forward, take your hands to the floor, again inhale straightening, extending through the spine and exhale going forward, elbows in, press the hands down and forward as you press the elbows down and back, try to bring the head, top of the head to the floor and breathe, take one more breath in, exhale dropping the tailbone down to the heels, as you inhale pivot bone goes back, lengthening through the ground of the head and exhale, shoulders to the hips, hands to your waist and inhale come up and exhale, just turn your feet out just slightly, so your knees now moving the same direction as your toes, bring your hands onto the inside of the thighs for a moment and try to open up your hips, pressing the knees back and curl your tailbone under slightly, sinking your weight through the heels, stacking your shoulders over your hips, bring your hands to prayer, sinking the hips down and let's hold it there, I know this is tough, let's hold it, try and drop a bit lower, little bit deeper, keep squeezing the heels in as you press the knees back, you might be starting to shake and then exhale, take the hands to the floor and we're going to a twist, so bring your left hand under your head in the centre of your mat and move your shoulder towards your right big toe, at the same time press your hand to the left, take the right arm opening the chest towards the ceiling, crown the head over the hand, as you inhale and look to the hand, as you exhale lifting the left hip up to the ceiling and then exhale look down, go into the other side, bring the hand under the head, the left shoulder moves towards the left big toe, pressing the hand to the right, so inhale turning the chest towards the ceiling, as you exhale lift the right hip up and exhale look down, bring the hands to the floor, heels come in, squeeze the heels in as you press the knees out, slightly tuck the tailbone under, ring the shoulders over the hips and interlock the fingers and round the back curling the tailbone under and then interlock the fingers and pull the shoulder blades together, extending the upper back and then bring the hands back to prayer, sinking a little deeper into this one, squeeze the heels in as you press the knees out, take one more breath in and then exhaling, hands to the floor, heels go out, toes in and can hold either the ankles or the big toes, so inhale, extending, lifting up through the crown of the head and then exhale and go forward, this one feels easy after that horse stance and lifting the kneecaps up as you lengthen through the crown of the head, spread the shoulders away from the ears, take one more breath in and exhale all the way and pubic bone goes back as you inhale lengthen through the crown of the head, drop the tailbone down as you exhale, shoulders to the hips and inhale to come up and exhale stepping back to samasthiti here, inhale step to the right side for paasvottanasana, take the hands in prayer or hold your elbows, turning to the right side, pull the shoulders down, press the hands together, lift the chest, inhale and exhale, go forward halfway and then bend your right knee, coming onto the left toe tip, lift the left leg up as you inhale and then exhaling, bend the knee, try to take the chest to the thigh, keep straightening the back leg, spreading the toes, pull the shoulders down, take one more breath and then straightening the leg, inhale bring the foot together and then exhale turning to the side and let's turn to the left side, turn the left foot out, right foot in, inhale lift the chest, pull the shoulders down, press the hands together, bend the right knee and then lean forward, lifting the right leg up as you inhale and then exhaling, bending the left knee, try to take the ribs to the thigh, keep extending the right leg, spreading the toes, shoulders down and breathe and then inhale and straighten that left leg, bring the foot to the front and then exhaling back to the side and stepping back to samastitihi. Okay, so now we're going to go through some variations of uttita asda padangusthasana, so raise your right leg and hug your knee to your chest, I want you to draw your ribs in and really bring that knee in, you may need to just bring it out to the side a little bit, flex the foot, you can keep the left hand on the hip, take it out to the side, keep hugging that knee in and then from here you're going to release and bring your leg into an internal rotation and then as you go back, keeping the hips square, straightening the right leg, you can take the hands back and then coming up to that internal rotation to the side and then bringing the knee into the side of the ribs and then forward and release. Okay, so let's try the other side, luckily you've only got two legs and so we hug that knee into the chest, you can lean back a little to start with and then start to straighten the standing leg, flexing the foot of the bent leg and then taking it to the side, bring some external rotation by trying to kick your heel forward and then releasing to this internal rotation as you take the leg back and squaring the hips, take the hands back, shoulder blades pulling down and back and then coming again to that side movement and then as you bring it in, the heel goes forward, the knee comes up in towards the armpit and then bring the knee in towards the chest and then exhale down and just shake it out. And let's try a standing reach asana variation, so bring the right knee into the chest, flexing the foot, you bring the knee a little towards the armpit so on the outside of the ribs and so either stay there or if you can you'll keep a hold of the left hand and bring your right arm on the inside and take the hand around if possible, take the hands back and then lifting the spine straight, so inhale and exhale and release and we'll try the other side, so inhale, left knee comes up, take it out to the side a little, ribs come on the inside, flexing the foot, keep a hold with the right hand and then take the left shoulder on the inside of the leg, the right hand goes back and then try and stand nice and straight, so inhale and exhale and release. And let's try a maricha asana C variation standing, so we hug the right knee into the chest and so you either just hug the knee and twist like this or if you can keep a hold bring the left shoulder on the inside, take a round and then try to stand up straight so inhale, if you really got good balance you can try looking to the right side as you exhale and then inhale forward and exhale and release and let's take a moment and do the other side, so lifting the left leg up, inhale either just hug the knee or take the shoulder on the outside of the leg and then taking that left hand back, so inhale and if possible exhale and twist, inhale look forward and exhale release, okay and let's go into outstanding cross leg variation, so you're going to bend your knees and raise your right leg up, try to lift your heel up toward the ceiling with the foot flexed, so you're externally rotating the hip and the shin and then crossing the right ankle on top of the left knee, bring your hands together and then as you go forward folding from the hips like you're going into a squat, so you're still extending the spine and keep that extension as you go forward, perhaps you'll be able to touch your ribcage to your thighs, if possible you can bring the hands to the floor and then the hands in prayer again lifting up, extending the spine, you come up and exhale coming back to Samastitihi, then bending the right knee and lifting the left leg up as you inhale, crossing the leg exhaling hands to prayer coming into Utkatasana, imagine you're sitting back into a chair keeping the spine nice and long extended, so you go forward perhaps if you can taking your ribcage to your chest to your shin, touch the hands to the floor and then bring it back to the prayer and inhale slowly coming up and exhale coming back to Samastitihi and then moving into Garudasana, bending the knees, inhale right leg crosses if possible crossing the foot and then bringing the left elbow across, palms facing away from each other if possible palms together, lift your elbows up, sink down through your hips, keep pressing your elbows forward and up and breathe, take one more breath in and then exhale and inhale to come up slowly and exhale, okay so bending the knees and cross the left leg over if you can, hooking the foot behind and then crossing right elbow over the top of left, lift the elbows up, sink the hips down and keep the breath soft and steady, exhale all the way and then slowly coming up inhale and exhale release and coming back to Samastitihi, go through one sun salutation and make our way to seated, inhale hands up, exhale fold forward, inhale head and chest up, exhale jump back, inhale upward facing, exhale downward facing and then looking forward coming to a high plank, step the right foot forward then the left and then slowly sitting down and bringing the feet through.

So we'll come into kamukha center position, you can bring your right foot on the outside of your left hip and the left leg over the top, you can just try to bring the knees almost over each other but this front foot can stay forward, doesn't need to be pulled back, let's take a breath in and then exhale and stretch your hands forward, spread the shoulders away from the ears, lengthen and relax the back of the neck. If that feels easy for you, you can go into a slight twist here by bringing your right shoulder on the outside of the knee and take the right elbow to the floor and come onto your left fingertips and then inhale and come up, we will go into the full twist so straighten your arm, press your forearm against your knee, move your shoulder across to the left side as you press the arm to the right, come onto your left fingertips, pull the shoulder blade back, inhale lift the spine, exhale twist, inhale look forward, exhale and go into a side bend here, bring your hand in line with your hip, the right arm goes past the face, so inhale and turn the chest up towards the ceiling, fingertips in, looking up under the armpit, as you exhale look down and inhale come up and go into a back bend here, turn the palms out on the fingertips, pull the shoulder blades together, lift the chest, inhale stretch the throat and the chin up and exhale, bring the chin in and release and we will change sides, so bringing that right leg over the top now left foot on the outside of the hip and take a breath in and exhale stretching forward, stay there or go into this twist bringing the shoulder and armpit on the outside of the knee, elbow to the floor and then as you inhale come up, press the left forearm against the knee, lift the chest, pull the right shoulder blade back and inhale, exhale twist, inhale look forward, exhale and take the hand on the outside in line with the hip, as you inhale take the arm past the face, open the chest up towards the ceiling, ribs in, look up to the armpit, you can even come down onto the right elbow and then exhale look down, inhale come up, coming onto the fingertips, pull the shoulder blades back, lift the chest as you inhale, stretch the throat and exhale bring the chin in and then coming into comfortable cross leg position, either just simple easy cross leg, whichever variation you wish to do, we'll do some breathing, so coming onto the front edge of the sitting bones and then dropping back down through the tailbone, centering the shoulders of the hips and lengthening through the crown of the head, bring your hands into your lower belly, as you inhale feel the belly expanding outwards, as you exhale feel the navel coming in towards the spine and just where the fingertips are keeping that area drawn in as you breathe in, feeling the upper abdomen expanding and exhale and then sliding the hands up to the side ribs as you inhale feeling the breath spreading symmetrically to the front side and back ribs as you exhale keep lengthening through the crown of the head once more inhaling this time bring the breath higher up to the collar bones and the upper back evenly as you exhale dropping the tailbone down keeping the collar bones lifted and then bringing the thumb and first finger together sitting with the spine straight take three more breaths like this, feeling all the way up to the collar bones as you inhale and emptying the breath slowly and completely as you exhale taking one more breath in feeling all the way up to the brim and then slowly breathing out emptying the breath completely and then releasing the belly returning back to collar calm relaxed abdominal breathing slowing the breath right down taking three more clear conscious breaths and then quietly in your own time uncross your legs and lie down on your back for Shavasana so as you lay back just arranging the body symmetrically evenly to the left and to the right front and to the back lengthening back of the neck back of the skull so that the head is even to the left and to the right to the front to the back just loop your shoulders to the mat and then just let the spine sink down between them catch the mat with the heels and then just let the feet roll out to the sides relaxing the hands and the feet fingers toes arms and the legs softening the hips and the belly feeling the heart open softening the throat the neck shoulders relaxing the face the forehead the scalp feeling waves of relaxation spreading throughout the body feel free to stay for as long as you wish otherwise you can start to wriggle the fingers and toes awakening through the body and then carefully stretching the hands over the head take a deep breath in have a big stretch and then exhaling and bend your knees to your chest and roll over to your right side and slowly your own time coming up to sitting and coming back to a comfortable cross leg position sitting with the spine straight bring the hands together in prayer take a moment to connect to reflect and namaste thank you very much.