Ashtanga Led Primary: Second Half

Welcome back, continuing forward to complete the entire primary series. So this practice is for you if you have just practiced the lead primary series part one through Navasana and you're familiar with the postures that we'll now practice together at a reasonable pace which complete the primary series. So we'll just pick up right where you've just left off in Navasana, the fifth round and you'll be at your fifth breath. From the boat posture, Navasana, take your last exhale, five, ashta, inhale, lift up, nava, chhatwari, jump back, chaturanga, dasa, inhale, upward facing dog, ekharasa, exhale, downward facing dog, bhujipirasana. So up to inhale, jump your feet around your arms, ideally the feet stay up off the mat, right foot over the left, nava, exhale, folding forward, trying to keep your feet up off of the ground.

One, you might be down on your forehead, resting two, or just above your chin, floating, three, four, keeping the feet up off the mat, five, nava, inhale, come up and exhale here, dasa, inhale, draw your feet back to bhaka asana position, balancing, and ekharasa, exhale, jump it back to chaturanga. Dwadasa, inhale, upward facing dog, triyogdasa, exhale, downward facing dog. Kormasana, sapta, inhale, jump your feet around your arms and this time, sit down on your bum with your shoulders as far behind your knees as possible and your hands reaching out to the side and back a little bit behind you. You might be at this level, one, making sure that there's no pressure on the elbows, keeping any pressure off the sternum, the center of the chest, two, if it's very, very comfortable and you can keep broad collarbones, three, you might be reaching the feet even straight forward in front of you, four, five, ashtau, exhaling, try to grab your hands up high in your spine. To do that, you might bring the heels in a little closer so you can use that space of the knees away from the mat to draw the broad collarbones deeply under and try to clasp the hands behind the spine and dropping the head, then nava, exhale. Here you might be able to draw your right foot over your left or you might simply have them touch like I'm doing here in this modified posture, breathing deeply here. One, intermediate practitioners may have sat up and put their feet behind their head, two, three, but for now, primary practitioners, four, might find themselves with feet touching or feet stacked, but the hands clasping behind the spine. In supta kormasana, five, inhaling, release the hands, plant the hands down in front of the hips and if your feet are clasped behind your head, fine, darsha, inhale, lift up, ekadasa, exhale, bring your feet back to bhakasana position and darsha, exhale, jump back, chaturanda, triyugdarsha, inhale, upward facing dog, chaturgdarsha, exhale, downward facing dog, garbapindasana, sapta, inhale, jump through straight legs, sitting down, making sure that you're in the straight leg position and then ashta, exhale, folding into lotus or your comfortable modification thereof, and if you're comfortable in lotus, the right hand sliding in front of the right foot past the elbow as best you can, so that bending the arm, bending the elbow brings your fingers towards the forehead and then same thing, left arm, elbow comes past, you may need water or some kind of light oil to get the arms through it first and as best you can, either fingertips on the forehead or the fingertips coming into the ears, breathing here, one, two, drishti down the tip of the nose, three, four, if you're in a modified pose, you've got your elbows just outside your knees, five, and keeping that rounding position, inhale here, draw the spine long but keeping round, keep the fingertips on the forehead as best you're able, you'll exhale and roll back on one side of the spine or the other, try not to roll in the bones themselves and inhale rolling up, rolling around in a circle, clockwise, perhaps five times, as many times as it takes, but try to exhale roll back and inhale roll up, exhaling back, inhale up, one, two, three, four, five, kukutasana, nava, inhale, roll up, plant the hands, lift the knees, lift the chest, lift the chin one, then look down the tip of the nose, two, broad collarbones, the chest lifted, three, four, five, exhaling, come down and take the arms out, dasa, inhale, lift up, ekadasa, exhale, jump back, chaturanga, dvadasa, inhale, upward facing dog, triyodhisha, exhale, downward facing dog, bada konasana, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs, sit down and exhaling, draw the soles of the feet back towards the pelvis and open the feet up like a book, inhale here with a very long spine, shoulders roll back and down and ashdha, exhale, folding forward, gently pulling on the feet with the elbows in next to the ribs, gazing down the tip of the nose as you extend the spine forward, one, and the chest coming closer to the feet, two, three, four, udiyana bandha, five, nava, inhale, lengthening the spine, lengthening the arms, coming all the way back up straight, b, dasa, exhale, now curling the spine, tucking the chin, keeping the hands in the same position, tucking the tailbone under, pull the top of the head to touch the feet and breathe with the chin tucked, one, two, three, four, keeping the elbows on the ribs, keeping the elbows right on the center of the body, five, ekadasha, inhale, straight arms, straight spine, coming all the way back up and exhale here, just exhale, and then letting go, dvarsa, inhale, lift up, triyugdasa, exhale, jump back, chaturanga, chaturgdasa, inhale, upward facing dog, pancharsa, exhale, downward facing dog, upavishta konasana, sapta, inhale, jump through straight legs, sitting down, and exhaling, spreading the feet wide, but not so wide that you cannot grab the outsides of the feet, you grab the outsides of the feet, again inhale, then ashta, exhale, folding forward, letting the chest lengthen forward as best you're able, and breathe, one, you can pull on the feet gently to draw the chest forward, two, taking good care of the hamstrings using strong legs, three, with the toes pointing straight up towards the sky, four, and grabbing around the center of the foot, five, now the inhale, head up, exhale here, just exhale, dvarsa, inhale, releasing the hands off of the feet, raising the arms up and still inhaling, leaning back to raise straight legs up, grab the outsides of the feet, point the toes and look straight up, one, letting the chest open, the collarbones broaden, two, point your toes, three, and the urdvadrishti is not in front of you, four, it's straight up well above the head, five, exhale, let go, ikarsa, inhale, lift up, dvarsa, jump back chaturanga, triyogda, shine, heel, upward facing, chaturgda, exhale, downward facing dog, subta konasana, subta inhale, jump through straight legs, sit down, and exhaling with straight legs, lie down on your back, ashta inhale, draw the legs straight back behind you and then spread the legs widely, grab your big toes, gaze on the tip of the nose and breathe, one, two, resting on the shoulders, three, keeping the cervical vertebra lifted, four, five, nava, inhale, rolling up with straight legs only, holding the toes, and then exhaling, roll forward with straight legs only, landing on the calves, the head comes forward and down, darsa, inhale, lift the head up, long straight spine, and just exhale here, and then release, let go, ikarsa, inhale, lift up, dvarsa, exhale, jump back chaturanga, tryogda, shine, heel, upward facing, chaturgda, exhale, downward facing dog, subta parangustasana, subta inhale, jump through straight legs, sit down, with straight legs, exhale, lie down on your back, left hand on the left thigh, point your left toe, head is down, and then ashta, inhale, lift the right leg up, grab your right big toe, and nava, exhale, draw the body up towards the leg, looking up towards the big toe, maybe you touch, one, two, three, toes point, four, five, darsa, inhale, head down only, ikarsa, exhale, the right leg over to the right side, and you look over your left shoulder, picadristi, and breathe, one, two, mudiyana bandha, drawing the belly in, three, four, five, dvarsa, inhale, draw the leg back to the center, tryogda, exhale, and touch, chaturgdasa, inhale, head down only, pancharasha, exhale, leave your leg, right hand to the right thigh, shouldershine, heel, left leg up, grab the left big toe, subta darsa, exhale, and draw the body up towards the leg, and breathe, one, dvarsa is towards your left big toe, two, three, four, five, ashkarsa, inhale, head down only, ikuna, vimshati, exhale, bring the left leg to the left side, and look over the right shoulder, one, seeing that udiyana bandha still keeps the belly firm and taut, two, and breath still floats the upper chest upwards, three, four, five, vimshati, inhale, draw the leg to the center, ekavimshati, exhale, lift the body to the leg, dvavimshati, inhale, head down only, and then triovimshati, exhale, then leave your leg, chakrasana, chaturvimshati, inhale, roll back, exhale, find chaturanga, if you're not doing chakrasana, you can just take a regular vinyasa, pancha, vimshati, inhale, upward facing dog, shatvimshati, exhale, downward facing dog, uvaya padangustrasana, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs sitting down, and with straight legs, exhale, lie down on your back, ashta, inhale, draw the feet behind the head with straight legs, exhaling, grab your big toes, and nava, inhale, with straight legs, roll up, point the toes, and look straight up.

One, notice that these postures are more about the transition, two, than the final posture itself, three, so really try to pull these off in good integrity with the breath, four, and keeping straight legs as you roll up, five, exhale, cross the legs, plant the hands, dascha, inhale, lift up, ekarsha, exhale, jump back, dvarsha, inhale, upward facing, triyogdascha, exhale, downward facing, urdvamukapashimaturasana, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs, sit down, with straight legs, exhale, lie down on your back, ashta, inhale, draw the straight legs back behind the head, and here, grab the heels, or the outside of the feet, closer to the toes, exhale completely, and nava, inhale, roll up with straight legs, looking straight up, dascha, exhale, bend the elbows, and draw the torso closer to the legs, looking onto the big toes, pointing, one, two, three, four, five, ekarsha, inhale, straight arms, straight spine, looking straight up, and exhale here, just exhale, dvarsha, inhale, lift up, triyogdascha, exhale, jump back, chaturgdascha, inhale, upward facing, panjarsha, exhale, downward facing dog, satubandasana, the final posture of seated, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs, sit down, exhaling, lie, with straight legs, lie down on your back, and ashta, prepare. If you know the full satubandasana, you can go ahead and perform that, otherwise, simply draw your heels together, with the knees bent, pushing the heels together, spread your toes wide apart from one another, try to flatten the feet on the ground, and maybe the first one, you've got your arms spread out to the side a little bit, drawing the head back, and nava, inhale, lift up, breathing one, two, three, four, five, dvarsha, exhale, come down, and then release the head, akarsha, inhaling, chakrasana, exhale, to chaturanga, dvarsha, inhale, upward facing, triyogdascha, exhale, downward facing dog, and we'll go to backbend, urdhva dhanarasana, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs sitting down, exhale, lie down on your back, and ashta, prepare, bend the knees, put the feet flat on the floor, keeping the heels wide and the toes pointing straight forward, exhaling completely, finding udhyana bandha, lifting the pelvis to point the tailbone towards the knees, you could plant the hands behind the shoulders or keep the hands by the hips for the variation, nava, inhale, and rise up, one, two, keeping the root knuckles, index fingers grounding, three, and the big toe mound grounding, regardless of whichever variation you're in, four, udhyana bandha, five, darsha, exhale, you could come down in the head if you're doing the full urdhva dhanarasana, walk the hands in as little or as much as you like, and nava, inhale, again, come up, one, two, three, knees close, four, keeping a little internal rotation on the thighs, five, darsha, exhale, come down, you could take either variation for the last one, walking the hands in deeply if you like, nava, inhale, and come up, breath, one, bandha, two, and the drishti, three, settling onto a still place, four, five, darsha, exhale, come down, you can roll the knees into the chest, roll up and do a regular vinyasa, or do chakrasana from here, ekharasa, inhale to roll the limbs back, hips above the shoulders, exhaling your way to chalaranga, dvarsha, inhale, upward facing dog, triyodhasa, exhale, downward facing dog, pashimattanasana, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs sitting down, exhale here, and ashta, inhale, reaching forward, grabbing the tops or the sides or even beyond the feet, nava, exhale, fold forward, one, counter posing your back bends with forward bends, two, three, keep the eyes journeying forward towards the toes, four, five, even if the head has a tendency to come downward, six, keep the chin moving slightly forward, seven, keep the eyes moving towards the toes, forward, eight, nine, ten, darsha, inhale, straight arms, straight spine, head up, exhale, and let go, ekharasa, inhale, lift up, dvarsha, exhale, jump back, chaturanga, triyodhasa, inhale, upward facing dog, chaturajasa, exhale, downward facing dog, salambha, saravangasana, shoulder stand, sapta, inhale, jump through, straight legs sit down, exhaling, lie down upon your back, you can take a few extra breaths here if you'd like, laying down, finding bunda, and then ashto, inhale, keeping the shoulders pressing into the mat, draw the hips above the shoulders and the legs reaching straight up out of the hips towards the sky, toes point and breathe, one, keeping the drishti down, the tip of the nose, two, the chin not pressing into the chest, instead a little arch in the neck, three, as both shoulders evenly ground into the mat behind the head, four, to keep the space between the shoulders, cervical vertebrae lifted, five, six, the elbows stay close, seven, eight, nine, ten, halaasana, exhale and draw the feet behind the head, pointing the toes and looking down the tip of the nose, one, two, three, udiyana bandha, four, five, six, seven, eight, karnapitasana, keeping the head as it is, bend the knees and let the knees go into the ears, one, squeezing the head, two, three, mula bandha, four, drishti on the nose, five, feet together, heels together, six, seven, eight, return the hands to lower back, nava inhale, lift the legs straight up and down, urdvapadmasana, nava exhale, cross the legs into lotus, half lotus, simple cross legs and lift the knees the same height as the hips, one, two, three, still the shoulders, four, pressing down to the mat, five, six, seven, eight, pindasana, exhale, letting the knees descend, wrapping the arms around, look down the tip of the nose and breathe, one, two, your elbows around your knees, three, regardless of if you're in four, half lotus or simple cross legs, five, six, seven, eight, matsyasana, inhale, allow the spine to roll down the mat, extend the knees down towards the mat and lift the chest so your hips stay down, the top of the head moves down towards the mat, scooting the elbows forward as needed, one, and if you're comfortable in full lotus, two, taking the tops of both feet, three, and pulling the center of the foot, four, so the arms are straight and the chest opens, five, the left knee moving to the mat, six, seven, eight, udon parasana, inhaling, straight arms above the pelvis and straight legs the same angle, one, gazing down the tip of the nose, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, lowering down, dasa, inhale, chagrasana, rolling back, exhaling your way to chaturanga dandasana, karasana, inhale, upward facing dog, dvarsa, exhale, downward facing dog, shirshasana, headstand, sapta, prepare, drop your knees onto the mat, interlace your fingers and draw your elbows close to one another, letting the hands spread apart from one another, cup the hands so they make good contact with the head, the head in very slight contact with the mat, elbows pushing down and you can draw yourself with straight legs and the hips above the shoulders into the first position and you could stay there or ashta, inhale, bring yourself up into full shishasana, one, two, if you've had to come up through any of the four steps feel free to hang out in those steps, five, six, seven, keeping good pressure through the hands, through the elbows, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, still the shoulders wrapped away from the ears, fourteen, fifteen, half way lift, exhaling, bringing the feet down and holding one, maybe you can get the feet to a halfway position too, trying to keep the legs straight with good pressure through the arms and less weight on the head, if you need to have a somewhat heightened position that's great but avoid the temptation to lower the legs come back up, if you've come down and keep yourself in a halfway lift, nine, ten, now inhale, draw the legs all the way back up to four heads turn and dasha exhale, slowly control the descent, as the feet come down keep the head down, keep the hands where they are and take rest here completely let go and take rest, having taken rest there inhale and draw the head up, spread the hands at the front corners of the mat, ekarsha exhale, step or jump back to chaturanga, dvarsha inhale upward facing dog, triyugdisha exhale downward facing dog, the final finishing asana is up to inhale jump through straight legs sitting down, bada padmasana, asda exhale, cross the feet if you're comfortable and full lotus, take full padmasana and then let the arms reach around behind to take the tops of the feet, otherwise you could modify with any comfortable seated posture and simply take the elbows behind, inhaling here let the drishti the eyes grace the eyebrow center, yoga mudra nava exhale folding forward keeping the drishti the eyes rising, one long smooth full deep breathing, two three the awareness steadily comfortably rising, four reminding, five the mind that this practice is not merely a physical one, six, seven as the awareness seats out the more subtle and more subtle eight aspects of practice, nine, ten, padmasana dasa inhale rising up, release the hands into chin mudra index finger and thumb lightly touch, the other three fingers extend and breathe, one looking down the tip of the nose, two, three, every exhalation a great chance to refine mula bandha, udhyana bandha, four, every inhalation a great chance to feel breath flooding the upper chest, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, upluddhi planting the hands down behind the feet next to the hips, dasa inhale and lift up, one the knees coming up, the hips coming up, two, mula bandha, udhyana bandha engaged, three, four still calm slow breathing, five, the drishti down the tip of the nose if you like, six, seven, little smile on the lips lifting up, eight keep lifting, nine, ten you could come down and take vinyasa or dasa exhale and shoot the legs back to tadaranga, takarsha inhale upward facing dog, dasa exhale downward facing dog, inhaling jump through and for today lay down and take rest allowing the body to completely unroll and unfold letting the palms shine up towards the sky letting the feet roll out to the side releasing all the physical activity through the body even releasing the physical activity at the bandhas so that breath freely rises the abdomen the eyes are closed the mind is free to wander as a silent breath finds you relaxing deeper and deeper should any part of the body feel like it's hanging on still tense or tight draw the mind's eye into awareness of that space in the body and allow the fully relaxed breath to completely release that area as you completely let go and take rest still not moving find the breath unmanaged and wild and completely relaxed and use that long full breath to draw awareness scanning through the physical body releasing and relaxing all the systems staying relaxed as possible you can begin to bring a little bit of movement through the physical body however you like eventually you may find the toes drawing together and the finger is drawing together above the head as you inhale and stretch along and exhale bending the knees roll over onto one side or the other bend your knees take a fetal position allow the eyes to drift open and as you're ready slowly bring yourself back up to any comfortable seated posture whatever is absolutely comfortable for you to sit we'll do the closing mantra you've just experienced and practiced the entire our stronger primary series the idea of the closing mantra is that this practice serves not only one being but by doing these practices consistently and attached from results we bring a we hope to bring about a better experience for all beings everywhere you can join me as you like in the closing mantra Swasti Prajabha Paripala Yantam Nyayena Margaena my him my he Shaha go Brahma Nabiya Shubha Mastu Nityam loka ha samasta ha suki no bhavantu aum shanti he shanti he shanti he may these practices be of service to all keep well keep practicing and keep in touch