by Ahsa Marandi
This evening yoga flow is designed to help you safely stretch and release tension in your hips. Poses include lunges, Warrior 2, triangle, lizard, yogi squat, pigeon, bound angle, and more. If you have a yoga block, blanket, or pillow, have it ready in case you might benefit from it.
Meet your Teacher
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Transcript
Hi, My name is Asa. Let's do some yoga. Going to start in a comfortable seated position, Maybe a cross-legged position or any variation of that. Bring your hands to your knees. Sit up nice and tall on an inhale. And on your exhale, Simply relax your shoulders down. Next, We'll start to make some circles with our torso. So on an inhale, Draw your heart towards your left knee. And then we're gonna keep reaching forward, Bringing your heart forward, Kind of arching in your back. And then bring it over to the right knee. And all the way back behind. And as you start to move back, Round in your back. And then bring it back to that front knee that we started with. So move with the breath, Inhale as you come forward, Arching in your back. And exhale as you go back, Rounding in your back. Once more in this direction. And then when you get back to the starting point, We'll reverse direction. Exhale back. Inhale forward. Bringing your awareness to your hips here, Just gently kinda. Awakening them for our session. One more circle. And then you can bring yourself back upright. And let's transition to downward facing dot. Starting in a hands and knees position. Hands up towards the top of the mat, Fingers spread wide. Step the knees back a few inches, Tuck the toes, Take a deep breath in here. And then on your exhale, Send your hips back. And up to downward facing dog. And when you get there, You can Drop one heel down towards the mat at a time. You can sway the hip. From one side to another. You can nod the head yes and no. Draw your heart towards your feet, Maybe bringing your ears in line with your biceps. And we'll spend a few more breaths here. Just building up some heat in the body. Feel free to hold your. . . Down dog or kind of move a little bit in it with swaying or pedaling the feet. Lift your tailbone up to the sky. And breathe deeply. Deep inhales and long slow exhales All right, From here on your next inhale, We'll lift the right leg back and up, Three-legged dog. And wait for the exhale to step the right foot forward. We'll keep the back heel lifted. And on an inhale, Slowly rise up, Bringing the hands to the hips. We're in kind of a high crescent lunge here. If you wobble a little bit, You can grab a hold of something, A wall, The wall or furniture. Just make your way back into the pose. Tailbone is lengthening down. And inhale, Arms forward and up. Breathe into the front of the left hip, The left hip flexor. And on your next exhale, We're gonna spin the back heel down and open to the side for warrior two. So the front knee is still bent over the front ankle. The back foot is almost parallel to the shortage of the mat but then slightly turned in. Hips, Torso open to the side. Shoulders over hips. And arms out to a T. Draw shoulder blades together, Deep breath here. A long, Slow breath out. Another breath here. Maybe on the exhale, Sinking a little bit deeper. Now on the next inhale, We'll flip the front palm and reach up coming into reverse warrior. Then exhale back through warrior two straighten your front leg we'll transition to triangle pose here next So inhale, Reach your fingertips forward as you send your hips back behind. And then tip the front arm down. And the back arm either up or to your hips. Now your bottom hand can rest on your shin, On a block, On your thigh, Or on the floor. You decide how far down you wanna come into this position. And in our triangle pose. Gaze can be down. To the side. Or up and overhead. Continue to breathe deeply here. And on your next exhale, As you cartwheel your arms down, Bend the front knee, Pivot onto the ball of the back foot, Plant your hands, And step back to downward facing dog. Feel free to pedal your feet. Now settle back into your down dog. And then on an inhale, Sweep the left leg back and up, Three-legged dog. Step it forward to the top of the mat. And when you're ready, Rise up to your high crescent lunge, Hands to the hips. On an inhale, Arms forward and up. Lengthen your tailbone down. Bend your back knee if you need to, And then maybe start to straighten the back leg. One more deep inhale here. And then on the exhale, Spin the back heel down and transition to warrior two. Draw your shoulder blades together. Front knees over the front ankle. And the gaze over the front fingers. Breathe into that opening in the front hip. And when you're ready, Flip your front palm. And inhale to reverse warrior. And then exhale back to warrior two. Straighten your front leg setting up for triangle here on this side trikonasana Reach your fingertips forward and as you do, Send your hip back. And then tip, Bringing your hand down. Another hand high to the sky or maybe to the hip. Try to draw your heart to the side towards this long edge of the mat, That side of the room. And a couple breaths here. One more deep inhale. And then on the exhale, As your gaze comes down, Bend into the front knee, Pivot onto the ball of the back foot, Plant your hands, And step it back to downward facing dog. On your next inhale, Look towards the top of the mat and take baby steps all the way to the top. First, Standing forward bend with the feet wide. Allow your head to hang. And then inch your feet even wider with the toes right on the very edges of your mat, Heels turned in. Setting up for a yogi squat. Take a breath here. And then on an exhale, Slowly bend your knees and sink your hips. Back and down. So the elbows are on the inside of the knees, Maybe palms to prayer. If you've got a block or a cushion or something, You can set that underneath your hips to get a little bit more height. We're just gonna gently use the elbows here to guide the knees open. Ramalasana. Once you get there, Lift up through the crown of your head. Breathe deeply here. You might even visualize that your breath is going down into your hips and helping release any tension that you might be finding there. One more deep breath here. On your exhale release. Plant your hands and walk it back to down. Inhale, Right leg back and up, Three-legged dog, And this time open the hip and bend the knee. On your next inhale straighten your leg. And then exhale, Bring your foot all the way towards the top of the mat and lower your back knee, Coming into a low lunge here. If you have blocks, You can rest your hands on blocks. You can come onto fingertips. A blanket under the knee can be helpful if you have sensitive knees. We'll take a breath here. And then on the exhale, Heel toe your front foot. Over to the right. With the toes at the very edge of the mat, The long edge of the mat. Setting up for a lizard variation. So the hands. Are inside of the front foot right underneath your shoulders. And with each breath, See if you can sink your hips a little deeper down towards the mat. The back toes can be tucked or untucked, Whatever feels better in your body today. And you're welcome to stay here. Or if you'd like to add a quad stretch, You can bend the back knee. And slowly reach around and grab for your back foot. One more deep inhale here. And on the exhale, Slowly release. Plant your hands and make your way back to downward facing. Same thing on the other side, Inhale left leg back and up. Open the hip, Bend the knee. And then bring your leg back straight. And exhale it. To the top of the mat, Lower the back knee, And set up for your low lunge. Breathe into that front hip crease, The right hip flexor. And when you're ready, Heel toe that front foot a little further over to the side, The toes just barely touching the edge of the mat. Finger spread wide, Wrists under shoulders. Setting up for lizard. You might, If you like to visualize things, You might visualize the muscles around your hips. Lengthening and softening as you stretch here. You're welcome to stay here if you'd like to take that variation of a quad stretch, You can bend the back foot. And reach around and grab onto your foot. One more deep breath here. And as you exhale, Slowly release. And make your way back to Down Dog. Let's make our way to pigeon pose next. Inhale, Right leg back and up. And exhale, Bend the knee, Bring your right knee up towards your right wrist. And the left foot is pointed. And it's kind of towards your left hip. You can kind of walk your left foot back slowly lowering down. Set a blanket under your hip or a block if your hip is lifted off the mat. Might take a peek back and just see if your foot is in line with your hip. Lift up tall here on an inhale. And then exhale to slowly lower down. You're welcome to bring forearms to blocks, To the mat. You could even go lower resting your forehead on stacked palms or stacked fists. And as you breathe here, We'll stay here for a few breaths. See if you can Relax your face. Relax your jaw. And release any bit of holding there might be in your body. One more deep breath here. On your exhale slowly bring your hands back to the mat tuck your back toes and sort of scoot your knee up a few inches on the mat. And then from here, You can push into the back foot. And lift the front leg, Maybe extending it back behind you. Before setting it down on the mat. To downward facing dog. On an inhale left leg back and up Exhale, Bring the left knee up towards the left wrist. Lower the back knee, Slowly scooch it back behind. Take a peek back, See if the foot's in line with the hip. And how to list up here. And then exhale to lower. And don't be surprised if it seems like one hip is tighter than the other. Modify this pose. As you need to. And we'll spend a few deep breaths here. Relax your face, Relax your jaw. See if you can let your whole body relax here to really allow your body to open and release that tension. One more deep breath here. And on your exhale, Slowly rise up planting your hands on the mat. Tuck the back toes, Lift your back knee and kind of scooch it forward a few inches. And then when you're ready, Press into the back foot. Lift the left leg, Maybe extend it back behind. And then come back to your downward facing dog one last time. And then from here, We'll lower the knees down onto the mat. And sit facing the long edge of your mat. Extend your left leg out to the side. Hug your right foot in towards your body. Flex your left toes, Drawing them towards your body. Inhale to lift and lengthen. On the exhale, You're gonna rotate towards the left facing your leg. And then maybe tip forward a little bit just until you feel a stretch in the back of the leg. You might feel some stretch in the hips as well. On your next inhale gently rise up open your other leg the right leg out to the side as well we'll come into a wide legged forward bend right here. Flex your toes, Drawing them back towards you. Lift up nice and tall through your spine. Now wait for an exhale to hinge forward at your hips. Keep your back nice and tall and straight here, Nice flat back. And you might come back upright and you're welcome to kind of rock back and forth. In this stretch. Sometimes it feels good to kind of rock from side to side. One more deep breath here. And as you exhale, Rise back up. Grab your left foot, Hug it in towards your body. So now the right leg is extended. Inhale to lift and lengthen. Wait for the exhale to twist over towards your right. Hinge forward at your hips, Getting a nice stretch in the back of the right leg. You're doing great. We just got one more pose left after this one. So one more deep breath here. And on your exhale, Slowly rise up. Bring your foot in, Bring both feet to touch for a Baddha Konasana bound angle pose. Slide your heels in towards your body. You might hold on to your feet or your ankles here. Let your knees fall out to the side wherever they are. Inhale to lift and lengthen through your spine. And on the exhale, Hinge at your hips flat back. And tip forward just a little bit until you feel a nice stretch. Inside your hips. And again, Option to rock from side to side. Or back and forth. Really get into those hips. One more deep breath here. And on your exhale slowly rise back up. And come to a comfortable cross-legged position. Hands on top of your knees. Lift up through the crown of your head. Relax your shoulders. And on an inhale, Sweep your arms out to the side and overhead palms touch. And exhale hands to heart center. The light in me sees and honors the light in each of you. Namaste.
