Standing Poses For Strength & Resilience (#3- Yoga Series)

Welcome.

My name is Pamela and I will be guiding you through a practice today.

It's a part three of a four part yoga series where you can mix and match to create your own practice.

Remember to listen to your body,

Listen to your breath.

If I suggest anything that doesn't work for you,

Feel free to find variations or just find something that does work,

Maybe even just child's pose.

So today we're going to be focusing on standing poses.

Standing poses help create strength,

Resilience.

It helps connect to the earth through our feet and legs,

Energizing through the limbs as well.

And we're going to start today in a Tadasana,

Mountain pose.

So have your feet about hip distance apart,

Maybe lift the toes,

Spread the toes and lower them back down.

So you may have already warmed up a little bit.

You might have used one of the other practices or maybe just your own.

So you want to make sure you've warmed up just a little bit.

We'll find a little bit of a warm up in our first standing pose,

But sometimes it might need a little bit more.

So just listen to your body.

So starting here in Tadasana,

Spreading the toes,

Lowering them back down,

Press gently into your feet.

Feel the legs energize,

Lengthen through your spine.

Engage the crown of your head up towards the sky.

And imagine there's a hand on your upper back,

Gently lifting your heart.

Arms relaxed by your side with a slight energizing through the arms to straighten the arms,

Energizing through the fingers,

Palms either towards the front or towards your legs.

So engaging through the arms and legs as if you're trying to grow taller through the spine as well.

Maybe gently closing your eyes.

Begin to tune into your breath and notice how you feel.

Mountain pose,

Tadasana is great to just ground through your feet,

Connect to the earth.

And then gently open the eyes if they're closed.

Take a little wider stance on your mat,

Maybe going long ways on your mat.

Start with your feet parallel and then bring the heels in,

Toes out and bend your knees.

Make sure your knees are tracking in line with your toes.

Going into goddess pose or horse stance.

So you choose how deep to bend the knees here.

The deeper you bend,

The more you're going to feel that sensation in the legs.

So from here you can have your hands on the thighs,

Maybe fingers facing forward or towards your knees,

Whichever is feeling more supportive to you.

You could also have your hands up near the hips,

A little closer to the hips.

Keep pressing into your feet.

Notice how the legs feel.

They might start to even shake a little bit.

So breathe here.

Another option might be to have the hands at your heart,

Ananjali Mudra.

On your next inhale,

Bring the arms out in a T shape parallel to the floor.

And then inhale the arms straight up with an option to maybe bend your knees a little more.

Breathe here.

And then on your next exhale,

Bring the arms down as you slowly straighten the legs and toe heel,

Toe heel and step your feet back into Tadasana,

Arms by your side and pause.

Notice sensation.

Legs might feel like they've got some things going on there.

Maybe tingling,

Warmth or maybe a sense of energy flow.

And then take another wide stance on your mat,

Feet maybe about three feet wide.

This time,

Turn your right foot away from you towards the short end of your mat and bend your right knee.

The left foot might stay parallel to the short end of your mat or you might take that left heel back slightly.

Keep the right knee just about over that right ankle and press through your feet.

Hips are at a slight angle forward,

Maybe 45 degrees.

Keep the hips at that angle but open your upper body and heart so that it's parallel to the long side of your mat and extend your arms out about shoulder height or lower,

Energizing the arms and fingers,

Gaze over the front fingers.

This is Warrior II,

Virabhadrasana II.

Breathe normally here.

Just allow your breath to be normal and easy.

Keep pressing through your feet.

Feel the legs activate,

Spine is long,

Core is slightly active and appreciating your inner strength and resilience.

You're stronger than you know.

We all have an inner strength and power within us.

Imagine you're radiating this strength from your center,

Sort of just behind the navel.

You've got this power center and you're radiating this power and strength through the limbs.

And then option here,

Turn the front palm up,

Reverse your warrior.

So right arm is gonna lift up towards the sky and back hand,

Left hand lightly on the back thigh,

Make sure you don't press into the knee.

So keep the same position in the front leg and hip but lengthen that right side,

Coming into reverse warrior.

On your next inhale,

Come back up,

Return to Warrior II.

Inhale straighten the front leg,

Turn the right toes in and lower the arms by your side.

Heel toe,

Heel toe and thoughtfully bring your feet back into a Tadasana and pause.

Notice sensation.

Notice your breath.

And preparing for the other side,

Take another wide stance on your mat.

Feet about three feet wide,

Start with them parallel and then turn your left toes towards the short end of your mat,

Bend your left knee.

Again,

That back foot might be parallel to the back of your mat or maybe that right heel goes a little further back.

Press into your feet,

Feel the legs activate and the direction of that front knee should be pointing just about towards that second or third toe.

Press through the outer edge of the back foot,

Lengthen through the spine,

Arms extend about shoulder height or lower and gaze over those front fingertips.

Breathe here.

Again,

Hips are slightly at an angle but the upper body,

The heart and arms are parallel to the long edge of the mat.

It should feel just a natural position for the hips.

Ground through the feet and again radiating that inner strength and power from your center,

Expressing your inner warrior,

Acknowledging your strength and resilience as you hold here and allow the breath to just be normal and natural.

Take a few more breaths here and then preparing for our reverse warrior,

Remember to keep that same position in the front knee and hip.

Turn the left palm up and as you inhale,

Lengthen that left side,

Bringing the left arm straight up to the sky,

Side bending here.

So right hand lightly on the back leg,

Make sure you are very light there so you're not pressing on the knee.

Gaze might lift towards that top hand or whatever makes sense to you.

On your next inhale,

Rise all the way back up,

Exhale back to warrior two,

Hold here.

On your next inhale,

Straighten that front knee,

Turn the left toes in,

Lower your arms,

Heel toe,

Heel toe and thoughtfully step your feet back together or about hip distance apart.

Come back to tadasana,

Mountain pose,

Notice sensation,

Notice your breath.

So we're going to come into vrksasana next,

Tree pose.

Starting on your right foot,

Decide where your left foot is going to go.

You could keep that left heel near the right ankle or you could bring it up to the calf or above the knee.

Make sure you don't put your left foot right on the right knee,

So either below or above the knee.

You could also be near a wall here for extra balance and ground through your standing foot,

Lengthen through your spine,

Reaching the crown of the head up,

Find a point to focus on,

Your drishti,

Might be a spot on the floor or on the wall across from you.

Try to maintain that focus,

Maybe bring your hands to your heart for tree pose,

Vrksasana.

And if you fall out of the pose and lose your balance,

That's okay,

Just come back and try again.

Every day our balance is a little different.

I find sometimes if I haven't had enough sleep,

My balance is off.

Sometimes too much caffeine can also affect our balance.

Maybe explore a different arm position,

Maybe arms reach out or up,

Whatever works for you.

And then thoughtfully lower that left foot down,

Maybe any movement in the right foot that feels good,

Just give it a little break,

Maybe rotate the ankle and pause in tadasana before we go to the other side.

Shift your weight onto your left foot and decide once more where the right foot is going to go for vrksasana,

Tree pose.

One side might be a little easier than the other,

One side a little more challenging to balance than the other.

So just being okay with whatever is happening here,

Find that position for your right foot,

Hands wherever they make sense to you.

And again if your balance wavers,

Just notice that without judgment or criticism,

It just is what it is.

And your focus point,

Your drishti,

Ground through that standing foot as you lengthen through the spine.

Breathe here.

If you feel steady,

Again maybe an option for the arms.

They might reach out and up,

Maybe they reach up over the head and fingers touch.

Find whatever works for you.

And again if you fall out,

Just come back and try again.

And if you're on a really cushy floor like carpet,

It's a little more challenging to find balance.

It's usually a little easier if you're on a firm floor.

So just notice if that's affecting your balance as well.

Couple more breaths here.

And whenever you're ready,

Thoughtfully release the right foot back down.

Again maybe a little stretch in the left foot or rotate the left ankle,

Whatever feels good to you.

Come back to Tadasana,

Mountain Pose.

Notice your breath and notice how you feel.

This completes our standing pose practice.

Feel free to add on to your practice with any of the other series.

Thank you for joining me today.

Namaste.