Armbalanse Workshop – 90 min med 7 utfordringer

Hello, welcome to onlineyoga.no. My name is Krisa and I'm a 500-hour dharma yoga teacher here in Oslo and today I will be guiding you all through a 19-minute arm balance workshop. So we'll be going through five of the key arm balances that you can play around with at home at your own pace. We'll start off with some conditioning and warm-up poses, a little short flow to just get the movement going and then we'll begin to workshop these five poses.

So we'll begin with bakasana, crow pose and some variations of that. We'll be looking at vasisthasana, side plank, kundinyasana, ekapada galavasana, which is flying pigeon, and then we'll end off with titibhasana. Arm balances are not necessarily the be-all and end-all of yoga, but they are a lot of fun. You know, they help to build strength and confidence.

It helps to work out your core as well and they're just nice little transitions that you can build into your regular vinyasa or yoga practice at home. So stay with me. I hope you learn something and enjoy and let's begin. So find yourself in child's pose.

So as you lay here in child's pose for a few breaths, just allow yourself to fully relax into your space. With every exhale, allow your body to sink deeper into the mat. Nice long inhales and exhales in and out through the nose. Now we'll begin to activate our arms by lifting your elbows off the floor.

So as you lift your elbows off the floor, I want you to bring your shoulder blades closer together and really stand on all ten fingertips. So it's like you're trying to play the piano with your hands. Feel the strength, the warmth creeping into your arms. And stay here for a couple more breaths.

And from here we're going to slide forward, puppy dog pose. So tucking your toes, bringing your elbows onto the floor, and then bringing your prayer hands over your head. So just a gentle stretch to open up the arms, stretch out the sides of the body, aligning your elbows, your upper arms, your armpits to sink closer to the floor. And then from here we'll slide forward into sphinx pose, lying on your bellies, elbows under the shoulders, hands pressing into the floor, and then just dropping your shoulders side to side, and then beginning to press into your forearm line.

So you can clap your fingers together, lift your elbows off the floor, not your elbows, your knees. So keeping your body in a straight line, holding it here for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Now turbo dog variation, bringing your knees underneath the hips, still hovering off the floor. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Good. Lower your knees down, bring your hands directly underneath the shoulders. So tabletop pose, just allow your body to move any direction that feels good, just bringing that movement into your torso, maybe drawing circles one way, then the other way. Then beginning to thread the needle, so left hand under the left shoulder, inhale your right arm up.

As you exhale, feeding your right arm through underneath the left, right ear on the floor. Breathe. You can stay here with your left knee on the floor or stretch out your left leg as well. Three, two, one, slowly release the left knee down if it's up, inhaling the left arm up, right arm up, and then bring the right hand back down.

Other side, inhaling the left arm. As you exhale, left arm through to the right, left ear on the floor. So again, you can stay here or you can pick your right knee off the floor. For three, two, one, slowly release, bringing your knee on the floor, lifting the left arm back up.

As you exhale, left hand down on the floor. Now pressing the downward facing dog, take three deep breaths. Then from here, lifting up into high plank. Holding here again, 10 seconds.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Exhale, chaturanga. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Upward facing, thighs off the floor.

Exhale, downward facing. Catch the breath. Bring the left leg up. As you exhale, set the left foot forward, low lunge.

So bring your hands to your front knee, your left knee on this side, pointing your back foot. Again, just guiding your left knee forward, your right hip, your right thigh sitting to the floor. And lifting the arms up. Don't be afraid to wiggle your arms next to your ears.

Just bring movement again into the spine. And then opening up the armpits, the elbows to the side. Breathe. And then from here, rocking back into half paschimottanasana, half split.

So tuck your back toes, lean back, stretch out the front leg. Pull your front toes towards your hip. Begin to feel the stretch in the back of your front leg. Then rocking forwards again, lizard pose.

And back to half Paschimottanasana. And lizard, half. So after doing that for a few times, prepare for a full lizard pose. So hands underneath the shoulders.

So don't be afraid to move your left foot out to the side a little bit to create space. Pick your back knee up off the floor, rock forwards and back to prepare. Then lower your back knee down, point the back foot, inhale, shoulders back. Three, four, five.

Now lizard with your back knee off the floor. Good. Five breaths. Five, four, three, two, one.

Good. Back knee back on the floor, point the back foot. This time, if you can, come all the way down onto your forearms. Keep hugging your front knee close to the side of your body.

You might be wondering why we're doing all of these poses, but you'll notice later on in the class that a lot of arm balances are about getting and training your shoulders to go below the knees. So poses like the lizard pose really help to train your shoulders to go below the knees. So if you're here on your forearms, good. Otherwise, you can stay on your hands, do the same thing.

And then again, we're going to lift our back knee off the floor. So tuck your back toes. Five breaths. Five, four, three, two, one.

Slowly release. Bring your hands back under the shoulders. Step back, downward facing dog. Now we'll do the same thing on the other side.

Inhale with the right leg up. As you exhale, step your right foot forward, left knee down. Point the back foot, hands to your front knee, lean back. So again, trying to feel that stretch in your left hip, your left thigh, leaning back.

Every exhale, hips, pelvis sinking closer to the floor, then lifting your arms up into the air. Elbows to the side. Smile. And then working on our half Paschimottanasana to lizard transitions.

So hands down, tuck the back toes, stretch the front leg. Inhale. As you exhale, gliding forward to lizard pose. Back, forward, and hold.

Now bring your hands inside of the front foot. Move your front foot out to the side so your hands are directly underneath the shoulders. Pick your back knee up off the floor, rock forwards and back to prepare. And then lower your back knee down, point the back foot, inhale, shoulders back.

Stand on your fingertips if you have to. Keep hugging the front knee close to the side of your body. Good. Now we pick our back knee up off the floor, feeling strength in the arms, strength in the legs.

Good. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Slowly release. Inhaling again to pull back.

Now you can stay on your hands, do the same thing, or if you can, come all the way down onto your forearms. Good. Notice how your forearms are about the same size as your foot. So try and line up your forearms with your foot.

Keep hugging the knee in. Again, just consciously trying to train shoulders below the knees, shoulders below the knees. Keep hugging the energy in. Then tuck your back toes, lift your back knee up off the floor.

5, keep pulling your forehead and neck forward. 4, 3, 2, 1. Slowly release. Knee down, point the back foot, hands under your shoulders, step back, downward dog.

Now preparing for a pigeon pose. Inhale, lift the left leg up. Exhale, shift forward, tuck your left knee to your left shoulder. Good.

Inhale, left leg up. Exhale, pull your back, put your knee to your nose. Inhale, left leg back. Exhale, twist.

Inhale, left leg back. Exhale, pull your left knee all the way forward. Good. Point your back foot.

Most important thing, your hips are square facing the front of your mat. So if you feel like you're falling to the side, use a block, prop it underneath your hip. So once you're here, inhaling your arms up, then exhale, folding over. So if you want a deeper stretch in your glutes, pull your left leg higher up the mat so it's more parallel to the front of your mat.

You can flex your front foot as well. Then you're really trying to hinge at the hips, fold forward, trying to rest your heart on top of your legs, creating a nice pillow with your hands. Feel the lengthening, the opening along the right side of your body here. With every exhale, sending it to whichever part of your body feels tight, allowing your lower right hand side of the back, the right hip, to sink closer to the floor.

And then inhaling up, going for the twist. So you're trying to tap your left elbow onto your left foot. See if you can touch flesh on flesh together. Hands in prayer.

Pull it towards your hips, trying to find a straight line from your top elbow to your bottom elbow. Looking up towards the ceiling. Again, stretching and twisting right side of the body. And slowly release.

Pressing back, downward facing dog. Feel free to shake out the legs. Same thing on the other side. Inhale with the right leg up.

And exhale, shift forward. Tap your right knee to your right shoulder. Inhale, right leg up. Exhale, curl the back.

Touch your knee to your nose. Inhale, right leg up. Exhale, twist. Inhale, right leg up.

As you exhale, pulling your right knee all the way forward, left leg stretches back. Good. Find yourself with your hips on the floor. And again, adjusting the hips, leaning back, inhaling the arms up.

As you exhale, folding over, adjusting the front leg. And preparing to go for the twist, peeling yourself off the floor. And this time trying to tap your right elbow onto the right foot. Find the flesh.

Hands in prayer. Pulling towards the hips, looking up towards the ceiling. In three, two, one. Slowly release.

Bring your hands back down. Downward facing dog. And then plank pose. Remember to wake up the arms, elbows off the floor again.

All ten fingers on the floor. Then slowly roll back, coming into a seated position. Now you should be pretty warmed up. Arms more warmed up.

And now we start the fun part of class, the workshop part. So the very first pose that we're going to work on is called Bakasana, crow pose. So usually this is the very first arm balance that we teach because you're facing one direction, you're low to the ground, it's less things to think about. So when you start to prepare for Bakasana, come into Malasana first for our pose.

So this is called a yogi squat, using your elbows to separate the knees, thumbs close to your heart. And just take a few breaths here. Just allowing that space, that opening in your hips, in your pelvic region. Again here, just practicing bringing the knees close to the arms, the knees close to the arms.

Now if you think about it, Bakasana crow pose is almost the same position as this, but you're on your hands. So when you're setting yourself up for Bakasana, both hands slap it on the floor. I make a lot of slapping noises when I teach in class to really wake up the hands. You don't want sleepy feeble hands.

I don't want tiny stiletto heel hands. I want wide cross-country shoes. So the more space that your hands take, the easier it is to balance, the more foundation you have. So don't be afraid to make up hands, spread your fingers.

And with every exhale, just first get used to shimmying your hips, your butt back, trying to deflate in between the legs. Trying to drop your shoulders as low as you can below the knees. Good. So your hands come down, your head goes forward, and your feet go back.

Hands come down, head goes forward, knees squeeze in, feet point back. Head forward, knees in, point the toes. Super point the toes. So the more you curl, the more you point your toes, the easier it is to balance.

As soon as you start to flex, the weight pulls you back down to the other side. So really curl your toes. So we'll try that again. Hands down, head forward, knees in, feet back.

Head forward, knees in, feet back. Super curl your toes, strong arms. Good. Trying to straighten your arms as much as you can.

So a lot of people find that this pose is a little nerve-wracking to begin with because of that fear of falling forward, which is completely normal. When I used to practice this when I was younger at home, I had lots of quilts in front of my face. You can use a block too, just to kind of have something to kind of guide your fall. But if you do catch yourself falling, I'll just show you.

If you're able to fall with control, no problem. You just transition into another really cool pose. So when you're practicing at home, hands down, head forward, knees in, point the toes. Head forward, knees in, point the toes.

And if you feel like you're flying, whoops, tuck your chin to the chest and you're here. Teddy bear pose. This is a really good set up for a tripod. So if you're here, squeeze the knees in, elbows in.

And come back to curl. Curl, curl, curl. Knees towards your shoulders. Head forward, head forward, head forward, head forward, head forward, head forward.

And land. So that's a cool, funky little transition for those of you that maybe have a more advanced Bakasana practice. Or if you're practicing prop pose practice, just falling with control. And as you fall, tuck your chin to the chest, falling onto the top of your head.

And see if you can stay in teddy bear pose with your elbows over your arms for a second. Maybe you can lift your legs up in the tripod. Maybe you can come back down into crow. So feel free to pause the video here if you want to just keep practicing that sequence of crow pose.

Standard crow pose facing forward. So crow pose can also be done in partial Bakasana, side crow variation. So if you are working on side crow variation, start in a squatting position. Right hand supporting the side of your body, left arm inhaled up.

And then as you exhale, twisting to the right side, hands in prayer. And again, just giving yourself a gentle twist here. Maybe stretching at the back of your neck as well. Resting your left ear towards your left shoulder.

And here as you work on this position, notice trying to train knees on top of elbows. Elbows to knees. And then you bring your hands to the floor. So when you're starting to practice partial Bakasana side crow, it's okay and I've learned it's easier to rest the side of your body onto your back arm to begin with.

So you're twisting your body to the right side, resting the side of your body on your back arm, spreading your fingertips wide. Your knees will fall on top of your front elbow, your front arm. Bend your elbows like chaturanga. Look towards the front of your mat, right ear towards the floor.

So imagine like you're falling onto a soft pillow. Maybe you're here with your hand on the floor just to begin with. Then starting to pedal your feet down, strengthen your arms. Good.

And then your head begins to lift off the floor. So you can also straighten your bottom leg. Maybe your left leg comes up. You're coming back down.

Hands might start to get a little sweaty, so shake them out. Wipe yourself. Then we'll try that on the other side. So turning the other way just so you can see as well.

Set yourself up for the twisting squatting position first. So left hand down, inhaling the right arm up. As you exhale, right elbow over the left knee, giving yourself a little twist here. Again, trying to train elbows, knees, to elbows.

Then you bring both hands to the floor. So again, your side body can either rest on your back arm or it can hang off your back arm. So if you're hanging without it leaning on the back arm, hands down, knees on top of the front elbow, bend the elbows like chaturanga, look forward, flex your feet. Maybe you're here, maybe you're here.

And come down. So we've done bakasana facing forward, side bakasana, right side, left side. Remember to always practice both sides so that your body is even. And for those of you that have an advanced practice, there's also such a thing as baby bakasana, so baby crow pose.

So don't be fooled by the name. Some people find this variation easier, some people find it a little more challenging. And it's called baby bakasana because you're closer to the floor. In baby bakasana, you're on your forearms.

Same principles, forearms down, lift your knees up. So again, you can really start to see the shape of a frog here. Your shoulders and your knees are coming as close together as you can. Same thing, head goes forward, knees squeeze in, toes point back.

So when you're doing baby bakasana, your nose is so close to the floor, just hovering maybe a few centimeters, one centimeter, a few millimeters off the floor. And you're just really trying to pull yourself close to the ground. Setting it up again, forearms down, head forward, knees in, strong arms, toes, point the toes. And come down.

And resting in child's pose. Catching your breath, coming up. Okay, so now we've done frog pose. The next one that we're going to work on is called vasisthasana.

So that's basically fancy word for side plank. So in side plank position, I like to have a strap handy and you'll see why. We'll start with the left side first. So your left hand, you start from normal plank, shift weight onto the left hand, outer edge of the left foot, lift the hips up, right arm up.

So you can stay here first, building strength along the left side of the body. Then transitions you can do, if you wish to start grabbing your top knee. Look what I do with my bottom foot and my bottom knee. I bend the bottom knee, press my bottom foot to the floor, grab my knee.

So keeping myself small, grab the knee. Once you have the knee, shift your weight back, open up the hip to the side. You can stay here or begin to use your peace fingers. Grab the top toe, lift up and slowly release.

Come back to neutral. So I'm going to show you how that looks on the other side. And this time for those of you that are practicing grabbing the top big toe, if you can't quite reach it yet, that's where a strap comes in handy. So right side while she's fastened, right hand down, outer edge of the right foot on the floor.

Flex your feet, lift the hips, left arm up. Stay here for a couple of breaths. Then play around with your transitions. Flatten your bottom foot, bend the bottom knee, make yourself small, grab the knee.

Then maybe open your hips, belly up to the sky. Now if you wish to practice with a strap, you can put the strap around your foot. It's kind of like an extension of your arm. So then you can start to practice kicking your foot into the strap, shifting your weight out to the side.

And then slowly release. So that was Vasisthasana side part. And again, remember to do both sides. Left side first, right side or right side first, left side.

Start with your body in a straight line, building strength along the side of your body. And then play around the variations. You can grab the top knee, the top foot. You can even, if you're working on it, right side first.

Some simpler variations. You can practice dropping your bottom knee to the floor, just as you're warming up. You can also bring your top foot into tree pose, just to prepare. And try not to dump your weight down onto your legs.

Really lift, pull the hips up. Strong legs, strong arms, looking up towards your top. And then we'll try that on the other side. So left side, left hand comes down.

So you can have your legs straight, or keep your top leg straight, drop the bottom knee onto the floor. And again, you can stay here, or another simpler variation. It's like bringing your top foot into tree pose position, as high at the left thigh as you can. Again, not dumping your weight, lifting up.

And then slowly release. And then coming back to center. So Vasisthasana, pretty simple. You have different variations to work on, depending on where you are in your practice.

And again, nice to do with or without the strap. If you're working on the reach, strap like this comes in handy. Otherwise, just slowly build up the pose. Straight legs, tree pose with the feet, grabbing the knee, or the top foot.

Great. So the next pose, the next arm balance we're going to work on, Kundinyasana. So this is a really nice pose to build into your vinyasa sequence for example. So in Kundinyasana, it's really important to have stretched out the front and the back of the legs.

That's why we were working earlier on transitioning from half Kundinyasana to lizard pose, half Kundinyasana to lizard pose. So we'll find ourselves in that position again, with our left foot forward first. So find yourself in lizard pose. Back knee on the floor.

You can tuck your back toes. And here you can shift your weight back and just practice trying to drop your left shoulder under the left leg here. So the more you can bring your shoulder under the knee, the easier that is. Hands down.

Now you're using your weight to shift forward and try and put your back neck off the floor. Good. Bend your elbows like Chaturanga. Shift forward.

Begin to see if you can tiptoe your left foot out. Try and lift it off the floor just like this. Maybe you're able to bend your elbows. Just keep your knee bent first.

Shift your head forward. Bend the back knee. Maybe straighten both legs or bend it. So when you're starting to practice Kundinyasana at home, don't be afraid to break it down.

So when you're starting, it's okay to keep your knees bent first. The front knee and the back knee. The idea being that just like in crow pose, the smaller and more compact you can bring yourself, the easier it is to balance. As soon as we begin to straighten our legs, there's a lot more momentum to control.

So start with knees bent first and then straight. So I'll show you how that's done on the other side. Right leg forward. Hands down.

And then just stay here to prepare. And just practice wriggling the shoulder under the knee. I'm really trying to use my weight to shift forward. Good.

So hands are down. Back knees off the floor. Good. And then you begin to see if you can just tap your foot off the floor.

And bend the elbows like Chaturanga. Bend the knee and look to the side. Stay here. Lift your back knee off the floor.

Good. Maybe it's straightened. Maybe it's bent. Jump back.

And giving up. Exhaling down. So if you were trying to add this into one of your sequences, it would look something like this. Leg up.

Leg forward to lizard pose. Shifting leg back. Shoulders under the knee. Hands down.

Shift forward. And then same on the other side. Leg forward. Bringing the shoulder under the knee.

Hands down. Shift forward. Good. To the side.

Arms up. And down. So about this point through our workshop, if you feel like you're beginning to put a bit of more weight onto your wrists and you feel like they're starting to act out a little bit, feel free to take a rest, you know. We're doing quite a few variations of arm balances today.

So if you'd like to just take a pause with me now, you can rotate your wrists one way, other way. Then if you feel like there's a little bit of tension starting to build up, just practice flicking out your fingers like you're shaking out the water. Circles. Then again, you can also help to build strength in the wrists, making fists and then just kneading the floor with your arms.

So as soon as you bring your hands into fist position like this, helps to protect your wrist as well and then builds a little bit of strength as you, it's like kneading the floor with your hands, with your knuckles. You can turn your hands forward, circles, backwards. You can also go on to the top of your hands, fingers pointing towards your knees. So the next pose we're going to work on, Ekapada Galavasana.

So that's flying pigeon pose. So imagine the shape of the pigeon that we were doing earlier, which was this one. So the idea with Ekapada Galavasana, flying pigeon pose, is you're trying to do a similar shape, the same shape, but off the ground. So it's always good practice when you're working on these arm balances to make sure that you don't skip the warm-up first because if you're unable to get yourself in this position on the floor, chances are it will be very hard to do the same thing off the floor.

So I like to start building up to Ekapada Galavasana, standing up on our feet. So we'll start with the left side first. To begin, just do a simple tree pose, just getting used to bringing your knee closer to the hip, and then from here, sliding your foot over the knee, coming into an Utkatasana variation, pushing the hips back, hands forward. Begin to feel that stretch in your hips, your glutes.

Now I'm going to begin to bend my bottom knee, come into a squatting position with my hands on the floor, and now I'm really trying to bring my top leg as close to my armpits as I can. So it's like your armpits are wrapping around that leg, and look what happens to this top foot. I hook it on my upper arm as close to the shoulder as I can. Hands down, strong hands, spread your fingers.

Again, head forward, open foot, head forward, open foot. So when you're starting in flying pigeon pose, just like in Kundinyasana, it's totally okay to practice at first staying small, keeping your knee bent, and again, that just helps to build strength in the arms. So you begin to get used to finding the weight of where your head should be versus the lower half of your body, and then once you get used to that, maybe starting to train the tail of the pigeon to fly back, and that's your leg. So if we're trying to do it on the same side, again, you can start squatting as well.

Left foot over the right knee, hugging my armpits over that top leg, hooking the foot, hands down, head forward, point your foot, head forward, and come back down, and rest. So now if we're trying it on the other side, trying to do exactly the same as before by starting in tree pose position. So this time, right foot comes into the inner thigh first. So even though this isn't traditionally an arm balance pose, it's nice to give yourself little moments like this just to center, to slow down your breath, and then preparing again for the more majestic arm balances.

So from here, slide your right foot over the left knee with Eka Pada Koundinyasana variation, good, stretching your arms forward, hips and butt goes back, good, flex the bottom foot, the right foot, and slowly starting to bring hands to the floor, maybe hopping back to give yourself space, and again trying to wrap your armpits over the top leg, hook the foot over the upper arm, hands down, head forward, good, using your upper arms like a shelf so that your right leg, your top leg can rest on top of them, head forward, and slowly coming back down. So I'm not sure if you notice, but I can feel it in my own body. Usually if there's a little tightness, I tend to have a little more tightness on the right side of my body and the right side of my back. So I found that the first side probably didn't lift my leg as high, the second side felt a little higher, you can be the judge of that, but again just notice how sometimes one side of our body is more dominant than the other, and then just making sure that you continue to practice working on both sides, and if you feel like one side is a little tighter, a little harder to do than the first side, listen to your body, maybe work on that side a little bit more, since the other side kind of pretty much flows a lot easier.

So again when you're doing it on this side, I did it with straight legs the first time, but when you're starting again, you can just practice keeping the knees bent first, staying small. So when we're doing it here, you can start in squatting position, right foot over the knee, armpits down, and I can turn around just so you can see what I'm doing. Armpits wrap around the top leg, hook this foot over the upper arm, hands down, head forward, foot, practice here with your knee bent first. And eventually, so the straighter you go, the more you stretch out your leg, the more important it is that you notice the weight of your head, your forehead going forward, because that back leg is going to feel really heavy unless you balance it, kind of like a seesaw with the weight of your head.

So feel free to take a pause here, pause the video, keep working on it or the previous poses, and then meet me back in a child's pose. Just take a few breaths, slowly coming back up. Good. So we have so far gone through Bakasana, normal croco, side Bakasana, which is partial Bakasana, baby Bakasana on our forearms.

We've done Vasisthasana, so side plank, normal variation with our hands and feet on the floor, one where we're holding the knee, the top foot or the strap, and then on the other side, we have so far gone through Kundinyasana, that's where your legs are split out to the side, both sides, and we've done Ekapada Kalabasana, flying pigeon pose with the knees bent or straight. So the next pose that we're going to work on is called Ashtavakrasana, so eight angle pose. I didn't mention this at the beginning of class, but I thought I'd throw it in anywhere because I'm kind of feeling warmed up now. So find yourself with your legs crossed, and to begin to prepare for Ashtavakrasana, your right foot can go into the left elbow, and then you just pretend to rock a baby or your favorite thing in the world in between your arms.

So rocking side to side, just like this. So if you think about it, this is like doing a seated version of pigeon pose, same shape with the top leg, but you're sitting down. So beginning to perhaps feel a stretch in your right glute, your right hip, and then using your hands to hold your top foot, trying to hold it close to your heart. And you'll notice that your knee will naturally go back to the side, create space, and then draw in circles one way and the other way, as big as you can.

And I like to tell this little story in class just to help you remember all the different warm-ups you can do. So you're trying to pull your foot close to your heart and pretend like this is ground floor position. Then this foot, close your chin, first floor, up to your nose, second floor, up to your forehead, third floor. And if you're able to reach your foot over your head, that's penthouse position, you get a really nice view.

So then once you're here, again, you can practice making a phone call with your foot, right foot to your right ear, hello, hello, SOS for help. Then just little exercises to help open up the hips. See if you can cone your head with your foot, and then transitioning to compass pose first. So your left hand will grab the top of right foot, your right hand, your right arm goes under the right leg.

So at first, maybe you're here, starting to stretch, kick your foot into your hand, maybe your knee stays bent. Eventually, you're trying to look under your left armpit on this side, and then trying to straighten that right leg out. So again, just little tricks to help, look what happens, shoulder below the knee, shoulder close to the knee. So if it's too much to try and grab your foot with a hand, again, if you have a strap handy, feel free to bring a strap around your foot.

Again, it's just an extension of your arm. So you can practice kicking the foot into the strap, maybe eventually here, and then beginning to bring your arms behind the head, looking up towards the sky, and slowly release. Release the arms, but keep your right leg where it is, on top of the right shoulder. Your hands come down, your left foot goes over the right foot.

Take a big inhale, and as you exhale, press your hands down, and lift your hips, your feet off for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Slowly release. So again, that's the baby version, knees are bent, keeping yourself tucked into a ball. Then we'll try that again with legs straight.

So notice, as I demo this pose, as the legs go out to the side, you're really trying to use your legs like nutcrackers. So you're really trying to pinch your upper arm with your legs to hold yourself in place, tensioning everything together. So again, shoulder underneath the knee, squeeze. Take a moment here, use your leg to give your upper arm a little bit of love, a little massage.

Hands come down, left foot on top of the right. Take a big inhale, as you exhale, hips off the floor, legs to the side, tip it on the arms. Squeeze, keep using your feet, pull your feet forward, squeeze the upper arms. Good.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Slowly release. Coming back to neutral. So as I bring my legs out to the side, when you hook your feet together, it's like you're using the top foot to pull the bottom foot more out to the side.

So again, the more tension that you can get, the more you're able to balance because your body has a direction of focus. Otherwise, if it's too loose, your legs will just fall to the floor. So we'll try that on the other side. Come into a seated position, cradle your left foot into your right elbow.

You can also flex the foot. Again, using your soft loose foot, massage the flesh of the upper arm. Just try to maximize the benefit of every pose that you do. Just little adjustments make a big difference.

Just even closing the eyes, and then just feeling where the movement needs to happen. Maybe shifting weight a little bit. And then doing all of your little tricks to prepare. So using your hands to grab the left foot, pull it close to your heart.

Again, have some integrity in the practice. Try not to slouch and sit up tall. Close to the heart. I'm drawing big circles one way, and then the other way.

And then again, going through ground floor to penthouse at the hand. So pulling your foot close to the heart first, ground floor. Thank you for your practice. You can bring your foot to your chin.

Hello, neighbor on the first floor. Trying to tap your foot towards your nose. Hello. And to your forehead.

And then see if you can get to the very top of your head. Then making that phone call. Left foot to your left ear. Hello.

Then combing the hair. And then now moving towards compass pose. So grabbing the top of your foot with the right hand, left arm underneath. Good.

Again, take a moment here. Squeeze, massage the upper arm with your knee. And then trying to kick your foot as straight as you can into the hand. And then starting to bring your arm around your head, looking under your right armpit.

Feel free to slide and adjust the bottom arm where it needs to go. Maybe you're here. Maybe you're here. Maybe you've been sitting up a little higher.

As you sit up higher, your hip will lift off the floor. So you can be here, starting to lift up higher. Then you get an extra stretch on the side of your body. And again, if it's too much to grab the hand to the foot with straight legs, don't be afraid to use props.

You know, grab an old towel, a strap, a yoga belt, whatever you have at home. Again, just using this to extend the arms, kick into it, open up, create space. Again, just doing these little warm-ups to help train the shoulder to go below the knee, as close to the knee as you can. And now we try doing Ashtanga Prasanna on this side.

So first, squeeze the upper arm with your knee. Hands down. Again, wake them up. Right foot over the left.

Take a big inhale. As you exhale, don't be afraid to make noise. Let it out. Try and lift your hips off the floor.

Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release. Come back down. So again, keep your knees bent first.

Prepare yourself. Second set, we'll try it with straight legs. So going straight into left shoulder under the left knee. Hands down.

Hook the foot. Right foot on top of the left. Take a big inhale. As you exhale, head forward.

Bend the elbows like Chaturanga. Pull your feet out to the side. Five. Look towards your feet.

Four, three, two, one. Slowly release. So I noticed something else that I do when I'm doing this pose is really hug your arms close to the side of your body. So especially on this side, trying to, instead of having my right arm really far out, it's close to the side of my body.

So again, everything is hugging and supporting each other. Try that again for a few moments, or feel free to rest in child's pose. And then we'll move on to Vasana. Good.

Prepare to come out. Hands down. Tuck your toes. Lift your knees off the floor.

Downward dog. So always remembering that when you practice yoga, everything is related. Everything blends into each other. So even though we're working on our arm balances, it's okay to do all of these other poses in between to just create some flow, create some space, allow yourself to have little moments of reflection in between them, to just absorb what you're doing instead of rushing through it.

So the next pose that we're going to do, Titibhasana. But first we have to prepare. So I like to prepare for Titibhasana by doing Prasarita Padmasana first. Wide-legged forward fold.

So turn to the side of your mat. Take a big inhale. As you exhale, folding over. Hinging at the hips.

Just allowing yourself to dangle here. Bring your arms behind your head. Try grabbing the sides of your feet. And again, the trick to getting your head as close to the ground as you can is by turning your big toes towards each other, heels away from each other.

So not like this, like this. And again, shimmying your butt back to create space to fall through. And again, notice what's happening. Shoulders are going below the knees, close to the knees.

Stretch out the back of your neck, the chin to your chest. And then coming into preparation for Skandasana pose. So we're going to do half variation first, half bind. So you can walk your feet closer together.

Bend your knees. And again, trying to bring your right shoulder under your right knee. Tap your right hip with the back of your hand. Try and grab your left hand, left wrist behind your back.

Begin to straighten out your left leg. And you can keep your right knee bent or straight, looking towards the side. And then slow release. Just using these little poses to help prepare your body.

Shoulders below the knees. This time, left shoulder under the left knee. Trying to grab your hand, your wrist behind your back. Pulling the top arm straight if you can.

Keeping the leg straight or bent, looking up towards the side. And slow release. So in Titibhasana, both of your knees will go over the shoulders. So it's good to practice this when you're standing up first, just to warm up.

And then you come down. So final prep pose that we're going to do, full Skandasana pose with the bind. Shoulders will be underneath the knees. And again, stay close to the ground.

Bend your knees as much as you have to. Hands towards your back. So I have, I think, shorter arms than what I would like to have or what would be ideal for this pose for my body. So I like myself to use a strap.

But for some of you, you probably have a long enough stretch your arms to grab your fingers together. So if I try and use a strap, bring it through to the other side. There we go. Just helps create more space, keeping your knees bent or straight.

Again, just using this pose to help change shoulders below the knees. Shoulders below the knees. Tuck your chin to the chest. Knees a little bent or straight.

And then slowly release. So release the grip, release the bind. Keep your shoulders below the knees and just begin to walk your feet closer together. Good.

So your hands are behind your feet. Spread your fingertips. Begin to sit down on your upper arm. So lean your weight back.

Try and lift your left foot off the floor and then your right foot off the floor. And give yourself a nice round of applause for getting this far in the foot trail. Good. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

Slowly release. Give yourself a little break for the rest. Flick, circles. Then you can bring yourself into easy prasana.

Allow the shoulders to drop below the knees. Maybe you bring your hands behind your ankles. Just beginning to slide forward. Maybe you're here.

Maybe you're able to stretch your feet forward. Forward and down. With some of you, you're able to bring your hands towards the back of your mat. So again, using these poses to balance out the yang part of the arm balances.

But also you can play around with transitions. So from here to come out of the pose. Sliding your heels closer together. Hands pressed down.

Shoulders stay underneath the knees. Hands down. Take a big inhale. As you exhale, full tittibhasana with legs straight.

Good. So in tittibhasana, your legs straight. You can point your feet up or bend the elbows. Straighten your arms.

Point the feet. Good. Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release.

Coming back down. Good. So I'll show you what that looks like from the side. Again, we're doing quite a lot of arm balances.

And it begins to, I think for a lot of us, put a bit of pressure and weight on our wrists. So just give yourself a little pause. Right now, I'm just sitting fists are clenched. I'm just kneading the floor, going different directions.

And then showing you again, tittibhasana, but from side profile. So if I'm starting from standing up, trying to bend my knees. Shoulders underneath the knees. Hands down.

Good. Lean back. Squeeze the upper arms. Lift one foot.

Lift the other foot. Good. Feet up. Elbows point.

Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release. Coming back down. And you can rest in prasana, star pose.

So leave space between your heels and your hips. So not like this. This is parakonasana. But like this, just to create a bit more space.

Use your hands to wrap around your feet. Take a big inhale. As you exhale, pull your forehead towards your thumbs, towards your toes. Elbows to the side.

Roll your shoulders to some crown. So as we have a little bit of time left, I'm going to throw in one more bonus arm balance. So you have, I think a total of seven with variation arm balances to play around with after today. So we've already warmed up for this as well.

We're going to work on grasshopper pose and that's why we were doing earlier in the warm-up pigeon pose with a little bit of a twist. So when you're doing grasshopper pose, easy variation. We'll start on this side first. Your left foot goes over the right knee.

And you stay here first. Again, inhale the left arm up. Then bring it over to the side. So here you're really trying to touch flesh on flesh.

You're trying to bring the sole of your foot as high up your left arm on the side as you can. Good. Your hands come down, supporting the your body with your back arm. So full variation of the pose.

You're leaning here. Good. Create a shelf with your arms, elbows down. Looking to the side.

Knee bent or straight. Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release. Good.

So this is a more advanced arm balance because you really have to have the ability to twist deeply and press your top foot on top of your arm, using your arm like a shelf. When you're practicing the easier version of this pose, you start off the same. But instead of keeping your left foot up on top of the leg, you're going to drop it onto the floor and then hands down. So on this side, your left foot, your right hand on the floor, bending the elbows, trying to reach for your bottom foot, kicking the leg out to the side, bending the elbows down.

Good. Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release, bending the knee, coming back down. Give yourself a little twist since we're here.

And then slowly release. So trying that on the other side. Let's see if I can face the camera and you can see it a little better. Coming into squatting pose.

This time, your right foot will go over the left knee. You begin to feel this a little bit in your glutes or hips if you're like me. So again, starting with a twist first, left hand supporting your body, inhaling the right arm up, and then twisting your body to the left side. Again, when you're starting, just try and do these little taps.

See if you can bring your elbow to a foot. Then maybe upper arm towards the foot. As close to your shoulder as you can. Good.

Compact yourself deeply. Arms down, chest around the arms, bending the elbows. Again, you can lean the side of your body on your back arm to begin with. And I'm really trying to press this top foot onto my upper arm.

Good. Bending the elbows. Looking to the side. Knees bent.

Up straight. Five, four, three, two, one. Slow release. Coming back down.

So I'll show you what that looks like baby position, baby grasshopper position when you're starting. So coming into a squat again. Right foot still over the left knee. Going for the twist.

Good. Now instead of keeping your foot over the arm, you're going to drop it to the floor on the other side. So this side, my right foot, my left hand on the floor, shifting your weight forward, stretching out the bottom leg, bending the knee, trying to grab hold of your bottom of your toe or foot, stretching it out straight. Then bending your elbow down.

Five, four, three, two, one. Slowly release. Coming back up. And then shaking out the legs.

And then find yourself in child's pose. Good. So I think we have covered everything that I had planned for you today. Bakasana, Vasisthasana, Kundinyasana, Ekapada Galavasana, Titibhasana, and grasshopper pose.

So before we finish off the workshop, we'll do a little bit of a cool down. And then a final short guided Shavasana just to allow the body to fully relax. And my guru, my teacher, Dharmamitra, always likes to say that, you know, practice is never complete until you allow yourself to rest. Because it is during that pause, during that stillness, that your body is able to assimilate and absorb all the benefits of the practice, all of the lessons.

You know, just giving yourself some time to download the information, muscle memory as well. But first we'll do some cool down poses. So again, finding yourself in tabletop pose. We'll be doing some cat-cow stretches.

Inhaling to stretch. Exhaling to fold. Inhaling to stretch. Exhaling to fold.

And curl. Again, just shifting weight side to side, keeping your wrists down. So my fingertips are still facing forward, but now I can turn them out to the sides. I'm walking side to side, just helping to stretch out the forearms.

And also build strength into your wrists by catching a bit of weight there. You're turning your hands towards your knees. And just rocking side to side and forwards and back. Maybe even trying to peel your fingers off the floor.

Feet together. Wrists. Fingers. Heels at the hands.

And then coming back towards the front. And even if this is a little too much in the wrists, you don't need to stay in this position. You can shift more weight back onto your legs and then do the same thing. Just imagine you're a cat.

If you've ever seen a cat kneading someone's belly or a pillow, just clawing, gently massaging, clawing them out with your hands. Forward. Sideways. Don't change.

And then again, moving forwards and back, stretching out the forearms. Side to side. And then doing the same thing, but this time creating little fists with your hands. So again, this is more to stabilize the wrist so it's not over bending or flexing one way or the other.

So keep your hands in a fist. Then you can do it in a tabletop position. Just drawing circles, turning your hands in all directions that you can. Maybe rocking side to side.

And if it's too much on the arms, you can shift weight back, do the same thing. So this time you're kind of putting more weight on your legs and then easing the weight into your arms a little bit. So here, I am still keeping my hands in fists, but I'm rolling onto the very top of my hands and then wrists down, top of the hands, stretching out. And then doing a few gentle circles with the hands, clockwise and anticlockwise.

And notice how even this feels different with your fingers curled, your hands closed versus open, one way and then the other way. Like we did earlier, just giving a few finger flicks. Shaking it out. So you can shake it out with loose wrists or side to side like you're shaking a tambourine and inhaling your arms up.

You get to the side. You see from the side view, it's nice to do a little chest and shoulder openers, back stretching, especially after doing a lot of arm balances, because you'll notice that we are in a crunch version for a lot of them, but especially when we're practicing. So when you're finishing off your practice, just, you know, give yourself a few nice stretches to lengthen out your upper body again. And then from side to side, forwards and back.

Camel pose, shoulders over hips, over knees, just creating space, supporting your lower back, squeezing the butt a little bit to protect your lower back, thighs forward. Maybe you're here, maybe you're here. And then to come out of the pose, tucking your chin to the chest, hands to your lower back, pressing into child's pose. And then finish with, finishing with a final twist on the floor.

So just cross your ankles, and then slide the feet forward. Coming to lie down on your backs. So hugging the knees to the shoulders, and allow your knees to drop to the left side of your mat. Looking over your right shoulder, you can practice your arms.

You can use your left hand to hold your knees in place, and keep your knees bent or straight, if that feels good. You can straighten up both legs. The more you bring the knee closer to your shoulder, the deeper the twist that you get. And then slowly release.

And then doing the same thing on the other side. So having the knees close to your shoulder, letting the knee drop to the right side. Lengthening the torso, the spine, looking over your left shoulder, closing the eyes, and keep your knees bent or straight, and then slowly release. And then preparing for the final resting pose, Shavasana.

So just allow yourself to take up as much space as you need, and relax your shoulders, palms facing up, feet dropping naturally to the sides. Take a big inhale, and release through your mouth. And again, deep inhale, and one last time, in, and out. So as I mentioned, each part of your body, one by one, I'd like you to try and relax that part completely, by turning off all the apps in your brain.

So starting with the left hand, allowing the left hand to relax completely, the left wrist, left elbow, and your left shoulder, entire left arm completely relaxed. And finally, your right hand, relaxing the right hand completely, right wrist, right elbow, right shoulder, entire right arm completely relaxed. Now finding both of your feet, allow both feet to relax completely. Ankles, knees, entire lower half of your body completely relaxed.

Feel your back sinking into the floor, allow your belly to still release, chest to feel light, relaxing your throat, and all the muscles on the face completely. And perhaps, to come out here, to thank yourself for your practice, your enthusiasm, your courage, and your strength, and to let go of those thoughts, and let go of all these sensations. Allow yourself to lie here, for as long as you need, and whenever you're ready, begin to wiggle your fingers, your toes, helping your feet to go to each other, to the side, and same thing with the neck, looking one way, and the other way. And then on your next inhale, giving yourself a nice long stretch.

On your next exhale, hugging your knees to the chest. And so we'll move over to the right hand side, feet to position, and giving yourself a moment here. And then the eyes open, coming into your final seat of position. So I hope you feel both strengthened and relaxed after this workshop.

Thank you all for joining me, and allowing me to share what I know with you all on this platform. And again, you know, these arm balances, they're a lot of fun to do. They're cool little party tricks to throw in over the Christmas holidays, whenever you want to, you know, show off a little bit to your friends and for yourself. But in all seriousness, you know, they they're great for building strength, building focus, allowing you to test your boundaries of, you know, where your comfort zone is.

And just always trying to remember that we're all at different stages of our practice. So hopefully you've learned a few different variations and buildups and warmups to the poses so you can follow along and mark your progress along each step of the way. And just as a final note, you know, yoga is not just all about arm balances. They're one tiny, tiny little part out of the whole world of yoga.

And just so you know, as long as you you leave this class, you walk out the door as a good person, you've already done your practice. So just always try and remember that as well. You know, yoga comes with soul, with spirit, and with heart. It's not always just about the asanas, but they are fun to do.

So you might as well learn them if you can. So thanks again. Tune in. I hope you enjoyed it.

And namaste.