Dharma Yoga – Short & Sweet flyt og styrke

Hello, yogis, it's me again. Welcome back to OnlineYoga.no with me, Krisa. I'll be teaching a short and sweet Dharma yoga flow this afternoon with you all. So it'll be just 45 minutes.

Not a lot of time, but hopefully enough to just share with you a little bit of the essence of what Dharma yoga is over this lunchtime period. So we're going to dive straight into it, and I'll see you back here in 45 minutes. So wherever you are, just press into a nice, comfortable child's pose. And as you press into child's pose here, just allow your forehead to rest on the floor, stretching your arms forward, taking a few nice deep breaths, using this moment to welcome ourselves to our mat into our practice, into our breath.

And whenever you're ready, tucking your toes, lifting your knees off the floor, pressing into downward facing dog. Just taking a few little bends in the knees, beginning to bring movement into the legs, lower back, then slowly walking forward to the top of the mat, rolling up one vertebra at a time, bringing your hands to prayer in front of the heart. So if you know the mantra for purification, which we say at the beginning of every Dharma yoga class, you're welcome to do this with me now from home. So you may close your eyes.

And take a moment now to offer up your practice, try and dedicate it to someone or something other than yourself. Try and give up the fruits of your practice to those that need it. A little extra more today, and we'll begin with three sun salutations all together. So inhaling your arms up and over your head.

And as you exhale, fold right foot back, right knee down. Left foot back to high plank. Exhale, knees, chest, chin. Cobra, inhale.

Downward, exhale. Right foot forward, left foot forward. All the way up, hands to prayer. And again, arms up, inhale.

Exhale, fold. Left foot back, right foot, knees, chest, chin. Cobra, inhale. Downward, exhale.

Left foot forward, right foot. All the way up, hands to prayer. So that was one set. We'll do two more.

Arms up, inhale. And fold. Right foot back, left foot forward. Exhale, knees, chest, chin.

Cobra, inhale. Downward, exhale. Right foot forward and left. All the way up, hands to prayer.

And again, and fold. Left foot back, right foot. Knees, chest, chin. Cobra, inhale.

Downward, exhale. Left foot forward and right. All the way up, hands to prayer. One more set.

Arms up, inhale. And fold. Right foot back and left. Exhale, knees, chest, chin.

Cobra, inhale. Downward, exhale. Right foot forward and left. All the way up, hands to prayer.

One last time, arms up. And fold. Left foot back, right foot. Exhale, knees, chest, chin.

Cobra, inhale. Downward, exhale. Left foot forward, right foot. All the way up, hands to prayer.

Your next inhale, interlace your fingers, arms up and over your head. Give yourself a nice, big stretch, trying to pull yourself out of your hips. Then grab onto your right wrist, bend to the left side. And look up towards the ceiling.

Inhaling all the way up, interlacing the fingers. And as you exhale, reversing. So grabbing your left wrist, bending over to the right side like a banana, looking up towards the ceiling. And coming back to neutral, inhale, interlacing the fingers.

And as you exhale, hands behind your head, elbows out to the side. And you can separate the feet about as wide as the hips, just stand nice and comfortably. Just open up the upper back, chest, the armpits, the neck. And then stopping the movements, trying to pull yourself long again, leaning back.

And then swing side to side. And then from here, release the hands. Then begin to swing your arms side to side, just to loosen up any tension in the shoulders, the arms. You can go as slowly or as fast as you like, but just like a helicopter, just have fun with it.

So when you see Dharma do this, he goes super fast, but I'm a little pregnant, so it doesn't feel so good when I go super fast. So just try it, allow your arms to be loose. And then slowly release, stepping back. Preparing for Shiva Namaskara, arms up, inhale.

Exhaling, fold. Stay here in Uttanasana. Bending your knees as much as you have to, chest to thighs. Trying to stretch your neck towards the floor.

Forehead towards your knees, your legs. And plant your hands down, jump separate right foot back, right knee down, arms up, Kapotasana. Crescent moon pose. So feel free to move the arms.

Trying to keep your arms on either side of the ears. Every exhale, bouncing your hips, your pelvis closer to the floor. Three, two, one. Opening up your arms to the right side, like you're doing warrior two arms.

You can either stay here or left hand on the left knee. See if you can grab your back foot with the right hand, squeeze the thigh. So trying to pull your foot closer to the hip. Maybe you're here.

Here, three, four, five. Slowly release, hands down inside of the front foot, lizard pose, back knee off the floor. Rock forwards and back to prepare. Then lower the back knee, point the back foot, inhale, pulling the shoulders back.

So you can keep your palms flat on the floor or stand on all 10 fingertips. And keeping this opening in the upper chest. Those of you that can, come all the way down onto your forearms and try doing this. Keep hugging your front knee close to the body for three, two, one.

Slowly release, hands down, step back to Chaturanga Dandasana. Upward facing, thighs off the floor. Exhale, downward facing. And preparing to do the same thing on the other side.

Step your right foot forward, left knee down, arms up. Interlace the fingers, inhale. Whole left side of the body, nice and long. Again, with every exhale, just trying to bounce your hips, your pelvis closer to the floor.

Three, two, one. And slowly release, opening your arms up to the left side. You can stay here with your arms apart, trying to focus on lowering the hips down towards the floor, softening that front knee. Or if you can, try and do the same variation you did as the first side.

So trying to grab ahold of your back foot with the left hand, squeeze the thigh. Maybe you're here, here, here. So if you have the bind, eventually you're trying to turn both of your shoulders towards the front of your mat. Keep breathing, and slowly release.

Lizard pose, both hands down inside of the front foot. Back knee off the floor, rocking forwards and back to prepare. And then back knee down, point the back foot, inhale, shoulders back. Keep hugging that front knee in, even from here.

And trying to do the same variation you did as the first side. And slowly release, hands down. Step back, Chaturanga Dandasana. Upward facing, exhale, downward facing.

Preparing for the warrior poses, inhale, lift the left leg up. As you exhale, step the left foot all the way forward, arms up, Virabhadrasana one, warrior one. So back leg strong and straight, trying to get your front thigh as parallel to the floor as you can. Reaching up with your fingers.

Three, two, one, opening up, warrior two. Again, feel free to use your hands, guiding the hips open, trying to align your front knee with your hips. Strong back leg, and then raising the arms. Relax the shoulders, keep pulling your fingers away from each other.

Then reverse warrior. In full Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, pull your left hand forward and down, left leg straight. Right arm reaches up towards the ceiling. So if your hand doesn't quite reach the floor, feel free to rest your hand on top of your leg, prop yourself up so you get this nice open space in between the left side of your body and the thigh.

So it's better to be here than trying to reach the floor and turning your body down. So you're trying to keep your body as open as you can towards the side. Then bending the front knee, Utthita Parsvakonasana, extended side angle pose. Reaching your right arm all the way towards the front of your mat.

Stay here or bind if you have the bind. Trying to grab your right hand, right wrist behind your back. And slowly release, prepare for the twist. Both hands down, right knee on the floor.

Left hand, left hip, inhale the right arm up, lean back. As you exhale, right elbow over the left knee, hands in prayer, pull it towards your hips. So you can either stay here with your knees on the floor or begin to pick your back knee up off the floor. Feel free to play around with your arm variations.

Two, one, slowly release. Cartwheel your hands all the way to the right side of your mat. Both feet facing the right side of your mat. Inhale halfway up.

As you exhale, fold over, Prasarita Padottanasana. So remember the tricks, big toes turn towards each other, heels away from each other. Allow your upper body to dangle towards the floor. I like to wrap my arms behind my head, give my neck a little bit of a stretch.

If you're able to rest your head on the floor, then you can do that for two more breaths. And slowly release, inhaling halfway up. Walking your hands to the front of your mat, step back, Chaturanga Dandasana. Flowing through to Downward Facing.

Preparing to do the same thing on the other side. So this time, lifting your right leg up, inhale. As you exhale, step forward, Virabhadrasana I, Warrior I, arms up. Back leg strong and straight, arms nice and strong.

Again, trying to get that front thigh parallel to the floor. And then opening up, Warrior II, facing the left side. Watching the hips, aligning with the knees. Stretching your hands away from each other, and then relaxing the shoulders away from the ears.

Look towards your front hand, and then reverse. Then transition to fold, Trikonasana. Front leg straight, pull the right hand forward and down, either on top of the leg, or reaching your fingertips towards the floor. Trying to look up towards your top hand.

From here, transitioning to Utthita Parsvakonasana. So bending the front knee, right hand inside of the right foot. Reaching your left hand all the way to the top of your mat. Trying to do the same variation you did as the first side.

So you can stay here, or go for the bind, if you have the bind. Once you have the bind, pushing your hips forward again, in line with the knees. Trying to pull your left arm, your top arm straight away from the ear. And then slowly release.

Both hands down, left knee on the floor. Prepare for the twist. Right hand, right hip, inhale the left arm up. As you exhale, elbow over the knee.

Hands in prayer, pull it towards the hips. So you can stay here with your knee on the floor. Or try and lift your back knee off the floor. Slowly release, cartwheeling your hands down.

Turning your body to the left side. Inhaling again, halfway up. Then from here, interlacing your fingers, standing all the way up. So with your arms just like this, trying to pull your shoulders away from the ears.

Take a big inhale. As you exhale, arms up and over your head. Tuck your chin to the chest. Try and soften the neck here with every breath to try and relax.

See if you can gain a few more inches, centimeters, millimeters towards the floor. And if you're able to rest your head there, then do this. And slowly release, inhaling halfway up. Releasing the grip, turning your hands, your feet forward.

Stepping back, Chaturanga Dandasana. Upward facing, downward facing. So here we're shifting forward to high plank. Preparing for Vasisthasana, side plank on the left side.

So slap your left hand, middle of the mat. Right leg stacks on top of the left, lifting the hips, arms up. So you can stay here with your legs straight or feel free to do any variations you know. Maybe grabbing the top knee or the top foot.

Wild thing, flip over for a couple of breaths. Then coming back to neutral, inhale, high plank. Same thing on the other side. Right hand, middle of the mat.

Left leg stacks on top of the right. Flex your feet, lift the hips, pulling the left arm up. Try and do the same variation as the first side. So either stay here or here or here.

Flipping over, wild thing, lifting the hips. Reaching your fingers all the way to the top of your mat. And slowly release. Coming back to neutral, inhale.

Flowing through to downward facing. So from here, lifting the left leg up. Exhale, stepping the left foot forward. Arms up again, Kapyasana, crescent moon.

And from here, elbows to the side again, lean back. Swing side to side. And then tucking your back toes, stretching the front leg, half Hanumanasana. So trying to pull your toes towards your hip.

Taking an inhale to lengthen. And then as you exhale, folding over your front leg. And rocking forward again, lizard pose. And then shifting back, rocking forward.

And bring your hands to your knees. Shifting back, rocking forward, and shifting back. Then rocking all the way forward, bringing your left foot over to the right side. Prepare for pigeon pose.

So again, first making sure that your hips are square towards the front of your mat. You can grab hold of your hip bones here, pull your shoulders, your elbows together. So you can stay here, just working on getting the pelvis closer to the floor if it's not already there. Creating that opening in the upper chest.

Or if you know how to go for the vine, again, trying to reach for your back foot with the right hand, squeezing the thigh. So if you're doing the half vine, it's through mermaid arms, just like this. If you're trying to flip a grip, with or without the strap, putting your strap or your hand around the back foot. And you're trying to turn your elbows up towards the sky.

So arm variations, you can keep hold of the back foot with the right hand. Your left hand can be on your leg for support. It can be holding the top elbow, leaning back. Or eventually trying to grab hold of your back foot with both hands.

Bringing your elbows closer together. And slowly release with control, folding over your front leg. And feel free to adjust that top leg higher up the mat, flexing your left foot if you want a deeper stretch in your glutes. So folding over and create a nice little pillow with your hands.

Take a few nice and relaxing breaths here. And then slowly release, hands under the shoulders. Without dragging your feet, tuck your back toes, gracefully step back, downward facing dog. Shaking out the hips.

Preparing to do the same thing on the other side. Stepping your right foot forward, left knee down, pointing the back foot, arms up, lean back. Peeling your stomach away from the front thigh. And elbows to the side.

Then from here, tucking your back toes, straightening your front leg for half Hanumanasana, half front splits. So pulling your toes towards your hips, inhale for length, as you exhale, folding over. And shifting forward to lizard pose, low lunge. And back.

Forwards again. And back. And forward. And back.

And coming all the way forward, bringing your right foot over to the left side, pigeon pose on this side. Back leg straight. Hands to your hips, elbows, shoulders together. Then try and do the same variation you did as the first side.

So either staying here, or here, here, here, or here, trying to grab your back foot with a hand, or a strap elbow up. Slowly release, folding over your front leg. Feel free to adjust. Creating a nice little pillow with your arms, with your hands.

Slowing down your breath. One more breath. And slowly release, hands under the shoulders, graciously stepping back, downward facing dog. Shaking out the hips, shaking out the legs.

Lift your heels, bend your knees, look forward, step, walk, or jump to the top of your mat. Folding over. Maybe wrapping your arms around your legs, forehead towards the knees. And heel, toe, your feet together, release the arms.

Inhaling all the way up, hands to prayer. So for our balanced standing pose for today, we're going to do eagle pose. So balancing on the left leg, wrap your right leg around the left. So you can try and hook this foot over the calf.

And if that's too much, you can rest the foot on the floor. So right leg over the left, right arm under the left, so the opposite, hands in prayer. And slowly release, unwind the arms, unwind the legs, shake it out. And same thing on the other side, left leg on top of the right.

So again, if your foot doesn't quite hook around the calf like this, you can just rest your toe, your foot on the floor, just like this. So whichever variation you're doing, left leg over, left arm under. And slowly release, unwind the arms, unwind the legs, shake it out. Good, so to quickly warm up the shoulders before our inversions, because it's never a full dharma yoga practice without some inversions.

So first, we're going to lift the right arm up. Try and grab hold of your elbow here, using your head to press back. You can stay here, or if you're able to bind with or without a strap behind your back. Grabbing hold of your fingers, leaning back.

And slowly release. Switching sides, left arm up, right hand grabbing hold of the left elbow, or interlacing your hands behind your back. And slowly release, shaking out the arms. So for the next 30 seconds, a minute or so, feel free to do any headstand or inversion practice that you have.

If you already know what you're doing, don't waste time, come all the way up. And if this is your first time practicing a headstand or inversion, you can just stay in the first half of the pose, which is called rabbit pose, where you're on your knees, top of the head on the floor. And then just trying to reach your hands towards your ankles. So this pose here is just helping you get used to putting a little bit of weight on top of the head.

But if you know what you're doing, come up. And once you're up, try and bring your legs into eagle pose, like we did standing up. Remembering to switch sides with the legs, we're doing eagle legs. And slowly release with control, pressing into balasana, child's pose.

And from here, peeling your upper body off the floor, crossing your ankles, and then just swinging your legs forward. So the next pose, do sarvangasana, shoulder stand. So if you're comfortable going all the way up, try and bring your body into a straight line, using momentum to support your lower back. You can also keep your knees bent, or if you wish to do a more relaxing variation of the pose, if you are pregnant like me, or if you're on your moon cycle, or if this is just what feels good today, you can also do this variation of the pose, keeping your hips on the floor.

And I like to bring my arms behind my head because my shoulders always feel a little tight, and this just helps open them up a little bit more. So feel free to do any variation of sarvangasana, shoulder stand. The most important thing, like we did in shirshasana, headstand, is by turning your whole or part of your body upside down, you're allowing the blood to drain away from your feet, to drain away from your legs, helping with the circulation in your body. And if you are all the way upside down, then eventually you're trying to create heat in your throat, stimulating your throat chakra in your neck and your throat.

And if you are all the way up in shoulder stand, feel free to drop back into halasana, plow pose, trying to reach your feet over your head. Or if you're in this variation like me, you can bring baddha konasana, legs, soles of the feet together, grabbing hold of the feet, knees to the side, maybe giving a little sway side to side. And if you are in halasana, feel free to transition into matsyasana, fish pose, all together. So lowering your feet down, if you're like me, and straightening them all the way out.

Bringing your arms underneath your hips, thumbs on top of each other, pointing the feet, bending the elbows, lifting your chest off the floor, rolling onto the top of your head. And to come out of the pose, tucking the chin to the chest, releasing the arms. Then preparing for the forward fold, inhaling the arms up and over your head. And as you exhale, try to come up to sit, try and tap your toes.

So in paschimottanasana, remember, bend your knees so that your chest is able to rest on your thighs. So it's about lengthening your back and not stretching the back of your legs since we've done quite a lot of that already. So I'd rather you keep your knees bent, really pull against the knees, against the feet to keep your spine straight. And then trying to straighten your legs as much as you can without losing contact between your chest and your thighs.

Then bowing your head down to the floor. And slowly release. Finishing with one back bend and the final twists. Come to lie down on your bellies, knees up, pulling your feet, your heels close to the hips.

So feel free to do bridge pose or full urdhva mukha svanasana at home on a count of three, we'll come up all together. One, two, three, hips up, good. Supporting your lower back with the hands or interlacing your fingers, rolling your shoulder blades closer together or grabbing hold of the feet. And slowly release, hugging your knees to your chest.

And then finishing off with the final twists on the floor. So just drop your knees over to the left side, trying to look over your right shoulder, cactus in the arms, closing the eyes and coming back to neutral. Doing the same thing on the other side. So hugging your knees in, shifting your hips to the side and letting your knees fall over to the right, looking over your left shoulder, closing the eyes and slowly release and finding yourself in shavasana, your final resting pose.

So just allow yourself to lie here for a couple of minutes. So don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the time. We still have a couple of minutes left. So take up as much space as you need.

Palms facing up, take a big inhale in through the nose and out through the mouth. Two more times, deep inhale and out. And again, in and out and let everything go. Come back to whatever intention you set at the beginning of class.

And imagine like the best has already happened. Maybe taking a moment to thank yourself for your practice, for showing up for yourself and each other today, to keep working on our practice, to improve ourselves so that we can be a better service to others. So feel free to stay here in shavasana for as long as you need while you're at home. If you have somewhere that you need to be, then you can slowly prepare to come out, wriggling your fingers and your toes, giving yourself a nice big stretch.

And as you exhale, hugging the knees to the chest and rolling over to the right hand side and slowly coming up to sit. So for the final minute of class, I just wanted to thank you all again for tuning in with my very short and sweet dharma practice. If you're intending to keep doing this again at home, the basic formula that dharma says is the most important poses you need to do. Once you've done your vinyasa, your warmup at the start of class, just think of it as a chakra wind down.

So some sort of inversion, some sort of upside down pose to stimulate the head, top chakras, shoulder stands stimulating the throat, plow pose as well, helping to keep the intention here while stretching out your back, fish pose working on the heart, some sort of a back bend to help stretch out the belly, then a forward fold to stimulate and focus on the very first chakra at the base of your spine. And then some final twists and never ever skimp out on the final shavasana, the final relaxation pose. So I hope you had a nice practice with me today and have a great rest of the day, rest of the week. And I'll either see you here again next week or online on Zoom.

We'll see what happens. Om shanti, shanti, shanti. Namaste.