Episode 2 — Earth: Grounding & Strength

Hi, welcome to class. I'm Apsara. Today I'm going to be guiding you through an earth-based sequence. This is an intermediate level class, and if you're a complete beginner, please do watch the 15 day beginner series on this very channel. But if you're relatively used to the practice, you can definitely join me today. So we're going to be practicing a grounding flow to really connect with the earth and also with the energy within ourselves. So when you're ready, let's get started.

We're going to start in Balasana position. So you're going to bring the knees together. You can go to the end of the mat, and all you're going to do is sit the hips on the heels, take the hands back alongside the body. As you exhale, go ahead and bring the head down to the ground. If you want to create a little more space, you can give a small gap between the knees and then take the head down.

So right away in this position, just start to feel a deep sense of grounding with the earth. We realize when we're here that we are so close to her, and we can imbibe these qualities within ourselves of just being level-headed, patient and understanding. You can start to observe your breath flow. Every time you're inhaling, just feeling the expansion through the body, and then every time you're exhaling, consciously drawing the low belly into earth's spine. Now from here, let's extend the hands forward. One more time, just settling the head down on the ground, just activating the shoulders a little bit.

On your next inhale, you can come forward to the hands and knees position, table top. As you inhale, just arch the spine once, lifting the sitting bones, chest and chin, push the floor away from you. Exhale, transitioning to Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog. Separate the feet about hip width and let's just start to warm up the body. So you're just going to bend one knee in and the other knee, and you're just breathing deeply through this. No stress, just experience.

Then you can bend both the knees at the same time, lifting the heels up over the balls of the feet, work towards lengthening through the full spine. If you're finding any discomfort and you're not able to straighten the legs completely in the posture, this is your modification, just keep the knees bent. Otherwise, you can set the heels back down and just holding a static downward dog for a couple of breaths, pulling up on the knee caps to really feel the legs engaged, spreading the fingers. Keep your eyes focused at one point. Inhale, exhale one, inhale, exhale two, inhale, exhale three.

Okay, now we're going to start building some heat in the body. So on your inhalation, let's take a three-legged dog position. So lift the right leg straight up. It's okay if the leg is not reaching very high, wherever it is, is all right. So reach from the inner thigh muscles, pointing through the toes. Then bend the knee, come forward to a plank position, bring the knee towards your upper arm, right arm.

Inhale, coming back to three-legged dog, open the hip. As you exhale, come forward, bring the knee towards your forehand in plank. One more time, inhale, send the leg back and up. Now this time we're going to twist. So bring the knee towards your left elbow and twist. Last time, bring it back up as you inhale, and then exhale, set it down.

Other side. Inhale, lift the left leg up, three-legged dog. Take a breath here, and then exhale, bring it to the left arm or the elbow. Inhale, take it back to three-legged dog. Exhale, bring it towards your head. Inhale, take it back. One last time, exhale and twist. Bring it to the right elbow. Inhale, back to three-legged dog and set the leg down.

Drop down onto the knees, coming to Vajrasana. Just make fists with the hands, rotating the wrist five times clockwise and then five times the other way. Extend the right hand out and just pull the fingers back with the left hand. You're feeling a stretch on the wrist. Same practice on the other side. Now bring the fingers together and just pull down on the fingers, so you're countering the stretch. Other side, fingers together, hold the knuckles with the other hand. Just pull it down gently and then go ahead and shake it out. No tension in the wrist. Relax. Wonderful.

Now coming back to our downward facing dog. Exhale, separate the feet about hip width. Bring the left hand towards the right ankle and then slowly twist the body to look up from under your right arm. Keep the right hand pressing down strong. Take one more breath and slowly release. Bring the right hand towards your left ankle. Inhale, as you exhale, twist, looking up over the left shoulder. Taking a couple of breaths here and then slowly back to center.

So here we are in downward facing dog. Bend the knees, look forward, exhale completely. Inhale, you can try to take a hop to the beginning of the mat. Immediately straighten the legs and look forward, lengthening the spine. Even more, the knees can bend here for you to lengthen the spine as much as you can. And then exhale once again, folding over the legs.

Padangusthasana. Separate the feet about hip distance. The first two fingers reach for your big toes from inside, the thumb is holding it from outside. Inhale, straighten the spine, look forward. Put the weight a little more towards the toes here, and then as you exhale, fold into the position. The modification is to bend the knees, to bring the stomach closer to the thighs you can be here, eventually working towards straightening through the legs, lengthening through the spine. Pulling up on the kneecaps, breathing deep. For three. Pull up on the kneecaps. For two. Inhale, look forward, one more time creating space in the body.

On your exhalation, bend the knees, the sitting bones slowly coming down. Extend the hands forward, coming to Utkatasana in this position. Pull the navel deeply in, draw the weight back towards the heels. Balancing here, for three, for two, one. Inhale, stand up completely. Exhale, release the hands down. Bring the feet together, Samasthiti, hands by the side. Close your eyes. Take a moment to observe yourself. Absolutely no hurry.

Surya Namaskar, Hatha yoga style. One round. Inhale, Samasthiti. Exhale, hands in Pranam. Inhale, take the hands up, slightly arch back. Exhale, Utkatasana, bend forward, go down, knees can bend. Inhale, right leg back, knee down, head up, hold the breath. Come to plank. Exhale, knees, chest and chin. Bhujangasana, inhale, you can use the hands but engage the legs. Exhale to Adho Mukha, hips back and down. Empty the lungs. Inhale, right leg forward, left knee down and head up. Exhale, left leg joins, come back to Uttanasana. Inhale, come up all the way, slightly arch back. Exhale back to Samasthiti.

Left side. Inhale, Samasthiti. Exhale, hands in Pranam. Inhale, hands up, open the chest. Exhale, Uttanasana, lengthen the spine as you go down, take the head back. Inhale, left leg back, knee down, head up, hold the breath. Come to a strong plank position. Exhale, lower the knees, chest and chin. Bhujangasana, breathe in, open the front body. Exhale, Adho Mukha, empty the lungs, gaze at the feet. Inhale, left leg forward, right knee down, head up. Exhale, right leg joins, coming back to Uttanasana. Inhale, come up all the way, slightly arch back. Exhale to Samasthiti. If you want to warm up a little bit more, you can repeat that even two more times. Okay, so the body will be nice and open.

Take a moment to be still, watching yourself, and feel a deep connection to the ground. As your feet are making that contact, the big toe, little toe, heel of the leg equally distributed, creating a tripod shape. So you're feeling a perfectly symmetrical posture here, and slowly open your eyes. So now, feeling that connection with the ground, we're going to start to do a few balancing postures to really feel that connection.

Okay, so come to the middle of the mat. Stand in Samasthiti. Now calmly, we're going to do standing head to knee. So you're just going to bend, keep looking at one point, don't look around, just fix your eyes at one point. So lift your right leg up, flex the foot, reach forward and interlock the fingers behind the foot. So you can just stay here for today, or you can kick out that leg, holding here. Eyes focused, breath deep. And then to come out, release the same way. Keep the contact here and then release. Okay, so you can hold that. You can stay for three counts, five counts, ten counts, up to you. Try it on the other side.

Standing strong in Samasthiti. Look at one point. Pick up the left leg, flex the foot, the knee parallel to the floor. Bend forward, rounding the spine, interlock the fingers around the foot. Inhale, kick up that leg, keep your eyes fixed at a single point. For three, four, two, one, with control, exit the position. Wonderful.

Okay, Virabhadrasana III position. You can go a little back, so go a little back to the end of the mat, feet together. Now as you inhale, raise both your hands up. Okay, step forward with the left leg. Look at one point on the floor. Transfer the weight to the left leg and start to pick up the right leg behind you. Okay, so you're trying to square the hips towards the mat. Keep the balance, eyes fixed, no stress. And then slowly keep the hands down, transitioning towards a standing split. So you can raise that leg as high as you can, both hands down or right hand on the ground, left hand reaching the ankle behind and folding into the position, keeping the balance here. Take a breath.

Okay, now bring the hands forward, bend the right knee a little bit to take the right hand a little more forward, diagonally from the leg for revolved half moon. So slowly, left hand up to the ceiling with the right hand down, and you can even bend the knee reaching for the foot with the hand. Okay, slowly extending, calm breath, and then relax. Okay, take the leg back down, and then inhale, raise the arms up. Exhale, Samasthiti. That's definitely challenging. If you can't do these postures back to back, take a moment, step out of it before you do the next one. No stress.

So coming back slightly to the end of the mat, standing in Samasthiti, stand strong. Keep your eyes fixed at one point. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, step the right leg forward. Shift the weight towards the right leg. Keep looking at one point. Pick up through the left leg, coming to Virabhadrasana III. Keeping the balance strong, hip center, transitioning to standing split. Take the hands down. Lift through the left leg, and you can also hold the right ankle with the right hand and go a little deeper into the position. Take a breath.

Then set the hands down. You can bend the knee a little bit to come into position. Left hand diagonally forward from the foot, twisting the body towards the right side, raising the right hand up. Revolved half moon, and you can also work towards bending the knee and reaching for the foot, holding. Be calm, look at one point and release. Coming back to Uttanasana, fold over the legs. Utkatasana, half squat, hands up, stay here for a moment. Stand up fully. Exhale to Samasthiti. Wonderful.

Come to the beginning of the mat. Inhale, take the hands up, look up at the thumb. Exhale, Uttanasana, you can open the arms to the side and go down. Inhale, head up, lengthen the spine longer. Exhale, jump or walk back to plank position. Inhale, hold the plank. Exhale, Chaturanga, with or without knees down, halfway down. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha, knees and thighs up, opening the chest, arms straight. Exhale to Adho Mukha, empty the lungs. Okay, one breath here, exhale completely. One more time, inhale, exhale.

Bend the knees, look forward. Inhale, you're jumping to Malasana squat position. Inhale, landing softly in a yogic squat. If you don't want to jump, you can always just walk forward. Okay, so hands in front, arms open, chest lifting. Think of this as a very proud posture. Chest is lifting, the chin is up, holding and breathing here. For three, be calm, listen to your breath, for two, one.

Now we're going to twist here. Take the right armpit inside of the knee. Press the right hand flat down. Inhale, open the left hand up to the ceiling. This is option one, you can stay here opening the chest. Option two is to take a bind. So take the hand inside, left hand reaches out and then holding your fingers or the wrist from behind. Then bring the weight back to the center a little bit. Turn and look over the left shoulder. Take a deep breath in, deep breath out. Okay, back to center, release. Wonderful.

Same practice on the other side. Raise the left hand straight up. Bend and take the arm inside and then open through the right shoulder. Option two, taking a bind here. Be content with wherever you are today. No stress. Don't fight with the body. Go according to your own pace. It's only practice and patience that will get you anywhere. Don't be attached to any result. Just experience the practicals. Slowly coming back to center and release. Wonderful.

Okay, so now from here we're going to stand up and separate the feet as wide as the mat. Hold on to the ankles from behind. Inhale, lengthen the spine, look forward. Exhale, pull up on the knee caps, keeping the legs engaged. Bring the head inside to the left. Now if you're finding this difficult with the knee straight, keep the knee bent. You can work on it like this, take the head in.

If you're comfortable, what we can now try to do is a variation of Tittibhasana. So you're going to bring the head in and then take the hands from around the legs, the calf muscle, and then straighten the knees. Keep your eyes at one point. Slowly bringing the head in, then pull the head, open up the shoulder, open up the side. Once you've had enough, release out of the position for the arm balance of Tittibhasana.

Okay, so bend the knees, bring the hands inside of the legs, bringing it behind your heels. Then deepen the position, try to bring the shoulders underneath the calf muscles. Set the hands down, put the weight towards the hands. Slowly come on to the tips of the toes. You can stay here, or you can try to extend one leg forward, maybe the other leg forward, keeping your Tittibhasana position. For three, two, one. Release the same way, or you can even try to do Bhujapidasana for a moment, opening the chest, and then release the legs down.

Take the hands from underneath, open the legs to the side and just come up and stand for a moment. Prasarita Padottanasana, wide leg forward bend. All the toes pointing forward, pull up on the knee caps. Hands on the hip. Inhale, lift the chest, look up. Exhale, move from the hips, hold behind the heels or the big toe. Inhale, look forward, create space. Exhale slowly with the spine straight, work towards folding over. And if it's difficult for you, please bend the knees. This is your modification, or you can work towards straight. Staying and breathing here. No stress, simply experience.

Now slowly look up and get transitioning to middle split. Samakonasana. Take the hands a little bit forward and then slowly go as much as you can. No stress. So if this is as much as you can, then you just reach your limits, stop there and breathe. Or you can just sit down and open out the legs like this. Flex your feet, toes pointing up. Option to just stay here, option to take it one step further, keeping the forearms on the mat. Lift your chest, imagine you're doing a cow tilt, so you're arching the back, chin up. Keep the knees facing up. Then you can also just hold on to your feet and relax into the position. Eventually relaxing in with regular practice. Right now, just experience the sensations. Breathe into those sensations. For three. For two.

Slowly making your way out of the position. Bring the legs slowly back in towards each other. So gently crossing the legs at the ankles. Hands on the knees. Gently arch your back to release.

And then come back to a neutral spine for Navasana. Sit tall with the spine. Bring the knees together, feet together. And now cross the legs at the shin, holding the hands, bring the thighs close to the upper body. Hands forward, this is all core strength. Keep the navel pulled in, chin up. Hold and breathe for five, four, three, two. Now in the air, cross the other leg over. Keep the balance strong for five, four, three, two, one. You can take a moment to rest.

Or if you still have the balance, Navasana. Lift the knees halfway up, gazing to the toes, or maybe straight and fully, you can raise the arms up alongside the ears. For three, look at the toes, for two, one more breath, and then slowly releasing with control. Hands on the knees, gently arch your back, let it go. Come back to a neutral spine.

Okay, so now we're going to work the hips a little bit more. Bend the knees like so, bring the feet together, knees together. Then externally open the right leg, bring the ankle over the left knee in a reclined figure four position. Keep the right foot flexed, because you're protecting the knee when you do that. Then take the hands back, fingers facing the body, work to straighten your back, and the right leg is pushing back on its own. So where are you feeling this? You're probably experiencing a sensation here, outer edge of the right thigh.

Okay, now to go a little deeper, you can bend a little forward, interlock the fingers around the shin. One more time, straighten your back, see how that feels. Lift your chest up, chin up. Then you can keep the hands here. Okay, hook properly and extend the left leg forward. Just imagine you're cradling a baby, moving out and in, out and in. One more time out and bring it in.

All right, now set the leg in a lotus position. Okay, half lotus, or Padmasana. The knee goes down on its own. If this is challenging, please just keep it like this and bend forward. Otherwise, half lotus. Inhale, hands up, lengthen the back. Exhale, fold forward towards the left leg. You can take a bind or just simply hold wherever you can and fold here. For three, for two. Wow. Inhale, head up. Exhale, you can release everything out and extend the right leg forward.

So now bend both the knees, pick up the left leg externally opening it towards the left side and flex the foot. Keep the hands back, push into the hands, straightening the spine. You can just stay here and balance, otherwise interlock the fingers around the thigh. One more time, straighten the back. Then keep the leg like that, straighten the right leg forward. Out and in a few times, experiencing the sensations in the hip joint. Finally, take it out to bring it into half lotus. There should be no pain in the knee. If you are experiencing knee pain, do Janu Sirsasana, hold it like this instead of your half lotus. Modify as necessary.

Inhale, arms up. Exhale, fold forward towards the right leg. Hold wherever it's comfortable. For three, for two. Wow. Inhale, head up, raise the arms. Exhale and release the hands down, extend the legs forward. Wonderful.

So now from here, you can fold the right leg in, bending the left knee like so. Then pick up the leg and hook the calf muscle over the shoulder. If you are not able to take it so high and it's coming down, you have to use a little bit of the energy in the calf muscle to push into the upper arm, and then it will stay there. So just do your best to take it as high up as you can. Hold the outer edge of the foot with the right hand. Set the left hand down for support. On your inhalation, start to lift through the leg as much as you can, trying to straighten, and if it's okay for you, you can also extend the right leg forward. Twisting in the position. For three, for two, one. Slowly bend the knee to release.

We're going to transition to elephant trunk and then Ashtavakrasana. So make sure the leg is hooked up properly. I'm going to show you two options. The first one is elephant trunk position. All of these postures help to build the strength in the body. So pull the navel in, lift your hip up, maybe float your right leg up. And if you have so much, you can try to hook the leg underneath, extending the legs, and you can also try to lower the chest down towards the trunk. Stay here for a breath and then slowly come out. Release. Take a moment, be still. I know that's a little intense, but eventually as you keep practicing regularly, then it's going to start becoming easier and easier. Be patient.

So right leg is going to bend. You can start with your left leg like this. Hook the calf muscle over the right shoulder as high as you can. Right hand down, hold the foot with the left hand. Then inhale, open as much as possible. And if it's comfortable enough, you can also try to straighten the right leg down. So we can also be here today, right? This could be your position, that's fine, just experience it. Feel the sensations in the body, and then transitioning for our arm balances.

Put the leg high up, position yourself, elephant trunk, lifting the hip. If you're not able to lift up today, you're going to stay here, work on that strength. Maybe this leg flies up and then you can hook, transitioning the body down for Ashtavakrasana, eight-angle pose. And then slowly coming back up, releasing the leg out. All right, wonderful.

Cross the legs, hands on the knees. Gently arch through the spine to release. Come back to neutral. Bring the feet together, knees together, hands forward. Inhale. Exhale, roll the spine down, one vertebra at a time, use the core strength. Lie down, bend the knees, separate the feet about hip width, all the toes pointing forward.

For Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, bridge pose. Inhale, lift your hips up, hold your hips up, pull your hips up, pull your hips up, pull your hips up, pull your hips up, pull your hips up. A few seconds of rest, allow the breathing to become natural, feel the belly movements rising up on inhalation, going down on exhalation. Take one more breath, and if you have Sarvangasana, shoulder stand, in your practice, let's go for Sarvangasana.

Inhale deeply, exhale, pull your stomach inside. Inhale, float your legs up, coming to our shoulder stand position. Work to take the hands towards the upper back, slowly moving the legs up. Take the weight, feel the breath. Bend the knees towards your forehead with control, and then straighten the legs back for Halasana. Interlock your fingers down if you have the balance, try to straighten the knees, hold strong, listen to your breath. Take one more breath here, and then transition to Karnapidasana, bend the knees either side of the waist, feel the stretch.

Then rest, slowly release, straighten the legs one more time towards Halasana, and begin to unroll the spine back to the mat, very slowly, use your core strength. Go back down, middle back down, finally lower back down, and then legs come to a 90 degree angle, and then bend the knees, extend the legs forward again for Matsyasana.

Keep the hands alongside the body, come on to your forearms, arch the back, bring the crown of the head down. If the head is not touching the mat, then move the hands some more forward and try again. Arch the spine, crown of the head down, holding and breathing into the position. Close your eyes, don't tense anything unnecessarily. For three, for two, one, slowly exit the posture. Bend and hold the knees towards the body one more time, make sure the lower back is on the mat, don't pull it so much where the lower spine is lifting up, that area especially we need to release.

Now let's take Jathara Parivartanasana, twist. Open the arms shoulder level, palms flat. Inhale, exhale, drop the knees as close to the body on the right side. You can just stay here or straighten the legs towards the right hand, and slowly turn the head, look towards the left hand. Breathe deeply, relax, sink into the position.

When you're ready to come out, bend the knees, inhale back to center. Exhale, drop the knees over to the left, and you can try to straighten the knees diagonally towards the right hand, a nice twist. Allow yourself to relax completely in the position, so you can slow down the breath, start to allow the practice to go internally, not just focused on the physical posture, but there's something deeper, more meaningful to it.

Then bend the knees, coming back to center. One last time you can hug the knees towards the upper body, making sure the lower back is on the ground, feeling a last connection with the earth, which is always there with you. You can come back anytime, experiencing this. And then allow yourself to come into Shavasana, opening out the legs, palms facing up. Let the earth hold you here, start to feel that your body is so light, including your mind, so you can stay here for about 10 to 15 minutes, taking complete rest.

I hope you all enjoyed practicing along today, and don't be upset if you are not able to do any of the postures. Remember, it only takes time, patience and effort, so practice with loving awareness, and definitely soon you will experience the practice for what it is. I'll see you next time.