Episode 3 — Fire: Core Strengthening

Hi everyone, welcome to class. Today we are going to look at the fire element and practice along in a heat-inducing sequence. This is a core-inspired class, so we are going to be strengthening the body from the inside out. This is an intermediate-level class, so please do practice slowly and keep working on the sequences, and eventually it will get easier with time. So once you are ready to start, let's begin.

So we are going to get started in Samasthiti. You can come to the beginning of the mat. Align your feet together and hands loosely by the side. Engage the leg muscles, pull up on the kneecaps, close your eyes. Just take a moment to feel the body from the inside. Take a deep inhale, expanding the chest, expanding the sides of the body, and a slow exhale out, start to draw the low belly in towards the spine. Two more times like that, deep inhale in, and then a nice long exhale out. When you are exhaling, navel into spine, so we are activating the core muscles. One more time, inhale, expanding through the full body, and then on your exhale, focus more on the navel drawing in, and relax.

We are going to start with Hatha Yoga Surya Namaskar, two rounds. Inhale, Samasthiti. Exhale, hands at the heart. Inhale, take the hands up, slightly arch back. Exhale, lengthen the spine, come forward for Uttanasana. Take it easy for the first one, bend the knees if you need. Inhale, right leg back, knee down, head up, hold the breath and come to a powerful plank position. Exhale, knees down, chest and chin down, tailbone up, Bhujangasana. Inhale, you can use the hands but relax the shoulders. Exhale to Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog, look forward. Inhale, right leg in between the hands, left knee down and head up. Exhale, left leg comes forward, come back to Uttanasana. Head back. Inhale, lengthen the spine, come up, slightly arch back. Exhale, back to stillness, Samasthiti.

Left side. Inhale, be in Samasthiti. Exhale, hands in Pranam. Inhale, take the hands up, slightly arch back. Exhale, move from the hips, lengthening the spine, go down. Bend the knees if you need to. Inhale, left leg back, lower the knee down, lift the chest up, chin up. Hold the breath as you come to a strong plank. Exhale, knees down, chest and chin down, or even full body down, Bhujangasana. Inhale, exhale to Adho Mukha. Separate the feet about hip-width and look at the feet. Inhale, left leg forward, right knee down and head up. Exhale, right leg joins, come back to a forward bend. Inhale, raise the arms up, slightly back. Exhale, back to stillness.

Okay, one more round, let's do it. Inhale, Samasthiti. Exhale, hands in Pranam. Inhale, hands up, slightly back. Exhale, come forward, all the way down to the legs. Inhale, right leg back, knee down, head up. Hold the breath, step back to a plank. Exhale, knees, chest and chin down, or full body down, Bhujangasana. Inhale, exhale to Adho Mukha, look at the feet, empty the lungs. Inhale, right leg forward, left knee down, head up. Exhale, left leg comes forward, head down. Inhale, arms up, slightly back. Exhale, Samasthiti.

Left side, last time. Inhale, Samasthiti. Exhale, hands at the heart. Inhale, hands up, slightly back. Exhale, for Uttanasana, lengthen the spine, go down. Inhale, left leg back, knee down and head up. Hold the breath, come to a powerful plank position, push the floor away. Exhale, knees down, chest and chin down, Bhujangasana. Take a comfortable position. Exhale to downward facing dog, look at the feet, empty the lungs. Inhale, left leg forward, right knee down, lift the chest up, chin up. Exhale, right leg forward, back to your forward bend. Inhale, hands up, slightly back. Exhale, Samasthiti.

So nice. Now find stillness here with your eyes closed. Just take a few moments to observe the inner body, watch your breath. Maybe you're already feeling a little heat coming into the body, that's a good thing. Just welcome that heat, it will help improve the circulation throughout the body. Take a moment being still in this position. And now we're going to add on from here, so make it a little bit more challenging, Surya Namaskara B.

Inhale, Utkatasana, half squat, and raise the hands up till the back is straight. Exhale, come up and then fold over the legs, Uttanasana, take the head down. Inhale, head up on your fingertips, lengthen the spine, or hold wherever comfortable. And then there's an option to jump back, so take the feet one tiny step back, palms down so you can bend the knees to accommodate this, palms down, spread the fingers. You can do a few pulses and then step back to a strong plank. Take an inhale in the plank, then lower the knees down. Instead of doing the knees, chest, chin, try to lower the full body to the ground at one shot, but very slowly, feel the strength in the arms.

Now instead of Bhujangasana, Urdhva Mukha, so keep the hands beside the chest. Inhale, push into the arms straight, try to elevate the knees and lift the thighs up with the hips down, open the front side body. Exhale to Adho Mukha, look at the feet. From here, right leg forward, lunge like a 45-degree angle with the heel down, Virabhadrasana. Find the strength, find the balance. Raise your arms up, look at the thumb. Exhale, gently return the hands down, step back. Let's take an inhale in the plank. Exhale, knees down, very slowly, feeling the strength as you go down. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Left leg forward, right leg turns out, slowly find the balance, come up and stand. You can raise the arms up, look up, steady. Exhale the hands down.

Inhale to a powerful plank. Exhale, maybe even without the knees, you can try to lower the body down. Inhale to Urdhva Mukha, push the floor away, open the chest. Exhale to Adho Mukha, downward facing dog. Now find stillness in the posture. We're going to stay here for about five breaths. Every time you inhale, focus on expanding through the chest. Every time you exhale, try to draw the low belly in. Make sure you're spreading the fingers, the feet are separated about hip distance. And we hold for three, deep steady breathing, for two, inhaling, exhale, take another inhale, exhale. Bend the knees, look forward. You can try to jump to the hand, so inhale, hop, head up immediately, lengthening the back. Exhale, come back to Uttanasana. Be careful. Utkatasana, inhale, half squat, hands up. Exhale, Samasthiti.

Okay, we're going to do it the last time, this time a little bit faster. So take a moment, catch your breath in Samasthiti for a moment. And then let's do it. Inhale, half squat, hands up. Exhale, Uttanasana, go down. Inhale, head up, lengthening the spine longer. Exhale, jump or walk to plank. Inhale, hold your plank. Exhale, maybe you can just hover the body a little off the ground, Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha. Exhale, Adho Mukha. Inhale, right leg forward, Virabhadrasana, hands up, look up. Exhale, hands down, step back, Chaturanga. Inhale to Urdhva Mukha. Exhale to Adho Mukha. Inhale, left leg forward, right leg turns out, find the strength to come up, look up. Exhale, hands down, step back, and go down, with or without the knees. Inhale, open the chest, don't hurry. Exhale to downward facing, find stillness right away.

Inhale, exhale, one. Inhale, exhale, two. Inhale slowly, exhale, three. Inhale, exhale, four. Inhale, exhale, bend the knees, look forward. Inhale, jump or walk, head up immediately. Exhale, take your head down. Inhale to Utkatasana, half squat, hands up. Exhale, Samasthiti. Keep your eyes closed. Take a moment to check in with yourself. If your breath is fast, if the heartbeat is fast, let's take a few seconds, let it settle down. You don't want to move when the body is stressed out, we're moving at a relaxed pace, the mind is calm, the body is at ease. Take a few seconds, let it settle down. You can take a few deep breaths here. If it feels good, inhale deeply in through the nose, a slow exhale out. One more time, inhale, and then exhale, empty the lungs.

Okay, so we're going to do a twist in Utkatasana. Inhale, half squat, hands up, so feel the strength in the legs, the fire in the body as we hold. Then bring the hands in Pranam to the center of the chest. Keep breathing here, don't stop the breath. Take a deep inhale, on your exhalation bend forward and twist, cross the left elbow over the right knee, and you can look past your right shoulder towards the ceiling. If you're very comfortable, option to open the hands, so left hand down, right hand up, keeping the balance here. Keep sending the hip down, down, and then bring the hands back in Pranam. Come back through center. Inhale, stand up, raise the hands up. Exhale, back to Utkatasana. Take the Pranam to the center of the chest. Take another inhale. Exhale, bend down and then twist, right armpit crossing the left knee. So for your variation, you can also try to open the hands, sitting the hips down. Feel the fire in the legs, and then slowly coming out. Inhale, hands up. Exhale, hands down. Take a moment in Samasthiti. Feel the muscles of the body really working. Deep inhale in, slow exhale out.

Now we're just going to do a small standing sequence. So inhale, raise the hands up, join the palms together. Exhale, sweep the right arm under the left, and you can take Garudasana, eagle arms. Now bend the knees, go down, cross the left leg over the right leg, so this is one hook, you can try to take a double hook, and then sit low. Inhale, navel into spine, keep looking at one point. For three, for two, one. Okay, now keep the arms, just lift your leg up. Lift the knee high up into the chest and send the leg back into Warrior Three. Remember, you have to keep looking at one point to keep your balance. For three, for two, one. Now bend the right knee slowly, in slow motion, come to high lunge. Be on the balls of your toes, lift your arms up, release the hands, raise the arms up properly, high lunge. Take a breath, and then release the hands. Set the back heel down. For three, Trikonasana, so the right leg remains pointing forward. Inhale, open the arms. Exhale, imagine that you're being pulled by the right hand and you're reaching laterally towards the leg, so you can try to take your big toe, or just hold wherever you can. Another modification is to take the left hand behind and hold the right thigh, look over the left shoulder to the ceiling. Take a breath here. Then bend the front knee, reach your right hand forward, and all the way back to reverse warrior. Keep the front knee bent, keep reaching back sideways. Take one more breath and slowly transition to Virabhadrasana II. We'll hold for a few counts. For three, navel into spine. For two, one more breath, and then take the hands down. Join the back leg forward. Inhale, head up. Exhale, head down. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, Samasthiti to the knee. Ready to do it on the other side.

Inhale, arms up. Exhale, sweep the left arm under the right, and then bend the knees, cross the right leg over the left. So keep looking at one point, find the balance, no hurry, sit the hips down. For three, eyes focused. For two, one, control the exit. Lift the right knee into the chest and then take it back, Warrior Three with Garuda arms. Keep looking at one point. For three. For two, one. Let's exit slowly. Bend the left knee in slow motion, coming to high lunge. So raise the arms up once and then release. Inhale, the arms up, look up. Take a breath, sit low, stand up fully. Back leg at a 45-degree angle. For three, Trikonasana, a lateral bend. Inhale, arms open. Exhale, imagine you're being pulled by the left hand laterally, so keep reaching, reaching wherever you can reach, maybe you can hold on to the big toe. So don't make this a forward bend. So our variation is to take the right hand behind, hold the left hand, turn to look past the right shoulder. Keep the activation in the legs, keep breathing. Now look at the flow. Extend the front knee, take the left hand forward. Inhale, exhale back, reverse warrior. You want to keep the back leg firmly engaged, hip down. For three. For two, navel into spine. One more breath, and then slowly, Virabhadrasana II. Open the hands front and back, look at the left middle finger. For three, hip down. For two, navel into spine. One more breath. Sit low and then cartwheel your hands down. Inhale, step back, plank. Exhale, Chaturanga, or do the option. Inhale to Urdhva Mukha. Exhale to Adho Mukha. Take a moment to be still, listen to the inner body, absolutely no hurry.

So take a deep inhale in through the chest. Exhale, bend the knees, look forward. We're going to jump to yogic squat, so when you inhale, take a hop, landing softly in Malasana, yogic squat, hands in Pranam. Send your upper arms inside of the knees, lift your chest proudly, and hold here for five, four, three, two, one. Now, maybe without using the hands, sit down, of course, if you need to use the hands, please do. And now coming straight away to Navasana, half-boat position. Keep the knees bent for the first one, gaze to the toes. So this is all core, pull the navel into spine, and let's hang out here for five, four, three, eyes focused, back straight, to one.

Now transition to Malasana again, maybe without using the hands. So just lift up, and then you can try to balance on the balls of the feet, lifting the heels high. Then sit the heels down, and then come to Navasana again. Maybe you can try to straighten the knees, lift the chest up, gaze to the toes. For five, four, navel in, three, two, one. Here we go, keep the feet down. Maybe without hands, coming back to Malasana, and then lift the heels up in this precarious balance, and then set the heels down. This is the last time, come back to Navasana. And now for the final variation, you can try to extend the arms along the ears. For five, four, steady the mind, three, two, one. Set the heels down. Lift up one last time.

So now we're going to stay here to try our first arm balance, Bakasana. So I'm going to show you two versions, one is easier, and then we'll try to take it up a notch. The first one is Kakasana, the crow pose. Spread the fingers, place it in front of the legs. Don't lose contact with your knee and your upper arm, keep it as high up as possible, and press the inner knees to the upper arms. Then lift your hip up and begin to lean forward. Your gaze is here, a little forward, don't look down, eyes a little forward there. So lift up and then start to lean the weight forward towards the hands, away from the legs. Keep the navel pulled in. Then you can try to raise one leg up for five counts, keep it down, other leg up for five counts, keep it down. So there is no jumping here, you're just leaning forward and the leg is going to come up on its own without you kicking. If you kick too much, you might tip it over. Okay, so be careful. Let's give it another try. Inhale up and then lean forward, maybe one leg up and the other leg just flies up, and we hold Kakasana. Eyes a little forward. Deep breathing. For three, for two, one. Wonderful, release. So that's going to take some time to understand properly.

Now to take it one step further, if that's comfortable for you. Then we're going to start with the knees together, feet together, and you're going to spread the fingers, place it forward like this. Lift the hips up and bring the knees high up into the armpits. Okay, bring the elbows towards each other, keep the gaze forward. Inhale, lift your heels, lean forward, pull the navel in, and maybe lift up slowly to our Bakasana position. For three, for two, and you can even try to jump back to Chaturanga. Inhale to Urdhva Mukha. Exhale to Adho Mukha. So good, take a moment here. Deep inhale in, slow exhale out.

Now bend the knees, look forward. Inhale, jump and cross the legs, sit down, softly extend the legs forward, hands forward. Inhale. Exhale slowly, lie down, one bone at a time. Rest the head down. So bend and hold the knees to the body. Stay here for a few seconds.

We're just going to quickly do a few core exercises here on the floor. So raise the legs 90 degrees, place the hands underneath your seat. Deep inhale in. Exhale, lift your head and chest up, point the feet. Inhale. Exhale, lower down as much as you can with the lower back down. Inhale, take it up. Exhale, down. Inhale, exhale. Inhale up, exhale down. Three more times. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Last one, inhale up, exhale down, and just hold this position for three. For two, one. Inhale up and rest your head down. Hold the knees for a few moments. Relax.

So we're going to add on from here. Take an inhale. Exhale, lift your head up to the knees. On your inhalation, just extend the hands back, legs forward, let it hover, and then hug the knees back into the chest. If you need to, you can place the hands here and do the same thing with the hands here, otherwise hold and then extend out. Exhale, take it in. Inhale, out. Exhale, take it in for five, and in, four and in, three and in, keep breathing, two and in, last one, if you're out, try to hold for three, two, one. Take it in and release. Okay, that is definitely challenging, so just progress your way step by step, no hurry, take your time. You want to get the method correct.

Okay, now extend the legs 90 degrees, come up, hands up, and just start to reach for opposite small toes. Just keep reaching, reaching, keep tapping, try to keep the shoulders off the ground. For five and change, four and change, three and change, two and change, last one, and relax. Bend and hold the knees. Take a moment, we're almost done, we're just going to do two more exercises.

Okay, now from here, interlock the fingers behind the head, lift your head up, extend the legs 90. Bend the left knee towards the body and right leg out, twist, try to bring the right elbow towards the left knee. Back to center and change. Back to center and change. Center, change, center, change. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, for three, four, two, center, change. Last one, left knee in, center, right knee in, back to center and relax. Okay, you're definitely going to feel that burning sensation.

Last exercise. Legs 90, open the legs out to a V position, take the hands back. Inhale, exhale, come forward. Inhale back, exhale, come forward. Inhale back, exhale forward. Back and forward, back and forward. Two more times, back and forward, back and forward, and just hold it there for three, for two, one. Bring it back, rest your head down.

Set the feet down and let's just open the arms shoulder level for a moment. We're going to do bridge with the hands out to the side. Press into the hands, toes pointing forward. Inhale, lift up through the hips and the chest, come up as high as you can. Keep the legs engaged. For three. For two, let's just hold for a few more breaths. For three. For two, one, slowly down. Bring the knees into the body. Last time, drop the knees to the right, twist, look to the left hand, releasing the spine. Back to center. Exhale, over to the other side, look to the right. Back to center. Hold the knees.

Now try to use the core muscles to rock up to sit without your feet touching down. Then, first two fingers hold on to the big toes. Inhale, try to extend it out with the spine straight, gaze to the toes, you can also be here if you're not able to straighten the knees. For five, four, three, two, and then you can try to rock back towards Halasana position, rounding the spine. Release the hands down, Halasana. Hold the hips, come straight up to Sarvangasana for a moment, take five breaths, breathe slowly, deeply. You can stay here for longer if you like. Otherwise, start to bring the legs back towards Halasana, releasing the hands, and roll the spine down one bone at a time, coming to Matsyasana. On the forearms, arch your back and chest for a few seconds. Close your eyes. And release down.

If you need to, bend and hold the knees one last time into the chest, and then you can come to your final resting position, Shavasana. If you need to do anything else, take another twist, please feel free to do so. Otherwise rest up, stay here for as long as you need. Thank you all for joining, and please be patient, eventually, as you keep practicing what we have done, you will start to feel stronger, not only in your body but also in your mind.