Episode 4 — Air: Space & Lightness

Hi everyone, welcome back. Today's class is all about the air element, so we are going to be looking at the wonderful qualities that air has, like lightness, buoyancy, and its expansiveness. We are going to adapt that in our physical practice today. This is an intermediate level class, so if you are new to the practice, you can do it, but do it slowly — go at your own pace, go along to the flow of the breath, and don't forget to have fun. So if you are ready, so am I. Let's get started.

So we are going to get started in a tabletop position. Align the shoulders above the wrists, separate the knees about hip distance, and start by finding a connection with the earth, pressing the fingertips, knuckles, and heel of the hand into the mat. You can see my spine is parallel to the floor.

Keep the navel gently drawn in, and then slowly on your inhalation, lift the sitting bones up, lift the chest and chin up for the cow tilt. Then as you exhale, begin to round the spine from the tailbone, lower back, middle back, upper back, and take the head down. Yes, just keep going this way — inhale, slowly lifting through the center of the chest, push the floor away from you, chin up; exhale to round, pull the navel into the spine, chin down towards the chest. Keep going at your own pace: inhale, try to take the final position for the length of your inhalation, and then exhale, again really slowing down the movements, feeling what is happening in the body here. Keep going, inhale at your own pace, exhale, inhale, exhale — one more time, inhale.

Now just hold it at the inhalation, imagine you're drawing the heels of the hand back towards you, chest up, chin up, and then exhale to round. Let's just hold the round spine for a few moments, push the floor away from you, inhale, the navel in — for three, for two. Now come to a neutral spine.

Let's use the legs in the position — inhale, send the right leg back and up as you arch the spine, lift the chest up, chin up; exhale round, bring the knee to the head; inhale to lengthen, exhale, bring it in. One more time, inhale out, now just hold it there for a few seconds, use your back muscles to lift — for three, for two, one — round, bring the knee to head, push the floor away, navel in — for three, for two, one, release.

Same practice on the other side — inhale, extend out, lift; exhale, bring it in; inhale, exhale, inhale out. Make sure you're not tilting the hip to one side, everything is squared to the center — for three, for two, one — round, knee to head, hold here for three, two, one. Set the knee down, turn the fingers back to face the knees — you're welcome to take the fingers closer to the knees if you need to. Exhale, sit the hips back on the heels, so you're just feeling a nice stretch in the wrist and the forearm. Take a few moments to breathe into it — for three, for two, one.

Slowly come to Vajrasana. You can interlock the fingers like this, palms together, rotate the wrist five times one way, five times the other way, and then go ahead and shake out the wrist — no tension there, let it go — and come back to hands and knees.

So we're going to start by doing the dolphin position. You're going to come down, maybe elbows together at the same time, coming down onto the forearms. From here, press actively with the shoulders, push the floor away, widening the collarbones, and then you can gently arch your spine with your head up, so the spine is in the cow tilt like we did earlier. Staying here for a few moments, and then change — pull the navel in — and from here you can try to elevate the knees off the mat. If it's difficult for you to straighten the knees, you can always keep the knees bent and see how that feels. You're welcome to take a few steps forward to the hands if that's accessible for you today, feeling the strength in the shoulders, give a length to the spine, and let's just hold it for three — remember you can bend the knees — for two, one, good.

Now from here, maybe you can try to lift your elbows up at the same time into downward facing dog. Stay in downward dog for a few breaths, separate the knees hip width, gaze towards the toes — you can take a few pedals of the legs like this, otherwise just find stillness in your position. Now lift your heels up, bend the knees, and then exhale, straighten it back down; inhale, pick up the heels, bend; exhale, straighten it back down. One more time, bend and straighten — now keep it straightened, gaze to the feet. Let's just stay here for three, for two, one more breath.

Now look forward to the top of the mat. If your hamstring flexibility allows, you can walk on the balls of the feet to the hands, otherwise bend the knees and walk forward into Uttanasana with the feet separated about hip width. You can keep the fingers in front or hold wherever comfortable.

Inhale, lift through the center of the chest, look forward, imagine the spine is doing the cow tilt where you are arching the spine, chest up, chin up; exhale and fold deeper — you can bend the knees to bring the stomach to the thighs. Inhale — even when you are inhaling, give more priority to the spine, so for that reason you can bend the knees — lengthen, and then exhale, pull your stomach in and fold over the legs. One more time, inhale, look forward, lengthen, especially the lower back area, let it just open out, and then exhale, fold over the legs. Take a deep breath here, and release the hands with the rounded spine, slowly starting to make your way up to standing, feet together, into the Samasthiti position. Close your eyes, start to feel a sense of lightness in your body, just like air.

Close your eyes, we are just going to come right into it. This time, inhale, you can raise the hands up directly, gently arching through the spine; exhale, coming forward for the Uttanasana position, fold over the legs. Inhale, right leg back, knee down, head up — if you like, you can take the hands to the center and arch back, or you can even keep the hands on the thigh; lift the head up last, step back to plank. Let's inhale here, and then on your exhalation, knees down, chest, chin, Bhujangasana. Inhale, exhale to Adho Mukha, empty the lungs. Inhale, right leg forward, left knee down, you can add in a back arch here, open through the chest, then take the hands down; exhale, left leg joins, head down. Inhale, come up, slightly arch back; exhale, Samasthiti, left side. Inhale, hands up, reach back; exhale, fold forward from the hip, go down, bend the knees if you need to.

Inhale, left leg back, knee down, you are welcome to add an arch in the spine and then take the hands down; inhale to plank; exhale, knees, chest, chin, Bhujangasana; breathe in, exhale to downward facing dog, empty the lungs. Inhale, left leg forward, right knee down, open the chest; exhale, right leg joins, coming back to Uttanasana, head down. Inhale, hands up, slightly back; exhale, Samasthiti — let's do one more round. Inhale, hands up, reach back; exhale, fold forward from the hips, go down. Inhale, right leg back, knee down, you can arch back if you like, maybe you want to take the hands up this time; exhale, hands down, step back to plank; exhale again, knees, chest, chin, Bhujangasana; breathe in, exhale to downward facing dog.

Inhale, then stay in downward dog, raise the right leg straight up, bend the knee, bring it forward, come back to lunge. Inhale, hands up, you can slightly arch back; exhale, hands down, left leg forward, Uttanasana, head down. Inhale, hands up, slightly back; exhale to stillness, left side. Inhale, hands up, reach back; exhale, go down, head down. Inhale, left leg back, you can play with taking the hands up, arching back, open the chest; exhale, hands down. Inhale, plank; exhale, knees, chest, chin; inhale, Bhujangasana; exhale to Adho Mukha, empty the lungs.

Inhale, left leg up, three-legged dog, bring it forward; exhale; inhale, take position, Ashta Chandrasana, reach back; exhale, hands down, step the right leg forward, head down. Inhale, hands up, reach back; exhale to Samasthiti. Let's just take a few moments of stillness, sense the inner body, alive with energy, absolutely no hurry. Now you can open the eyes for half moon position.

You can be in the center of the mat, let's start with the legs slightly apart, we'll do two variations, so keep the legs very active, pull up on the knees, feel the strength in the leg muscles, especially the thighs. You're going to start by raising both hands up, inhale, hold the right wrist with the left hand and imagine you are being pulled from up, so you are straightening the arms, pull the navel into the spine. Take another inhale here, and then exhale, start to move the hips to the left and body laterally to the right, go as much as you can and hold here for three, both armpits forward, for two, one. Inhale, come up, and then exhale, just change the hand, hold the left wrist, reach up, keep the engagement in the legs going. Take another inhale, and then exhale, hips to the right, body to the left slowly, for three, strong legs, for two, one, inhale, come up and release the hands down.

Okay, if that was comfortable maybe you want to take it up a notch, so you're going to bring the feet together — lateral bends are so effective in opening the full spine, especially for back bending and even some core work. So inhale, raise the hands up, lock the fingers, release the index finger, thumbs crossed, inhale, reach up a little higher, and then exhale, hips to the left, body to the right, try to keep the elbows straight, for three, for two, one more breath, and then inhale to come up, exhale here. Inhale, reach up a little bit more, exhale, hips to the right, body to the left, keep reaching in the opposite direction, hold and breathe, for three, for two, eyes focused, one more breath, inhale, come up, exhale here. Now face the beginning of the mat and release the hands down.

Now we're going to work on our back arch, so now let's take Utkatasana position, inhale, half squat, hands up, instead of keeping this fine straight we're going to do a back arch, so lock and stretch, let the palms face the ceiling and start to open the chest, move the hips back and then shoulders back, straightening the elbows, you can bend the knees as much as you like. To take this one step further, look up to the hands and hold here, you can stay here or keep arching back, looking back for three, for two, one, you can try to straighten the knees, remain in the backward arch, you can keep going a little bit more, take a breath and then lift your head up last. Once again index fingers pointing up, cross at the thumbs, inhale, exhale, hinge at the hips and keep the head in line with the arms, go down.

Now we'll inhale to spine, pick up your heels from behind, Padahastasana, inhale, straighten the spine, look forward, create length, exhale, pull the navel in and take the head up. Please modify by bending the knees like this, for three, two, go down, very good, inhale, head up, place the hands down, you can jump back or walk back to plank, hold the plank for a moment, inhale, push the floor away from you, exhale, with or without knees lower all the way to the ground.

So now we're going to do the Sphinx posture, keep the elbows in front of the chest, push the floor away and then imagine you're dragging the elbows back to the body and lifting the chest up, chin up. You have to engage the legs, keep the feet together, press into the tops of the feet, so you feel the knees lifting off the mat, feel the glutes, the backs of the thighs, the calf muscle, everything is very active. Keep breathing here for three, open the chest, feel the expansiveness in the body for two and one.

Now from here, turn the left arm horizontally and bend your right knee, reach for the foot with the right hand from inside, and then as you exhale just hold it down, so you're feeling a stretch in the quadricep muscle, and it's up to you how deep you want to go — remember we're not feeling this on the knee, we're only feeling this in the thigh. So hold and stay here, you can look forward for three, for two, one, release. Now turn the right arm horizontally, bend the left knee, reach for the foot with the left hand, take an inhale, on your exhalation bring the foot closer to the body so you can feel the left thigh here. If you're not feeling anything, that's because the thigh is already open in this position, maybe you can just try to lift your knee off the mat and aim for the toes towards the ground, maybe then you might be feeling that sensation. Don't force it, be comfortable, and then let it go.

Now bring the head back to the ground, Bhujangasana without the use of the hands, so bring the feet together, activate the legs — if you have any lower back sensitivity then separate the feet apart, otherwise keep it together, hands beside the chest, forehead down, exhale, empty the lungs. Inhale, start to lift up with the chest and then start to look back or up or forward, hold and breathe here, don't use the hands, only the spine, and go down. Now separate the knees about hip distance and remember keep the legs super active, extend the hands back, forehead on the mat for a moment, press into the feet, inhale, lift the chest up, hands back, exhale down, inhale up, exhale down, inhale up, exhale down, two more, inhale, exhale, last one, inhale up and hold it and slowly down, turn the head to any one side, take a few seconds of rest.

Come back, come back to center for Locust pose, interlock the fingers behind you, lift your hands up off the body and then lift the legs and the chest up, holding and breathing here. You can separate the legs a little bit just to try to lift up higher but keep the knees straight, reaching out for three, for two, one, slowly go back down, turn the head to the other side for a few seconds, relax. Okay, full Shalabhasana with feet together, this time the hands stay alongside the body, so when you are ready, you are going to lift the legs up and chest up, hands stay on the ground, inhale up, lift up, hold and breathe for five, four, three, two, one, release, good. Keep the hands in Bhujangasana position, inhale, Bhujangasana, open the chest, exhale, just sit back in hands and knees.

So come forward, shoulders over the wrist, knees under the hip, now take a moment to find stillness, feel the connection with the ground, then extend the right leg back parallel to the mat and the left hand forward — I like to look at one point on the floor to keep my balance — for three, for two, one. Now calmly bend the knee and reach for the foot from behind with the left hand, so you can lift up a little higher here, lift the chest up, holding and breathing for three, for two, one again, open it out for a moment and then set it down. Okay, so let's try on the other side, left leg back, right hand forward, look at one point, keep the balance for three, for two, one, bend the knee, reach for the foot and then inhale, lift it up, keep looking at one single point, for three, for two, one, exiting with control, open the hands front and back, steady, and release.

So now we deserve a small break, let's separate the knees hip distance, feet together, sit the hips on the heels and take a wide-legged Balasana now, maybe the chest down or even forehead down, take a few breaths, relax, relax, and then let's make our way back to downward facing dog, gaze to the feet, empty the lungs, deep inhale in, full exhale out, one more time, inhale, exhale. Now instead of walking the feet to the hands, begin to walk the hands back towards the feet, separate the feet about hip width, allow the knees to bend here, interlock the fingers at the base of the spine and then open the shoulders out as much as you can, shift the weight a little towards the toes and hang out here for a few moments, for three, for two, one, and then use the hands to slowly come back up to standing. Inhale, raise the hands up, lock and stretch, palms face the ceiling, look at one point, try to lift your heels up and balance with the heels lifted, for three, if you lose the balance try again, for two, and slowly with control, heels down and hands down, very nice.

So come to the middle of the mat, we're going to practice Natarajasana, it's a very airy posture, lot of spaciousness in the body. So you're going to start like this, bend the right knee and hold the foot from the inside, the eye of the elbow is facing out, and then raise your left hand up — this is inhale — and then as you exhale, start to kick your foot into the hand and just start to lift up, keep looking at a single point, swim your left hand forward, slowly holding the balance, eye is focused, and when you're ready to come out, you want to exit with control, coming back to that position and release the hands down. So it requires a lot of focus, lot of concentration, if you lose the balance, try a few times on your own.

Let's do it on the other side, you're going to bend the left knee, hold the foot from the inside, inhale the hand up, the inhalation is like food for the posture, so take a deep inhale, exhale, kick into the hand and swim the right hand forward, keep lifting up through the leg and hold here, and then slowly with control, exit the position — so sometimes the exit has to be even slower than getting into the position, so do it carefully. We'll just do it one more time, I'll talk less now, focus more on the posture, inhale, take position with the right leg, hold, inhale, exhale, and then slowly reverse. One more time on this side, inhale, exhale, keep breathing and slowly reverse, release, wonderful.

So from here we're just going to come straight away to a squat, separate the feet hip distance, hands forward, inhale, exhale, pull the navel in, transition straight to Malasana, yogic squat. So from here you can jump back to plank or you can join me and do a transition to plank, so we're going to come to Bakasana, you can take your crow pose or crane pose and put the knees towards the armpits and then lift up, here we are, Bakasana position, hold, take a breath and then jump back, Chaturanga, inhale to Urdhva Mukha, exhale to Adho Mukha, empty the lungs, let it go, and then just bend the knees and stand on the knees, Ustrasana, camel pose.

Separate the knees about hip distance, hands on the back for support, take a deep inhale, finding the expansion in the front body, the shoulders moving back towards each other, and then as you exhale, just slowly start to reach back holding the heels together or one at a time, push the hips slightly more forward and drop the head back, look at one point behind you, eyes focused for five, the lungs, just feel the openness in the position, so try to take fuller, deep breaths for three, eyes focused, two, one more breath, and then to come out, hold your hip and lift the head up last. Okay, so exit slowly, let's take a moment in Vajrasana, knees together, close your eyes, take a moment to experience that position, it can be very intense, the body is not used to moving like that, so take a second, relax. If that was difficult for you, you can just repeat that one more time, otherwise we can move on.

Try one more variation, so separate the knees hip width for Kapotasana, hands in pranam at the center of the chest, inhale, feel the spaciousness created in the front body, you have to engage the leg muscles, so feel the strength in the legs here, then you can look back if it's okay and bring the pranam to the forehead. If this is okay, straighten the arms back, if you want to still go a little deeper, keep going and take the hands to the ground, wherever you can reach, pushing the floor away from you, deep steady breath, and then to come out the same way, hold the hip and release. Okay, head up last and sit in Vajrasana, eyes closed, so that's very intense, I'm just showing you progression, so as you keep doing these sequences regularly, you might find one day you will be able to attempt that, no hurry.

So now we're just going to do a counter pose, a very active Vajrasana, sit on the heels, raise the hands up, reach the index finger top, cross at the thumbs, take an inhale here, exhale, drop chin to chest and begin to round the spine and start to move forward, bring the head towards the knees and then let the fingers touch, so an active Vajrasana position for a few breaths. And then to come out of the Vajrasana, move your head up last, broad chest, and then exhale, release.

So take the legs forward and let's properly release the spine with a nice twist at the Matsyendrasana. Straighten the knees, bend the right knee into the chest, cross it over the left leg, lean to the left side, fold the left leg from underneath, okay, press into the right foot, spine straight, raise the left hand up, inhale, exhale. Option one, hug your knee, twist and look back, keep the chest broad. Option two, you can go a little deeper — cross the elbow, taking a mudra, and look back; or even more, you can try to hold on to the right ankle as you twist and look behind you, very light touch on the right hand, don't put your weight on the hand here. For three — eyes still, somewhere close to you on the floor — for two, one more breath, and then look forward and just do a counter twist to the other side for a moment, release this way and let it go.

Okay, so come back to straight legs, fold the left knee over the right and then fold the right leg in, inhale, right hand up, take any option you like, either hug the knee or cross it over, taking the mudra, or even reaching for the foot or the ankle, look over the left shoulder, steady, deep breathing, broad chest, keep looking at a single point for three, two, one, look forward, just do a counter twist for a moment, come back to center, straight in the legs, Paschimottanasana.

Keep your back straight, inhale, hands up, length in the spine, let's start by bending the knees, exhale, reach forward, bring the stomach to the thighs, no rounding the back here, only with the stomach to the thigh, you can start to kick the heel slightly forward, maintaining stomach to thigh contact, otherwise please keep the knees bent, you don't have to round the spine in the position — remember we are practicing an air element, so we want the space to be created in the body, no compression, feel the expansion through the full body, eyes focused, so three, two, one, inhale the arms up, exhale the arms down.

Baddha Konasana, soles of the feet together, come a little forward on your mat, separate the feet like a book and we are going to take a diamond shape actually, so measure about three hands distance from the heels to the pelvis, keep the hands on the ankles, inhale, lift the chest up, chin up, exhale, gently round your back, head down. One more time, inhale, lift the chest up, now keep it up, and then exhale, hinge at the hips and fold over the legs, go down as much as you can, no stress — five, four — steady the mind, relax the shoulders — three, two, one, slowly come up.

Supta Baddha Konasana, draw the heels closer to the body and then you can just lie down, either coming onto the elbows or straight away lying down, you can reach for opposite elbows above the head, so you want to go deeper, you have to take the heels closer to the pelvis. Okay, let gravity naturally open the shoulders and the hips for you, feeling a sense of lightness in the body, a sense of letting go, not just in the physical body but even mentally letting go of the past and not overthinking, worrying about the future which is not even here, focusing only on the here and now, the only moment that matters is now, so really enjoying ourselves in this moment.

Then you can bring the knees together, separate the knees, feet about hip width, and hands forward, let's take a bridge position, press into the feet, inhale, start to lift up from the chest, come up, pick any modification you like, hands forward or you can try to lock the hands, pressing into the feet, for three, for two and one, release. You can stay there longer if you like, otherwise you can start to come down.

Now there are two options, you can either do Sarvangasana, the shoulder stand, to cool down, or you can join me in Shirsasana, headstand. Cross the legs, roll over, come to Vajrasana, then you can come to the middle of the mat, so I am just going to walk you through this step by step. Reach for the opposite elbows and then interlock the fingers, creating a tripod shape, you can put the center of the head down — not the front, not the back, correctly the center of the head goes down — cradled by the hands, lift your knees up, just like how we did dolphin pose in the beginning. You can stay here for today, this itself is good enough, or just walk slightly more forward, bringing the hip above your shoulders — this is an inversion, the hip is above the shoulders — you can play with one knee into the chest, back, other knee into the chest and back, maybe bend one knee keeping that balance and then bend the other knee.

So from here you can start to lift up slowly, slowly keeping the balance, and then straighten the legs — obviously this takes some time and patience in order to understand, so you can stay in the first few steps that we practiced, otherwise keep building the core strength like we did in the fire class and then keep trying, it will happen one day with consistent practice. If you are in headstand, take a moment to be still, relax the breath, experiencing a more meditative aspect to this practice. When you are ready to come down, slowly reverse the steps, bending the knees, bring it back into the chest and land, straight away in balance, and then lift your head up, knees together here, and slowly make your way up.

Extend the legs forward, we are going to lie down, bend the knees, forward in hand, exhale nice and slow, roll the spine down, one vertebra at a time, then you can bend and hold the knees to the chest for a few seconds, roll a bit from side to side, massaging the edges of the spine, coming back through center and release the legs out.

Now you are coming to Shavasana, the final resting pose, again start to feel that the body is so light and it is being held so carefully and gently by the earth, so please stay here as long as you need to.

Thank you all for joining me today. Remember to practice consistently, and I hope to see you in my next class.