Episode 4 — Settling Into Stillness

Namaste, welcome to Yoga & You, I am Rasika Sampath. Welcome to the last episode of our series Moving Into Stillness, where we have looked at some seated postures for meditation. We end the class with a guided meditation, with a seated meditation.

Today, we are going to focus on getting into Padmasana, or Lotus Pose, which is a very, very elusive posture for many people — also a very challenging posture. So even after years of practice, a lot of people find it very difficult to get into Padmasana. I have to warn you that if you are doing this class, you may very well do this practice in order to strengthen and stabilize all the muscles and joints that are required to get into Padmasana. But if you find any sort of pain or discomfort, especially in the knees or the hips, while getting into the final Padmasana for your seated meditation, please refrain from getting into Padmasana, and you can assume any other seated meditation posture that we have learnt previously. But you can very well practice this episode in order to strengthen all these muscles and get the stability that you require.

Okay, so we are going to start today's class in Frog Pose. You will need the long side of the mat — I would advise you to roll up the sides of the mat like so, in order for you to have a little cushioning under your knees. You can also spread out a blanket or something. Now take your knees apart, as wide as is comfortable for you. Your ankles will be directly below your knees, and your toes will be rolled out to both sides. From here you want to try to bring the forearms down, so keep spreading the knees apart as much as you can, trying to bring the groin to the mat. Your hips will remain in line with your knees, and you are not moving forward. We will stay here and breathe for five — this is a great place to set your intention for your practice, keep your focus on your breath. Three, two, and one. Slowly you can come up onto your palms, bring the feet together, and then bring the knees together. Roll the mat out.

Now we will come into tabletop, hands and knees, for three rounds of cat and cow stretch. Inhale, arch the back, look up. Exhale, rounding the spine, tuck the chin to the chest. Inhale and arch, exhale and round — so great to articulate the spine. Inhale and arch, exhale and round. Inhale, come to a neutral spine. Exhale, tuck your toes and find your first downward dog. As always, you may keep a bend in the knee required. Finish your exhalation.

Inhale and lift the right leg up to the sky. Exhale, bend the knee and open the hips, stacking the right hip over the left. Now from here you can begin to circle the knee, just moving into the joints a little, promoting synovial fluid in the joints before we start to work a little more deeply into the posture. All right, now from here bring your right ankle onto the left knee into a figure-of-four position. Push the right knee away from you and drop your left knee down to the mat — we've done this similar position in the first class, so if you practiced that with me you know what we're doing. Inhale and arch your back into a cow, exhale and round your spine. Two more times like this — inhale, arch, exhale and round. First one, inhale arch, exhale round. Inhale, find a neutral back, tuck your toes, exhale, come back into your downward facing dog. Take a big breath in, big breath out.

Over to the other side — inhale, lift the left leg up. Exhale, bend the knee, open the hip, stacking the left hip over the right this time, and from here start to take circles with your knees — nice big circles, as big a circle as you can, moving into the hip joint here. Good, now bring your left ankle over the right knee, getting into this figure-of-four position, and exhale, drop your right knee down. Inhale, arch the back, exhale round. Inhale arch, exhale round. Inhale arch, exhale round. Inhale, find a neutral back, tuck your toes, exhale, come back to downward facing dog.

Take a big breath in, big breath out. Inhale, shift forward to plank. Exhale, all the way down with control to your belly. Cobra, Bhujangasana, three times — press through the tops of your feet, engage your glutes, and inhale lift, exhale down. Inhale lift, exhale down. Last one, inhale lift, exhale down. Now hands by the side of your body, palms down, prepare for Shalabhasana. Inhale, lift — head up, chest up, hands up, legs up. Three, two, one, exhale down. Hands by the side of your chest, tuck your toes, engage the core, and try to press up to plank. Exhale to downward facing dog. Take a big breath in, big breath out.

Now inhale and step your right leg to the outside of your right hand. As I've mentioned before in the previous classes, if your leg reaches somewhere here, use the same hand to bring the leg forward. From here, if you're comfortable, you can drop down to your forearms — you can also use blocks under your forearms if you can't come all the way down. Lizard lunge — we'll stay here for five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, lift up onto your palms, drop the back knee down, and heel-toe the right foot towards the left side for your pigeon pose, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. Drop the shin down, drop the hips down. Keep your spine upright, and we'll stay here for five, four, three, two, one. Good. Hands forward, lift the hips up, and send the right leg all the way back. Exhale, downward dog. Big breath in, big breath out.

Inhale, step the left leg now to the outside of your left hand. Drop your forearms down for lizard lunge — keep the hips squared so you don't sink over towards the right side. Five, four, three, two, and one, lovely. Come up onto your palms, drop the back knee down, and heel-toe the left foot towards the right side. Drop the shin down, try to get it as parallel to the top of your mat as you can, slide the hips down as well. Sit upright for five — breathe — four, feel it in the outer hips, three, two, and one, lovely. Hands down, press your hips up and back into a three-legged dog, lifting the left leg up. Exhale, leg down, downward facing dog. Big breath out. Good.

Now inhale and step the right leg in between your hands, coming into a runner's lunge. Now from here, listen carefully — you're going to extend your right hand forward, and as you exhale, you're going to use your core to bring the left knee into your chest, and then you're going to extend it back. We'll do this three times, and on the fourth time we'll slide that left leg forward. Okay, let's go — so inhale here, as you exhale bring the left knee to your chest, crunch in. Inhale, extend the left leg back. Exhale, use your core, knee to chest. Inhale, exhale, knee to chest — this time slide that left leg through and sit on your tush. You can get back onto your mat, and now take your right knee out into Janu Sirsasana position, the sole of your right foot against the left inner thigh. Inhale, lift your hands up, lengthen the spine. Exhale, as you fall forward, reach for the farthest part of your leg and bring your chin towards your shin. Breathing here for five, four, three, two, one. Inhale, lift the spine up, lift your hands up. Exhale and release your hands. Get back into downward dog, and we'll do the same on the other side.

Take a big breath in, big breath out, ready for the other side. Step your left leg forward between your hands, extend the left hand in front of you, engaging the core — pull the right knee into your chest. Three times — inhale, exhale, knee to chest, one. Take it back. Inhale, exhale, knee to chest, two. Inhale, exhale, knee to chest for three — this time slide that leg through and sit. It might be a little challenging to do that — you can use blocks under your hands, it'll give you a little bit of a lift. Take the left knee out, so the sole of your left foot is against the right thigh. Inhale, lengthen your spine up, lift your hands. Exhale, reach for the farthest part of your right leg, fold your chin over your shin, and stay here for five, four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift your hands up. Exhale and release your hands.

Okay, now we're going to lie down and practice some hip-opening postures which are very important for our Padmasana posture. So lie down on your back. Now bend that left knee, placing the foot down, cross your right ankle over the left knee into this figure-of-four position — we're going to do Threading the Needle, level one. Pull the left knee into your chest and thread your right hand through your legs, left hand from outside, and hold the back of your left thigh. From here, pull the left knee in towards your face even as you push your right knee away from you, using that right elbow — you can push it away from you — and stay here for five, four, three, two, one. Now extend that left leg all the way up, Threading the Needle two — hold the back of your calf or your ankle and pull the leg in closer to your face as you drive the right knee away from you. Keep the lower back down on the mat. Now four, three, two, and one, good.

Now you're going to extend that left leg all the way down, bring the right leg into Padmasana position, so you'll bring that right heel to your left lower belly — okay, and see how that feels. Drop that right knee down towards the mat, keep holding that right foot with your left hand, and stay here for five. If this is not comfortable, if you're having pain in your knees, go back to figure-of-four position. Two, and one. Now from here try to sit up, continuing to be in this Padmasana position — again, know that if this is not accessible you can take this position as well, if you're having any pain in your knees or if your hips are really stiff.

Now, if you can comfortably bring your heel to the lower belly on the left side, we'll get into a forward fold, Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana. If you're comfortable with this posture you can take the bind, so you can take your right hand, swing it around, and hold your right foot or your right ankle with it. If not, lift both your hands up and exhale, fold over your left leg, staying here for five, four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift the head up, lift all the way up, release the bind if you have one, and we'll take a last twist before we move to the other side — okay, Bharadvajasana. What you're going to do is bend that left leg into what we call Sarayanga Mukha, so it's basically similar to Virasana, which we practiced in the previous class. So you'll take the heel by the side of your hip, toes pointing back, your right leg continues to remain in Padmasana position. Take your left hand to the outside of your right knee, your right hand behind you, and twist over your right shoulder for five, four, three — use the breath to twist deeper — two, and one, good. Come forward, release the twist, release both your legs forward.

And once more, lie down on your back to repeat the same on the other side. So you can cross the left ankle over the right knee, pull the right knee in towards your chest, hug the back of your right thigh, use your left elbow to push the left knee away from you, and breathe for five, four, three, two, one. Threading the needle two — lift the right leg up and hold the back of your calf, five, four, three, two, and one, good. Now slide that right heel up towards the right lower belly, drop the knee down, hold the left foot with your right hand, and stay for five, four, three, two, and one.

Slowly get up, continuing to be in this position — we'll take our Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana, whatever you did on the other side, if you've taken the bind, do so. Inhale, lift your hands up, and exhale, fold over your right leg. Stay for five, four, three, two, and one. Inhale lift, exhale release, and take your right leg behind, even trying to point it back, coming into the Bharadvajasana twist. Your right hand goes to the outside of your left knee, left hand behind you, and twist over your left shoulder. Breathe here for five, four, three, two, one, good. Untwist.

And now we will prepare for Padmasana. Like I mentioned, Padmasana requires a lot of patience and perseverance — just like the lotus grows in muddy water, we need a lot of patience in order to let this posture bloom. Okay, so we will get into the posture straight away. You can use whichever leg is comfortable for you — I like to use my right leg first. So you'll bring the right leg like how we did for Ardha Padmasana, bring the right heel towards the left hip crease. Okay, so a lot of times I see people, in their earnestness to get into Padmasana, do a half-hearted Padmasana like this — this is not Padmasana, and this will ultimately end up hurting your joints. So you want to have the right position — if not, please avoid it, and you can stay in Ardha Padmasana or any other posture. Do this only if you're ready for it. Take your right heel to the left hip crease, without yanking the left foot up — gently just guide it with your hands — and bring the left heel as well to the right lower belly. This is your Padmasana position. It is called Padmasana also because your feet actually look like the petals of a lotus — okay, so that's how it should look. This is a very stable position to sit for a long period of time for your meditation practice. So, if this is comfortable for you, you can practice more and more with this until you become really comfortable sitting for a long period of time.

We'll get straight to our meditation now. If you're comfortable in Padmasana, stay; otherwise assume any other position. You can take your hands in Chin Mudra, index finger and thumb touching, both your hands on your knees. Close your eyes or find a soft gaze, straight spine — feel the energy of this posture. This is such a powerful posture; if you're sitting in Padmasana you'll feel it. What we're going to do in today's practice is take a body scan, so you're going to move your awareness all the way from the top of your head to the bottom, till your toes, becoming aware of any sensations along the way. Bring your awareness to the top of your head, all the way down your throat, moving the awareness to your shoulders, noticing any sensation here, all the way down your arms, till the tips of your fingers — become aware of any sensations that you feel along the way, but don't react to it. Moving it down to the chest, the back of your chest, the upper back, the shoulder blades, moving your awareness down to the belly, noticing any sensations there, to the lower back, the sacrum. Move the awareness down to your hips, the buttocks, moving down your legs through your thighs, the back of your thighs, your knees, shins, calves, ankles, all the way down to your toes, the arches of your feet and your heels. Now bring your awareness to the part where you feel the most sensation in your body, and just rest your awareness there for as long as you can without reacting to it. This practice helps build equanimity, non-reactivity — you may stay here in this meditative state for as long as you can. I will see you all in another episode on Yoga & You. Thank you so much for joining me on this four-part series of Moving Into Stillness.

Thank you.