Moving Meditation

Namaste, welcome to Yoga & You. I'm Rasika Sampath. Today's practice will be a moving meditation. So in this gradually building flow class, we will practice a more intentional approach to your yoga practice, fusing asana, breathwork, and meditation in one practice. The intention for today's practice is to become more present using strong standing postures. So I'll see you on the mat.

We'll start our practice in Tadasana. Now before we get started, I just wanted to give you a little heads up: every time we practice a posture and introduce a new posture, we will hold that posture for five breaths, and we will count the breaths — inhale and exhale — so it will come up to a count of ten, all right? So that will be the breathwork as well as the meditative aspect of your practice, all right?

So we'll start off in Tadasana. Find your parallel feet, equal weight between both your feet, between all four corners of both your feet. Feel the energy lift up through your legs, squeezing the inner thighs towards each other, squeezing the glutes towards each other, draw the navel in towards your spine, knit the ribs in together, roll the shoulders back and down, hands by your side. Keep the chin slightly tucked in towards your chest — not fully, but just lightly — so the back of your neck is long.

If you are comfortable with Ujjayi breathing, you may constrict the muscles behind your throat to allow for the soft, ocean-like sound in your breath. If you are not familiar or not comfortable with Ujjayi breathing, feel free to take regular nostril breathing through the practice. So wherever you are, let's start off with a five count: inhale one, exhale two, inhale three, exhale four, inhale five, exhale four, inhale five, exhale six, inhale seven, exhale eight, inhale nine, exhale ten. Hopefully you already feel a little more present.

Inhale, sweep your arms up, lift the gaze up, exhale and fold forward, dive it down into Uttanasana. Now over here you can take a ragdoll position by holding opposite elbows — if you are finding an issue with your balance, take your feet slightly apart, hold opposite elbows, and just hang here, feeling the crown of your head moving towards the ground. You'll stay here again for five breaths: inhale one, exhale two, inhale two, exhale four, five, keep going, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Hands down, inhale find a flat back position, exhale fold all the way, bend your knees slightly, and inhale to rise all the way back up, reach your hands up, exhale Samasthiti. We keep repeating the previous sequence and then we include one posture in every sequence, okay? Let's go: inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale to a flat back, exhale and step the right leg back, spin the back heel down so your front heel is aligned with the back heel, bend that left knee and lift up. If you're comfortable here, lift your hands up for Warrior One; if you're still comfortable, you may bring your palms together and gaze up. Breathe in: inhale one, exhale two, keep your drishti steady gaze, three, exhale four, draw the navel in, inhale five, exhale six, inhale seven, exhale eight, nine, ten.

Slowly bring both your hands down, step the right leg forward, inhale to a flat back, exhale fold, inhale rise all the way up, exhale Samasthiti. We do the same on the other side: inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale step your left leg back, drop the heel down, inhale to heel alignment, bend the right knee, lift your hands up. Inhale one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Slowly bring both your hands down, square your hips, step your right leg back. If you're comfortable with vinyasa, you can take one — knees down, chest and chin down, inhale Bhujangasana, exhale Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward dog. Draw the heels down, lift the sitting bones up, and let's stay here and breathe: one, two, inhale three, exhale four, inhale three, exhale four, five, six, seven, eight, keep your gaze steady in between your feet, nine, ten.

Inhale and step both your legs forward, come into a flat back, exhale forward, inhale rise all the way up to standing, exhale Samasthiti. So after we finish one side of each sequence, we will take a vinyasa to clean the slate. Let's keep going: inhale arms up, exhale fold, immerse yourself in your breath, inhale for a flat back, exhale and step the right leg back, spin the back knee down, rise up for Warrior One. Inhale, exhale, open your arms out wide for Warrior Two, Virabhadrasana B, gaze at your left middle finger: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Good, exhale slowly, bring both your hands down, step your right leg forward, inhale flat back, exhale fold, inhale rise all the way up, exhale Samasthiti. Other side: inhale and exhale, inhale flat back, exhale step the left leg back, back heel down, inhale rise up for Warrior One, exhale open arms out wide for Warrior Two, smile through the collarbone, bend the right knee, nice and low, gaze in front of your right middle finger: two, inhale two, exhale four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Exhale, bring both your hands down, square the hips, step the right leg back, take your vinyasa of choice — you can take Chaturanga or knees, chest, chin — inhale up dog, exhale down dog. Inhale and step both your legs to the front of your mat, flat back, exhale fold, inhale rise all the way up for standing, exhale Samasthiti.

Let's keep going: inhale arms out, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale step the right leg back, inhale Warrior One, exhale Warrior Two, inhale straighten your left leg as you extend through the left hand, exhale bring your left hand onto the left ankle, Trikonasana, right hand goes straight up, gaze up at your right fingers: one, exhale two, inhale three, exhale four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Look down, bend that left knee as you bring both your hands down, step the right leg forward, inhale flat back, exhale fold, inhale rise up, exhale Samasthiti.

Other side: inhale arms out, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale left leg back, spin the heel down, inhale Warrior One, Virabhadrasana, exhale Virabhadrasana, inhale straighten the right leg, extend through the right hand, exhale right hand to right ankle, left hand straight up, look at your left fingers, steady gaze: two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Look down, bend the right knee as you bring both your hands down, step your right leg back, take your vinyasa — if you're not comfortable with vinyasa, you can go straight to downward dog, meet me in downward dog. Inhale step your legs forward, flat back, exhale fold, inhale rise up, exhale Samasthiti.

Let's keep going: inhale Samasthiti, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale right leg back, inhale Warrior One, exhale Warrior Two, inhale straighten the left leg, extend, exhale Trikonasana, inhale come up, exhale square the hips and bring the right knee into your chest. Now you can stay right here, or if it's in your practice you can take Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, grabbing your big toe with the first two fingers of your right hand, left hand on your waist, and extend the right leg forward. One, two, gaze at the tip of your nose, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Good, release, bring your right leg down.

Inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale left leg back, inhale Warrior One, exhale Warrior Two, inhale straighten the right leg, extend through the right hand, exhale Trikonasana, inhale come back up, face the front of your mat, exhale bring your left knee into your chest. Either stay here, or if you did it on the other side, take Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Good, slowly release the left leg.

And we'll continue — one last sequence: inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale right leg back, inhale Warrior One, exhale Warrior Two, inhale straighten the left leg, exhale Trikonasana, inhale come back up, face the front of your mat, exhale knee to your chest. Now from here you can take your left hand to the outside of your right knee and take your right hand all the way back, try and follow the gaze and look at your right fingers: one, two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, ten. Slowly release, come back to center, right leg down.

Last side: inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale left leg back, inhale Warrior One, exhale Warrior Two, inhale straighten the right leg, exhale Trikonasana, inhale come up, face the front of your mat, exhale left knee to your chest, take your right hand to the outside of your left knee — you can either do the same thing that you did on the other side, or you can extend the left leg: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Beautiful, bend the left knee, then straighten it, release the left leg.

We'll take one final vinyasa just to clean the slate, and then we'll cool it down. Inhale arms up, exhale fold, inhale flat back, exhale and step your legs back, let's take a vinyasa of choice — Chaturanga or knees, chest, chin — inhale Bhujangasana or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, exhale Adho Mukha Svanasana. Take a big breath in, open up to the side of your mat, drop your knees down, and lie down on your back.

Cross your right ankle over your left knee, coming into a figure-of-four position, and thread the needle — loop your hands through and hold the back of your left leg. Pull the left knee into your chest as you use the right elbow to push the right knee away, opening into the right hip. Stay here and just focus on your breath. Now gently release the left foot onto the mat, but continue to have the figure-of-four position, and take both your knees over to the right, open your arms into a T, gaze over your left shoulder.

It's a nice little twist here — use your right foot to press down into the left knee, so you feel the stretch more along the IT band and the glute and the lower back on the left side. Focus on the tailbone forward and down, so you're intensifying the stretch. Slowly come back up, release the right leg.

Switch sides: right ankle over the left knee, pull the right knee in, thread the needle, and hold behind your right thigh. Use your left elbow to press the left knee away from you as you pull the right knee closer, and breathe. Slowly, just drop the right foot onto the mat and take both your knees to the left, open your arms into a T, gaze over your right shoulder.

Use your left foot to press down into the right knee and scoop the tailbone forward and down — you feel a lovely stretch. Stay with it and breathe, try to stay completely intuitive with your body, stay in this presence that you create through your practice. Slowly come back up, release the left leg.

And you may release both your legs and find your way into Shavasana. Allow the feet to just drop open, and your hands by your side away from your body, palms facing up. Rest the back of your skull down and allow the entire back body to just be drawn towards the floor.

Feel free to stay here in Shavasana for as long as you'd like to. Thank you so much for joining me today — your asana practice has great meditative power as well, and if you'd like to continue with the meditation practice after this, feel free to. I hope you feel more centered, more present after today's practice.