YOGA SEQUENCE INSTRUCTIONS

given by Rateesh
in the Yoga Makes a Difference TT class film
Lets lay down on our back in Shavasana
Allow to keep the feet wider than our hips
Palms wider than the shoulders
Keep the head and neck straight
Lets close our eyes so we can focus to relax
Toes fall out to the sides
Palms are soft
And just breathe normally
-Ask the mind to be present
Into your relaxing body
--While we lay down, just mentally scan our body, our
self,
And if we find any tension holding areas,
Consciously let go,
And relax
--Without paying any particular attention to anything,
Allowing the body to relax towards the mat
--[He is quiet for about one minute]
And slowly, begin to bring our awareness back
Become aware of the body through the toes, through
the fingers
And through the breath
Waking up from relaxation
--And move your fingers and toes
Slowly bring the legs together
Reach the arms up over the head
Interlace your fingers
Just have a nice stretch on the spine
--Exhale bend the knees towards the chest
Release the hands towards the knees
And turn over to the right side
Release the right hand and place the right arm as a
pillow under your ear
Again, just feel our body weight, the relaxing,
On the next inhalation, press the left hand on the
floor and come towards the seated pose
Sit with any comfortable sitting position,
either in Sukhasana, cross-legged, or sit between
the heels or on the heels
Lets relax the back of the hands on the knees
Connect the index and thumb finger
Rest of the palm stay soft
And sit straight
Well start with the conscious breathing
Or breathing that helps us to find the length of the
inhalations and exhalations
While we sit there,
Slightly move forward with the upper body

And also, move backwards

To find the center of our sitbone
Which helps us to sit relaxed but straight and steady
Once we find the center of the sitting bone,
Reach out through the crown of our head
So we find the strength and the length in the mid
parts of the body
And let the awareness be inside
Close the eyes
--Just begin to
Understand where we want to direct our breath, or
From where we want to fill our breath
So well just go through these five specific spots in
the body
We focus on when we inhale and exhale
Along the spine
So first, the point behind the pubic bone
The bone that we find at the end of our belly
Behind the pubic bone, thats where we want to
focus
First, become aware of that area
--And we move our awareness into the roots of the
navel
Inside of the body, close to the spine
--And third one is behind the solar plexus, inside
--Fourth one, right between in the center of the chest,
inside
--And the fifth, all the way into the roots of our throat
--So those are the five points that we want to fill
through the inhalation
And empty through the exhalation
So lets say, if we didnt get to breathe through all
that five deep breath
Well just stay with the three or four, so we dont
force our breath into it
So before we begin the breathing exercise,
Just empty the breath completely
Finish the exhalation
Empty the diaphragm
Empty the lungs
--Then, we breathe from the first point, the bottom of
the belly:
Inhale to the back of the pubic bone, One
Two, navel
Three, solar plexus
Four, back of the chest
Five, all the way to the throat
--Exhale, start to empty from the lower point, One,
two, three, four, five
Find a gap
---

Inhale again from the pubic bone, navel, solar

plexus, back of the chest, all the way to the roots of
the throat
Exhale: pubic bone, roots of the navel, back of the
solar plexus, behind the chest, all the way to the
throat
Inhale, one, two, three, four, five
Exhale, one, two, three, four, five
Inhale, one, two, three, four, five
Exhale, one, two, three, four, five
Inhale, one, two, three, four, five
Exhale, one, two, three, four, five
Two more rounds, on your own
--At any time during the asana practise,
The most important for us is to maintain the
breathing
In case you find something too challenging
Or if you get out of balance,
You could easily sit down in this pose or even child
pose, or in Shavasana
But continue to practise the breathing
Yoga is a breathing exercise
When you breathe properly, youre still receiving
that focus in the body
When your exhale next time,
Well finish our breathing exercise from the sitting
pose
And slowly, open your eyes
Release the hands
And make your way up to a stand up position, into
Samastitihi
Stand just behind the front line of the mat
In Samastitihi or Tadasana
Stretch your arms alongside the body, fingers
straight
Well just go through Samastitihi
From the roots of our feet to the crown of our head
Become aware of the shape of our foot
And move the body weight a little in front of the
heels
Strengthen the inner angle of our feet
Also, strengthen the roots of the big toes down
Strengthen the outer heels
And spread wide through our little toes
Soften your knees
And strenghten the thighs
Bring the pubic bone [=middle front of the hip
bones] parallell towards the tailbone [the last
vertebra on the spine, the tail]
Lift the chest away from the navel
Also, lift the area between the shoulderblades away
from the sitbones
So the body is evenly lengthening
Release the shoulders slightly back
And strengthen the inner upper arms towards the
torso
And stretch your middle fingers all the way down
towards your ankles

Keep the crown of the head straight

Facing towards the sky, and parallell
And make that movement very memorable
In our body internally and externally
We are trying to practise this sense of awareness
Throughout the asanas
And just bring the hands into prayer position, bend
the elbows
Look towards the tip of your fingers
Well chant one round of Ohm together
[inhaling]
Ooooohhhmm [long, all together]
Sahana vavatu [call and response, students sing
after]
Sahanau bonaktu
Saha viir-yam
Karavaa wahei
Te djus winah [high tone on te]
Atii dhamastuu [low tone on stu]
Maaviid
Vishaa wahe-ii [wahe-ii in a trembling tone]
Hare gi-ohm
Bow down to our own hands
--Release the hands down
And come back to a straight position
Well start with the Surya Namaskara
Inhale deeply
Exhale bring the hands in prayer position, press the
palms
Inhale, lift the arms up over your head
Keep lifting the heart and put a gentle arch on the
back
While we press the feet down
Exhale, extend forward from the hips
Slightly bend the knees on the way down
Place the hands on the floor next to the feet, release
the crown of the head down
Inhale, stretch the right leg back
Drop the right knee, point the right toes
Lift the heart
Maintain the palms and the fingertips on the floor
Retain the breath
Curl the right toes under
Step the left leg back
Feet together
A straight position, a plank position
Exhale, drop the knees, chest, chin down on the floor
Keep the sitbone floating upwards
Stay on the toes
Inhale, lean forward
Lift up
Arch back to a baby cobra

Exhale, curl the toes under

Lift the hips up
And press back to the heels
With the feet together

Inhale deeply
Exhale, prayer position
Inhale, arms UP over the head, ARCH back

Inhale, step the right leg forward between the hands

Drop the left knee
Point the left toes
Lift the heart up
Exhale, other leg forward
Feet together
Head down
Inhale, turn up the pose by bending the knees, bring
the arms forward
And lift the spine, come aall the way up
Begin to find the strenght of the spine and put a
gentle arch
Exhale, hands to the side

Exhale, EXTEND forward, keep the navel in, relax the

hands onto the ground, head down
Inhale, step the right leg back, drop the right knee,
point the right toes, head up
Retain the breath, other leg back
Find the body weight on the hands and feet equally
Exhale, drop the knees, chest, chin down on the floor
Inhale, slide forward, the belly comes on the floor,
lift up, arch back
Exhale, press back to the heels
Into an inverted V pose

Inhale deeply
Exhale, prayer position, soften the knees
Inhale, reach the arms UP over the head and arch,
lift
Exhale, extend forward, slow down the movement
with the breath
Place the hands on the floor, head down
Inhale, stretch the left leg back
Drop the left knee, point the left toes
Press the hips down, lift the heart up
Look towards the ceiling without arching the neck

Inhale, step the right leg forward

Drop the left knee, point the left toes, head up
Exhale, other leg forward, feet together, head down,
relax the crown of the head
Inhale, activate the arms, activate thighs, stretch
forward, come all the way up
Lift the heart and arch back
Exhale, hands to the side
Inhale deeply

Retain the breath, step the other leg back

Exhale, prayer position

Exhale, drop the knees, chest, chin down on the floor

Inhale, arms up, arch back

Inhale, lean forward, lift up, arch back, keep the inner
thighs together, inner toes together

Exhale, extend and fall forward, hands flat on the

floor, head down

Exhale, curl the toes under, lift the hips and press
back to the heels

Inhale, stretch the left leg back

Hips down, chest up, shoulders back, look up

Inhale, step the left foot forward

Drop the right knee, point the right toes
Square the hips, look up

Retain the breath, other leg back

Exhale, other leg forward

Feet together, inner thighs close, release the crown
of the head down

Inhale, cobra

Inhale, turn up the pose

Hands and the knees come forward
Come aaall the way up, LIFT and open up the heart

Inhale, step the left leg forward

Drop the right knee, point the right toes, heart up

Exhale, hands on the side

Exhale, drop the knees, chest, chin down on the floor

Exhale and press back to the heels

Exhale, other leg forward, feet together and head

down

Inheale, REACH the arms forward by the ears, start

to lift up the heart,
And find the arch from the very very upper parts of
our back
Exhale, hands to the side
Inhale DEEPLY
Exhale, prayer position
Inhale, arms up over the head, arch
Exhale, EXTEND and fall forward
Inhale, right leg back
Retain the breath, other leg back
Exhale, drop the knees, chest, chin down on the floor
Inhale, cobra
Exhale, back to inverted V pose
Inhale, right leg forward
Exhale, left leg forward
Inhale, come aaall the way up and arch back, lift the
heart, extend the arms
Exhale, hands to the side
Inhale
Exhale, prayer position
Inhale
Exhale
Inhale, left leg back
Retain the breath, other leg back
Exhale, drop
Inhale, cobra
Exhale, back to inverted V pose
Inhale, step the left leg forward, drop the right knee,
head up
Exhale, other leg forward, feet together and head
down
Inhale, reach the arms up, start to stretch up, stretch
the navel up and also draw it in
Exhale, hands to the sides
Well do two rounds with the mantra
Inhale deeply
Ohm bur buva swaha
Tat savitur vare-nyam
Bargo deva syati-mahi
Diyoyo naha pracho taya
[3 times for each side of the sun salutation,
or 6 times for the whole sun salutation.
We do two sun salutations here which means 12
times]
Stand up tall
Be aware of our heart, our breath, feet
Standing asanas
Start with the Virabadrasana A on the right side
[note: in our version we start with Vrikshasana, the
Tree Pose]
Step the left leg back, one leg length
Bring the hands on your hips
Square the hips, bend the right knee, parallell
towards the mat

Lift your arms up over the head

Press the arms either in the air towards the center,
or bring the hands close towards each other
Send your gaze over your nostrils
And BREATHE
--Inhale all the way down towards the hips
Exhale, lengthen the chest up, lower the sitbone
down
One more breath, inhale deeeply
Exhale, empty the breath, finish the exhalation
And last inbreath
Exhale, empty the breath, release the hands out into
the side
Turn the back hips toward the back heel
Widen the legs if you need
Reach the hands
And keep the hands on the side of the shoulders
Look towards the front hand
[Virabadrasana B]
--Stay with the breath
Intensify the pose according to our ability
Bring the right ancle and right knee in line
One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath
Lift the back foot off the ground
And bend the back leg, bring the both hands on the
floor
Step the back foot little forward
Lift the chest up
Once you find the height of the chest,
Lift the back leg up
Square the hips
And when you find the balance, lift the hands off the
ground, prayer position
Both hips facing down
Modification, hands on the floor
And if you find it balanced, maybe you can even
stretch your hands forward
Or stay in the pose
[note: we did not do this pose in our version of the
sequence]
One more deep breath
--Exhale, release the hands on the floor
And well lower the leg towards the other leg
Interlace your fingers behind the back
And stretch your hands awaaay from the body,
breathe in
And exhale, reeeach out with the hands
--Release the hands onto the floor first
And bring the hands upon the thighs,
Inhale, press ourselves all the way up to standing
Other side, inhale
Exhale, step the right leg back
Square the hips

When were ready, reach the arms UP over the head

Press down the outer part of the back foot
Lift from the back side of the body
One, two, three, four,
Exhale, one two three four
Inhale, one two three four, separate the arms out
into the side, Virabadrasana B
--Bring your shoulders and hips in the same line
Keep the left knee towards the center of the left foot
Stay with the breath
Send your gaze towards the front hand
Lower the shoulder height, stay with the breath,
release our jaw
One more deep breath
--Exhale, EMPTY the breath
Square the hips forward and lift the back heel off the
ground, and bring the hands on the ground
Step the foot forward, walk the hands forward
When youre ready, lift the back leg up
Find the balance, square the hips, hands in prayer
position
--And stay with the breath
And develop the pose
According to our abilities, if you want to stretch the
hands forward or not, stay with the breath
Its ok to go out of balance and come down of the
pose
So we can continue to study
--Exhale, bring the hands on the floor
Draw the heels and lower the leg towards the floor
Interlace your fingers behind your back
Breathe in
And breathe out, stretch your arms awaaay from the
buttocks
--Release the hands onto the floor
Then lift the hands, place them on the thighs, inhale,
breathe in, press the hands
And come up, step towards Tadasana
Take one deep inbreath
--[Utthita Parsvakonasana]
Exhale, step the left leg one leglength backwards
And bend the right knee, place the right hand inside
of the right heel
Reach the left arm UP over the head first
Open up the heart
Find your length,
By bringing your left shoulder and left hip in the
same line
If it feels ok, bring the left arm up over the ear
And follow the palm with a straight neck, breathe in
Breathe out
One more deep inbreath
---

[Ardha Chandrasana]
Exhale, empty the breath, look down, place the both
hands on the floor
And walk the back foot a little forward
And walk the hands as well
Find the complete length of the upper body with the
placement of the hands
And lift the back foot off the ground
Flex the toes
Open up the left side angle, left hip and shoulder in
the same line
And when youre ready, lift the arm
Either off the ground to the thighs, or from the
thighs to the ceiling, breathe in
--Breathe out, press the back leg INTO the wall
behind, breathe in
--Breathe out, exhale, look down, place the hands on
the floor, square the hips and lower the legs towards
the ground
And release the hands into Uttanasana
--Hands on the thighs
Inhale, press yourself up and come back up
Exhale, step the right leg back directly
Come towards Parsvakonasana, with the hand on
the inside of the heel
When youre ready, lift the arm UP
Find the length,
Remember: the position of our right side of our body
is going to follow on the next pose
So bring the arm up, over
Neck straight
One more deep inbreath
Exhale, release the hand on the floor
Ease the back heel and walk the hands forward, until
you get the body straight
Then, turn the right toes sideways
Lift up the legs
And choose your options, either hand on the hip, or
stretching the hand up
Also maybe challenge yourself to bring the palms
towards the ground, its all up to you, how we want
to practise it today
--One more deep breath
Open up the shoulders and the chest
--Exhale, look down
Release the hands on the floor, and bring the right
leg close to the left
Uttanasana, fall forward
Release the hands on the thighs
Inhale, breathe in and come aaall the way up, press
yourself up
Exhale, release the hands onto the sides
[Parivrtta Parsvakonasana]
Inhale deeply
Exhale, step the left leg far out

Drop the left knee, point the left toes, bring the
hands in prayer position
Inhale deeply
Exhale, bring the left elbow outside of the right knee
Or maybe even that left shoulder comes down
Keep opening the shoulders, bring the thumbs close
to the chest
And breathe
--Every time you exhale,
Reach the right parts of the body away from the left
thighs
--One more deep breath
--Exhale, look down
Keep maintaining where the knees are, see if we can
step the other leg forward to
Parsva Utkatasana
Twisted Half Chair pose
Look towards the right shoulderblades, one deep
breath
--Exhale, look down, release the pose, release the
hands
Grab the hands on the back of your legs
[note: we didnt do this in our version]
Inhale, lengthen
Exhale, fall forward, stretch the navel
And release the hands towards your thighs
Inhale, press yourself up, come back to stand up
straight
Breathe in
And breathe out, step the other leg back
Lower down on the knees, hands in prayer position
--Breathe IN
--When you breathe out, twist yourself towards the
opposite side
Both sitting bones go directy back
And bring the spine in the center of the sitbone, turn
UP
Use your shoulders
Use your arms, use your belly
One more deeep breath
In the end of the exhalation, curl the back toes
under, step forward, look down
And, when you find the pose, look up towards the
left elbow
Draw the navel in, bring both knees parallell to each
other
--Exhale, look down, release the head,
And hands towards the back of the chin bones
Inhale, lengthen
Exhale, fall
Release the hands on top of the thighs
Inhale, press yourself, come all the way up
Exhale, release the hands

--Taking a deep inbreath

--[Trikonasana]
Exhale, step the right leg back,
One leglength
Hands wide out to the sides
Inhale deeply, make sure the feet are parallell
Exhale, reach out for the right side
Lower the right hand towards the outer right
chinbone, left hand up
And turn the palm toward the direction of our ear,
and see if we can bring the arm over our head,
Or maintain where you are
The important is that the hips stay parallell,
the back hip doesnt follow the front hip
One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath
USE your breath, pull your left arm up, come back to
the center
Exhale, go to the other side
Reach out
Release the left hand down
Reach UP through the right arm and find the
position of your own hands
Navel in
--Exhale, empty the breath, lengthen both sides of the
body
One more deep inbreath
--Exhale, finish the exhalation
And lift the arm up, come back to the center, hands
wide
And well go to the twisting pose
Bring the left hand toward the outer right foot or in
front of the right foot
Or you just twist as a modification
Once you place the hand, stretch the right arm up
over the head
And bring the head back towards the line of your
sitbone
It is hard to get it exactly but thats the direction we
want to move
Stay with the breath
Also, make sure that the feet are not compromising,
turning out
Always find the modification according to our
needs, but trying to discipline our body
--Exhale, look down
Use the breath and bring the right hand down on the
floor
And walk around to the other side
--And when youre ready, lift up
Twist
And reach the arm up

Another modification is to bring the right hand in

the center of the mat and reach the other hand up
Stay with the breath
The upper body wants to go awaay from the hips
One more deep breath
--Exhale, look down, release the hands onto the floor
And bring the hands on the hips
Press the thighs
Inhale, come up, and well jump [or walk] our feet
together to the center
Turn forward, bring the feet together in the front of
the mat
Garudasana [Eagle pose] in a modification
[this is an instruction for beginner level, not exactly
how we did it in Berlin, but it can be made advanced
as well]
So lets step ourselves into the right end of the mat
Bring the right foot in front and place the right leg
over the left leg, crossing the legs
Its a very easy pose that probably many of us could
practise
Bend the knees in 45 angle
Bring the arms in front of you, and bend them
The right elbow comes on the outside of the left,
place the hands in prayer position
Lift the chest up, lift the elbows up, but you still
lower the hips down
--And if you want to develop this pose, you take up
the right leg, and put it in the outer side of the left
chin bone, or wrap it around
--Breathe one
And now, we find the wind in the room
Three
Four, sloowly, bring your hips up
When the legs are almost straight, let the legs come
down, and release the hands
Well step both legs to the other side
Inhale, the left leg comes out, crossing in front of the
right leg
And bring the hands into the position
If the left leg is in front, the right hand comes on top
Bend the kees
Find the position, either youre pressing the legs
right out onto the side,
Or pressing the left foot into the outside of the right
chinbone,
Or wrapping the left foot around the right chinbone
As the hips come down, chest and elbows go up
One more deep breath
--Exhale completely, empty the breath
--One deep breath
--And while you exhale, lift the hips up
Slowly release the legs first
And release the hands down

Bring the feet back to the center

[in front of the mat]
--Lift your heels off the ground
And bring the hands into shoulder height
Reach out through the crown of the head, press the
thighs together
And without putting your heels down, bend your
knees
Halfway down, open the knees out into the side
Set your sitbone back onto the ground
Lay down on your back
With feet together
Well take two full deep breaths
To prepare for the next pose
Lay down in Tadasana with feet together, hands
close to the body, palms facing down
Start to breathe from the bottom,
Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
--Prepare for the Single Leg Rise exercise
Press both hands down, press both feet down, heels
down
And inhale, stretch the right leg with the breath,
ninety degree angle towards the ceiling
Exhale, lower the right leg down towards the ground
Inhale, left leg up, keep the other leg strong on the
ground, strengthen the sitbone,
Exhale, left leg down
Inhale, right leg, one two three four
Exhale, one two three four
Inhale, use the breath to synchronize the pose
Exhale, sloowly bring the leg down
Inhale, lift your right leg up ninety degree angle
Release the hands off the ground, catch your leg
wherever you can
Try not to hold it behind the knee, that may force
you to bend the knee
--Press the right leg towards the front of the mat
Or towards the floor where it was
And also, resist that with the shoulders
So we really want to get the work between our right
hip joint and our shoulders,
The shoulders want to stay towards the ground
And the sitbone wants to ground towards the front
of the mat
--Without lifting the head, see if we can intensify the
hug of the leg towards the body
Also, find the breath, moving through these five
spots up, and down
[conscious breathing]
--Hold the pose for two more breaths
Continue to strengthen the opposite thigh on the
floor

We want to keep that thigh stable, to open up the

hips
And the muscles on the right leg
--Inhale deeply
Exhale, walk the hands all the way up towards the
heel
And lift the chest
And feel that chest through the shoulders,
Bringing the chest between the shoulders
And continue to strengthen the other thigh
And sit up towards the lower back
--And hold the pose
Continue to work on the opposite directions, duality,
The right leg is still pressing forward,
Chest is coming up,
Shoulders are moving down,
Strengthen the other thigh,
--Exhale,
When we lower the head down, we want to hold the
leg in that position to find the challenge
If you want to modify the pose, just bend the knee,
thats perfectly fine
Otherwise, we just keep that strength
And release the space between the right hipbone
and the right side of the body
Find a gap
--Exhale, release the hands towards the floor
Keep the leg right there
Without using the hands, challenge yourself if we
can move the legs towards the opposite direction of
the head
We start to see that shaking comes on the leg
Just breathe
--And slooowly, bring the right leg towards the floor
with a strong thigh bone
Prepare for the other side
Feet together, hands close to the body
Inhale, lift up the left leg
Catch up with our hands
And find the pose
We want to find exactly the same actions and
reactions that weve created in the body on the
other side
Where the shoulders never go flat on the floor, at
least the outer shoulders,
So we want to keep the shoulderblades towards the
ground,
But the shoulders come towards the line of our ears
Also find a gap between the left side of the body and
the left pelvic bone
Let the breath go deep
Inhale deeply
Exhale, walk the hands up towards the heels, lift
your head up
Chest up, shoulders down

Continue to strengthen the right femur bone [thigh

bone] through the entire leg
Drag the right heel forward
Lift up the kidneys off the ground
One more deep breath
Flex the feet
--When youre exhaling, keep the hands still where
they are and bring the head and shoulders back onto
the ground
Keep holding it right there for a moment
In that final stage, see if we can bring the hip bone
parallell
--And exhale, release the hands towards the ground
And continue to reach the legs,
Use the mind to stretch your leg towards your face
--Exhale, slooowly lower the leg towards the center
Come back to Tadasana and take one deep breath
Empty the breath, finish the exhalation
--Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
Prepare for the Double Leg Rise exercise
If we have a sensitive back, or if were not that
strong enough yet,
Well bring both hands and place them just above
the line of the buttocks
Otherwise, keep the hands on the floor
--With and inbreath, lift both legs half way up
So when youre lifting the legs up, we really want to
sync the movements,
So its not the legs coming first and then we finish
the breath,
--Exhale, lower the legs close towards the ground
Before we touch the floor
Inhale, lift up again
Modification, bending the knees
Three, four, five
Exhale, one two three four five
Inhale, use your breath, one two three four five
Widen the hands out into the side
Bend the knees
Into a ninety degree angle, so we want to have the
top of the chin bones in parallell with the sky
Exhale, either keep the head straight,
Or you can look onto the opposite direction from
where the legs go
So turn the legs half way down to the right side
Our goal is not to bring the legs on the floor, just to
find that twist
Try not to lift the left shoulders off the ground
Keep the heels still aligned
Strengthen your spine
Strengthen the shoulderblades
One deep breath into the opposite kidneys

--Exhale, empty the breath

Inhale, use your breath to return your legs to the
center
Exhale, lower the legs towards the other side
Keep parallell the heels and the knees, press the
right shoulderblades
Either keep the head straight, or look over the
opposite shoulder
--Exhale, empty the breath
Finsish the exhalation, inhale, use your breath to
come back
Bring the hands alongside the body
Stretch your feet up towards the ceiling
So when youre stretching, you still want to drop the
heels towards the sit bones
Find the strength
--So when youre gonna come down to the floor,
Make sure that we dont lift the shoulders up, or
draw the head back,
Keep the head straight
And slowly lower the legs in the count of ten
One, two, three, four, five, six, shoulders down, head
straight, strong legs, nine, and ten
--And separate the legs, separate the hands
Lets come back to the mat, if youve gone away to
the side of it, just return your body into the mat
Close your eyes
Well take three conscious full deep breaths
--Its important to find the breath and relaxing
between the postures
In case any of the previous asanas created some
sort of stress in the body
While you lay down, its easy to let that go
And also, when you relax after a pose, thats where
the asanas benefits are received by the body
--Two more long deep breaths
Continue to visualize that the breath is filling all the
way from the bottom of the belly towards the throat
[he is quiet for about half a minute]
And we prepare for Sethu Bandha Sarvangasana
[The Bridge]
[note: we did another version, without hands lifting]
Preparation bring the feet of your both legs
underneath your knees
Keeping the heels sit bone width apart
Hands alongside the body
Keep the head and neck straight
So we syncronize the movements with the breath,
When you inhale, with the breath you lift the hips
up, and the hands follow all the way back to the
back of the mat
--Inhale, use your breath to lift the sitbone, and also

hands come up, one, two, three, four, five

Press the back of the hands on the floor, press the
heels down
--Exhale, return the pose down, hands down, one two
three four five
Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
Inhale, one two three four five, hold the pose up
there, and release the hands towards the back of the
body, interlace your fingers
Prepare to press down both legs
And press the left heel down, lift the right leg up
Once the leg is up, draw the right heel towards the
right sitbone,
Strenghten both thighs towards the center
Feel the breath
--Exhale, empty the breath, finish the exhalation
Bend your right knee and bring the foot down on the
floor
--Inhale, use your breath to lift the other leg up
Strengthen
Exhale completely, empty the breath
Take one more deep inbreath to stabilize the sitbone
and the thighs towards the center
Exhale, bend the knee, slowly return the foot down
on the floor
Release the hands, bring your arms up over the head
again
Inhale, lift the heart, lift the hips
Exhale, slowly, synchronize your movements, the
hips come down, the hands come down
Bend your knees towards your chest and give
yourself a hug, flex the feet
And lift your forehead towards the knees
--Exhale, place the head back onto the floor
--And roll up towards the sitting position
And lay down on your belly
Make the hands as a pillow, relax the forehead on
top
Just let the breath move along the spine
So we can feel that the body is heavy again on the
ground
And the breath will grow into the back of the body
--Well prepare for our next pose
Half Dhanurasana
First we will slowly rise ourselves and place the
elbows directly underneath the shoulders
With both feet straight together
Inhale, bend the right knee
Exhale, reach the right arm around the right ankle
Flex the feet
Start to press the right heel back, away from the
right buttock
Still bring the right shoulder forward

And if thats still ok with our back, well lift the left
elbow on the ground [keeping the hand on the
ground]
And lift the heart
And try to stay up on the pose, by using the back leg
Breathe in and out on the back of our bodies
Bring the breath developing inwards
--And some of us may want to develop it more by
lifting the left hand slowly off the ground [hand in
Gyan mudra, index finger and thumb together]
But keep maintaining that relaxed body
--One more deep breath
Exhale, slowly bring the left hand down onto the
floor, come on the elbows
And release the right hand and lower the leg back
And well take the other leg
Feet together
And then, bend the left knee
Grab the left hand on the left ankle
And inhale, with the breath, press your heel up
And stretch the leg back
Continue to bring the shoulders forward
And ease your right elbow off the floor
Or even come up on the fingertips
Continue to press both sides of the hips onto the
floor, use the breath to stay up
Strengthen the legs
Exhale, lift the right hand off the floor [volontary]
--Come down on the elbow
Release the leg
And prepare for the Parshava Bekasana (??)
[we did not do this pose]
Bend the right knee
Take the right hand back
If possible, take the hand from the inside of the foot
and turn the fingers forward
And press the hand towards the foot while you
move the knees in
Or you can anyhow just hold the leg and hug the
foot
Put the heel towards the buttocks, lift the heart
Look straight ahead and breathe
--Exhale, empty the breath
Maintain the knees more towards the center
One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath, slowly release the hand,
and bring the leg down
Exactly the same pose on the other side
When youre ready, go
Stay with the breath all the time
Maintain that knee towards the center line of the
mat
The left shoulder forward, the heart up
Breathe in

And breathe out

One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath, and release the hand
Make the hands as a pillow
And lay your forehead down
Before we do the full round of Dhanurasana
Just prepare, release the lower back
[He is quiet for half a minute]
And separate the hands, bring the forehead on the
floor
Stretch your arms back towards the side of the hips
Bend your knees
And lift the arms off the ground and grab your
ankles
Keep the feet at least sit bone width apart
Flexing the feet, thats an imortant part of the first
round of Dhanurasana
--The soles of our feet are more parallell towards the
ceiling
Were gonna come up only using the heels
To lift up
Heels are pressing away from the buttocks
Also, try not to lift the knees
So using the heels back
Shoulders sligthly go forward to maintain the line of
the ears
Keep breathing
Stay with the breath
--One more deep breath
Keep using that chest to hang the legs backwards
--And exhale, slowly bring the forehead down on the
floor
This time, we move the hands to the middle of the
feet
Prepare
Before we lift up the chest, truly press the feet up
towards the ceiling
Kicking the legs in the air, and come UP on your
belly
And while you breathe deeply, your body starts to
rock back and forth because the legs are up, the
chest is up, if the breath goes deep it massages all
the internal organs inside the belly
One more deep breath
Use the legs
--And exhale, slowly release the chest down first,
knees down on the ground, and let go of your hands
--Place the hands again as a pillow
Either relax the forehead
Or one of the comfortable cheeks
Right or left
Keep the toes touching together

Heels fall out into the side

--So the lower back has been working the most in the
last pose
So see if we can breathe into the back of the belly
Let the back of the belly stretch and release from the
previous pose
--One more deep breath
And prepare for the Budjangasana, the Cobra pose
Feet together
The sides of the big toes, sides of the heels together
Then place the hands underneath the shoulders
Fingertips come in line with the shoulders
The shoulderblades are not squeezing, the top of the
shoulderblades is going out and away,
The tip of the shoulderblades come close together
towards the center of the spine
Press the hands
Press the top of the feet
With the breath, move the chin forward
Chest forward
Press the hands, and lift the heart up
Use the breath
Exhale, lower your chest, sternum, and forehead
down, prepare for the second round
Move your hands just a little backward
--Inhale, drive your chest forward from the hips
And keep stretching and stretching and stretching
and lifting
Stretch the back of the neck
Send your gaze towards your forehead
On an exhale, slooowly come back down on the
ground
--For the last round, we move the hands a little further
back
So just notice, we dont want to lift the chest, we
want to drive the chest away from the hips and use
that length to come up
Continue to lengthen
Open up the heart, elbows close to the body,
shoulders wide
Try not to tense our buttocks, and use the heart, the
spine, to lift up
--One more deep breath
Press the feet
Exhale, slooowly come down
Release the hands
Well go directly to the next pose, by taking both
hands underneath the body, palms facing down
[note: we didnt do this pose]
Its important to place the palms down for the pose,
but if that is too difficult, or if you have any knee or
elbow injury, you choose the pose either you make
the hands face towards the thighs underneath the
body, or you just leave the arms alongside the body

Try not to force the shoulders, around the shoulders

Get ready
--Inhale, lift your right leg up as high as you can, with
the hips square
Exhale, right leg down
Inhale, left leg up, strengthen the hips
Exhale, left leg down
Inhale, right leg up
Exhale, down
Inhale, left leg up
Exhale, down
Inhale, stretch the right leg
Bend the left knee, and keep the left knee on the
ground, and place the right thigh on the center of
the left foot
We want to find that balance of both hips parallell
towards the ground
Its an easy, relaxing pose
Once that leg is held up by the other leg, were not
doing much, were simply hoplding the pose to
release the lower back muscles and the spine
So just maintain the breath, try not to press the
breath too much into it
--In order to protect the neck and the chin, we
stabilize the shoulders back and down towards the
floor
--One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath
Continue to inhale and stretch the right leg higher
up to free the left leg
And slowly straighten both legs down towards the
ground
Exactly the same pose on the other side
Inhale, lift the left leg
And bend the right knee, place the left thigh on the
right foot
Most probably, that left hip will lift off the floor, so
we want somehow to find a balance to bring them
parallell towards the ground
--Pressing down the outer shoulders to protect the
chin
Use the breath, the breath comes into the back of
the body
--Releasing the back and and the back of the
diaphragm
--One more deep breath
--Exhale, empty the breath and activate the left leg
deeply in and lift
And slowly release both legs down
Stay there for a moment
--Then turn to one side, release the hand

And the other side and the other hand

Make the hands as a pillow again
Just relax
Take one deep breath
From the relaxing position, well place our elbows
underneath our shoulders
Interlace your fingers
Lift your chest up
Curl the toes under
And well lift the body, lift the thighs and lift the
belly off the ground
We want to keep the body parallell,
Lengthen the chest up and forward, sitbone down
Just to get out of that arching of the back
After we become flexible, we want to strengthen
again so our lower back lifts up,
Kind of straight back
--And well slowly walk the feet forward with feet
together for a Dolphin
Or an upper body strengthening exercise which
helps for the head stand
--Exhale, lower the chin towards and over the hands,
hold it
Inhale, bring the chest back and look at the navel
Exhale, pass the chin forward, bring it all the way to
the ground if we can
Inhale, pull the hips back and look towards the navel
Exhale, last round, bring it forward
Make sure the elbows are not sliding outwards
Keep the elbows hugging, lift the sitbone up, stay,
stay
Then inhale, press back, look at the navel and stay
Draaaw the head in towards the body
--Exhale, slowly bend the knees
Sit down
In a childs pose, take your hands back
Keep the head still on the ground
Just leave a couple of breaths, releasing the
shoulders, releasing the kidneys
[He is quiet for about half a minute]
[Ardha Matsyendrasana, Half Spinal Twist]
With an inhale, lift your heart up
Towards a sitting pose
From the child pose, well slide towards the left
buttock, outside
Bring the right foot forward
Place the right foot outside of the left knee [the left
leg is bent]
So we dont place the foot all the way in
And catch the right chinbone with the inside of the
left arm
And if that is too difficult, we want to grab the right
leg from the inside
Keep the legs close towards the chest, lift the heart
up
Place the right hand behind the spine

Keep extending both sides of the ribs

Press the right sit bone down, turn your head back
And look at the right shoulderblade
And feel your breath
Probably our breath gets shorter because our lungs
are being twisted
Keep the breath developing from the first point
All the way up
When you exhale, gradually make that twist deeper
--Two more breaths
--Exhale, empty the breath, look forward
Release the left hand
And cath the outer right foot with the left hand
If thats ok, slowly straighten the leg in front of you
And stretch the right hand in straight line with the
left shoulder
Turn your head back, look towards the right shoulder
again
Grow out of the right thigh, but still press the right
sit bone down,
Breathe in, sit tall
Exhale, empty the breath
Look forward
And bring the right hand forward
Then release the leg back towards the left foot [so
that you sit on both heels]
Slide over to the other side, sit your right buttock on
the floor
Bring the left heel outside / in front of the right thigh
/ knee
And pick the position of your right arm
Inhale, place the left hand behind
Breathe in
Exhale, turn around
--So the twist should come from moving the left hip
in line with the [something, didnt hear], and chest
comes up,
With the exhalation, turning the heart away from
the left thigh
--Two more breaths
--Make the twist gently deeper by exhalations
Both shoulderblades move down
Heart comes up
One more deep inbreath
--Exhale, empty the breath
Look forward, catch the right hand outside of the left
foot
Lift the leg up
Keep the knee, and second toe, and hip in a straight
line
Stretch the left hand back
Keep opening the heart
Press the left sitbone down
Reach out through the fingers

Press the left foot forward, breathe in

Exhale, empty the breath
Bring the hand forward
Release the left heel on the floor
And stretch the right leg out
Stretch both legs forward
And keep the feet a little wider than our hips
Inhale, reach the arms up over the head, interlace
the fingers, palms facing up
Extend your arms
Flex the feet, inhale deeply
--And while youre exhaling, keep the lower abdomen
still in towards the body,
Stretch forward and try to see if you can bring the
hands over, in front of your left foot
Or, modify the pose the way you wish to
Inhale, come back up
Exhale, go to the other side
Trying to find that length in the lower abdomen
Inhale, lift up
Exhale, towards the left
Inhale, up
Exhale, right
Release the hands, while you release, grab the right
foot with the right hand, left foot with the left hand
And let go of that lengthening of the lower belly, just
relax all the way down
--Take two breaths
[He is quiet for a little while]
And with a deep inhale
Well lift the head up, chest up
Release the hands
And bend your knees and cross the ankles
Sit with a comfortable cross-legged position
--Releasing the hands on the knees, palms facing up
Connect the index and thumb fingers together into a
Chin Mudra
Again, sit straight
From the center of the sit bone
And find it by moving the body forwards, backwards,
side to side
Once we find that centralized sitting, lift the crown
of the head
Keep te shoulders relaxed
Take two more rounds of conscious breathing
Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
Inhale, one two three four five
Exhale, one two three four five
--From now, we just let go of that focus and
concentration in the breath
Simply keep the body straight and steady
To find that complete stillness in the spine, so were
not moving
Our focus should be to bring the spine completely

still
Let the breath go in and out by itself
Spontaneous inhalation and exhalation
And focus the mind
Somewhere inside
Either inside of the chest, inside the body
Or in the center of the eyebrows, inside
Just stay inside of yourself
Just sit still
[He is quiet for some time]
So before the Shavasana, if we find time to sit still,
even for five minutes, it will bring the effect of the
practise
Because after youve been practising, you will be
able to focus, to sit still and keep the spine still
And while we keep that sense of relaxation
Keep the eyes still closed
Release the hands, stretch the legs forward
And lay down on your mat in Shavasana
--And separate the hands and feet
Close your eyes
Keep the neck long
And let go
--Notice that youre not focusing on anything, breath,
or any positioning of the toes or fingers, allow them
to simply be, and be soft
Namast