"Hi, I'm Lin." "And I'm Leo. Welcome back to 'Yoga with Lin and Leo'." "And today we're
going to come into Kurmasana, or try to come into Kurmasana!" "So Kurmasana (Turtle Pose) is also known
as Tortoise Pose. It could be known as 'Tortuous Pose' because it's quite a challenging action!"
[Laughter] "It can be. Leo's just going to go through the props with you." "So all you're
going to need is four foam pads. I don't really think we can give you alternatives for that.
Maybe a couple of, maybe lots of folded towels would be a possibility." "Yes. I mean we're
going to show you this way first because this is for those of you who've got really tight
hips and are very tight in the hamstrings, you will need to have this as a starting stage.
And if you find that this is even more difficult, then more practice in the standing poses. So
first of all, bend the legs so that the feet are to the outer edges of those foam pads.
And be in the centre of the buttock bones. See that the centre of the buttock bones are
in the centre of the foam pads and lift up as much as you can out of the pelvis. Then
walk the feet a little bit further forward. Okay, so now we need to get this shoulder,
this arm, through the leg. So you're going to come forward, but you've got to see that
you go back to come forward. So lift up, and roll the shoulder. As you can see Leo's coming
here and you can just put the hand here. That's it. And then, the other side. Palm up, and
roll. That's it. And then see, are you able to walk those hands out to the sides. That's
it, that's it. And now start to move the feet. Now be sure that there's a rolling in of the
thighs. Lift the foot up so you're on the rim of the heel, and slide the heels forward.
So it's very, very useful have a floor which isn't restrictive. Sometimes the mat can be
a little bit restrictive. And rest your head. So you may be able to come into Kurmasana
with this little bit of support and little bit of help. Otherwise, we come into the classic
pose. So if you've been practicing this, come up out of this pose. It's always a little
bit difficult. Slide your heels in so that you increase this gap between the leg and
the arm and come out of the action. Okay, so we come onto the floor now for those of
you who can come into the deep action without that support. It's always worth having that
option just in case the hips are a bit too tight, or the hamstrings. It's not worth pushing
through it and being aggressive with you body. Just take it really easy. Step by step. Okay,
you can see Leo's ready to go here. [Laughter]. Okay so taking the thighs a little bit apart.
That's it. And then again, it sort of comes from Malasana action, which we've also filmed
in these Deep Forward Bending action. See that the lower abdomen is drawing into the
spine and then coming forward.That's it. Now taking the arms through the legs, That's it.
Now when you come to this stage, you've got to see that you roll this shoulder down. Come
as deeply down as possible. You can hold onto the foot bone to help this action, to help
this action. And then come to the other side. It's a little bit more difficult to come to
the other side and help with this side. This is why we practice it a couple of times so
that you can actually help each leg on each practice. Roll the thighs in and then see
that you lift those feet up, so be on the rim of the heel, and extend the arms out.
So if you're at this position, you've got to keep rolling. And see how far you can push
those heels away from you. That's it, that's it. And you can just let the head release
down. So now we're going to take these arms back. So you've got to roll the arm, and take
it back. Roll the arm and take it back. And now stretch into those fingers, stretch into
those fingers. A good way of keeping the action in those arms is to just touch a foam block
behind you. You've got to bring the hands in. And you just touch that foam block with
the fingers so that you're able to just give that little bit of direction. And when you're
in the pose, just keep the breath smooth and even. So it may be that your hamstrings, or
your buttock muscles or you lower back muscles are screaming so just don't stay in it for
too long. But if you're able to be in it and start to release and relax, it is so beneficial
to keep those hips really nice and mobile. And then Leo's going to come out of the pose
now. By bending the legs, that's it, taking the arms back, and coming up. So it really
can be quite an awkward one to come out of. [Laughter] For sure. That's definitely for
sure." "You certainly don't want to get trapped in that!" "No. So you just have to be mindful
how you come out of it. Just very, very slowly." "So thank you for joining us today. We hope
you enjoyed our Deep Forward Bend practice of Kurmasana. If you want to look at the Deep
Forward Bend series together, then we will be doing a Collection for you to join all
these poses together." "Yes and have a look at the Playlists because they should come
up shouldn't they?" "Yeah, they will be on a Playlist together. Alright, so thank you
for joining us today. Namaste." "Namaste."