(soft music)
- We're gonna do a few standing postures
that help to build strength in the body
and facilitate better balance.
So we'll start with what's called a warrior pose.
Stepping the feet wide
and you want to have something here for support to hold onto
just in case you need it.
The front foot is gonna turn out
so that's pointed toward the front of your mat
so that the knee is going right over the ankle.
You want to make sure that you're not leaning in
or leaning out on that foot
but the weight is evenly distributed on the foot,
and the back leg has this back foot
at whatever angle feels comfortable to you.
So depending on what's happening
in your foot and your ankle,
you might want to angle it in more,
you might want to angle it out, and that's fine.
This stance can be as wide as feels comfortable to you.
The wider your stance is,
the deeper your bend can be
and the more challenging the pose is gonna be.
When you bend this front knee,
you want to make sure
that the knee doesn't go past the ankle.
So if you're standing very narrow and you try to bend,
the knee is gonna go past the ankle right away.
So you want to step wide enough
that you have room to be able to bend
and avoid putting too much pressure in that knee.
From here, bring the shoulders over the hips,
so the torso is facing one way
even though the legs are facing a different way.
And roll the shoulders back and down.
Protect the low back by engaging the core.
Separate the ribs and the hips.
And from here, you're gonna turn
and look over that right shoulder or the front leg.
You can bring one or both hands to the hips
if that feels comfortable.
You can also take the arms out to the side.
They can be shoulder height or lower,
whatever feels comfortable to you.
And in this pose you want to take a few deep breathes
and feel the intensity and strength
of the warrior in this pose.
From here, we're going to take this front hand
and put it on the front leg.
Take the other arm and either put it on the shoulder
in a cactus pose or up over the head,
whatever feels comfortable to you,
and then lower down onto the leg.
So you can take the forearm here,
you can do any sort of position that you want with your hand
or just let it relax.
You're gonna stack one shoulder on top of the other,
and then if it feels comfortable,
look up toward the ceiling.
If that doesn't work for your neck,
it's fine to look forward, or you can even look down.
But make sure that this shoulder
is still staying lined up over the other
so that as you're looking down
you're not rotating and facing that leg.
Again, put the arm into whatever position feels good to you.
And the idea here is to feel one long line of energy
from that back leg all the way out
the crown of the head on that diagonal.
Coming up we're gonna straighten the front leg
and now move into something that's called triangle pose.
So again, place the front hand
wherever it feels comfortable to you.
It can be up high on the leg or further down.
You want to make sure
that you're not putting the hand on the knee
where it applies a lot of pressure to that joint.
So either above or below the knee
and it can rest very gently.
And again here, you're rotating the shoulders,
and then the arm can come up toward the ceiling
if that feels okay or you can put the hand on the hip.
Again, you can be looking up toward the ceiling or down.
And in this posture,
you want to feel the alignment of the triangle,
so imagine a triangle where both feet
and the head are making a triangle.
And then come up, bend the knee,
and bring the legs back together.
We'll do the same thing on the other side.
So stepping wide again, this time the other foot turns out,
and whatever angle works for that back leg is fine.
Rolling the shoulders back and down,
standing up nice and tall,
turn and look over your other shoulder.
Bending into the knee,
make sure that the knee is aligned over the ankle,
and you can take the arms out if that feels comfortable.
Take a few deep breaths here.
And then from here, lower the front arm to the thigh.
Look up toward the ceiling if that's available
or straight ahead or down keeping shoulder over shoulder.
And feel that long line of energy
from the back foot pressing into the floor
out the crown of the head.
And then come up.
Straighten the front leg finding the triangle pose.
Let the front hand slide down the leg
to wherever it feels comfortable.
Stack shoulder over shoulder.
Look up toward the ceiling
with whatever arm position is available to you today.
Make sure you're still breathing fully and deeply,
that you feel the alignment of the triangle pose.
And then come back up and walk the feet together.
Shake the legs out, shake the arms out, the whole body.
And now we'll do a little bit of balancing
holding onto the chair.
So we'll start with a tree pose.
And here you're gonna shift the weight side to side,
and notice how the body moves from one side to the other
as you do that.
So you're gonna settle the weight into the left foot
so that the right leg is available to lift up.
Rotate outward at the hip,
and you can make a little kickstand
so that the ball of the foot is on the floor
and the heel is against the opposite leg.
If this doesn't work for your foot,
then you can bring the foot a little bit higher
so that it's resting on the calf,
or if you really want to go for it,
you can bring the leg up
so that it's on the inside of the opposite thigh.
Again, make sure that the foot isn't on the knee
so that it's not pressing against that joint.
You can stay here or you can play around
with lifting an arm,
maybe even lifting both.
You can take the arms all the way up over head,
or you can bring the hands to the hips.
Make sure that you're breathing fully and deeply.
If you're wobbling, that's fine.
That means that your body
is making constant micro adjustments to help you balance.
That actually is helping to train your body
to balance more efficiently.
And then when you're ready, lower that down.
And then shift side to side.
Now we're gonna take the weight into the right foot.
Make sure that you're not sinking into this hip
but that you're lifting up out of the hip
creating space in that joint.
Rotate the other hip out making the kickstand
or bringing the foot a little bit higher.
And then if you'd like to play around
with your balance with one or both hands,
you can do so.
Make sure the shoulders are back and down.
Imagine that the head is just floating on top of the spine.
You can find a focal point out ahead of you to focus on
that's eye height or higher not looking down at the floor.
And then as you're ready release that and shake it out.
We'll do one more balancing pose.
So moving into another balancing pose,
this is the extension of the leg backward
instead of out to the side.
So here we're gonna take the weight into the left foot
and extend the right leg back.
You can bring the toes to touch the floor behind you
as you find your alignment here.
And then if you feel comfortable,
you can play with lifting the toes up off the floor
to the extent that feels comfortable.
You can also play with extending the opposite arm
or even both arms if you're feeling stable enough.
You can stay here,
or you can start to tip this forward
as much as feels comfortable to you.
This is a variation on warrior three.
So you can play with extending the other arm,
or you can stay holding firmly onto the chair.
You want to make sure that this right hip is down
so that it's not lifting up this way
but that the two hips are aligned with each other.
And then lower that down and shake the legs out.
Shift the weight over to the right foot
so that the left leg can extend,
taking the toes to touch the floor behind you.
Now it's the right arm that extends out,
and you can try lifting the toes up off the floor.
You can also try hinging forward
so that as the torso lowers
the leg comes higher up behind you.
So again you're feeling that long line of energy
from the foot all the way out the crown of the head,
one long line.
And then come up and shake it out.
(soft music)