A rigorous vinyasa class with core strengthening and donkey kicks prepares you for Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand). This class features classic sun salutations and strengthens the front and back body with leg balancing and chaturanga push-ups. Unwind with heart-opening and hip stretches to release muscles strained in the solar portion. A longer meditation closes your practice with a poem by John O’Donohue.
Style: Vinyasa
Duration: 60-minutes
Level: open-levels
Props: 2 blocks
Focus: core and back strengthening, inversions, handstand.
Location: Lila Familia Production Studio, Vancouver, BC
Music: Spotify Playlist, Vishnu
John O’Donohue poem: On the Death of the Beloved
Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts
Where no storm on night or pain can reach you.
Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives,
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of color.
The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.
Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the alter of the heart,
Your mind always sparkled
With the wonder at things.
Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was alive, awake, complete.
We look toward each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.
Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Besides us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.
When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.
May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.
Opening Meditation
Come to a seat of your choice and close your eyes.
Take a moment to breathe deep into the front body.
Whenever things come to an end, there is a grieving period.
Grief is a very important period of ending a cycle.
It is honouring the sadness we feel inside from loss.
Emotions are energy in motion- so simply breathe into what you feel.
One sound of Aum to bring your voice into the room.
Come to lay down on your back.
Bend your knees and place your feet on the ground.
Core work:
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (bridge pose)
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Classic Surya Namaskars (Sun Salutations) – 2x cycles
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Urdhva hastasana (hands to sky)
Uttanasana (forward fold)
Ardha Uttanasana (halfway lift)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)
Anjanayasana (lunge)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)
Anjanayasana (lunge)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
** Second set hold DD for 5 breathes OR take 5 donkey kicks with heels to your bum
Utanasana (forward fold)
Ardha Uttanasana (halfway lift)
Urdhva hastasana (hands to the sky)
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Wave 1
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Utkatasana (chair pose)
Uttanasana (forward fold)
Ardha Uttanasana (halfway lift)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)
Trikonasana (triangle pose)
Ardha Chandrasana (half moon)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)
Anjanayasana (lunge)
Vasisthasana (side plank)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)
Trikonasana (triangle pose)
Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)
Anjanayasana (lunge)
Vasisthasana (side plank)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog) with options:
Jump to a seat for core work:
Adho muka svanasana (down dog) variations
Adho mukha vrksasana (handstand)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Shalabasana (locust pose)
Bujangasana (cobra) hold for 5 breaths
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Utanasana (forward fold)
Ardha Uttanasana (halfway lift)
Urdhva hastasana (hands to the sky)
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Wave 2
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Utkatasana (chair pose)
Garudasana (eagle pose)
Virabhadrasana III (warrior 3)
Anjanayasana (lunge) variation
Anjanayasana (lunge) variation to step forward to standing with a knee to chest
Eka pada utkatasana (standing figure four pose)
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Phalakasana (plank pose)
Chaturanga
Bujangasana (cobra)
Adho muka svanasana (down dog)
Utanasana (forward fold)
Ardha Uttanasana (halfway lift)
Urdhva hastasana (hands to the sky)
Tadasana (mountain pose)
Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.
Cooling Sequence
Ustrasana (camel pose)
Mrigasana (deer pose)
Upavistha Konasana (seated straddle fold)
** option to take this shape one leg at a time.
Seated meditation or savasana to close.