A vinyasa class featuring arm balancing as you move towards mayurasana, peacock pose. Twists, back strengthening, hip opening, wrist stretches, and neck release are featured in this class. Consider the challenges you’re experiencing on an individual or a collective level. What lessons keep showing up? The arduous events in your life provide an opportunity for you to level up, shift your perspective, and step outside of the norm. You always have the option to grow. This is the alchemy; you respond to the call to be active in your life and alchemize your experience.

One of the greatest forms of alchemy is to turn something toxic into something nourishing. Some of the oldest yogis were alchemists, turning metals into gold. They came upon the pranayama, mantra and meditation practices and realized they could change their own alchemy.

Mayurasana is one of the oldest yoga poses. You will find it in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, along with paintings of yogis in the pose. It is said to stimulate your Agni (spiritual/digestive fire), help you digest poisonous foods, and help you digest emotional poisons such as anger, greed, jealousy, anxiety, and spiritual ignorance.

Read the blog post on how to relieve abdominal pain for better gut health with the Forrest Roll.

Style: Vinyasa

Duration: 60-minutes

Level: open

Props: 1-block

Focus: arm balancing, inner thigh opening, twists.

Location: Vancouver, BC

Music: Spotify Playlist

Opening Flow

This class opens with a posture from Forrest Yoga.

Create a little snail by rolling up your mat.

• Fold the edges of the mat inwards.
• Roll the mat up from one end until you have a small roll.
• Place the snail roll at the center of the navel.
• The further you extend your arms and legs, the more you will feel this in your belly.
• You may feel a pulsation around the lower abdomen and the navel.
• Breathe deep into your body.

***If you ate in the last hour, please take child’s pose, OR make two fists and tuck your fists into the lower abdomen and then take child’s pose. The fists create stimulating knots on the lower abdomen; it’s less pressure than the roll. 

Stay on your roll or in child’s pose for 2-4 minutes.

Benefits of this pose:

• The snail roll softens the muscles around the lower abdomen to give the organs an internal massage.
• Relaxing the abdomen gives access to the psoas muscles; this provides the psoas with an excellent release. The psoas (hip flexors) become tight and stained from sitting.
• As the psoas release, you may feel a rush of energy down the legs (tingling or heat).

Come off of your roll and lay your mat back down on the ground.

Balasana (child’s pose)

10-15 breath to move as you like, options:

• Balasana (child’s pose)
• Adho Mukha Shvanasana (down dog)
• Uttanasana (forward fold)
• Bidalasana (cat pose)
• Bitilasana (cow pose)

Come to Tadasana at the top of your mat.

Opening Flow

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Urdvha Hastasana (hands to sky)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation

• Lower the back knee to the ground
• Move the front foot to the edge of the mat
• Bring your hands inside the front foot
• Cat/cows in this shape
• Inhale and lift the chest as you lower the pelvis
• Exhale and round the back and lift the back knee away from the ground
• Repeat several cycles

Bharmanasana (tabletop pose) with wrist release

Come to a seat at the back of your mat with your toes tucked to express the soles of the feet for Kapalbhati pranayama.

Kapalbhati Breath (skull shining breath) is an internal kriya used to cleanse the body. It may clear the nasal passages, relieve congestion, reduce bloating, and increase the lung’s capacity.

Kapalbhati is the perfect pranayama to do in the morning if you’re feeling cold, sluggish, congested, bloated, or heavy. This style of breath targets the solar plexus and draws the energy up Sushumna (the spine), which is the body’s main energy channel. When we draw the energy upwards, we bring the focus to the third-eye center. Pregnant yogis or those with heart conditions should avoid this pranayama.

As you do Kapalbhati pranayama, extend your arms overhead and flick your fingers away from your palm quickly each time you exhale. Do this pranayama for about 45-60 seconds.

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation

• Take the opposite hand to your front leg to the sky for a wide lunge
• Keep the arm extended to the sky
• Extend your arm over your ear on a diagonal
• Bend your elbow and lengthen the side waist

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Urdvha Hastasana (hands to sky)

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.

Peak Flow

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Utkatasana (chair pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2 pose) flowing variation

• Inhale and take your hands overhead
• Exhale and clasp your hands, flipping the centre of each palm up to the sky
• Inhale and get longer from waist to armpit
• Exhale and round your back, taking your hands out in front of you
• Inhale and stay as you are, puff up the back body with your breath
• Exhale and extend the arms long in full warrior 2 pose
• Repeat 3 cycles

Skandasana (wide-legged squat over one leg) variation moving with your breath.

Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged standing forward fold)

Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2 pose) facing the back of your mat

• Inhale and take your hands overhead
• Exhale and clasp your hands, flipping the centre of each palm up to the sky
• Inhale and get longer from waist to armpit
• Exhale and round your back, taking your hands out in front of you
• Inhale and stay as you are, puff up the back body with your breath
• Exhale and extend the arms long in full warrior 2 pose
• Repeat 3 cycles

Utkata Konasana (goddess pose) variation with cactus arms

Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged standing forward fold)

Sirsasana B (tripod headstand pose) with legs wide

Peacock Pose:

1. Bring your pinky fingers to touch
2. Bring your elbows together to touch
3. Take your hands in between your legs so that your fingers are angled backwards toward your toes.
4. Tuck your elbows into your belly button
5. Bring your forehead down to the earth
6. Straighten one leg out behind you
7. Bring the other leg to join it
8. Lift your head off the ground
9. Shift the weight forward
10. Play with lifting one leg, then perhaps the other leg, from the ground

Swan Pose:

1. Bring your thumbs together
2. Bring your elbows together
3. Bring your legs into baddha konasana, legs feet together and knees wide
4. Lift your hips off of your heels
5. Round the spine
6. Take the knees wide
7. Rest your ribs on your triceps
8. Take your forehead to the ground
9. Slide your legs back, keep your feet together
10. Lift your forehead off of the ground
11. Play with lifting your feet off of the ground, keeping the legs in baddha konasana

Cooling Flow

Come to sit on your mat or take child’s pose to rest after the peak pose

Setu bandha sarvāṅgāsana (bridge pose)

• You may take a supported bridge by placing a block under your sacrum

Urdhva Dhanurasana (wheel pose)

Bharmanasana (tabletop pose) with Lion’s Breath

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)

Parsvottanasana (pyramid pose) variation with the legs crossed

• Walk your front foot to the opposite side of your mat
• Take your back foot to the opposite side of the mat
• Place a block on the outside of your front foot for your hands
• Pull your front hip back
• Press the ball of the front foot down
• Hold and breath, then repeat the same pose on the other leg.

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Baddha Konasana (seated bound angle pose) with neck release

• Extend one arm out to the side
• Lengthen your spine
• Breathe up into your chest
• Lower the opposite ear to your shoulder
• Hold and breathe, or rock your head side to side

Matsyasana (fish pose) supported variation with your blocks under your shoulders and the back of the head.

Savasana or seated meditation to close.