A vinyasa yoga class features heart-opening with leg balancing and oblique (core) strengthening to prepare you for ustrasana (camel).

This class opens with a quote by Katherine May. You’ll move through two simple flows featuring Venus Mudra, lunges, warrior 3, variations of side plank and gate pose, and camel pose to express the front body. Close your practice with a twisted child’s pose and a brief meditation or savasana.

Style: Vinyasa

Duration: 25-minutes

Level: open-levels

Props: 2 blocks

Focus: Backbends

Location: Vancouver, BC

Spotify Playlist: Resting In My Thoughts

Quote to anchor the class:

“By closing my eyes, however briefly, and resting my thoughts on the core of my perception, I can gain some of the peace that meditation brings me. I have come to think of it as a prayer. Although I ask for nothing and speak to no one within it. It is a profoundly non-verbal experience. A sharp breath of pure being amid a forest of words. It is an untangling. A moment to feel the true ache of desire, the gentle wash of self-compassion, the heart’s swell of thanks. The tic-tic-tic of existence. It is a moment when alone, I am at my most connected with others.”

— Excerpt from Wintering by Katherine May.

Wave 1

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Urdhva Hastasana (hands to sky)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge) flowing variation with Durga’s sword

• Inhale and take your hands overhead in Venus Mudra
• Exhale and keep your fingers interlaced as you move your hands forward and down
• Inhale and open your arms wide to either side
• Exhale and reach your arms overhead
• Inhale and take Venus Mudra with your index finger and thumb towards the sky
• Exhale and take your arm forward and down
• Repeat several cycles

Utthan Pristhasana (lizard) variation

• Take your hands to the inside of your front foot
• Inhale and lift your chest with your back knee on the ground
• Exhale and extend the back leg as your round your spine, taking your chin to your chest
• Inhale and lower the back knee as you arch the spine
• Exhale and extend the back leg as you round the spine
• Repeat several times

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Phalakasana (plank pose)

Chaturanga

Bhujangasana (cobra pose) OR Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward dog)

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

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

Anjaneyasana (low lunge) variation

• Take your hands behind your head and spread your elbows wide
• Inhale and lift from the center of your chest, leaning your head into your palms
• Exhale and work to straighten your front leg as you round your back, taking chin to chest
• Repeat several times

Anjaneyasana (low lunge)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Urdhva Hastasana (hands to sky)

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.

Wave 2 

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Virabhadrasana III (warrior 3)

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation

• Inhale and stay in a high crescent lunge
• Exhale and take Venus Mudra as you bend your back knee, so it hovers

Virabhadrasana III (warrior 3)

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (standing hamstring extension) with hands to the sky

Virabhadrasana III (warrior 3)

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation with the back knee on the ground

Vasisthasana (side plank) variation with the bottom knee on the ground

• Extend your top arm and lift your back foot
• Inhale and extend your arm and leg away from each other
• Exhale and take your elbow to knee to engage the obliques
• Repeat several times

Parighasana (gate pose) variation with the toes of the extended leg lifted

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose) with the bottom knee down

Ardha Hanumanasana (half splits pose) with hands inside the front foot

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Phalakasana (plank pose)

Chaturanga

Bhujangasana (cobra pose) OR Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward dog)

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

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

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation

• Bring your hands to the back of your head, stay here or—
• Bring the same palm to the calf of the back leg and hug your belly in and up
• Breath into the center of your chest in this modified version of camel pose

Anjaneyasana (lunge) variation with back knee lifted

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.

Floor Postures 

Ustrasana (camel)

Parivrtta Balasana (twisted child’s pose)

Savasana or seated meditation to close.