A smooth and strong flow vinyasa class includes lots of hip opening as you build toward the peak pose Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (king pigeon or mermaid pose). Move through a heat-building standing series that strengthens the legs and core to create stability. Chest, shoulder, heart, hamstring, and outer hip-opening prepare you for the peak pose. Clara opens the class with a brief meditation that shares India’s creation myths on the Golden Egg.

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0PvxYEFGMCGMkjoCk5QR0f?si=Dy7erjZSSNuMM5_aLWP8Wg

Style: Vinyasa

Duration: 60-minutes

Level: open-levels

Props: 1 Block, 1 Strap/Belt

Focus: Hip opening, peak pose flow to King Pigeon/Mermaid

Location: Lila Familia Production Studio, Vancouver, BC

Opening Meditation 

Today’s class opens with one of the creation myths of India. Before there was anything in the world, there was nothing; there was only darkness and stillness. Come to a comfortable seat, child’s pose, or reclined, and as you close your eyes for meditation, drop into the darkness and silence.

From the darkness, there came a golden egg or the golden womb. As you breathe, envision a great gold egg. The egg is the symbol of potential, of life.

Eggs represent rebirth, fertility, rejuvenation, and eternity. The symbolism of an egg embraces the idea that there are no beginnings or endings; there is only the continuing cycle of what we perceive and receive from the world around us.

Breathe into the golden egg and envision how you’ll bring life to this egg. Perhaps consider an intention or something that you hope to give birth to or manifest. As you breathe, watch the egg contract and crack open. As the egg opens, it gives birth to masculine and feminine energies. In Samkhya tradition, the energies are known as Purusha and Prakriti; consciousness and the material realm. In yoga, we perceive these energies as Shiva and Shakti. Everything in the world we perceive is created from these unique energies and the divine balance of the polarities.

The offering for class today is to breathe potential into what we are creating together; imagine that the practice is the golden egg. May we tap into and play with the unique aspects of ourselves; may we witness the masculine and feminine within and create something magnificent from the merger of these energies.

Opening Flow 

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)

2x Sun Salutations opening to your breath.

Follow Clara’s cues or move at your own rhythm.

We’ll meet in a mountain pose.

Wave 1 

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Utkatasana (chair pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge) variation with cactus arms

• Inhale and take your arms a little wider
• Exhale and round your back to bring your elbows to touch in front of your chest
• Repeat several times.

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog) with hips stacked,

• Stay still or take hip mandalas.

Pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) variation

• Walk your front leg to the middle of your mat and flex the foot,
• Press the knife-edge of your front foot into the ground,
• Let your pelvis move towards the ground,
• Lengthen the crown of the head forward.
• Stay on your fingertips or take your forearms to the ground.

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Phalakasana (plank pose)

Chaturanga

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

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2) variation

• Keep your hands on the ground with warrior 2 legs.

Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (standing splits) variation

• Inhale and round the spine, take the extended knee to your nose,
• Exhale and lengthen the leg behind you and your chest forward.

Vrikshasana (tree pose) variation with one arm extended to the sky.

Tada Kapotasana (standing pigeon pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold) variation with toes crossed.

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Urdhva Hastasana (hands to sky)

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.

Wave 2 

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Utkatasana (chair pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge) variation with hands interlaced overhead

Ashta Chandrasana (high lunge) variation

• Take one hand behind your head with the elbow pointed toward the sky,
• Take the opposite hand to your elbow and breathe into your side waist.

Deer pose (aka 90/90 legs) variation

• Twist your torso, so your hands are on either side of your front foot.

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog) with hips stacked,

• Stay still or take hip mandalas.

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Phalakasana (plank pose)

Chaturanga

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

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Virabhadrasana I (warrior 1) variation

• Take one hand behind your head with the elbow pointed toward the sky,
• Take the opposite hand to your elbow and breathe into your side waist.

Vrikshasana (tree pose) variation with one arm extended to the sky

Uttanasana (forward fold) variation with toes crossed

Bakasana (crow pose) variation with toes crossed

Uttanasana (forward fold) OR Malasana (yogic squat)

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat the same sequence on the other leg.

Peak Pose Flow

*Use the block under your front hip and buttock to support your pelvis.

**Use a strap/belt/scarf around the ankle of your back foot.

***Take this pose 2x on either side, using the strap both times OR taking your hands to your foot.

****Take a downward dog, child’s pose, or wild thing between each set.

Set yourself up for pigeon pose with one shin forward on your mat; keep the knee in a broader angle of your hip and press your shin and ankle into the ground.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (king pigeon or mermaid pose) variation with strap

• Take your hands to the strap and extend your arms overhead, OR
• Walk your hands down the strap towards your ankle and hug your elbows tight to the side of your head.
• Hold and breathe.

Cooling Flow 

Take one backbend of your choice, options:

• Ustrasana (camel pose)
• Setu Bandha Sarvāṅgāsana (bridge pose)
• Urdhva Dhanurasana (wheel pose)
• A supported backbend with a block.

Supta Matsyendrasana (reclined spinal twist) variation of choice, options:

• Take the legs wide to make space in the low back, or
• Take your legs together with a block between the thighs, or
• Take eagle legs to deepen the twist.

Supta Baddha Konasana (reclined bound angle pose) OR a closing pose of choice.

Savasana.