AS YOU PRACTICE
Use your face to measure tension in your body. Kira Sloane, who designed the sequence, calls the face “the dashboard of the pranic system.” When your face is tight, your body is, too, which limits the flow of prana, or life force. Start the sequence with your face soft and check in often to find out if tension is accumulating there.
1. Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose) Sit with the soles of your feet together about 20 inches from your groin. Let your knees drop out to the sides. (If your knees are higher than the tips of your hip bones, sit on a folded blanket.) Walk your hands forward, letting your back softly round. Drop your head for a neck stretch. If that’s uncomfortable, support your head with your hands. Breathe into the back body. Stay for five minutes.
2. Cowboy Negotiation Pose (Malasana, variation) Take a wide squat with your feet turned out. If your heels lift, place a blanket or a rolled mat underneath them. Bring your weight into your left leg as you press your right knee away from your midline to create space in your hips. Stay for five breaths, then do the other side.
3. Hammock Pose (Prasarita Padottanasana, variation) Stand sideways on your mat with your legs wide apart, toes turned in and lifted to engage the inner arches. Walk your hands forward and draw the tailbone back. Let your upper back be like a hammock and your heart relax downward. Wake the legs by isometrically squeezing your heels together on the inhalation and pressing them apart on the exhalation. Then relax and use your aware-ness and breath to connect with prana flowing up and down your legs. Stay for five breaths.
4. Goddess Pose With Uddiyana Banda (Upward Abdominal Lock) Keep your wide stance and turn your feet out. Bend your knees over your toes. Straighten your legs and reach your arms overhead. Inhale deeply; as you exhale, bring your hands to your thighs, bend your knees, and stick out your tongue. Curl your tailbone under. At the bottom of the exhalation, draw your chin toward your chest and your navel toward your spine. Hold the breath out as your sway your hips side to side. After a few seconds, inhale, bring your arms overhead, and straighten your legs. Take a clearing breath in between holds. Do five rounds.
5. Virabhadrasana II (Warrior Pose II) With your legs straight and your arms overhead, inhale; on your exhalation, open up into Warrior II. Repeat this movement five times, until you eventually land in the right shape. Try softening your elbows and turning your palms up, connecting with the flow of prana from your heart out through your hands. Stay for 10 breaths, then repeat on the other side.
6. Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge), with external rotation From Warrior II, windmill your hands to the floor and come into Low Lunge. Stay for a few rounds of breath, draw your hips back on the inhalation, and sink forward on the exhalation. Turn your front foot out to externally rotate the hip. Relax your jaw and walk your hands back. If your hands are far from the floor, use blocks for support. Do both sides.
7. Rounded Plank Pose Transition into Adho Mukha Svanasana (Down-ward-Facing Dog Pose). Draw your tailbone under and round your back as you bring your shoulders over your wrists. Breathe into your full, open back. Feel the work in the belly; relax your neck and head. Stay for at least five breaths here.
8. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) From Rounded Plank, bend your elbows and lower your hips to the floor. Roll your shoulders back and down, and lift your heart. Slowly turn your head from side to side to stretch your neck. Stay for 10 breaths, then lower down and rest.
9. Rocket Cat (Bitilasana, variation) Curl your toes under and press your hips back as if to move into Balasana (Child’s Pose), but pause halfway. Exhale through your mouth and stick out your tongue. Alternate leaning right and left for 10 breaths to stretch.
10. Slumpy Swami Twist Find a comfortable cross-legged position like Sukhasana (Easy Pose). With your right hand on the floor behind you, place your left hand on your right knee. Inhale and exhale, curling your tailbone under and rounding your back. Exhale, draw your lower belly back, and twist your rib cage to the right. If you feel open, reach your left arm across your right knee and dip in deeper. After five breaths, relax, inhale, and slowly unwind. Switch legs and repeat on the other side. To finish, stay seated cross-legged, allowing for a few deep inhalations, fol-lowed by audible exhalations. Feel your neck lengthen, your jaw relax and your mouth soften.