HATHA YOGA PROGRAMME

1. Centering (5 mins)

Outline of Commentary

• My name is Janet Ollason, this is the first of 20 classes in Hatha Yoga
• Put up your hand if you have done yoga before?
• Does anyone have any health problems, or physical difficulties?

• Start by lying down on your back, legs slightly apart, arms a little away from your sides, palms facing upwards, relax
• Let the body settle into your mat
• Breathe normally
• For the next hour-and-a-half, put aside your worries, leave them outside the room
• Centre your awareness inside yourself, observe what your body is doing and think how it feels
• Now take control of the breath, deepen your breathing, without straining
• Keeping the breathing slow and deep, make it continuous, in and out with no pauses (saturation breathing), so as to energise the body with oxygen

2. Limbers (20 minutes)

• Breathing is very important in yoga. We are now going to do an exercise co-ordinated with the breath
• Raise your arms above your head, so that the backs of the hands are facing the floor
• Breathe deeply, stretching your arms and legs on each in-breath, relaxing on each out-breath
• Now take an in-breath, then bring your arms down beside your body while breathing out
• As you breathe in again, take them up above your head, stretching your arms and legs
• Move and breathe - up-in and down-out – do this slowly and deeply to your own natural breathing rhythm
• Take three more breaths, then come to your feet

• Stand tall but relaxed with your feet a little apart
• Raise your right arm above your head, fingers pointing upwards and palm facing left
• Stretch your arm up
• With each in-breath stretch a little further
• Take three more breaths
• Repeat with the left arm
• Repeat with both arms, then put your arms down

• Raise your arms sideways, in a straight line with your shoulders, palms facing the floor
• Stretch your arms sideways
• With each in-breath stretch a little further
• Take three more breaths, then put your arms down

• Hold your arms out in front, parallel to the floor, with palms facing each other
• Stretch them forwards as you breath in
• As you breath out, swing both arms and the top of the body to the right as far as you can, sliding the left palm along the inside of the right arm
• Let your head turn to the right too, and lastly let the eyes look right as well
• As you breath in, swing the arms and head back to the centre
• As you breath out, swing to the left, sliding the right palm along the left arm and turning and looking left
• Continue swinging from side to side and breathing – swing back-out return centre-in
• Do three more complete cycles, then put your arms down

• Bend your arms and place your fingers on the tops of your shoulders
• Rotate your elbows in one direction so as to move your arms in their sockets, breathing in as the arms move up, and out as they move down
• Then rotate in the opposite direction, still breathing up-in and down-out

• Now sit in a comfortable cross-legged position
• Bend your right leg and cradle it with both arms, move the leg from side to side and back to front, to get the full movement of the hip joint
• Make circles with the knee, first in one direction, then the other
• Now repeat with the other leg

3. Asanas (50 minutes)

• We are now going to do some yoga postures, or asanas, let’s start by lying on your back
• Bend your right leg as you breath in, and bring the thigh onto the chest
• Place both hands on the right knee, clasp it and raise head towards knee as you breath out
• Lower the head and hands as you breath in
• Straighten the right leg as you breath out
• Repeat but bending both legs
• Repeat but bending the left leg
• Continue with the cycle – right-both-left
• Maintain breathing co-ordinated with movement – bend-in, clasp-out, unclasp-in, straighten-out
• Do three more cycles, then sit up

• Sit with your legs out straight in front of you, feet at right-angles to legs, toes pulled towards your face
• Keep the back straight and the abdomen firm
• Place the hands on the floor on either side of the hips, fingers pointing towards the legs
• Breathe slowly and deeply

• On an in-breath, raise your arms above your head and stretch up
• As you breath out, bend forwards from the hips, keeping the back straight
• Breathe freely in and out, and on each out-breath try to bend from the hips a little more, letting gravity bring the body closer to the legs
• When you have gone as far as you can, drop the arms down to the legs and take hold of the shins or feet, wherever you can reach
• Let the head drop towards the knees
• On each out-breath, let the body come closer to the legs, let the elbows sink towards the floor
• Take three more breaths, then on an in-breath come up slowly to the starting position

• Lie back
• Bend the knees, place the feet flat on the floor close to the buttocks, a hip-width apart
• Place your arms at your sides with palms down
• On an in-breath, slowly raise the seat
• Holding the breath, push the seat up higher
• On an out-breath, slowly lower the seat
• Repeat this cycle three times – up-in, push-hold and down-out
• On the next cycle, raise the arms above the head at the same time as you raise the seat and breathe in
• Lower the arms as you lower the seat and breathe out
• Repeat this cycle three times, then lie back, straighten the legs and relax

• Sit up with the legs straight (Dandasana)
• Bend the right knee and place the right foot flat on the floor close to the buttock
• Put the right shoulder to the inside of the right knee and clasp the outside of the left leg
• Keep the spine upright
• Turn the upper body to the left and place the heel of the left hand flat on the floor behind you, fingers pointing away
• Try to twist so that the shoulders are parallel to the outstretched leg
• Hold for three breaths, trying to increase the turn
• Repeat to the left, then return to Dandasana

• Kneel on all fours, with the hands shoulder-width apart and the knees hip-width apart
• Point the hands forwards, the feet backwards and keep the thighs and arms vertical
• Breathing in, hold the spine and the head in a straight line (the ‘neutral’ position)
• Breathing out, raise the middle of the back, contract the abdomen, and keep the head down, bringing the shoulders and hips towards each other
• Hold for a count of 3
• Breath in and return to neutral
• Breath out and hollow the back, head up
• Hold for a count of 3
• Repeat this cycle three times with the breathing
• Next time you raise the back, breathing out, also bring the right knee towards the head
• Return the knee to the floor as you breath in
• As you hollow the back, breathing out, also raise and straighten the right leg behind you
• Return the leg to the floor as you breath in
• Then do the same with the left leg
• Repeat the full cycle three times, then rest sitting back on your heels

• Stay sitting on your heels and put your forehead on the floor
• Stretch your arms straight out in front of you, parallel to each other, palms on the floor
• Hold and relax, breathe freely

• Sit back on your heels, rest your forehead on the floor, place your arms palms up on the floor beside your legs – this is the child pose
• Rest in this position, breathing freely

• Place the crown of your head on the floor just in front of your knees
• Interlock your fingers behind your back
• On an in-breath, raise your seat and move your hands upwards away from your back, keeping your head on the floor
• Hold and breathe freely
• On an out-breath, return to the starting position
• Repeat for three times, then return to the child pose

• Very gradually straighten your back, bringing your head up last, and then come into a standing position
• Place the feet parallel and close together
• Let the arms hang at your sides, palms facing thighs
• Stand tall, tuck the tail in, keep the spine vertical, shoulders back, chin in and eyes level
• Breathe freely

• On an in-breath, step with the right leg about 3 feet to the side, feet parallel, and raise the arms sideways to shoulder level, palms down
• On the next in-breath, turn the right foot 90 degrees out and the left foot 15 degrees in
• Keep the hips facing forwards, but move them a little to the left
• Tilt the trunk and arms sideways down to the right, place the right hand on the leg or the floor behind the leg, and look up at the left hand which has palm facing forwards
• Breathe freely and hold for three breaths
• On an in-breath, raise the trunk, lower the arms and return to centre
• Repeat to the left side, then return to Tadasana

• Now take the weight on the right foot
• Bend the left leg, knee out to the side, and place the foot against the inside of the leg at any point that is comfortable
• Put the palms together in the prayer position
• Breathe and balance
• Then stretch the arms above the head, keeping the palms together
• Breathe and balance
• Lower the arms and the leg
• Repeat standing on the left leg, then sit down

4. Breathing (5 minutes)

• We are going to sit in the easy posture and do some breathing, before relaxation
• So put on extra clothing so that you will be warm
• Sit in Dandasana
• Bend the legs and cross one shin over the other
• Rest the hands on the knees
• Keep the spine upright
• Be sure you are comfortable

• Breathing or Pranayama
• Prana = life force or vital energy, essential to life
• Close your eyes
• Lengthen the back of your neck and let the chin drop a little
• Breathe normally
• Become aware of the movement of the ribs, going up and outwards as you breathe in, and down and inwards as you breathe out
• Become aware of the movement of the breath, in through the nose, down the neck, into the lungs, and out again
• Make each breath smooth, even, of similar volume
• Concentrate on your breathing for a few minutes

5. Relaxation (10 minutes)

• Lie on your back, legs slightly apart, arms a little away from your sides, palms facing upwards, relax
• Let the body settle into the mat, breathe normally
• Close your eyes

Yoga Nidra

• We will now go through all the parts of the body, creating an awareness of each part, and then relaxing it