Anjali Yoga Series #1

3. ANJALI YOGA Series #1

Description

Start: Heart Anjali
1. Da Vinci Open Human
2. Da VInci Curving Posture
3. Reach for Heaven (and Gather the Cup of Light)
4. Offer Love & Blessings to the 4 Directions
5. Shake the Body Temple
6. Head Circles in the Sky
7. Looking back at the Mountain
8. Writing Circles Left & Right
9. Belly Yoga (4 moves)
10. Infinity in the Legs & Infinity in the Arms (4 Directions)
11. One leg Stand
12. Life on Tip Toes
13. Happy Walking
14. Jogging the Heart Beat
15. Tap Dancing
16. Offering

Completion: Heart Anjali

Start: Heart Anjali

• Bring your hands together in the Anjali Heart mudra
• Bow to others and to the Self.

 <GL-SL> <DB> <DB3> <RE>

Note: throughout the descriptions, we use the following abbreviations:
<A> = Anjali Mudra to Self & others
 = Check your Posture
<G> = Check your Gaze
<GL-SL> = Check your Grounding line / Spirit Line.
<DB> = Take a Deep Breath
<In-B> = in-breath (inspiration)
<Out-B> = out-breath (expiration)
<DB3> = Take a Deep Breath (filling the 3 air balloons)
<RE> = Run your Energy

1. Da Vinci Open Human

• Bring feet apart (inner sides of mat) to have a stable base stand.
• Bring arms down and put hands back to back (at the level of base chakra).
• Slowly raise elbows, arms and hands as if pulling energy up.
• At heart level, turn hands around to touch palm to palm (Anjali mudra) and continue to raise the energy with your hands.
• Extend hands & arms above the head and open them in a large circle, like a flower.
• Come to the Da Vinci Human position. Find the arm angle that feels good to you.
• <DB> Open your heart and the front of the body.
• Feel the opening and the freedom to be completely open. You are OPEN TO THE UNIVERSE. Sing it...

2. Da Vinci Curving Posture

• <DB> <GL>
• Slowly raise arms up and backwards.
• Raise your head and open your mouth.
• Curve the back + open the chest and the front of the body.
• Do 9 gentle pulses arching the body backwards. Adapt your breath to the pulses.

3. Reach for Heaven (and Gather the Cup of Light)

• Come back to vertical center.
• Move your arms up until they are extended above the head, as if REACHING FOR HEAVEN.
• We do 2 sets of 9 "reaching up", starting on the left.
• As your left hand reaches up, your right foot & leg are rising up too (pulled in a diagonal).
And as your right hand reaches up, your left foot & leg are rising up too.
• Start with the left hand then switch to the right hand (count 1). Do 9 counts.
• <DB> Start with the right hand and do 9 counts.
• After the 2 sets, reach up to Heaven with both hands.
• Extend your reach to a maximum and GATHER heaven's energy in your two hands forming a CUP.
• Imagine/feel that you are gathering LIGHT from Heaven and bringing it down to your human body & life.

4. Offer Love & Blessings to the 4 Directions

• Form the Cup of Light into an Anjali mudra .
• Bring your hands slowly down to the level of the Heart.
• Brush your hands against your 3rd Eye and Throat chakras and infuse them with light.
• <In-B> From the Heart, extend your hands in front (still touching) and open them like a flower. The Anjali mudra containing the seed of love is now blossoming forth. <Out-B>.
Come back to Anjali mudra.
• <In-B> Again extend the hands and open them more (they are now apart). <Out-B>
• <in-B> For the 3rd time, extend the hands and arms and let them open up like in a wide embrace. Feel the energy flowing from above, through your head, heart, arms & hands and out to the direction you are facing. <Out-B>
• Feel that your love energy is going around the Earth, following the great circle lines and feeding the earth energy grid.
• You can send a prayer/intention along for your love to reach & touch others who are right now needing spirit support & comfort.
• Come back to center with Anjali mudra. <DB>
• Take one step forward.
• Brush your hands in a diagonal, bridging Heaven and Earth. (See video)
• Come to the Blessing position and send out your Blessing to the world, in the direction you are facing.
• [Repeat Offering Love & Blessings in the other 3 directions]

5. Shake the Body Temple

• Come back to center. <DB> <GL> <SL>
• Loosen your feet (left + right) and ankles by shaking them around.
• Shake your knees and legs.
• Shake the butts (feel them being like gello), the hips and the lower body.
• Continue to move the shaking up to your torso, shoulders and head.
• See if you can keep the various shaking motions going on at the same time.
• Find a rhythm to keep shaking your body like in a dance.
• See & feel your body loosening and allow yourself to enter a mode of "letting go".
• Use the grounding line to flush out unwanted energies.

6. Head Circles in the Sky

• <DB> From Vertical Center, bend your your forearms at elbows and cross them over with left hand resting on right shoulder and right hand resting on left shoulder (right forearm on top of left forearm).
• We do 2 sets of 9 wide head circles, as if CIRCLING THE SKY. On the second set, we switch arms.
• When the head is circling in (180º), we in-spire. When the head is circling out (360º), we ex-pire.
• Start on the left, in-spiring with the first half of the circling and ex-piring with the second half.
• It is good practice to make the circle as wide as possible and check that we do not skip some portions. Also the speed of circling has to be as even as possible.

7. Looking back at the Mountain

• Bring feet apart (outside sides of mat). Look straight up <G>.
• Bend the knees and put hands (palms down) on knees. The arms are straight and supporting the shoulders.
• Bring the right shoulder forward and turn your head looking back 180º opposite your center gaze.
• Bring the left shoulder forward and switch your head to the other side looking back as far as possible.
• Do 2 sets of 9 complete turns. Left + right makes one turn.

8. Writing Circles Left & Right

• Extend right leg to your right (leg is straight). Your left elbow rests on your left knee (left leg is still bent).
• With your right arm and hand trace 9 large circles, first clockwise then counter-clockwise.
• Your Triangle Gaze is focused at the center of the circles.
• Switch to the other side: extend your left leg straight, put right elbow on right knee and trace circles with left arm & hand.

9. Belly Yoga (4 moves)

Swing Front-Back:
• <GL> Put hands on hips and thrust lower spine (sacrum) back, curving your lower back.
• Thrust sacrum forward. This makes 1 count.
• Do 2 sets of 9 counts.

Swing Left-Right:
• Thrust your hips to the left, pushing the motion as much as comfortable.
• Switch and thrust hips to the right.
• Do 2 sets of 9 counts.

Raise Hip:
• Lift left foot and leg to raise the left hip.
• Lift right foot and leg to raise the right hip. This makes 1 count.
• Keep the rest of the body straight.
• Do 2 sets of 9 counts.

Belly Dancing:
• Turn your hips around as if you were churning a big barrel underneath.
• Go 9 circles clockwise and 9 circles counter-clockwise.
• Make the turns as round and as wide as possible.

10. Infinity in the Legs & Infinity in the Arms (4 Directions)

• Bring feet outside the mat.
• Start rotating your right knee in a clockwise direction.
• Do 9 rotations.
• Switch to rotate the left knee counter-clockwise for 9 counts.
• Now, do 1 clockwise rotation with right knee followed by 1 counter-clockwise rotation with left knee. This makes 1 count. Do 9 counts.
• Notice that your entire body is going into an "infinity sign" pattern of movement.
• Come back to center. <DB>
• Grab (or imagine) a beach playing ball and hold it between your two hands in front of you. The ball is an energy ball. Feel the tingling between your hands.
• First going left, then (reverting your hands) going right, create an "infinity sign" swinging motion.
• Do 9 counts facing one direction.
• Do 9 counts facing each of the 3 other directions.
• Be as flowing and gentle as possible. You are like swimming in a soft stream of light.

11. One Leg Stand

• <GL> <SL> <G> Plant your left foot firmly on the ground and firm up your left leg and hip.
• Bring your right foot on your left knee.
• Raise your arms mid way up to find a good balance point.
• Take a few deep breaths.
• Raise your arms above your head and join your hand (index fingers pointing).
• Open your right leg & knee.
• Practice finding a good balance by focusing on your Grounding/Spirit line axis.
• Swith to the other side.

12. Life on Tip Toes

Set #1:
• Raise your body on the toes and let it slowly come back on the heels.
• Do a set of 9 counts.
• Stay on your toes and tip toe backward 9 little steps. Then tip toe forward for 9 little steps back to center position.

Set #2:
• Do another set (9 counts) of raising your body on the toes.
• Stay on your toes and tip toe around the circle (clockwise) for 9 counts.
• Switch and tip toe around the circle (counter-clockwise) in the other direction for 9 counts.

Set #3:
• Do the third set (9 counts) of raising the body on the toes.
• Stay on the toes and now raise your arms above your head, extend your hands and fingers and STRETCH all the way upwards while you also stretch all the way pushing on your toes. This is like an extension of the Da Vinci posture.
• Push & stretch while keeping your grounding line going.

13. Happy Walking

Slow Walking:
• With hands on your side, do 3 sets (9 counts) of walking on the spot.
• Start with the right foot. Raise the heel until the foot is on tip toe and then lower the foot again to fully feel the ground.
• At the end of the 3rd set, start slowing down the pace for counts 7-8-9.

Zen Walking:
The Zen Walking practice extends yogic mindfulness into daily life as we all have to walk daily but most often do in an unconscious way.
• Come into Anjali mudra.
• Shift your weight to your right side.
• <In-B> Lift your left foot starting with the heel until your left foot is on tip toes.
• <Out-B> Start putting your left foot on the ground, from tip to heel.
• Time your in-breath with rising your foot and your out-breath with lowering it.
• Switch to the other foot.
• Feel your conscious attention entering this act of walking the earth in Beauty.
• "One step equals totality" (Japanese poet-monk Santoka).

14. Jogging the Heart Beat

This is an aerobic series of moves whose goal is to increase the heart's beat, followed by rest and 3 deep breaths. This alternation builds up the Heart Rate Variability, an essential factor of health.

Hip Twists:
• Lift your right knee and bring it over your left knee.
• Switch: lift the left knee and bring it over the right knee. This is 1 count.
• Do 4 sets of 9 counts, starting with the opposite knee each time.

• Rest at center. 3 <DB> <GL> <SL>

Light Jogging:
• Starting with the right foot, do 9 counts of normal (light) jogging.
• Do 4 sets of 9 counts.
• Continue into High Jogging.

High Jogging:
• Staring with the right foot, do 9 counts of high (jumping) jogging.
• Do 4 sets of 9 counts.

• Rest at Center. 3 <DB> <GL> <SL>

Side Jogging:
• Thrust your right leg out on the right side.
• Switch to thrusting the left leg on the left side.
• Do 4 sets of 9 counts.

• Rest at Center. 3 <DB> <GL> <SL>

15. Tap Dancing

• Bring feet apart.
• Left foot "taps" alongside the right foot and then behind the right foot.
• Switch to other foot: right foot "taps" alongside left foot and then behind. This makes 1 count.
• Do 2 sets of 9 counts, starting set 2 from the right foot.
• Start again with tapping left foot alongside right foot. This time bring your two arms in a circle above your head, finger tips touching.
• When the left foot is tapping behind the right foot, the two arms come back alongside the body.
• Do 2 sets of 9 counts, starting set 2 from the right foot.
• Make this a graceful, flowing, rhythmic dance of beauty>
• Bow in Anjali mudra to others and to Self.

16. Offering

• Start at center.
• Step forward with left knee. Bring your 2 hands forward in an open cup offering. Count "1".
• Come back to center and extend arms on both sides, parallel to the floor (fingers extended). Count "2".
• Extend left leg behind (right knee at 90º) and bring arms on both sides of your back.
Count "3" and bounce 3 times.
• Come back to center. Vigorously tap your left foot on the ground, counting "4".
• Simultaneously lift your 2 arms and hands upwards to the sky, lifting your head and count "5". Be the Offering.

• Step forward with right knee. Bring your 2 hands forward in an open cup offering. Count "1".
• Come back to center and extend arms on both sides (fingers extended). Count "2".
• Extend right leg behind (left knee at 90º) and bring arms on both sides of your back. Count "3" and bounce 3 times.
• Come back to center. Vigorously tap your right foot on the ground, counting "4".
• Simultaneously lift your 2 arms and hands upwards to the sky, lifting your head and count "5". Be the Offering.

This completes one round. For round #2, bounce 6 btimes. For round #3, bounce 9 times.

Completion: Heart Anjali

• Bring your hands together in the Anjali Heart mudra
• Bow to others and to the Self.

NAMASTE!