Yoga-Snack 3/8/10 (1 hour program): Yoga Story

We started today by climbing a mountain (running in place up the mountain to warm up our bodies) and then at the top, we planted our feet, reached up high and greeted the sun. It made us feel warm, safe, good and happy. We continued with 3 more Sun Salutations, pressing up into cobra and using Downward Facing Dog Pose for mountain.

Sitting now in a grassy meadow, with the warm sun beating down on us, we took in some satisfying breaths: in through the nose and out through the mouth with a “hah”, out through the mouth with a sigh, and out through the nose, settling into some ugjiyi breathing.

We saw a beautiful butterfly (Fly Like A Butterfly and Butterfly Circle, legs in butterfly, hands go through the inside and then under the legs to hold hands with the person next to you) and a gentle wind blew by us (Simple Seated Twist). In the distance, we saw a mother bear and her cubs (so we got down into Downward Facing Dog Pose and did Bear Walk, forward with R hand, then L foot, then L hand, then R foot-and made some growls to be really bear-like). Squatting down to look in the grass, we see a (Praying Mantis) and then a Crane (Bakasana) rises up ahead of us.

We realize there is a stream nearby, so we (run) to get there. We hear the water and can feel the coolness as we get closer to the water. First we notice a small (Bridge) over the stream (although I also had the idea that we could use Bean Bags as rocks and try to step across them) and then we make our way to the water’s edge. We see a frog (Frog Push-ups), a (Turtle) a fish (Matsyasana) and then a beautiful rainbow (Side Plank-Vasisthasana).

(Running) again, we head for a group of Trees (Vrksasana) and then we see some fallen trees (we lay down and roll ourselves up in our mats and do a simple meditation of feeling the ground beneath us, feeling the cool air under the trees, seeing a pale green light filtered through the tree branches and feeling heavy, like a fallen log).

But in death, so comes life and bugs were alive on the tree and new growths had started to reach into the ground and up to the sky, so up we went, wiggling and wriggling and stretching and growing (well we also did “Dead Bug” here, just because we wanted to).

Rising for a fun and group rendition of “Happy Jio”. We then dropped to our mats, energized,happy and tired; ready for Savasana.

Namaste! Have a nice day!