The Yoga At hOMe Podcast: Recent Episodes
Carrie Klaus
Padmasana, part 1. In this episode we begin to look at padmasana, the lotus pose, and one of the most overlooked ways to prepare the body for this posture. We also focus on the symbolism of the lotus as a symbol of fertility and the energy of Durga as an aspect of the Mother Goddess.
Level 2
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
A short practice of mindful breathing and meditation. These simple practices help restore and rejuvenate the mind.
Level 1
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
The mental and physical aspects of yoga are a slow and steady process. Patanjali indicates this in sutra 1.14 when he says a practice is built over a long time with patience, devotion, and faith. In our physical practice we can’t expect to experience full freedom in our postures without first taking the time and developing the patience to focus on detailed attention. In this class we’ll slowly build to our peak pose, ardha chandra chapasana.
Level 3
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
With the regenerative spirit of spring and the increased activity, are you feeling pulled to take on more commitments? What’s the rush? What if instead of speeding up this spring you were to slow down and just enjoy the vibrant beauty of the season? In this asana practice you’ll slow down and pay detailed attention to slow preparation for our peak pose, baby rainbow.
Level 1
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
Like a lotus rising out of the muck, you don’t have to wait for your circumstances to be different in order to grow. Systematically prepare your body to rise like the lotus. This class features excerpts from Nicolai Bachman’s book Path of the Yoga Sutras.
Level 3
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
This is the slow flow companion episode to episode 34. This practice was recorded the Monday after the change to Daylight Savings. The sequence is designed to gently energize the body and help reset the internal clock. Use this practice anytime you’ve had a restless night, stayed up past your bedtime, or experience jet lag.
Level 2
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
This practice was recorded the Monday after the change to Daylight Savings. The sequence is designed to gently energize the body and help reset the internal clock. Use this practice anytime you’ve had a restless night, stayed up past your bedtime, or experience jet lag.
Level 1
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
Prana, our vital life force, moves in 5 different ways. In this class we’ll work through a sequence
that brings these movements of energy into harmony, leaving you feeling refreshed and balanced.
Level 2
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, blanket
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
Have you ever just stopped to ask yourself what YOU want? Not what society expects or wants from you, but what YOU really want. Make a connection to the unchanging part of who you are, your purusha,
Level 3
Suggested Props: Blanket, 2 blocks, strap
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
Vinyasa 90 Minutes
Reading an excerpt from Nicolai Bachman’s Path of the Yoga Sutra, we focus on the awareness that we are more than the outer forms that are constantly in flux and instead connect to the unchanging light within.
Level 3
Suggested Props: Blanket, 2 blocks, strap
Intro Music: Magic Hour by Dj Taz Rashid
Open your heart, try to see things from a different point of view, and listen to excerpts from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Mindfulness for All.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Ojas is our vital reserves, it’s like the oil in our vehicle, it keeps things running smoothly, and in modern culture we are all about a quart low. In Ayurveda ojas relates to our immunity - it’s our defense system…..defense not only from pathogens and environmental toxins, but our defense to negative energy. In this practice we’ll focus on building our vital reserves to build up our immunity.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Chaturanga free flow! Honoring our ancestors by living up to our full potential and living our life’s purpose.
Suggested props: 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Research has shown that our capacity to delay gratification is an indicator of success when it comes to achieving goals. Developing patience and our ability to self-regulate also builds our resilience. Practice patience with a sama vrtti breathing technique and a slow and mindful flow.
Suggested props: 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Perfect for a cool rainy day, or anytime you feel heavy, lethargic, or low on energy. This practice is quite energizing and not recommended late in the evening.
Suggested props: 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
It’s my opinion that alignment doesn’t have much benefit in terms of keeping bodies safe or healthy in a yoga class. Alignment’s usefulness in an asana practice is really as a focal tool. The aim of yoga is stilling the stirring of the mind and alignment can help us focus our attention in just one point - our body.
Suggested props: 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
By focusing on spatial awareness we can quiet the language centers of our brain and settle into a meditative state. In this way, yoga asana becomes a moving meditation.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
We are all familiar with the physiological benefits of breath, but what purpose does it serve spiritually? The breath is the anchor to the present moment. The breath is how we coax our mind to cooperate. In this practice, breath awareness leads to sirsasana (headstand).
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Intro Music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Prana enlivens us and connects us to our creative potential, it enables us to think clearly and supports the manifestation of our higher self. Hatha yoga enhances and directs the flow of prana and invigorates our body and mind. In this gentle practice we focus on breath awareness to recharge the pranic body.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
You’re Already Whole
Level: 1
We aren’t practicing yoga to “fix” ourselves or to “become whole”, we are practicing yoga to uncover our inherent wholeness - we just have to stop thinking in a fragmented way. In this practice we lengthen and open the side body, and explore how every part of the body is connected.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Dharma
Level: 2-3
Dharma is one of the 4 aims of life. Dharma is living a life with purpose, a life with meaning. Dharma is being of use in the world. Excerpt from Adyashanti’s The Most Important Thing. Prepare for and practice flying pigeon.
Suggested props: blanket, 2 blocks
Compassion in Crisis
Level: 2
Excerpt from Sharon Gannon’s essay Compassion in Crisis from the Jivamukti Focus of the month. In this practice, open your hips and heart in preparation for camel pose.
Suggested props: two blocks
Level: 2
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we have all dealt with weariness. In the midst of crisis we get busy “doing” and we forget about “being”. When we get caught up in the doing it exhausts us. In this practice we practice surrender, vairagya, taking right action and letting go of the results of those actions so as to avoid disappointment.
Suggested props: strap, two blocks
Level: 2
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we have all dealt with weariness. In the midst of crisis we get busy “doing” and we forget about “being”. When we get caught up in the doing it exhausts us. In this practice we will slow down and look within for the next right action.
Suggested props: strap, two blocks
Level: 2
Prepare for a successful Warrior 3 by infusing the practice with mindful attention.
Suggested props: strap, 2 blocks
Level: 1
Short on time? Get on your mat and get moving with this short and sweet sequence.
Suggested props: Blanket, blocks
Intro music: Magic Hour by DJ Taz Rashid
Level: 1
In this short practice, drop into the body and the heart and shed the thinking mind.
Suggested props: Blanket, blocks
Level:1
This sweet flow will help you reset your internal clock following daylight savings time, or any time you miss sleep.
Suggested props: 2 blocks, a blanket
Level: 2
Do you ever feel like your calendar is too full? Does it overwhelm you to think of all of the things you need to get done? Do you feel this way because you need to control every aspect of your life? Sometimes we just need to have faith that the Universe is a benevolent place and that we are supported....sometimes we just need to be totally out of control.
A slow flow of lunges, standing poses, backbends and seated meditation.
Suggested props: a strap, 2 blocks, a blanket
Level: 1
This quick practice is perfect as a way to get your day started, a mid day pick-me-up, or to help you settle in at the end of the day. Take just 20 minutes to drop into your body and come back to center.
Suggested props: strap, 2 blocks, blanket
Level: 2-3
This episode was recorded at our 6:00AM A.M. Warriors class. Each A.M. Warriors class follows a set sequence based on Jivamukti Yoga's popular Spiritual Warrior Sequence.
When you need a short, well rounded sequence that includes sun salutations, standing postures, twists, backbends, forward bends, and inversions this is the episode to choose.
Suggested props: 2 blocks, blankets
Level: 3
In this episode we work in synchronicity to build connection to one another. Through a series of shoulder extensions and front body openers we build to shoulder stand (alternatives are offered). This one is best practiced with a partner, so grab a friend and get on your mat!
Suggested props: 2 blankets, 2 blocks, a strap
Level: 2
Change is a part of life, and accepting that change is part of this practice. Change and transformation is how we grow - if we always stayed the same we'd be full of wasted potential. By changing with life we reveal our hidden strengths, our greatest potential. In this episode, we unlock our potential as we build up to vasiṣṭhāsana.
Suggested props: strap, block
Level: 2
In this slow flow we explore our saṃskāra (habit patterns) with a focus on the concept of śani, slowness, taking pause and finding some distance between stimulus and and the response. This class is a moving meditation between breath and body.
Suggested props: 2 blocks
Level: 3
Join us in this well rounded vinyasa 90 class as we explore the Sanskrit word atha (now), and what a privilege it is to have access to these teachings and practices of yoga. Warm up with static stretching, before moving into several rounds of sun salutation. Bakāsana and choice of inversion offered. Practice ends with seated meditation before savāsana.
Suggested props: blanket, two blocks
Level: 2
This is a level two reboot of Episode 4 - The Dance of Destruction. This practice includes sun salutations and was recorded during our Monday evening Slow Flow class.
Recommended props: 2 blocks, 1 strap
Level: 1
Invite in the energy of Śiva, the Lord of Destruction. Call on this destructive force to clear room for re-creation and re-building.
Backbends and hip openers lead to balancing in Natarajāsana, the pose named for Śiva as the cosmic dancer.
Recommended props: 2 blocks, 1 blanket, 1 strap
Level: 2
Feeling overwhelmed? Overextended? The truth is we can do a lot if we use our energy well. Often times our energy is scattered. This practice will help you "gather yourself back up" and carry on.
Recommended props: 2 blocks, strap
Level: 2
Well rounded flow, including lunging sun salutations. Reading from Alana Kaivalya's book "Myths of the Asanas". Contemplating the questions, have you lived as fully as you want to live, loved as fully as you want to love, been present for your life as much as you want to be present.
Recommended props: 2 blocks
Level: 1
In this debut episode we focus on appreciation - appreciation for the incredible web that supports us, from our strong body to all of the individuals, both known and unknown, that touch our lives in some way. This episode includes strengthening for the core, hips, and back chain, as well as a few brief restorative postures before settling in for a gratitude focused meditation.
Props: 1-2 blocks