Yoga with Melissa 88, Yoga Stories, Kurmasana or Tortoise Pose

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Yoga with Melissa 88 is on Kurmasana, tortoise pose. Kurmasana was Vishnu’s second incarnation. He took the avatar of a tortoise to offer his back for the churning of the ocean to bring out the nectar of immortality. Tortoise pose reminds us of the value of withdrawing our senses from the world to find peace within. This pose offers us a beautiful hatha yoga class of hip openers. It will leave you with a wonderful broad feeling across the back of your pelvis and sacrum.

You will begin with legs up the wall while I share with you the story of Kurmasana. We stay with your legs up the wall for a hip and hamstring opening sequence using the wall as a prop, we will also include some abdominal practices here. When we move away from the wall we will do some cat/cow to warm up your spine, along with some more hip openers. When we come to standing, we continue to use the wall to open up your hips, hamstrings and side body. Coming back down to seated we practice kurmasana or tortoise pose and withdrawal of the senses.

Yoga with Melissa 87 : Yoga Stories Virabhadrasana with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 87 is on the Warrior Poses. In this hatha yoga class we will connect with our inner warriors who bravely battle with the universal energy of self-ignorance, the ultimate source of our suffering. Drawing from the story of Virabhadra who rises up out of one of Shiva’s hairs thrown to the ground in a fit of anger, we will be practicing warrior I, II & III. Also thrown into the mix is “dying warrior” for good practice in letting go. By practicing the warrior poses we can learn to cultivate intelligent action over reaction. The true fight of the warrior is against our reactive minds.

This hatha yoga class begins with the story of Virabhadra and then we come to standing to do a short vinyasa sequence to release your shoulders. From there we come back to the ground for two more gentle flow sequences to release your shoulders, hips and spine and to prepare your legs for the warrior poses. When we come to kneeling we practice modified versions of the warrior poses in preparation for the standing versions. In standing we practice warrior one, warrior two, warrior three and then dying warrior. There is also a reverse plank towards the end of the class.

Yoga with Melissa 86 Yoga Stories: Eagle Pose with Nienke from Yoga Bliss

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Yoga with Melissa 86 is on eagle pose, Gaurudasana: Mythical King of the Birds. The eagle pose mainly focuses on the shoulders and hips but also improves flexibility in all the major joints in the body: ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Please be mindful of any shoulder or knee issues/injuries. The eagle invites us to connect with wisdom, clarity, freedom, strength, courage and illumination.

This hatha yoga class begins in a seated position with some shoulder releases. From there you will come to cat pose and downward facing dog for some spinal releases. When you come to standing you flow through variations of eagle pose for focus and concentration. When you come back to lying you do a reclined twist version of eagles legs and then rest in a final savasana. Thank you Nienke for a fabulous class combining the best of hatha yoga and yoga flow to explore eagle pose.

Yoga with Melissa 85: Yoga Stories Nataranjasana with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 85 is Natarajasana or Dancer Pose. This hatha yoga class, real yoga for real people, we explore the story of king dancer pose. In this pose Shiva expresses himself as the cosmic dancer to release our souls from the snares of illusion. Throughout this class we will explore the cycles of death, birth and rebirth as a dance of bliss for our own welfare. If our soul goes through a cycle of births and rebirths as part of being human we can be inspired by Shiva to joyfully dance the dance of destruction to rebirth to open to the best in our lives.

Our hatha yoga class begins with the story of Shiva, the Lord of Dance. We start reclined with some hip and quad openers. Then we come to kneeling and continue our hatha yoga class with hip and quad openers. When we come to standing we release our shoulders with standing cow’s face arms and more quad openers before practicing dancer pose or natarajasana. When we come back down to our mats we practice half bow pose or ardha dhanarasana. We round out this hatha yoga class with a seated twist and forward fold.

Yoga with Melissa 84 : Yoga Stories Trikonasana/Triangle with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 84 is on trikonasana or triangle pose. This hatha yoga class explores the story of the “trinity” behind trikonasana. The trimurti of Gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer are mirrored by the trinity of Goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali. The three gunas will be explored rajas, sattva and tamas. The class features three different breath practices to reflect the three gunas. We’ll have some fun with tiger pose and of course, trikonasana will take front and center stage.

We begin our hatha yoga class with the story of triangle and then move into reclined hand to big toe pose. From there we do two versions of pigeon pose. When we come up to seated we do kapala bhati breath or skull shining breath and alternate nostril breathing or nadi shodhana. We follow with tiger pose. From there we move into pyramid pose and then come into triangle pose. We finish with a balancing mudra that balances your rajasic and tamsic states to find sattva.

Yoga with Melissa 83, Yoga Stories, Lord of the Fish Pose with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 83 is on Lord of the Fish Pose. There are two versions of fish pose: matsyana, which is the back bending fish, and matsyendrasana, the seated twist. Matsya was the first avatar of Vishnu who saved the great sages, birds, animals and plants from a flood that destroyed the world. Matsyendrasana was the first yoga teacher, a fish who Siva unknowingly imparted all the teachings of yoga one day while sitting by the water’s edge. Matsyendrasana went on to teach others and the classic text Hatha Yoga Pradipika was the result. This hatha yoga class will free up your thoracic spine for fish pose and then practice with twisting which is fabulous for your internal organs and releasing tension.

We begin our hatha yoga class with the story of the Lord of the Fish. Then we come to a reclined position to release your shoulders, upper back and neck. A reclined twist and cobra building continue with the release of your spine in preparation for matsyasana. When we come to kneeling we do some thread the needle, revolved lunge pose and even some revolved boat pose which works your core. This hatha yoga class has a lot of revolved poses in it: revolved wide-legged standing forward fold, revolved triangle. We even do some dolphin pose which will build strength in your upper body and add some movement for your thoracic spine. We round out our class with matsyasana and matsyendrasana. The class finishes with the matsya mudra, the fish mudra for healing.

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