Yoga with Melissa 109 Vishnu Series: Fish Pose or Matsyasana

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Yoga with Melissa 109 is on Fish Pose or Matsyasna. Vishnu’s first avatar was as a fish to guide Manu’s arc (with two of every creature) to safety after a great flood. Vishnu is the God of preservation and takes on various avatars to protect the universe as needed. This episode of Yoga with Melissa focuses on fish pose (matsya) with lots of twists and side bends to prepare our spines for the backbend. This class will open your chest, release tension from your neck and bring balance through the vishnu mudra and alternate nostril breathing to end the class.

The class begins in supported fish pose and then you will come down to a reclined twist and do some hip openers. We do some cobra building and some neck releases. We continue with our spinal releasing with cat pose and gate pose. In downward facing dog and pigeon we release our hips. When we come to standing we open our chest with a simple chest opener. Rabbit pose is our inversion before fish pose. We come up to seated for the seated twisting version of fish pose before finishing our class with the balancing alternate nostril breathing.

Yoga with Melissa 110, Vishnu Series Tortoise Pose

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Yoga with Melissa 110 is on Tortoise pose or Kurmasana. This is the second incarnation of Vishnu. We will explore the tortoise as a symbol of perseverance with a discerning mind. When has perseverance served me in my life? When I have persevered to my own detriment. This class features postures that open up your hips and groin and creates space at the back of your pelvis around your sacrum.

We begin with the teachings on Vishnu and then lie down to do some hip releases. When we sit up we do the tortoise mudra. We follow the mudra with frog pose and some lunge pose variations. We come to standing and do some variations on side angle pose. When we come back down to sitting we do several variations of tortoise pose and some twists to help us come into the pose. We finish with reclined bound angle pose.

Props Needed: bolster, 2 blocks

Yoga with Melissa 111 Vishnu Series: Lion’s Pose or Simhasana

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Yoga with Melissa 111 is on Lion’s Pose or Simhasana. In this hatha yoga class, we explore Vishnus incarnation as part lion part man. Through the practice of lions pose or simhasana you will explore your fierceness, bravery, and independence. Neck releases clear your throat passage so you won’t be afraid to roar if you feel threatened or intruded upon. Lions have huge paws that gracefully and fully connect to the ground. The practice features some yoga for your hands and feet to allow your lion’s paws to fully connect with the earth. In lion’s pose your eyes turn up to your third eye so there is also some eye yoga to strengthen your eyes.

Following the teachings on Vishnu’s incarnation as part lion, part man, we lie down for some eye yoga and neck releases. When we come to seated we do some hand and foot yoga. From kneeling we do some spinal releases and then we come to standing and continue our neck releases and eye yoga. Sun salutations prepare us for Lion’s Pose. We get a boat pose for core strength in there before we come to reclined bound angle pose to round out our practice.

Yoga with Melissa 70: Special Series on Chakras and their Archetyps, Crown Chakra and your Higher Self

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Yoga with Melissa is on your crown chakra and the archetype of your higher self. This is the final hatha yoga class in our special series on the chakras and their archetypes. Your crown chakra has to do with beauty, spirituality, and your connection with the Divine Source. In this hatha yoga, chakra yoga class we will focus on connecting with your Higher Self through yoga asana or yoga postures. Although the majority of books on chakras and yoga say that there are no postures for the crown chakra, I disagree. The bhagavadgita encourages us to make all our actions in service to the Divine.

This hatha yoga, chakra yoga class begins with a guided reflection and meditation on your crown chakra and higher Self and then we do three part breathing on its own and in bridge pose or setu bandhasana. We move into some cat and cow or marjaryasana to release your spine and then lunge pose or anjaneyasana to release your hips. When we come to standing we do some side bending and forward folding. We do some rabbit pose to release the ego and surrender to our higher self. We finish the class with some cow’s face pose and a mudra to connect with your higher self.

Are you looking for short yoga classes?

We have a series of 7 chakra 20-30 minute hatha yoga videos in our membership community for each day of the week. From Monday through Sunday you will explore the rights of each chakra as you move from your root chakra to your crown chakra.

We’d love for you to join our Membership Community where we have

1. value added content

2. community of like-minded people coming together from all around the world

3. receive ongoing support in deepening your yoga practice from myself, our leadership team, and our community through an online forum, weekly live classes on Mondays and monthly meetups and retreats.