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Hello, I'm Peggy Cappie, and welcome to Yoga for the Rest of Us.
This is not your typical yoga tape.
You don't need to be thin, young, and a contortionist to do this program.
I've designed this video for you whether you're slightly out of shape, very out of shape,
old, middle-aged, or young, or perhaps recovering from an illness or injury.
You can do this tape.
I've created this program based on 20 years teaching experience, and I have fine-tuned
it so that it's easily done all at once or in three 20-minute segments to fit into a
busy schedule.
Part one is a simple series of warm-up exercises.
Don't underestimate their effectiveness because they look so easy.
Part two is a group of standing poses designed to increase leg strength and balance.
Do these with a chair if you need to.
You'll still get the full benefit.
Part three is a flowing series of yoga poses that builds endurance and stamina.
They'll increase the health of your heart and your lungs.
The segment ends with a restorative pose and a wonderful deep relaxation.
Please don't skip this part.
By doing this video, you'll have more energy to do whatever you need to do plus more, whether
it's keeping up with your children or your grandchildren, going dancing, or just doing
errands.
You'll be able to get in and out of your car, bathtub, or even up and down the stairs with
greater balance and ease.
You'll be able to relax more easily, something we all need.
And you'll stretch out those places that don't seem to stretch so easily anymore, so you
can reach up to the top shelf of your pantry.
You'll be able to bend more easily to pick up the newspaper from your lawn or reach the
paper towels from underneath the sink.
I wish you could talk with my students.
Some of them have been in my class for over 10 years.
They would share with you the long-term benefits of doing this video as often as you can, every
day or even once a week.
They'd tell you it works for them.
It will work for you.
When the producers of this video, WGBH in Boston, asked my oldest student, a 96-year-old
who doesn't seem a day over 70, what she would say to someone about this class, she looked
them in the eye and said with a big smile, just do it.
So let's get started.
Welcome.
I'm Peggy Cappie with Yoga for the Rest of Us.
Let's start with an exercise in noticing.
So go ahead and sit back in your chair.
Place your feet on the floor, hands in your lap.
And feel the backbone, your spine, really stretching upwards.
Just be aware of the sensation of your body.
Feel the floor against your feet, the chair against your thighs.
Be aware even of the pressure of your hands against your lap or legs.
And become aware of your breathing.
Become aware of the fact that you are breathing.
So direct your attention and watch each breath in and each breath out.
And begin to name each breath silently so that as you breathe in, the word in or the
phrase I know I'm breathing in, and as you breathe out, the word out or I know I'm breathing
out.
And being aware of the breathing, I'd like you to notice what part of the body expands
as you breathe in.
The upper chest, do the ribs move?
Does the belly extend outward?
So now I want you to take a very deep full breath in and hold it for a moment.
And as you breathe out, let that air out slowly.
Make the exhalation nice and long.
And then once again, a deep full breath in.
Hold the breath for a moment.
And then go ahead and breathe out.
A nice long, slow, complete breath out.
And then one more time, a nice, beautiful, deep breath in.
And then release the breath, relaxing the shoulders, the jaw.
And now go ahead and take an inhalation nice and full.
And this time as you breathe out, go ahead and lower the head.
Bring the chin towards the chest.
Let out all the air.
Hold the head forward for a moment as you begin to breathe.
And feel the stretch in the back of your neck.
And now with your next inhalation, go ahead and lift your head back up.
Tilt your chin up towards the ceiling.
And bring the head back forward again, breathing out.
Inhaling up.
Breathing forward.
Inhaling up.
As you continue this movement, coupled with the breathing, for the next several breaths,
begin to take your awareness to your throat and to the back of your neck.
And feel that stretch in the front part of your throat as you lift the head and in the
back of the neck as you bring your head forward.
One more movement in each direction.
And back to center.
So now we'll take some stretches for the side of the neck.
So start with a deep breath in.
And as you exhale, go ahead and drop the right ear towards the right shoulder.
Inhale up.
And the other way.
Inhaling back to center.
Exhaling to the side.
Inhaling back up.
Exhaling to the side.
Going back and forth from side to side.
And back to center.
So we'll take another movement for the head, and that is turning the head smoothly from
side to side.
Again, start with a deep breath in.
And as you exhale, turn the head to look over the shoulder.
Then breathe in and bring the head back to center.
Exhale to the other side.
And then back to center.
Over to one side.
Through center and the other side.
So we started with three simple neck movements to begin to loosen up the neck.
And now we'll take those movements into the spine.
So stretch the hands forward to your knees.
Arms straight.
And start by taking a deep breath in.
And as you do, extending the spine, lifting the spine.
So breathing in, elongate the spine, stretch upward, lift the chest, and look up.
And then just return back to center.
Let's do one more.
Inhaling, stretching out, pulling the shoulder blades back.
Back to center.
So the second half of the movement is curling the spine over.
So we'll start with a deep breath in.
And as you exhale, drop the head forward, the shoulders round, and curl the back, bringing
the head down as far as possible.
Breathing in, round the spine back up.
And then go ahead and extend the spine upwards, lifting the chest bones, exhaling, rounding
forward.
And inhaling, stretching up.
Breathing out.
And breathing in.
And once more, each direction.
And returning to neutral.
So now we'll take the movement from side to side.
So take your right hand to the middle of the chair.
Extend the other arm up.
Take a deep breath in, lift up, and as you breathe out, come across and over to the side.
Breathing in, you come back up and change the arms.
Exhaling over.
Inhaling up, changing the arms.
Breathing out.
And breathing in.
Breathing out.
And breathing in.
And one more time to each side.
As you come over to side, now stay over here for a couple breaths and be aware of your
breathing.
And with each breath, stretch that arm longer.
Bring it closer to your ear.
And then come on up.
Another deep breath in and exhaling over to the other side and holding the pose and breathing.
And on up.
And back to center.
So now we'll take a twisting motion for the spine.
Taking the hand to the opposite leg, other arm behind the chair, twisting around to look
behind, and then back through center and the other way.
Breathing in as you come back to center.
Breathing out as you twist.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Now let's go to each side and hold.
So inhaling, be aware of lifting the spine and exhaling the twist.
Inhaling up.
Exhaling, twisting.
One more.
Back to center and to the other side.
Breathing in and out.
Inhaling, extending the spine upwards.
Exhaling, twisting.
And once again, inhaling up.
Exhaling, twist.
And back to center.
Great.
Now let's move down to the shoulders and loosen them.
So inhaling, lift the shoulders high.
Exhaling, press them down.
So breathing in, you're lifting the shoulders.
Breathing out, you're lowering.
And again.
And then this time we'll circle the shoulders.
So lift them up and roll them back and down.
Bring them forward and up.
Nice, huge circles.
Breathing in each time you lift the shoulders.
Breathing out each time you lower.
One more in this direction.
And now let's change the direction.
Lift the shoulders and roll them forward and down.
Breathing in as you lift up.
Breathing out as you bring them forward.
And one more.
And then one more time, change the direction so that you lift the shoulders and roll them
down.
One more.
And that's good.
Now we're going to increase the movement in the shoulders by adding an arm.
So with a deep breath in, we're going to lift the arm up to the ceiling.
So inhaling, extending up.
Exhaling, circling around.
Breathing in as you lift the arm.
Breathing out as you take it around.
This time adding a wrist circle.
Inhaling, circling the wrist, and exhaling down.
And now we'll change direction.
So lift up from behind.
Change the circle of the hand and stretch forward and down.
Breathing in as you lift.
Circling, stretching forward.
And one more.
And reaching forward.
And once again, changing the direction, lifting up, circling the hand, and slowly bringing
it around and down.
Rest your hand on your thigh.
And notice the difference now in the two arms and hands.
Notice the sensation in the wrists, in the lower arm, and in the shoulder area.
So now we'll do the other side.
Breathing in deeply and breathing out fully.
Let's do one more in this direction.
And now reverse the direction.
Lift from behind.
Change the circle of the hand.
And stretch way out.
Breathing in and circling the wrist.
And breathing out and down.
One more.
Reaching forward.
And once again, reversing and lifting up, circling the hand, and in slow motion, taking
it back and down to stretch from the shoulder all the way forward to the chest.
And once you place this hand down, also notice the sensation.
The feeling in the wrist joint, the feeling in the muscles of the arm, and the feeling
in the shoulder joint.
So let's loosen up the hands a little bit more.
Go ahead and lift your hands.
Press the palms forward.
And use a lot of energy.
Make the arms really strong.
And now lower the fingers down and bring them back up.
Lower them down and bring them back up.
Moving down and up once more.
And now soften the fingers like the fingers are scarves.
Up and pulling them down.
Very soft.
And just notice the quality of movement.
Now bring the hands back up with some force, with some strength.
Make the fingers really straight, arms really straight.
And let's move the fingers over to one side and back.
And to the other side.
Back and forth.
From side to side.
And now let's soften this.
Make the fingers very soft and a soft movement as you move the hands back and forth.
And once again, make the fingers very strong and stretch them out in front.
And move the fingers from side to side, working the wrist joint.
And this one too, very softly now.
With very little effort.
And then release the hands and rest them for a moment.
Take a deep breath in.
And out.
So a little bit more for the wrists.
The wrists often are neglected and so we want to give them some attention and bring increased
circulation to the wrist area.
So make two fists.
And very slowly begin to bring the hands towards one another and apart, circling the wrists
in opposition.
And you'll need to find a breathing pattern.
And then changing the direction, going the other way.
And breathing.
And then stop the wrists and let them move both in the same direction, parallel.
And you're breathing.
And stop and go the other way.
And that's good.
Once again, as you place your hands in your lap, feel the sensation in the wrists.
That sensation tells you that you've been using those muscles and that you've been working
the joint, the joint on each hand.
So now let's move down to our feet and legs.
So go ahead and extend the feet out.
Bring the toes back.
Stretch through the heels.
Place your hands on the thigh muscle and really lift those legs as high as you can and feel
how the thigh muscle works to help hold up the legs.
And you're aware of your breathing.
Easy, deep breaths in.
And full, slow breaths out.
Lift a little higher and then just relax the legs for a moment.
Deep breath in.
And out.
So lift the legs once again.
Flex the ankles.
Stretch through the heels.
And now go ahead and point the toes and bring the toes up.
Extend the toes and press through the heels.
Stretching the toes and flexing the ankle once more.
And then lowering the legs down.
A deep breath in and out.
Go ahead and lift the feet once again with a little space between them and circle the
feet towards one another.
And you're breathing.
And then change the direction and go the other way.
Sometimes you can be concentrating so much you forget to breathe.
Okay.
Circle them both in the same direction, parallel.
And then both the other way.
And then rest the feet for a moment.
Deep breath in.
And out.
Then lift the feet once again and turn the toes in towards one another.
Lift the outer heels.
Great.
And then change and move the toes out and lift the inner heels.
And lift the legs as high as you can.
And then change again.
Toes in.
Lifting the outer heels.
And toes out.
Lifting the inner heels.
And releasing the legs down.
Deep breath in.
And out.
So in this way we've stretched the joints and muscles, warming up our bodies for the
poses to come.
So let's end this by bringing the awareness back to the sensation in the body.
Aware of the entire body.
The places where the body contacts an object like the chair or the floor.
Aware of the places where the hands contact the body.
And aware of the movement of the breathing.
Chest expanding outward with each breath.
And back into the body with each breath out.
Allowing the breath to settle more deeply in the body now.
Inhaling and extending the belly.
Exhaling, pulling the belly back in.
Again, easy deep breaths as you breathe in.
Slow full breaths as you breathe out.
So the breath itself is a tool to relax you.
And focus on the breathing becomes a way to really quiet the mind and distill the body.
And relax your focus and come on back.
And this section of yoga for the rest of us will be doing standing poses to develop leg
strength and to develop better balance.
So some of us have chairs because we want you to be safe as you practice the balance.
Other people who have been doing yoga for a while don't need to use the chair.
So I've shown you both examples.
By all means, if you are feeling wobbly, have a chair securely in front of you as we begin
to practice these standing poses.
Our first pose is called mountain pose.
So move your feet so that they are underneath the hips and let the thigh bones be very firm.
Almost as though the muscles of the thighs and we're hugging the bones of your legs.
Lift the chest, pull in the belly, relax the shoulders, and find that still place.
No moving except for the breathing.
In all of the standing poses, it's very useful, it's very helpful to focus on one point.
So let's begin these standing poses aware of the breathing, aware of each breath in,
aware of each breath out.
Over time you may want to experiment standing in mountain pose with the eyes lowered or
completely closed.
This is one of the most important standing poses because even though it looks like not
much is happening, you're learning to keep the weight on the soles of the feet equally
balanced.
For most of us, we often stand out of balance, standing on one leg or standing way back on
the heels or on the inner or outer edges of the feet.
In mountain pose, we try to stand evenly using the entire sole of the foot.
So right now we practice standing, standing with strength like a mountain, steady and
still erect like a mountain.
Now we'll do a standing pose called tree.
If you have any question about your balance, you'll want to have a chair in front of you.
So we'll shift over to one side, make one leg the standing leg.
In all balance poses, it's very helpful to keep the eyes focused on one spot.
So go ahead and bend the right knee and turn the foot out to the side.
And you can place the foot either at the ankle, you can even leave the toes on the floor,
or you can place the heel above the knee, or you can take the foot and put it way into
the thigh, the inner thigh.
So you want to find a position that for you is comfortable.
Your body will benefit no matter which variation you do.
Find your balance and then go ahead and take the palms to the chest unless you're using
one hand to steady yourself.
Go ahead and extend your arms upward.
And as you're holding the pose, you're aware of each breath in, each breath out.
As you lose your balance, you just come right up again.
And that's good.
Go ahead and bring your hands down and shift over to the other leg.
Take the weight on that foot and leg.
And then when you're ready, go ahead and bend the other knee, place the foot either at the
ankle, the heel above the knee, or into the inner thigh.
Let yourself become very focused now.
If your balance is unsteady, you may want to just take your hands out to the sides.
You can bring the palms to the chest or go ahead and move the arms overhead.
So you can do any of the variations in the arms, coming back to the awareness of your
breathing and releasing.
Great job.
So let's take another balancing pose.
It's called the balancing warrior pose.
We're going to step back to the back part of the mat, starting in mountain pose again.
So go ahead and step forward with one foot and let the back foot just touch the ground.
You may want to start with the arms out to the side like Barbara.
You may want to take the hands all the way over the head like Moe and interlace the fingers.
You may want to take the arms parallel like Georgia.
And so taking a deep breath in, as you exhale, lift the back leg, and as you lift the back
leg, the torso comes forward.
Chair is available for balance.
Once again, remembering to breathe.
Again this pose has many variations.
You may find that you just want to take the foot off the floor just a small bit as your
body's growing stronger and as your balance increases.
So go ahead and release and come back.
And let's do the other side.
Starting from mountain pose, go ahead and step forward and touch the back toes to the
floor.
And go ahead slowly as you lift the back leg, bring the torso forward.
It may be that as you begin this pose, the leg doesn't come very far off the floor.
Or you may be able to take the entire body parallel, aware of your breathing.
So you do need to breathe through these poses.
Great.
And go ahead and come on up.
And back to mountain pose.
Deep breath in and out.
So now we'll move to another warrior pose, warrior one, for leg strength.
So if you're using a chair, you'll need to bring your foot all the way underneath the
chair and step backward with the back leg.
So this is where you can vary the pose tremendously.
You can have a narrow stance or you can have a very large stance.
So Eric, why don't you move your back foot into a very large stance.
There you go.
Because he has the strength and long legs.
Start by keeping both legs straight and taking the arms out to the side and finding your
balance.
And now slowly begin to bend that front knee.
If the chair is there, it keeps the knee from going too far beyond the ankle.
If you're not using a chair, you want to make sure that the knee is right over the ankle.
Back leg absolutely straight.
Take your hands to your hips and as you press down on your hips, go ahead and look up, aware
of your breathing.
Easy, deep breath in.
Long, slow, deep breath out.
If it's too much to look up, then just keep the head and spine straight.
To add the arm variation, go ahead and drop the arms down and Barbara will stay with her
hands on their hips.
Lift the arms up, interlace the fingers, extend the index fingers and really stretch up.
Lifting the upper body and sinking down with a bent leg.
Aware of your breathing and making sure that the breathing is regular and even.
Let's take a couple more breaths as we hold.
And release and come back out.
So now we'll do the other side.
In the beginning, as you're first working with the poses, you may not be able to hold
the poses for as long as we are.
And so you can just come out and wait until we go to the other side.
Take the other foot underneath the chair.
The back leg stretches back and you start with nice, strong, firm legs.
It's as if you're in mountain pose with a very wide base.
Find your balance.
And then to come into the pose, go ahead and bend that front knee.
Again, you want to make sure if you're not using a chair that the knee does not extend
beyond the ankle.
Back leg is straight and strong.
Press in with the back leg.
Press into the floor through the heel.
Take the hands to the hips.
And as you press down on the hips, stretch the spine upwards.
Elongate the spine.
And even take the eyes to look up if you're comfortable.
Otherwise, keep the eyes straight ahead.
To add the arm variations, you can release the hands, turn the palms out, bring them
up, interlacing the fingers and extending the index fingers and then stretching upward
as much as you can while you're sinking down through the bent knee.
Aware of your breathing, making your breathing steady and even.
Let's hold this pose for the next several breaths.
And go ahead and come down.
So take your hands on the back of the chair if you are using the chair.
Otherwise, place your hands on the floor and we'll go into a downward dog stretch, just
to stretch out the back.
So if your hands are on the floor, you press back from your hands, from your arms.
If your hands are on the chair, you bring the head down between the arms and stretch
as far away from your hands as you can.
Couple breaths and then come forward.
Back to mountain pose.
So now we will change the chair around for the people that are using the chair and move
the seat of the chair to face you as we make a preparation for triangle pose.
Again, in a classical yoga pose, there's no chair, but what we do by using the chair is
to bring up the floor 17 or 18 inches higher.
So we're going to be starting with the one foot underneath the chair if you're using
a chair, otherwise the foot points straight ahead and the back leg stretches back maybe
about four feet apart, a nice wide stance.
So we're going to turn the side to the chair.
Take the arms out from the sides and feel like you're stretching both arms out.
The arms are parallel to the floor, a nice long stretch as if someone's pulling you from
each hand.
Make both legs absolutely firm.
Don't let either leg bend.
Take a deep breath in.
And as you breathe out, stretch towards and down, resting the hand on the seat of the
chair, other arm up.
If your neck is comfortable, go ahead and take the head to look up to the outstretched
finger and then back to center.
And then slowly come out of the pose, lifting up, dropping the hands and closing the feet.
Other foot underneath the chair.
Step back, turn the side to the chair and extend the arms long.
Take a deep breath in, keeping both legs absolutely straight.
Begin to reach towards the back of the chair if you're using a chair and bring the hand
down to the chair, other arm straight up to the ceiling.
Aware of your breathing.
And go ahead and come on up.
Take the hands to the sides of the chair now or take the hands all the way forward and
step back once again just to release the low back.
And that's good.
And then walk your feet forward, ending our standing sequence back to mountain pose.
Feet hip width apart, soles of the feet firmly pressing into the floor.
Nice strong legs lifting, stretching the spine upward, pulling in the belly, lifting the
chest and letting the head balance right on top.
Finding the quiet still place inside.
No movement except for the breathing.
And again you can lower your eyes or even close them completely.
Aware of each breath in, aware of each breath out.
This next section is a series of movements called sun salutation.
Classically they've been done without a chair but we found when we use a chair it's possible
to stretch a little deeper and still keep the body from having to bend too far forward.
Start in mountain pose.
Aware of your breathing.
And then bringing palms to the chest.
Inhaling stretching upward, exhaling coming forward.
Right leg stretching back, left knee bending, pushing away from the chair or pushing away
from the floor and stretching up.
Left leg moving backwards, head down between the arms, pushing away from the hands in downward
facing dog position.
Bringing the weight forward, dropping the hips and looking up.
And pushing back again, breathing out.
The right foot moves forward to the chair if you're using a chair or all the way to
your hands and you may need to take a couple steps to get there.
And then the back leg comes forward, forward bend, breathing out, inhaling, stretching
up and coming right back down.
This time the left leg moving back, right knee bends, pushing away from the chair, pressing
away from the floor, both legs back into a forward bend, head down between the arms with
the chair in downward facing dog without.
Taking the weight forward and dropping the hips and looking up and pressing back again,
breathing out.
This time left leg moves forward to the chair, knee bends and you look up.
Back leg comes forward, breathe out, inhaling, stretching up and exhaling, closing.
So that's the first round doing one on the right, one on the left.
So let's continue.
Palms to the chest, breathing in, stretching up, breathing out, over and down, hands to
the side of the chair or to the floor, right leg moving back, left knee bending, pressing
away from the chair, pressing away from the floor.
Both legs back, slowly taking the head down between the arms and pressing back from the
hands, bringing the weight forward, dropping the hips and lifting up and moving backwards.
Breathe out.
Right foot coming forward to the chair, knee bending and looking up.
Back leg forward, breathe out as you bend and then stretch up, inhaling and right back
down.
Left leg moving back this time, right knee bending as you look up.
Both legs back, head down between the arms, taking the weight forward, dropping the hips,
pushing away from the arms and looking up and then moving the hips back, head down.
Left foot moving forward to the chair, inhaling as you look up.
Breathe out as you bring the back leg forward, head down.
Inhale up, exhale close.
And the third one, breathing in and breathing out and over.
Right leg moving back, left knee bending and looking up.
Both legs back, head down, then bring the weight forward, drop the hips and look up
and push back once again.
Breathe out, then breathe in as you bring that right foot forward and look up.
Inhale as you bring the back foot forward and bend, inhaling, stretching up and right
back down, breathing out.
Left leg moving back, right knee bending and looking up.
Both legs back, head down.
Take the weight forward and look up, back and look down.
Left foot moving forward to the chair, back foot forward, breathe out.
Inhaling, stretching up and closing.
For those of you that are new to the Sun Salutations, you may wish to stop here.
You'll notice that your body will grow stronger and more flexible and build in endurance.
So we'll do another couple rounds.
Breathing in, stretching up, breathing out, coming over and down, head down towards the
chair, right leg back, bending the left knee and stretching up.
Both legs back, head down between the arms.
Breathing in as you bring the hips forward and look up and pushing back once again, breathing
out.
Inhaling the right leg forward, bending the knee and looking up.
Both legs forward, breathe out all of the air.
Now inhale, stretch up and exhale, come right back down.
Hands to the floor or to the chair, left leg moving back, right knee bending, looking up.
Both legs back, head down and then coming forward, bringing the hips down and looking
up and moving back once again.
Left foot moving forward, breathing in, back leg moving forward, breathing out.
Inhaling, stretching up, exhaling, closing and one more, inhaling up, exhaling over.
Right leg back, lunging, looking up.
Both legs back, head down.
Coming forward, dropping the hips and looking up and moving back and down.
Right foot forward, breathing in.
Back foot forward, breathing out.
Inhaling, stretching up and exhaling, closing.
And back to Tadasana.
So take just a moment to allow the heartbeat and breathing to return to normal.
And then we'll remove the chairs for some stretches on the floor and then end with a
final relaxation.
Go ahead and stretch out.
Bend your knees, place your feet on the floor.
Maybe hip width apart.
Good.
Now draw your right knee into your chest and Eric, you can pull your knee in.
Take a deep breath in and out.
And then release that knee, bring the foot to the floor.
Hug the left knee into the chest.
And take a deep breath in and out.
And release the left leg to the floor.
Now draw both knees into the chest.
And then open the arms out to the sides.
And we'll take a twist.
So bringing the knees over to the right as the head looks opposite.
Eric pressing against his leg to twist around from behind.
Aware of your breathing.
And bringing the knees and head back to center.
Moving the legs to the other side as the head looks opposite.
And twisting the other way.
Aware of each breath in and out.
Then bringing the knees back to center.
Feet on the floor.
And now we'll put our bodies in positions that's comfortable for relaxation.
Eric is going to remain in the chair.
And Barbara is going to get a chair to place her legs on the chair.
Georgia is going to use a little lift underneath her thighs and knees.
And Mo is going to demonstrate the relaxation pose without any use of props.
So go ahead and take a very deep breath in and release it.
And just settle yourself into as comfortable position as you can.
Find any areas of tension or tightness.
And just let that tension dissolve.
Now bring your awareness to the muscles around your eyes and soften and relax your eye muscles.
Create the most comfortable, the most soothing sensation in the area around your eyes.
Go ahead and relax your cheek muscles.
And send that relaxation into your jaw, through your lips.
Softening and relaxing all the facial muscles.
You may find as you allow the relaxation to deepen in the jaw and the lips, you may find
that the lips gently separate.
And that's a sign for you to know that you are bringing in a very deep relaxation throughout
all of the muscles of the face.
Now imagine that you could send a wave of the most soothing comfort through your entire
body starting at the top of your head.
Bring the relaxation down to the back of your head so that even the tiny scalp muscles release
and relax.
Become aware of the neck and let all the neck muscles soften and relax.
And then send a pleasant wave of relaxation through the shoulders.
And imagine being able to spread that relaxation all the way across the shoulders.
And then if you can imagine something so soothing, something so comforting flowing out through
the arms, relaxing the arm muscles completely.
And sending the relaxation all the way out the arms, through the wrists, into the hands,
and out into each finger.
Ordinarily we use our muscles and they're ready to move for us through every waking
moment but right now just create that feeling of relaxation so completely.
As you relax your arms it may feel that the arms become heavy with relaxation.
Or you may experience that relaxed feeling as kind of a light floating feeling.
Or it may seem that the arms become kind of numb and aren't even there.
Just know that your arm muscles will continue to relax more and more as we finish this series
of relaxation.
So from your shoulders send the relaxation down into your torso, through the muscles
of your chest, and in and around the stomach area, soothing, protecting, comforting the
tissues and organs around the stomach.
And then let that relaxation flow all the way down into your hips.
And from the shoulders send the relaxation down through the back muscles, through layer
upon layer of back muscle, and all the way along the spine, right down to your hips.
And at the hips go ahead and let the relaxation flow into your legs through the muscles and
tissues of the thighs, in and around the knees, and all the way through the lower legs, right
past the ankles into the bottoms of the feet and the tips of the toes.
In this way you bring about a complete relaxation into the entire body.
You may be aware that you could relax even more.
You could go deeper into relaxation without losing awareness.
So go ahead and just let yourself relax even more.
Feeling more comfortable, feeling more peaceful in mind and body.
In a few moments it will be time to return from this place of deep relaxation.
So very slowly and gently begin to bring your awareness back.
Begin to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Begin to stretch through your limbs and when you're ready pull your knees into your chest
or Eric you can just stretch forward a little bit.
And finally when you're ready go ahead and roll over to your side and bring yourself
up to a sitting position.
So we'll end with a traditional pose of greeting.
Palms to the chest, Namaste.
I honor the greatness that dwells within you as you.
Thank you.
Travel with us to Peterborough, New Hampshire to meet Peggy Cappy, a yoga instructor who
has worked with students of all ages and abilities for over 20 years and has perfected a yoga
program that is easy, effective and enjoyable.
Peggy's unique approach to yoga has adults finding they have energy and flexibility they
never dreamed possible at their age.
It's yoga for the rest of us with Peggy Cappy.
That's good, good, good.
Let's release.
And then bring your attention to your breathing.
Be aware of what you hear, what outside sounds are you aware of.
Breath in and hold it for a moment.
Breathing in and breathing out.
So let's start first with noticing how the body is.
So separating your knees a little bit, placing your hands on your knees.
Start with a deep full breath in as you stretch your spine up.
Extend the spine and look up.
Exhaling.
Round that back, head forward.
And breathing in.
I started doing yoga over 30 years ago.
From my very first yoga class, I loved yoga.
And I said to myself, this is something I'm going to do for the rest of my life.
Take your left hand to the right knee, right hand behind.
And be aware of your breathing.
One of the things that yoga develops is an increased energy.
And I've had many people say, oh, that they were very tired before beginning yoga.
They just didn't have very much energy.
I've heard some people say they hardly had the energy to get out of bed.
But after a yoga practice, the whole body begins to take on a new liveliness.
The whole body becomes charged up with a new energy.
That's a result of deeper breathing.
That's a result of really moving the energy through the body.
Again, inhaling as you stretch up.
Exhaling as you take the arm down.
Breathing in again.
And now add a hand circle.
And just be aware which direction the hand is circling.
One more.
I think it's become popular because so many people are finding they can do this, and the
results are very, very quick.
After the first class, you walk out feeling like, oh my gosh, I feel great.
So I think because yoga is able to be adapted, it can touch very many people.
And that's what I'm real excited about, adapting it to people who ordinarily might never think
that they could even do yoga.
Rest your feet for just a moment.
We'll pick them back up.
Yoga gives me peace of mind.
It gives me freedom of movement.
With my back problem, I'm in a great deal of pain all the time.
So I'm constantly searching for relief.
And it works for me.
Stretch that arm straight up to the ceiling.
Left arm right up to the ceiling.
Keep your legs very firm.
Really use the muscles of the thighs.
It's beneficial, no doubt.
It means it's the hope of regeneration.
Regenerating, I would like to be totally regenerated.
And then when you're ready, go ahead and extend that leg out.
If you stick with it, I think it can do that.
I really believe it.
That's good, good, good.
Let's release.
Both feet together.
Breathe out.
I've learned a lot about how my body works and about mind over matter.
Come forward as you breathe in and back again as you breathe out.
Right foot forward.
I've been doing yoga for about 25 years.
I was so happy to find Peggy's class up here.
The gentle stretch class that I teach has been meeting for a very long time, over 10
years.
I've made a commitment to this group of people because they find yoga so valuable, because
they know if they lose a few weeks, they can really feel that decline in their body.
My commitment to them has been very strong because of how much it has meant to them.
Inhale, stretch out.
And close.
Namaste.
I think any yoga class is a form of meditation in motion, where the mind or the brain gets
to focus on one thing and delve into that one thing and go so much in that nothing else
fills the mind.
All my concerns about what's going on in my outside life, all those little thoughts, they
just vanish as I bring my attention to my breathing, as I bring my awareness to what's
happening in my body.
And go ahead if you're comfortable closing your eyes or if not, lowering your gaze so
you can decrease your visual stimulation.
And now begin to turn your attention inward.
Be aware of what you hear.
And now shift your attention to what you feel.
So be aware of the pressure of the floor or blanket against your feet.
And then bring your attention to your breathing.
Yoga works with the breathing.
It is so important to learn how to breathe.
When you think about what the breath is, the breath is so essential to the body that the
brain can't go for more than a few minutes without oxygen.
The breath is the life force and what we want to do is keep our life force strong and send
the oxygen through deep breathing to all of the body.
Now often what happens is that as we become tense, the breathing gets restricted.
And in some people breathing becomes very shallow, making the breathing a conscious
event.
We really begin to use the lungs more efficiently.
We begin to take in a better quality of air.
Go ahead and count each breath until you reach 10.
And at the count of 10, allow your eyes to open.
The attention given to the breath, that has really been an awakening to me over time because
I think we simply ignore a basic fact of our physiology, which is that our heart and our
brains and the rest of our body is fueled by oxygen.
And this business of the yoga breath, which is the one where you begin in the belly and
you fill up your stomach and you let it come up into the lungs.
It's because the belly never gets it when you just breathe these little shallow breaths
that most people breathe.
Just little short things that keep you going just barely.
But if you take a big breath, it just propels you.
You can feel it propelling you.
Lift the shoulders and then roll them forward and down.
Yoga has helped me in so many times.
In my home life, I have some stress and I find my shoulders getting all uptight and
everything like that.
But I learned from Peggy to breathe and relax.
I practice that.
You just give such good air.
So we're going to do our balance poses first.
Start in Tadasana and then shift your weight over to one leg.
And then when you're ready, go ahead and drop the other foot.
Place it along the inner thigh.
When you're ready, find your balance.
And let your concentration increase.
You can add the arms overhead.
Oh, I had a lot of preconceived notions not to say prejudices about all that touchy feely
stuff.
I thought it was for the fruit and berry crowd, if I can call it that.
And I've changed those attitudes.
That's just the kind of thinking that comes out of ignorance.
And once you've been exposed to something, you kind of forget those things.
I think what happened in the beginning as yoga was first introduced in this country,
people thought of it as a cult or as kind of a freakish thing that you'd have to contort
your body in so many different ways.
I think what's happened is that as yoga has reached the mainstream more and more, people's
experiences that it really works, that they feel great after doing yoga and it's something
that they want to do and keep doing.
What's amazing is that very quickly the body just loves to be asked to develop strength
and flexibility.
And so to see the flexibility change is really exciting.
The most striking thing that I've noticed and it's sort of, it's an ongoing thing that
had happened to me by surprise.
I have a little canoe that I carry around on top of my car and I struggle with it and
you know one end and then the other and then it's half off and it's a big effort.
One day after I'd been taking yoga about six months, I picked it straight up in the air
and put it on the car.
And I didn't know I could do that.
And it wasn't strength training, which yoga isn't really all about, though I think I have
gained in strength, but it was agility and balance and confidence and those are things
that I picked up in Peggy's class too.
Go ahead and bend the right knee and notice that the knee cannot extend beyond the ankle
so this puts the knee in a good position.
So you might find your balance with this stance of your legs and then straighten both legs.
See if you can walk a step or two backwards, widening the stance and take your arms to
the side.
Now, what we just did, is this working for you?
Okay, good.
Take your hands on your hips and as you press down with your hands, go ahead and look up
and you're breathing, aware of each breath in, aware of each breath out.
I think it's so important to make yoga available to people that maybe don't have any kind of
exercise program.
Maybe they've been out of shape for a long time and they don't know where to begin.
Maybe they've had an injury and really are limited in what they can do.
Maybe they're older and think, oh well, they're too old to start since it's been a while.
So for all of those reasons and many more, adapting the classical poses to fit a body
that's maybe not limber anymore, that needs flexibility, that needs to develop strength,
that's what I've been so excited about.
Left foot steps forward, right foot back.
Try the arms if you want to try this in the extended position.
Take a deep breath in and when you exhale, go ahead and bring the torso forward, leg
up.
Using the chair for balance as needed.
One of the things that older people are especially concerned about is losing balance.
And if you lose balance, it really decreases the things that you can do out of fear of
falling.
And then as you're ready, walk the hands down, take hold of the foot.
So we practice balance every class, but we practice with a chair nearby so that if they're
unsure that they're going to be steady, they hold onto the chair.
And little by little as their brain works to balance them and as their ankle strengthens
to hold them up, they find that they can come into balance poses that they never really
ever thought they could do.
Look at you.
Yeah.
I'm better than hanging on.
Oh, that's good.
We like that.
So, left fingertips to the chair.
So right foot goes underneath the chair.
Left foot back.
Stretching up if you're using the arms.
Bring the palms together, interlacing the fingers, index finger up and now stretching
up, looking up, finding a place of focus.
And strong but torso lifting.
And come out.
Wonderful, wonderful work you guys.
If we want to dare to be a hundred, nobody wants to be a hundred if they're all broken
up in pieces.
So I consider this an important help to me and anybody who does it to keep active.
The ways in which we are being kept active through these careful steps in the yoga plant
is the flexibility we need to keep.
At my age, you see, I'm now 81, halfway through to 82.
That arthritis has set in, which makes it hard for me to do things that I was able to
do before.
And Peggy's yoga isn't going to necessarily make that go away.
We know that.
But we can perhaps prevent it getting worse.
Another one?
Sure.
Let's add the side stretch this time.
Palms to the chest, inhaling, stretch up and over to the right and over to the left.
And stretch up tall and then come all the way forward.
Right leg back, look up, both legs back, head down.
I'm 70 years old and you do get unsteady after a while.
And so balance work is important.
It's difficult for me to do it, but I know that it helps me a great deal.
Drop the hips and stretch up.
And as you move back, let that left leg come up from behind.
Swing the foot forward to the chair.
I have curvature of the spine.
And so I need to exercise.
And yoga has been terrific for me.
I have to be very active in my life because of my back problem.
And so I do yoga and I do massage therapy and I ski, I hike, I bike, swim.
It's given me much more freedom of movement.
And after class I'm just a new person.
Yoga really has worked for me.
I use yoga practically every day, particularly the sun salutations.
Being in touch with my body and how it works is essential to having a healthy lifestyle.
And I feel that the more subtle we can be, the more carefully we can listen to what's
going on in our bodies, the more quickly we can respond when a situation in the body is
out of balance.
So I think that to really listen carefully, to feel, to sense, to understand how am I
feeling right now and what can I do to take such loving care of my body that I can make
my body a fit place to live.
And you're ready to start.
Inhaling up, exhaling over, right leg back and looking up.
The balancing exercises are a big favorite of mine and partly because I'm good at them.
Doing the sun salutations is very satisfying because it sort of pulls together everything
you've been doing for the past hour and a quarter when you reach that part of the class.
You're exercising every part of your body and in a beautiful fluid, almost poetic and
ballet like way.
I like the sun salute.
I think that's my favorite.
Inhaling up, exhaling forward, both legs back, push away from the chair.
I think that exercises every part of your body at once in one exercise.
I like that.
No matter what modifications that you make, the wonderful thing about yoga is that you
get 100% of the benefits.
So if you're having to modify the pose and make it less strenuous, to make it less challenging,
it doesn't matter at all because your body is benefiting and you find that you have a
working relationship between mind and body that's friendly, that's not adversarial,
that really, really works to make everything go smoother.
Then the body goes, oh, great, I can do this.
So just note how you feel physically, mentally, emotionally, maybe even spiritually.
It keeps me on an even keel much more than I used to be.
But I really now have the ability to step back from almost anything without flaring
up and give it consideration.
And past your knees, down your legs, into the very bottoms of your feet, to the tips
of your toes.
Give your body a treat and your mind a treat and you feel so calm afterwards.
You feel just great.
And part of it is really quite strenuous and that's an effort.
And when you've made it, you feel good and you can really relax.
I love it.
Right leg forward, both legs forward bend, inhale, stretch out, and right back down.
My hope for people that see this program is for them to know that they can make a change
in their bodies.
They can do a yoga practice that works for them.
They need to know that they can feel better than they feel now.
Even if they feel pretty good, that good can always get better.
And it's my hope that people will do things maybe that they haven't been able to do for
a long time because of stiffness, because of lack of flexibility, because of lack of
strength.
So even just doing a little bit will begin to make the quality of life and the ability
to do things, to garden, to do activities, to make that accessible, to make that available.
And that will please me very much if people really feel, hey, this is for me.
Hey, I can do this.
Hey, I'm feeling great.