Continuous Flow

Welcome back. So in this practice we're going to move through a continuous flow that has all of the essentials of a vinyasa practice. So we'll do some heating postures, some strengthening, some flexibility stuff and we'll get you ready for your day. So please meet me in Child's Pose whenever you're ready. As you come to Child's Pose, bring the big toes and heels together. Let the hips sink back towards your heels. Reach the arms forward. Let the head and neck relax. Just wiggle in, taking a moment here and we'll start with three cleansing breaths. So as you inhale, feel the expansion through the back ribs filling up and then open your mouth inside out like you're fogging a mirror. Good. Again like that. Inhale through the nose. Open the mouth, sigh it out. Good. One more inhale and sigh it out. Exhale and then same idea as that breath but this time gently press the lips together for ujjayi breath, allowing the breath to move in and out through the nose and on the exhale that same ha sound only this time with the mouth closed. That ocean-like sound in the back of the throat. Good. And then as you're ready, let's come up to all fours. So as you come to your tabletop, just finding shoulders over wrists, hips over knees and we'll move right into cat-cows. So as you inhale, arching through the back, look up and lengthen and then as you exhale, really press the floor away. Draw the navel into your spine, rounding a lot through the upper back and then moving with the breath. So as you inhale, come forward, look up and lengthen. As you exhale, navel to spine and round. Let's take one more inhale, lengthening forward, lift the heart, lift your gaze. Exhale, press the floor away, round through the spine. Good. And the neutral spine will come to downward-facing dog. So tucking the toes, lift your hips up and back. As you come into down dog, pedal it out, any movement here. So finding that fluidity in your movement as we come through this practice and taking those moments of pause as well. So when it feels good to pause, find stillness in the body. Just noticing what your body's asking you for today. And then from your down dog, start to straighten out through both of the legs, spread the fingers wide and we'll glide forward into plank pose. So inhale top of a push-up and just take a moment in this first plank pose to pause and find your alignment. So shoulders right over the wrists, legs in line with your shoulder blades or your hips in line with your shoulder blades and active through the legs. Good. Allow a big full breath in here and then as you exhale, just lift the hips up and back right into your downward-facing dog. Let's move with that a few times. One breath per movement. So as you inhale again, come forward to plank pose, top of a push-up. As you exhale, lift the hips up and back, down dog. Again, inhale, glide forward to plank pose, strong in the core. Keep the length in the spine. Exhale, come back, down dog. One more like that. Inhale, glide forward and exhale, lift the hips up and back, down dog. Beautiful. So come forward to plank pose and we'll slowly lower all the way to the belly. You're welcome to lower the knees down as you lower down. Good. And then untuck the toes, come into a baby cobra. So lengthen through the spine as you peel the chest up off the earth, draw the shoulders away from the ears and then keep your legs active so you're pressing into the tops of the feet, maybe even spreading the toes. Good. And as you exhale, we'll lower down. Let's take that a few more times with the breath. So again, peel the chest up on your inhale, cobra, bhujangasana. Exhale, lower down. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, lower down. Do one more, massaging the abdominals as you lift up. Inhale, as you exhale, lower. Good. Come back to child's pose as you're ready, either pressing up through plank or all fours. Tuck the toes and lift the hips up and back. From your downward facing dog, let's take a walk to the front of the mat. So walking your feet to your hands and then just dangle down over your legs. You can soften your knees any amount and then start to roll up slowly, one vertebra at a time, unraveling as you come all the way up to stand and then circle the arms out and up. As you inhale, gather the hands to the heart. Let's do that again. Inhale, arms sweep all the way up and then just with the breath, bring everything in toward the heart center. One more like that. Inhale, arms lift. Exhale, hands to heart. Good. And then we'll move into our sun salutation. So as you're ready, inhale, arms sweep up, lengthen up through the spine, through the upper back and the heart and then exhale, dive forward into your fold, uttanasana. Fold over your legs. On an inhale, lift halfway up. Maybe the hands walk up onto the shins for this first one. Offer the heart forward and then let's step the right foot to the back of the mat. Find your lunge and then we'll step the left foot back to meet the right coming into plank pose and then lowering your choice all the way or maybe halfway down through chaturanga. Cobra or upward facing dog on your inhale and then exhale roll over your toes coming to downward facing dog. Lifting the sitting bones up toward the ceiling, spine is nice and long and just find that space between the shoulders and your ears. Good. And then on an inhale, rise up onto the toes, bend the knees, your choice, walk or you can lightly hop to the front of the mat. Come halfway up, inhale, fold back in, exhale, uttanasana and then root down through your feet to rise up, circle your arms out and up, inhale and then again gather hands to heart, exhale, samasthiti. Good. Again, inhale, arms sweep up, lengthen through the spine, lift the heart, exhale, dive over your legs, uttanasana. Inhale, lift halfway up, offer the heart forward. This time step your left foot to the back of the mat first just to balance it out and then right foot meets the left, lower through vinyasa, either chaturanga or all the way down, cobra or up dog, inhale, lift the heart, exhale, roll over the toes, downward facing dog, just holding here for a couple of breaths. On an inhale, rise up onto the toes, bend your knees, look forward, step or lightly float to your hands, inhale, lift halfway up, offer the heart, arta uttanasana, exhale, fold over your legs and then inhale, root down to rise up to stand and gather the hands to the heart. Now, let's take one more round, surya namaskar a, inhale, arms lift, lengthen up through the spine, through the crown of the head, exhale, fold over your legs, uttanasana, inhale, halfway up, lengthen, exhale, step or you can lightly float it back through chaturanga if you'd like, inhale, cobra or upward facing dog, exhale, roll over the toes, downward facing dog, holding here for just a couple of breaths, get grounded, spread the fingers wide, heels heavy, the heels might even start to disappear behind your toes, then let's rise up onto the toes, bend the knees, look forward, step or lightly float to your hands, front of the mat, inhale, lift halfway up, exhale, fold back in and come to chair pose, uttanasana, sink the weight into the heels, sweep the arms up, sit it back, good and then straighten out through the legs, inhale to lift up through the heart, exhale, draw your hands to your heart and just take a moment, maybe close your eyes, check in with your breath and your heartbeat and just notice whatever is coming up for you right now, just taking these brief pauses from the movement to notice, to check in, beautiful and then as you feel ready, we'll come back to chair, inhale, uttanasana, come back through your chair pose and then as you exhale hands down, straighten the legs, fold over your legs, inhale halfway up, offer the heart forward, exhale your vinyasa, you're welcome to skip it and step right back to down dog, otherwise maybe chaturanga, inhale cobra or upward facing dog and exhale downward facing dog, good, let's reach the right leg up and back, take a big breath in and as you exhale, draw your knee to your nose around through the upper back as you come forward, inhale, sweep the right leg up and back, exhale, draw the knee to your nose, step your foot all the way through, good, and we'll come up to crescent pose, so soften through your back knee as you come up, reach your arms forward and up and then just take a moment to arrive in crescent, we'll hold here for a couple of breaths, so that front knee is right over the ankle, sinking down toward 90 degrees, good, and then from here start to straighten out through your front legs, you're active in the back leg, take a big full breath in and then on your exhale open it up to warrior two, so the back heel spins down, that front knee again lands right over the ankle as you come toward 90 degrees in that front leg, let the torso spin toward the sidewall, take the gaze over your middle finger and then flip your front palm from here, reverse your warrior, inhale, and then come through extended side angle, so bringing the right elbow on the top of the right thigh, reaching your left arm up and over your ear, and just breathe here for a couple of breaths, so really sealing the outer edge of the back foot down so that the inner arch can start to lift up, maybe taking your gaze up toward the ceiling, good, and then root down through the feet, rise all the way back up, reverse your warrior, left hand comes to the back of the left leg as you reach the right arm up, and then straighten through your front leg, it will come into triangle pose, so hinging forward at the hips, you might heel toe that back foot in just a bit, and then right hand down, left arm lifts up, finding your triangle, and then let this pose be about taking up as much space as you can, so you might lean back a little bit, you can find that length through the right side body, reaching through the crown of your head, beautiful, and then right back to reverse warrior, so rebend through your front leg, reach up and back, good, and then circle your hands all the way down and through, take a vinyasa, you can come right to downward facing dog, if you're taking the vinyasa, lower halfway or all the way down, inhale cobra or upward facing dog, exhale roll over the toes, downward facing dog, good, and we'll come right to the left side, so inhale the left leg up, exhale knee to nose, round through the upper back as you come forward, and then inhale sweep the leg up and back, step your foot all the way through between your hands, coming up to crescent pose, so stay on the ball of your back foot as you sweep the arms forward and up, and then just take a moment here to land, relax the shoulders, soften the gaze, come back to your breath, good, so this is a balancing pose, notice the movement, all that is occurring to hold you up, and then just embrace all that wobbling, good, so as you're ready, you're gonna straighten actively through that front leg, look up maybe, good, and then we're opening it up to warrior two, so spin the back heel down, bend through your left leg, sinking that left knee right over the left ankle, and then relax the shoulders, so let the shoulders relax, but energize through your fingertips, good, and then flip your front palm, reach up and back, reverse warrior, light on your right fingertips as you come back, and then extended side angle, left elbow to the left thigh, top arm can come up and over the ear, maybe gazing up, if that doesn't feel good in the neck, gaze straight forward or even down might feel okay, good, and then strong and rooted in your legs, ease in the upper body, and then more than anything the breath, filling this pose with your breath, good, and then rooting down, rise all the way up and back, reverse warrior, straighten through your front leg, you might shorten the stance a little bit, and then hinging forward at the hips, left hand down, right arm lifts up, triangle pose, couple breaths here, press into the ball of your left big toe, soften a bit through that left knee, so you're engaging your left quadricep, lifting up on the kneecaps, good, and then we'll root down to rise, reverse warrior, rebend through your front leg as you come up and back, circle your hands down, vinyasa if you want it, or you might come right to downward facing dog, you choose, we'll meet in down dog for just a few breaths, and from your down dog we'll rise up onto the toes, deep bend in the knees, gaze forward, step or lightly float to your hands front of the mat, good halfway up inhale, exhale, fold in, come back to chair pose, utkatasana, sink the weight into the heels, sweep the arms up, and then keep the big toes and heels together, bring your hands down to the earth, spread the knees wide, and come into this modified malasana, so you can start to walk your hands forward for a couple breaths if that feels okay, kind of folding in, you might wrap your hands behind you, maybe holding on to your ankles, whatever feels best for you, and then you're welcome to stay here as long as you like, if you want to play with going into crow pose, bhakasana will prep for the arm balance, so bringing your hands down to the earth, keeping the big toes and heels together, knees wide, will bring the knees as high up on the arms as you can, and there's almost like this hugging in action, where you're squeezing the arms in as you're coming into crow, and then you're rounding a bit through the upper back as you come forward, so build that shelf with your arms, hug everything in, chaturanga arms, gaze forward, lift up, round through the upper back, maybe lift up one foot, both feet holding for a couple of breaths, and then to come out of here, toes down, fold over your legs, it will all meet in a forward fold, feet hips distance, and let's hook the peace fingers, your first two fingers and your thumbs onto your big toes, you can bend your knees any amount to get there, and then we'll inhale to lift halfway up, lengthening, exhale elbows out to the side, let everything go, fold over your legs, and just take a couple breaths, just that calming action of folding in, and that letting go, and coming back to your breath, good, and then release the toes as you are ready, and just slowly roll up, as you get to the top, circle the arms out and up, maybe press palms together above your head, and then draw everything back into your heart, and just take a couple breaths right here to check in, and just notice, good, and then when you're ready we're gonna take the weight into your left foot, you're gonna hug your right knee up into your chest, if you can do so without your arms, great, if not you can hold on to your leg, no problem, and then we'll reach the arms up over the head, maybe straighten through the right leg, then we're gonna use that to lever back into warrior three, so the right leg goes back, maybe the hands draw towards your heart, find one point to focus your gaze, and then we'll softly step back to crescent pose, so the toes will find the mat, and then the arms will sweep up into crescent, good, and then draw your hands to your heart, we'll take a twist from here, so lengthen through the spine, bring the right elbow on the outside of the left leg, and find crescent prayer twist, welcome to lower the back knee down, if you'd like a little support here, otherwise stay active in the legs, any variations with the arms are great, and just a couple breaths, stay active in that left leg especially, excuse me, the right leg, so you're activating through the right side, pressing back through the right heel, one more breath in, and then gaze down, hands down, step the back foot in, just about a foot, and then pyramid pose, fold over both of your legs, let the torso melt down, breathe, good, and then walk your hands forward, then come into standing split from here, so as your hands come forward, take the weight into your left leg, reach the right leg up to the sky, let the torso drape down over that front leg, maybe play with balance, you can hold on to the ankle with one or both hands, and if you want to play with hopping up a few times toward handstand, you can flatten out the palms, straighten the arms, maybe step your foot back a little bit, good, and then keeping the arm straight, gazing forward, just bending through your standing leg, and then maybe there's just that little transfer up onto the ball of that right foot, you can take a couple hops if you'd like, good, and then we'll fold back over both legs, feet down, and then this time bend the knees, bring the palms of your hands underneath your feet, toes up toward your wrists, for Pada Hastasana, on an inhale lift halfway up, and then as you exhale, fold over your legs, let everything go, maybe shake your head yes and no a few times, just with the idea of releasing, releasing, releasing, and what would it feel like to let go just a tiny bit more, hands come out from under your feet, roll up slowly, and coming to stand, reach your arms all the way out and up, and as you exhale, hands to heart, and we'll just take that all to the other side, good, so as you're ready, bringing the weight into your right foot this time, draw your left knee up toward your chest, you can hold on to the leg if you need to, no problem, and again, find one point to focus the gaze, draw the low belly in and up, and then as you do that, maybe straighten the leg out in front of you, and then we'll lever back into warrior three, you're welcome to reach the arms forward, maybe bring hands to heart, good, find one point to focus the gaze, breathe, and then there's that soft step as you find the ball of your left foot for crescent pose, bending through your front knee, reach the arms all the way up, allow a big breath in, and then hands to your heart, and we'll take that crescent prayer twist, so coming halfway forward, keep the length in the spine, legs stay how they are, and then left elbow on the outside of the right, find your twist, and again, if you want the support, you can lower the back knee down, your eyes hang here, find three deepest breaths of the practice, one more big breath in, exhale, release your hands down, step the back foot in, fold over your front leg, pyramid pose, drawing the right hip back, let the left hip roll forward, and just breathe, try to keep the hips even if possible, beautiful, and then gazing forward, walk your hands forward, standing split, weight into your right foot, lift the left leg up, fold over your front leg, and if you want to play with balancing here, you can try to hold on to the ankle with one or both hands, and then maybe taking a couple kicks up toward your handstand if you'd like, stepping the right foot back a bit, flex through the left foot as you lift up through the left leg, and then straighten the arms, shoulders over wrists, gaze in front of you, and then maybe bend through your standing leg, come onto the toes, and then maybe there's just a tiny shift of weight into the hands as you come up, and then we'll fold over the legs, let it go, and then from here let's just walk the feet back right to downward facing dog, and then from down dog glide forward to plank pose, and lower all the way down to the belly, untuck your toes, reach your arms back, bring the palms of your hands down to the earth, and then press them firmly into your mat, press the tops of the feet down, and try to get the ankles together or somewhere close, and then on an inhale we'll start to peel the shoulders away from the ears, peel the chest up off the earth, and feel length in the spine as you come up toward Chalabhasana, and then you might add the legs, lifting the legs up off the earth, and maybe the arms reach back actively, lengthening through the spine, breathing, good, as you inhale maybe lift up a little bit higher, and then exhale, bring one cheek to the earth and release, maybe rock your hips from side to side, and just feel that release in the low back, good, and then round two, you're welcome to stay with what we just did, otherwise we'll start to bend through the knees, reach back with your hands, take hold of the tops of the feet or your ankles, and then same thing here, you're gonna peel the chest up, peel the shoulders back, kick your feet into your hand as you lift up, and then maybe coming into your Dhanurasana, bow pose, couple breaths, good, as you inhale maybe lift up a little bit higher, and then exhale, release down, take the opposite cheek to the earth, and again rock your hips side to side, you might reverse windshield wiper the legs from side to side, beautiful, and then from here we'll just roll over onto our back, and as you come on to your back, let's take the legs all the way up and over into plow pose, so taking them up and over your head, and just kind of a forward fold here, reclined, and you might interlace the fingers, take a couple breaths, just a regular forward fold is also great here if that feels better for you, and then as you come out of this, we'll land in fish pose, so bring the palms of the hands to the earth, slowly start to bring the legs back up over your head, and then your butt is gonna land on the tops of your hands, keep the legs straight, bring them all the way down to the earth, come up onto your forearms, and then from here maybe start to bring the crown of the head back down to the earth as you lift up through the heart and chest for fish pose, spread the toes, breathe, a couple breaths, beautiful, and then releasing that, arms come out from underneath you, lift up through the head, neck, shoulders, and let's just come right into Shavasana from here, beautiful practice of letting go, so all of that work that you've done, just allow that integration, body, mind, spirit, letting go of any effort as you release the weight of the body into the earth, letting the earth come up to hold you, let go and let be. Thank you.

Child's Pose