Steady Eddie

Welcome to this steady eddy flow practice where we will find steadiness in transition in this core focused energizing practice. So if you would find your way to Vajrasana, sit back on your heels for a moment. You're welcome to place a block between your ankles if that feels more comfortable for you. And then bring one hand to your heart, one hand to your belly. Remember to feel the breath beneath your hands.

Breathing in as you feel the expansion beneath your hands. Breathing out as you feel everything release. Starting to bring the attention to your center, to your core. Breathing in. Breathing out to release.

One more. Feel the expansion in the low belly beneath your hands. And exhale to release. Beautiful with that steady breathing. Make your way to tabletop position.

We'll meet in all fours. Let your shoulders come over the wrist, hips over knees. From here, reach your left leg back, tuck your toes. And then as you find your balance here, reach your right arm forward like you're shaking someone's hand and float the left leg up off the earth, engaging through the core. Reaching forward through the right fingertips, back through the left heel.

Certainly draw the navel to the spine as you engage through your center, allowing a big breath in here. And then as you exhale, knee to elbow, elbow to knee and round. Good. Inhale, reach forward and back and lengthen. Exhale, draw everything in, knee to elbow, elbow to knee.

Go one more. Reach forward and back, big breath in. Exhale, draw everything in. Beautiful. And reach forward and back, let your right hand come down, left knee down, child's pose just for a moment.

Let the hips sink back to the heels. Feel the opening in the back body, lower back. Big full breath in. Exhale to release. Good.

And then come back to tabletop and we'll just take that to the other side. So reaching the right leg back, start by tucking your toes. Find your stability here and then reach your left arm forward like you're shaking someone's hand. Good. Start to float the right leg up off the earth.

Reach through the left fingertips. Reach back through your right heel, gently engaging through the core, allowing a big breath in. Good. Exhale, knee to elbow, elbow to knee and round. Two more.

Inhale, reach forward and back. Exhale, draw in. One more. Exhale, lengthen forward and back. Exhale, draw everything in, rounding.

Good. And then reaching forward and back, let your left hand come down, right knee down. One more time, child's pose. Hips to heels, big breath in. Exhale to release.

Good. And then coming back up to tabletop, we'll bring the forearms down to the earth and let your shoulders come over, elbows, reaching arms forward, pressing through the hands and then stretch both legs back, tucking your toes, coming into forearm plank. As you find your forearm plank, reach the heart forward, really activate through the legs and your core, just holding for a couple of breaths here, embracing the wobbling, the movement, find that strong, stable core. Big breath in and then as you exhale, let your hips lower down to the earth for Sphinx Pose. Untuck your toes.

You can walk your hands forward just a little bit, letting the elbows come slightly in front of the shoulders. And then really activating through the legs, reach the heart between the arms, gaze straight in front of you. Big full breath in, beautiful. And then as you exhale, slide your hands back, so your hands come right next to the side ribs, let the forehead rest down to the earth. As you press into the tops of the feet, hug the elbows into the side body, lifting up into Cobra Pose.

And as you come into Cobra, if it feels okay, start to float your hands up off the earth just an inch or so and notice where the lift happens when you do that. So gently engaging through the core to protect your spine and then let that all go as you exhale. Hands down, forehead down, we'll do that two more times. Inhale, peel the chest up off the earth, maybe float your hands up an inch or so. Lift and lengthen, good, exhale, release.

One more, inhale, peel the chest up, lift the hands up off the earth an inch, engage through the core, lift and lengthen. Beautiful, exhale to lower and then we'll press back into Down Dog, either pressing up through Plank Pose or Hands and Knees coming into your first Downward Facing Dog. Take a moment to land there, maybe pedal it out through your legs. Pressing through inner and outer hand, letting your sitting bones reach up toward the ceiling find length in your spine, good. And then on your next breath in, come forward to Plank Pose, top of a push-up, we'll pause there for a moment, letting the shoulders come over the wrists, hips in line with shoulder blades again, drawing the navel into the spine to engage through the center, beautiful.

And then hips up and back, Downward Facing Dog, moving with that a few times. So inhale, glide forward to Plank Pose, exhale, Downward Facing Dog. One more, inhale, glide forward to Plank and exhale, Downward Facing Dog, beautiful. And then from your Downward Facing Dog, let's reach the right leg all the way up and back and then draw the knee into your nose, round through the spine and hover, top of a push-up, good. Three-leg dog, inhale, reach the right leg up and back, this time draw the right knee to the right tricep or elbow and hover, top of a push-up, good.

Inhale, three-leg dog, sweep it up and back and exhale, right knee, left tricep, crossing the body, hover, good. One more time, three-leg dog, sweep the leg up and back, this time step the foot all the way through between your hands, as you come to a low lunge, let your left knee lower down to the ground, we'll sweep the arms up on Janayasana, low lunge. And as you come into your low lunge, again, just gently engage the core, so you're lifting up and out of the side waist, protecting through the low back, energize up through the fingertips allowing a big expansive breath in, good, exhale, let your hands fall on either side of your front foot and then shift back, half split, Arda Hanamanasana, as you inhale, find some length in your spine as you exhale, folding over that front leg, breathing into the back of your right leg, beautiful, and then re-bend through the right knee, plant your palms, we'll step back to plank pose, find the top of a push-up and then holding here for five, four, three, two, slowly lower to the belly on one, heart lifts, cobra, maybe float the hands up off the earth as you lift, good, meeting me back, in downward facing dog, tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back and then we'll move to the second side, inhale, left leg lifts, exhale, knee to nose, round through the back and hover top of a push-up, good, inhale, sweep the leg up and back, exhale, left knee, left elbow or tricep hover, good, inhale, sweep it up, exhale, left knee crosses the body, right tricep hover, inhale, sweep it up and back, good, and then stepping the left foot through, between your hands, let your right knee lower down this time on jannyasana, low lunge, and again just gently engaging through the core, lift up and out of the side waist, pressing through that right shin as you find some stability here, energizing up through the fingertips, big expansive breath in, exhale, lower hands down on either side of your front foot, shift back half split Arda Hanamanasana, big breath in as you find that length and then fold over your front leg, breathing into the back of your left leg, hamstring, anywhere else you feel this couple breaths, beautiful, and then rebending through your left knee, plant your palms, step back top of a push-up plank, we'll hold for five, four, three, start to shift the weight forward for two, slow lower for one, inhale cobra, maybe float your hands up an inch or so, and then exhale back into downward facing dog, let's allow a big full breath in through the nose, maybe stick out the tongue for lion's breath, release, let something go, beautiful, and then either hop or walk your feet to the front of the mat, we'll come to seated, make your way to a seated position at the front of your mat, we'll come into a twist here, so crossing the right leg on top of the left, you can bring the sole of the right foot to the earth, bending through the left knee, draw the left heel in towards you, you can also straighten this left leg out if that feels better for you, otherwise let your sitting bones root down on the earth, we'll bring the right fingertips behind, reach the left arm up, big breath in, find length in the spine, and then twist to your right, so you could hook the elbow to the outside of the right thigh, you might hug that right knee in, good, and then lift and lengthen on your inhale and twist, maybe taking the gaze over your right shoulder, couple breaths, ring it out, twisting from your navel up, beautiful, and then take the gaze forward, bring your hands behind you as you unravel, step the soles of the feet to the earth, we'll come into boat pose, navasana, lift the legs up off the earth, parallel the shins, energize through the fingertips, and then feel the length in your spine, hold for five, heart lifts four, find your breath, three, two, and one, bend your knees, let the soles of the feet come to the earth, sit up nice and tall on your sitting bones, and then bring the hands behind you, either fingers facing towards you or out to the sides a little bit, lift your hips, big breath in, maybe that tongue out again, lion's breath, detoxify, release, let go, let your hips come down, and then we'll twist to the other direction, this time stepping the left foot across, draw the right heel in, left fingertips come behind, on an inhale sweep the right arm up, find length in the spine, and then twist to your left, either hooking elbow or you can hug the knee in, root down to lengthen up through the spine, through the crown of your head, maybe taking the gaze over your left shoulder, without force, just gently rotating, breathing in, breathing out, breathe in, breathe out, good, gazing forward, then unravel, we'll come into Navasana again, let the soles of the feet find the earth, lean back a little bit, but as you lean, keep the heart lifted, boat pose, good, binding your breath, holding for five, four, three, two, one, bend your knees, soles of the feet to the earth, hands behind reverse tabletop, big breath in, long breath out, let your hips slowly lower to the ground, keep the soles of the feet to the earth, reach your arms forward on the count of five, we'll slowly roll to our back, so for five, engaging through the core, four, three, two, and one, good, as you come onto your back, hug the right knee into your chest, let the left leg just go long on your mat for a moment, give it a squeeze, beautiful, and then switching sides, draw the left knee in, let the right leg go long, and then at your own pace, just start to move from side to side, so hugging right knee in, then left knee in, opposite leg, the one that's straight, let that float up off the earth an inch or so as you start to engage through the core, and you could stay just working with the legs side to side, or if you want a little more, interlace hands behind the back of the neck, start to bring the opposite elbow to the opposite knee, and then moving into yogi bicycles, as you move from side to side, let's take a few rounds, right elbow left knee, left elbow right knee, good, let's take two more full rounds, right side, left side, right side, left, good, and then to open the front of the body, come on out of there, step the soles of the feet to the earth, lift up into bridge pose, just briefly to feel that stretch in the front line of the body, good, and then reach arms up over your ears and slowly lower your hips down, step your feet as wide as your mat, drop both knees to the right, you might take a gaze over your left shoulder, windshield wipering side to side, drop both knees to the left, gazing to the right, and then just taking a couple rounds of fluid windshield wipers as we release the spine and the hips, good, and the next time the knees come to the right, stay there, maybe pick up your right foot, place it on top of your left thigh, and then take a nice twist to wring it all out to detoxify, so in these core focused flow practices we kind of build that heat, we find that stability in our center and then we wring it all out like a sponge, good, sliding into the second side, soles of the feet to the earth, dropping both knees to the left, maybe scooting the hips to the right a little bit, you might pick up the left foot, place it on top of the right thigh, and then take a gaze over your right shoulder, wring it out, release, beautiful, and then taking your time, come back through center, step the soles of the feet to the earth, let's hug everything into a tight little ball, draw the knees in, wrap your forearms around your shins, nose to your knees, create a little bit of tension as you hug everything in, big full breath in, holding the breath up at the top, sip in just a little bit more air, and then open up, side out, let everything release into shavasana, just taking a few moments of integration, you might even bring your hands to your belly, again, like how we started just feeling belly breath, the expansion through the low belly as you breathe in, that fall and letting go quality of your exhale, just rest. Again, head on up clear, let everything release into shavasana and let everything release into Let your next inhale be a little bit deeper than the last. From the awareness to your center, inviting any gentle movements back in, reaching arms up over ears, stretching through the entire body, allowing a big full breath in here.

Exhale. Let something go. Take your time as you make your way up to seated. As you find your seat, we'll gather hands together in front of the heart. Thank you so much for sharing this steady practice with me. Hope you're feeling good and strong. Hope you have a beautiful day. Namaste.