20-Minute Yoga Flows Artwork
Season 8 - Episode 3

Circle Flow

20 min - Practice
42 likes

Description

Experience that there is no beginning and no ending to our practice in this dynamic class that plays with the concept of circles. The cyclic nature of our breath guides our movement through lunges, Crescent variations, and seated poses, exploring circle shapes along the way. You will feel soft and present, with all your edges smoothed out.
What You'll Need: Mat

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Transcript

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Hello, and welcome. My name is Chantani, and we are here for your 20 minute yoga flow. For today's class, you don't need much. Just a mat or a towel or anything that you have at home for your practice. For today's practice, we're going to be using the concept of circles.

And so I invite you to experience yourself in 360 degrees to play on the mat and enjoy your class. So, let's get started here. Place one hand on your heart as we stand, place the other hand on the lower belly. And let's just ground for a moment. You can shut down the eyes. So to deepen the breath and exhale just arriving into this moment.

And as you start to draw your awareness into the breath, witnessing the cycle of the inhale and the exhale, noticing that moment between the inhale, noticing the moment at the bottom of the exhale and smoothing it out. Understanding deeply that there's really no beginning and no end to the breath and to our practice. Today. Take one more deep breath in and exhale. Flutter the eyes open, and we'll play. Come on and stand to the top of your mat Shake those arms out down by your size, just getting in the body.

I have my feet right right underneath my hips. Inhale. Reach your arms up towards the sky mountain pose, high mountain. Now, as we go through this, really, again, playing with the idea of no beginning, no end. So you'll take your right hand and exhale it down as you side bend over to the right side. Continuing the circle all the way around, almost kind of passing through a ragdoll position, then I'll bring my right arm up as I circle up to the other. Side.

Take a deep breath in at the top. You exhale through the whole circle. Left arm drops this time. And then you melt all the way over, all the way around. Left arm comes up and right hand comes to meet.

Inhale at the top. Exhale, drop the right arm, releasing into gravity, side bend all the way over. Inhale arms rise, exhale, left arm drops, side bend circle all the way around. And just take a couple more of these on your own breath. Really playing with the idea of having the integrity of the standing posture and then releasing it all the way over. So finding the softness What does it feel like to anchor in the post and then to release it?

We'll take just one more. Exhale. And inhale. Reach your arms up From here, we'll cactus the arms, lift the back of your heart skyward. Inhale reach up. Notice others not much movement happening. We're not dumping into the hips.

Just the back of the heart lifts as much as you can. Inhale. Reach up. Soften those knees, exhale. Beautiful. Inhale. Reach up. Hail sit into a chair for a moment, arm sweep back behind you.

From here, step your left leg back straight away into this kind of like airplane lunge. Okay? So you're like hinged forward. You got your wings back. You're ready to take off. Now, draw your right hip back your left hip forward. So you're finding that squared position through the hips and firm up your back leg.

So really strong here. Take a deep breath, exhale commit to the lunge a little bit more. Maybe higher on the tip toes in the back. And then as you come up to stand, reach your fingertips back a little further, circle the arms up to crescent. Inhale.

Exhale hinge forward. Swipe the arms back. Airplane lunge. Inhale. Circle the arms up crescent lunge, exhale hinge, inhale, to rise. Take 2 more on your own breath really feeling into the cyclical nature of this movement. Last one, inhale, reach up.

Throw them here, hands can come to prayer and you just melt down over that front thigh. Step it back to blank pose and tuck the chin, roll it back to downward facing dog. Our first one for today, you can petal out your feet. Just taking a moment there. Shake your head. Yes.

Shake your head. No. And then finding some stillness. Inhale. Heels hang a little heavier exhale. Listening for the change.

Inhale your right leg high to the sky. 3 limbed dog, and I want you to break the rules. Then your heels of your seat, roll your hip open. Oh, that feels so nice. So just feeling that expansion through the hips Sometimes it's nice to just let the hips just open, but can you square your shoulders and your chest towards the mat? Inhale here.

Exhale. Your right knee is gonna come in towards your chest and pass through, see if you can top your left elbow. Inhale. Kick it up. Open it up. Exhale. Finding this half circle, twist. One more in. He'll open it up.

Just do your best. That's all you can ever do. Exhale. Listen for the change. Draw your knee in towards the center and just drop your back knee down. Whoo. Take a moment.

Bring your hands to the top of your thigh. If you need a little more support there, or you can reach your arms up. Deep breathe in. Exhale. One more deep breath.

Tuck the back toes if you haven't already. Exhale. Can you press up to a full crescent lunge. It's a big ask. You might need to press the top of your thigh. From here, as you draw the abs up, we'll practice cactus here. Deep breath.

Exhale cactus bend the back knee. Inhale length and crescent lunge. Exhale cactus. Inhale reach up. Exhale cactus.

Now, listen up. Inhale your arms out to a t. We're gonna change it up here. As you exhale, round your spine, tuck your chin almost like you're hugging the big trunk of an orange tree. And then grab your elbows.

So you're grabbing either elbow. My spine is round. And then I inhale Back up. How'd you do? So I'm grabbing onto both elbows. Pfizer still probably starting to feel that heat.

We're almost done. In hell here. Exhale side bend to your right side. So feeling that extra stretch. Inhale center.

And let's just release that hands can come down to the ground. Step back to plank pose and hips go back downward facing dog. Take a moment, pedal out your feet. If you're feeling the heat in those legs, finding the ease, finding the breath. Returning to the cyclical resonance of that breath.

And we'll begin again on the other side. So you inhale. Your left leg goes up towards the sky, heel to seat, roll the hip open. Take a moment and just let everything just open up. And then keep your hips open. See if you can square off your chest a little bit more towards your mat. Deep breathe in here. Exhale left knee is gonna pull across the little half circle.

Tap the right elbow. That's the goal. Inhale, open up. It might not get there today, and that's okay. Excel, twist it across. So even if it's just right here, that's okay. You have the intention.

That's all that matters. Inhale. Open up. Exhale. Twist all the way over. Inhale. One more, opening up the hip, drawing a little half circle, exhale. Draw your knee right down the center. Step your foot through, drop the back knee down.

Hands can come to the top of the thigh, breathing here, and then reach the arms up, feeling that crescent. Still feeling that connection all the way from reaching through the fingertips, but it's actually going all the way through the body. Inhale here, exhale, tuck the back toes, lift the back by off. Good. From here hinge forward finding that like airplane lunge, deep breath in, deep breath out. And notice as we start to build heat in the body, that circle through the breath starts to feel smaller and smaller in tighter, in tighter, right? So when the work gets harder, you expand the breath.

Speaking of which, inhale reach your fingertips back drawing a big circle with the arms, find a crescent. Exhale, hinge forward. Big circle with the arms and the breath. Inhale. Crescent. Exhale hinge.

Inhale open. You can take 2 more on your own So the body is feeling that intensity through the legs. The breath is as wide as the circle is with the arms. One more. Inhale. Reach your arms up. We've got this up next.

Exhale cactus. Bend the back knee, lift the back of the heart, just do your best. Inhale, lengthen up. Exhale. Inhale. Reach up long.

Listen for the change. Exhale cactus. We've got this inhale straighten up arms go out to a tee. Exhale. Hug a tree. It's my campaign. Okay? You're gonna grab onto your elbows. Inhale.

Peel your heart up. Exhale side bend to your left. Feel that nice stretch of the side body. Inhale back through center, exhale, hands come to frame the foot, step it back, plank pose, Doward facing dog. Just taking a moment here.

Maybe not pedaling out the feet this time. Really committing to the stillness and witnessing what comes up. Inhale, lift your heels, bend your knees, Look forward, travel to the top of your mat. Excel, just release over. Finish your fold. Inhale halfway lift, long spine, exhale release, soft bend in the knees, roll yourself up.

Head is the last to lift. Just take a moment standing at the top of your mat. Arms can go long, or you can bring them hands on the heart. Just taking a moment to check-in. Just give yourself a second. How does it feel to play with that fire and then also creating space?

With the ease of the breath. Take one more deep breath in. You're doing great exhale. If your eyes are closed, you can flutter them open. We're still at the top of the mat.

So, we'll take this full flow together. Inhale. Reach your arms up. Find the integrity of that strong mountain pose firm up the thighs. Reach to the arms. Exhale right arm.

Release melted all over. It's okay to let it go. And then we come back to it. Inhale. Exhale. Left arm drops. We let it go.

Inhale. Reach up. Cactus just one time. Inhale. Reach up. Exhale. Take a little chair pose.

Send your left leg back behind you straight away. Continue the circle. Inhale. Crescent lunge. Exhale hinge. Inhale.

Breath and body expanding here. Exhale. Listen for the change. Inhale. Reach your arms up. Exhale. Bend the back knee, cactus.

Up next, arms out to a tee. Big breath. You've done this before. Exhale, hug a tree, round spine. Grab the elbows. Inhale. Come back up to that modified crescent. Exhale side bend to your right.

Inhale center. Exhale. Release it down. Step it back plank pose. Whoo. Never thought I'd be praying for a plank. Excel downward facing dog.

Just take a deep breath in. And a deep breath out. Inhale. Lift your heels. Bend your knees. Look forward.

Step or hop if that's in your practice to the top of your mat release, fold. Inhale halfway lift, find the integrity, the strength in the legs, opening up through the chest, and then release again. Soft bending the knees. Roll yourself up. Stacking the bones.

Head is the last to lift. We begin again inhale arms rise. Exhale. This time your left arm drops. Melts all the way over. So find it. Right? Find it.

And then other side release it, knowing that you'll find it again soon. Inhale arms up to the sky. Lift the back of your heart. Exhale. Inhale, reach up. Exhale sit into a chair as you slide that right foot back behind you, you're now in an airplane lunch.

Circle the arms, big breath in crescent. Exhale hinge. Inhale. Up tall, Matt Crescent, exhale hinge. One more big breath in.

Big breath out. Inhale. Reach up. Listen for the change. Cactus. Reach the arms out to a tee, exhale, hug a tree. Inhale. Stand up.

Side bent to your left. Inhale. Back to your center. Exhale. Hands come to frame the foot. Step at back plank pose. Downward facing dog.

And just observing here, we'll just take three rounds of breath inhale. Big side of the mouth. 2 more deepest breath you've had all day. Release. Last one deepest breath.

Deepest release. Bring your knees wide on the mat. Toes to touching the back. Arms can go long overhead. So as you find yourself in child's pose, bringing the awareness back to your breath, No beginning, no end.

Just witnessing this very breath that happens every single day, every single moment without us having to ask for it. Is having a moment to honor it now, to celebrate it. When you feel complete, You'll slowly start to walk your hands back to meet the top of your thighs, and we'll continue. So for these last few moments, you can take a seat in whichever position feels comfortable for you. Like, orientation wise, I'm just gonna face you for simplicity's sake. K? I want you to take your right leg out to the side and then bring your left leg in towards the inner thigh. Okay.

You can flex your feet or point your toes totally your call. The arms will go out to a tee, and we're just gonna make little side bend, sweeping half circle all the way. But before we hit those toes, we come back up. Inhale. Ex, he'll take it to the other side. Inhale out to a tee. Exhale.

Side then. Inhale reach up. Exhale, siphon. Inhale up to a t, x tail holding the side bend for just a moment, I need to place my right elbow right around the right inner thigh and I'm using it as leverage to open up. Take one more deep breath in, exhale, release back through center, and we'll just switch it out no ceremony needed.

We'll just switch other side. So now the left leg goes out, toes are pointed or flex your call, whatever feels best. Arms go out to a tee. Exhale side, bend over half circle sweep. Exhale.

Inhale lengthening up, exhale other side. Good. And you can take this on your own. We've already done it. Just a few of these before we wrap it up. Last one here, inhale exhale side bend and just hold for one breath pressing the heart towards the sky deep breath in.

And exhale release. You can gather everything towards the center, finding yourself on your back, Hug your knees in towards your heart. Open it up. We go into happy baby. You can flex your feet. You can hook your forms behind your knees.

Or you can grab your ankles or the outer edges of the feet. Just take a moment there. You can rock side to side. Take a deep breath in as you press the tailbone to the mat and exhale close everything in. You can send your legs out long just for a moment. A brief moment on Shavasana. Enjoy.

Deepening the breath. And as you exhale, acknowledging if your body wants to stay here in this post. You're welcome to stay or you're welcome to bring your feet flat on the floor, carefully rolling over to one side. Keeping your head heavy, pressing yourself up to a comfortable seat as we seal our practice here. Hands can come to prayer.

Thum tips come to your heart bow into your heart space. Today and every day I celebrate you. For everything that you are, everything that you're building, and everything that you were divinely called to become. Thank you for teaching me today. Sending you peace in and peace out.

Thank you so much. My name is Chantini. Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Comments

Sandra Židan
Thanks, Shantani! Love and blessings to you! ❤️💖🥰🦋
Glenford N
1 person likes this.
Thanks for teaching me today,  Shantani. Namaste.
Lina S
1 person likes this.
What a wonderful class. Some variations were challenging, but surprinsly, when we flow towards the end, it gets easier. Namaste, Shantung.
Kate M
Love this beautiful flowing sequence!
Thank you, Shantani : )
Sharon
Really nice fluid flow, pace, and reminders for breathing and posture checkpoints. Thank you very much!
Arik O
What a great class, thank you!
Summer
I adored this class! Thank you so much! You are incredible. 
Noreen S
Thank you! That was wonderful.
Dezi O
Really enjoyed this flow Shantani thank u so much ☺️ 
Dawnie P
Loved this class. Really got me connected to the flow. Thank you.
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