Bridge to Your Heart

Greetings friends. Welcome to this practice bridge to your heart. Be helpful to have a blanket and a bolster if you have one handy, and let's begin. Step to the front of the mat and take your feet as wide as the mat. Bring your hands to your heart and let the tips of the thumbs touch.

The fingertips extend like the wings of the heart and just rest it right at the center of your chest as you inhale, open up your wings, open up your arms and expand. And as you exhale, just draw the hands back to the heart. And we start really simple with a little bit of movement and breaths and prana yoga, feeling our energy expand and feeling it contract in how to open. Exhale, soften, and bring it back in. And we'll work with this pulsation throughout our whole practice.

Feel the chest lift, feel the heart lift, and then exhale put all that energy right back in, and then spread it back out one more time like that. Inhale, exhale, bringing the hands back, step the feet close together and just release the arms down, circle wide as you take a big breath in, just taking in the day. Exhale forward fold, soften the knees, relax your head and neck completely. Lift the heart halfway. Let's come up to that flying, Arta Uttanasan, exhale melt it back down and step back so that your knees land right on your blanket.

Take a couple cat cows here. That same reflection of pulsation through the spine, inhaling to arch, expanding, exhaling to round. One more time like that, inhale to arc, exhale to round. Keep the tail tucked under as you walk your fingers back. And then stand tall on your knees, keeping that posterior tilt to the pelvis Let's reach the arms forward and hinge back.

So we go right into the stabilization, and then come back out of the hinge and open the chest. As you exhale, engage through the core, keep the tailbone tucking under hinging, and then inhale expand. So see if you can keep the lower body stabilized as you hinge and the upper body from the heart to the arms fluid, exhale hinging back. Inhale. And this is a great way to stabilize the core as well as warm up the legs.

You really feel it. Take one more here, exhale hinging back into that thigh stretch, inhale open, bring the left hand to the hip, right arm sweeps up and over. So we have kind of a high half Ustrasana, and then sweep it down, take the second side, right hand to hip, left arm reaches up and over. Exhale. It's warming up the spine, inhale back to the first side, exhale sweep, inhale lift the left arm up. Exhale sweep.

Take your hands to the mat, cross the ankles. Let's give a little visit to the series of five just to say we did. So scoop the hips forward. Actually, I'm gonna spin this way. I like this view.

And then go ahead and roll down. So just the low back is supported on the blanket. Like, you're on a little platform here. Keep the shoulders curled up the c curve in your spine. And let's move through this. Kind of a half set today.

We'll just take, six on each side, single leg stretch, inhaling for two. And exhaling. So kind of an efficient and concise warm up here inhale and exhale. Turn this into double leg stretch. Inhale reach.

Exhale circle the arm engage the core. Stretch away from it like a hammock, exhale. Inhale reach, exhale. Take a moment. Relax your head down. Notice the shoulders and head are lower than the The rest the thoracic's fine.

Come back to the center. Take a deep inhale here as you reach. XL, circle the arms. Come up for scissors. Extend the right leg up.

Let's flex the right foot. Double pulse here and change. One. Two, double exhale on the pulse, quick inhale on the switch. One more each side. And pause, bring the knees in.

Take a moment, rest your neck, roll your head side to side. Let's keep it going. Inhale reach the arms over the head. Exhale circle the arms come up into that c curve hands behind your head, lace the fingers, crisscross. Inhaling for two.

Exhaling for two. Spreading through the toes. Inhale for two. Xhale for two. One more side.

Inhale for two. And then relax your head and shoulders down a little bit different this time for lowers. Take your hands right underneath your tailbone, kinda frame your sacrum. Reach your legs straight up for lowers. We'll keep it parallel as we lower the legs stabilizing through the core, and then bring it back up shoulders away from the ears.

Inhale to lower, try not to let your back arch, exhale bring it up. Just four more like this, and you can feel how It's a very effective warm up, exhale, bring it back to center, inhale lower to your degree without letting that low back lift. Remember the weight of the legs is a lever against the core in the pelvis, exhale bring it up, last one, inhale lower, exhale bring it back up, bend your knees, and let's rock on up. Spin it around, come into downward facing dog. Let's keep the blanket here.

We'll use it for our namaskars, this, in this practice. Go ahead and bicycle pedal through the feet and knees. Just taking a little walk and walk your feet right up and over your blanket coming into your forward fold. Relax your head, neck, and shoulders. I notice how different this forward fold feels just after doing a little bit of core work there.

Let's bend the knees softly. Look forward. Reach forward and inhale. Come on up, stretch. To the blue sky. Exale hands to the heart.

Let's take chandra, no mascara. Inhale reach forward and up. Exhale forward fold. Release your head and neck. Step the left foot back.

Long low lunge, lower the knee. Inhale reach forward and up. Exhale right back to your down dog, moving through a classic lunar moon salutation, ripple forward to plank on the inhale, lower the knees, and then exhale, chest and hips come down at the same time. Inhale to your cobra slash swan, exhale, press back to hands and knees, downward facing dog. Take the left foot up and over the blanket, lower the back knee down.

Inhale to your low lunge. Exhale step to the front of the mat. Forward fold. Inhale come all the way up. Exhale hands to the heart.

Let's take this again and add on inhale to reach. Exhale, pour it out. Let it go. Step the left foot back once again. Lower the knee. Inhale reach forward and up.

Now take the right hand to the hip and side bend towards your right, deep inhale here, exhale sweep forward and down, pivot the back shin, we'll place the left hand, float the right arm, right leg. And then just take a couple elbow to knee here, feeling that expansion and contraction. That opening up from the center of the body to the periphery and then pulling back into the core one more time. Now place the right foot flat, come all the way up with your torso and side bend towards the long leg. Take a deep breath here.

Exhale. And then pour it back over to your left, float the right leg up, reach straight up with your right arm. Little simple single leg kicks here, kneeling leg kicks from the pilates repertoire. So just swing it forward, getting a little heat and awareness into that right hip, keeping the torso, spine, everything just floating. And then turn that into a little bicycle kick, like you're swimming through honey.

Heel comes to your glute, extend, sweep it back. Just take a few of these. Notice how it feels, and then extend reach over your head. Come on up. Plant that foot this time. Turn it out for a kneeling warrior two lunge, swim your hands down inside your right foot. We let the left shin kick back a little bit, and then it's this asymmetrical. I'm gonna come off the mat here for a moment.

Artahanuman. Really beautiful opening for your hamstring. And then shift it forward, runners lunge, even everything out. Let's step back to downward facing dog. The foot goes up and over the blanket.

Ripple forward to your plank, lower your knees, exhale chest and hips come all the way down. Inhale find your low cobra. Swan, pulling the heart forward, exhale, press back, hands and knees, and then down dog. Just enjoy the second side. Take the left foot up and over the blanket, low lunge.

Inhale reach forward and up. Exhale, side into your left. Left hand comes to the hip, reach up and over. Big inhale. Exhale sweep it forward and down.

Right shin pivots. Right palm plants float left arm and left leg. So we're in this kneeling Vashistasana elbow to knee, that coiling action, and then expand open heart center. Exit. Inhale expand. XL coil.

Inhale expand. Now plant the left foot down, come up torso over the hips, side bend towards your long leg. Back to center, exhale plant through the right hand, keep your left arm reaching straight up, and then just take a few kicks. Left leg reaches forward and back. Flex when you kick it forward. Point when you kick it back. Notice the hips.

Kinda have to counter balance and pull back when you kick forward and press forward when you take the foot back. Let's turn this into a bicycle. Draw the heel of the buttock, extend. And then sweep. Really great for both hips stabilizing through the center of the body. One more. And then reach it straight back, arm reaches over your head. Come on up so that we turn the left foot out, kneeling warrior two, nice little adductor opening, swing the hands down to the inside of the foot.

The right chin kicks back a little bit, and then we pull the hips back. Asymmetrical Haneman. Take a deep breath in here, just sinking into this shape as you exhale, climate forward to your runner's lunge, even everything out, back toes curl under. We lift the back knee and then big step up and over the blanket to the front of the mat. Finding your forward fold here.

Lifting through the head and heart come all the way up to standing big inhale. Exhale hands to your heart. Separate the feet hips width apart, circle the arms out and up full body breath in. As you exhale, stay standing, but lace the fingers behind your back, you can soften the knees. Send the knuckles down, the heart lifted as you inhale, exhale lead with your heart center as you come into your forward fold, soften the knees a bit, relax your head and neck, and let your shoulder blades float upward.

As your head relaxes downward, empty out. Sometimes we get all up in our head, and it's always a nice thing to remember to just drop back into the heart center. So keep your awareness there and breathe into that space. One more breath. Release your hands. Step it back to plank.

And let's actually come down. We'll get rid of our blanket here so you can double fold it and set it to one side. And then we'll bring in our bolster and use it as a little variation for Anahata Asana. So it's kind of adds a little nice shoulder opening quality. If you take your bolster Maybe about a foot or so back from the top of the mat, and then just drape your hands off the other side. Walk the knees back enough so that they're underneath your hips and allow your heart to melt down.

And it is gonna be floating in space here. If you have any impingement in the shoulders, you can skip the bolster. But if it feels okay to you, a little pulsation in the spine, rounding your spine, feeling that coiling of the tailbone, That's the inhale and then exhale. Melt the hips back, heart down gaze forward. Just a couple of these coiling cat cows inhaling as we round. Exhale.

Melt the heart. Really deep shoulder opener here. Inhaled around. And then exhale. It's a small movement.

Shifting forward, take your shoulders over the elbows. We'll come into a kind of a high sphinx. So let the hips melt down, shoulders are right over your elbows. You're still up on that bolster. It just gives you a little bit of a different kinda degree in the spine here.

So enjoy it. Press down through the elbows, lift up. It's a very active sphinx. We're just here for a moment. Reach back through the toes, engage your legs. And then lift through the core.

There's a tiny coiling. Shift the hips back. We'll take a child's pose moment. We can set the bolster off to one side. We'll bring that back a little bit later.

So sink down into your child's pose just as a counter stretch, shifting forward, finding plank, and then lower all the way down. Let's return into sphinx pose, sliding the elbows under the shoulders, palms are flat. Chest is lifted. Little single leg kick here just to say hello to the hamstrings. We've got that flex point extend down. Other leg flex point extend.

Try to keep the front of the hips grounded. And we're just saying hello, hamstring wake up. I'm gonna be needing you pretty soon here. Stretch flex point stretch. One more time each side.

Point stretch. Flex point stretch. Bend your right knee and hold. You can point the toe. Bring the left hand to the midline.

Now let's catch that back foot either with your hand or a strap or anything you've got. You can grab onto that foot and draw your heel towards the outer hip. Try to press the front of the hip down. Just give that quad a little hello. And then let it go.

Sweeping right elbow back to the front of the mat. Let's switch sides. Take the left foot, draw it towards the outer hip. Squaring off through the shoulders, try to press the front of your left hip down. And breathe here.

For many of us, the quads, hip flexors store a lot of tension. They do a lot of work every day for us. So this can be like, okay. Is this potent? Let that foot go. Let's come into forearm playing for a moment.

You can lace your fingers, curl the toes under, press into your knees and let the action come from the navel to spine first. So pull up through the core, then lift the hips, then from here, lift the knees. So we're not loading the lumbar spine, but we're activating from the core. Start to walk your feet in. Coming into dolphin just for a moment, pressing the heart back.

It's that same shape in the shoulders as that supported Anahata asana on the bolster. And this helps open up our shoulders and hips, prepare our body for full wheel. Let's lower to the knees, walk your hands back. Come on up. So if you wanna grab your blanket again, To go underneath the knees, this would be the spot. I think I'm okay.

I've got a nice padded mat. Reach your hands forward hinge back. And then from here, you can come back into this flow. Right, that we did in the very beginning of the practice, or if you'd like to curl the toes under and hinge back pause, this is a wonderful opportunity to take both hands to your heels. We're in the hinge and then press the hips forward, come up through the heart, full camel, breathe, deepest breaths, pour it right into the center of the heart. One more breath here. XL, shift back slightly.

Draw the chin towards the chest. Come on up. And let's meet up in downward facing dog. And rinse it off, bringing the feet close together. Amazing feeling coming out of that pose.

Take the right leg to the sky. Big inhale hips are square. XL step it all the way through. Set up for warrior two. Inhale to rise.

Exhale. Hands to the heart. Inhale, open it up, right from the heart center. Super generous. Take a side, then reverse your warrior.

And then let's bring our right elbow to our thigh. Left arm reaches overhead, partial konasana. If you wanna go a little deeper, you can always slide your hand down to the mat. I kinda like staying a little more spacious up here, and then take your top arm behind your back and go for a little half wrap, turning the chest open. Take one more full breath. Maybe the finger is the forearm or the bottom hand reaches forward so that shoulder goes into external rotation. And then let's exhale hands to the mat.

Step it on back to plank. Lower down Chaturanga, feel free to go to the belly or hover. Cobra or upward dog is the inhale, exhale downward dog. Left leg rising, big breath in. Exhale step it all the way through setting up for warrior two.

Coming on up, feeling the power in the legs, inhale hands to the heart. Exhale, open it up. Reverse your war a big breath in. XL elbow to thigh, top arm alongside your ear, finding partial konasana. You're welcome to go a little lower or stay a little higher.

It's up to you. Top arm sweeps behind the back, half wrap. Can absolutely go into a full wrap if you prefer, and just enjoy a few breaths right here. Therapy for the hips, the shoulders, strengthening for the legs. That bottom forearm, just rotate it so the palm is forward, and then exhale hands to the mat. Step back downward dog.

Let's hold this down dog for one long breath. Okay. Let's inhale to the toes. Ben the knees. You're welcome to sethanes down and swivel the feet, or you can cross the ankles and hop. Land on the top of the feet.

And then take your hands back behind you, extend your legs forward. A little nod to leg pull front. It's a challenging posture upward facing plank, challenging exercise, but great to do right before wheel. It's a great prep. So let's lift the chest, big inhale as you exhale curl the tailbone under lift the pelvis coming up into upward facing plank.

You can stay right here or take couple kicks. Exhaling as you kick. Three is a good number. Let's do one more. And then lower down. Oh, that one.

Great exercise. Roll the wrists a bit. And then from here, let's go ahead and swing the legs around to get ready for our wheel. Release your hands forward. Slow roll down tucking the tail under, coming down as slow as you can.

And then once you get there, just hug your knees into your chest. Relax your head. Let's place the feet for bridge. Tuck the tail under so we get that nice posterior tail. We've been working with this, and all of these practices elevating into bridge.

And then notice if I definitely do this. So I always have to catch myself if you flare the ribs and leave the hips hanging. We wanna try to draw the tailbone under and keep the front ribs. Just kinda this bridge, right? The hips connect to the front ribs. That's the bridge to let the heart open.

So hang out there, fill that bridge to your heart. You're welcome to lace the fingers and walk the outer shoulders in underneath you. And that's kinda the work right there is feeling those actions, the tilt of the pelvis, squeezing into the inner thighs, the collecting of your ribs, but the opening of the heart. Some of you are gonna stay right here. Some of you are gonna take the hands right next to your ears. To prepare for wheel, full Urdwani rossin.

So we'll press into the hands, lift, prop onto the crown of our head, elbows come in. Take a deep breath in, exhale, and then inhale to rise, pressing the floor away, lift through the chest, press your heart back towards the top of the mat, pressing into the feet. Empower the legs, empower the arms, big breath in, lower back down, back of the head, shoulders articulating down the spine, wrap yourself up in an embrace, corrective rest position. We take the feet wide, the inner knees touch, the arms wrap around our shoulders. This is our counter moment.

We'll take another visit to Wheel. And we'll just enjoy this shape for a moment as we gear up because it's a big posture. One more breath here. And let's reset. Take the feet hips width apart.

Feel that posterior tilt in the pelvis, release your arms over your head as you lift the hips to bridge. Place your palms. If you're going into a wheel, get ready. Otherwise, lace the fingers if you're staying in bridge, which is a beautiful option. Let's come to the crown. Those of you who are popping a wheelie, elbows come in. Take a deep breath in. Let's go up on the exhale this time.

Walk the feet a little closer to the middle of the mat, walk the hands a little closer to the middle of the mat, and press. Open up the bow. Open up the arc. This is the bridge to your heart right here. Breathe. Last breath, thigh is hugging the midline.

And then slowly come down back of the head, shoulders, ribs, hips, corrective rest position. Open up the arms like a cactus. Let your knees windshield wiper side to side. And then coming back to center, hug the knees into your chest. Rock on up. You can roll to one side or rock on up.

Grab your bolster, and we'll use this for a dynamic, easy counter pose. So coming in and out of our forward fold, we call this the roll up, and it's really nice to use with a bolster. Just gives you a little bit of leverage, especially those of us with kind of the archy lordosis lower back. This is like a great helping hand. So we wanna position it just a few inches behind the sacrum.

Roll back. Feel that supported backbend. Inhale reach out to your full length, lift the hips for a moment and just re tilt the pelvis so we give ourselves a little space. And then as you exhale, pull the front ribs in, Start your roll up, pull the naval to the spine, flex your feet, round through that lumbar curve, then stretch it forward into Pashimottanasana. And then let's release and roll back, and we'll just come in and out of this a few times, moving from a thoracic backbend inhale, exhale press the ribs in, pull the naval in. There's that banda light curving through the lumbar spine, this assistance of the bolster gives me time to really move slowly through that lumbar curve and just inform the kinetic pattern.

Through the body rather than reinforcing the toss and the use of momentum, exhale, pull the front ribs in, navel draws in, slow curve. Taking your time, reach it forward. Slowly roll back. Let's take one more. Inhale.

Big reach. Exhale, draw the navel in. C curve. Lumber curve, reach it forward, and hang out here. Slowly sitting up tall.

You can set your bolster over to one side. It's kinda nice that we have matching purple bolster purple blanket. Let's take a moment in Johnny Sherasasana, bringing the sole of the right foot to the inner left thigh, reach up, take a little twist towards the left leg, and then right hand just like the saw reaches to the outside of the toe, draw yourself into Nice easy fold here. Slowly, come on up. Changing legs, extend the right leg forward, bring the sole of the left foot to the inner thigh. Sit tall as you inhale.

Twist slightly to the right, find that kind of saw action as the baby finger goes right by the baby toe somewhere in that region, and draw yourself down. Slowly come on up. Extend your legs forward. Reach your arms forward. Let's roll down nice and slow.

One vertebrae at a time and release for Shavasana. Slowly bring your awareness back into your body, send a little movement to your fingers and your toes, reach your arms over your head, reawaken. Exhale, draw the knees to the chest, roll over to one side or rock up and sit up, come to a comfortable seated position, bringing your hands, palms right to the heart. Thank you so much for being here and sharing this practice with me. I hope you feel amazing. Have a beautiful day. Namaste.