Dolphin Flow

Welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Let's dive right in, comfortable seat, tall spine, hands rest, taking just a moment to transition from whatever came before. Right here onto your mat, into your body for your practice, sensing the breath, letting the inhales expand, settling with the exhales, And then drawing hands to prayer at heart center will open with the sound of ohm, exhale all the breath out. And then together through the nose, big inhale.

Take another moment of stillness here, landing in your intention for your practice. Anything at all you wanna offer up? Anything at all you wanna welcome in. As you're ready, float the eyes open, let's take a big inhale, reach the arms out and up. And then with the exhale cactus the arms, feel strength of center, allow the opening through the back shining out through the heart, soft through the neck, give it one more breath.

And then nice and easy inhale just reach arms to sky, And with your exhale, rock your body forward, find your hands and your knees. Ground hands into earth, inhale, lift the tailbone, look up. Exhale round. Empty all the breath out, belly to spine. Mhmm. Two more like that. Inhale looking up.

Exaling round. Again, inhale. And exhale to round, belly to spine. Good. Then inhale, come back to a neutral spine, tuck the toes and exhale go all the way up and back downward facing dog. As you find it, ease and paddle the feet, ease hips side to side.

You might sail a leg to the sky, shake it out a little, you might not have yes, shake it no. Whatever feels best, landing in the body, warming it up. Mhmm. And then take a breath just to come back to stillness. And with your next inhale, roll it forward, finding plank pose, pause here.

Strong and engaged through the whole body, building a little strength through the center. Let's see how this feels. Keep your plank in how lift the right leg. And then with your exhale, draw the right knee outside the right elbow. Stay for your inhale.

Exale come to midline, knee to nose, nose to knee. Stay for your inhale. Exale step back into plank pose, second side, inhale lift the left leg, exhale in the outside, left elbow, inhale here, exhale to midline, stay for the inhale, Exhale, return to plank again, each side, inhale right leg up. Exale in the outside, elbow. Stay for the inhale.

Exhale to center line. Stay for the inhale, exhale to plank. Last cycle, inhale, left leg up a little, exhale in the outside elbow. Stay for the inhale. The exhale center, inhale here.

Exale plank. Nice. Stay for your inhale. XL, press back into downward facing dog. Pause. Breathe. Yes.

With the next inhale again, roll forward into plank with your exhale, lower your knees, hips, belly, chest, come all the way down, and slide hands forward, 10 fingertips, inhale, lift to cobra. Easing into that backbend, exhale just melt all the way back down to the earth, hands outside of ribcage, inhale press, hands and knees, talk the toes, exhale, go back into your down dog. Take one breath here. Inhale again. Find your plank pose. This time, exhale lower knees first or Chaturanga, inhale, stay with cobra or rise to up dog, and exhale, go all the way up and back downward facing dog. Stay here for an inhale.

Exhale, let it go. One last cycle, inhale roll forward, exhale lower. However, you choose. Inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, go back downward facing dog nice, work, feel the body warming, awakening. Take a breath.

And then with your next inhale, reach right leg to sky with your exhale, open the hip and the knee. Take a breath. And then inhale reach it back to the sky and with your exhale simply step that foot forward between the hands release the back knee down to the earth and inhale rise, low lunge. As you exhale, ease hips forward deepening into it. Let's give it a big inhale.

Exhale, bend at the elbows, go open. Yeah. Inhale rise. Exhale to open. Yeah. Once again, inhale up. Exhale, open, and then inhale reach up, exhale hands to earth, ease your hips back, Artahanamasana, lengthen out on your inhale deepen on your exhale.

Take a moment here. It's continuing to warm the body, and welcome yourself onto your mat. And with the next inhale, ease forward, bending that front knee, exhale tuck back toes, lift back knee step straight into plank, pause, going through the center, big inhale. Exhale your choice through the vinyasa or just press it straight back. We meet in down dog. Take a breath there.

Second side, inhale reach, left leg to sky, exhale to open the hip, bend the knee, give it a moment. And then inhale reach, left leg to sky, exhale. Step that foot forward, lower the back knee down to the earth. Inhale rise, lower lunge. Exhale deepening in. Yeah. Stay for a big inhale.

Exhale, bend at the elbows, go wide open. Inhale reach up again. Exhale open. Inhale reach. Exale open.

Yeah, then inhale reach up. Exhale release hands to earth, ease hips back, lengthen left leg, arda, ahana manasana. Inhale reach through your heart. Exhale melt into your fold. Just softening down.

Opening back of left leg. Yeah. With the next inhale, just ease forward bending front knee with the exhale tuck back toes, lift back knee, step straight into plank again. Pause, big inhale. Exhale, optional vinyasa, finding down dog in your own time, and pausing here. Give it a moment, steady breath. Yeah. Slowly with your inhale, walk the feet forward to the front of your mat, easy fold, relax down into it.

Keep head heavy and slowly with your inhale roll all the way to stand. XL grounding, arriving, feet together, hands to prayer, heart center. Steady the gaze, steady the breath, inhaling here, and exhaling. Nice. Inhale reach the arms out and up, strong through your center, exhale just fold forward. Good. We're coming right back up.

Inhale rise. Reach through fingertips. Exhale bow and fold. Again, inhale all the way up, rise. Exhale bow out and down.

Writing the breath. Again, inhale up. Last time into the fold, exhale just releasing down. Good. Then inhale all the way up. Reach, reach, reach, and with your exhale, Hans to prayer, heart center. Take one breath.

And then deep bend in the knees, inhale utkatasana pausing here. Feel the strength of your legs, feel the uplift of deep low belly, tall through spine, and hold steady, hold strong. Three. Build that inner fire. Two. Big inhale. And then with the exhale, let's take our utkatasana.

Chest is parallel to the earth hollow through the belly, shoulder blades down the back, and then keep this inhale arms go wide. Exhale reach forward. Yeah, inhale to open, exhale in, inhale open, exhale forward. This time inhale reach all the way back, interlace the fingers And then with your exhale, just ease into your fold. Arms go up and over. Let the head fall.

Let the neck relax. Breathe, upper back, neck, shoulders, any sticky spots. Couple more breaths. Yeah. And then with your next exhale, simply release hands full to the earth.

With your inhale lengthen halfway, ground the hands, hop or step back. Through the vinyasa lower as you choose. Inhale to lift through the heart. Xhale, go back downward facing dog. Let's pause here for a breath or two.

Landing in your center. Good. With the next inhale reach, right leg to sky. Exale to open the hip, bend the knee. And then inhale rise. And with your exhale, step the right foot forward, ground through the back heel, and left arm opens you on the inhale warrior two, exhale just ground.

Steady gaze, steady breath, feel your strength. Couple more breaths. Yeah. Foundations stay strong with your inhale, reverse your warrior. Slide left hand down, left leg, reach back. Breathe into side body for five.

Another breath or two. Yeah. With your next inhale rise returning to warrior two, with your exhale come into side angle so the right forearm can rest to the thigh or the hand can come down to the earth. The left arm reaches up and over, extending out through fingertips, roll towards so open, breathe here five. Feel the expanse. Couple more breaths.

Feel your foundation really press the feet into the earth inhale return to warrior two, exhale just ground. Okay. With the inhale reverse, reach it back again with your exhale hands to the earth. With your inhale, take your right leg back to the sky and with the exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale reach it up again and with your exhale step right foot forward again, ground back heel, inhale, left arm opens you. Exhale ground, inhale to reverse again, pause on your exhale, inhale rise warrior two, exhale returning to side angle.

Again, forearm to thigh or hand to earth, left arm up and over. This time, we're gonna explore a little further. You're welcome to stay where you are, or half or full bind, rolling torso open. And you're welcome to stay where you are or maybe ease that back foot in, step it forward, ground through left foot, lift from deep belly and rise to bird of paradise. Totally optional.

Take whatever feels best in your body. Study for three. And two, give it one more breath. And as you're ready, start to ease right foot back down to the earth grounding, and keep the mind if you can, stepping the left foot all the way back. And then we'll all unravel meeting in your warrior to give it a breath.

Big inhale reverse, reach back, exhale, hands to the earth. Step it into playing, take the vinyasa or let it go. Finding your down dog, pause, gather your energy. Come right here. This breath, this moment.

And having some fun with the second side, inhale left leg to the sky. Exale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale to rise. Exhale. Step forward, ground back heel, right arm opens you. Inhale, warrior two. XL, settle and ground. Just this. Be right here.

Yeah. Few warm breaths. Since your body, sense your strength. Mhmm. With your next inhale reverse, reach a back space, just through waist, rib cage, even up through that left shoulder joint. One more breath. Inhale to warrior two, exhale into side angle.

Any variation could be a whole different experience on this side. Feel into that, forearm to thigh or hand to earth, right arm reaches up and over, roll torso open breathe. Yeah. A couple more breaths. Ground through your feet, lift from your center, inhale return to warrior two, exhale ground.

Inhale to reverse, reach it back. Exhale hands to the earth, Inhale, take your left leg back to the sky, exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale rise again. Exhale, step left foot forward again. Root back heel, right arm opens your warrior to exhale ground, inhale to reverse with your exhale again side angle.

Any expression of the pose. Sense what feels good in your body. Form to thigh, hand to earth, bind, half bind, roll torso open, keep what you've got, or start to ease back foot in. Step it forward, ground that right foot, lift from deep low belly, inhale to rise. Maybe left leg extends.

Again, go anywhere you want with this. And breathe for three. And two, yeah, as you're ready stay with yourself through the transitions, releasing, left foot back to the earth, Keep the bind if you can, stepping the right foot all the way back. And we'll unravel together finding your warrior too. Just saddle ground.

Take a breath. Big inhale reverse, reach it back. And with your exhale hands to the earth, step into plank and exhale lower. Inhale lift the heart. And exhale, downward facing dog, really strong, really steady.

Take a big inhale here, and then open the mouth, exhale. Let it all go. Breathing here, coming back to center. As you're ready, inhale, ripple forward, plank pose. And from here with your exhale, lower all the way down to the earth.

As you land, slide forms and elbows out. Coming into sphinx pose. Ground the elbows under the shoulders, press the forearms into the earth. And let's build this slowly, really feeling into the subtlety of the action. The legs are pressing down into the earth.

The tailbone is kind of reaching for the heels as the deep belly draws in and up. That's going to lengthen and support your low back. Then actively press elbows forms, palms into the earth, kind of pull the earth towards you and reach out through the heart. So that mid upper back thoracic spine is active. The whole body is engaged, steady gaze, just kinda forward and down.

Hold this for three. Mhmm. Two. And with your exhale, release melt to the earth, hands outside of ribcage, inhale just press to hands and knees. And exhale to ground here.

Yeah. Okay. Left hand stays rooted, inhale reach the right arm out and up, and then exhale thread that right arm under the left, come to the back of the right shoulder. Left hand rooting, walking out, reaching up, even wrapping back, whatever feels best, more awareness, more breath into thoracic spine. Couple more breaths. Yeah. Stay for a big inhale.

And with your exhale, let left hand ground under left shoulder again and inhale. Take your right arm back to the sky. Yeah. Exhale release neutral spine for a breath. And then into your second side with your inhale reach, left arm out and up.

And with your exhale, thread that arm under, come to the back of the shoulder, right hand grounds or walks out or reaches up. Breathe, across separate back, back of heart, back of shoulders, three. Yeah. Two. Stay for a big inhale. XL, right hand grounds under right shoulder.

Inhale. Take the left arm back to the sky. And then exhale to release. Again, just settle neutral spine. Give it a moment. Okay. Then big inhale here.

And with your exhale, walk the arms out for Anahatasana. You can release under your forehead or your chin and just rest down into it. Dissolving between the shoulder blades, softening back of heart. One more, And then nice and easy, as you exhale, simply slide the hips back towards the heels, finding child's pose, and kind of letting that all settle for a moment. It's a lot of deep twisting and action through mid upper back.

Let it calm. A couple of breaths. Mhmm. Stay right there as long as you'd like when you're ready, inhale rise, hands and knees. Okay. Little exploration with your so release forearms and elbows down to the earth in preparation for dolphin. Little alignment check, hands outside of elbows is a nice benchmark. We don't want the elbows any wider than the shoulders.

Then release that again, grounding down that same action you found in sphinx with the upper body, big inhale, tuck toes, and then exhale, lift the knees, lift the hips, into your dolphin. As is, or you can explore walking the feet in towards the upper body. Mhmm. And just as the heart kind of reached forward in your sphinx, feel it reaching towards the legs here. Make that mid upper back active. This is more than enough.

Stay right where you are if you'd like or sustaining strength through upper body, lift the gaze between the forearms and just float either leg to the sky. Mhmm. Feel that lift, couple breaths. Rease the leg if it's up and switch, balance it out, take the other leg to the sky. Yeah. If you feel for it, you can always play with little hops here.

You can even jump all the way up into your forearm stand. If you have the space, you can move to the wall, play with that. Take your time with it. And when you're ready, just return, feet to the earth, knees to the earth, hips to the heels, child's pose, nice exploration, lay it down for a moment. Just settle.

Few breaths. One more breath here. Inhale rise, hands, and knees. Talk the toes, exhale, press up and back, down dog. Take one breath. And bottom of your next exhale, soft bend in your knees, upper step through to sit and find dandasana.

Just a moment to ground here, flush out from under sits bones, hands rooting outside of hips, feel length of spine. And then keep the left leg as it is. Draw the right leg in for Janisher Shasana. It's like a seated tree pose, sole of the right foot to inner left thigh. And just for a moment, let the whole upper body twist to the left, get really tall, big inhale.

And then exhale into your fold. You can hold the foot, ankle, shin, strap, whatever works. When you have your grip inhale reach, exhale to release a full five breaths here. A couple more breaths. And then the inhale rise, exhale, release, extend that right leg out, and then just switch the legs, sole of left foot to inner right thigh. Tall through the spine, take a big inhale, just a slight twist to the right, and then exhale, take that length into the fold over a right leg.

Again, any grip that feels best, inhale lengthen it out, exhale melt down a full five breaths, letting everything settle a little. One more bra. Inhale lengthen halfway, exhale to release, extend both legs out, rock it out a little bit. And then gather the legs in. Let's just try this. Crossing the ankles.

You can either tent the fingertips or plant the hems. Doesn't matter if the butt comes totally up off the earth or not. You're just energetically aiming for that. Grounding down, pick it up and release, and then go ahead and roll all the way down onto your back. As you land, draw knees into chest, wrap arms around legs.

And rock your body side to side. And then gently let the feet ground about hips distance, let the arms rest alongside the body and just feel the earth beneath you for a moment. We're gonna move into a progression of three back bends. These can be as gentle, or as deep, intense as you choose. Let's start simply together.

Ground through the feet, scoop the tailbone and inhale lift the hips. Just a simple bridge. Arms can rest, or hands can interlace under the back, crawl shoulders in and under, and breathe into the heart, into the solar plexus. Into the belly, the hip flexors, the quad muscles, opening front body, three, two, If hands are clasped, exhale to release that, and then just melt top to bottom of spine back down to the earth. And let's pause at least a couple breaths here.

Let yourself settle, sense how you feel. And then you choose. For the second backbend, you're welcome to stay with bridge. You could even make this restorative if you happen to have a block or any prop to slide under sacrum, or if you're feeling for it, Erva, dhanurasana, plant hands under shoulders, feel into your foundation, take a big inhale, And as you exhale, scoop the tailbone, lift the hips and press all the way up. Breathe into the heart.

Breathe into front body. Few more breaths. Stay here for your inhale. And then slowly with your exhale, release back of the head, shoulders, upper mid, low back all the way down. And again, just pause, settle, feel into it.

Third and final backbend. Any variation, feel into your experience and take whatever feels best grounding through feet and possibly hands big inhale, scoop, tailbone, and take it up. Full five breaths. And just be right here, sensing your body. Mhmm. A couple more breaths.

Now, give it a big inhale. And with your exhale, release finding the earth, lay it all down, soles of the feet together, knees fall open, hand to heart, hand to belly, supta baddha konasana, just rest. Gay soft or eyes closed, feel rise and fall of breath, and saddle here. Slowing it down. Beginning to integrate, just saddle.

Great. Nice and easy. Draw the knees together. And then just let them fall to the left. Right arm to the right, ring it all out. Few more breaths here.

And with your next inhale, draw the legs back to center. You might move the hips to the left a little, and then just nice and easy. Let the legs fall to the right. Left, arm reaches to the left, breathing into low back and sacrum, clearing it out. With your inhale, come back to center.

Exhale just ground, and then draw the knees in towards the chest. Take hold of the ankles or the feet for happy baby. Neutral here rocking a little side to side, whatever feels good. Few more breaths. Let this be a sweet final release.

And as you're ready finding center, and then just release, and let the legs extend and roll open, let the arms rest, palms roll open. Lay the whole body down. Yeah. And consider laying whatever it may be, swimming in mind weighing on heart down, offer it up, let yourself rest. Gentle, inhale through the nose.

And to open the mouth exhale. Just rest. Gently deepening your breath, wiggling fingers and toes, big inhale, reach arms up and over. And then exhale, bend the knees, feet to the earth. You can roll to either side.

You can rock up, take your time, and simply find a comfortable seat as you're ready. We'll sit together for just a minute or so. If you'd like to prop up your seat in any way, always feel free. Just a moment of stillness, settle in, rest hands, tall spine. And let your awareness follow the movement of your breath.

If awareness drifts. No big deal. Simply come back that whatever it is, fluctuation of thought, sounds around you, sometimes even strong waves of emotion come and go, and practice welcoming awareness, home, movement of breath, sensations of body over and over and over. Drawing your hands to prayer at your heart center. Let's close with a gentle, exhale to empty all the breath out through the nose, big inhale.

Trently inhaling. And the soft bow forward with your exhale, namaste. Thank you all so much. Very strong, very steady practice, beautiful work. Be well. Namaste.