Courage Flow

Thank you for joining me for this flow for courage. We'll work with a mantra today. I flow with courage over fear. We'll incorporate that into this adventurous playful practice. If you have a couple blocks that might feel really supportive in this practice. Let's begin in child's pose.

I will meet you there. Bringing the big toes together, you might bring the knees together or find a slight separation between your knees. Walk your hands forward and just let your torso drape down. Maybe the forehead finds the earth. Take a moment to ground here in Balasana. The pose of the beginner.

Feel the earth beneath you that grounded quality. And then right away, just begin to notice the natural rhythm of your breath. The rise of the inhale. That grounding quality of the exhale. Let's breathe together, allowing a very big full breath in through your nose.

And then maybe open up the mouth like you're fogging a mirror inside out. Let the exhale ground you just a little bit more. Again, inhale through the nose, exhale to release. And start to allow the breath to move in and out of your nose, ujjayi breath. That same fogging of the mirror sound and sensation, but this time with the lips gently pressed together.

And then tuning back into that mantra, I flow with courage over fear, inhaling courage, and exhaling any fear that might be arising for you, or exhaling anything you'd like to release or let go of. Go ahead. And from here, walk your hands forward a little bit more. Let your elbows lift up off the earth. And then walk your hands over to the right side of your mat. You might pick up your left hand and place it on top of the right. Let a little weight shift off towards your left hip and breathe into the left side body. The rib cage, all the little spaces between your ribs.

Beautiful. And then come back through center and just take that over to the other side, maybe pick up the right hand, place it on top of the left, let a little weight shift off towards your right hip. Breathe into the right side body, the spaces between the ribs. Beautiful, and then come on back through center. We'll come up to tabletop, make your way up to all fours. Let your shoulders come over the wrists, hips over knees.

And we'll stretch our wrists here as we start to move into a little bit of arm balancing play. There's quite some, some interesting sensation that can come into the wrist. So let's start by finding a stretch. Turn your right hand to face towards you, fingers face towards you. If that's too intense, you can take the hand out to the side of the mat.

Otherwise, pressing the right palm toward the earth will take some cat cows like this. So as you inhale arch your spine, look up and lengthen, exhale navel to spine, tuck the tailbone, tuck the chin. And do that a couple more times. Inhale as you come forward. And exhale as you come back.

Inhale into cow. And exhale into cat. Beautiful. Maybe bring the back of the right hand to the earth and just shift the weight forward a little as you stretch through the wrist. Good. And then right hand down, we'll take that with the left hand. So either turning the fingers toward the side of the mat or they can face toward you pressing the left palm of your hand toward the earth and taking some cat cow as you inhale arch the spine, look up and lengthen, exhale navel to spine.

Two more inhale as you come forward, feel the opening in the front body. Exhale round. Good inhale come forward. Exhale round. Good. Neutral spine.

Maybe bring the back of the hand to the ground. Fingers face towards you. Shift, weight forward just a bit to stretch into that left wrist. Good. And then both hands face forward. From here as you inhale, come back to cow pose, arch the spine, reach the heart forward with the toes tucked As you come in toward cat, lift your knees up off the earth just an inch a bit and spine that rounding through the low belly.

So drawing the naval into the spine as you hover. Good. And then lower your knees as you inhale come back into cow pose. And as you exhale, same thing here, we're hovering the knees just an inch or so scoop the low belly in, tuck your chin. Good. And one more like that is you inhale, let the knees lower, let the heart lift, and then exhale, navel to spine, press into the top of the feet, hover your knees up off the earth, feel that scooping of the low belly. Good. And then knees lower.

And we'll make our way to down dog. So tucking your toes, lift the hips up and back, and just take a moment to land in this first down dog, pedal it out through the feet. Find some length in spaciousness in your spine, in your breath pressing through the inner, in the outer hand. Letting your hands be about shoulder width feet about hips distance. Starting to let the heels disappear behind your toes.

On your next breath in, glide to plank pose, top of a push up. Gotta take a moment to arrive. Let your shoulders come over wrists, hips in line with shoulder blades. And then as we lower to the ground, you're welcome to lower your knees. Otherwise, hug the elbows in, taking a slow lower all the way down. Untuck your toes for cobra inhale draw the shoulders away from the ears.

Heel your chest up gently engage the core to protect your spine. Good. And as you exhale, either moving back through hands and knees or up through plank, tuck the toes, downward facing dog as we start to warm the joints We'll connect the breath to the movement doing that a couple more times. Entire length of the inhale come forward to plank. Entire length of the exhale, lower down. Inhale bujangasana cobra exhale downward facing dog.

And one more inhale plank. Exhale lower. Inhale cobra exhale up and back downward facing dog, big full breath in. Long breath out. Slowly walk your feet up to the front of the mat, find a forward fold, soften your knees a little bit, let everything melt down.

And then slowly roll up one vertebra at a time. Let your head be the last thing to arrive. And as you get up to the top of the mat, maybe take some circles with your shoulders, just feeling into your shoulders, your neck, and just taking a moment to arrive here. Find that grounding energy beneath the soles of your feet. And then we'll step the feet together, bring the hands together in front of your heart in Anjali mudra. Moving with that sense of courage will come into utkatasana chair pose, bend your knees deeply sweep the arms up, find length in your spine.

Take a gaze down. Make sure you can see your toes. If not, draw the shin bones back just a bit, allowing a very big full breath in, maybe sink in a little deeper. And then forward fold as you're ready. Let that go.

Straight in the legs any amount, folding in uttanasana. On an inhale lift halfway, lengthen your spine. Plant your palm step to plank, top of a push up, shift the weight forward, your choice halfway or all the way down. You might stay with cobra. Or straighten the arms from the thighs up off the earth and come to upward facing dog.

Roll over the toes, lift the hips up and back, downward facing dog. Take a moment to land, allowing a big breath in. A long breath out. Sweep your right leg up and back. Inhale as you do that.

And then draw your knee to your nose and find that cat spine. So again, there's that rounding that will also explore as we come into some arm balance play. From here, lower your right knee all the way down to the ground. And then you can kickstand the right shin back, setting up for Artovashi Stasana, spin to the left heel, bring the weight into your right hand and then sweep your left arm up. Good. From here, you might take your left arm over your ear. You might even float your left leg up, finding balance. Find that length from your fingertips through your left heel. Beautiful. And then as you come down, bring your left hand back down to the earth, left toes tucked.

Come back to that hover. So draw your right knee in towards your nose and then sweep your right leg all the way up and back for a three legged dog. Good. And then knee to nose one more time. We'll step all the way through. Coming into low lunge, let your left knee lower down to the ground, and sweep your arms forward and up for Anjaniasana, low lunge.

I'm gonna just take a moment to arrive here. Reaching up and out of the side body energize up through your fingertips. Gently engage your core just to protect your low back, your spine. And we'll take a twist here. So reach your left arm forward.

And reach your right arm back. Let the torso start to spin open toward the right side of your mat. Good. Allow a big breath in to land. And then take your right hand to the back of your left thigh. Sweep your left arm up and over your ear, tilt back a little bit.

Reverse that. Good. And then circle down, left hand to the inside of your right foot for lunge twist, tuck your back toes. Lift the back knee up. Reach your right arm straight up and find lunge twist. A big expansive breath in and exhale lower the right hand.

Step to plain. Your vinyasa shift forward, Chaturanga, inhale cobra or upward facing dog, and exhale back, down dog. Landing in down dog, allowing a very big full breath in, and a long full breath out to release. Flute your left leg up and back, big breath in. Need to nose, feel that rounding through the upper back, cover for a moment, and then lower your left knee all the way down to the ground. Setting up for Arta Vashistasana, maybe kickstand the left shin back, spin to the right heel, and then sweep your right arm up, bringing the weight into your left hand, finding Artivashistasana to the other side.

Maybe take your right arm over your ear. You could stay here or float your right leg up, finding a little balance that line of energy from right fingertips to right heel. Good. And then as you lower the right foot down, bring the right hand back to the mat, tuck your back toes, come back to that hover, draw your left knee in towards your nose, round your spine. And then sweep your left leg up and back. Three leg dog.

I need to know. Step all the way through this time setting up for Anjaniasana low lunge. Let your right knee lower. Sweet the arms, forward and up, and take a moment to arrive, letting the left knee land right over the left ankle, soften your shoulders, relax your gaze, And then we find that twist as you draw the right arm forward this time. Let the left arm draw back and then we're twisting again from the naval. Find that twist. Beautiful fold. And then from here, left hand finds the back of the right thigh, sweep the right arm up and over your ear.

Big breath in. Circle the right hand to the inside of your left foot. Tuck the back toes for lunge twist, sweep your left arm up, twisting from the naval up, keep hugging the left hip in, really activate through that right quadrice at the back leg. And then lower the left hand and step back, plank pose, shift forward chaturanga, inhale cobra or up dog. And exhale landing back, downward facing dog, big breath in, and a long full breath out.

Her eyes high up on to toes, bend your knees, look forward. Step or lightly float to your hands, front of the mat. Inhale lift halfway, exhale fold, chair pose, uttanasana, knees, bend arms sweep up. Big full breath in, sink in. And then bring it right back into forward fold as you exhale.

Start to heel, toe your feet as wide as your yoga mat. Toes out heels in yogi squat melasana, bend your knees and sink your hips all the way down. You're welcome to sit on a block or two here. Just taking a moment to settle in, feel into your hips. Find length through your spine, through the crown of your head.

And now we'll play with a couple variations of prepping for crow pose. So I'm going to use two blocks to begin, one on the lowest height, one on the medium height that will be in front of me. You're welcome to stay in Malasana. I'll give a few options here. In this first variation of crow, we're gonna step our feet up onto the block, which is the lowest height. So toes together.

The knees will open up wide. And then this one that is in front of us on the medium height is going to catch our head as we go up into this variation. So bringing the hands to the ground, lift your hips, let your knees find the upper arms, and then we're building that shelf with our arms as you come forward. Find that rounding a bit through the upper back, and I'm going to let my forehead catch the block. And you could stay right here.

This might feel like enough, or maybe you lift up one foot and then the other. So we have bakasana crow pose with the support of the block underneath the head. Now, maybe you're removing the block. I'm gonna back up just a bit so I have my matte under my hands. I'm gonna still step up onto the block.

I find this is a nice way to lift the hips up. It gives me a little bit of a boost as I come into the shape. Again, hands find the ground. Let your knees find the upper arms gaze forward, build that shelf with the arms, find that rounding through the upper back, scoop the low belly in and up. As you gaze forward, maybe lift up one foot and place it back down. Lift up the other foot and place it back down.

Maybe you find a little airtime drawing both heels in, keep gazing forward, find that rounding through the upper back. Good. And then you have the block. Or not, you could do all of that without the blocks as well. And let's meet in a forward fold. So letting the feet come down toward the earth about hips distance soften your knees and just let all of that go.

Maybe shake out your head. Yes. No. Beautiful. From here, we'll come halfway up inhale to lengthen.

Exhale your transition back to down dog. Maybe moving through. A vinyasa or you're just stepping it right back into downward facing dog. We'll meet there. Taking a moment to land, clearing all of that, allowing a big breath in.

And along. Maybe lion's breath, stick out the tongue, let it go. Breathing in, and breathing out. Now, step your feet together at the back of your yoga mat. On an inhale, glide forward to plank pose, top of a push up.

You're welcome to lower that right knee down again for Artivashistasana, or start to roll to the outer edge of your right foot for Vashi Stasana, bringing the weight into your right hand and sweeping your left arm up stacking or you could always kickstand that left foot forward or step it behind you, find the variation that works best for you. Let it be about coming from the core, so you're engaging your core, the frontal hip points are facing straightforward. Good. From here, come back to plank, Draw your right knee into your nose so we're back in that hover round through your spine and then three legged dogs sweep your right leg all the way up and back. Need to nose, step all the way through This time we'll come to high lunge crescent pose.

You might widen the stance a bit and then sweep your arms up coming into crescent. Taking a moment to land, you're always welcome to lower the back knee. Otherwise, twisting from here, left arm forward, right arm back, twist from the naval up, sink in as you inhale lean back, right hand to the back of your left thigh, sweep the left arm up and over your ear. And then open up for warrior two. So take a moment, open it up face the side of your mat, sink into warrior two.

And then flip your front palm as you inhale tilt back, reverse warrior, circle down, runner's lunge, plant your left hand, sweep your right arm up, and find that lunge twist again, allowing a big breath in. Exhale lower the right hand. Step to plank. Chaturanga. Inhale cobra or updog.

Exhale downward facing dog. Breathe in. Let something go and breathe out. Feed together at the back of the mat. Just taking it to the second side.

Glide to plank. Roll to the outer edge of your left foot this time. Wait into the left hand. Reach your right arm up. Bashi Stasana, feel free to modify.

Maybe matching what you did on that first side. Good. Breathing. Find that stability within the shape. And then as you come back to plank, we're drawing the left knee in toward the nose for a hover. Inhale here, and then sweep your left leg up and back, three leg dog.

Need to nose, gaze forward, step all the way through, stay on the ball of your back foot, and come up to crescent. Take a moment to land, find that stability, let your back knee soften a bit so the tailbone melts down. Energize up through your fingertips and reach the right arm forward and the left arm back. Find that twist, sink in on an inhale tilt back, reverse warrior. Good. And then as you open it up to warrior two, open the arms wide facing the side of the mat sink in.

Find your drishti over that left middle finger. Really find your legs here, that stability. Flip your friend palm, tilt back reverse warrior. Feel that nice length in the side body. Inhale.

Circle down runners lunge, the right hand plants. The left arm lifts, find your twist, feel that expansion, that opening, and then let that go step back to plank, chaturanga, inhale cobra or up dog. And then meeting back. Downward facing dog. Rise high up onto toes, bend your knees look forward, step or lightly float, front of the mat, inhale to lift halfway.

Exhale fold, and we'll come into chair pose utkatasana, bend the knees deeply sweep the arms up. This time, draw your hands together in front of your heart. Take your left elbow to the outside of your right thigh for revolved chair. Now, you can stay right here, or maybe you sink in setting up for side crow coming up onto the toes. Maybe you're taking a couple blocks underneath your hands.

And then again, you're building that shelf, bringing hands to blocks or the earth, chaturanga arms looking forward, come up high, lift your hips. I'm gonna start by resting right hip on right arm, maybe float the feet up, so we're resting the legs on the arms and that shelf of the arms. Eventually, maybe we let go of that right arm and we find that balance on the left arm. Oh, and then come on out of there. Forward fold. Let that all go.

And maybe hook your peace fingers onto your big toes, step your feet hips distance, pottingustasana inhale come halfway up. Exhale elbows out to the side, tuck your chin, and release. Let that go. Shifting a little weight toward the balls of your feet, breathing into the back of your legs. Release. Just playing with any of these options.

Feel free to skip any of this. And then as you're ready, we'll heel toe their feet back together. I'm gonna set up my blocks on the outside. For the second side, we'll come back to chair, utkatasana, arm sweep up, draw your hands together in front of your heart, and maybe you're holding revolve chair. You could stay right here, prayer in front of the heart. Make sure the knees are level.

If you're playing with arm balance, come up onto your toes. Find that toe stand as you sink your hips down. I'm going to play with the block that are on the lowest height right under my hands, and then I'm lifting my hips, building that shelf with the arms, gazing forward, maybe floating the feet up. And then take your time. We'll meet back in forward fold.

This time, maybe slide the palms of your hands underneath the soles of your feet. Give the wrists. A little love. Tuck your chin. Let your head hang heavy. And just as I said at the beginning of class, it's pretty demanding on the wrists.

Some of these arm balances. So just making sure that we're stretching them and giving them some love after all that work. We release your hands. On an inhale lift halfway. We'll meet back and downward facing dog however you choose to arrive, allowing a big breath in, and a long breath out.

Good. From here, float your right leg up and back. Need to nose round. Setting up for pigeon. Let the shin come behind your wrists. And just take a moment to settle in. If there's another hip opener, that you prefer, feel free to honor that.

We won't be here too long. Just finding a few breaths on this side, maybe walking your hands forward. Send the breath to the right hip. Notice where all that movement settles as we come toward these held shapes. Those can be demanding postures or playful, experiment with some of these shapes that do take a little courage.

Maybe coming back to that mantra, I move with courage, not fear, inhaling courage. Exhaling any fear, and then walking hands back in, come back to down dog, pedal it out, or shake it out, whatever you need to release. That side as you're ready, float your left leg up. Need to notes. Take the shin behind your wrists.

You might be taking a prop under that left hip or just taking a moment to settle. Noticing if this side feels a little different, most likely. Waiting for that invitation to go a little deeper. Sending the breath to any sensation that you're feeling in the body. And then allow the waves to settle here.

Notice what arises for you. Come the observer. Of your here now experience. Breathing in. Breathing out walk your hands back in, whatever you need to release that side, maybe downward facing dog, shake it out.

We'll make our way onto our back you might just lower the knees, shift the weight off to one side, bring the legs out in front of you and come onto your back, maybe bring one of your blocks with you. And as you come onto your back, take a nice restorative ending to this practice. So you could slide the block any height. I like the lowest or the medium height. Under the sacrum, the very low back, just below the spine. You could stay in supported bridge, bringing the palms to face up on either side of your body, let the shoulders roll down. That might feel like a nice way to open the front line of the body, Or start to bring your legs up to the sky for a restorative shoulders down, legs up the wall, if you are near a wall.

It's taking a moment to go upside down. That reverse flow of blood of energy, let this be the integration of your practice, body, the mind, spirit, It's releasing here. Of course, you can stay with legs at the wall or wherever you are. For as long as you'd like enjoying all the benefits of being upside down, otherwise we'll let the soles of the feet find the earth, lift the hips just enough to slide the block out to either side of your mat, take your time as you make your way to any comfortable seated position, and just taking a moment to land. Thank yourself for courageously showing up for you today, sharing this practice.

The light in love in me, great and honors, the light in love in you. Thank you for being here, namaste.