Energizing Morning Flow

Greetings, friends. Welcome to morning yoga flows. In this practice, we'll be using a wall and a bolster. If you'd like to have a couple blocks nearby, that might be helpful as well, but not necessary. We'll start on our backs.

So the probably the most challenging thing is getting yourself, to the wall. Bring your toes right up to the edge of the mat to the baseboard and then tuck and roll onto your back and then scoot your hips so that you're Tush goes right up against the wall. Lakes extend upward. And, oh, how nice? We start with a little relaxation. We call this posture Viparita Karani with our legs up the wall and just start with three simple breaths here, maybe even close your eyes and feel the support of the wall behind your legs, the floor underneath you, and take a deep inhale through the nose, and exhale through the nose as well. I'm just twice more like that allowing any special intention, any special dedication to drop in.

Exhale completely. As we start to formulate intention and purpose for our practice, it's nice to work with a theme and this particular theme of off the wall. Really is how how much support we get off the wall and off of what's around us. So just lean into it here. Let your legs relax.

Lean into the floor. Let your arms relax. Take a full body breath in. And as you exhale, just allow the knees to start to bend, sliding your feet down the wall, and open the knees, bringing the soles of the feet together into a supported baddha konasana. And you can take your hands to your inner knees and kinda give an alternating gentle press so we feel this rocking towards the wall and we get a nice little bit of feedback here and the inner hips and the outer hips and the outer hips and the heels may or may not drop down very far.

It doesn't matter. We're kind of feeling into what's going on here and take a deep inhale here. As you exhale lace the fingers behind your head, we're gonna add just a little bit of love to the core as we exhale and curl up. Draw the naval into the spine. Little c curve in the spine.

And inhale to come back down. Exhale coiling up and inhale back down. We'll sneak the feet a few inches up the wall for the next two repetitions and just feeling that rounding of the spine. Exhale as you rise, inhale as you lower, take the feet a few inches higher, exhale and notice it's actually a little more challenging to keep the feet mid range. And continue to coil up and down, take the feet all the way to straight, reaching up. Lakes can be bent or knee or legs can be straight or knees can be slightly bent, but we'll continue flexing through the feet, coiling up through the core and start to find a bit of a brisker rhythm here, exhaling to lift and lower, lift and lower. And it's this contraction.

We call it Semandavayu, this energy drawing inward and downward into your core. You can start to reach opposite hand across to the outer ankle, and it's like we're gaining momentum almost like a choo choo train here, reaching for one ankle, then the other, rolling onto one shoulder blade, and then the other. Just take about As many more as you like, I'm gonna go about 10 more here just to feel a nice solid little fire right at the naval center getting ready for the day. Corework is also really great to help if your low back's a little cranky. Five more.

Exailing as you come up. Maybe bend the knees a little bit for these last few. Maybe bend the knees a lot. Last one, exhale completely and then open up themes wide. I've got my bolster here on the right side, so I'm just gonna start to heel toe my feet and knees all the way over into a twist, landing on the bolster for a moment, take a full body breath in.

And then as you exhale, you can open up the knees like the pages of a book, take your bolster over to the other side, let it land, and then heel toe over to the left. Take a deep breath in right here. XL completely. Bring in the knees back to the center. Just walk it like the pages of a book.

Take your bolster back over to the opposite side. And then let's exit out. Roll onto one side. Clime on up to hands and knees. Walk a little bit away from the wall.

We're gonna come back to it in a moment, but from here, curl the toes under, lift the hips up and back into your First down dog of the day. Take a little bicycle pedal through the feet and knees. Notice the toes, the metatarsals, the ankles, a little snap crackle pot. Give yourself enough space from the wall. That when you raise a leg behind you, you won't run into it. Right? We're just kind of feeling that the alignment of the wall, but then reaching up off of it as we lift our right leg up. And then as you exhale, step your right foot all the way forward between the hands lower the back knee and uncurl the toes.

Inhale come all the way up to a low Anjay and asana, exhale swinging into a twist, left hand down, right arm reaches up. Inhale all the way up. Back to your low lunge. Exhale downward facing dog. So we're moving into a little I call it a pendulum namaskar. We shift forward to plank. Exhale lower the knees, lower the chest and hips all the way down.

Low cobra is your inhale. XL, pull the heart forward and down, press to hands and knees and back to downward dog. We'll take that left leg up to the sky, feel the alignment of the wall and then reach up off of it. A little energy there, and then exhale step it all the way through to that low lunge, back knee down, uncurl the toes. Inhale reach forward and up. Exhale, drop swing into a twist, right hand down, left arm up.

Come back to that low lunge reach up as you inhale. Exhale, step to plank. Shift it forward. Lower the knees. Chest and hips at the same time.

Inhale, low cobra, reach the heart forward, the legs back, exhale downward facing dog. We're gonna stay with this pattern, creating a little heat, inhale, feel the up draft of the right leg rising, exhale step forward low lunge once again. Inhale up, maybe look back towards the wall. Exhale drop swinging to your twist. Inhale reach up and back.

XL to plank. And if you feel ready for full Chaturanga, you can shift forward and hover coming into upward dog or cobra. Exhale, down dog. Left leg rises, see and feel the alignment that we get from the wall, exhale step it all the way through, low lunge. Inhale rise looking up and back.

Exhale. It's nice to have that point of reference. Drop swing into the twist. Inhale all the way up and back. Exhale, plank, top of the push up. Lower chaturanga.

Inhale cobra or upward dog, exhale down dog. One more round, big breath in as the right leg rises. Step it through. Maybe stay in a high lunge this time, back knee lifted. Inhale come all the way up, feeling into your balance.

High crescent, exhale. Simple twist. Pause here for a moment. Just take a breath as you exhale deepen the twist. Circle that top arm back and down and then come on up to that high crescent touch your fingertips this time. Look up.

Exhale all the way to plank. Lower chaturanga strong core, strong legs. Inhale looking up and back. Exhale. Back towards the wall.

Left leg rises inhale. Exhale, step it all the way through. This time we're in that high lunge, the back knee's lifted, hips squaring off. Inhale rise and just feeling the support of the wall behind you, the floor underneath you, exhale simple twist. And we stay here for an extra breath.

As you exhale deepen the twist, come back up to your high crescent, inhale realign. Just feel the geometry of the shape, the architecture of your body, exhale, plank, lower down. Inhale rise. Exhale downward dog. Three breaths. Just noticing how you feel.

Maybe a little increase in the heartbeat, energy, temperature of your body, rhythm of your breath. One more breath here. And then step the feet close together. We're gonna stay with this energizing pace. Right leg rises again.

There's that brush of the wall. Open the hip this time. Bend your knee. And then extend the right leg long, rise up high on the ball of the left foot. Step it all the way through.

We set up a warrior one base, so the back foot's gonna set a little to the left on a steep diagonal. Reach your arms back. Look forward. Feel all that power behind you underneath you. Gather it. Come up to your warrior one.

And then exhale. Relax your arms. Lace your fingers behind your back. Open the chest, we get a humble warrior here so we start to lead with the heart forward and down. Relax through the crown and then pull the right hip back towards the wall behind you.

Dropping into this shape, opening the hips, deepening the lunge. Come back up to warrior one as you inhale. And then exhale hands come down. Step back to blink. Your vinyasa, you can always skip it.

Inhale upward dog. Exhale downward dog. Good morning. Left leg rises, inhale rushing some energy up off of the structure behind you. Open your hip. Inhale reach up through that left leg come up high on the ball of your right foot and just feel that alignment. Exit, step it through.

Warrior one base, move the back foot a little to the right. Reach the arms back. Look forward. So you're nice and low. And then gather your energy. Come all the way up. Inhale, relax your arms.

Lace your fingers. Maybe the opposite finger on top. We open up through the chest as we breathe in. And then exhale lead with the heart. Crown of the head drops down.

Sometimes I have to kind of snuggle my shoulders into this shape. They're definitely a little bit on the tight side. That's okay. Draw the left hip back. Relax your head and neck. Crown of the head drops down.

And then let's inhale, come back up to your warrior one, stay deep in the lunge. We're building heat. Exhale, release your hands. Step back to plank. Pause.

Walk it back a little bit. A little bit different here. We're gonna find the walls. Come down to the knees for a moment and extend your right leg back until you find A leg length from the wall. Drop the belly, open the heart like we do in cat cow. And then as you exhale, round your spine, push against the wall, give a little energy off the wall into your hands, Coil up through the core is the option.

That left knee will lift and then lightly set it down inhale. It's weaving a little core awareness into this flow, exhale round, feel the energy off the wall into the core as you lift. And then one more time, inhale, exhale round, coil, push into the wall. The hands, maybe that left knee lifts, and then set it down right into your hip, kickstand your left foot off to the side. And line up left hand with left knee.

We'll turn the right foot out and find this kneeling half moon, open up and stack the hips. Now this bottom shin's kinda your rudder, so you're welcome to use it to move your bolster out of the way. But you can pivot it as much as you like classically, we'd keep it straight, but it's also nice to have a little bit of a little bit of freedom here. So press off the wall, stack the hips, open the chest here in this kneeling half moon. Beautiful shape, exhale come all the way back to neutral, and we change sides. The right knee comes down, the left leg reaches back, find where your distance is, drop the belly, open the chest, inhale, feel that pressure into the wall and the energy that rebounds off the wall as you round, press into the hands and feet, lift the knee, and then lower.

Inhale open. Exhale round, press rebound. Get a little stability there from the wall. One more inhale. Exhale push into your heel, your hands. Maybe pick up that right knee super strong shape.

Lower the knee down, kickstand the shin off to the right side and then I turn my left heel. Line up my right hand. So we have that nice long line of energy. And then open up into your kneeling artist andrasana. Take a deep breath in.

Exhale, press into the wall. Rebound up through the heart. And then slowly come on back down. Hands and knees. Wonderful. Curle the toes under.

Lift up and back into your down dog. And just walk it forward a little bit. This time we start with the left leg. So as you inhale, reach it up and back, let it brush against the wall. So you feel that alignment, and then sweep it off the wall straight up if you can.

Step it all the way through into your warrior one base. We've been here before. Will inhale come all the way up. Exale relax your arms. Lease your fingers.

Open the chest. Big inhale. And then it's just one long exhale to humble warrior. Drop it down. Drop it off. Little bit of a different transition here. We'll start to pivot our left foot inward.

Turn the torso towards the right. We're in a slightly asymmetrical prosorita, padottanasana c, which is a Nice long name for wide leg forward fold with our shoulder release. Now in order to even ourselves out, let's release our hands, inhale lift the chest. And then just bring your feet onto the same plane of alignment. We're gonna heel toe a little bit closer to the wall.

So I'll bring my right foot to the edge of the mat and start to move into Skandasana. Kind of a higher version of our side lunge here. You can turn the toes out. And go a bit lower, but I'm gonna stay a little bit higher today just to keep it buoyant and a little more powerful, maybe bring the hands to the heart as you shift from side to side. And then next time we go to the right side, we're close to the wall and we just feel that pull of energy.

Shift your weight into it. I'm gonna slide my left foot up, right hip lands at the wall, and my shoulders can stack. And I can see I'm a little too far, so come down and bring my foot a little closer to the edge. We don't want our foot at the wall. We need to leave room for our hip, but you can open up into your supported half moon.

Now for me, this feels amazing. If you would like a little more support, you can always put a couple of blocks under your right hand so that it feels amazing for you too. We've got one more breath here. When we exhale, we'll come out pretty similar the way we came in. We start to soften the standing leg. We step out to that wide stance and then pivot and step back to your downward dog.

Classic vinyasa from here, shifting forward, lower chaturanga inhale, erd vamuka, the upward rising dog, exhale, Now I've gotta walk it forward a bit. This dog is mobile. We take the right leg and reach it up and back, feel that alignment. And then exhale step forward into your warrior one. We're going on the second side.

Inhale all the way up, exhale, relax your arms, lace your fingers. Open the chest, big inhale, and then we take one long exhale to drop something off. Accepting support. We'll start to pivot the right toes in, torso to the left, working our way into that wide leg forward fold, embracing the asymmetry with the feet for a moment. And then as you exhale, release your hands, bring your feet into the same plane.

We start to shift side to side in that high skandasana. Just to feel into the hips, maybe bring the hands to the heart, lifting a little bit here, feeling the wall kind of draw you in to support. And from here, we shift Land the left hip at the wall, stack the hips, reaching up into your supported half moon. Try to bring your shoulders, the back of your head, your hand, whatever you can relax against the wall here. And energized reach in all directions.

One more full breath. As you exhale soften the standing leg, Step away from the wall back to that wide stance turn, and we're back in our down dog. Yeah. Shifting forward to plank. Lower Chaturanga. Inhale. Look for the wall behind you.

Exhale downward dog. Come on to hands and knees. Good news. We're gonna drop it down a little bit. So we'll take the bolster and bring it to the wall behind us. And from here, you can come back up into a forward fold, but we'll turn. So lift up through the hips and just take a little about face so that you're facing the wall.

Notice, we're still in a forward fold. We start to walk ourselves a little closer to the wall so the upper back is supported. Got my hands on the bolster here. Nees can be soft. We're leaning in.

You can relax the arms here. Maybe straighten the legs. And it's this beautiful inversion. Close your eyes. Let yourself just empty out. Feeling that kind of interesting sense of support here that we're getting off the wall and from the earth beneath us.

Take one more breath. Exale completely. It's a pretty deep forward fold, bringing the hands to the bolster, ease yourself back. Soften your knees. We take another about face, turning back towards the long edge of the mat, and then we'll walk our feet forward.

Maybe a good like 16 inches from the wall. Bend the knees. Take the top of the left foot back to the wall and gently slide your knee down to the bolster. Oh, it's so comfortable. And then we start to come up and then it might not be so comfortable, but This is a fantastic opening counter pose for the forward fold that we were just in. So we come into this kneeling warrior with elegance and enthusiasm.

That's the key. Start to lift your heart crown of the head reaches up and back and breathe. And if the knees kinda like, not liking this so much, a little tender, take your bolster to the middle of the mat and enjoy this lunge with the back foot down. Supported the earth rather than the wall. It's a little bit a little less salty like that, but do what you can.

So, we've got a couple breaths here to just enjoy the quadriceps, these beautiful long amazing muscles that require a little bit of time to release. We give it a moment. Start to ease your hips forward. Hands come down. And then the back foot's gonna pivot towards the opposite edge of the mat.

I like to bring my hands to the inside. It's a pretty quick, efficient transition. We step into a little low chair, and we take the top of the other foot to the wall. Drop right into the second side without delay. And the right side might be if your right side dominant might be a little bit of a different flavor, but again, just enjoy.

Go with it. Start to feel the heart rising, the tailbone dropping down. There's all sorts of really wonderful refinements that we can work within this posture. Probably the most important one is the sense of breath and surrender. So let's if you can drop into that.

Leaning back into our support system here, leaning down into gravity. Take one more breath. Exhale start to sink forward and down. Hands are gonna come inside of that front foot. We tuck that back foot to the opposite edge And then good news is we come onto hands and knees pivoting around, bolster can slide off to one side, probably my favorite posture to come into at the wall as pigeons. So from downward facing dog, our hands towards the wall.

Let's inhale the right leg to the sky. And as you exhale, bring it all the way forward, turn it out, land on the outer shin, sink the hips down. Hands, forearms, fingertips can come up the wall, and the heart melts down. So we have this beautiful heart opening back bend wrapped into pigeon. The closer you set yourself up to the wall, The more upright your spine.

So just work with what feels good to you. You might even lace your fingers and sink down from there. And we're just here for a moment. And whether your forearms, your hands are on the wall, start to lift the chest, climb up out of the posture, get a little buoyancy, And then exhale, we release, curl the back toes, step back to down dog. Right into the second side, the left leg rises and feeling that alignment of the wall at verticality bring it forward. Turn it out, land, shift closer or further away as you like, and then taking that upright heart opening option, if you like.

Two more breaths. Start to lift the chest, climbing up, pressing down through the front knee to lift up high. And then as you exhale, sink into that outer left hip, we swing the back leg around. And this time, we come back to where we started, bolster comes to the wall. We scoot our tush close to the edge of the bolster in the baseboard.

Tuck and roll. Oh, we're back here again, but it feels so different now. So just allow your arms to open, find a nice, comfortable, restorative shape that can be your own for Shavasana. If you liked that baddha konasana variation or bent knees or even a wide leg straddle is kinda nice here. You're welcome to take whatever shape of the legs that you love. Close your eyes and let go. Shavasana.

Take three more of the deepest breaths you've taken all morning. Exhale, feel the integration of your body. Deep breathe in. XL feel the steadiness of your mind. And as you exhale this third time, just drop into the openness of your heart. Send a little movement to your fingers and your toes, gently blink your eyes open.

Drop the knees down towards your chest. Let's start to roll off to one side. Coming up to a comfortable seated position wherever you like, bringing the hands together at the heart. Alright. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I hope you enjoyed your practice.

You feel energized, ready to go. Have a wonderful day. We'll see you on the next practice. Namaste.