Awaken and Expand Flow

Good morning. Welcome. Are you ready? You're gonna need a wall and a strap, and this is the one. We're going upside down. So get ready. Take your feet a little wider apart, bring your hands to your heart. Let's exhale by grounding.

Drop the hands down. And then inhale circulate out and up. Feel your energy. Feel your body. As you exhale, draw any special intention, down into your mind, to your heart, and then whatever you don't need, let it go. And let's do that again. Inhale. This is its own yoga practice.

Just simply gathering, drawing into the mind and heart, and then this gesture of releasing. Inhale circle out and up. We'll take this into a couple of half sun salutes today as you exhale soften through the knees, draw all the way down. Let go through the crown of the head, and then lift up halfway. Just bring the fingertips right under the kneecaps.

Stretch the heart forward and exhale soften. Release your head neck and shoulders and roll it up. Gentle, accessible half sensation as we inhale expand. And then exhale hands come down the midline, soften the knees, pour it all out, lift up halfway looking towards the horizon, like you're checking for waves, and then exhale release and roll it up again. One more just like that.

Big inhale expand. XL draw it down the midline, soften the knees. Inhale float up halfway. As you exhale release, we're gonna turn towards the wall and step back to downward facing dog. Progressing into a little bit of a mundane and a mascara.

We'll move in a circle around the mountain. We're going to be all over this thing today. So take the right leg to the sky, big inhale, and then as you exhale step it all the way through to a runner's lunge. Now we'll take the left hand a little wider. He'll tow the right foot over to if this is 12:00, go over to 03:00 and then roll to the outer edge of the back foot.

Right arm sweeps back. Now eventually that move is gonna be in one breath, but we're going slow at first here. Now gather the space, circulate around back to 12:00. Walk your hands towards the long edge of the mat. Fee turn parallel, and we bend the left knee.

Turn to a runner's lunge face the back of the mat and lower the knee. And then as you inhale, just stack your spine, your heart right over your hips. This is called a three way hip opener mandala. By the way, it's a little complex, but bear with me. Take your right arm up and over, little side bend, fix your braid, and then exhale half split Artahanaman.

And then we shift forward into that low lunge and back to down dog. We get a vinyasa here. So let's keep it simple. Come to the hands and knees and take a cat cow vinyasa inhale to arch. Exhale round.

Inhale arch. Exhale, curl the toes downward dog. Let's explore that same hip opener, mandala, right leg rises. We're repeating the right side. Exhale step it all the way forward.

This now becomes 12:00. Left hand goes wide. We heel toe the right foot over to three o'clock, reaching back towards the outer edge of the back foot, and then exhale gather back towards the center of the mat, pivot the feet to the long edge. And bend the left knee. We turn to a runner's lunge facing the wall, stack the heart over the hips, inhale the right arm sweeps up and over, exhale straight in the front leg, Artahanuman.

Shift it forward, low lunge, and then back to your downward facing dog. Inhaling shift to hands and knees, cat cow vinyasa, exhale round. Dropping the head. Inhale arch. Exhale, curl the toes, lift the hips up and back downward dog. Now, we're gonna lead with the left leg.

Left leg rises on an inhale. Exhale step it all the way forward. Imagine this is 12:00. Right hand's gonna go wide. He'll tow the left foot over to 09:00.

Gesture towards the back of the mat, big inhale. Exhale, gather, walk it towards the long edge of the mat, pivot the feet, right knee bends. It's a skandasana. We turn into our low lunge, back knee comes down and stack the heart over the hips. Inhale sweep the left arm up and over.

Exhale straighten the front leg, half split Artahaniman. Rebend your front knee, low lunge, and then step back to downward facing dog. Shifting forward to hands and knees on an inhale, drop the belly, open the heart. Exhale round. Inhale arch.

Exale curl the toes downward facing dog. Be mindful of the wall behind you as you sweep the left leg to the sky. Exale step it all the way through runner's lunge. This becomes 12:00. Take the right hand wide, heel toe the left foot over to 09:00 and turn into your horizon lunge.

Circulate forward, pivoting the feet to the long edge of the mat. The right knee bends. And then turn to a low lunge facing the wall. We stack the heart over the hips, inhale the left arm up and over, exhale straight in the front leg, Artahanaman. Bend your front knee, low lunge, and then step back to down dog.

You did it. That's a full mandala. Shift forward to hands and knees, inhale cat cow. Exhale round. Inhale arch. Exhale round.

Come back to downward facing dog. Let's do it again. Take the right leg to the sky. Exale, step it all the way forward. Left hand goes wide.

Horizon lunge as the right foot turns and pivots. Gather the space. Turn to the long edge of the mat. Left knee bends. Turn to a low lunge, stack the heart over the hips, sweep the right arm up and over, exhale straighten the front leg, start to let it flow, bend the front knee, shift it down dog, And now let's add a regular vinyasa, a classic vinyasa moving to plank, lower down all the way, inhale cobra, exhale downward facing dog.

Right leg rising, mindful of the wall. Step it all the way through runner's lunge. Take the left hand wide, turn to a horizon lunge and then gather all the way around to the long edge, bend the left knee. Turn to the back of the mat, lower the knee and stack the heart, right arm moves up and over, exhale straighten the front leg, find the fluidity. Shift forward, low lunge, and then back to down dog.

Shifting to plank as you inhale, lower all the way down. Bhujangasana, cobra is your inhale looking up the wall. Exhale back to down dog. Hopefully, the hips are starting to feel juicy and open, left leg rises. XL, step it through. Take the right hand wide, horizon lunge.

Circulate all the way around towards the long edge of the mat, bend the right knee. Pivot low lunge, sweep the left arm up and over, exhale straight in the front leg. Shift it forward, step back to downward dog. And then we roll through our classic vinyasa plank, maybe hover in Chaturanga, come through to upward dog, exhale downward dog. Left leg rising, big breath in, exhale step it through runner's lunge.

Turn to your horizon lunge as you inhale, exhale, gather, spin it around, side lunge, right knee bends. Pivot towards the wall, lower the knee, lift the chest, left arm moves up and over, exhale straight in the front leg, half split. Shift it forward. And then take it back to down dog. And hopefully you feel nice and warm.

I know I do, ripple the plank. Chaturanga dandasana inhale, Urdwamuka. Exhale, ah, feel the effects. Breathing here. Hold for three good breaths. Alright. Let's continue.

Step the feet a little closer together. Right leg rises and as you lift your right leg, come up on the ball of the left foot and shift your shoulders forward, look forward a little bit. And then lower that leg back down. We're tracing the pathway to kick up towards handstand. Do it again. Shift forward.

Look forward. Lower the right leg. One more time. Lift the right leg. Come up on the ball. The left foot shift.

Now, step it through warrior two base. We know this one. Come all the way up warrior two. Now, our target is kicking up to the wall today. So let's let's commemorate that.

Go ahead and sweep the left arm forward like you're drawing a bow and arrow, pull back and see yourself as you release that bow or that arrow in a handstand, right at that wall you're looking at. Do it again. Gather. Draw. See yourself there. Open. One more time. Gather.

Draw. And open. Now, straight in the front leg, pivot your feet. Take warrior two to the back of the man. Same thing here, gather all your energy.

Draw. Let it fly. Gather. Draw. Open.

Once more. Gather. Draw. Open. Reverse reach up and back. I'm gonna pick up the toes of that left foot. And cart well the hands down stepping to downward facing dog.

From here, move yourself a little bit away from the wall so we don't hit it with our left foot and we'll trace that same pathway. The left leg rises, come up onto the ball, the right foot shift forward. Look forward and then lower the left leg. Inhale, lift, rise, and shift, especially your gaze, and then down. One more time, we're just kind of rehearsing this pathway.

Exhale, step the left foot up between the hands, warrior two base. Come on up. Here we are again. This time bring the hands to the heart. Exhale open palms face up. Inhale, hands to heart, charging up the breath, charging up the legs. Open once more. Inhale.

Straight in the front leg, pivot left foot in, turn right toes out, warrior two second side, inhale, gather. XL working with this pulsation. It's present inside all of our postures, inhale all the breath. Every cell is in pulsation. Once more, inhale, gather.

XL open. Reverse your trident will come up onto the right heel. And then this time as you exhale, take it all the way down. Lower the back knee, straighten your front leg, Artahanaman. Let me hang out here.

Shifting forward. Stepping back downward facing dog. Simple. Step the left foot forward. We just change right to the second side. The right knee lowers Artahanuman.

Three good breaths. And just shift your heel forward a little bit so your hips can be stacked above the back knee. Front leg is nice and straight if you can. Bending the knee is fine as well. We're just looking for some sensation.

Along the back side of our left leg. We want the hamstrings nice and open. This helps our kick up to the wall. Now, from here, bend your front knee Curl the back toes under. We're gonna step forward, grab the strap and come on up to standing.

We'll work with a little pot of testosterone. We've got one more preparation before we go upside down. And this one, I'd love for you to just back it up against the wall. Just be like a fly on the wall hanging out. And we'll take our strap.

I like to double mine up and place it around the sole of the right foot. And I've got my mat just a few inches about six inches away from the wall. So heels are off the mat for me, but you wanna have enough room for your tush. You don't necessarily need to have your heels right at the wall for this one. We'll bring the strap across to the opposite hand.

Turn the right palm to face forward. I'll take my weight. Bring your weight into your left foot and then draw the right knee up. And we have both hips, both shoulders against the wall. Right hand grabs the strap close to your foot, and then the left hand drops it and comes to your hip.

Now try to keep your shoulders and hips touching the wall as you string, you can let the strap slide through your hand any amount. And this is your padagusthasana a and we've got this great alignment guide holding us up, but also kind of helping us feel if we're hunching forward or shifting our hips in space, shifting the shoulders. Just hang out here for a moment. I study that vera rasa, we call it this rasa of the warrior like okay. I'm doing this. It's business like and I'm focused.

And then let that go, bring it down. And we just go right to the second side. The loop goes on to the left foot. We shift our weight into the right heel, pick up the knee. Left hand comes down.

Your palm is facing forward, and then right hand goes to the hip. And I wanna feel my shoulders, my hips against the wall as I stretch that leg forward. Give yourself as much slack as you need so that you can keep your tadasana alignment while you have your leg hovering in space. And you could feel a nice stretch on the back of the leg and the sense of focus and alignment that we need for our inversions. Once we kinda go upside down, sometimes people, we go upside down and check out, you have to stay engaged.

Attentive. Release that foot. Now from here, we'll do a little bit of a measurement so you can roll up your strap again. Have a seat against the wall and you wanna have your hips all the way against the wall. Legs forward. We're measuring the length of the legs.

So I'm gonna take my marker which is where I strap and place it. Actually, we'll go to the right side here of my heels. This is where I'm gonna line up my hands. You'll do the same thing. You're gonna come onto your hands and knees, line up the heels of your hands even with your marker.

And then toes tucked under at the wall and lift your hips. It's gonna feel like a short down dog because it is. The base is short. This is where we get to kinda be the spider climbing up the wall. Take your feet up.

Just two or three feet up the wall and invert your down dog. So now we have this right angle lots more space between the hands and the feet, and we're in an inversion training wheels for handstand. If you have your feet too far up the wall, it ends up feeling like a weird inverted plank. You wanna make sure that it's maybe three feet off the floor. And then come back down and rest child's pose.

That can feel like a lot right there on the wrist. It's actually harder to come into that inversion like that, then it is actual handstand. And you might be asking why are you having me do the harder one first? It builds strength. It builds awareness.

Stability, right, opens the shoulders, open the hamstrings. So it's an important step to master before we go into kicking up. Let's do it again with that information. So line up your hands with your strap. Curl the toes under, lift your hips.

You're almost in a forward fold. We're gonna take the feet up the wall, two or three feet up the wall, stacking the hips. You were going for a right angle. If your hamstrings are not so open, they're a little tight, you might bend the knees a little bit. Now, from here, extend one leg straight up to the sky. You'll feel the posture get lighter as you do this because now you're stacking the weight vertically.

Bring it down, either take a break or go right to the second side, take the other leg up, feeling that verticality through the ball of the foot, the legs active. The core is pulled in, and then bring it all the way down, and take a little rest. Yeah. It's like a shot of espresso going upside down. Feel free to hang out in child's pose or if you'd like to come up.

Sometimes I like to get fully vertical for a moment in between my inversions and just sit up in virasana or even stand up if your knees don't like this, just take a moment and let everything kind of settle back into a flow. We're gonna go again. I know you're excited about that. Roll out your wrists if they feel tender at all. Maybe give them a little squeeze.

Right? A little stretch stretch. And then we go again. Your hands and your arms are now becoming your feet and your legs and your inversion. So you wanna spread the fingers wide, kind of cup and feel some energy from the earth.

And then once you come up, It's no different than a down dog. It's just a slightly different relationship with gravity. So trust your arms, trust your hands. As you start to walk your feet up the wall this time, go right up with one leg. And then bring it right back down.

Keeping left foot on the wall, right foot lands. We do it again. We push into the ball of the left foot. The right foot goes up, maybe overhead a little bit. And then draw the right knee in and bring it back down. One more time, straightening up through that right leg, soften the knee, bring it right back down.

And we go right to the second side or you can come down for a moment. Give your wrist a little break and then go. Right. Right foot on the wall. We take the left leg straight up Overhead a little, there's a nice hip flexor stretch, and then bend both knees, left foot steps down.

Again, reach it right up, left leg up. Exhale. We're building strength. We're building kind of a familiarity with inverting one more time, left leg up overhead a little, and then landing down on planet earth. Take a moment, roll the wrists, and find that sense of spontaneous meditation, either cross legged, standing, or on your knees in Verasida. And just notice how you feel.

Alright. Slowly blink your eyes open. Ship your shift your hips. Ship your hips off one side and let's come into baddha konasana as a counter pose. So can center yourself on your mat and bring the soles of the feet together.

Heels come in. We pull our ankles and wrists back as we lift the chest up. So it's a very active shape. And then just start to hinge forward from the hips any amount. Actively pressing the knees down, pulling the heart forward and keeping that length in the spine.

And this may appear like a relaxed awesome, but it's actually we're still in that active approach of working the pose. So we're pulling the arms back, pressing the chest forward, and pressing the knees open. So the pose is very active. Kind of almost when you like draw the bow and arrow, it's that same feeling of pulling and extending at the same time. And with that, you can start to descend a little bit deeper as appropriate for you.

Sometimes I like to take my thumbs and just work into the soles of the feet a little bit here. Getting into those all those wonderful acupressure points. I'm going into just a moment or two of silence so that you can kinda taste the postures that you've just interacted with, especially that inversion. Notice how you feel. Last couple moments here, relaxing the head, the neck, the spine.

Slowly start to inhale your way back up to seated. Take your hands to the outer knees, draw them in. Oh. It's always a really potent pose for me personally. Hopefully, you enjoyed it as well. We're gonna shift on to our backs with our legs up the wall for our final couple of moments here.

So you can you know the way in by now, scoot your tush to the corner edge of the mat, and then the tuck and roll so that you land with your legs up the wall. Here we are. Now we'll prepare for a supported shoulder stand today. So we wanna make sure the back of the head, the shoulders and neck are, kind of free. If you need to move a hairdo out of the way, then take the time to do that now. Soften the knees. We worked into this a little bit in our previous practices.

It's rolling up and down in and out of bridge. So just take a few here to make sure you're where you wanna be and that All all lights are green to go. And then you can take your hands to your low back and scoot your elbows in a little bit. We'll walk the feet up the wall today so we have this inverted shoulder stand And this is great because we can actually see our legs, the internal rotation, big toes touch, little space between the heels, and the activation of your tailbone tucking under and pressing upward. This is how we want to work our legs in all open inversions. Whether it be shoulder stand, handstand, headstand, we have that neutral spiral and the tailbone kind of curling up towards the heels.

It's a lot of work here at the wall with the hamstrings. So we'll just be here for one more moment. And then bend your knees, lift the hips a little more. Release your arms and slowly enjoy the trip down, down, down. Yay.

Relax the legs long. Open the arms wide. And then from here, we can bend the knees, and we'll take just a simple twist walking the feet over to the right edge, right baseboard coming all the way into that twist here. Turning your head in the opposite direction. If your low back feels tender at all, you can always grab a pillow or a block and put it right between your knees, between your inner thighs.

That gives a little more space in the low back and the hip relax here. And then just take a circulation of your left arm up and over. You'll roll all the way onto your side fetal position. And then there's that same bow and arrow as you open up and then take it up and over. So we get a little bit of therapy here on the shoulder, draw through the bow and arrow one more time, up and over. And open up through that bow and arrow.

We'll transition to the second side so you can start to walk your feet, heel toe all the way over to second side. Turning your gaze, opposite direction. Make sure your feet are all the way down to the baseboard as well. Supporting between the knees, if you need to, and then allowing that opening. You can feel how the twist increases as you move up the spine. Right.

So start to circulate your top arm up and over and then drawing that bow and arrow as you unwind, unfurl. Again, twice more. And just let this gesture be this closing of your practice for now and this coming full circle in our path today. Take a pause here in the twist, exhale completely. And then go ahead and set yourself up for our final Shavasana with your legs up the wall.

Once you get yourself situated, let your eyes close. Maybe flex some point through the feet a few times just to feel into that whole back line and find where your feet like to rest naturally. Feel that gratifying drop into support. We've been working with the wall, this whole series, and hopefully it feels like a friend now. Support system, and something that you can lean upon.

So take 10 deep breaths here. Start to bring some awareness into your body. Sudden a little bit of movement to your fingers and your toes. On your next exhale, soften your knees into your chest, wrap your arms around your shins. Let's roll over to one side and meet up in a comfortable seated position.

Bringing the hands together at the heart, sitting up tall, feeling that sense of accomplishment and empowerment. You went upside down today. Excellent work, beautiful practicing. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and being here with me.