I am grounded

Hi there. Welcome to the Filier Cup series. Today, we'll be focusing on deep forward folds. Please have a strap or something similar like a towel for your practice. As soon as you're ready, find a comfortable seat in a way that helps you build the spine nice and tall, Give yourself a moment to let any fidgets out of the way so that you can find complete stillness. Maybe imagine the body like a statue. So you become aware of the inner workings of the sensations.

Just arrive for your practice. Witness the natural breath seeing that separation that it moves on its own. Feel the body in space, the floor underneath you, the air around you, the clothing on top of you. Notice, acknowledge, accept any passing thoughts, any stagnant emotions, you're right where you need to be. Draw your hands to heart center, bow your gaze and reverence and gratitude.

If you'd like, offer up your efforts today of your practice to someone specific in your life, or maybe open it up to everyone and everything in existence, With that idea, we take the sound of union, the sound of ohm to begin together. If you'd like to add an intention to your practice today, I offer, I am grounded. Inhale? Stay here for another moment and stillness and just connect to your breath a bit deeper with the active Praniyama, ujjayi, if you have it, deep inhales and exhales through the nostrils, imagining the breath being a bit lower in your experience, so you hear the passing breath moving through the vocal cords, almost like ocean waves. As soon as you're ready, meet me on your back to begin our practice, mini Shivasana, like pose.

Let your legs go along and wide towards the mat, let the palms roll up as you feel your back body connect into the floor and continue deepening your breath pranayama. Draw your right knee into your chest and then give yourself a nice pull and explore the knee or the ankle as much as you'd like warming up the joint a bit. Then pull the right knee towards the right arm pit left hand to hip, just to help keep the hips even into the floor, and then lift your right foot up to the sky. You can either grab the back of the knee and pull the knee to the armpit or grab the outside of the foot, half happy baby, and start to pull the right knee towards the armpit, giving a good amount of pressure that you can hold and give a little resistance with your leg up to the sky. Stay in this posture for another two breaths, building heat into the hip space. Seeing if that knee can get closer to the floor over time inch by inch. Slowly, but surely release that right knee back in to center and release your right leg long, even out your hips and shoulders as you need to, and then switch the legs, draw the left knee into the chest, pull the knee in, little exploration, ankle knee joint as needed, and then pull the left knee to the left armpit, right hand on hip for base, grounding, and then lift your left foot up, either grabbing the outside of the left foot or the back of the knee, half happy baby with a soft, consistent pressure, pulling down with a little resistance from the leg to breath. Slowly come back to center.

Drop both knees into chest now. And then roll over to one side, rise up to sit, and then stand up to your forward folds, folding at the top of the mat. Give yourself a nice hang here, shake the arms out, shake the legs out. Feel free to bounce the legs. Just feel your bice underneath you.

Take a slow breath here and gently roll through the spine to stand. Tanasana at the top of the mat. Bring your feet, inner hips width distance or closer. Roll your palms open to the front of the room. Take a moment to feel that nice long line of energy going from the feet down into the floor and the head up to the sky.

We'll take a modified sun salutation B. Bring your legs together to touch, inhale chair post, sit low, reach arms up, exhale fold forward straight in the legs. Inhale halfway lift, lengthen heart. Exhale step, hop, or float to tharanga, down, lower halfway down. Inhale, up dog, heart pulls through and up. Exhale downward dog, lift hips up and back ground the heels.

Inhale, lift your right leg up, reach the foot back, exhale, right knee to right arm pit shifts forward, press the floor away. Inhale, down dog split right leg up, exhale, once again, knee to arm pit, and then place the right foot outside the right hand, wide warrior one, ground your left foot inhale arms up to the sky as you look up, take an inhale, exhale hands down to the floor, step back to plank and lower down halfway. Inhale heart opening, exhale downward facing. Inhale left leg up to the sky, reach the foot, exhale left knee, left armpit push hold press at the top of the mat. Inhale down dog split, left leg up, exhale back there, left foot outside left hand.

Wide warrior one round back foot reach arms up, take an inhale, exhale chaturanga, hands down, step back and lower. Inhale up dog. Exhale down dog. Stay here for three or four breaths. Just grounding back into the heels, pressing the floor away with your hands straight line through the spine.

Using the floor to build the pose, activating the body. One more inhale here. As you exhale, look forward, walk or hop to the front of the mat. Take a halfway lift inhale. Exhale fold.

Inhale chair pose, legs together, sit low, reach up, exhale stand, tadasana pose, arms by the sides. Take a single breath here, feeling the movement within while the body remains still. Bring your feet max with distance. Open your toes a little bit, maybe 45 degrees, hands to heart center. We'll take some dynamic melasanas here.

Take an inhale, press the legs into the floor. Exhale, bend your knees as low as you can try to get the elbows inside the knee. Inhale, stand up. Exhale drop low. One more time. Inhale, lift. And then as you exhale, drop and hold, stay for a single breath here, push the elbows into the knees, pull the thumbs to the heart, lift the chest. And then exhale, release the hands down inside the feet, turn the toes back parallel if you can, keep the hands right where they are, or maybe wrap the hands behind the ankle, squeeze the knees into the shoulders inhale drop the hips low, exhale press up and squeeze the shoulders with the legs.

One more time like that, inhale bend. Exhale press straight in and hold, stay lifted for a breath as high and squeeze as you can. And then release the hands out from there, walk yourself forward, keep feet hips width distance, inhale halfway lift, exhale chaturanga, step hop, or float, and lower down. Inhale heart opening. Exhale downward facing.

Single breath here. Inhale lift right leg to the sky. XL, play the right foot at the top of the mat, round your back foot down, inhale rise up, open up warrior two, settle your legs a bit wider, so you get a nice stretch through both sides of the hip, roll the inner right thigh open to the left side of the mat, feel the arms equally reaching, look to the front fingers if you can, and give yourself a good bend into that front knee, dropping the hips lower. Take another breath here. Reach your right arm forward, hinge through the hips, chest lengthens, bring your right hand down outside the right foot. Grab a block if you need to.

Reach the left arm up and over side angle a. As you look up underneath the arm, bend deeper into that front knee and push the knee into that armpit there right by that right shoulder. Take another breath pressing through the back like getting longer, length as your friend. Slowly release that left hand down and crawl through the middle of the mat into your back legs, kandasana, as you bend that back foot open a little bit, drop your front hip, turn the front toes up to the sky. You can hang out with the hands on the floor as you're building the depth, as you feel able to, maybe you find those melasana arms, push the elbow into that back knee and open up. Option, then straighten that left arm down and reach that arm up to the sky, little back lunge twist into the hip stretch. One more breath here.

As you release, crawl back to the front to the front of the mat low lunge, drop your left knee, untuck your toes, lift your chest up, hands to heart center. Inhale twist to the right, and then bring your left elbow outside your left knee. See how low you can get that armpit outside the knee. You're welcome to stay in the prayer and open the chest to the side as you twist or play with reaching your left hand down to the floor or a block and reach your arms up to the sky. Nice long arms, twisting through the length of your body. Take an inhale.

Maybe you tuck your back toes, lift the knee up. Use the back like strength. Flash breath. With control, release yourself back to the low lunge one more time to the other side, through the wide leg fold, turn your toes slightly in, bring your hands in line with the feet or slowly walk your hands even further through the legs. Working the head towards the floor, ground your outer edges of your feet, rotate your tailbone up to the sky, stay for another breath or so.

Walk your hands back to neutral bring your hands to your hips, ground into your feet, inhale stand up, top of the mat, and then exhale warrior to bend your right knee back forward straight in the arms. Inhale reverse the warrior, reach up, look up, exhale cartwheel the hands down, step back and lower Chaturanga Dandasana halfway down. Inhale heart opening, lift the chest, exhale downward facing, curl up and back. Single breaths to settle here and down dog. Inhale, lift the left leg up.

XL, place the left foot at the top of the mat, round your back foot cartwheel open to your warrior two, set up your standing series with this first pose, get nice and long, find the amount of edge lengthening to really activate your breath, activate your attention. Deep breath here, warrior two. Find the depth of the hip when you can. Reaching forward with that left arm, and then bringing the left hand down outside the left foot floor or block and then reach that top arm up and over, pressing back while you reach forward and working that armpit to knee, pushing the knee into that outer arm. Look up gaze up, take an inhale.

Solely release your right hand down, crawl through the middle of the mat to the back leg's kandasana, turning your back toes open and flexing those top toes to the sky. Stay with your hands on the floor or find that back leg half melasana hands to heart center, maybe adding on an open bind with the bottom arm inside the knee to help open the hip, looking up to the top hand, deep breath in. Slowly releasing, crawling back through the midline into the front of the mat, low lunge, drop the right knee, untuck the toes. Lift your chest up, hands to heart center, inhale twist to the left with the power of the core, and then bring that right elbow outside the knee, maybe sliding the armpit. Further down the leg.

You can stay with the prayer as you open the chest to the side and look up, breath in. And then maybe you want to add those bottom arm down, top arm up straight line, maybe tucking the back toes, adding that back like strength inhale. From here, you release the hands back to the floor frame, the foot, one last time through the middle of the mat, and this time we'll get to play with the strap a bit. So as you find the wide leg fold. Again, you walk the hands through the legs. Maybe you shorten the stance a little bit like that knee squeezing around the shoulders.

If you can get a the arms around the back of the hips, you take that strap here, and then you wrap the strap with the hands, You bend a little bit to get the strap, and then you pull as you straighten, and you use the bind with the strap to deepen that forward fold through your legs. Straighten as much as you can through the feet. Take another deep breath here. Finish your next breath. Slowly, release the strap out for under you. Bring your legs back to neutral, hands on hips.

Inhale stand to rise. Exhale warrior two, turn your left toes, back forward, bend your knee. Inhale reverse the warrior reach up. Exhale, cartwheel the hands, traturanga, dhanasana, step back and lower down. Inhale, heart opening.

Exhale downward facing. Nice full breath here to ground yourself in the mind and the body. From the back of the mat, look forward bend the knees off froggy hops, maybe two or three times as you inhale bend the knees wide, sit back to the heels, exhale, float if you can, place the feet at the top of the hands. Come back to the down dog inhale prepare, really focus on trying to land as softly as possible, even if it's not very high. One more time here inhale, and then exhale meet me at the top. Bring your legs back, hips width distance, roll through the spine to stand at the top of the mat.

Once you find your Earth, shift into the left foot, draw your right knee into your chest. You're always welcome to stay here with the knee pulling to the right arm pit, or take that half happy baby again, lift your right foot up, and then think about pulling the right foot back like a bow and arrow. And deepening that hip flexion there as you work the balance with this deep hip opening. Take another breath or so here. With control releasing back, both feet on the ground.

Hands on the hips, step your left leg back to a warrior one pose, both feet rounded flat, interlace your hands at the base of the spine, stretch your heart up, inhale, exhale humble warrior, fold forward on the inside of that right leg. Drop your head, stretch the arms, take another breath here. And then release your hands to the floor. Drop your back knee as you get the legs wide and long lizard pose. Take a moment to settle into the earth.

You can always stay on the palms or work yourself lower towards the forearms. Now, we're going to transition into bird of paradise. Feel free to stay in the lizard pose or stop along the way as you need to. From here, get your right arm underneath your right leg, and then bring your right hand outside the the leg there. Press your palms and the earth, lift your back knee up.

Find a fly away airplane arms. Reach your arms out to the side palms face down, right arm under, right thigh. Turn the palms up to the sky and wrap around for that full bind, wrist or fingertips. From here, look down, and then shift your weight into your front foot and step your back foot to the top of the mat. We're going right back to that same position standing on the left leg with the bind now.

You rise up. You slowly stand up with the bind, finding that half happy baby with the power of the leg, and maybe stretching that heel up for that bird of paradise. You take a breath here, and then you try to come back the way you came as smoothly and controlled as possible. We all meet back with our hands on the floor, step back to plank inhale, and then exhale vinyasa Chaturanga, inhale up dog, exhale downward facing dog. Take a breath. From the back of the mat, froggy hop if you want it, inhale bend the knees, look forward, exhale hop or step as softly as you can landing at the front. Bring your feet hips with distance, bend your knees and roll through the spine to stand.

Standing half happy baby, weight in the right, hit, right foot. Draw your left knee into the chest. Pull the knee to the armpit. Stay here or grab the outer left foot. Try to lift the foot parallel to the front of the room, and then pull the knee back as much as you can, working on that hip opening while you're finding the balance. This is your bird of paradise prep right here. Take another breath here. With control, releasing everything back to the floor, hands on hips, step your right leg back, warrior one on the left side.

Feel your feet nice and grounded, interlace your hands, maybe with the non dominant grip in the reverse bind, lift your chest as you inhale look up, exhale humble warrior, fold forward on the inside of that left leg, dropping the head, stretching through the hips, leaning forward if you can. One more breath here. Exhale, release the hands to the earth, drop the back knee, get nice and long and low lizard pose. Same thing, stay on the palms, drop to the shoulder, the forearms, and know that this depth is a build depth. Right? So come back here as many times as you need to add on to this posture.

Staying here or adding up, bringing your left arm underneath the left leg, left hand steps outside. Tuck your back toes lift up the knee, find the balance here, and then find the fly away airplane arms. Arms reach long to the side, palms face up. Wrap around the back, grab the reverse bind anywhere you can. Stay here to build strength or slowly shift into your front foot, bring your back leg to meet. Back to the right leg, press, scoop the tailbone and slowly start to find your balance all the way up, and you find that half happy baby, maybe you have the strength to straighten that left leg at the top. Take a full breath if you can.

And then with control coming back the way you came, seeing how smoothly you can rotate all the way back through this posture, release your hands to the floor, step back to plank poses you inhale, and then exhale Chaturanga, inhale, heart opening, lift the chest, Exhale downward facing hips, high and back. Take a full breath here, and then we'll build on that strength in the leg space here with some kundaniasana b options. Last little bit of push, inhale, lift your leg to the sky, exhale right knee to right armpit again, stay hold or bend your elbows rest the thigh on the upper arm, maybe shift forward to lift your back leg, maybe stretch that leg forward, look forward, take an inhale. Back to down dog, split up. And then back to downward facing dog. Take a breath.

Putting it all together on the other side, lift your left leg inhale, exhale left knee, left armpit, push hold or bend, balance, shift stretch. Down dog split inhale downward facing dog, nice, child's pose, drop your knees, drop your forehead, and take a pause. Once you've gathered your breath again, rise up onto your, shins here, and we'll do a nice camel to give a little release for all that deep forward folding, stretching the hips the other way. Rise up onto your knees, knees, hips with distance, and find your shins really connected to the floor, your tops of the feet really connected to the floor, and bring your hands around your lower back closer to your upper glute area, and then slowly start to press down through the legs and diffuse your hands rolling the elbows back to give you a nice, quad and hip stretch. Before you get to the back, really just kinda get that stretch first and foremost available and aware in your legs and hold that space there.

Once you feel that, you can start to lift the chest up, think about hollowing the belly, so you get a nice control of opening the shoulders, lifting the gaze as much as feels, plausible. You can stay just like this, breathing into the camel, or if you feel the it's possible you can bring one hand at a time to the heels and then continue to push the hips forward and stretch the shoulders around the back opening up in your camel here. Take another two breaths or so wherever you are. Last breath here, with control, releasing out releasing your hips back down, set sitting on the heels, resting the hands on the legs, and taking a breath or two to settle, notice all the sensations that come up from things like heart openers. From here, open your legs up to the side, set up for a wide leg pose where we're gonna add on into Kermoss and putting together a lot of the stuff we worked on today.

Grab your strap, keep it handy in case you want to use it, and then lift, bend your knees really deeply so you can get your arms underneath the legs. And think about what we did earlier in those wide leg standing variation. You get nice and deep underneath those legs reach the arms out like a fly away. The key is trying to get your elbows a little bit past the knees here, so you can push into the arms without sacrificing the joints. Little by little, stop when you need to.

This might be a good place to stay or slowly press your heels forward and use the strength of the legs to pull your chest down to the floor. This might be a good place to stay as well or wrap your arms around your back. You can use the strap from here in one hand, bringing it to the other hand. As you can see, it's a little finagling right, getting that strap around from one hand to the other, to be able to grab the strap between both hands and then start to pull as much as you can as you work the depth. And you can go in and out like this really working the the press of the legs while you keep the hands bound and breathe.

Wherever you are, take a breath or two. Thinking about the heart pulling down to the floor, opening the chin to the front of the room. One more good breath here. Slowly, but surely, coming out, release any strap work that you have done, and then slowly finding your way to lie onto your back. Once you feel settled on your back, draw both knees into your chest.

Open the knees to the armpits, finishing with a full, easy, happy baby, lifting your legs up, grabbing both feet, noticing what space is here, maybe wrapping rocking side to side on the back body, massaging out the back muscles, and then you can add a little bit more inverted space if you want by pulling the feet over the head finding your deaf man's pose, trying to get the shins to the floor while you work the hips over the shoulders. Take your time, use the Indian version, whether you're a happy baby, or deaf man to let the breath naturally slow down. As slowly as you can, wherever you are, unravel through the spine, till the hips around the floor, and then unravel through the legs, until the legs are on the earth, heels down, legs wide as the mat toes play open. Roll your palms up to the sky. Take a final deep breath in, spread wide through the body.

And then open the mouth and let all the energy go. Settle in for this final rest. No more work. Allow yourself to receive the efforts of your practice. Shavasana, corpse pose.

You can feel free to stay in the Shivasan no longer if you need to. When you'd like to join me, take a moment to roll your wrists and ankles, stretch your fingers and your toes, maybe take a nice long stretch through the body as you inhale. And then roll over to your right side, fetal position. Give yourself a nice curl here. A nice pause.

And then rise up to a seat. You can do the same seat that you started with or you can pick any other comfortable seat as long as you can feel the spine nice and tall here. As soon as you feel able to return your body to stillness, maybe thinking of that statuesque like holding, and just witness what you notice in your experience. We use the Asana to build more attention to the inner workings of our energy within. Awareness being the ultimate healer for clarity.

Draw your hands to heart center, bow your gaze and reverence and gratitude. Thank yourself, honor your efforts. We close with a final ohm. Thank you for your practice.