The Vinyasa Show Artwork
Season 3 - Episode 5

Feeling the Fun Flow

40 min - Practice
49 likes

Description

Can a buoyant spirit inspire balance? Jessica's playful approach to transitions between balance postures like Eka Pada Koundinyasana and Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose) allows this challenging sequence to feel truly playful. You will feel energized and light of spirit.
What You'll Need: Mat

About This Video

Jul 27, 2015
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Transcript

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Hi, welcome to Transition Play. This is meant to be fun, so put on you absolute most favorite dancy playlist, get ready to have a good time, it's all for shits and giggles so don't worry about whether or not you can do it right, because you literally cannot do it wrong. Come on in to downward facing dog. Bringing the hands to the mat. Bring the hands to the mat, tuck your toes, lift your knees, downward facing dog.

Just take a minute here and greet your practice, greet your mat, wag the tail, bend the knees, walk the dog, I like to lift up one leg then the other. We'll take the gaze forward, take your right leg nice and high. Step on through low lunge. Keep the back heel lifted, soften the belly down, and let your gaze come forward, find an inhale here. As you exhale straighten the front leg, keep the back heel lifted, fold on over, modified parsvottanasana or pyramid pose.

Two more just like that, inhale bend into the knee, gaze comes forward, belly softens. Exhale, straighten the leg, parsvottanasana. Inhale bending to the knee, gaze comes forward. Exhale folding, straightening the front leg parsvottanasana. If you inhale, re-bend into the knee, low lunge.

Exhale, take the hands inside that front foot, walk around towards the left, parallel the toes. Find an inhale, extend through the spine, exhale, fold on over Prasarita. Find a few breaths here, get into your hammies, bend your knees, wiggle your butt. And then hands come back out underneath the shoulders, turn the toes out, bend into that left knee. Let the heel lift here, your right toes lift up with the toes pointed upward.

Take your left hand down and your right arm up. Little serpent skandasana variation. Ooh. And then as we transition over, bend into that right knee, arms come out gaze over to the left. Keep it strong through the legs, transition over to your low lunge.

Ground the hands, carry it back, three legged dog. Step forward again, low lunge, walk the fingertips forward, standing split, dive on in. Maybe one, maybe two. Take a hold of the ankle, release the hands. Send it long here.

Low lunge. Press down into the feet, lift on up high lunge, and then reaching your right hand back, revolved piecel. Find the back thigh, grab ahold of some meat, press and lift. Opening through the side body, revolve it back down, three legged dog as you step on back. Lowering the foot.

Downward facing dog. Whole shabang on the other side. Left leg comes high, step through, low lunge. Soften through the belly, gaze comes forward. Exhale fold and release.

Soft into the belly, gaze comes forward, fold and release. Last one. Bending to that front knee, gaze comes forward, exhale fold and release. Re-bend into the knee, low lunge, hands come inside that front foot. Walk around towards the right, parallel the toes.

Inhale extension just fine, exhale fold and over prasarita, again it's nice to have a little movement. Bend into the knees. Taking the hands out underneath the shoulders. Heels in, toes out, bend into that right knee. Let the heel lift.

Left toes point up. Right hand is down, left arm is up. Opening twist. And then as you shift over to the left, the feet ground, arms come out to the side, gaze is to the right. Let it transition, low lunge, hands come to the heart towards the front of your mat.

Hands are down, three legged dog, it's a breathe. Step forward, diving in standing splits, lifting up that right leg. Again one, maybe two. Hands take the ankle. Use your glut, lift the leg, fold on in.

Send it long back through your low lunge. Collect through the feet, press down, reach up high lunge, hands come overhead. Revolve peaceful, that left hand reaches back. Again find the thigh, grab ahold. Lift up and back.

Spiral the hands on down. Three legged dog as you step on back, and downward facing dog. Take your right leg nice and high. Find the inhale, exhale draw the knee towards the nose shifting forward. Inhale take the leg high.

Exhale touch that right arms high up as you can get. Inhale take the leg high. Exhale cross the body, touch your left arm. Ding, prize. Inhale, and then exhale upper part of the right arm again.

Hold pause. Bend the elbows, step back chaturanga. Upward facing dog. Down dog, breath here. We'll do that on the left side.

Take your left leg nice and high. Inhale exhale, knee towards the nose shifting forwards, plank. Inhale leg comes high. Exhale touch that left arm, ding. Inhale cross the body, touch the right arm.

Prize, inhale. Touch the left arm as high up as you can get. Bend the elbows. Step back chaturanga. Upward facing dog, downward facing dog.

Shift forward, lower the knees down, child's pose, exhale. Walk the hands back. Take your hands behind your seat. Elbows pointing away from you, roll and open the chest here. Draw the chin in, maybe even take the gaze up, and then press into the hands.

If you'd like you can lift the hips. Lower the seat back down, walk the hands forward, downward facing dog. Put that together a little bit more. Take your right leg high, touch the upper part of the arm as high as you can get. Bend the elbows, straighten the leg, lift the back leg, chaturanga.

Upward facing dog to downward facing dog. That's fun. Lower the knees down, child's pose. Walk the hands back, sitting on the heels. Take the hands behind you elbows drawn in, open through the front of the heart.

Gaze can lift up. Maybe press down through the shins and lift your hips. Lower the seat. Walk the hands forward. Other side, downward facing dog.

There's always a favorite side. I like to call it my demo side. The left one isn't. So finding acceptance of that is great work. Inhale, upper part of the arm as high as you can get.

Bend into the elbow, straighten the leg, lift with the but. Upward facing dog. Downward facing dog. Lower the knees, shift back, child's pose. Take a moment here, and this time so you walk your fingertips forward, or back towards your knees.

Pause here. It's a little ustrasana practice. Come on up onto your shins. Take some space between the knees. Tuck the toes, and then sit back down on the heels.

Take your hands and thumbs on the inside to the ankles, and space between the knees is nice. When you're ready, there's a press down to lift up, so there's a pushing against the ground and that's what lifts the heart up. So press down into the hands to lift the hips, draw the chin in. Release it back, and then again, press down to lift up. Ustrasana.

This is like that old boyfriend you forgot about, and then you re fell in love with him through Facebook or something. Sit up from the belly, the chest, neck, the head, release down to your heels, echo of that practice. Hands come on down, downward facing dog. Take your right leg nice and high, step through on anjaneyasana. Lower the back knee, down release the back toe.

Hands coming up to the top of the knee. Shift the weight back. Here start to straighten into that front leg, and I like to go all the way down till I sit on my heel. Coming into little hanuman prep. If this is uncomfortable, little runners lunge action.

Alright moving the foot a little bit forward. Can always keep the hip over the knee. This is my fave. Breath here, hello hami, how you doing? Its response is, I'm tight.

(laughing) Yogi jokes. And then we lift on up. Take that right leg back. Put it down on the ground. You're gonna reach your right hand up and then reach it forward like you're longing to meet a friend who's really far away.

You're so far away. Reach for them. Turn the palm away. High five all the way behind you. Left hand, meet it.

Fold on over. If this is not the definition of like in posture. Where you're going, trust me there will be a big femur bone in your way. Folding and forward, even with obstacles. We release and we say hello to our hanumanasana practice.

So shifting the weight back forward, step your right foot forward, come into ajaneyasana. So you can always stay in this prep variation. Working here, hello. There's also a variation where you walk that front foot forward. Keep a bend into the knee.

Flex the foot, tuck the back toe. Press down against the heel of the front foot. Lift the arms up. Option two. Option three, hands can come down.

Walk that front foot forward. Release the toe. I like to believe that the back hip is allowed to externally rotate. Walk your hands back as far as you can, and always keep a nice friendly bend in that front knee. Hanumanasuna.

And then awkwardly come out. And there you are. Tuck the back toe to the back knee. Low lunge, three legged dog. Lift it high, three legged chaturanga.

Upward facing dog, down dog. And come on in to the other side. So left leg comes high. Anjaneyasana, back knee down. Toe releases, hand on up to the top of the knee.

Breath here and then choose your medicine. So either shifting back just slightly extending through the leg and keeping the hip lifted if that worked better for you or all the way back and sit onto the heel. Fold on over left side. Give a few breaths here, greet your hamstring. How you doing?

As we lift up the torso, take that left foot back, plant it on the ground. Reach your left hand high and then forward. Long lost friend. So moving the shoulder past the knee here. Your left shoulder past your knee.

Turn the palm away like you're high fiving someone to the side of you, and then let it wrap around as you bend the elbow, the palms facing up. Here's your free agent hand. Right hand wraps around. Find the clasp. Fold on over, reach yasana.

Few breaths. Release this and come on forward to a full variation of hanamanasana on the left side. Again, we've got our favorite sides. Hopefully this is yours. Bring your hands down.

Decide what your medicine is. Shifting the hips back. Walking the foot forward little bit. Flexing the toes. Tucking the back toe.

That front knee stays bent. Push down against the ground to lift up. One lovely variation pranasana. Hamstring free. Otherwise, start to shift that front foot forward.

Allow the back toe to untuck. Open, keep the hands down for support. If you're all the way down in the ground you can lift your arms up. Great, I'm proud of you. And then again.

Awkwardly come on out. The sticky mats aren't necessarily made for dragging across. Tuck the back toe, lift the back knee and ground your hands. You're in a low lunge. Carry it back, three legged dog.

That left leg high. Look forward, three legged chaturanga. Upward facing dog. Downward facing dog. Lower the knees down, shift back child's pose.

And then come all the way forward, bend into the elbows, lower down onto your belly. We come into a little release your fatigue. So the idea here is to, just as it says, release your fatigue. If that means close your eyes, close your eyes. What I like to imagine here is that with each inhale that as I draw in the breathe, that I'm drawing in vibrant saturated color, and that as I exhale, that I'm literally exhaling out my fatigue.

I think of Instagram dial turned all the way down. So colors exhaling out. Stale, not of service, desaturated. As you inhale, it's bright fully pumped up. Regathering, redrawing in strength, vitality prana.

And then turning the gaze to the other side and doing the same thing here. Just a few breaths. And using some visualization to really imaging yourself refilling up. Two more breaths. Drawing in, bright vibrant color.

Exhaling out fatigue. Gaze comes through center. Take the hands back at the shoulders. Press yourself on up to a seat. Take a big breathe in.

Exhale and out through the mouth. Maybe even let the tongue stick out. Do that two more times. Breathing in. Exhale out.

Last one. Then we put it all together. So remember it's for play. So have fun. Tuck your toes, downward facing dog.

So for part of this trick you wanna take yourself a little bit farther forward onto your mat. So your hands are closer towards the edge, and you take your right leg nice and high. You're gonna step through low lunge, and then straighten in through that front leg parsvottanasana with the back heel with the back heel lifted. Allow yourself to breathe here and release into that front hami. So what you need to focus on for the next part is shifting that back foot to the side like side plank and then grounding down through the full foot.

The same thing with the hand. There's a shift forward and a grounding down. Okay one of the places to just start to place as you move this hand forward, the left hand forward, take your peace fingers of your right hand around the big toe, and you just start to press down through the hand. Lift up flexing that front foot. This is bust out number on.

Bust out number two. Alright, boop, just little lifts, boop. Alright and make sure your hands a little bit forward. I even hop it a little bit more forward, boop. Bust out number three.

Rotating around on that back foot. Ground through the heel. Reach it up. Geez comes up, and then as we come back you could land in parsvottanasana or you can do hanumanasana. Breath here.

Take that front foot out to the corner. Take your hands inside your leg. Tuck the back toe, lift the back knee. Elbow your thigh, get a little bit mean. Rawr, I like rawring because it sort of makes me feel fierce and this is what you need.

So rawr yourself underneath your thigh. Bend your elbows. Ecbatana koonay asana, chaturanga. Upward facing dog, downward facing dog. Breath here, shift forward, lower down, splat.

(exhales) Decide whether or not that other side is for you. Just kidding it is, do it. Alright and then press yourself on up. Back into downward facing dog. Coming into the left side.

Take your left leg nice and high. Step through low lunge. Start to straighten in through the front leg, fold on over, parsvottanasana with the back heel, lifted. Breath here, enjoy this. And this is a good opportunity to maybe find a little bit more forward motion onto your mat.

So that if you're gonna practice the full transition into hanumanasana that you land your heel off the mat. The right hand comes forward, nice spread out fingertips, press down. Peace fingers of the left hand around the big toe. And then start to lift, little play, little play, and then maybe working towards a fuller variation. Woo, press down, look where you're going.

Land it, hanumanasana. Breath, then shimmy the foot out to the corner of the mat. This is great because you're already set up for ecopotickoonya asana. Which is the arm balance from here. Hands come in side.

Tuck the back toe, lift the hips. And then again, rawr, get in a little bit of an argument with your thigh. Press that elbow underneath, and then all it is, bend the elbows, lift the back leg. Lift the back leg. Chaturanga, upward facing dog.

Downward facing dog. Shifting forward, lower the knees, splat. (laughing) You turn the gaze to the side. Find a few breaths here. When you're ready, press yourself up and back into downward facing dog one last time.

Take the right leg high. Knee towards the right wrist. Shin draws in. Lower the shin down, shift the hips back. Coming into pigeon pose, and then, let it be loungey.

Come on down. You can use support, blocks, a pillow here if you need it. Maybe you come all the way down. Press ourselves back up onto the hands. Tuck the back toe, lift the back knee, shift back into your downward facing dog, and come straight into the left side.

Left leg comes high, left knee. Left wrist, shin into diagonal. The back foot, move the hips back. And then lower down. Maybe onto forearms.

Use support again if you need to. Maybe coming all the way down. Good few breaths here. For some of us, pigeon pose is like, I could take a nap here, and for other people it's like, you! (laughing) Decide, and it's okay wherever it is. Use your breathe, if it's a nap, can you see engaged?

Can you stay here? If it's fiery, can you use your breathe to find a little bit more of relaxation here? (laughing) Press ourselves up onto our hands. Tuck the back toe, lift the back knee. Downward facing dog.

Lower the knees down, shift back onto the heels, and then you'll come facing the side of your mat. Oh one of my favorite postures in the whole universe. Revolved janu sirsasana. So we'll start with the right leg extended, and you want your hips to be moving forward. The left knee is bent, nice action here in the foot, and you can reach down, peace fingers around the big toe, right hand on the pinky edge, even the ankle, and also if flexibility's happening to be limiting you, bend the knee.

Let this be still something that you can participate in. Find the place that you have a good relationship with it. So I'll take my hand to the pinky edge of my foot, and then you'll take your left hand and reach towards the toes like you're drawing a bow and arrow. Reaching back, draw the arrow, pulling that left elbow back and your left shoulder pulls back to open up through the heart, and then bing, release the bow, and here you are. This may be enough.

Stay here. If you have a little bit more space, use your right arm, bend into the elbow, and just encourage a little bit more depth by bending the elbow and pulling yourself a little bit deeper. Have a little bit more space. Gas peddle the foot of your right foot. And then with the top arm, if it's useful for you.

Maybe the arm goes over the ear but don't just, hi I've got my foot, good job. Reach for the foot beyond the foot, beyond the foot, beyond the foot. Let it be more expansive than just your body. We come up there's a little up up and away. Your left hand comes behind the hips.

Lift and press up. The hips reaching your right hand back. And then lower the hips on down and switch other side. Left leg extends, right knee is bent. Take your left hand, pinky edge, ankle, peace fingers around the toe.

Your right hand reaches for it. Literally imagine a bow and arrow. Use some strength here. Drawing that right elbow back, open out through the shoulders so that the chest spins upward and there's this opening action and then bing, release your arrow. Expansive open body.

Pause here. If it's useful, maybe a little bit of a bend into your left elbow. Just encouraging a little bit more depth. Engagement in the posture. Maybe some gas peddling of the foot, your left foot.

And again, arm over the ear, the foot beyond the foot, beyond the foot. As you release it comes into up up and away. So your right hand comes behind your right hip. Left arm reaches up as your hips lift toward the sky. Hike and release back, and then lower yourself down onto your seat, and then we're gonna come onto our belly.

So shift over and lower yourself on down. Keep your right hand at your shoulder and extend your left arm on out. And you're gonna roll on over to your left side. This may be enough. You can release the head or you might step the foot behind, the top foot behind.

Say hello to your shoulder. Roll back onto the belly. Left hand comes to the shoulder line. Right hand reaches out and gaze goes over to the left. Roll onto your right, and you can step that left foot behind.

Alright it's important here to make sure you're being friendly with your body. Don't push it to it's absolute max edge. Just where you start to feel a little bit of engagement through the shoulder. Greeting of the stretch. Roll back onto the belly, and then we're gonna transition all the way onto our back, so however you wanna get there is fine.

Rolling yourself on over. Coming down onto your back. Wanna take a few moments in suptabaddha konasana. So bringing the bottoms of the feet together here. Knees so wide.

Let the arms come out. So maybe a low V, even to a T shape. If you're comfortable, let the eyes close. Use this as a moment to come back to your body, come on into your breathe, and drawing yourself back home. I like to actually ask, how are you doing body, head, heart?

And allow time and space for listening. Take about three more full breaths here. Inhales and exhales. And then starting to extend the legs long onto your mat. You can keep the arms just as they are.

Moving in towards shavasana. Take space between the feet, space between the body and the hands. Allow the palms to be open. Notice the points of contact in the ground. Is there any resistance?

Allow yourself to settle. I like to think of shavasana as this physical prep for meditation and sometimes it can be the most challenging of shapes. So the practice here is a practice of physical stillness. Can you allow yourself to be still? Don't itch your nose, adjust your outfit, do your hair.

Just allow yourself to be physically still for a few moments. As a wave of desire to move comes in, take note and then let it go. If you're happy as you are, stay and take as much time as you need. Otherwise, starting with a few fuller inhales and exhales. Allowing the breathe to be the first movement.

And then start to wiggle the fingers and the toes. Bending into the knees, draw the knees in towards the chest give yourself a nice little squeeze. Reaching your right arm high, rolling on over to your right side, pause there. Pressing down into the ground. Coming back up to a comfortable seat.

Bringing the hands to anjali mudra at the heart. The head bowing in. Take a moment to acknowledge your effort. Give gratitude to your body for its amazing abilities. Love and devotion to the heart.

Namaste.

Comments

Laura D
1 person likes this.
What a fun class! Thanks Jessica :)
Monica P
1 person likes this.
Love her humor:)
Jessica Garay
So happy you have enjoyed the class! Grateful to be here!
Tracy R
Jessica's personality rocks! Makes you forget how difficult some of the poses are. Thanks
Johanna L
You are fantastic! I laughed and had so much fun, I will come back to your classes
John F
1 person likes this.
What a great class! Thank you for making me smile this morning :) Namaste
Jessica Garay
Thank YOU all for the kind words! So happy to be able to connect with you in with this wonderful format!
Ken S
This is my favorite routine on the entire website! Thank you~
Jessica Garay
Hi Ken! Thank you! So happy you enjoyed the class :)
~ jessica
Kelly M
Love your perspective and sense of humor, both make practicing with you a joy!
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