Fluid Strength Artwork
Season 1 - Episode 5

Free Your Fascia Flow

60 min - Practice
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Description

We embrace oscillating, watery movement in an attempt to connect to the fluid quality in the body. Lydia leads a playful, dynamic flow to release sticky spots in the connective tissue and encourage openness. We experiment with bouncing and transferring weight, explore balance poses and Plank variations, and play in Yogi Squat sequences to strengthen and open the foundation while remaining fluid in the upper body, building towards optionally dropping back into Wheel from a standing position. You will feel spacious and free.
What You'll Need: Mat

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Welcome, everyone, to this fluid strength practice where we'll be diving into some different movements, some bouncing, some regaining elasticity to our tissue, and some fluid movement that we hope can unstick some areas of your fascial system that might be stuck together. So let's begin in a seat. I'm up on a blanket. If you have two blocks for your practice, you might want those. And if you want to be near a wall, too, have a space by the wall. Let's begin by sliding side to side. And maybe you do this as a breath-centered movement, letting yourself hang over to one side and then over to the other. Let's come into the center and move forwards and back. You might hang onto your knees, just noticing the weight change on the sit bones. Let's come into the center and take our right hand out to the side, circle the left arm out and up. And let's oscillate that top arm so you can move it down. You can move it up over your ear, just noticing any places where you feel like you get stuck in your shoulders or in your hip. You might even bend that bottom elbow. You can even take your hand forwards and pull back, exploring different areas, imagining that fluid quality underneath your skin and moving around in that in an effort to loosen up any stuck areas. Let's be still for a moment, however you choose to be. Give some attention to your breath. And then use that top hand to help you come all the way up and over to the other side. You can stay in stillness on that other side for sure, or you might move a little, letting that top arm reach up and over and then back down, noticing where you feel like you get stuck in the shoulder or the hip. You might bend your bottom elbow. Feel free to reach that arm forwards and pull it back, forwards and back. Coming into your body in your own way and making all these shapes yours. You're so welcome to move around in them, find your own spaciousness. Let's be still for a breath on that side. Use that top arm to help you come all the way up and we'll transition onto our back to start. So you can move your blanket away if you've been sitting on that. Roll down onto your back, draw your knees in towards your chest and start to slide side to side, wobble side to side. Then we'll move into happy baby. So you might take your hands underneath the backs of your knees, your ankles, or even grab the outsides of your feet and continue that little wobble side to side, almost like a massage for your back muscles. You could come into the center and pulse one knee down and then the other, pulsing through those legs. You might even stretch one leg out, even holding your ankle, explore the inner thigh and then the other one. Maybe even both. Let's take a moment in the center, finding your own place of stillness, connecting to your breath, widening your gaze, arriving here in your body on the mat, your practice, your breath, and draw the knees in towards the chest when you're ready. Roll back and forwards a couple times, maybe holding on under the knees and we'll come onto our hands and knees. With our arms straight, start to shift forwards and back, feeling into the wrists. You might even circle your hips. You can turn your hands out to the sides and move laterally, side to side, almost pushing from one wrist to the other.

You can turn your hands all the way around if you like and circle into your wrists. Option to take your knees a little closer if you're having too much pressure in the wrists here. One more breath. Release that. You might flick out through your fingers, tuck your toes and start to shift back onto your tucked toes and then back onto all fours. The weight transfer back and forwards, feeling into all that thick fascia at the sole of your foot. Then we'll start to walk back our hands and come into a squat. So that might be a toe squat. You might widen your feet or turn them out. You might drop your heels to the ground. You might reach your arms way forwards. Let's take a few breaths here. One. Your squat. Two. You might even curl in if you want. Take your hands to the back of your head. And three. Let's walk ourselves forwards back into downward facing dog. Pedal out through the back of the legs. Feel the tissue sliding through the calf and the hamstring. Let's take our right leg up and back behind us and exhale it down into downward facing dog. Inhale right leg up. Exhale to downward facing dog. Last one. Inhale right leg up. Exhale down dog. And then inhale your right leg up to take it forwards. Exhale take that right leg forwards. Come up onto your fingertips or this might be where you use your blocks. Find your stance and come on up into your high crescent. From here let's lower our left knee down towards the ground and inhale it back up two more times. Exhale lower it down. Inhale pop back up. Exhale lower down. Inhale pop up and take three breaths in your expression of this lunge.

Notice if you're getting stuck in your low back, in your shoulders, you're free to move around and make the shape yours. Unstick yourself. Press your feet down. Feed that energy up through your spine and then let's exhale take our hands to our waist and it might be a little step or a couple steps or one big step to take your left knee up into your chest. So you can hold onto that knee and let's take a three breaths. One straighten your bottom leg. You might even find a bend and straighten pushing down into the earth and catching that rebound force coming all the way up. Two and three. Let's take our left leg out to the side so our inner thigh faces forwards. You can take your right hand to your right waist and breathe there. One, two starting slow here and three and then let's curl a little forwards. Take a hold of the top of your left ankle and allow the knees to come side by side. Now here try to make a posterior tilt in your pelvis. So instead of arching it forwards like a back bend, curl your tailbone under and try to take your knee back behind you a little bit for two, three and then your left knee comes in towards your chest again. You can have both hands to your waist for one. Lift that knee a little higher straight in your right leg too. Beautiful. Three and then let's take that left leg back into a high crescent. So find your stance, inhale your arms up for a breath and then exhale your hands to the floor or to blocks. Let's slowly start to straighten your right leg any amount and let the left heel come down towards the floor. Three breaths and breathe at your own pace. One, notice where you're getting stuck if there's any pain sensations. Can you bump into intense sensation and then move around a little so you can feel a little more freedom however you can. Two, might let your head go down. Three and then let's walk ourselves all the way around till we're in a wide legged forward fold to our left. Take your left hand right underneath your face and inhale your right arm up into a nice twist. Press down through your bottom arm. Exhale your right hand down underneath your face. Inhale your left arm up into a nice big twist. Exhale that down. Fold in through the center.

You might take your hands, aim them for the line in between your feet. Push into your feet, maybe even move a little side to side. Adjust your stance if you need to and let's take three breaths through the center. Spreading the soles of your feet, pushing down, noticing where you're getting stuck in your joints. And can you move a little bit, make the micro movements to feel a little more free in your shape. Three, hands to the waist here. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and up you come all the way up. Turn your feet out and your knees out and come into a wide legged squat. So if you want to make this more challenging you can float your arms. Let's take three breaths. You might move a little side to side. Notice how your pelvis is. Is it really arching forwards or tucking under? Two. I always feel a little warrior-like in this shape. Three. Let's take some side bends. So we'll ground through the legs and side bend over to one side and then over to the other side. Come into the center. Now let's try bending the left knee and straightening the right leg a little more and then switching that and going side to side a couple times. Exploring that you are allowed to take your knee over top of your toes. That actually strengthens the range that your knee has. Feel that. Now let's go over the left toes and kind of take a side bend. Maybe even straightening through that right leg. It's like an extended side angle and then shift over to the other side. Side bend. Your left toes pointed out. Different way to do extended side angle. Come into the center. Shift a little side to side. Now we're going to go over those left toes and this time it's like a reverse warrior. So you can slide your right hand down your leg, go away from that left knee and then go over to the other side. It's like a reverse warrior with your toes turned out. Cool. Come into the center. Sink down into that squat and then stand up. Beautiful strong legs. Turn your feet in. Inhale here. Exhale. Fold forwards. Take your hands underneath your shoulders and we'll play with a few hops if you like. So press into your hands. Bend your knees. Watch that rebound force of the buoyancy of your legs and hop up and back down. So let's try a couple more. See if you can land lightly. So up and land lightly. Let's try one more. Like you have shock absorbers in your ankles, knees and hips. Which you do. Land lightly. Come on up. Walk all the way around towards your front foot so that you're in a shape of a lunge with your right foot forwards. And exhale back into downward facing dog.

Let's inhale into a plank. Exhale into downward facing dog. Inhale into a plank. Pause and plank. You can always come down to your knees here. Try to walk one hand forwards and straighten that arm. Then see if you can walk the other hand forwards. It's like you're going towards a straight arm pushup. Straighten your arms. Wrap your elbows towards each other and slightly round your upper back. Tailbone to heels. Engage your quads up. Take a breath. Maybe you even squeeze your elbows together and tap them to the floor. Keeping that shape and come back up. Then one at a time walk your hands back into the plank and exhale back into downward facing dog. You might paddle out your feet. Roll forwards to a rounded plank. Then start to drop your hips. Pull your spine through and come into a toe tucked upward dog. And then press into your hands. Ripple back. Lift your upper back. Mid back. Low back. Downward facing dog. Then we're going to walk back into a squat. So do you want to be in a toe squat or your heels down? Check that out. And take three breaths in your squat. You might prayer your hands or reach them way forward for one. Two. And three. Just walk it forwards back into downward facing dog. Inhale your left leg up and back behind you. Exhale. Lower it down. Two more times. Inhale. Lift it up. Exhale. Lower it down. Inhale. Lift it up. Exhale. Lower it down. This time lift it up to take it forwards. Lift it up. Bend your knee. Come through to your low lunge. Maybe you pop up on your blocks there. Take a moment to feel your feet. And then come all the way up into your high lunge.

Beautiful. From your high lunge let's lower our right knee to the floor. And lift it back up. Lift the top of the sternum. Lower down. Lift up. Lower down. Lift up and stay for a moment. Notice where you're getting stuck. You're welcome to change angle. Everything is right. So you're doing it right. You're moving like you. Two. And three. Let your hands come down by your hips. Maybe a couple steps. Maybe one big step to take your right knee in towards your chest. You can hold onto it with two hands or one hand. Straighten your bottom leg. Let's take three breaths. One. Move your groins back. Lift your spine up. Two. Maybe you're using that rebound force. Press down and stand up. Three. And then take the leg out to the side. You can take your left hand on your hip if you want. Maybe even look over your left shoulder and breathe there. One. Straighten your bottom leg. You can use that push down and rise up. Two. Three. And then round in. Take that top of the ankle and come up like you're going into a dancer's shape. See if you can tuck your tailbone down a little and pull your right knee back. For one. Two. Breathe into your back muscles here. And three. And then leg comes up into the center, into the front. Both hands to the waist. Maybe even squeeze those shoulder blades together. Widening the upper chest. Two. Three. And then let's take it all the way back into that high crescent land. Feel the buoyancy in your ankles. Lift up. And then exhale hands down to the blocks or to the floor. Start to straighten that front leg. For one. You can bow. And two. And three. And we're going to bend that left leg and walk all the way around to the right side of the mat. I'm just going to walk this way so you can see me a little bit better. Right hand underneath your face. Inhale your left arm up into a big twist. Widen through your collarbones. Left hand down. Inhale your right arm up. Stretch through your collarbones. Pull apart your fingers from each other. Exhale down. Inhale to center. And exhale walk through the middle. This time you might hold onto the outsides of your ankles and pull up. Maybe bending into one knee and then into the other. Adjusting your stance. Noticing where you're getting stuck. Is there a lot of muscular energy in one spot? And can you make this a whole body movement? Two. And three. Walk those hands underneath the shoulders. Take them to your hips. Up you come. Turn the feet out. Sink down into your squats. You can have your hands on your knees if you like. Or for a little more challenge in the legs, take your arms out. You can shift a little side to side. Let's breathe for one. Check out how your pelvis is doing. Is it rocking forwards or back? What feels better in your hip joints than in your low back? Where are you getting stuck in this shape? How can you unstick yourself? Three. Let's take a side bend. So one side up out and over. Maybe even floating that bottom arm. For a little more work in the legs. Over to the other side. One more time. Over to one side.

Long lines of pull from your hip to your fingertips. Over to the other side. Come into the center. You can take your hands on your knees and start to slide your knee over your toes. Almost to the place where you're straightening your opposite leg. So you can continue on with that or you can go over your left leg and then come into like an extended side angle with your right toes and right knee turned out. And you can go over the other side. Either supporting your elbow on your knee or like floating your hand for way more work in the legs up to you. Let's try one more time both sides. How does it feel to do it different like this? This time let's go over our left leg and it's like a reverse warrior. So coming away from the bent knee and over to the other side like a peaceful warrior coming away from the bent knee two times. Feeling your legs pressing into your feet. Let's come into the middle. Take a moment there. Maybe your hands are on your knees. And then pressing into your feet. Come on up. Parallel your feet. Inhale there. Exhale, fold through the middle. Notice how your hips feel. Let your hands find the ground. We'll play with those hops again. So pressing down into the knuckles underneath your fingers. Finding a bend in your legs. Hopping up and landing lightly. Hopping up and landing lightly. If you like you can take it right up into a handstand. So you can hop up and then maybe push yourself up to a handstand and see if you can land lightly. Any amount play. Bouncing is really great for your fascia. And then walking all the way around to the front. You'll have your left leg in front. Shape of a lunge. And then exhale into downward facing dog. Pedal out your feet. Let's inhale into a plank and exhale into downward facing dog. Whole body movements here. Let's inhale into a plank. This time you're welcome to take your knees down or play with walking your hands out. Maybe even to the outer edges of your mat. Even wiggling your feet back and finding a little bit of a curve through your spine. Belly gently hollows towards the back of the spine. Legs engaged. Maybe wrap those elbows in. Top them to the ground. Come up. Maybe another time. Wrap them in. Tap down. Come up. And then start to walk it back in. Exhale downward dog. Beautiful. It's a beautiful full body connection there. Full tension. And then round forward. Take it into a toe tucked upward dog. And then ripple it back from the head. Press into your hands. Upper back. Mid back. Low back. Downward facing dog. Let's walk it back into a squat. So you can come up onto your toes. You can sink down onto your heels. Take three breaths in your squat. If you want to make this more challenging for yourself, you can turn your feet parallel and then let your arms lift up alongside your ears. Lots of work in the legs. If you're getting stuck somewhere, how can you kind of move out of that stuckness? Make this a whole body global movement. Two. And three. Exhale. Lower that down. Walk it forward. Downward facing dog. Beautiful. Same sequence again. A little different. So right leg up. Three times. Exhale it down. Maybe this time you even keep your left heel down. Notice how that feels. Right leg up. Lower it down. Wow. Left calf. Inhale. Right leg up. Exhale. Lower it down this week. Time we take the leg up to take it forwards. Right leg up. Bend the knee to nose. Take it forwards low lunge. Find your stance there and inhale. Come all the way up. High lunge. Exhale. Lower your left knee to the ground. Inhale. Pop back up. Exhale. Lower. Pop it up. Lower down. Pop up. Big step forwards. You can take your hands to your waist for this. Left foot all the way forwards. And into your chest. So this time if you like you can kick that leg out. And breathe one. Maybe point the toe. Two. Straighten your bottom leg. Use that buoyancy to lift you up. Three. And then bend the knee back. Take your hand to the outer knee or maybe the big toe and reach it out to the side. You might even reach your right arm out to the side as a counterbalance. So right arm out to the side. Two. And three.

Then let's curl in. Take the top of the ankle. This time right arm up. Little tuck backwards of the pelvis and come forwards into like a dancer's shape. You can kick that back leg up for one. Two. And three. And then leg all the way back forwards. Kick it out towards straight if you like. For a breath. And then all the way back into your high lunge. Notice where there's an accumulation of muscular tension. See if you can move out of that. Take it. Whole body movement. Breathe in and up here. Exhale. Hands to the ground or hands to blocks. Pyramid shape. Start to straighten your right leg. Fold in. One. Two. And three. And then let's walk ourselves all the way around to the left side of the mat. Feet on the same plane. And then left hand underneath the nose. Inhale your right arm up into a big twist. Beautiful. Exhale your right hand down. Inhale your left arm up into a big twist. You might even wrap it behind you. Reach out of that. This time if you like you can come up. Interlock your hands behind your back. Roll open your shoulders and fold through the center. Maybe oscillating through that. Like rolling to look over one shoulder and then the other. Notice your contact with the ground. Where are you getting stuck? Notice that. Notice if you can move out of it any amount. Unstick yourself. And then let's come forwards a little bit. Release those arms. Hands under. Hands to the waist. And then come all the way up to standing. And turn your feet out. So let's come back into that wide legged posture. You can shift side to side if you want to continue that work in the legs. You can open up through your arms or cactus your arms. Maybe even reach your elbows forwards. Hands back. Really opening the front of the chest. Notice if this is getting easier or maybe even more challenging. Notice where you're getting stuck. Is it the outer hips? For two. And three. Side bend over to one side. Doesn't matter which one. Big long line of pull. Side bend slowly enough so you can feel the fluid quality of those tissues sliding against each other. One more time both sides. Press into your feet without making your ankles rigid. Come into the center and then start to slide the knee over the toes. So check out how that feels. You might do it a little bit. You might do it a lot.

Let's go into over our left leg that extended side angle with your right toes turned out over to the other side. Beautiful. Back into the middle. Let's go over the left knee and then take it to like a reverse warrior like this. You can even slide your hand way down towards your ankle. And then over to the other side. We're going to change this up a little bit. So when we go into a reverse warrior with the left knee over the left toes. Right toes turned out. Let's sweep our right fingertips to the floor and turn on our right toes so you face the back of the mat and you're in a twisted lunge. Right hand down, left arm up. You might even turn your left toes out, turn onto the outer edge of your right foot and drop your hips to the ground and pop them back up. Maybe for some a side plank. Left foot on top of the right. Bring it back. Twisted lunge. Turn onto your right tucked toes. Walk it all the way back to the middle. Adjust and see that wide legged squat. Knees out, toes out. Catch it there. And then over the right knee, the right knee over the right toes. Straighten your left leg. Reverse warrior away from that right knee. Then let your left fingertips reach the floor and turn yourself into a twisted lunge. Maybe you fall into your left hand. Maybe you continue to turn your right toes out. Come onto your right or your left outer foot. Drop your hips to the floor and pop them back up. If you want to catch a side plank, there it is. Press the ground away. Notice where you're getting stuck. Big full body movement. Legs engaged. And then right foot comes back forward. Your back and your twisted lunge. Right foot forward facing the front of your mat. Take that right arm down. Walk it all the way around. Back into that wide legged stance. Knees out, toes out. And press to come up. Parallel your feet. Inhale there. Exhale, fold through the center. You're welcome to hang out there or if you like, those little hops. So big straddle with the legs. Push the ground away. Land light. One, two. And as you're coming down, push the ground away even more. Push, push, push, push, push. Land lightly. Walk all the way around to your front foot. You're in the shape of a lunge. Right foot forward and exhale it into downward facing dog. Inhale, plank. Exhale, down dog. Inhale, plank. Ripple it forward. Either come to your knees or walk your hands out. Maybe test how far can you walk your hands out, how far can you wiggle your feet out. A little bit of a rounding to your spine. Straight arms. Maybe elbows squeeze in. Tap the ground. Come back up. Maybe two more times. Tap and up. Maintaining shape in your spine. Tap and up. I think I did three. And then come on back. Find your plank. Exhale, downward facing dog. Let's round it forwards to like a cat plank. Through to a toe tucked upward dog. And ripple back. Head curls in. Press into your hands. Downward facing dog. So beautiful. Walk it back to your squat. Toes squat. Feet parallel. If you really want to work that leg strength, which is always advantageous for backbends. Arms up. One. Two. You can wiggle around in it. Maybe even look forwards. Three. And exhale. Walk it forward. Downward facing dog. Leg up. Three times. Inhale it up. Exhale, lower. Inhale it up. Maybe the right heel stays down. Exhale, lower. Inhale it up. Exhale, lower. This time we take it up to take it forwards. Reach up. Forward. Find your feet. And inhale, come up into your high crescent. Tap right knee down. Bring it back up. Tap it down. Bring it back up. Tap down.

Bring it back up. And then prepare for that forward hop. Or lunge. So hands to the waist. And one step or a couple of steps. Come all the way through. Right knee in towards the chest. Catch that wobble. Maybe kick it out. Maybe point your toe for one. Straighten your bottom leg. Find the buoyancy in your joints. Two. And three. Bend that leg. Either take the knee or the big toe if you like. Open it out to the side. And you can counterbalance with your left arm out to the side. For one. Straighten that bottom leg. Two. Bend into the earth. Press out of it. Find it a whole body movement. Three. And then curl forwards. Take the top of your right ankle. This time left arm up. Tuck the pelvis a little under. And then shift forwards to your dancers. One. Maybe kick that back leg out. Two. Notice where you're getting stuck. Move out of it. It's okay if you fall out. Three. And then bring it all the way back in. Kick that leg forwards for a breath. And all the way back into your high crescent. Land. Thankfully put some weight into your back foot as you reach your arms up. Find the ground. Fingertips or blocks. Pyramid shape. Three breaths. One. Your own breath. Your practice. Your connection to the earth. Your whole body movement. Two.

And you let your head go. Three. And then we're going to walk it all the way around to the right side of the mat. I'm just going to walk it left again so you can see better. You might come up a little bit here. Take your right hand down. Left arm up into that twist. Maybe even loop it around. And switch sides. Right hand down. Left arm up into that twist. Maybe loop it around. Bring that right hand down. Your choice to forward fold if you want to take that interlock again. Interlock to widen through the front of the shoulders. Move around in that. Pulse side to side in your legs. Let your whole body become involved in the movement. It's like many hands make light work. Whole body helping out. Come up a little bit. Hands to your waist. And all the way up. Turn your toes out, knees out, sink into that squat. For one. Two. Maybe bounce into it a little bit. Find your buoyancy. You still have it. Three. Side bend. Big long lines of stretch. Up and over to one side. Allow it to feel good. So you're following that pleasure principle in your body. Releases endorphins that work with pain. It's one of the beautiful things about yoga. It feels so good. Over to one side. Over to the other side. Come on up. Start to side to side move.

Knees a little over the toes. Notice how that is on your knees. You can always adjust. Maybe you stay there. Maybe you go over your left knee and find that extended side angle. You don't need to straighten your right leg. One way and then the other. Find your balance there. Come back into the center. We're going back over the left toes. This time it's like a reverse warrior. So going away from that left knee. Allow it to feel really good. That big side stretch. Going over your right knee. Away. Coming into the center. So we're going back over that left knee. We're doing that reverse warrior. And then we're grazing our right fingertips to the floor. We're turning it all the way into a twisted lunge. Right hand down. Left arm up. Back at the mat. Now you're welcome to stay there for a couple of breaths or walk your left foot back. Turn onto the outer edge of your right foot. Maybe stack your feet into Vasasasana. Breathing there for a breath. You can even take your left arm over your left ear. And then slowly bring it back into your twisted lunge. The back of your mat. Walk it all the way around. Support yourself with your hands if you need to. So you're in that wide-legged squat. Position, knees out, toes out. Let's try the other side. So taking your right knee over the right toes. And then reversing away from that right knee. And then left hand comes to the floor. Turn on your back foot. So you're turning on your toes until you're in a twisted lunge facing the front of the mat. You can turn your right toes out. Turn your left foot onto the outer left edge. Maybe stay there if you want. Stack your feet. Take your right arm up out and over. Side plank. And step it back forward. How can your whole body be involved in that movement? Back into your twisted lunge. And then walk it all the way back into your wide-legged stance. Press into your feet. Come on up. Parallel your feet. Come on down through the center. Your choice. Hang down in the center.

Luxuriate in the forward fold. Or hop it up three times. Press into the floor. Straddle up and push, push, push into the floor as you come down. Two. Push. And slow. Push the floor away as you come down. Three. Push out. And slowly come down. Find your squat. Walk it all the way around to your front foot which will be your left shape of a lunge. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale to plank. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale to plank. Straight arm push-up kind of thing. Walk those arms out. Wiggle those toes out. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Challenge yourself here to bring that hollow body sensation. Squeeze through the thighs. Maybe three taps. The elbows down. Squeeze them in. Squeeze them into the center. One. Two. Oh my gosh. Three. And then walk it back up. Downward facing dog. Ripple it forward. Angry cat plank. Toe tucked upward dog. Pull it up and back. Downward facing dog. Bend your knees now and come through to your back. Thankfully get off your legs for a moment. For a moment. Press into your feet. We're going to ripple up into a bridge so you can push into your feet. Press your back flat against the floor. And then roll just your pelvis up. Then your low back. Press into your feet. Then your mid back. Upper back. Roll up into a bridge. Maybe come up onto your tiptoes. Take a breath at the top. Only stretching your abdomen. And then come down. Upper back. Mid back. Low back. And drop. Two more times like that. Roll on up. You might even close your eyes. And feel this segmental movement through your spine. At your own pace. I love to come up onto my tiptoes. It gives me that little bit more stretch across the front line of the legs. After three. You can windshield wiper your knees one side. Into the center and over to the other side.

So beautiful. This time if you like you can tuck your fingers towards your shoulders and same thing but you'll ripple up into a wheel. So that might mean landing on the top of your head for a moment. And then pressing up. You might come up onto your tiptoes. And gently rock forwards and back in your wheel. See if you've got a little bit of play there. Notice where you're stuck. How can you gently unstick yourself? Exhale. Tuck your chin. Come on down. Catch that residue. And then come on back up. So you're bridging it or wheeling it. You might rest on the top of your head or come right up. Let's breathe three breaths. You move like you. Come out when you need to. Two. Three. Exhale all the way down. Whole body movement. Notice those little areas that tend to catch the tension. Roll out of them last one here. Roll on up. So beautiful. Finding a little bit of that movement and then some stillness if you like. One. Two. Three. Exhale. Come on down. Roll on out of that windshield. Wipe your knees side to side. If it's okay for your spine here, take your knees, take the backs of your knees and roll forwards and back a couple of times. Notice the smoothness of that roll. If you have the space you might even roll right back into a plow. And your choice you can use your hands or not and take yourself right into a forward fold. Land through the center. Let your head dangle. Bend your knees a bit. Sink your heels into the ground and roll on up. Beautiful. Let's work with this final wave. So from here let's take our hips forwards then lift through our spine and look up. And then pull our hips back and round. Low back, mid back, upper back. So your little slumpy. Hips forward, lift, low spine, mid spine, upper spine, neck. Hips pull back, sucking under the low back, mid back, upper back. So don't think about it too much. Just finding your full body movement from the feet through the spine to the tips of the fingers to the top of the head. Notice where you're getting stuck. You might widen your feet a little more. Use your breath if you want to. As you come up and back you can open your arms up to the sides, flip your palms up, yeah. And come up and back. And then suck back and round through. That's a little more challenging on your back. Try it out. Okay. Now if you like you can find a piece of wall or you can keep going with that wave. Be about an arm's distance away from the wall. Feet nice and wide. And then same thing, ripple up. Find the wall with your fingertips. Push into it. You can lift up onto your tippy toes.

Lift that back bend up, up, up, up. Drop your heels and pull your hips back round to your spine. Come on forwards. Maybe a couple times like that. Some of you might, when you find your hands on the wall, you might walk your feet forwards and walk a little down the wall. See how that feels. And then walk back up. You could also walk your feet in to bring you back up. If you're a drop backer, if you like to drop back from standing, you could take that wave into a drop back on your mat. So you're working with that. If you like, you can pop up onto your tippy toes on the way back. I sometimes feel like that opens up the low back area. So keep working with your wave, noticing where you get stuck, wiggling out of it. There's a moment there where I come up onto the tips of my toes to give me a little more space in the low back. If you want to come back up, it's a rock, forwards and back, forwards and back. And when you're rocking into your feet, that's when you come up and out of the drop back. Let's bend our knees and take our elbows to our knees. Fold in. Take a couple of breaths. Elongate your spine instead of rounding here. Aim your head forwards. And you might gently fold a little more in, maybe wobbling side to side, noticing that those places that tend to grip, maybe closing your eyes and checking out where can you move a little bit to ease those tissues, bring some more fluid, bring some more flow, some more freedom. Let our hands touch the ground. Exhale back into a downward facing dog. Inhale, plank. You know it. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, plank. Maybe knees down. Walk it out. Press the ground away. Round your spine a little bit. Engage your legs. Tap and up. Tap the elbows down. Squeeze them in and up. Tap and up. Press. Maybe wiggle a little further and then walk it back into a plank and back into a downward facing dog. Ripple through to a toe tucked upward dog. Exhaling. Tuck your chin. Press back. Downward facing dog. We're going to step or hop through to our seat. Take your feet forwards. You might take your time to roll back, keeping your heels glued down through your spine, landing. Knees in. Draw your knees in. Wobble a little side to side on your back. Beautiful.

Coming back into that happy baby shape so you can hold underneath your knees, can hold your ankles outside of your feet. Wobble a little side to side. See if you can keep the top of your pelvis grounded and down instead of rolling it up too much so you're elongating through your spine. You might tap one knee down, pulsing through the legs. Notice how it feels different now than the beginning of this journey. You might elongate through one leg and then the other. Maybe both. Like a supine konasana. Wherever you want to be, moving are still. Let's take three breaths. One. Two. And three. Beautiful. Let's bring the knees back in. Give them a nice hug and let's elongate through the right leg. Take the left foot on top of the right knee or just above that and with your right hand pull across into a spinal twist. I'm going to encourage you here to rock into the twist. That oscillating movement. It's like a loosening action. You can rock for a little bit and then be still if you like. Notice how coming in and out of the twist might encourage some more space. Explore that. There's no end point to the form. There's simply an exploration. Make contact with the ground here and either continue to move or stay there for three breaths. One. Two. Your breath. Your connection with the ground. Your body. And three. Slowly come out of that. Switch sides. Left leg elongates right foot on top. Come across with your left hand. You can rock into it. As our dear friend Kyra says, introduce your nervous system to it. Notice if you want to be still or you like that soothing rocking. We'll stay there for three breaths. One. Two. And three. Coming into the center there and any other little movements that you would like to do before Shavasana, go for those. I'm going to ask you if you'd like to plant your feet for a moment and then rock your heels. Like pulse your heels into the mat so that your pelvis kind of tips forwards and back. Your pelvis is heavy. It's on the ground. It's the heels that's bobbing your body up and down. Fully relaxed. Fully weighted. Notice. Maybe close your eyes. Notice if you can feel that bob all the way up into your neck. Can you feel that jiggle through the organ body? What's responding, your shoulders? And then stop that. Take a breath. Exhale it out. And if you'd like, slowly elongate your legs and then rock your heels into the ground. Same action. You're just bobbing your feet, pulsing your heels and the whole body relaxed. Notice with your eyes closed. Maybe what's responding to that. This whole body organizational network. What is responding? Maybe what's not responding. Pelvis, spine, organs, shoulders, brain. And stop that. Take a breath in. Exhale everything out. And I'm going to invite you to take a five count inhalation. Five count exhalation.

Move your eyes are closed. Five counts in. Five out. Five in your own breath. Five out. One more minute with this rhythm. Notice the effort around the breath. Last one. And then let the breath be natural and free. Let it be soft and shallow if it wants to be, deep if it wants to be. And attend to yourself. Notice maybe the things that you don't notice when you're a little bit more busy or your life is more full. Let it all be there, just as it is. Notice the quiet power that's deep inside of you. You might want to stay here for a little longer. You're totally welcome to or you could reach out through your arms and your legs. Draw your knees into your chest. Take your time to come up. Thank you so much for joining me in this journey of practice. Namaste.

Comments

cw
cw
Such a strong hop up into handstand. Any tips, please?
Lydia Zamorano
cw Hi!
Yes for sure! Try hopping up with your legs bent at first like a little tuck. When you hop, focus on getting your upper back over your hands instead of your bottom. Before you try the hops, warm up your wrists and do a bunch of straight arm planks with shoulder blade protraction. Hold straight arm strength plank for 10 long breaths, or till you get tired. All those things will help your hop be lighter and filled with ease! Good luck! 
Emily S
2 people like this.
This gave me so much life! More please!
Lydia Zamorano
Emily S Best news! Thank you! Have you practiced my new flow yet Emily? It's called Flowing Into Calm. I hope you like that one too! Keep me posted. Warmth and smiles, Lydia 
Sandra S
Thanks for this! Truly enjoyed this flow, keen to practice my back bending more with these movements.
Lydia Zamorano
Sandra S You are so welcome Sandra! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I'm so happy you enjoyed this flow. Warmth, Lydia 
Erika H
Fantastic! I love all of the rippling and gliding and watery-ness of this practice! Thank you so much.
Lydia Zamorano
Erika H you are so welcome Erika. I'm so happy to be practicing with you. 
Kate M
I had a really unique experience of this lovely practice, Lydia Zamorano ! I ended up inserting little segments of it into a larger practice of my own over at least 4 sessions! Something that a platform like this allows : ) Just finished up today. Thank you for this playful and challenging sequencing : ) Love from Ottawa to the mountains!
Lydia Zamorano
Kate M I love how you are breaking these practices up into little bite size pieces! I like to call them practice snacks or snippet. :) Lots of love back! 
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