Love Fest Flow

(waves) Welcome everyone to your practice. So this is gonna be a total love fest. It's the kind of practice that I do when I want to feel, you know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and you're a little bit like, bleh, I don't quite feel right waking up on the wrong side of the bed. This is heading towards one of the most beautiful poses known to yoga called kapinjalasana, and the translation, I don't know it that's actually the translation but the meaning of it, is a partridge who feeds on dew drops from heaven. And you feel really beautiful in both the full variation and in the variations that we'll practice here today.

So let's get ready. Come to child's pose please. Shift to the back of your mat. Big toes together. Knees apart.

Walk your hands forward, lift your chin. Take your sitting bone back to your heels. And then keep your arm bones lifted here. As you start to drop your head down towards the floor. Snuggling in.

Nice and sweet. Right when we feel kind of crappy, and even if our outer, even if our inner form is still kind of like not coming along but we use our outer form to make a beautiful shape with our bodies just lifting our arms in the air and exposing our armpits. I know that sounds funny but it totally works. And even smiling that outer alignment can start to change our inner alignments. Right.

So shift things just enough so that there might be a little bit of a reset button effect happening. Hmm. So give a nice push down and forward into your hands. And curl your sitting bones back to your heels. So that you start to feel a stretch come to your outer shoulders.

Big long child's pose here. Good. Use an inhale roll it on up. Separate your feet back behind you. So come to a neutral spine here on your hands and knees.

And then go ahead and find your belly and let your right arm shift up and open. Let the left hip dip in big beautiful breath. Left shoulder rolls back. And then exhale, slip your right arm underneath your left arm and walk your left fingerprints up above your head but keep that bent elbow effect happening. And suck your armpit back here.

Okay so this is one of my favorite things to do and you're welcome to come with me or go ahead and let this one go. You can also take your left leg out to the side, and really roll onto the back of that right shoulder blade. And then send the breath air. One of my students named this baby elephant pose. Because of the little trunk which I really love invoking that image of the elephant.

One more big breath here. Long in the belly. Good. And then you'll start to walk back in, bring your left hand right by your face. Come back and then go ahead and take the left hand a little bit beyond your left shoulder reach the right leg long and come to this beautiful side plank variation.

Snuggle the shoulders onto your back. Sitting bones to the heels. Nice long belly and then reach the hand up and over your ear. Anchor through that bottom foot. Let an exhale come.

Then bring that right hand back down. Two hands, two knees and we'll take the other side. So inhale that left arm up and wide. Let the right hip dip in it's totally fine. No one's having tea on your back.

And then left hand comes around and you got kinda snuggled in on that left shoulder blade as the right hand comes up and over your head suck your arm pit back and then take your right leg out to the side and turn. Mmm hmm. And you get this big stretch on the back of your left shoulder blade. If you send the breath there. Big full inhales and exhales.

Baby elephant pose. Good. Start to walk your right hand back in. Come on up. Take the right hand a little bit beyond your right shoulder tuck the right toes back behind you, extend the left leg, left hand comes up, and then take the left hand up and over as you reach long through the sitting bones.

You can look up if that feels okay. Just getting length here. Inhaling. And then exhaling coming on down to hands and knees. And tuck your toes.

Lift your knees. And then stretch yourself straight back to downward facing dog. From this place, you're gonna start to find a little bit of length after that twisting in the side opening. Mmm hmm. And one thing that I like to do in downward facing dog once you get nice and settled, find your belly.

With an inhale lift your arm bones up towards the sky. Keep that broadness in your upper back by rotating your triceps back and with an exhale let your heart move towards the floor. Head moves towards the floor. One more time, inhale arm bones up. Exhale head and heart through.

Good. Inhale roll on out to plank pose. Get settled in. Little bit of shifting. Pull up the waistband of your pants.

Little bend in the elbows. Turn the eye of your elbow forward. Look forward with your eyeballs. And just stay for a moment. Longer than you want to to start to build some heat.

Strong legs, backs of the knees shining up. Naval back, inhale. Exhale all the way to the belly. Good. So walk your hands back by your ribs here.

And let your forehead come to the floor. Draw your shoulders towards one another. Root through the feet. And then inhale rise up cobra pose, just a baby one. Exhale flow it down.

Inhale rise it up. Exhale flow it down. Inhale one more rise up. Exhale flow down. Walk your hands forward just a little bit.

Tuck your toes, walk your feet in, lift your thighs. Lift your pelvis, push up plank, rah. Downward facing dog. Good. Couple breaths here.

Maybe coming back to that inhale lift your armpits. Lift your arm bones up to the sky and then exhale let the head come down to the floor. Inhale lift high into your toes. Bend the knees look forward. Hop jump however you want to get to the top of your mat.

Extend your spine long. Exhale fold in. Separate your feet a little bit. And then like, shake it out. Get the bones of your fingers moving.

Let the hips go side to side. Get your head moving. Sometimes we hold so much tension. If you need your tension it will be there for you later but you don't need it right now. You can let it go.

Good. And then luxury roll it all the way up big full inhale. And exhale hands to heart center. Heel toe your feet together. Breathe it in.

Exhale fold it right down through center. Inhale maybe still a little bend to the knees. Exhale travel back chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog. Pausing for a moment.

Push straight down into your hands. Press into your toes, lift your belly and then pull the hands apart. And then back towards your toes. Let your heart move through, look up. Exhale down dog.

One more big breath here. Finding the length in the spine, push down and forward. Inhale lift your heels. Bend your knees, look forward, feet together front of the mat. Breathe it in.

Exhale fold. Inhale rise all the way back up. Exhale fold it right back in. Inhale ardha uttanasana extend. Exhale travel back chaturanga.

Shift it forward upward facing dog, inhale. Exhale down dog. Inhale that right leg high. Bend the knee in towards the chest. Set the right foot right between your hands.

And rise up for your high lunge shape. Breathe it in here. Exhale start to turn open towards the right. Right arm back, left arm forward. And then lower slow slow slow the left hand down, right arm comes up and start to set up for a side plank transition.

So it can simply be the right foot in front. Or sliding it all the way back to side plank. Push down and forward into that left hand. Sitting bones to your heels. Then a little dip of the hips.

Lift up. Little dip. Lift up. Lift your right leg up. Bend the knee in towards your chest.

And step back forward. Find your lunge, breathe it in. Exhale step back down dog. Inhale your left leg straight back up and behind. Bend the knee, draw it in, step it right between your hands.

And rise up for your high lunge shape. Inhale here. Exhale open it up. Left hand back, right hand forward. Hug every, thing in and up.

Breathe it in and slowly, right hand down a little bit beyond the shoulder. Left hand up. And then step it back for your side plank. Push down and forward. Find your center.

Sitting bones to your heels. Good. And then a little dip up. And down. With the hips.

Hello obliques, how are you today? Good. And then lift that leg draw the knee in towards your chest and step it back forward, find your low lunge. Breathe in. And exhale step back downward facing dog.

Good. Just settle for a moment here. Mmm hmm. And then inhale to lift your heels. Bend the knees, look forward, exhale.

Leap right between your hands, inhale. Exhale fold it in. Inhale rise all the way back up. Exhale hands to heart center. Let's inhale, lift your chest right up into your thumbs.

Exhale let hands fall down. Inhale circle them up and wide. Exhale flow it down. Inhale ardha uttanasana. Exhale chaturanga once more.

Inhale find your upward facing dog nice and beautiful. Exhale press it back downward facing dog. Inhale that right heel straight back up and behind. Draw the knee in towards the chest, step between your hands, drop your back knee. Good.

Offer the palms forward for this one. Hug the legs together and suck your armpits back like we did in baby elephant pose when you had that arm up over head. And just a gentle gaze up to the sky. Lift the belly, let the heart peel back. Good.

Inhale arms up by your ears for a moment. Maybe palms neat. And then exhale bring hand down. Your left hand is gonna come a little bit over to the side of your mat and you're gonna reach your right hand back, snuggle your shoulder blades onto your back and kick up your back foot. From here pull your legs towards one another and pull your heel in towards your hip.

Move you shoulders onto your back and look up and turn. Good. Beautiful. That's it. Release.

Awesome quad stretch. We call that the all in one. Because you get all your yoga done in one pose. Back bend, twist step back to plank. Shift forward, lower all the way down to your belly.

Okay. Turn your legs and inner thighs to the sky. And reach your hands by your sides with palms facing up, so down by your hips. And then make little T-Rex claws with your hands. They call this T-Rex Chalabasa.

And broaden your shoulders, lift your shoulders up away from the floor. Breathe it in. Exhale breath it out. And then with an inhale rise up. Press your pubic bone down, lift your legs, lift your T-Rex claws to the sky.

And then use those T-Rex claws to activate your upper back, spread your toes, push down go up. Beautiful. Lower down. Bring hands by your chest. Tuck the toes, walk it in, push up plank.

And stretch back down dog. Good work. I love that one. Just that little attention with the hands is so helpful in getting a little more activation to the upper back. Inhale that left heel straight back up and behind.

Exhale step between your hands. Drop your back knee. Let the hips glide forward. Back toe can be tucked or untucked, your choice. And then palms to the sky.

Here I am. Where's my dew drops from heaven, I'm ready. Hug the legs towards one another. Suck the armpits back. Then start to offer your chest to the sky.

A little lift of the chin. A drawing in. And then little more back bend. Circle your arms up and back. Maybe touch palms.

Stretch for a moment. Offer it up. And then release hands down to the floor. Right hand moves a little bit out to the edge of the mat. Fingers point out.

Left toes can even turn out a little bit. And then reach your hand back look at your back foot. and see about getting the pinky toe edge of the foot. Hug the legs together and then pull the heel towards your seat as you turn to the sky. The all in one.

Mmm hmm. Look up. Back bend. Stretch your quad, twist. And then release.

Good. Plant the hands, step it back plank pose. Breathe it in here. And exhale lower all the way down. So my goal for 2015 has been to make bow pose on our bellies popular because most people kinda want to go to the bathroom when bow pose is coming up so we're gonna try an make it as palatable as possible.

So just imagine that you wanna eat a big huge piece of chocolate cake really slowly. And that's what you're doing here. So forehead down. Hands will reach back. You're gonna grab the pinky toe sides of your feet or your ankles, wherever you can reach.

And then snuggle your inner thighs together. Let your chest broaden, remember this practice is to feel good and beautiful so you do what you can do. And then push your pelvis down into the floor. Start to kick your feet into your hands. And just rise up like a tiny little bite.

Just not anything too big. You don't wanna get a belly ache and eat it all at once. And then from here broaden your chest a little bit. Hug the inner thighs together. Look up.

Go up a little bit more. Beautiful. And then come down. And rest. Let your toes turn in.

Let your head rest on your hands. Shimmy your hips side to side. Breathe it in. Breathe it out. Noticing the effects of the back bend.

Good. Bring your hands by your chest. Tuck the toes. Walk it in. Shift up plank.

And stretch back downward facing dog. Okay. Inhale that right heel straight back up and behind. Exhale step between your hands. Drop the back knee.

And then you're gonna bring your hands up toward your front thigh this time. And reach your right hand back to your inner left thigh. And then get length through that left hand. Inhale stretch it up. And then exhale bring your elbow to the outside of that leg.

You can push down and forward with your right hand. To get a little bit more of yourself through, let palms meet, tuck your back toes, lift your back thigh. Strong back leg letting it anchor you. Gorgeous. If you need to keep the back knee down that's totally fine.

Mmm hmm. And then the transition, you're gonna inhale rise it back up. Exhale touch fingertips down, lift your back leg, and rise up to a nice warrior three. Pull your chest forward, inner thighs working, back legs lifted. Good.

Step back low lunge. And step back to downward facing dog. Beautiful. Inhale that left heel straight back up and behind. Exhale step between your hands.

Drop the back knee. Let the hips glide forward. Hands come up. Bring your what hand is that, left hand back to your inner right thigh. Reach your right arm up.

Inhale get length. And then exhale, find the twist. You can use your left hand to push yourself down and through. Let palms meet. Tuck the back toes.

And then stretch up strong back leg. And turn. Look up over that shoulder. Long belly, strong thigh. Inhale rise up.

High lunge shape. Exhale touch it down warrior three. Lift that back leg. Finding a little balance. Always on our balances.

It's a wonderful way to recenter even though we're standing on one leg. Its not like you can be thinking about your terrible roommate or whatever it is that's going on with you when you're on one leg, you have to really think about your body and your breath. Good. Step it back, low lunge, step back. Downward facing dog.

Nice. Come down to hands and knees. Okay. So here we are. We're gonna practice towards the kapinjalasana.

The partridge eating dew drops from heaven pose all together. So a couple of choices here. You're gonna bring your right hand forward. Just like we did in the beginning of practice. And your right leg back and extend your left leg.

And you can be like this is awesome, I know this one. Or you might turn your palm open. Towards the sky, kick up your back foot kind of like the all in one. Take the arch of your foot let the pelvis come forward and then open your heart up. And then you're like yum yum yum yum.

It's delicious. Second option is to come back, you'll come from your downward facing dog. You'll come forward, right hand forward a little bit. And then it's the same action that we did in another practice of really getting very curvy and bendy and then you lift your top leg and you reach back for your arch. And then when you've got it, pelvis forward, leg back, heart open, yum yum yum yum yum try not to flip your dog.

Good. Downward facing dog. Beautiful. Okay. Second side, all together we'll do both variations.

So you can stick with the first variation or do the second variation and then you'll see the back side of it for the hand placement. Come down to your knees. Left hand comes forward. Back leg tucks back. Right leg sticks back behind you.

You can stay here in all of your beautiful human glory. Or kick up your back foot. Take the arch of your foot. And then it's pelvis forward. Stretch your shoulder.

Look back. Feels awesome. Eat your dew drops. Release. Come back.

If you're moving forward you find your down dog. You move your left hand a little bit forward. You find your side plank. Right arm comes up. And then bend into the bottom leg.

Sometimes I have to shift it in a little bit to feel comfy and then you reach back. Find the arch of your foot. And then bend. It's a little bit wobbly for you, it is for me too. Good.

Down dog. That's as good as it's gonna get right now. Which is pretty awesome. Shift it forward when you're ready. Lie down on the floor.

And if you have a block or even like a big book or a blanket or something like this. Go ahead and grab it. We're gonna get a little bit of relief to the shoulders. So you're gonna put the block right on your forehead and then you're gonna cross your right arm in front of your left arm. Palms up to the sky.

And rest. So you have your third eye on the block here. Palms up. Much like we did in the baby elephant pose right in the beginning of class. You're gonna send the breath right back between your shoulder blades.

See if you can really let your head be heavy into the block. Maybe walk the hands a little bit further apart if you found some new space there. If you haven't taken a complete exhale in a while really do make an effort to let everything come out. And then we'll switch sides so starting to walk it back in. You have to lift up off of the block.

And then take your left arm in front of your right arm. Let your head come back on the block. Stretch the arms apart. Breathe between your shoulder blades. It should feel kind of luscious.

Again complete exhales. Walking the hands apart. If there's a little more space to be found. Good. And then walk it back in.

And you're simply gonna take the black and flip it over onto it's next highest setting. And then you're gonna roll over onto your back. And you're going to place your occiput, the place where you're spine goes right up into your skull. You can feel it there with your fingers. It's a little hole.

Right on the edge of the block. Let your chin tuck in. And feet can be any way you want them. Maybe a supta baddha konasana might feel nice after all that forward facing hip work. Wipe the sweat from your brow.

Snuggle your shoulders underneath you. And then my favorite thing to do here is a little shift side to side of the head. And there's these bones right behind your ears. And sometimes there's a pressure point there that feels like you're moving into the feeling into a little bit of friction. But it's good.

So you just weight your head, heavy head into it. See if anything changes. Just exploring. Seeing what's going on. Good and then shift to the other side.

See if you can find that same point in that bone right behind your ear. Right on the edge of the block. And keep moving into the feeling. Yoga is not the process of moving away from feeling. No one went to yoga and was like I'm here because I don't want to feel anything.

We come for different reasons. Good. Come back up to center. Before you come back up to sit, do take a moment and shift the block from this height. And just let the back of your skull sit down on the lowest setting so it's the very lowest setting that we started with when you were on your belly.

And pause there for a moment. Good. Remove the block completely. Roll on over to your right side. Take a breath.

And then gently push yourself up toward seated. Find a comfortable seat. Whatever that looks like for you is absolutely perfect. Then bring your hands to heart center. Good.

Lift your chest right up into your thumbs. Feel that expansion. From the movement, from the heart opening. Thank you so much for sharing practice with me today. I hope that you got your dew drops from heaven.

Lets take a big bow down to that bright light that resides within each of your hearts. Namaste.