Compassionate Flow

(surf gently surging) Welcome back, welcome to your mat. This practice is going to be one that is about compassion. And I feel strongly that it's a compassionate action to come to your mat, to be available to this practice, that every time we arrive here, we give ourselves the opportunity to find grace. For ourselves in this practice through the sensations that come up for us. And just through being able to be present with ourselves.

It's truly a gift to be inside of this practice. So I wanna encourage you throughout this flow to be kind in the words that you use to speak to yourself. To be gracious. And what your body is able to allow for you today, it probably, definitely going to be different than maybe what was available to you yesterday or could be available to you later. And so, to the extent to which you can be right where you are in each moment, in the breath of this flow, and be compassionate in your approach to your own body, to its abilities, to its lack of abilities, and to what comes up for you in your mind and in your heart while you practice, you'll be in the grace.

You'll be in the grace. Which really is a commitment to letting go of everything that's ever gone on in the past with every exhale, and to entering into a new moment every time you deeply inhale. So welcome to this practice. So, stepping with me to the top of the mat, we'll begin here and Tadasana. Your big toes are together, and the outsides of your feet are in alignment with the outside edges of the mat.

From here you gonna take a very deep inhale. Exhale it out. And then bring your hands to heart center. As we invoke together. Dear spirit, be with us throughout this practice.

Allowing us with grace to move with our breath. We are thankful for the opportunity to do so. May we recognize the privilege of having the ability to move our bodies, to use our breath, to allow for sensation, to make room for transformation and for growth. And through this practice may we find healing. May we find connection.

May we continue to be in the service of compassion and of love, for ourselves, for each other, and for the well-being of all. And so it is. Release your hands and as you inhale reach your hands up above your head and you may look up as you touch your palms at the top. As you exhale lower your left hand down, reach your right arm up and over your ear. Planting your feet down firmly, allow your hip to go to the right as your right thumb comes up and pinkie finger goes down.

Inhale back up to center look up. As you exhale allow your right hand down. Reach your left arm up and over. Extending through your side body here. Allowing your hips to fall to the left as your arm reaches to the right.

Inhale back up to center. As you exhale, bend your elbows out to your kidneys lift your heart. Inhale back to center. As you exhale, come through prayer you're gonna fold all the way down to the floor. As you do so, put a slight bend in your knees.

Your head is the last thing to drop. As you inhale, come on to your fingertips expand their spine long. Crown of head forward. As you exhale, fold back all the way down to the floor. From here bend your knees a little bit.

You're gonna inhale rise all the way back up to the top. As you exhale, hands come to your heart. Inhale reach up. Exhale fold all the way back down. Inhale halfway lift and lengthen.

And then on your exhale you're gonna step your left foot to the back of the mat, bending through the front of your right knee. As you inhale here, extend your heart forward, press your left heel back, take your right hip back. And as you exhale, slowly straighten through your right leg. Let your head fall down. Inhale bend right knee, let your heart come from forward.

As you exhale, fold right leg straightens, you can even take your fingertips back. One more time, inhale bend through your right knee. Heart comes forward. And as you exhale, lower your left knee down. Take your left palm inside your right foot, and then inhale find a twist, expand.

Taking your right hip back here, let the crown of your head come forward. And one more inhale. Reach up, heart to sky. And as you exhale, take your right hand down. Tuck your left toes under, and then as you exhale, step forward to the top of your mat.

Inhale halfway lift and lengthen. As you exhale, you're just gonna switch sides. This time take your right foot back, right heel back. Bend through your left knee. Inhale, your heart comes forward.

And then as you exhale, straighten through your left leg this time. Left tip comes back. Release the tension from your neck. Inhale coming forward, heart expands. Exhale.

Lean in. Inhale bend knee, heart comes forward. And then as you exhale, lower this time your right knee down, top of right foot. Leaving your right hand down inside your knee, inhale and find a twist. From here you're pulling your left hip back, so you're creating more length in your spine.

On your inhale you can look up at your thumb if your neck allows. And then as you exhale, replace your palm. And step your right foot forward to meet your left. Inhale halfway lift and lengthen. And exhale fold all the way down.

From here bend your knees, lift your arms, find chair pose. And then exhale, come through center all the way back down. Inhale lengthen halfway, bend your knees. And as you exhale, plant your palms. And step back right, then left foot, finding high plank.

In high plank, take your heels back, feel for rotating your thighs in toward one another. Take your tailbone in. Think about taking your forearms forward while your triceps come back. Your crown of your head lengthens forward on an inhale. And as you exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin.

And on inhale you're gonna slide through to low cobra. So the tops of your feet press into the mat. Exhale. Let it go. Press yourself back to child's pose.

Take an inhale breath in child's. And then as you exhale tuck your toes underneath you and press it back, finding downward-facing dog. Take an inhale in your down dog. Exhale it out. In down dog, feel for letting your feet be hips-width distance.

Sometimes it's a good body dysmorphia check, to make sure that your feet are actually your hips-width distance. Take your heels as much as you can toward the mat, while lifting your hips high. And then spread through your shoulder blades. Good, take one more inhale here. As you exhale, press back.

Inhale forward to high plank. This time as you exhale, you're gonna take your knees to the ground, tops of feet to the ground. Inhale. Make sure your shoulders are over your wrist, and then as you exhale, bend your elbows 90 degrees. Inhale, you can either go back to cobra or this time come up to upward dog.

If you're in up dog, the tops of your feet are pressing into the mat. And your hands are pressing down to lift your heart up. Your shoulder blades are coming together and kissing in the back. Take a deep breath in. As you exhale, roll over your toes and find downward-facing dog.

Take a deep breath in down dog. Exhale it all the way out. Deep breath in. Exhale it out. One more breath in.

As you exhale, you're gonna step your right foot through between your hands. Ground through your back foot. From here, inhale. You're gonna find warrior one. I want you to consider taking your hands and your arms by your biceps before you rise up on an inhale breath.

So you're grounding down through your back leg. The outside edge of your back foot is rooted. And you're lifting through the inner arch. The top of your left thigh is spiraling down. And your feeling for evenness in your hips.

That's a direction it's probably not an actualization. I know it's not for me. Inhale, lift your arms high if they're not already there. Warrior one. As you exhale, you're gonna bring your hands out and down, framing your front foot.

That same exhale, you're gonna take your left heel back, and then if it's possible for you, step your right foot back to meet your left in high plank. Inhale in high plank. You can lower your knees with me or keep them lifted, as you exhale finding Chaturanga. Inhale, up dog or low cobra. As you exhale, find downward-facing dog, rolling over your toes.

Three breaths here. If it would feel good to you, you could pedal your dog, walking it out. I sometimes like to roll onto the edges of my feet, creating some length in the side body. Feel for taking the arch out of your lower spine here by bringing your hip points forward. Take one more inhale breath.

And as you exhale, step your left foot forward between your hands. Ground through the back edge of your right foot. And here you're gonna rise up with your biceps by your ears. Inhaling warrior one, left side. So again here, you're grounding through the edge of that back foot, lifting through your inner arch, pulling your left hip back, taking your ribs off your pelvis.

Virabhadrasana one. It takes courage to be compassionate. Take a deep inhale in your warrior one. As you exhale, you're gonna place your hands on the outside of your foot. And this time step your left foot back, finding high plank.

Inhale in your high plank. As you exhale, bend your elbows 90 degrees into your ribs. Inhale roll over your toes. Find your upward-facing dog. As you exhale, downward-facing dog Adho Mukha.

Take a deep breath in here. Exhale it out. Breathing in. Exhale it out. One more inhale, press it back.

And then as you exhale step your right foot through your hands. Lower your left foot down. And then inhale find warrior two. From warrior two, you're gonna straighten your front leg, and pivot your toes in. So here we are.

Take your hands to your hips. Ground through the edges of your back feet here. And feel for pulling your frontal hip bones in and up. Mh-hmm. Take your ribs away from your pelvis, expanding through your collarbones and take an inhale.

As you exhale, you're slowly gonna fold forward. Pigeon your toes in a little bit and your head, the tension from your neck is the last thing to release. From here, take your hands underneath you, inhale halfway lift. As you exhale, take your left hand down in front of your face, and reach your right arm up. The tendency here, like you can probably see in my body, is for your left hip to drop down.

Feel for evenness in your hips, it's OK if you want to reach back and touch your sacrum, feeling for the evenness there. And then inhaling, maybe looking forward or perhaps up at your thumb on your right hand. You're finding a twist here. You can really use the press down of your left hand to lift up through your heart. Take the weight forward on to your toes.

Inhale. And as you exhale, replace your left hand with your right hand. And this time other side, feeling for squareness in your hips as you inhale and reach your left hand to the high. This time it's your right hip that's gonna have a tendency to drop. Trying to find the evenness.

As you inhale, take the crown of your head forward. As you exhale, deep twist through your thoracic. Inhale, look up. As you exhale, fold all the way down. Take your hands to your hips again, with a long spine slowly rise on your inhale breath.

Here we are. We're gonna pivot our toes and find our way back to the top of the mat. From here you're gonna bend your knees and inhale. Lift up for chair pose. As you exhale, fold all the way back down.

Inhale find your halfway lift. As you exhale, plant your hands, you can jump or slowly float back. Finding Chaturanga your way. Inhale, find your variation of up dog. And as you exhale, find your downward-facing dog.

Take a deep breath, resting in down dog. Noticing your thoughts. We talked in the beginning of this class about compassion for your body. What's it like when your sides aren't even. Or when you can't seem to find the extension of the pose that you would like.

Can you be compassionate with where you are in this moment. Take a very deep inhale. As you exhale, step your right foot forward. Lower the outside edge of your left foot. And inhale, warrior one.

This time as you exhale, you're gonna clasp your hands behind your back. I like to take my right thumb outside when I have my right foot forward, so I can always remember to switch sides. Pull your right hip back, inhale. Look up. As you exhale, grounding through your back foot, it's your anchor, you're leaning your chest forward.

If your shoulder comes down past your knee you can release the tension from your neck at that point. Humble warrior. Here you're grounding through the edge of your back foot and pulling your right hip back. Your shoulder blades are kissing. And you might allow for a bend in your elbows.

As you try to lift your hands toward the sky. Take a deep breath in. Exhale it out. Remembering that every exhale is an opportunity to forgive, to let go. One more inhale, bend your knee.

As you exhale, release your hands, and then inhale come back up finding warrior one. Exhale, you're gonna go all the way through your Vinyasa, so hands frame your front foot. Step it back. Lowering your knees or not, find Chaturanga. Inhale to up dog.

And then exhale, roll over your toes, finding downward-facing dog. Hah, how about a little gratitude for yourself? Do you take the time to thank yourself? Just for arriving, just for being here. One more inhale.

As you exhale, this time it's your left foot that's gonna come forward between your hands, grounding through your back foot, warrior one. This time as you exhale, take your left thumb outside of your right. Clasping your hands behind your back. Left hip back, hard up, inhale. As you exhale, slowly fold forward leading with your heart.

If your shoulder comes past your knee, take the tension out of your neck. Find humble warrior. Our tendency in humble warrior, at least mine, is to sort of jackknife the left hip out. See to what extent you can pull left hip back. Maybe put a little bend in your elbows.

Shoulder blades kissing together. Back leg is anchoring you. Finding humility. One more inhale breath. As you exhale it out release your hands.

And then inhale back up, warrior one. Find your Vinyasa. Exhale down. Inhale to up dog. Exhale, downward-facing dog.

Take a deep breath in. Exhale it all the way out, you can even make a sound. Haaaah, haaaah. Deep breath in. Exhale it out.

This time as you breathe in, press way back. And as you exhale, bend your knees, you could float or step to the top of the mat. Inhale, your spine is long. Exhale, fold lower, hah. Bend your knees, inhale, chair pose.

As you exhale, find prayer at your heart. In chair, sit back onto your heels. Your knees are together, thighs are rotating in, hip points up, heart up. Take an inhale here, and then as you exhale, turn and find the outside of your left arm on your right knee. Here you're pulling back with your left hip.

Extending the crown of your head forward. Take a deep inhale. If it's available to you, you can lower your left hand down and reach your right arm high, finding a deep twist. Pulling back with your left hip. Thinking about opening your heart to the sky.

Inhale here. And as you exhale, slowly lower your right hand down. Begin to straighten your knees out. And walk your feet out, hips-width distance. Grabbing your big toes with your peace fingers, take an inhale, bend your knees up to 90 degrees, extend your spine.

And as you exhale, pull your elbows out. Allow the tension out of your neck. You can keep a bend in your knees. Opening through your sacrum. On your exhale breath, release your toes.

Toe-heel your feet back together. You're gonna bend your knees again, and inhale, Utkatasana chair pose. From here, take your hands to heart center. And this time you're gonna twist to the other side, so this time it's your right arm that goes on the outside of your left thigh. You're pulling your right hip back.

Weight's coming back into your heels. And in this prayer, extending the crown of your head forward. If it's available to you, you can take your right hand down and lift your left arm up. Taking a deep inhale, sitting lower, exhale twisting deeper heart to sky. Inhale.

And exhale, folding all the way back down. Inhale, halfway lift, lengthen your spine. Exhale, plants your hands last time, jump or step to the back of the mat. Inhale. Opening your heart.

And as you exhale, rolling over your toes, finding downward-facing dog. From this down dog, gonna inhale forward to high plank. Again, making sure that your wrists are underneath your shoulders. Heels are back. And then as slowly as you can, bending your elbows, it's OK if your knees are down, that's a great variation.

You're coming all the way down to the mat. Hah. You made it. Yes. From here you're gonna bend your knees.

What may be available to you is to do one side of this posture instead of both at the same time. But if it's available, feel for grabbing ahold of your ankles or the tops of your feet. Let all the breath out. And then as you inhale, you're gonna kick back with your legs, allowing your heart to come forward. The inhale breath's gonna take your thighs to the mat perhaps.

The exhale breath, you may roll forward like that. On your Asana, opening your heart. Opening through your shoulders, finding compassion for whatever your body allows in this moment. And then as you exhale, let everything go. Go ahead and give yourself permission to take one side of your face to the floor.

Feeling your heart beat against the mat. Recognizing your aliveness. And then taking your hands beside you, press it back to child's pose. Wisdom pose, the beginning. We already knew everything we needed when we were born.

Take an inhale here. As you exhale, find a release, find a moment of forgiveness. Let it go. And then pressing your hips onto your heels, slowly walk yourself back up to seated. I'm gonna turn around on my mat.

Find your heels in front of your hips. Take your hands outside of your shins, and arch through your spine, spreading through your collarbones, maybe looking up. And as you exhale you're gonna round through your spine, holding that round, pressing your feet to the ground, you can use your hands if you'd like, roll your spine all the way down to the floor. Ah, you've landed. From here take your left leg, extend it forward, and bring your right knee into your chest.

Give it a squeeze. And then take your right hand out beside you. Your right shoulder's anchored to the mat. While you use your left hand to press your right thigh over into a twist. Here I like to feel for a standing pose.

So flexing your foot, spreading through your toes. Anchoring through your right shoulder, allowing an opening. Take one more inhale. As you exhale, come back to center. Right knee gets exchanged now for left, so this time right foot straightens.

Spread through your right foot, flex it. Give your left knee a squeeze. And then anchor through your left shoulder blade before finding a twist with your right thigh. You can look over your shoulder if it feels OK on your neck. Taking a deep breath here.

Allowing the exhale to create even more room in your spine for this twist. One more inhale. As you exhale, bringing your left knee back into your chest. Followed by your right knee. And then take your own long, beautiful arms, what if you referred to your arms as long and beautiful and strong, and give yourself a squeeze, a hug.

A moment of gratitude, of thanks. Saying out loud to yourself, "I forgive you. You are forgiven. You are forgiven" And with that, allowing yourself now to relax and to be at ease. Finding your Shavasana. I like to press my heels down into the mat and let my pelvis come forward. And I do the same thing with my pelvis and let my shoulders tuck underneath me.

Before finding your relaxation, closing your eyes. Letting absolutely everything go. Recognizing that whatever it is you've been holding on to, whatever resentment, whatever amount of shame you've been carrying, it does not serve you in this moment. It does not serve anyone else. It does serve humanity for you stay locked in and jailed in to that past.

To that action. You are separate from it, you are not that decision, you are not that action. In this moment, you are here. And you can let everything go. And just be, and breathe.

Finding this well-earned spaciousness and grace of the present. And then holding sacred the presence that you've created in your body. Any amount of forgiveness that you've been able to offer yourself. That bringing your body back to this moment. Begin to slowly wiggle your toes.

Maybe touching your thumbs to your fingertips. Rotating your feet on your ankles and maybe your wrists around in circles. Rediscovering yourself inside of your physical form, slowing begin to bring your knees to your chest. Maybe taking your arms out behind your back. And then again, squeezing your knees in.

Your gonna roll over to one side. I like to roll to my right, but whatever feels better to you. Here in this moment, we have a chance of rebirth. Of renewal. Of recognizing that all the moments that came before this one are no longer with us.

And this opportunity that we have now, as we use our top hand to press us back up to a seated position, is one to invite in what we want in the now. To create for ourselves an invitation to be here. Renewed. And forgiven. Forgiveness is not something you have to deserve or earn.

It is your birthright. So with that, thank you for joining me in this practice. Find your hands at your own heart center as we close in prayer together. Dear spirit, we thank you for the opportunity to be on this mat and in this practice, this practice that opens us up to forgiveness. That opens us up to grace, the grace that is already available in each moment for us and with us.

May we each be instruments of that grace. May in this moment we be reminded that we are as free as we allow ourselves to be from every past action. That because of our own fear or delusion, we have done or said, or been things or ways that sometimes can cause us regret or remorse. To the extent that's available now, let us release ourself from those burdens. And be here inside of this moment, anew, liberated, and healed.

And so it is. Slowly opening your eyes. I honor you for being here with me. I honor you for being for yourself. Thank you for joining me in this practice.

Namaste.