Enliven Your Heart

(waves crashing) Hi, welcome to your practice. This is awakening your heart. So we're gonna move a little bit to warm up our body, to warm up the spine, to aliven the heart, and find freedom there. So we're gonna start in child's pose. Bring the hands forward here, release the head.

And from here, we'll pull on up to cat-cow, all fours. Hands underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips. And we'll start straight up and down, so dropping the belly, letting the head lift, finding inhale there. And then exhale, rounding through the spine. Inhale, belly drops, gaze goes up.

Exhale, rounding, lowering the head. A few more times like that, back and forth, and straight down through the center. Inhale and then exhale, rounding. Last time. Belly drops, gaze lifts on an inhale, and the exhale you round.

We'll come neutral spine, take the feet, or take the knees a little bit wider, and the feet together, and then start to walk the hands forward for puppy pose. So the seat stays lifted, and the forehead or third eye can come down to ground. Soften the heart down here. Few breaths. So you can stay just like this, okay.

Or if you'd like to lift the head up slightly, you can take the gaze forward and drop the chin to the floor, and stay just like this. Either way with the head, the chin on the floor or the forehead, you might take a hold of the mat. Again, it's pull forward and apart. Opening out through the chest. When we release, bringing the forehead to the ground, release the hands, and start to walk the hands back underneath the shoulders.

Release out through a rounded cat-cow. Inhale, arching, exhale, rounding. Neutral spine. Come into monkey pose. So tucking the toes like downward-facing dog, hands might go a little bit wider here.

You bend the knees a lot, the seat stays lifted, belly towards thighs, and the head starts to shift through and down. Same idea, you might grab a hold of the edges of the mat, and pull forward and apart. Releasing. Let that go, shift all the way forward, plank pose, and then lower all the way down towards the ground. Take the elbows underneath you, hands are forward, pelvis settled, feet a little bit wide.

Press down through the forearms here, pull with the fingertips, start to take the gaze forward. Engage through the leg line, press the pelvis in towards the ground, and here you might stay, or if it's useful, you might lift the elbows up a little bit, or all the way, and if shoulders go up towards the ears, moving down and back. Again, feet, pelvis engaged. Exhale soften. Draw the hands back towards the shoulders.

Lift yourself up all fours, and then tuck the toes, downward-facing dog. And step your left foot in, just slightly towards the center, then lift the right leg up. See if you can ground down through that left leg, bend into the knee the right leg. Breathe here, opening out through the hip. And then switch it out.

Right leg moves a little bit towards center, left leg lifts, again you can bend into the knee here. Lower the foot on down, and start to make your way towards the front of your space. Slow little steps until you land in your (foreign language). Feet can be wide, knees can be bent, neck releases. Shake it out yes and no.

Find some inhales and exhales. Opposite elbows can always feel nice. From here, you're gonna slowly round roll it all the way on up. Take your time, the head's the last thing that comes up. Then the arms reach overhead with the inhale, and exhale we bring the hands to the heart.

So, we'll take the feet a little bit closer together. We want them to be nice and grounded, and underneath the hips. Here you can even allow the knees to bend a little bit. And then we'll take the arms overhead, and we've been joking in the studio, like what we want to name this pose because it's like not anything that's gonna be that anybody wants to take a picture of right? But it's really useful because we start to like bend the elbows, we get our arms around our shoulders, and we bend the knees, we have power in the legs, and then you press down to take it back.

Then using the belly, fold all the way down. Inhale, there's extension to the spine, exhale hands ground, so here you can travel back plank pose, or you can jump back bending the elbows Caturaá¹?ga . Upward- facing dog, or cobra if you're moving to the belly. And downward-facing dog. And breathe here, take a few moments.

In inhale, take your right leg nice and high, step through VÄ«rabhadrÄ쳌sana I and a Warrior I. Arms come on up. You can interlace the finger. Fingers fang (foreign language). Nice strong bend into that front knee.

Lift the gaze, that same idea of sort of starting to draw the hands back. We'll bring the hands to the heart. Inhale, reach both up, nice and wide. Extend through the fingertips. Exhale, draw the elbows out to the sides and together.

Inhale to reach up. Exhale, drawing nice and wide. Inhale to reach up. Exhale nice and wide. Inhale both arms come up.

Exhale, hands come down towards the ground, step back, plank Caturaá¹?ga. Upward-facing dog. And downward-facing dog. Left leg lifts, step through VÄ«rabhadrÄ쳌sana I and a Warrior I left side. Arms come on up.

(foreign language) Strong bend into that front knee, reach back. Take the hands to the heart. Find the inhale to reach back up wide. Exhale, elbows draw together, opening through the heart. Inhale to reach up.

Exhale, opening. Inhale to reach up. Exhale, opening. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, hands down, step back plank pose, Caturaá¹?ga.

Upward-facing dog, and then shifting the hips back, downward-facing dog. Right leg comes high again, stepping through. VÄ«rabhadrÄ쳌sana I, Warrior I, arms come on up. So from here, take the right arm, bend into the elbow. Take your left hand, grab ahold of the elbow, and just give us a little bit of encouragement back through center line.

And stay just like this. We take a modification of GomukhÄ쳌sana arms. The left hand drops over, we draw it through center, and then you find your head and kind of press into the back of the arm. Nice, strong bend into the knee. As we release interlace both hands behind you at the sacrum.

Draw them down, open through your chest, turn yourself slightly to the left, and then fold over devotion warrior. Release the head. Hands come on down, those front toes start to turn out slightly, walk the fingertips forward, into the diagonal, shift the hips back, surrender warrior. We release into PrasÄ쳌rita, fingertips walk towards the left. Parallel the toes, inhale, extend through the spine.

Exhale, fold and soften. Breathe here, shake the head, no and then yes. Move the hands to the tops of the feet, fold on in. We'll reach fingertips out underneath us. Left below the nose, so instead of taking it in, move it slightly forward here, and then press down to lift up, coming to a twist.

Gonna allow the pelvis to move with the twist, no need to balance any glasses today. Switch it out other side, so right hand comes down left, and lifts up. Again you can allow the pelvis to move. Release it down, walk around towards the front, low lunge here, and then what you're gonna do is start to frame the front foot, drop the back heel, sort of like warrior I, but you're lined up, all on the same side of the street. So the back hip's allowed to turn in, in this nice, wide stance.

And then you'll start to straighten that front leg. Right hand stays behind, it might creep right along the calf line. Push down, open up this wide Trikoá¹?Ä쳌sana. The back hip turned in, it's a little different variation. Release the hands to back down, framing that front foot, up re-frame that front foot, lift up through the back heel.

Lower your back knee down, release that back toe, and then inhale, both arms come on up. (foreign language) Interlace the fingers behind you at your sacrum. So this first time through, go down the tailbone. And then soften the elbows, and then here, move the class towards the back heel, so at the diagonal. Gaze can start to lift.

Release on out, hands come down, tuck the back toe, lift the back knee, left hand's down, right arm comes on up, nice open twist. Hands release to the ground. Three-legged dog. Lifting that right hand, taking it on over. Your left leg goes straight, and your right knee will be bent, lift the whole thing.

And then back around, three-legged (foreign language) if you'd like to. Downward-facing dog. Shift forward, lower the knees, shift back, child's pose. Find a few breaths. And walking the hands back towards your knees.

Take the hands behind you, draw your elbows together, press and open through the chest, let the head drip back. Release again, child's pose. And breathing here. Okay, from here, shifting forward, downward-facing dog. We'll do the whole thing on the left side.

And taking that left leg nice and high, step through VÄ«rabhadrÄ쳌sana I. Inhale, both arms come on up. So left hand stays high, bending into the elbow. Take ahold of it with the right, and just give that gentle encouragement. You can stay just like this with a modified GomukhÄ쳌sana arm, so your left hand just gives this little bit of encouragement from the right, and then maybe you nuzzle the head back in.

When we release this, devotional warrior, so interlace fingers behind you, draw them down nice and strong, turn yourself slightly to the right, and then fold inside the thigh devotional warrior, releasing the head. Hands come down, turn your front toes out slightly, walk the hands to the corner, lean back, drawing your left hip back and down. And then PrasÄ쳌rita, walking fingertips towards the right, parallel the toes, extend through the spine here. Exhale, fold. Again, shaking the head out, yes, no, maybe walking the hands through.

Our hands come back underneath the shoulders, again nice twist here, left hand down below the nose, right hand rises on up. Release and switch. And then we'll walk towards the left, framing that front foot, turn the back toes in, line it up so it's nice and wide, and then start to straighten into the leg, this wide Trikoá¹?Ä쳌sana, right arm comes on up. Gaze comes down, hands come down, back into your low lunge. Lowering the back knee down, releasing the back toe.

Inhale, both arms come on up. Interlace the fingers behind you. First time through, draw down through the tailbone. And soften the elbows, and then draw back through the heels, to the heel, gaze lifts. Release both hands down, nice open twist.

Right hand's down, left arm's high. Breath here. And then both hands are down for your three-legged dog. And start to lift here, through the left side. Slow, slow slow, take it on over.

Again, hips can drop, your left knee's bent, your right leg's straight, hips lift, reach back. Back around to your three-legged dog. To a three-legged (foreign language) bending into the elbows. Both feet are down for your back bend, and then you can shift back child's pose. A breath here.

And start to walk the hands towards the knees, take them behind you, draw elbows together, open through the chest, gaze can come up. You can stay just like this, and press and lift the hips. And we bring hands forward, downward-facing dog. Lifting the hips. From here, come back into your child's.

The hands come down along the sides, and breathe here. Okay, so from here, we'll make our way onto our backs. You can slowly start to lift yourself on up, take a second so you don't get dizzy, and then come on down onto your back whenever you're ready. We'll bend into the knees here, plant the feet on the ground, and then you'll draw the knees in towards the chest. Take them about 90 degrees away, the hips then 90 degrees with the knee joint, and arms can come out to the side here.

You'll let the knees come on over towards the right. And then your right hand can give some encouragement. And a few breaths here. Release the leg, come on up through center. And again, 90, 90 at hips and knees, and then on over towards the left, and then the left hand can give a little bit of encouragement.

Release through center, the feet back down onto the ground, and then the knees go wide, coming into Suptabaddha-koá¹?Ä쳌sana, and you might let one hand rest on the belly, one hand on the heart. We'll take a few rounds of breath here, always stay as long as you'd like. And feel your belly rise and press into your hands, chest rise. And with the exhale, it falls away. Again, you can stay as long as you'd like.

Always when you're ready, you'll start to let yourself come on over to your right side. The head rests on that right arm, a few moments here. And pressing yourself back, on up to a seat. Any comfortable seat is fine. And bringing the hands to the heart.

Letting the head bow on in, taking a moment. May you be open and receptive. Namaste.