Make It Funky Flow

(waves crashing) Welcome back. In this practice, we're gonna make it funky. So we're gonna start in child's pose with tented fingers. You can bring your knees in nice and close for this child's pose. So that you feel the legs in a firm, parallel foundation underneath you.

And then lift the upper arm bones around your ears so there's kind of a spacious feeling through the armpits. And an energetic quality in the arms, in the side body, and through the hands. And you can spread the fingers out, so there's a real noticeable reach from the hips, through the shoulders, to the hands. You can inhale up on to all fours, tuck the toes, make your way into downward facing dog. Try to maintain that special energetic quality through the arms and legs in your downward facing dog.

Then we'll inhale out to plank pose. Draw the navel in, exhale, lower your right elbow down. And then your left elbow down. And inhale your right hand to the mat, and your left hand to the mat. Good morning.

Left elbow down, right elbow down. Inhale left hand to the mat, right hand to the mat. From here, take a big breath in, (inhales), empty all the way down to the mat on your exhale. Point the feet, lift the heart for small cobra, and then bring your forearms underneath you for sphinx pose. So we're sort of playing back and forth through this practice onto our elbows, and our forearms, and back and forth, alternating.

You can interlace the hands here so that elbows are right underneath your shoulders. Tuck the toes, and lift up into a forearm plank. Now stretch back through the heels, move your sitting bones down the backs of the legs, and then try to stretch your heart forward at the same time. So it's a pretty powerful forearm plank. Now you're gonna turn both feet to the right side of the mat, so your right foot is in front of your left foot.

Bring the heart forward, lengthen your tail, feel the inner and the outer leg lines wake up, and breathe. If you're stable, you might even stack the right foot on top of the left. So there's a noticeable twist in the body, but you're going for length. Now tuck the toes underneath you, and shift your feet to the other side. So both feet turn to the left, move the heart forward, keep reaching through the forearms, then maybe stack the left foot on top of the right, so part of your body is in side plank.

The other part of your body is in forearm plank. It's a nice little hybrid. Stretch it longer. Now tuck your toes underneath you, pass through center, happily lower onto your bellies (exhales). You can come into a small cobra, inhale, lift your chest.

Press back to child's pose. And go for that stretch from the hips to the armpits to the wrists. Inhale your way up to all fours. Stretch your right leg behind you, and your left arm in front of you, and then see if you can find a nice continuous line from the left hand to the right foot. So there's almost a bit of a back-bend happening here as you bring your spine into extension.

Then you can tent the left fingers out in front of you, so the left hand is at the top of the mat. And then lower your left elbow down so it lines up with the right hand. Inhale the right leg a little higher. On your exhale you're gonna bring the right knee to the upper right arm, so it comes around the side, right up to the shoulder if you can make it. Inhale the right leg back up behind you.

Exhale the right knee to your upper right arm. One more time. Inhale right leg up. Exhale knee to the upper right arm. Feel the navel lift in and up.

Now the right leg stretches behind you, you can lift the left arm too. You can place the left hand down, draw the right knee forward, and step your right foot to the top of the mat. Climb your hands to the top of the right thigh. And start to breathe through the front of the left thigh. Might even find a diagonal energetic line between the right heel and the left knee.

From here, tuck your left toes underneath you. Breathing in, pick up your left knee. You can help yourself up by using your hands against the front of the right thigh. And then with your next inhalation you can circle the arms up into crescent pose. So you're lengthening the tailbone down, reaching high through the crown of the head.

You can start to lift your gaze, take one more breath in here, and then exhale the hands down, and step back to downward facing dog. Plank pose, breathing in. Exhale to the mat. Inhale to cobra. And exhale back to child's pose for the second side.

Now inhale up to all fours, find a neutral spine. And then lift the left leg and the right arm. Take a few breaths here. So you're calling upon the back body for strength. To lift you up into extension with the support of the lower belly.

You can tent the right fingertips out in front of you, and then mindfully place the right elbow in line with the left hand. Spread wide through the right fingers. You can even grip the mat with your fingertips. And exhale the left knee to the upper left arm, so it comes around the side. Inhale, reach your left leg back, lift from the inner left thigh, exhale, draw the knee wide, scooping the navel in and up.

Inhale the left leg back. And exhale, take it to the side, tapping it high, up toward the shoulder. Breathing in the left leg reaches back, lift the right arm with you. And then place the right hand down, you can step the left foot through, shifting the right knee back. And climbing up to the top of the left thigh.

Take a breath here to steer the hips forward. Lifting the lower back ribs up off the sacrum. And then you can tuck through the back toes, inhale, lift the right knee up off the mat, and bring your shoulders over the hips. Find some strength and power in the legs. On your next inhale the arms stretch up.

Grow longer, and stronger. Reaching back through the right heel and forward through the left shin. Inhale, lift your gaze. Stretch the waist up out of the hips, and then exhale your way into downward facing dog. Breathing in through plank.

Breathing out lower to the mat. Inhale for cobra. Exhale right back to downward facing dog. You can inhale to the balls of the feet, gaze forward, exhale, step or hop to the top of the mat. Breathing in, lift the heart here.

And empty into your legs. Inhale your way up to stand, reach your hands high, urdhva hastasana, and then pull it down into tadasama. You're gonna shift your weight into the right foot, and draw the left knee in. So it may take a moment to really find your standing leg. You can root through the right leg, draw the left thigh close to the left ribcage, and then inhale the right arm up, keep your left knee where it is, and your left arm up.

Exhale, grow taller, so you're pressing down through your right leg but lifting your left knee. Take one more breath in here, like you could just launch up into outer space. And then exhale, step into a lunge, so your hands frame your right foot as the left toes tuck behind you. Inhale plank pose. Exhale chataranga.

Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog. Inhale the right leg up. Step it forward. Lower the left knee.

Anjaneyasana inhaling. Hamstring stretch exhaling, flex through the right foot. Bend through the right knee, breathe in, keep your left knee lifted, crescent pose. Now shift the weight forward as you exhale, this is a big move. Bring your left knee up into your chest, and hold onto it.

So you return to the standing balance shape. Lower the left leg down, inhale the arms up, even out between your feet, and then pull it down through prayer. Tadasana. So we'll shift into the left leg. The right knee comes in, hug it close.

Take a moment. Rooting through all four corners of your left foot. Inhale the left arm up, the right arm up. Get taller, get longer. A conduit for energy here.

Breathing in, and breathing out, send your right leg back. Bend your left knee, lunge. Hands framing the left foot. Inhale direct to plank without lifting your hips. Exhale, lower halfway down.

Inhale, roll the heart open. Exhale, curl back over your toes. Inhale the left leg lifts. Exhale, step it forward. Lower the right knee down.

Inhale, anjaneyasana, arc up. Exhale, tuck the right toes, straighten the left leg, bow in. Keep the right knee lifted. Inhale your way up to crescent pose. The weight shifts into the left foot, you're exhaling to stand on the left leg.

Bring the right knee in. Hug it into the chest. Bring your feet in to meet, inhale, circle the arms up. And pull it down through prayer, open by your sides. Inhale your way into utkatasana.

Dive forward, uttanasana. Lift the flat back on a breath in, and step or float your way back through chataranga breathing now. Inhale upward facing, and exhale downward facing. Take a deep breath in (inhales), and you can empty it out through the mouth (exhales). We're gonna build a little more heat in our navel center here to support us in the funky shapes we're heading towards.

You can rise to the balls of the feet, breathing in, look forward. Bend the knees. See if you can hop through to navasana, to boat pose. So you might stumble along the way. See how it goes.

So, I like to cross my legs slightly, and then send them out. Now you're gonna bend your knees so that you make a 90 degree angle through the knees. So the arms and the shins are parallel to the ground. From here, you're gonna turn your knees to the left. It's really interesting, you're leaning onto just your left glutes.

And then inhale lower down to a half ardha navasana, half boat. Exhale, come back up with the knees bent. I call these thunderbolt crunches. Inhale lower down. Exhale, come up.

Inhale lower down, exhale, come up. Oh my gosh. Come through center, we'll go to the other side. So you're gonna twist onto the right glutes. Inhale, straighten the legs, lower halfway down, totally crooked, exhale, come up.

Inhale. And exhale, rise up. One more time, inhale, straighten the legs. Lower halfway down, but just on the right booty. Exhale, come up, come through center.

Straighten the legs, breathing in, lift your chest, lift your gaze. Downward dog, or chaturanga if you really want it. I'm gonna pass (laughs). From here, lift to the balls of the feet, bend the knees, look forward, step or float to the top. Inhale, reach the heart out, lengthen the spine.

Exhale, bowing to your legs. Inhale through chair, sitting nice and low, but reaching your hands high. Exhale, tadasana. From tadasana, without using your hands this time, inhale the arms up, and your left leg lifts with it. So you feel the abdominal contraction here.

Now exhale your way into warrior three, so the leg passes straight back, bring your arms by your sides. Reach forward through the crown of the head as you lift through the inner left thigh. And you can bend through the right knee, step back to the ball of the left foot, inhale your arms up, crescent pose. Lengthen the tail down. You're gonna exhale into a twist, so hook the left elbow to the outside of the right thigh.

Press the palms together right at the heart. Send the left heel back and the crown of the head forward. So there's a sharpness through the inner thighs as you hug the outer hips in. You may open up the arms. Or you could keep your hands together in prayer.

Take another big breath in here. On your exhale, you're gonna take your hands to the top of the mat, lift your inner left thigh, standing splits. So you're pitching forward onto the right foot. Try to keep your left hip neutral, though. It's so tempting to let it roll open here.

Lower your left foot down to meet your right. Bend deeply through the knees, inhaling chair pose. Feel the weight shift into the heels. Then exhale your way to stand. And zero out.

So your weight will shift into the left foot. Inhale, reach through the left foot, take the right knee up, arms sweep overhead. Hug into the midline here, and then slice it back, exhaling into warrior three. Drawing the bottom front ribs in. The left thigh bone back.

You can soften through the left knee, inhale, sweep up to crescent pose, arms framing the head. We'll exhale into a revolved crescent, so the right elbow hooks to the outside of the left thigh. You can move your hands to the heart, roll the left shoulder back, and keep it breathing. Notice if the right hip sort of sliding down, see if you can keep it even with the left hip. And then maybe open the arms, turning from deep in the belly.

Look forward, take a breath in, and with your breath out, pitch into your standing splits. Lifting from the inner right thigh. Lower your right foot down to meet your left. Utkatasana, inhaling (inhales). Tadasana, exhaling.

And I think we're ready to get funky. Inhale to chair, dive forward, uttanasana. Last vinyasa, inhaling the heart lift, soften the knees, step or float your way back through chaturanga. Breathing in, upward facing. Breathing out, downward facing.

We're gonna take a pause in child's pose, and then I would sit up in vajrasana and take a little moment to watch the demo, because it's getting a little complicated, and you're gonna have a lot of options, a lot of variations to work with. So we'll start on all fours, just like we did in our warm-up. I'm gonna lift the left leg and the right arm. And tent the right fingers out in front of me, and lower the elbow down, so that's the set-up. Hug the left elbow in, it tends to wanna wing out.

Use your lats to draw it in. Now tuck the left toes, and pick up the right knee. You're gonna walk your feet in, so you're going for a nice, high position for the hips. The feet walk in so the hips lift over the shoulders. You're pressing into the forearm to keep your face off the floor (chuckles) remember that.

Inhale the left leg up, oh my gosh. Take the left knee to the outside of the left arm. The hips are super high, now see if you can lift the right leg up. So the right leg is way up there, maybe, just maybe, weave the right leg through, hook it, astavakrasana, it's kind of crazy. Maybe the hand comes to the ear, answer the cosmic call.

(exhales) And sukhasana (laughs). So you can stop anywhere along that process, right. It might just be part of it. So we'll do the other side. Come onto all fours.

And this takes so much core work. It's so deep. So if it all falls apart, just keep working on it. It's, (chuckles), it's a process. It takes a long time.

And it's so asymmetrical, so that makes it even more challenging. So right leg out, left arm forward, take a breath. Now you're gonna tent the left fingertips out in front of you, lower the left elbow down, here is your foundation. So it's your left elbow and your right hand. Tuck the right toes.

Walk your feet in. Hug the right elbow in a lot. Lift the right leg up. So I'm trying to get almost vertical here. Now the right knee comes to the back of the right arm, right up by my shoulder slash armpit.

I'm bringing my left heel in, and maybe extending my left leg up. I could even pick up my right heel more. I'm just trying to keep my head off the ground. Left knee down, maybe, oh, this one's tighter. Woo, cross it through.

Weave the ankles together, astavakrasana. Nice and funky. Don't want to mess up the mic (laughs). And then you can come to sit. Then take a breath.

You might want to circle the wrist out, it's really wristy. There's really no way around that (chuckles). So from here, you can rise up for a tabletop, opening the front body, let it out for lion's breath (exhales). And come onto your back. Just take a breath here.

(deep breathing) Bring your heels nice and close to your sitting bones and let's open up the front body by lifting into bridge, so inhale the hips up off the ground by rooting into the feet. And you can interlace your hands behind your back and scoot the shoulders underneath you. I love back bending after funky arm balances. Any arm balances, really, just to open the front body. And bring yourself into balance again.

So you can draw the knees in right over the ankles. Spiral the thighs inward. Feel the strength in the lower legs. Take another breath in, stretching through the front body. And separate your hands, and exhale lower down sequentially.

You can cross the right ankle over the left thigh, allow the right hip to open, and then bring your hands either around the back of the left thigh or around the left shin, so you can slide the hips side to side for a figure-four, or reclining pigeon. So this might be a really nice massage for the lower back, for the outer hips, the sacro-iliac joints. So check in with that. There's a lot of wiggle room here. And then you can bring it closer.

And hold for a few deep breaths. Now, maintaining the general shape, the right leg's on top of the left, you can take your legs to the left side and let go of the right arm. A spinal twist, and rinse it out. You can roll back onto your back. Take the right foot on the mat, and cross the left ankle over the right knee.

Hands weave around the right shin, or the back of the right thigh. And then ease your way in, make a few circles, make it sweet. And draw the legs in closer, sending the tailbone down away from you. You might even use your left elbow to encourage the left thigh to open more. And then the knees are gonna travel on over to the right side for your spinal twist, so gazing to the left.

(deep breathing) You can unravel onto your back. Scoot your hips into the center of the mat, and extend the legs long for savasana. And turn the palms and the forearms up to the sky in surrender. (deep breathing) Let your breath start to deepen, and circle around the wrists and the ankles. One direction, then the other.

And bring the knees in and hug them into your chest. Then you start to rock forward and back, and cross your ankles, you might rock a few times, just to gather up some momentum, and then come all the way up to sit. (deep breathing) Taking a moment in silence with the eyes closed. A moment of stillness. Namaste.