Cleansing Flow

(waves crashing) Welcome, so we're gonna move through a cleansing flow. So it's an energizing flow, we'll start with building some heat in the body and then we'll move into some twisting postures to cleanse and detoxify the body. So we'll start together at the front of the mat, so you can join me there. One thing I will say actually before we start though, is you might wanna have a block in this practice, if you like to have a block for some revolve standing postures. So that might be a nice thing to have nearby if you typically like to have that.

So join me at the front of the mat in tadasana. And then just bring the big toes together, find a slight space between the heels, bring the hands to the heart, close the eyes. And just take a moment to allow yourself to drop into your practice, to arrive. Just recognize that your practice is beginning by bringing the awareness to the breath that's already occurring. And then just taking a moment to deepen the breath.

Coming into ujjayi breath. Finding a breath in through the nose, and that slight pause at the top of the inhale, and then exhale through the nose, noticing the space at the bottom of the exhale. Finding that ocean-like sound in the back of the throat. And just allowing the breath to begin to deepen, moving in and out through the nose. Maybe setting an intention for your practice, either something you'd like to call in, or maybe let go of.

Blinking the eyes open, we'll inhale to reach the arms all the way out and up. When you get to the top, take hold of your right wrist with your left hand. And then tilt over to your left side, feeling a nice stretch in the right side body. Good, from here, soften the knees and come all the way down to a forward fold, dropping the torso over the legs. Take your left hand right under your nose.

Keep a bend in the left leg, start to straighten through the right leg, and reach your right arm up and to the right, finding a twist. Take the gaze to your right side, maybe even take the gaze up toward your right finger tips. Allow an easy inhale, and then exhale, lower the right hand down. Soften through both knees and then gently start to roll your way up one vertebrae at a time coming back to a stand at the top of the mat. We'll bring the hands to the heart and come to the other side.

Inhale sweep your arms all the way out and up. Take hold of the left wrist with the right hand and then reach up and over. Find that tilt over to the right side. And then soften through your knees as you come all the way to the right to a forward fold. Then take the right hand right under your nose.

Take a nice big bend in that right knee as you straighten through the left. Reach the left arm up and twist. Maybe take the gaze up toward your left fingertip. Good, inhale. Exhale, lower the left hand down.

Soften through the knees and inhale just come half way up, half arch. Maybe your on the fingertips, maybe the hands come to the shins. And then exhale, folding in. Good, step your right foot all the way to the back of the mat. Lower the right knee down to the earth, and then keeping your right hand where it is, we're gonna twist, reaching the left arm up and finding that twist from the waist up.

Couple breaths here. Good, inhale. As you exhale, lower the left hand down to the earth. Tuck your back toes, step back to your first downward facing dog. So take a moment in this first down dog, finding any movement that feels good, maybe pedaling it out through the feet.

And then start to step your feet toward hips distance. Let the heels get heavy, press the chest back to the thighs, and the thighs to the wall behind you. And then inhale the right leg, sweep it all the way up and back behind you. Exhale, draw the right knee to the nose, look forward, step the right foot through between your hands. Stay on the ball of your back foot, come on to your fingertips, and then keep the left hand down, this time we'll reach the right arm up and twist toward our right.

Lunge twist, and again, see if you can find and isolate the rib cage, so that you're twisting from the waist up, keeping that right hip in line with your right knee. Last breath in, long breath out. Hand comes down to the earth to frame your front foot. And then step to a forward fold at the front of the mat, left foot steps next to the right. Inhale, lengthen, come halfway up.

Offer the heart, lengthen through the spine, exhale, fold right back in, and then root to rise, inhale, arms sweep all the way out and up. Exhale your hands to heart center, and we'll come right to that left side. So inhale, arms reach out and up. Exhale diving forward, soften the knees as you fold. Step your left foot to the back of the mat, lower the back knee down, keep your left hand down, reach your right arm up and twist to your right.

Couple breaths. Nice, good. And then on your next exhale, lower that right hand down. Step back, find your downward facing dog. Beautiful.

So staying with the left leg, inhale. Sweep the left leg up and back. Exhale, draw the knee to the nose. Look forward, step the foot all the way through. This time we'll stay on the ball of that right foot.

Keep the right hand down and reach the left arm up. Twist. Keep drawing that left hip back. Good, inhaling. Exhale, lower that left hand down.

Frame your front foot, and this time we'll step forward, folding at the front of the mat. Good, inhale, come halfway up and lengthen. Exhale, folding in. And then root to rise. Inhale, arms sweep all the way out and up.

Exhale, hands together at the heart. Just taking a moment to pause in tadasana. Good, and then coming right to chair pose, sink the weight back down into your heels, sweep your arms up, and find your chair. Look down, make sure you can see all 10 toes. If not, shift the weight back a little bit, so that you're sinking your hips down towards your knees.

And then lift your gaze so you're gazing forward. And then straighten the legs, bring the hands back down to the earth and fold over the legs. Good, inhale, come halfway up, lengthen, offer the heart. Exhale, for this first round, stepping back to plank pose, pausing in plank, top of a push-up. And then, you're welcome to lower your knees.

We'll lower halfway down chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing. Exhale, roll over the toes, downward facing dog. Beautiful, inhale the right leg all the way up and back behind you. Bend your knees, open up the hip, and draw your heel in toward your butt.

Then keep pressing evenly through both hands so the shoulders stay nice and square toward the front of your mat. Good, and then start to straighten out the leg, square your hips. Draw the right knee in toward your left tricep, hover, top of a push-up. Inhale the leg all the way up and back, down dog split. And then exhale, step it through between your hands.

Stay on the ball of the back foot, and lift up to crescent pose. Good, in crescent soften through that back knee. Keeping your front knee right over the heel or the ankle of your right foot. Good, and then bring your left arm forward, in front of you. Take your right arm back behind you, and find this crescent twist, so that you're twisting toward your right, energizing through the left heel, good.

And then take the right hand to the back of your left thigh, reach the left arm over your ear, tilt back, reverse crescent. And then on your exhale, left hand comes down on the inside of your right foot. Reach the right arm up and twist, lunge twist. Good. Full breath in, exhale, right hand comes down.

Step back to plank pose, lower through a vinyasa, halfway down chaturanga, inhale upward facing, exhale downward facing dog. Good. Take a full breath in through the nose. Open the mouth, sigh it out, let it go. (breathing out deeply) Left side, inhale the left leg all the way up and back.

Bend the knee, open the hips, square the shoulders, draw your heel in toward your butt. And then straighten out the leg, square your hips, draw the left knee to the right tricep. Hover, top of a push-up. Inhale the leg all the way up and back. And exhale, step it through, stay on the ball of the back foot.

Arms reach up, crescent pose. Energize through that right heel, gently tuck the tailbone down. Good, and then bring the right arm forward, left arm back, and twist, good. Couple breaths here. Good, and then you'll bring that left hand to the back of the right thigh, reach that right arm up and over your ear, reverse crescent.

Good. And then circle the right hand down, reach the left arm up, lunge twist. Few breaths here, keep drawing that left hip back. Good, and then gaze down, left hand comes down. Step back, top of a push-up, plank pose.

Lower halfway down chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Good, taking a couple breaths in downward facing dog. Reminder to come back to the breath.

Good, and on your next inhale, come high up onto the toes, bend the knees, look forward, step, hop, or float front of the mat. Inhale, lengthen, come halfway up. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale back to chair pose, sink the weight back into the heels, lift the arms, lift the gaze, and then straighten through the legs. Draw your hands to your heart.

Good, so coming into our second standing sequence, we'll inhale right back to chair pose, arms sweep up. And then exhale, hands come down in forward fold. Inhale come halfway up and lengthen. Offer the heart. Plant your palms, step or lightly hop back, chaturanga.

Cobra or upward facing dog on the inhale. Exhale downward facing dog. Good, this time inhale the right leg up and back, bend your knee open up your hip. You can stay right here, or maybe flip your dog, shifting the weight forward over the wrists, taking the right toes behind you, and then lifting the right arm up and opening up your heart. Reach the right hand toward the front of the room.

And then bring your gaze back down. Right hand comes down, right leg lifts back up, three-legged downward facing dog. And then right knee left tricep, cross the body maybe stay here, or straighten through that right leg. Spin on to the ball of the back foot, reach the right arm up, find fallen triangle. Good.

If you want a little more, you can always lift that right leg up off the earth, or take hold of that right foot, the outer edge of that right foot. And find the straight leg, lifting up. Good, slowly release, whatever version you took will unwind. Reach the right leg all the way up and back. And then exhale, step through, crescent pose.

Stay on the ball of the back foot, inhale arms sweep up. And then flowing here, start to open up the arms to your right, twisting toward the right. Take the right hand to the back of that left leg, reach the left arm over the ear. And then exhale circle down. Left hand comes to the inside of the right foot.

Right arm lifts twist, and then right hand comes down, so that you're in a runner's lunch. Pause here. Then you're gonna step your back foot in just a couple inches. Straightening through both legs. This is where you might wanna have a block under that left hand.

Come into revolved triangle pose here. Keep a bit of a softness through that right knee. Keep drawing that right hip back. Find length in your spine. And then we'll keep the left hand down on the inside of the right foot.

And start to roll the right shoulder open as you lift that right arm up. Oh, so these are not my favorite poses, revolved anything. They say that the pose that you dislike the most is the one you should be doing every day. I don't know who they are, and I don't know if they're right, but, we'll go with it. Take a full breath in.

And then exhale, look down, bring the right hand down. And then just fold over that front leg. Let the torso drape down, take a couple breaths. Good, coming back to runner's lunge, re-bending through that right knee, step the left foot back. Step back, plank pose.

Lower down halfway, chaturanga. Inhale upward facing. Exhale downward facing dog. Good. Coming to the left side, inhale sweep the left leg all the way up and back, bend your knee, open up the hip.

And you might stay here, or flip your dog, shifting your weight forward, stepping the left foot back, coming on to the left toes, lifting the left arm and reaching it up over the head. Good, inhaling, and then exhale, unwind. Three-legged downward facing dog. Good, and then left knee comes to the right tricep this time, cross the body, you might straighten out that leg, spin onto the heel of the back foot, lifting the right arm up for fallen triangle. And again, other options here are to lift through that left leg if you wanna activate the core a little bit more.

Or maybe take hold a the outside of that left foot and reach the leg straight. Good. And then look down, bring the right hand down, unwind, three-legged down dog, left leg lifts up and back. Exhale, step the foot through, stay on the ball of the back foot, lifting up to crescent inhale. Good, exhale, twist to your left.

Right arm forward, left arm back. And then exhale, reach up and back, reverse. And then come all the way down. Right hand comes to the inside of that left foot. Left arm lifts, lunge twist.

And then exhale, lower that left hand down to the earth. Step your back foot in, flatten out the foot, straighten both legs, and then we'll inhale to lengthen through the spine. Keep your right fingertips down to the earth. Maybe a block, you might flatten out the palm as well if that's in your practice. Keep drawing that left hip back, Roll the left shoulder open.

And then lift the left arm up, revolved triangle. And so you might find when you come in that you need to just lengthen out your stance a little bit, keep finding that length in the spine, drawing that left hip back. Last breath in, and then exhale, left hand comes down, torso drapes over that left leg, and just feel that nice stretch, softening through your left knee. Breathing. Nice work, last couple breaths.

Let's take one last vinyasa, so bend through your front knee, come on to the ball of that right foot, coming back into runner's lunge. And then we'll flatten out the palms, step back to plank pose. You can take this vinyasa or skip it. Shift forward, come half way down, chaturanga. Inhale upward facing, exhale, roll over the toes, downward facing dog.

Good, inhale, come high up onto the toes, bend your knees, look forward, step, hop, or float, front of the mat. Inhale half way, exhale folding. Inhale chair pose, sink the weight down into the heels, lift the arms, and then straighten through the legs. Draw your hands to your heart, pause. Just take a moment to notice all that energy already created in the body.

Okay, so last standing sequence here, we're gonna move from the front of the mat, we'll come right back down to chair pose, inhale, sink the weight back down into the heels, lift your arms, and then draw your hands to your heart center, staying in chair. Draw the shoulders back, and then take your left elbow to the outside of your right leg, and revolve your chair, so twist. Take a moment to look down at your knees, make sure they're even. If not, you might need to pull one hip back a little bit. And then find the shoulders stacking, gaze lifting, the breath deepening.

Good, take your gaze back down to the earth. Get really heavy in your right foot, and then step your left foot all the way to the back of the mat, prayer twist. Coming into crescent with the legs, shining the heart toward the right, couple breaths here. Good, take your gaze back down to the earth, hands lower, runner's lunge, and then we're gonna start to walk the hands forward. Keep the hands down on the earth, lift through that left leg, flex that foot down toward the earth, and take a moment to spin the left hip down.

And then keeping the left hand down, right under your shoulder, take your right hand to your hip. Find length, and then start to roll the right shoulder open, so that you're stacking the shoulders. Keep drawing the right hip back. Then you might lift that right arm up to the sky for revolved half moon, another one of my not-favorites. Breathe.

Oh, lovely, last breath in. Hand comes down, walk your hands back, lift the left leg up into the sky, standing split. Might test your balance here by holding onto the ankle with one or both hands. Or maybe, if you feel like going upside down a little bit, you'll flatten out the palms, straighten the arms, look forward, come high up on to your right toes. Bending through the right knee, kicking up a couple times, toward handstand.

Good, now we'll meet in a forward fold, lowering the left leg down. Torso drapes over the legs. And just heel toe the feet toward the edges of the mat, toes out, heels in, just finding malasana, hands to your heart. Just taking a couple breaths here before moving into the second side. Maybe closing the eyes.

Beautiful. And bring the hands back down to the earth, parallel the feet, straighten out the legs, and fold. Taking one moment to fix your yoga clothes (laughing), and then slowly root to rise. Roll up, standing. Feet together at the front of the mat, and we'll come to the second side.

Good, inhale right to chair pose, arms sweep up, hips sink back. Draw your hands to your heart, and then this time the right elbow will come to the outside of that left leg. Finding revolved chair. Good, and then again, check out your knees, make sure they're even. If not, sink the weight back a little bit more.

Draw your right hip back, and revolve. Good, take your gaze down toward the earth, get really heavy in your left foot, light on the right foot, and then step that right foot all the way back, coming on to the ball of the right foot, finding prayer twist. Energize through the right heel, and breathe. Beautiful, last breath here. Gaze comes back down to the earth.

Lower the hands down, and then start to crawl the hands forward, lifting through that back leg, coming up high on the finger tips, lengthening through the spine. Keeping your right hand, under that right shoulder. And maybe taking your left hand to your left hip, draw the hip back, spin that right hip down toward the earth, flexing a lot through that back foot, start to spin the left shoulder open, opening your heart toward your left. And then maybe add the left arm. Revolved half moon.

Just a couple breaths. Oh, good, last breath. Hand comes down, whoo hoo hoo. Walk your hands back in, lift the right leg up, standing split. Option to balance here by holding onto the ankle with one or both hands, or maybe flattening out the palms and kicking up toward your handstand, couple times.

Good, and then forward folding. Inhale, come halfway up and lengthen. Exhale, folding back in. Let's separate the feet hips distance. Take your peace fingers to your big toes.

Inhale, come halfway up. Exhale, bend the elbows out to the sides and fold. Drape the torso over the legs. Just a couple breaths here. Nice work, release the toes.

Just gently roll up, soften the knees. Coming to a stand at the front of the mat. Good, and then we'll step the feet together. This time we'll come to chair pose, sink the hips way down, slowly to the earth, coming into a seat. And then take your legs out in front of you, shake 'em out.

We're gonna come into a seated twist here. So continuing with that detoxifying twist, hug your right knee in toward the body. Bring the sole of the foot to the earth. And then you're gonna take your right foot, cross it over the left leg, and then start to bend through your left leg, drawing that left heel in toward you. And then you're seated here.

You might stay here, or take the right fingertips behind you, lifting through the heart, lengthening through the spine, inhaling the left arm up, and then exhale, hooking that left elbow on the outside of the right leg, and finding that twist in the upper body. With every inhale, lengthen through the spine. With every exhale, you might ease into the twist a little bit deeper. Couple breaths. Good, and then take your gaze back toward the front of the room.

And then release your twist. We're gonna move right into gomukhasana here, so your bottom leg is already where it needs to be. Just gonna take that right knee, stack it on the left, and then draw your right heel in toward your hip and your thigh. So that both legs are stacked, and if this is a big space here, you can always put a block between your legs, or always you can take a comfortable cross-leg seated position, for hip opener. So heels are drawing in if you're coming into gomukhasana.

And then we're gonna pause up at the top for a moment, lift through the heart, and then if it feels okay in your body, you can start to walk the hands forward, any amount, it's a pretty deep hip opener, so take your time traveling in. Breathing along the way. And then just let the pose evolve, however it need to evolve, letting the breath be the indicator of where you need to go a little deeper, or where you may need to back off just a bit. Where can you soften just a bit more? Allowing yourself to be the observer of all that's happening in the body.

Even any thoughts that might be occurring. We stand back and observe. Then slowly, start to walk your hands back up. And then we'll take the legs back out in front of us, straightening through both legs. And we'll come into a twist in the other side.

So bending through your left leg, bring the sole of the foot to the inner upper right thigh, and then cross the foot over the body, over that right leg, rather. And then bending through the right leg, draw the right heel in toward your hip. And then just take a moment up at the top to notice, whoa, my right leg is way tireder than my left. And then you might take your left fingertips behind you, sitting up nice and tall, lengthen through the spine. Inhale, reach the right arm up, and then exhale, take your right elbow to the outside of your left leg.

Then using your elbow just gently to lift up a little bit taller. And twist. Let the twist be active, inhaling as you lengthen, exhaling, finding ease, maybe rotating a little bit more. Last couple breaths here. Good, and then take the gaze first back to the front of the room.

Release the legs, and then your right leg is where it needs to be, so we'll just stack the left knee on top of the right. Draw both heels in toward your hips, wiggle in. So just taking a moment to find what feels right to you. And then pausing up at the top, maybe taking the fingertips behind you to lift the heart. And then whenever you're ready, if it feels appropriate in your body, walk the hands forward and fold, gomukhasana.

Noticing any difference between the right side, the left side, just being that conscious observer, being curious with what's happening, all that's going on in the body. Just approaching every moment, every posture the beginner's mind, being curious. Last couple breaths here. And then we'll slowly start to walk the hands back up. Just taking a moment to sit with it, and notice.

Good, opening the eyes. Coming into boat pose, navasana. Good, paralleling the shins toward the mat. And taking your nose in line with your toes, activating the toes. And we're gonna take a little bit of twist here for core work.

So take both of your hands over to the right side. Take a full breath in to lengthen. Sit up nice and tall, and then exhale, straighten out the legs, come halfway down. Inhale, come all the way up. Good, take your hands over to the left, and then inhale here, exhale, come halfway down.

Inhale, come all the way up, and we'll go from side to side. Hands to the right, lowering down. Come all the way up. Hands to the left, lower. Come on up, switch.

Lower, come on up, switch, lower, just two more on each side. Hands to the right, lower down. Come on up, hands to the left, lower down, come on up, last time, lower, up, left, lower, up, lay down. Let it go. Hmmmm.

We're gonna move towards bridge or wheel. I'm gonna sit up and turn around so that you can see me a little bit better. So your choice, if you wanna take bridge, go for it. I'll bring us into wheel, just one round here. So step your feet hips distance apart.

Walk your heels in toward your butt, and reach down with your fingertips to brush the backs of your heels. And then grounding through the feet, take your hands up and back behind you, flip the palms, hug your elbows in, and then pressing through the feet, pressing through the palms of the hands, start to straighten out the elbows, lifting the hips up. Coming into your version of the pose. Taking five breaths here. Good, and then slowing lowering, all the way back down.

Landing, noticing, and then we'll gently drop the knees to the right side for an easy spinal twist. Then you take your arms, palms, arms, my Boston accent, arms, palms face up, maybe like a goal post. You can take your gaze straight up to the sky, maybe over the left shoulder if that feels good in the neck. Take in a couple breaths here. Inhale the knees back through center.

Exhale, gently drop the knees to the left. Finding your spinal twist, the other direction. And just allow it to feel nice, the body beginning to let go of anything that you're holding on to, that you'd like to let go of right now. And then inhale, come back up. Hug your knees into your chest and give yourself a little bit of a massage, gently rocking side to side.

And then maybe drawing the nose up toward your knees, hugging everything into a tight little ball. Take a full breath in, exhale deep sigh, let it go, savasana. Straightening out the legs, letting the feet fall open like books, and bringing the palms to face up, gently tucking the shoulders underneath you to lift the heart. Softly, letting go of any effort. Just finding your rest, your relaxation.

Letting go, savasana. You're welcome to stay here, as long as you'd like. Otherwise, we'll bring the soles of the feet together, the soles of the feet to the earth, rather. Bending the knees. Just gently rolling over to your right side.

And then meeting me in a comfortable, cross-legged, seated position, at the front of your mat. Gathering the hands together at the heart, and bowing your head towards your hands in gratitude. Just thanking yourself for showing up for you today. Thank you so much for being here, for sharing your practice. Have a lovely day, namaste.