Dancing Warrior Flow

(waves rushing) Welcome, thank you for joining me. So we're gonna move into a dancing warrior flow. This is one of my favorite practices to do when I'm just feeling like I want to move like myself, so I invite you to move like you. We're gonna move through some fluid sun salutations, some dancing warriors, and just find that liquidy, dance-like quality in the body as we build some strength and heat and flexibility along the way. So do what feels good for you, and go ahead and join me in this comfortable cross-leg seated position.

And we'll juts start by finding some circles in the body to warm up the spine. So as you inhale, start to draw your chest over your right knee. And then as you exhale, come all the way back and around. Inhale as you come forward, offering the heart forward, and then exhale, circle back, draw the navel to the spine and around. And then go ahead and just take these circles as big or as small as it feels good in your body.

And if it feels good to pause anywhere if you're feeling like you wanna linger and hang out in a stretch, then go for it. And then it might feel good to start to take the circles in the opposite direction. Starting to feel into the spine, hips. Just taking a few more rounds on your own, your breath, your rhythm of breath. And just erasing any sharp edges in the body as we start to roll through here.

And then slowly start to make your way back up to a neutral spine, so making the circles a little bit smaller. And then we'll take the right hand to the right. Soften through your right elbow, and reach the left arm up and over, just finding that stretch in the side body. You might even take the gaze up toward the ceiling, and then as you inhale come back over through center, and we'll tilt it over to the other side. So left hand down, right arm over the ear, and then keep that softness in the left elbow.

And inhale, come all the way back up. And let's make our way onto all fours. We'll come into a tabletop position. So you're taking your shoulders right over the wrists, the hips over the knees, and then as you inhale, start to melt the heart forward between the hands, lifting the gaze, lift the sit bones, and then exhale. Draw the navel to the spine as you round down, tucking the tailbone under.

Inhale and coming forward, inviting an arch. And then exhale, rounding down. Let's take one more round here. Again, find that liquid quality inhaling forward. Long, easy exhale as you round.

And then coming back to a neutral spine, come right into downward facing dog. So tucking the toes, lifting your hips all the way up and back. Finding your first downward facing dog, any movement here in the body that feels good. You might pedal it out through the feet. The hamstrings are a little bit cranky, you can always step the feet a little bit wider or maybe put a soft bend in the knees.

Just taking a couple more breaths here just to feel into this first downward facing dog. Good. When you feel like you've found opening in the backs of the legs, start to step your feet toward hips-distance apart, and we'll inhale to shift the weight forward to plank pose, top of a push-up. Pausing in the first one, just bring the shoulders right over your wrists, and then press back through your heels. Engage your core, and draw the navel up to the spine.

Good. Take a full breath in and then exhale. Lift your hips up and back, find downward facing dog. Let's do that a couple more times, start to lubricate the joints, inhaling, shifting forward. Exhale, shifting back.

Let's do two more. Inhale shifting forward. Exhale shifting back. Last one here, inhale forward. Exhale, all the way back.

And pick up your hands, just find an easy forward fold at the back of the mat, softening the knees, and just letting the torso drape down over the legs. Anything that feels good with the hands here, so you might grab opposite elbows, or just let them hang down. And then see if you can find a release in the head, the neck, the shoulders, just relaxing everything down. Again, no sharp edges. See where you can soften a little bit more.

And find that fluid quality in the body, the breath. And then from here, just walk the hands right back to your downward facing dog. And inhale, sweep your right leg all the way up and back. Go ahead and bend your knee, open up the hip, opening that right hip a little bit. Pressing evenly through both hands to square the shoulders off toward the front of the mat.

And then start to straighten the legs, square your hips, and draw the right knee into your nose. Look forward, step the foot all the way through between your hands, and just lower the back knee down. Coming up onto the fingertips, lifting the heart, lifting the gaze. And then as you exhale, start to straighten through that front leg, coming onto your right heel, lifting the toes up for half split. Draw the right hip back.

As you inhale, lengthen, come half way up, and then exhale folding in. Let's keep this fluid. So inhale, rebend through the right leg, lift your heart, lift your gaze coming back into that lunge, and then exhale straighten it out coming onto the heel. Two more like that. Inhale, rebend and lift, draw your shoulders back, lift your gaze.

Exhale, draw it back. Last one here, inhale, rebend, lift the heart, lift the gaze. Exhale, half split. Good. Now rebend, tuck your back toes, you're gonna lift your back knee up, and then that same fluid movement.

This time, we're gonna straighten through both legs, pressing through that left heel and lowering the torso down over that right leg. Good. Inhale, come right back to the lunge. Shine the heart forward, lift your gaze, and then exhale, draw back. Two more.

Inhale, lifting. Exhale, draw back. Inhale, lift. And exhale, draw back. Good.

This time rebend, plant your palms, step back to your plank pose, pause here. You're welcome to lower the knees down. Otherwise, we're gonna lower all the way down, hugging the elbows in as we lower down to our bellies. Untuck the toes, scoot your hands back just about an inch, and then hug the elbows in, press into the tops of the feet. Engage your legs, and inhale, just lift the heart up off the earth, cobra pose.

Exhale, lower it back down. Two more. Inhale, lift. And exhale, lower. Inhale, lift up, hug the elbows in.

Exhale, lower. Good. And then tuck your toes, firm your thighs, lift your knees up, hug the elbows in, and on an inhale, come all the way up to plank, and then exhale, meet back in your downward facing dog. Good. Take a full breath in here.

And then open up the mouth, sigh it out, let it go. Good. And on the inhale, sweep your left leg all the way up. Bend the knee, open up the hip. Breath here.

And then straighten through that left leg, square your hips, draw the knee to the nose, look forward, step it all the way through, lower your back knee down coming onto the fingertips to lift your heart and gaze. Good. And then we'll start to straighten through the left leg this time, coming onto the left heel, energizing the toes. Draw the left heel back, and then inhale lift half way. Exhale, fold in.

Just taking one full round of breath in this first round. Inhaling. Exhaling. And then keeping it fluid, inhale, rebend. Lift the heart, lift the gaze.

Exhale, draw it back. Two more like that. Inhale, lifting. Exhale, draw back. Inhale, lift.

Exhale. Good, rebend. This time tuck your back toes, lift the back knee, lift the heart. And then same thing here but straightening through both legs, pressing through that left heel. And the heel doesn't have to touch the earth.

It might stay lifted as you drape that torso over that left leg. Let's do three more. Inhale, rebending, lift the heart. And exhale, draw everything back, lower down. Good.

Inhale, lifting. Exhale, fold. Last one. Inhale lift, draw the shoulders back, and then exhale, draw the left hip back and fold. Good, rebend.

Flatten out the palms this time, step back to plank pose. Again, you're welcome to lower the knees down. We're gonna come half way down this time to Chaturanga. So shift the weight forward, bring your shoulders right over the wrists, and then start to bend the elbows, coming half way down, and then inhale, flip over the toes, find upward facing dog if you're ready, and then downward facing dog, exhale. Just taking a few rounds of breath here in downward facing dog.

And then we'll rise up high onto the toes. Bend your knees, look forward, and step or lightly hop front of your mat. Inhale, come half way up and lengthen. Exhale, folding in. And then root through the feet to rise, arms sweep all the way out and up, and exhale, hands together at your heart.

Good. So we moved through some sun salutations to start to warm the body, and we'll flow through. So we're gonna move through pretty quickly and find that fluid quality in the body. So stay with me here as we move through. Inhale, arms sweep all the way out and up.

Exhale, forward fold, soften the knees. Inhale, come half-way up and lengthen. Exhale, step, or if you feel ready, lightly hop back through Chaturanga. Cobra or up dog on your inhale. Exhale, downward facing dog.

Just one more round of breath here. Inhaling through the nose. Maybe open the mouth, sigh it out. Good. And when you're ready, inhale high up onto the toes.

Bend the knees, look forward, step or lightly hop, front of the mat. Good. Inhale, lengthen half. Exhale, folding. Root to rise.

Inhale, arms sweep all the way out and up. Exhale, hands to heart. Let's do one more round of A together. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale fold.

Inhale, lengthen half way. Exhale, Chaturanga, flow through. Cobra or up dog, inhale. Exhale, down dog. Again, one breath here.

Inhaling through the nose, and exhaling. Good. Raise high up onto the toes. Bend your knees, look forward, step or lightly hop, front of the mat. Inhale, lengthen, exhale folding in.

And then root to rise, arms sweep out and up. Exhale, hands to heart. Good, right into Surya Namaskar B variation. And this is where we'll come into that dancing warrior flow. So we'll add on with each round.

So as you inhale, come to chair pose. Sink the weight back down into the heels, lift the arms, lift the gaze. And then keeping it fluid, as you exhale, keep the legs bent, but sweep the arms back behind you. Inhale, come all the way back up to chair. Two more like that.

Exhale, sweep it back. Inhale, lift. Last one. Exhale, sweep it back. This time, inhale, lift, straighten out the legs, draw the hands up above your head, look back, lengthen, and exhale hands to heart.

Good. Surya Namaskar B. Inhale, chair pose. Exhale, folding forward. Inhale, come half way up, and then however you wanna get back to down dog, maybe take the Vinyasa here, cobra or up dog on the inhale, down dog on the exhale.

Sweep your right leg all the way up and back behind you. Exhale step the foot through between your hands, spin your back heel down, and sweep your arms up, warrior one. So in this first round, just taking a couple breaths here. Finding your first warrior one. Soften the shoulders.

Energize through your fingertips. Good. And as you inhale, you might start to bring the gaze up towards the ceiling. Maybe press the palms together above your head. And then exhale, hands come back down to the earth.

Step back, lower through your flow. You can always step right back to downward facing dog there. Good, we'll meet in downward facing dog. Left side, inhale, left leg lifts. Exhale, step it through.

Spin your back heel down, either heel-to-heel alignment or maybe step the feet a little wider. And then inhale, arms sweep up, warrior one. Just a couple breaths for this first round. See if you can square the hips toward the front of your mat. And again, maybe take the gaze up.

Maybe press the palms together above your head. And then exhale, hands come down. Flow through Vinyasa, or step it back downward facing dog. Nice work. So we're gonna keep adding on as we flow through.

So working from our downward facing dog coming right back to that right side, inhale, the right leg up and back. Exhale, step the foot through between your hands. Spin your back heel down, one breath per movement. Right up to warrior one, inhale. And then exhale, take your hands back behind you.

You're gonna interlace your fingers behind your back here. Inhale to lift your heart, and then exhale, humble warrior, folding over that front knee. The crown of the head sink down toward the earth. And then just a few rounds of breath here. Really hard to talk when you're upside down, but I'm trying.

Nice work. Good. And then root to rise. Inhale, come all the way back up. Warrior one, look up, maybe press the palms together.

And then exhale, hands come down. Step back through your flow, Vinyasa or down dog if you want. Good. Cobra or up dog on the inhale. Downward facing dog, exhale.

And then left side. Inhale, the left leg up. Exhale, step it through, spin your back heel down. One breath here, inhale, warrior one. And then exhale, take the hands back behind you again.

This time, take the weird thumb on top. Good, inhale, lift your heart, lift your gaze. And then exhale, folding over that front leg. Humble warrior. Grounding through the outer edge of your back foot.

Keeping that knee right over the ankle. Good, and then root to rise. Inhale, strengthen through the legs as you lift your arms all the way up. Look up, lengthen. Maybe press the palms together above your head.

And then exhale, hands come down, step back through your flow. We'll meet in downward facing dog. Cobra or up dog on the inhale if you're taking the Vinyasa. And then exhale, downward facing dog. Let's take a couple cleansing breaths here.

Any movement that feels good, just keep it light, fluid, easy. And then we'll keep adding on, so as we add on, we'll start to flow with this. So inhale the right leg all the way up and back. Exhale, step it through. Spin your back heel down, warrior one, inhale.

Exhale, hands behind the back, lift the heart, lifting, and then exhale folding, humble warrior. Come all the way back up. Inhale, release the arms warrior one. And then exhale, open it up, warrior two. Just taking a couple full, deep breaths in warrior two.

Good. And then as you start to straighten through the front leg, reach your arms up, lift your gaze. And then exhale, sink right back into your warrior two. Two more like that. Inhale, lift up, lengthen.

Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, lift and lengthen. Exhale, warrior two. Flip your front palm, keep the legs, reverse warrior, inhale. And then exhale.

Let's come to extended side angle. So you can bring the elbow to the top of the thigh. Reach that top arm over your ear. You might start to take your fingertips on the inside of that right foot, maybe to a block. And just a few full rounds of breath, allowing an easy inhale.

Long, deep exhale. Good, and then look down. Come all the way back up, warrior two. Flip your front palm again, reverse warrior. And then circle the hands down and pause in your runner's lunge.

Good, keep the left hand down. And we're gonna lift that right arm up, finding that rotation in that lunge twist. Good. Isolating the rib cage so that you're twisting from the waist up. Now you're welcome to stay right here.

You want something a little more strengthening, we'll roll to the outer edge of the back foot, step the right foot back, and stack for Vasisthasana, side arm balance. And a few full rounds of breath. Good. And coming right back up to that lunge. So if you're in side arm balance, you'll bring that right knee into your chest.

Look down, step that right foot all the way to the front of the mat. And then lower your back knee down, and just find that nice fold, half split. You're welcome to stay right here if this feels like enough for you. If you wanna go a little bit deeper, you move toward a full split. You can straighten out that front leg and sink down into Hanumanasana.

Couple breaths. Good, and then I have not found a graceful way to get out of split ever, so, find your way back to lunge. I'll meet you there. Good. And then your choice: Vinyasa or downward facing dog.

You can lift the hips right up and back. Find your home base here. And we'll come to the left side. Inhale the left leg all the way up and back. Exhale, step it through, find the fluidity here.

Inhale, warrior one. Exhale, hands come behind the back, interlace, lift the heart. Exhale, folding. Inhale, root to rise, come all the way up. And then open it up, warrior two.

The front heel to back arch alignment. Couple breaths. Good. And then start to straighten through the front leg. Lift your arms up, lift your gaze.

Take a look at that beautiful ocean. And then exhale, sink down, warrior two. Inhale, lifting up. Exhale, lower. Last one, inhale lift up, lengthen.

Exhale. Flip your front palm, reverse your warrior. Inhale, reach up and back, and then exhale, extended side angle. And again, maybe the fingertips come down toward a block or the earth. Reaching the top arm over the ear, but plugging that shoulder back.

Find space between the shoulder and the ear. Maybe take the gaze up toward the ocean. Beautiful. And gaze down, root to rise, warrior two. Flip the palm, inhale, reverse.

Exhale, spin down to the earth, runner's lunge. Come onto the ball of your back foot. Keep the right hand down, lift the left arm up and twist. You might take your thumb to that left hip crease and find the shoulder rolling back so that you're twisting from the waist up and isolating your rib cage. So maybe stay here.

Maybe roll to the outer edge of the back foot, stepping the left foot back for Vasisthasana. Beautiful. And so we're coming back to that lunge. So if you wanna transition right from Vasisthasana, draw the left knee in toward your center. Bring your gaze down, step it all the way forward, and then we'll lower knee, find the sweet release, half split, inhale as you lengthen.

Exhale, folding. Just a few full, deep breaths here. If you came into the full version on the first side, go for it here. Maybe this side feels a little bit different. Certainly does for me.

I'm gonna stay right here. And just be careful to soften that left knee a bit so that you're not locking anything out. Good. And then transition, come back to that lunge. And then your choice: step back, flow through.

Find down dog, I'll meet you there. And if you're coming to down dog, take a full breath out, let it go. Nice work. So just one more round, adding on. We're really gonna start to flow with this round.

And we'll add just another little piece onto this dancing warrior flow. So when you're ready, right leg lifts, inhale. Exhale, step it through, warrior one. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, take them back behind you, interlace, lift the heart.

Exhale, humble warrior. Inhale, warrior one. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, straighten the legs, lift the gaze. Exhale, warrior two.

Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower. Last one, inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Flip the front palm, inhale, reverse.

This time, dancing warriors. You can bring the elbow to the thigh or the earth. Reach the top arm over, and as you inhale, come all the way back up, reverse. Let's take two more rounds, exhale. Extended side.

Inhale, reverse. Exhale, extended side. Good, and then meet me in warrior two, pausing here. Flip your front palm, reverse, inhale. Exhale, circle it down, pause in your runner's lunge.

Good. Good, so we're gonna transition here. You're welcome to stay in that lunge twist, or maybe coming into Vasisthasana two, taking the peace fingers, wrapping them around your big toe. And then we'll roll to the outer edge of that back foot, and lift that right leg all the way up to the sky. Couple breaths here.

Beautiful. And then from here, you might come back to that runner's lunge, or maybe take that transition into Hanumanasana. Full split. Take a couple breaths when you land. Maybe close the eyes.

Let it be about the breath here. Good, and then somehow, however you wanna get there, we'll meet in downward facing dog. Just taking a few breaths to land. Maybe pedaling it out through the feet. Feeling all that flow in the body, all that energy that you've already created.

And we'll come into our last side. So left leg lifts, inhale. Exhale, step it through. Spin the back heel down, arms sweep up, warrior one. Exhale, hands behind the back, lift the heart, lift the gaze.

Exhale, humble. Inhale all the way back up, warrior one, and then open it up, warrior two. Keep it fluid, inhale lift. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale lift, exhale sinking down.

Last one, inhale lifting. Exhale, warrior two, flip your front palm. Inhale, reverse, and then dancing warriors. Exhale, extended side angle. Inhale, come all the way up and back.

Exhale, extended side. Last one, inhale, lifting up. Exhale, dancing warrior, and then we'll come up and meet in warrior two. Flipping the front palm, reversing, inhale. Spin it down, runner's lunge, pause.

And then again, options here. You can take that lunge twist, lifting the left arm up. Or maybe you'll take Vasisthasana B, hooking big toes with the peace fingers, flattening out that right hand, roll to the outer edge of the back foot, and then lift. Left leg up, good. Breathe.

Beautiful. And then when you're ready, we'll meet in that lunge. Or maybe transition, wah! Hanumanasana. Good. (sighs) Couple breaths.

And then however you wanna get there, down dog. Maybe one last Vinyasa if you got it in you. If not, awesome, come back to down dog. Beautiful. Lower your knees down, and find child's pose.

Just closing the eyes, allowing the third eye to open up. Just taking a moment to check in and notice where the energy settles after the postures. Yoga happens after the pose. And whenever you're ready, start to roll your way up. I'm just gonna demo here first, and then we can do it together.

So we're gonna come into fluid dancing camels. So you'll stand up on your knees, and I like to tuck my toes under here. And I'm gonna sink my weigh back into my heels, grab hold of my left ankle, and then as I inhale, I'm gonna reach my right arm all the way up across my body and over, so I drop my head back a bit, so I can gaze up toward the ceiling. And then as I exhale, hand comes back and across the body, take hold of the right ankle, sweep the left arm up and over, and dip. Good.

And so moving with your breath from side to side, feel free to join me whenever you're ready. We'll inhale to lift, and then exhale, lower. Inhale, lifting. Exhale, lowering. And I just invite you to move with your breath here.

Move like you. If it feels good to pause anywhere, then go for it. If it feels good to hook onto both ankles, maybe lifting the heart into camel, then go for that. Good. Whenever you're ready, you'll lower back down into child's pose, just counterbalancing.

And again, where does the energy land? Notice the effect after the pose. Now we're gonna come into a nice hip opener here. So coming back to downward facing dog, tucking your toes, lifting the hips up and back. And to single pigeon.

I invite you to take any hip opener of your choice here. If single pigeon is not your favorite, then go ahead and take whatever feels good in your hips. I'll lead us into single pigeon. So you'll inhale, right leg up and back. And then draw the knee to the nose, start to parallel your shin toward the front of the mat, lowering down, and take anything under the hip, if the hip is pretty high up off the earth, just bringing the floor up to meet you.

And then taking a moment just to settle. Notice the transition before crawling the hands forward any amount, coming into your expression of the pose. Landing about five or six full breaths here. Breathing into any sensations that arise, and softening any resistance by deepening the breath. Last couple breaths.

And so when you're ready, making your way back up, if you wanna shake it off in down dog, go for it. You might take that right leg up and back behind you, shake it out. And then before transitioning to the left side, take a moment to notice the difference between the right side and the left side. And when you're ready, sweep the left leg up, step it through, parallel the shin, slowly lower, single pigeon. Just take your time getting there, knowing that the transition is also a part of the posture.

Coming to your version. And using the breath as an indicator of when you can slip in maybe a little bit deeper, and maybe when you need to back off just a bit. Last couple breaths. And then slowly, mindfully make your way up. And if you wanna come to down dog and shake it off, you're welcome to do that.

Otherwise, just shifting the weight off to one side, taking the legs out in front of you. And we'll come into seated forward fold. Sitting up high on the sitting bones, flexing through the feet, energizing through your toes, inhale as you lift your arms all the way up. And then keeping that length in the spine, folding, letting the hands fall wherever they fall. And softening through the head and neck.

And finding your breath. And every inhale, keeping it active, so you'll lengthen through the spine. With every exhale, softening into the fold a little bit more. Beautiful, and then inhale all the way back up. And we're gonna come onto our backs.

I'll just spin over so you can see me a little better. Coming all the way down. Let's just hug the right knee in. Let the left leg go long, soften the shoulders down the back. And then exhale, draw the right knee across the body, reaching the right arm out to the right, and maybe taking the gaze over that right shoulder if it feels okay in the neck.

If not, just gaze up toward the sky. Again, with every inhale, can you find length? And with every exhale, can you soften a little bit more? And maybe that's not softening into the twist, but it's softening the gaze. Softening the space behind the eyes.

And then inhale, come back up through center, just giving the right knee a hug into the chest. And then we'll switch sides. Left knee in, right leg goes long. Before you twist, just soften the shoulders a little bit into the earth. And then take a full breath in, and exhale, cross the left leg over the body, left arm reaches out, twist.

Last three breaths. Beautiful. On your next inhale, come back up through center, hug the left leg in. Take your right leg in to meet the left, Just hugging everything into a tight little ball. You might start to lift the shoulders and the nose up towards your knees, and together we'll take one more full breath in through the nose, allow an easy inhale.

Holding the breath up at the top. Sip in a little bit more air. And then exhale. Sigh it out, let it go. Straightening out the legs.

Finding your resting pose, Savasana. Palms face up, and then soften. Just gently resting the eyes. And you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. Otherwise, we'll reach the arms all the way up over our head, maybe interlacing our fingers, pointing through the toes, taking a full breath in, full body stretch, and open the mouth, sigh it out.

And we'll take the soles of the feet to the earth, just gently roll over to one side, taking a moment to pause on your side. Just check in, notice how you feel. Any shifts from when we started. And then with as little effort as possible, make your way to a comfortable cross-leg seated position at the front of your mat. And we'll gather our hands together in front of our heart, taking a moment to bow your head toward your hands as a sign of gratitude.

Just noticing, recognizing one thing that you feel really grateful for today. Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me, and for being here on this journey together. Namaste.