Wake Up Quickie

(waves breaking) So I call this the quickie. You are ready to move it. I use this sequence when I'm ready to move first thing in the morning, and wanna get a quick blast, or if I wanna feel really great when I have evening plans. We're gonna begin in Tadasana. Come to the front of the mat with me.

And just have a look at your feet, and get your feet settled into the mat, stretching open your toes. We'll take a couple breaths here before we begin our Surya Namaskar A. As you exhale, bring your hands to your heart and letting our eyes open as we raise our arms calling in the great Eastern sun. Exhaling, flowing down. Inhaling, halfway lift your chest.

Exhaling for Chaturanga Dandasana. Feel free to step or spring. Inhaling for Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog. Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. We're just gonna take one full breath here.

And then, we're gonna inhale our feet back to our hands. Halfway lift. Exhale. Inhaling. Exhaling.

Inhaling, arms up. Arms out and down, exhaling. Hinge your body forward, inhaling halfway, get long. Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling, Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog.

Exhaling, Downward-Facing Dog, drawing the navel in. One full breath here as we exhale. And then we're gonna inhale, feet to the hands. Find your extension, open it up, soften, fold. Inhaling to standing.

Exhaling, moving into Surya Namaskar B. Together inhaling, find your Chair Pose. Let your hands hit the floor so you're nice and deep in that chair. Keep dropping the hips back into the heels as you lift your heart. Exhaling, fold and hinge forward.

Inhaling, halfway. Exhaling, Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling, Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog. Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. We're gonna be stepping the right foot forward, inhaling into our lunge.

Exhaling back through our vinyasa sequence. Inhaling for Cobra or Upward Dog, keeping the belly and thighs nice and strong as you exhale to Downward-Facing Dog. Inhaling that left foot forward, high lunging. And exhaling, returning to the ground, Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling for Cobra or Upward Dog.

Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. We'll take three breaths here together in Downward-Facing Dog. Letting your hands fully melt into the mat. Softening around the heads of your arm bones. Coming to the bottom of this next exhalation, bend the knees look forward, inhaling, feet to the hands.

Halfway up as we inhale, exhale, soften, fold. And Utkatasana, sinking into our chair. Let the hands graze the floor, nice and deep into your seat. And exhaling. This Surya Namaskar B, we will move into Warrior B.

Exhaling, sit back, Uutkatasana. Inhaling, sweep the arms up into the sky. Exhaling, folding forward. Inhaling, third position. Exhaling, Chaturanga Dandasana.

Inhaling, Ūrdhva Mukha. Exhaling, Adho Mukha. Inhaling, the right foot steps, Virabhadrasana B. As you open up your arms, settling into your hips, we'll take a full inhalation here together. Exhaling back through your vinyasa, Chaturanga Dandasana for the exhale.

Inhaling. Upward or Cobra, exhaling. Downward-Facing Dog. Inhaling the left foot, Virabhadrasana B, opening up your arms. Full landing as you inhale.

And exhaling through to Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling. And exhaling. And two full breaths here together. Softening around the back of the neck.

And the bottom of this exhalation, we'll prepare to jump forward. Inhaling. And feet to the hands. Exhaling, soften, fold. Inhaling for Utkatasana, sit deep into your chair.

Exhaling, Samasthiti. Tadasana. In this Surya Namaskar B, we'll be moving into a longer sequence together. Inhaling for Utkatasana. Exhaling for Uttanasana.

Inhaling, third position. Exhaling Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling, Upward Dog. Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. We're gonna sweep the right leg up for Three-Legged Dog.

Inhaling, stretching through the back of your left leg. And exhaling, stepping through for high lunging. Inhale, press into that right heel, squeezing the bum. Great big inhale as you exhale, bringing our left hand down into our twist, revolving. One more full breath here.

And then, we're gonna play with that high split variation of drawing back and up through the toes and softening forward. So we're inhaling here and exhaling back. Inhaling. And feel free to alternate or feel free to hold one of the poses. Exhaling.

One more full breath. As we inhale, we're coming back up to standing, both arms leap. And then, exhaling, interlacing the hands behind the back, lift the chest, roll the heart, open, lifting the gaze skyward and we're gonna exhale and bow toward our right leg, resting your whole trunk on your right leg, rotate your left heel to the ground and begin to revolve your body skyward, letting your heart come out to breathe. One more full breath here. And exhaling, soften hands, returning them to the floor, moving through our vinyasa sequence.

Chaturanga Dandasana with your exhalation. Cobra with the inhale. Exhaling, Downward-Facing Dog. Inhaling, sticking that left leg up into the sky and exhaling, lunging forward. Inhaling, the arms coming up.

Sink a little deeper, squeezing the buns. One more full inhale. And as we exhale, we're revolving. And we're coming down, right hand to the floor, left arm to the sky. Find the depth of your breath, opening it up through your ribcage.

And then from here, we're gonna move into that high split variation so as you exhale, you pull back through the hips, moving that left leg towards straight. Inhaling, come back forward into the lunge twist. Exhale back toward the High Lunge twist. Inhaling. One more time.

And we're coming down. As we exhale that left hand to the ground, we're sweeping our arms up back to High Lunge, press through that left heel nice and firm. And then, exhaling, interlacing the hands around behind the back. Give the chest, draw open, feeling it spread through the center of your sternum. And then, exhaling, folding over at the hips, resting the trunk on the thigh.

We're gonna turn that right foot down, putting the right heel to the ground, and then, rotate our trunk. Try lifting all ten toes here as you breathe. One more full breath and then, we'll soften the bind of the arms, returning them to the floor as we move through, Chaturanga Dandasana. Exhaling. Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog, inhaling.

And exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. Two more breaths here together. And then, looking forward as we inhale, feet to the hands. Exhale, soften, fold. Inhaling, Utkatasana.

Find that nice deep chair seat. Exhaling, Samasthiti. Together inhaling the arms out and up. Exhaling, hinging forward. Inhaling, halfway.

Exhaling, Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhaling for Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog. Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog. We're gonna step the right foot up between the hands and walk around between our hands for Prasaritapadottanasana. Lifting, and exhale, softening and releasing.

Taking two full breaths, here, settling in a little deeper each time. And then, with our next inhale, we're gonna come halfway up and move toward the bend of our left leg and you can see how low you want to go here for your Ninja Squat. Just one more full breath. When we lift back up from the ground, we want to lift from the pelvic floor so we're not asking our knees to do it all for us. Exhaling, moving across to the other side.

And great big ujjayi breaths, here. Remember, lift from the pelvic floor. Coming back to center, exhaling, spinning the hands around to either side of the right foot and we're gonna step into plank. And we're gonna roll our bodies right into side plank, right side, exhaling. Inhaling, squeezing through the legs as you reach your left arm into the sky, getting a really good stack.

Two full breaths here. And then, we're gonna step that left foot all the way up between the hands for Lizard. Just pull the left knee forward and step. Drop the left hand to the inside of the left foot and see about coming on down to the elbows. If the elbows don't quite reach the floor, no worries, you could set the forearms on a block if you have it and you can also, if it's more comfortable, simply rest that back knee to the ground.

And we'll take three full breaths here. Just letting your whole body settle. Circulating the breath fully and freely, through the whole body. And from here, we're gonna draw our left leg right into Pigeon so we're gonna walk ourselves up and we're gonna lift that back knee back up off the floor. As we bring the left hand to the outside of the left foot, we'll scoot the left foot in and we're gonna pull the foot, the heel, toward the right hip.

Just hug it up, nice little belly strengthener there and then we're gonna lower that left knee right in behind the left wrist for Pigeon as we settle into our Pigeon. We'll pause here. Think of Upward-Facing Dog as you lift the chest, growing the spine long and exhale, softening, folding forward. Using your attention to monitor your breath and your breath will naturally care for your body. And then, together, we're gonna come up, inhaling.

And start to move into our Bound Pigeon. So, if this is a new pose for you, making sure that that left hip has support so that you can really drop it into the surface, whether that's a block or the blanket or the ground and then, we're gonna sweep that right arm back, inhaling. And exhaling, flex the foot when you pull it in toward the chest. That'll ensure that you don't get a cramp in the back of the leg or foot. And then, depending on how this bind is feeling here, you can play with it, rotating the trunk forward.

You could slip the foot into the crook of your elbow. You could even explore extending the arm to the sky. Just one more full breath together. And then, exhaling, releasing the arms, bowing the body down. We're gonna move through that on the other side.

So, we're gonna start in plank. Inhaling. And exhaling, rolling over to our left side. Inhaling, squeeze the muscles of the belly and thighs together. Reaching, bright through the feet.

One more full breath. And then, as we exhale, we're gonna take that right knee up into the chest and step the right foot all the way forward for our Lizard, bringing that right hand to the inside of the foot, open up the distance, so you walk the right foot out to the right a little bit and then, see about dropping down onto your elbows, here, and see how it goes. Sometimes you're able to drop the left elbow down and not the right elbow, but it will end up putting a lot of weight in the shoulder, so it might be better to keep it more equal or drop that knee to the ground. And we'll just soften into it, here. And those great big full-body breaths.

Letting yourself drop right into the belly. And then, we're gonna transition to our Pigeon. So, walking up onto our hands as we inhale, moving that right foot in toward the midline, coming up off of that back knee and squeeze that right leg up. Nice strong belly strengthener here and then we'll set the right knee down for our Pigeon. Exhaling, settling the hips.

Inhaling, thinking Upward-Facing Dog, here, as you lift the chest, lift the gaze, look skyward, and then, exhaling, soften, fold down into the ground. Staying close to the breath. Just placing your exquisite attention on your breath. And then, together, inhaling, we're gonna come up and work into our Bound Pigeon. Putting that right hand right near the right knee as you sweep the left arm open and flexing that left foot as you bring in toward the body.

And remember, you can play with your variations here. And some people, when they sweep this arm up with the inhalation, like to grab and reach. If we do that, we want to be sure to lift from the low belly, giving rise out of the lower spine. And two full breaths together. Exhaling, releasing your hands.

And feel free to join me in one final vinyasa, here. Inhaling for plank. Exhaling, Chaturanga. Inhaling for Cobra. Exhaling for Downward-Facing Dog.

Let's take several breaths here together. As you inhale up your spine, letting the exhale pour out the crown of your head. Completely releasing neck and shoulder tension. One last breath. And then, we're gonna come on through to seated.

So, let's come onto our backs together for Bridge Pose. And we're gonna be doing Bridge, Plow, and Fish, and then, we'll move into Shavasana. So, setting up for Bridge Pose and getting your feet underneath your heels, opening up your arms. Great big breath, here. Fully exhale.

And then, with our inhale, we'll rise, squeezing the hips up off of the ground and interlacing the hands underneath the back, we're gonna pull one shoulder under and then the other. So, when we draw the shoulders underneath the body, we've drawn the spine, the vertebrae up off of the ground so it's folded into the body, here. Two more breaths. As you exhale, release the hips. And we'll move into our Plow.

Beginning with hugging the knees into the chest, stretch your arms straight down your sides, pressing your palms into the floor and then, we're gonna inhale our legs back. And you can rest right here or you can pull up, drawing your shoulders under for the interlace of the hands again. And we'll take three full breaths, using your inhalation to lift the seat towards the sky, keeping a strong, central core. With this exhalation, we'll release the arms, undoing the hands, drop the knees in toward the ears, and slowly roll down onto our butts. Let the head just follow along and then, lay flat.

Taking a great big inhalation, stretch your arms, reach them tight toward the bottom of your mat, and exhale, send the legs down. As the heels drop to the floor, the head will naturally want to draw onto the crown. Just two more breaths here, opening up through the throat and chest. And then, to come out, press into the elbows, pull the head back and lower onto the ground. And we'll open up for final resting posture, Shavasana.

Letting yourself sink in for a minute. Resting into the natural perfection of your being. Giving yourself a few breaths as you make your way out of Shavasana. And starting to move the body. Any movements that feel good, stretching the arms and the legs, moving the fingers and the toes.

We'll roll onto our right side and make our way up to seated. Taking a moment to sit tall. And as we travel together into our day, may we share our breath with each other freely. It's such an honor to share in this practice with you. Namaste.