Grounded and Fluid

(waves breaking on the shore) Good morning, Yogi. Welcome, thank you for joining me. We'll begin with the usual, some standing Sun Salutations, Surya Namaskar A and B variations, some standing asanas, and then moving down towards the floor with Bridge, Country Shoulder Stand and then making our way into a seated meditation. So join me at the top of your mat, and taking a moment to spread your toes, drop your awareness down into your feet and drawing your awareness towards your breath. Beginning to align with your breath, feeling perhaps the tailbone descend a bit, engaging the Bandhas, Mula Bandha, pelvic floor lifting.

An essence of drawing the navel towards the spine, Uddiyana Bandha, and a widening through the base of the skull. Finding the ocean breath, Ujjayi. (inhales and exhales) And this morning, initiating the movement from the breath. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, moving together, Surya Namaskar A. Inhale, reach the arms up, and exhale, Forward Fold, dive forward and in.

Releasing the head, inhale, Half Arch, lengthen the spine, and then exhale, stepping back into Downward-Facing Dog and taking three to five breaths here, wiggling. You might come high up onto the balls of your feet and then begin to let the calves and the heels stretch down towards the floor. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, stepping your right foot between your hands, let the left foot follow, Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, Forward Fold. Take the head out.

Inhale, circle your arms up, reaching, exhale, release. One more round. Together, inhale. Arms up, exhale, navel towards the spine. Forward Fold, dive forward and in.

Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, step the left foot back. Step the right foot back. Find Downward-Facing Dog. Breathing.

(inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, stepping the left foot forward and the right foot. Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, Forward Fold. And inhale, circle the arms up, reaching. Exhale and release.

Hands together, moving towards a variation of Surya Namaskar B. So you might find the variation with your knees lowering down as you come onto your belly into Cobra or make your way into the full variation of Surya Namaskar B, and I'll show that. As you're ready, bend the knees. Inhale, circle the arms up, Utkatasana. Exhale, dive forward and in Uttanasana.

Inhale, Half Arch, Exhale, step back into Plank. I'm going to lower down into Chaturanga and inhale to Upward-Facing Dog. Drawing the heart forward and exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. And then inhale, step the right foot forward between the hands. Root through the outer edge.

Inhale, Virabhadrasana I, Warrior 1. Exhale, release, step back into Plank. Lower down. Inhale to Upward Dog. Exhale, Downward Dog.

As you're ready, step the left foot between the hands and inhale, rise up, Warrior 1. Exhale, release. Step back and lower down. Inhale and exhale for five breaths here. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, take a look forward.

Jump or walk your hands to your feet. Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, Forward Fold, Uttanasana Bend the knees, Utkatasana. Inhale, reach the arms up. Exhale, release.

Hands together. We'll take one more round. As you're ready, bend the knees, inhale, utkatasana. Chair Pose. Exhale, dive forward and in, uttanasana.

Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, step back into Plank, and you might find the variation of lowering onto the knees or coming into Chaturanga. Inhale to Cobra or Upward-Facing Dog. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. Inhale, the right foot forward.

Exhale, release. Lower down. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, Downward Dog. As you're ready, step the left foot forward.

Strong legs as you inhale, come up. Exhale, release, step back, lower down. Inhale, exhale, and three to five breaths here. (inhales and exhales) And as you're ready, find your way forward. Inhale, Half Arch.

Exhale, Forward Fold. Bend the knees, Utkatasana. Inhale and exhale, press down through the feet and at the heart. (exhales) Okay, from here, we'll bring the legs wide and find Trikonasana, Triangle. Bringing my left foot and my right foot out, taking a moment to lengthen through my arms and then leaning.

The hand might find the shin, the ankle, the floor. And then breathing. (inhales and exhales) And as you're ready, you'll inhale, engage the Bandhas. Strong legs come all the way back up. Find your way to the other side.

Right foot in, left foot out, reaching the arms out. Inhale and then exhale, lengthening the underside and continue to lengthen. The hand might find the shin, the ankle, the floor, and then reach the arm up. Rooting through the outer edge, the foot, as you lengthen through the crown of the head. And breathe.

Enjoy your breath. (inhales and exhales) As you're ready, you'll inhale, strong legs come all the way back up. Take a moment to pause. (inhales and exhales) And so from here, moving towards Revolved Triangle, and this is one of the poses that is quite challenging for me, and it really, for me, it's about leveling my hips, and there's some curvature through my back, so it's really been a practice of stabilizing the hips. So we'll try this together.

So squaring off the hips, inhale, reach the left arm up, and begin to draw the right hip back, and the key here is to really stabilize the hips, strong legs. And then you might stay here. You might bring the hand on top of the foot or across. Take a moment to pause. Root through the outer edge of the back foot.

Lengthen through the spine. You might stay here. You might begin to reach the arm up. Breathing. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, inhale, strong legs come all the way back up.

How did that go? And then release and finding our way to the other side. This side might be completely different. For me, it is. I'll inhale, reach the right arm up, lengthening, and then exhale, finding Revolved Triangle.

Lengthening, drawing the left hip back. And the hand might find the foot or across the foot and then twisting. Breathing. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, strong legs, inhale, come all the way back up. Take a moment to pause.

You might find in your practice there is one pose you tend to kind of gloss over or skip over because it's quite revealing or challenging, and for me, this is one of them. So it's been a good practice to move through it with patience, okay. And let's just take moment to stand in Tadasana. (exhales) Nice. Okay and then stepping the feet wide, little wider than Trikonasana.

And then from here, bending, the knee will find Revolved or rather, Extended Side Angle Again, that form might be on the thigh, or you might bring the hand to the floor and then reaching the arm up. Rooting through the outer edge of the back foot and then lengthening and breathing and about three to five breaths here. (inhales and exhales) As you're ready, inhale, come all the way back up. The other side. Bending the knees, sink down into the hip.

Again, I like to use my hand to rotate my belly, my ribs, and then reach the right arm up. Sink down into the hip and reach and breathe. (inhales and exhales) Good, as you're ready, inhale, come all the way back up, and bring the feet together in Tadasana for a moment. Pause, drop your awareness down into the feet, aligning with the breath. (inhales and exhales) Nice, we're going to step our feet wide again, finding Trikonasana and adding on moving towards Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon.

So as you're ready, reach our arms out and then finding again your Trikonasana, Triangle Pose. Take a few breaths here. (inhales and exhales) And then from here, bending the knee, finding that Extended Right Angle via slightly wider stance. And now from here, the play, we're going to look down at the right foot, the bottom foot and play with bringing the hand out in front of you. From here, lifting the leg and reaching the arm up towards the sky.

Breathing. And then when you're ready, bend the standing leg will come back into Extended Right Angle and Trikonasana. Strong legs, inhale, come all the way back up. (exhales) Take a moment to pause here. And then other side, right foot in, left foot out.

Reaching the arms out, and then, finding Trikonasana. From Trikonasana, a partial Konasana. And them you might play towards Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon. Lifting and perhaps reaching the arm up towards the sky. Breathing.

So as you're ready, bend the standing leg, gracefully coming into Extended Right Angle. And then eventually, Trikonasana, making your way back up. And then inhale, reach all the way up, and take a moment to pause. Then we'll inhale and then exhale, come into a Wide-Leg Forward Fold. And then releasing the head towards the floor.

(inhales and exhales) Good, as you're ready, strong legs, hands on the hips, inhale, come all the way back up, and then jump your feet together. Stand in Tadasana for a moment, pause. And then we'll make our way down to the floor with the Vinyasas, Sun Salutations. Let's find our way towards the top of our mat, and moving with our breath. As you're ready, inhale, exhale, Forward Fold.

Inhale, Half Arch. Exhale, step back into Plank, and you might lower onto the knees or lower into Chaturanga. Inhale to Upward Dog or Cobra. Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. (inhales and exhales) Nice, from Downward Dog, lower onto the knees and press back, Child's Pose, Balasana.

(inhales and exhales) When you're ready, pressing your palms into the floor, slowly come up to Virasana. Nice, we're going to make our way down towards the floor. Rolling onto your back, hug your knees into your chest. And then setting up for Bridge Pose, first round, bringing your heels in line with your sit bones. Inhale, as you exhale, curl the tailbone under.

Press down through the feet, lift the hips, interlacing the fingers or reaching the hands towards the ankles and breathing. It's spacious around the throat. (inhales and exhales) And then as you're ready, releasing up onto the balls of the feet, navel towards the spine. Let the arms release and rest here. Exhale, release.

Okay, and then from here, we'll add on perhaps towards a variation of Country Shoulder Stand, and I'll demonstrate. As you're ready, inhale, exhale, press down through the feet, curl the tailbone under, lift the hips. You might roll and tuck the shoulders under. This time, the hands might interlace or perhaps, rest right under the pelvis, kidney region, lower back. (exhales) And this might feel nice this morning.

You might stay here. You might play towards bringing one knee into the chest, extending one leg up towards the sky and then bringing the other leg up. I like to flip my hands here and then bring my hips into my hands, supporting my sacrum and then reaching the legs up. Breathing. So really here, there's no weight on my cervical spine or my neck.

(exhales) Nice, you might continue to stay here if appropriate for your neck. You might begin to find Halasana, reaching the legs over towards the floor. Good, slowly as you're ready, right, if you're here and Country Shoulder Stand. Right, you might bring one foot down and the other foot follow, coming into that Supported Bridge, flipping the hands. And then high up onto the balls of the feet, slowly coming down, and take a moment to rest.

And exhale, release. Good, hug the knees into the chest. It might feel nice to curl up, forehead towards the knees, and release. And finding our way into a Spinal Twist. So you might take both knees over to the right, like this.

You might find an Eagle Wrap variation of wrapping your left leg over your right leg, rolling onto your right side and then reaching the left arm up. Inhale, exhale, gently twisting and softening the belly. And then as you're ready, slowly come back up. Unwind from the twist. Take a moment to pause in neutral.

Inhale, exhale, and release. And finding our way to the other side. Again, you might roll onto your left side, stack both knees on top of each other, or wrap your right leg over your left leg as you roll onto your left side and then reaching the right arm up and into a twist. Inhale, exhale, softening the belly, releasing the spine and finding out a place where the heads feels connected. So widening at the base of the skull, in between the eyes.

(exhales) And taking one more full breath, and if and as you're ready, come back up, unwind from the twist, release the legs and a clearing breath and exhale. Nice, draw your knees into your chest and then rocking your way up towards a seat. We'll close our practice with a seated meditation so finding a comfortable position to sit in, perhaps some support underneath you. Once you find your seat, taking a moment to ground through the sit bones and then lengthening up through the spine, through the base of the skull and exhale, softening. Just allowing the eyes to rest in the skull.

And guiding your awareness towards your heart center. Perhaps, feeling that gentle rise around the heart and the softening of the shoulder blades, back of the heart. And then this morning, closing our practice with the sound of Om. Join the hands together at the heart. With our awareness here, offering a clearing breath.

Breathe in. Exhale, and as you're ready, inhale. Om. Namaste. Thank you for your practice and have a beautiful day.

Namaste, thank you.