Morning Glow

(waves crashing gently) Good morning. Welcome to Morning Glow. We will be glowing, so come join me. Going this way. Remember, you set your pace, so if you need to rest at any time feel free to do that.

Take any options I mention if you need them. And namaste. We're gonna begin bending the legs and sweeping those arms up. There's nothing like waking up the body, getting into your quads, so we take a nice little sit, and maybe a little tiny lift, and another little sit, because what do the quads do all night? They rest.

And now we're gonna fill them up with some sunshine. Go ahead and straighten the legs, reach reach reach reach reach, and as you reach, bring the belly in just a little bit, just to give some security to the back body, as you lean back a little bit, and then here we go floating forward again. Sitting nice and deep. It's almost like oh I'm gonna sit in a chair, wait there's no chair, why don't I just pause there? And the hands come right to the heart.

And we're gonna do a little twist, now it can be helpful to bring your legs all the way together, and then we'll twist first to the left. I'm gonna hook my elbow in, reach my spine long, and ask my left shoulder to roll back. Maybe I'll sit a little deeper. Oh yeah, here comes the glow, right on the legs. And then we'll straighten all the way back up.

As you straighten up again, you're gonna squeeze the inner thighs, draw the belly in and up. That little back bend. Palms come together. Here we go back down. Opposite direction.

If you can, hook that elbow into the knee, and as you're turning to the right, you're gonna open that right shoulder so it sort of feels like the right collar bone gets longer, sit a little deeper. You can do a little fake smile, that kind of helps, if you're feeling a little bit like what just happened? And then up we go. All the way up, firm the inner thighs, draw the belly in and up, nice long length. You want it to feel very stable in the whole part of the body, particularly the back body.

And then here we go, fold forward to rest. Now I'm gonna widen my feet just a little bit. And as I widen my feet, I let the spine just release itself. It's a nice opportunity to catch your breath. About three breaths.

So it's interesting in the classes that are a little more slow and cooling, I like to focus on my exhalation, but on the morning classes I like to focus on this inhalation. So as you inhale come to squatting. Wiggle in the feet. I've been doing this lately, we've been doing these wiggle walks, so you sort of just walk yourself back, and then you walk yourself forward. It feels really good on the feet, exfoliates a little bit, always a plus.

And then from here see if you can balance yourself. Now it's not necessary, but you'll notice a lot goes on in the feet when you're asking the feet to balance without use of the heels. It can help to extend the arms. And maybe even slip a little lower. And get a little stretchy.

So you're feeling the heat probably in the body, you might be feeling the heat in the feet at this point. Hands come to the floor again. Long forward fold. Here we go, some little steps back, until you're in that nice Downward Facing Dog. So we're in the dog, I don't really concentrate so much on getting my heels down, I really concentrate mostly on getting my legs long.

So it's cool for my heels to move towards the ground, but really I want to lift my hips up at the same time. And my toes stay curled under, lower to the ground. Keep them curled under. Release the pelvis back. Notice my arms are gonna stay straight.

Focus on that inhalation. And roll yourself right up to hands and knees. So for me when I focus on my inhalation I'm making an active choice to receive, right? I'm just saying yeah, okay, air come on in, okay life come on in, okay day here we go. It feels good.

So we're gonna do the Barrel Roll, it's one of my favorites. I'm gonna drop my navel down, swing it to the side, and bring my navel up across. Go over to the other side and back down. Rolling that barrel of the torso, and just stay in the same direction, whatever direction you're moving in, stay in that same direction, for several rolls. So even in the morning class, where there's a lot of activity, there's also moments of allowing the body to sort of collect itself.

This is one of those moments. Whatever direction you're rolling in, let's roll the opposite direction now. If you need a cue on that, the navel drops down, slides to the opposite side, and lifts up, slides across, and slides back down. This actually generates some heat, so, keep going past that little moment when you might feel like, (mumbles), am I getting tired? Just go a little past that, consciously.

And coming back to center. Now let's see what that downward dog feels like now. Go ahead and straighten the legs. Ah, again we want the legs to feel like they're getting long, but there's always that aspect of lifting the pelvis up and back. Nice inhalation, and nice exhalation.

Lowering yourself down onto your knees. For this one I like to take my knees a little wide, but you know you can place them more narrow if it feels better for you. We're gonna Thread the Needle. So I'm threading my arm through, this is my right arm that's coming through to the left, and then it's comfortable for me to rest, on my shoulder, and on the side of my head. It may be a little different for you and that's cool.

Like pick the place where you feel supported. This arm for me is a must, because it allows me to really refine how I'm feeling the posture. Now from this I'm gonna allow my breath to move deeply so that it's lengthening my spine when I twist. So as I inhale, it seems like I feel the spine get longer. And as I exhale I can feel the spine want to move a little deeper in the twist.

And then up I come. Coming back to hands and knees. So if this is an interesting experience for you knees, you might try keeping your kickstand up, that's what I like to do with keeping my toes curled under, or vice versa. So you do want to be comfortable in the knees with this. Here I go, I'm gonna rest on my shoulder and the side of my head, my right arm is very supportive for me.

And on this side I notice my pelvis like to swing, kind of away from the mat, so I'm gonna bring it more onto the mat. In that inhalation, I feel like the spine gets longer. And on the exhalation I can feel a little deeper sensation as I move and or twist. And on your next inhalation, up we come. Settling back again into that Downward Facing Dog, this is like, it's our touchstone today.

We come back to downward dog just to sort of feel wow what does this feel like now after all of that? How does it compare to the first dog of the day? And go ahead and lower yourself to your knees. And then I'm gonna shift forward, I'm actually gonna let my feet come along with me, and come to a little Half Plank. Now if you're familiar with Plank and you like Plank, early in the morning, (laughs) then you can take a Plank.

If not, you can take a Half Plank, which is also very beneficial. I am still bringing my hip points to narrow, I'm still bringing that tone to my belly. And back into the downward dog. Getting warmer, down to the knees, and we're just gonna roll toward the belly. I'm moving into a Cobra, so I want my pelvis towards the floor, my arms may not straighten, right?

Because this is Cobra. I feel like I'm pulling myself forward. I'm getting long in the torso, but I don't feel like I'm jamming, just to get my arms straight. You can actually get a little more integrity in the pose sometimes if you keep your arms bent just a little bit. And back we go, walking the hands back, sitting back onto the heels, taking the hands back behind, for a little lift of the chest.

Now you could stay here if you like, or you could continue on and lift the pelvis too, a little modified Camel. And then coming to sitting, just to compress the legs a little bit, particularly the calves. Interlace your hands behind, and straighten the arms, really I'm not trying to lift my hands and arms away, I'm trying to get my arms to straighten straight down, and then I'm widening through the collar bones. Release the arms. Nice little downward dog.

And reflect again. I know you're feeling that morning glow by now. Oh yeah. But can you compare this moment, to the very first dog that you took? So in this dog let's take a minute to walk the dog out a little bit, just letting the legs bend.

If you want to move the movement up into the pelvis, you know I call this walking the cat. So just to get a little extra movement through the hips and legs, and bring some unity to the hips and legs. And then coming back to stillness for just a moment, feeling the posture fully. Let's lower on down for our first Sun Warming Pose. Bring the right foot forward.

To be more steady, the right foot can go a little bit more to the right. And our arms are gonna float up. You're always welcome to put something under the knees if you want. From here, interlace your hands and roll the palms up. And a little back bend, and then your arms come down, hands come down, and back leg straightens and go to a nice long lunge.

In this lunge, you don't sink into the pelvis as much as you're pulling the pelvis up. Opening the chest. There's a little bit of a tension like yes, I'm ready for my day. And then just switch. The front leg goes to the back, the knees come down, and the opposite leg comes forward.

Again for more balance, the left goes more to the left. Interlacing and rolling the palms up. Nice and bright through the arms, so as I reach up through my arms, there's a little bit of a lean back, keep that tone of the belly. Down they come. Back to that delicious Plank, or delicious Half Plank.

Both have their power, so choose the one that you like the best. Into a little mini dog. Bending the knees. Lowering down. Here I go again, into the Nether Warrior.

You get the option here of keeping that leg bent, that feels good, or straightening that leg. And coming up. Now this time I want you to just extend the arms, extend the hands, palm are flat. Floating down, right into that Plank, or the Half Plank. Let's hold this for a couple of breaths.

Right into the dog. And down to the knees. Opposite leg comes forward, you choose again, do I stay on the knee, or do I straighten the leg? All the way up. If you feel wobbly, it just means the front leg needs to go more toward the outside of the mat.

Squeeze the inner thighs, draw the belly in and up. Hands coming down, right into that Plank, or the Half Plank. Hold the pose, draw the belly in and up, press firmly, widen the collar bones, downward dog. In the downward dog, pressing through the pelvis, so the pelvis is lifting and the heels are releasing nice equal pressure. And then lower yourself down to the knees.

Relax back into a comfortable Child's Pose. Let's take a few breaths here, fill our oxygen tank back up. Now on your next inhalation, roll yourself up. Now this next posture I really like, it's a bit of a balance posture. So keep your right leg where it is, it's bent the knees are down, but extend the left leg, and I'm going to roll myself up.

So as you roll yourself up, if it feels unsteady take that right leg a little bit behind you. Side Plank. In the posture can you draw the belly in and make a sense of the spine gets longer. Bring that left arm down, all the way down. Drop to the elbows, palms together, straighten the legs for a little modified dog.

And lift the heels a little, descend the heels. And down to your knees. Back to hands and knees the same thing, lining up the left leg this time, take the right leg behind, take the right arm up, if you feel oh I'm wobbly, take that foot back a little bit. I've got my kickstand on, opening the chest, that right arm is reaching. So you give yourself enough support to feel steady, and in that steadiness, that's what brings the confidence, but it also allows the body to be more defined in the actions that you're taking.

Right arm's coming on down. Back down to the elbows. Your palms come together, straightening the legs to this little modified dog. Down to the knees. And reaching back, or releasing back, into the heels.

Three breaths. And back to hands and knees. So you could repeat that, repeating that's fun. Same same. Bent leg, kickstand, straight leg, arm up or, you'll go up a little bit into the dog, and then I'm gonna roll onto the little toe side.

So roll onto the little toe side of your foot, and stack the feet. Now if the balance gets really wacky, just take that top leg back. It's pretty fun. Otherwise balance yourself, open the chest, and ride the Side Plank wave. It's pretty fun.

Back to dog. This is a full arm dog, stretching through that right arm. Shift yourself a little bit forward, here we go, second side. Side of the left foot. Stack the top leg on top, that right foot stacks on top.

If you get out of balance take that back foot back. And down you go, nice downward dog. It's like striking a match inside the body. Feel the glow. Down to your knees.

A little Half Plank, or if you prefer full Plank is fine. You could bend your elbows until the body's on the ground, and come into a little Cobra, straightening the legs back out. Back to that Downward Facing Dog. And down to hands and knees. So let's take another Barrel Roll.

So I want you to drop the navel, slide to the side, roll up to the top, roll all the way across, to the other side and then back down again. Make a nice big circle, you're relaxing as the belly's reaching toward the ground, and you're drawing the belly in and up as you're reaching it towards the sky. So relaxation, concentration. Relaxation, concentration. Switching sides.

So my navel's gonna release down toward the ground, slide over to the left this time, lifting up, sliding across, releasing down. As it's lifting up there's a concentration of the muscles, they're firming. As the belly reaches down, it's quiet, soft and relaxing. And coming back to center. Release back into an extended arm Child's Pose.

Toes are curled under, arms remain straight. Take a few breaths here. Plant the hands, roll yourself up, bring those feet along with, come to that little Half Plank, and go ahead and open the collar bones and lift the head a little bit, but I don't want you to sag the body, I want you to keep it very firm in the belly. Now lifting and lifting, opening the chest. Back to that Child's Pose, extending the arms.

Breathing into the back body. So let's take some steps forward, bringing yourself into a Forward Fold at the front of your mat. Let the spine just feel like it releases, and gets a little bit longer, a little bit longer, a little bit longer. Legs bend, roll yourself all the way to standing. Really let yourself reach it up.

You can interlace the hands. Turn the palms out, draw the belly in, and then bending the legs, releasing the hands, coming into that nice power pose. Feel the warmth developing now, once again in the thighs. And then straightening once more. Can reverse the interlace of the hands, a little back bend.

Back to that powerful pose, palms come together. Remember it helps to bring the legs together for the twist. Turning to your left, open that left collar bone, pulling the left shoulder back, open the right collar bone, pulling that shoulder back. Sit a little deeper. Whoo hoo! Are you glowing yet?

(laughs) Up we come, all the way up. Reach for the sky. Bring the belly in and up, palms coming back down, right to the heart. Bending deep, turning to the opposite side, to your right. Open that right shoulder blade, lengthening the right collar bone, the left shoulder blade opening the left collar bone.

Sit a little deeper. All the way back up you go. Reach reach reach reach reach. And folding all the way down. Deep Forward Fold, widen the feet a little bit here, and make your way slowly to a squat.

Lets balance again in the squat. Interlacing your hands. If you need the ground by all means us it. If you can balance, it's a little more activity for the feet. It's more interesting to the feet.

Palms go flat together, press the elbows into the legs, palms pressing together, bring 'em back to the Forward Fold. Stepping your way back to the Downward Facing Dog. And come to your knees. So here comes a little warrior sequence. Step your right foot forward, straighten the back left leg, and bring yourself up for a Warrior Two.

In Warrior Two, you get to choose how deep you bend the leg in the front. Do keep the legs stable by keeping the knee somewhere hovering around the ankle. You could open the palms up, reach out a little further, relax the ribs into the body but keep the belly firm and then turn the palms back. Hands come to your hips. Straighten the front leg and turn your toes.

So I'm turning the body a little bit to the left. And then folding forward. Releasing the spine in Pyramid Pose. Pay attention that the arches of your feet keep lifting, that the legs stay attentive during the resting cycle. Hands come back to the hips now.

You can bend the knees just a little bit to roll yourself back up. Turning in the opposite direction. So now I'm turning to my left. Spinning out the left foot, stabilizing the right leg, and then bending that front, left leg, just to the place that I like to have it. Extending my arms, ribs coming in, belly firm, looking out over that left hand.

Feeling the steadiness. Hands to the hips. Front leg goes to straight. Turning the toes again, for Pyramid and folding forward. So the legs stay very strong, the feet stay very strong, the torso relaxes so we're looking to create length, lengthen the spine.

Nice gravity, pulling that spine longer and longer from the weight of the head. Now the hands come to the mat. You can step or hop your feet together. And come on down to your knees. I'm gonna sit on the legs, which compresses the legs, it's like a hug.

Arms go back behind, hello there. And I'm taking my arms and straightening them straight down, and just allowing the collar bones to open. Breath in to the full cavity of each lung. So you'll feel it in the upper lung, the mid-lung and the lower lungs. Arms release.

Hands go back where they were, coming into a little squat, and then stepping or hopping the feet back out, back to your Pyramid. So you can feel the force of the legs driving down and sort of feeling like they might be moving that way, instead can you feel them driving down and feeling like they're moving this way? It's a little change in your personal integrity in the legs, and if you think of it this way, you get a little more stability in the legs. So if you think of it as pulling the legs towards one another, that creates increased stability. You can always bend your knees a little bit to roll yourself back up, turning the right leg out, one more investigation of this beautiful Warrior Two Pose, sitting deep, feeling strong.

Now the front leg was working hard, I know you feel that. Go ahead and put a little more weight in the back leg. Ask the back leg to take an appropriate amount of work. Shoulder blades are firm, hands come to the hips, front leg straightens, spin the feet, and fold forward. Relax the back of the neck.

To come up, you can bend the knees a little, this takes the stress out of the legs. And then spin the legs in the opposite direction. So me left leg is gonna spin out and bend, my right leg is gonna go straight, but I'm looking to balance the weight. So I know the front leg's working, you can feel it. Put some of your weight into the back leg.

So the more even sensation in both legs working equally together. Collar bones lifting and spreading, shoulder blades deep. Do you feel like a warrior yet? Do you feel the morning glow? I'm glowing.

Palms coming to the hips, straighten the front leg, turn the toes and fold for Pyramid. Plant your hands now. You can step together the feet, or hop together the feet, lowering onto the knees, and again we're gonna compress the legs. Arms coming up, out to the side, interlace. Straighten those arms.

Even here you might feel your weight forward, see if you can bring it back a little bit. You're attention goes to the whole capacity of each lung, so as you're breathing can you feel a little in the upper, a little in the middle, and a little in the bottom part of each lung? Releasing the arms. Hands come forward. Curl the toes under.

Step or hop the legs out. Coming back to Pyramid. The legs remaining firm, strong foundation beneath you, roll yourself up, step the feet together, come back to the front of the mat. At the front of the mat bring your hands again to namaste, so the palms are coming together. I want you to feel a little reach in the spine, so the spine gets long.

Inner thighs squeezed together. There's that very yummy little back bend. And then as you exhale, bending deep, coming to that powerful pose. Inhale, arms are up this time. Notice the difference, arms overhead or arms at the heart.

Palms coming together, bending the legs. Turning to your left, opening that left lung, that left collar bone, left shoulder. Floating all the way back up again. Remember if you need more stability, separate the feet. Bending in the legs, palms together, turning to the opposite side to your right.

Open that right collar bone, open that right shoulder. All the way back up again. And folding forward. Nice exhalations. Legs bent enough that you can step the feet back into a downward dog, lowering down to a nice Child's Pose rest.

Count three exhalations for yourself. One exhalation, two, and the final. To hands and knees, and coming to Downward Facing Dog. So go ahead in downward dog extend the legs, and sway the hips again, we're gonna be rocking and rolling through this next sequence. You've experienced everything in today's class that you're gonna experience in this next sequence.

You'll get a option to work a little harder or work a little less hard depending on your energy level right now. So from here, coming to the knees, and stepping your right leg forward, you get the chance to straighten the back leg if you like or keep it bent. Float the arms up, interlace and roll the palms up. Get as long as you can through the spine, and go ahead for a little extra and let shift just a little bit forward in the legs, releasing the arms, hands coming down, let's take that long lunge. In a long lunge, right hand goes to the right thigh, turn a little bit in that direction, get even longer in that back leg.

Both hands to the floor, you choose full Plank or coming to that nice Half Plank. Hold here. Breath breath. Downward Facing Dog on you next exhalation. Long even spine, coming on down to the knees.

Opposite leg stepping forward. Straighten the back leg if you like, or keep it bent, taking those arms up, interlace, roll the palms up. How long can you get in the side waist, how firm can the belly be? Arms floating forward, coming to that straight leg lunge. Nice and firm that back leg.

Left hand goes to the left thigh, turning in the direction of that leg. Even breath. Both hands to the floor, here we go, you choose it. Full Plank, or Half Plank. Let's hold for a few breaths.

Firm the belly. Press away from the ground. And breath. Rolling into that downward dog, lower to your knees. Sinking back now, place your hands behind you and choose, am I just gonna lift my chest, or do you want to lift the chest and the pelvis?

Three nice breaths here. Press those shins. And forward you go, back to hands and knees. Here we come to the Side Plank, so remember, leg can stay on the floor, with your little kickstand, and the arm coming up, or the legs are straight. Pick your posture, what Vashistasana do you want to do today?

Come to the knees with your kickstand, or stack the legs. Bring the arms up. That doesn't catch you a fire, whoo girl! Here we go, back under and you go, long downward dog, back to the knees. Opposite side. So you choose, do you want to keep your leg bent or stack the legs?

If you're keeping a leg bent, make that kickstand. Bring the arm up. If you're stacking the legs, keep a sense of the legs are squeezing towards one another and belly staying firm and lifted. Down you go. Back around and back to your downward dog.

Long even breaths. Exhale to the knees. Sitting back on the legs, reaching back behind, interlacing and extending the arms down, lifting and opening the chest. Three more breaths. Arms coming up.

Here we go again. Downward Facing Dog. Long spine, lower to your knees, right leg comes forward, you choose does the leg stay down or does the leg straighten, arms floating up. Long in the spine, firm in the belly. Exhale hands coming down, long lunge.

Keep that leg very firm. In fact, the leg so firm that it is the leg that helps stabilize as you bring the other leg back for Plank. If you need to drop down, come to that little Half Plank. Downward Facing Dog. Down to your knees, opposite leg comes forward, that's the left leg.

Float the arms up. Interlace or extend the arms, like you feel what the legs and the arms need today, so is the back leg straight, or is it bent? Are the hands interlaced or are they straight? Hands floating down. Take that long lunge, firm that back leg, breath deep.

That back leg stays firm as you slip into Plank, or slip into Half Plank. Downward Facing Dog. Long even breaths. Down to your knees. Release back into the heels, hands go behind, open the chest, or open the chest and the front pelvis, press the shins down, like crazy.

Open that heart, like when you want to get warm. We want the sun that shines out over the planet to match the sun that shines inside ourself. So let the heat be your friend. Down we go, coming forward, here we go back to Side Plank. So choose your Side Plank.

If you're going to do a Straight Leg Side Plank, come from downward dog, if you're doing a Bent Leg Side Plank, come from hands and knees. Whichever one you choose, do it with gusto. So a few more poses. Open the chest. Keep striking that match.

Down we go, and you pick, Plank or Half Plank. Two breaths. Three breaths. Downward dog. Opposite side.

Right here, second side you choose, from downward dog for Straight Leg Side Plank, or extend that right leg, put in your kickstand, and bring yourself into the posture with gusto. Think of the solar flare and the sun, here we go. And down you come, to your Plank, to your Half Plank, your downward dog. And breath. Lower lower lower down.

Sit back. Hands go back behind, lift the chest, lift the chest and the pelvis, you choose. One last little modified Camel here. Bring yourself up, and interlace your hands, roll that chest open. Ah, sweet fire.

Releasing the arms. Let's turn and lay on our backs. Get nice and cozy. Should feel good to be here (laughs). Ah, the ground! The fire likes the ground, finds things to burn down there.

So from this place I'm resting on the ground and pressing my feet down. So as you're resting on the ground I want you to first feel the soles of the feet and as you press down feel like you're pulling your feet toward you a little bit. Move into that nice Bridge Pose, stabilizing the pelvis. A few breaths here. Lowering yourself back down.

And bring the knees in. Your hands go right on top of your knees, but your arms are straight. Relax the pelvis for a couple of breaths. Feet come down. Hands on the body again, press the feet down, lift the pelvis.

So there's a lot of integrity in the legs here, a firmness at the back body, as the legs push toward you like it's pulling towards you. Bring the pelvis down, draw the legs in. Your hands go on tops of the knees and your arms extend. Last one, feet down, pelvis up. This time you can take your arms overhead, but the feet still feel like they're pushing down and pulling toward you.

Lower yourself down. Draw the legs toward you. Hands on the knees. On your next inhalation, straighten the legs straight up, arms go over your head. As you exhale hold your knees again.

Your next inhale straighten the legs again, arms overhead. As you exhale, fold the legs into the body again. One more like this. Nice inhalation, legs straightening straight up, arms overhead. Exhaling.

Draw the legs into the chest. Lower the feet to the floor. And you can choose if you straighten your legs here or if you want to widen the feet and relax the knees towards one another, so the legs don't have to work so much. Whatever feels most comfortable to you. This is the end of class, this is called Savasana, Relaxation.

So allow yourself to be comfortable. If bending your legs is easier by all means do that. Either way, you're letting your arms relax to the side. And you let the whole body feel the ground. You let the whole of gravity just pull you toward the ground.

And feel the slow steady breath, continuing to nourish the body with the oxygen. You feel your quieting mind, nourishing the soul. If your eyes aren't closed, go ahead and close them now, letting the jaw relax, the shoulders relax, the legs relax. For these few moments let yourself be, just be. So allow your eyes to softly open, if you'd like to join me for a few minutes of meditation.

If you're feeling very comfortable and you want to remain in your Savasana, in this Relaxation Pose, please do so. For those of you who would like to come up to sitting, first let your eyes open, and bring some movement to your body that feels natural to you. Maybe move the feet around a little or the hands. The legs will bend, feet coming to the floor. And just roll onto your side.

And as you bring yourself up, you do it slowly because the body deserves the rest as much as it deserves to be brightened. Bring yourself to a comfortable, seated spot. Those of you continuing to rest in your Savasana, keep allowing gravity to pull you deeper. For those sitting, feel the gravity hold you and the levity that lifts you. There are these small freedoms in the Yoga practice that accumulate into great freedoms.

So as you sit and the body grows still, seek out those small freedoms. Because those freedoms will always be there, they're forever there, and they accumulate over time. The palms coming softly together at your heart in acknowledgement to yourself, for coming to this steady, slow glow of a class. Thank you so much, and peace out everybody. Namaste.