Core Strength Flow

(wave crashes) So this is a core practice, to get to the core of the matter, to help center you and integrate limbs back into the body so that your heart is light and you feel grounded in who you are. We'll in child's pose. So walking to the back of the mat and settling in, parting the knees a little wider than the hips so your belly can fall through the thighs. Bow the head to maybe find the floor, or you might even stack and rest your head on your forearms and just start to iron out. You might feel a little weight shift in the hips.

Anchoring in your breath as you fill the belly on inhalation, sweep the arms forward now crawling it out. And then draw the navel consciously towards the spine as you exhale, like you're gathering energy up from the earth. So inhale, belly fills, the navel swells towards the earth, and then as you exhale draw the roots of the earth up into the navel center, and spread that energy out across the back. Root in that. With the next deep breath, scoop your energy forward, hug and hollow the belly into the low back, come to all fours for a little for a little cat-cow.

To vary this a little today, we're gonna come to the fingertips, like suction cups and then curl the toes under. On your inhalation, shrug the shoulders, lift the heart and open up towards the sky. As you exhale, flatten the palms, hug and hollow, come to the tops of the feet and scoop the navel up towards the sky. So inhale, fingertips, balls of feet, exhale, palms, tops of the feet, and then coil up, inhale, exhale, one more, inhale, exhale, and then empty back into child's pose. Mindful you can come to child's pose at any point, you just wanna reconnect with the breath and you'll sort of find your happy place here.

And smooth it all out. Now swimming forward, reach the right arm forward. And you're gonna paddle that right arm back as you come up and over, feeling a little core awareness as you come and hover over that left hand. And then sweep it back, and sit back into child's pose. Inhale, big reach up and over, and then exhale and sweep back.

One more big reach up and over, and exhale, and center. And just pause and notice a difference in the right and left side. Stretching both arms forward, reach the left fingertips just a little further, and crawl it back, sweeping through, come up and over, little twist as you open through the chest, and claw your way forward. Inhale, up and over, swimming out over that right hand, just feeling that base of support. Linking the breath and the movement, and then settle it back in and let it all go.

Take the hands behind your back, hold onto to your right wrist with your left hand and just give it a stretch, little massage, and you open the chest to the right, tractioning the arm and then gently switch, opposite side, massaging that left forearm and tractioning. Scoop forward to all fours one more time here, walking your hands directly underneath your shoulders, finding a nice neutral base, and then lengthen back through the right leg, extend through the left arm. As you extend the limbs, feel like you're actually sucking the arm and the leg back into the core. So the ribs and the hips are gathering at the center. And then, tether the navel to the sky, and then lift the arm and the leg.

Shoot energy out through the fingertips, through the inner thigh to inner heel, and then exhale and gather all that energy and pull it into the center of yourself. Inhale, thread it out in a straight long connected line, and then exhale, gather. Inhale, extend, exhale, pull it all in. And last one, reach it out, replace the hand, replace the foot, curl the left toes under, and then pike your hips up, take a breath, and come back down. Child's pose, just trying it on, and release.

Notice a difference in the right and left sides. Inhale, pull forward to plank. On your, or all fours, that would be the new plank, that's today's plank, right now. So hands are underneath your shoulders, lengthen back through the left leg, feeling that inner line, and then extend through the right arm, not overextending yourself, reaching beyond yourself, but plugging the energy back in, so you're strong and centered. Float the left leg high.

Inhale, exhale, gather your strength, gather your purpose, and then send that energy out. Exhale, coil in, inhale, send it out. Exhale, gather, and then gently extend, pause here, breath it all in, replace your hand, extend through the leg and press into the ball of the foot. Curl the right toes under, lift through your center, and then three-point it down-dog, just a little teaser, and then you come back down to the child's pose. And crawl the arms forward, soften.

Inhale, coming forward to all fours but on your forearms, lengthen back into forearm plank. Palms up, like you're receiving energy, trying to press the backs of the thumbs into the earth. Round your upper back, and then exhale and hug knee to nose. You're just gonna give it a big kiss, muah, and then send it back out. And then opposite side, exhale, muah, I just, I think I have, need a little love there.

So I'm gonna keep doing that, couple more kisses knee to nose maybe, even knee to third eye, treading it out, one more each side. Coil in, round the upper back, and last one. Release, palms down, ohh that feels better. Come on to your belly, little serpentine cobra, so you'll shrug the right shoulder down, nice wide base of support here, high on the fingertips, and then left shoulder down. Inhale, feel like you're peeling up from the belly rather than the head.

Yeah, so you start to lift from your center, belly, ribs, chest into the shoulder, and then release back down. Hands to the earth, third eye to the ground, start to build some strength into the legs. See if you can lift the knees, lift the belly button, and then exhale and press back up through plank. That's fun, then gently just tread it out here. Downward-facing, nice easy stride, child's pose.

Inhale, rebound to all fours, right arm threads up to the sky, and then thread the needle releasing through the neck, the shoulders, the jaw here, using the left arm like a one-arm pushup to lengthen, and turning you towards the back of the skull, towards the base of the skull, rather than resting on your ear or temple or side of the face. If this feels good, you can lift up and out of the hips, then thread the leg out in the same line as the right hand. Open through the chest, maybe even stretch up and plug into the sun. And then empty it all out, coming back through child's pose. Rebound, reset, notice.

Inhale, all fours, left arm's gonna reach up like a big yawn, and then thread and scoop across the heart center here. Anchor through that right palm and shrug the shoulders down the back, draw the navel in towards the spin as you inhale, maybe you start to extend through that right leg. Lifting the front body into the back body, and then unfolding, maybe top arm to the sky. There's a sense of lightness through the center, buoyancy through the core. And then plug it all back into the earth, press back, child's pose.

And just observe. Inhale, walk the hands forward slightly and then come in to your all fours, walk the hands forward just a little bit more for plank, and then tread it in to down-dog. In this down-dog, we're gonna bend the knees and get really hollow through the center, wrap outer arm bones down towards the floor, so like your outer armpits are rolling inward, outer shoulders wrap around. Then send all 10 toes to the right side of your mat, and sit your hips back down towards your heels. Inhale, come back through center, down-dog, shift into the pocket, you're sitting nice and deep nice and low, and then shift all 10 toes to the left, sit down into the pocket of your hips.

So hips move towards your heels, inhale to center, exhale shift legs right, and then sweep back through center, downward-facing dog. You might not like me for this, but it's really good for you. And you come back through center, right side, and left side. And if you're slippin' a little, I'm slippin' a little, I'm gonna walk it back in a touch. For the next couple, maybe the knees go right, you sit down into the pocket, and you lift your right arm up like that big sweeping swim we did before.

Sit down into the pocket, shift the knees left, left arm reaches up and over, back towards down-dog. And then you just try sweeping side to side. One more time. And then you really appreciate child's pose after all of that. Walking arms forward, maybe even circling out the wrists.

Noticing that fire in your center, and the energy that it's building in the hard space. Anchor in that, reaching arms forward. Come back into the pocket, like down-dog but then you snuggle into the pocket, and then step, one foot, other foot to the top of the mat. Now we say thank you to the wrist for all that. 'Cause you bend the knees just enough to walk the fingertips underneath the ball of the foot, towards your heels and then drape forward.

And let your noggin' go, let your mind pour out. So empty your heart into the palm of your hands, just feel like you're standing nice and steady here in the strength of heart. And gently release the palms, plant the roots of your feet and spread your energy out as you lengthen, come half way up, and then pour into the center of yourself. Bend the knees, roll up one vertebrae at a time. And then heel-toe the feet together, standing Tadasana.

Arm sweep up, and hands to heart. Inhale, sweep the arms out, diving into the center of yourself, you're gonna flip the palms, just kind of turn the prayer inward and dive down into the center of yourself. Inhale, offer your heart, lightening up, exhale, bow, step both legs back to the top of a pushup, spread the right hand under your heart center. First variation, you could take the right knee down and transition this to the side-arm balance. Another option is to plant both feet and then thread this straight line from the earth to your heart to your hand.

Maybe even float and hover the left leg. Imagine you're sucking the limbs back into the core, to center, sweep the left arm back down, find your plank, tether the navel to the sky, nice and buoyant through your center. And then left knee down, right arm threads, we're stacking Tadasana lines, finding your mountain energy here, and float that right arm, carve the left shoulder into the back body, through the front of the chest. Exhale, circle back to center. Inhale, knees down, hover, Chaturanga Dandasana, and then scoop on into cobra.

Pull the belly up off the floor, hollow it all out. Maybe even pick up the hands, pick up the legs, and then press back through child's pose, downward-facing dog, inhale, down-dog, right leg paints the sky. And then draw the right knee into your chest, pressing right up against your strength, cross the plane of the arms with the right knee. Inhale, take it high. Exhale, right knee, right shoulder, firm the outer arms in, hover, round your upper back slightly, and then float it up.

Exhale, take the right knee across to tap the left elbow, and then for fun, send your right leg out, left foot flat, and then thread up, fallen triangle. Exhale, palms to the earth, scoop knee to nose, and take the right leg high. Take the right knee across the body in a figure-four, and then bend your standing leg, and then tread it out. Inhale, exhale, inhale, pull forward to plank, lower the knees, exhale, Chaturanga Dandasana to the earth, just kind of kiss the ground and then come up into cobra, draw the navel up and off of the floor so you're finding that energy at the center. Palms lift, and then anchor, child's pose to down-dog, rebound back into your down-dog, pressing into the palms, inhale, left leg paints the sky, exhale, hug the knee to your nose, round, break the plane of the arms with the knee.

Get all the way through there, and then inhale, sweep it up. Exhale, left knee, left shoulder, hover, round the upper back, pushing against your strength, and inhale, and then take the leg across the body, ring it out. Take the left foot to the floor, flat through the right foot, and then thread up and open through the right arm. Exhale back to center, draw the leg through, sweep it up, and then take the left knee across, figure-four, bend your right leg, and then tread it out. Inhale, exhale, look to the front of your mat, bend your knees, get into the pocket and then float to the top of your mat.

Inhale halfway, exhale, bow, inhale, sweep the arms out wide to the side up to the sky, and then exhale right away and you'll dive back down into the center. Inhale, launch your heart forward. Exhale, step back, plank, inhale, rock it forward. If you can this time keep the navel lifted and then rock forward through Chaturanga Dandasana. Skim through this big surge of energy under the body, upward-facing dog, and then hollow it back, downward-facing dog, inhale right leg lifts, knee to nose, hover, float it up.

Right leg, knee to right shoulder, float it up. Right leg comes across the body, extend, fallen triangle, lift up and now, big finish here. You're gonna bring the left heel in, and sit back and down, ooh. And then you get back up, and then you sit back and down. And let's extend both legs out, coming forward, Upavistha.

Any amount in this forward fold, and then you have a nice opportunity to clasp the hands. And just kind of snake out the wrists, if your elbows don't find the floor 'cause you're human, and that's really hard, stay up higher and just kinda rinse it off a little here, inhale. Exhale, shake it off, draw the right leg across, and then you just rewind this through a pigeon energy. And then step it back, downward-facing, roll through a wave, plank, exhale, Chaturanga, inhale, upward-facing, exhale, downward-facing, wrap the outer arms, left leg lifts, navel lifts the highest, knee to nose, snuggle it in. And float it up, exhale, knee to left shoulder, just stoking that energy in your center.

Inhale, exhale, taking the knee across to the right elbow, extend, fallen triangle, breathe it up, draw the right heel in towards the center of your mat, and then sit back and down and away, keep gathering that left side body in as you float up and down. One more big push up and over, whole body settles down, flex through the feet, sending both legs out. And then again, there's this nice massage opportunity, through the wrists as you melt forward, three breaths. And then transitioning back through pigeon-ish, yeah, as we like to say, it's actual pigeon, it's so much harder. But it's just a little pit stop, it's not to bad.

As you step on back, treading it out. Inhale, plank, Vinyasa, swim through to up-dog, hollow it back to down-dog, inhale, bend your knees, look forward, and exhale, float to the top of the mat, halfway up, dive into the center of yourself. Inhale, emerge, reach up, and then exhale, last wave down, deepest layer into the center, float up, exhale, plant your palms. Either step back gently, or if you're felling fiery, shoot your chest forward, legs back, Chaturanga, landing on bent arms, and then scoop on through, upward-facing dog. Second Chaturanga, cause why not, why not?

And then ooh, good god, breath it back to downward-facing dog. Inhale, sweep the right leg high, take the right knee into your chest and draw a little figure-eight this time, like you're gonna tap the left elbow and then tap the right elbow, left elbow, right elbow, one more time just carving that figure-eight, that sign of infinity really across the heart here as you draw up, take the right leg across, figure-four, downward-facing dog, bend your knee. Inhale, exhale, right knee, right shoulder, inhale, float it high. Exhale, right knee, left shoulder, fallen triangle, just a breath here, inhale. And then feel like you're pulling that right arm towards the back of the mat.

Suck the right leg in and maybe pick it up. Oh, that's so hard. Maybe reach left hand to the right leg, and lift up as high as you can, sucking the limbs back into the center. Inhale, exhale, thread that right leg all the way around. Flip your dog there, step outside yourself, let it all go.

And then float back through center. Inhale, downward-facing, exhale, Chaturanga, inhale, upward facing, exhale, it's back, second Chaturanga, press back to downward-facing dog. Inhale, exhale, gather your energy. Thread the left leg high to the sky, massage the knee to your nose, and then carve it out. Left knee, right shoulder, figure-eight across the heart, scoop it right around, try to tap the knee with the elbow there, and then take it back through figure-four, inhale, exhale, left knee, left shoulder, and then float it high.

Left knee, right shoulder, fallen triangle, carve into the legs, reach up, and then plug it all back into your center. Integrate the arms and the legs back into the center. Lift your left leg perhaps. Right hand, left knife, edge of the foot, lift it up. Get lighter by pulling everything back into the center, deep breath in, and then exhale, plant it, thread it back through, flip your dog, woo.

And then sigh it on out. Ahh, as you come back to down-dog, and empty into the earth, child's pose. Let it all settle in, all that energy you've been building. Pull it in to the center of yourself. Tap back into your core, and find that energy deep at the center of yourself.

To take one more round, one more. This is a fun variation on Vinyasa here. So what we've been building to is kind of a fun little circular pattern that massages the hips and integrates through the core here. So take yourself back in to down-dog because you're adventurous and you're strong and you're connected and committed here, put all four paws on the floor. Inhale, your right leg sweeps up high to the sky, take the right leg out to the right as far as you can, circling it around to the right.

And then thread it through, hug the belly in. You're gonna shift all 10 toes to the left. And then sit back in to the pocket of that heel, you sit all the way down, be like, oh thank god. But if you can stay up in the hover here, sitting hips towards heels, then you'll flip it all the way back around, flip your dog, circle, and then you get to do it again, because three times is the charm, sit the feet through, all 10 toes go left. Maybe you sit all the way down and find that little twist, that heart opening, lift it back up, and then scoop it through, threading into flip-dog and then come on back around, right leg high.

Tread it up to the right, circle, thread through, all 10 toes go left, sit down into that hover, and then rebound, downward-facing dog. Empty into child's pose between sides and get a sense of how connected you are to the center of the body. Feel the right shoulder hugging into the heart, the right leg hugging back into the pelvis. Take the deepest breath of the day, inhale, downward-facing dog, recommitting, lift through the left leg, float it up, kick it out to the left as far as you can, and then rise up high on the ball of the right foot, and thread all 10 toes to the right, sit that leg through, and then maybe you sit your cheeks down towards that right heel. Inhale, lift it up, thread and wrap it, flip your dog, scoop it through, stepping back, hands to the earth, left leg high to the sky, thread it long out to the left side, all 10 toes turn right.

Sit down into the pocket of your heel, maybe you don't sit your cheeks down, you lift your heart up, and then thread it back around, last one, flip your dog, scoop it on through, left leg, can it be one seamless action? Sitting down, all 10 toes right, thread it back around, hovering at your core, creative, fired up, connected, and relax and let it all go. Circle out the wrists. And let this kind of pull you forward for downward-facing, Shavasana. (laughs) Some people just call it a face plant, but we're gonna call it Shavasana, wag your tail a little here, and then just let it all pour out and feel your belly breathing in to the earth. As you inhale, let me massage the fire, that creative force at the center of yourself.

Massage it in to the earth. And then draw energy like you could sort of sip the earth into your body. Draw energy up into the navel center, and let that rooting pour over you. And let it all go. Just feel the rhythm of your body in sync with the rhythm of the earth.

And then you feel your heart beating and your energy circulating in rhythm with the earth. The earth breathing through you. And you tap in to this core source of support. This unwavering steadiness that is at the foundation of yourself. And connect it to that, and gently come up towards Sphinx.

Just rinse side to side. And start to crawl your way back in to child's pose. And then come full circle. And notice what is present, what is true in this moment. And roll up to seated.

And stacking the hands, sitting however you're comfortable. Then you bring the hands to your heart in prayer, bow your chin to your chest, mindful that this is a humbling path. Namaste.