Go With the Flow

This practice is gonna get your body moving to help you go with the flow and roll with the punches of your day-to-day life, so let's come to child's pose and start at the back of a mat, and help get you centered. As you come to child's pose, walk your hands as far to the right side as you can, and feel that nice, long line of breath across the left-side body. Breathe in, and then let go. Walk the hands as far to the opposite side of your mat, we're going off-road a little bit here, and then breathe in, stretch through the right-side waist, and then exhale, let it all just flow. And then walk hand over hand, coming back to center.

Join the knees together and peel yourself up, planting the palms on your thighs, and then as you inhale, draw the heart upward and forward, and then as you exhale, tuck chin to chest, massaging through the spine, starting to get the energy moving. Inhale, consciously exhale. Inhale one more time, and exhale. And from here, breathe the hands to your heart. Sweep the arms out and up.

And then as the palms come to touch, take the palms to the back of the heart, to the center of your brow, and to your heart center. And extend your energy forward, sweep the arms back, fingertips to the floor, and glide your chest up, hugging the back of your heart forward. Exhale, pour it all out. Crawl forward to all fours, and then from here, keep the knees on the floor. Shift and lift the weight forward, and lower, elbows hug in, lower all the way down to the floor.

Extend the arms back behind you, interlacing the hands for Shalabhasana. Walk your legs back just a little, and spin the thigh bones inward, as you shrug the shoulders, let your third eye rest on the floor for a breath, retracting the arm bones and clearing the stress at the neck and the shoulders. Now funnel the navel up and into the back body, and let the legs float, and the upper body floats as well. Drop the chin towards the chest, and make sure you're not leading with the chin and creating stress, but instead, creating lots of space. Exhale, empty back down into the floor, press back, child's pose.

Inhale, roll up, hands to the thighs, and then shrug the shoulders, little dog tilt, exhale, scoop and hollow, round it out. Sweep the arms out and up, exhale, tap the back of the heart. Third eye, heart center, open it up, fingertips, shrugs the shoulders, lift through the hips, upward-facing, and then draw the hips to the heels. Forward fold, extend your energy forward to all fours, and then from here, launch your heart past your fingertips, hug the outer arms in, lift the navel, and then lower down, try to come down in one piece, elbows hug in to the side body, and you're pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling, (groans) slow motion on the way down. Shrug the shoulders down the back, lift the belly, then the ribs, then the chest, and float up into cobra.

Let's try that again, exhale, empty it all out, press into the tops of the feet, belly, ribs, chest, and then float it back down. One more time like you're pulling yourself forward through a wave, and then empty it out, and press back. Child's pose. Curl your toes under this time. Roll the shoulders down the back, rock the outer arm bones in, then pike yourself up into down dog, but walk your legs off-road, so come into a wide down dog, where there's really no weight in your hands.

And you're just allowing the spine to be like a sliding board, and all your stress to just pour down and out. Feeling the weight nice and anchored in the legs. Walk the arms forward, try to keep that lightness in the upper body, and then tread back into downward-facing dog, so feet are hips' width, hands are in line with the shoulders, roll the shoulders towards your hips and then wrap the outer arm bones down to the floor, pressing into the thumb pad of the hand, breathe in, breathe out. See if you can make your ether nice and even, so you're evenly distributing the weight between your pause here. Not feeling overloaded any way.

(deep breathing) And then gently look forward, see if you can keep your legs straight as you walk the plank, you walk to the top of the mat. It's a long road, but you made it. Now let the arms go, and bend your knees. So let the fingers drag to the right, and then to the left, and just getting a little sloshed here as you go side-to-side. And then rolling up, belly, ribs, chest, and then we have a little flogging that's important here.

Knees are easy, just swinging it out. And come back to center and sweep the arms up, and then exhale like you're moving through water, just bring it down a notch. Hands to heart. Standing in intention, rooted in your breath. Hook the thumbs, reach out and up.

Plug the shoulders down the back, side bend to your right like you're pulling the thumbs apart, and then up and over to the other side. And back to center. Little upper back lift, and then exhale, swan dive forward, bend your knees for these first few, or all of them, if you like, and then inhale, lengthen. Plant your palms, bend your knees, step back to the top of a push-up. So this first vinyasa, this first gentle flow-through, we can continue to lift forward, lift the navel as you lower the knees, and then shrug the shoulders like you're pulling yourself through a wave, lower down, there's that moment of hovering, and then come forward into cobra.

Exhale, let it all surrender, and then press back through child's pose, just to give the low back a little love, and extend back through downward-facing dog. Take three deep breaths here. So that first variation's really nice for the low back, and as you start to build that strength in the core, you could stay with that, or perhaps, second option is to pull forward to plank. Try not to let your torso collapse, and imagine you almost have like a little floatie, a little inner tube around your waist, cinching the waist down and floating the curve of the pelvis upward. As you shift forward, elbows hug in, lower push-up position, try not to just duck-dive through, but to stay connected and looking slightly forward, and then the legs don't touch the floor for upward-facing dog.

Hollow back, downward-facing dog. Bend your knees, look forward, step to the top of your mat. So you have options, always. Inhale, halfway up, exhale, bow. Lengthen, come all the way up to stand tall, hands to your heart.

Heel-toe the feet together, top of the mat. Inhale, let it flow, reach the arms up, hook opposite thumb, side bend to your left. Side bend to your right. Inhale, back through center. Look up, always something to look up to there, then forward fold, let it go, inspired.

Reach forward, step back, left leg, right leg to follow, your choice. Knees, and cobra. That's usually my choice, too. (chuckles) Scoop on through. Hollow back.

Downward facing. Right leg paints the sky. Massage the knee to your nose, and then hover and step the foot through your hands. Spin the left heel down and flat, and then adjust your stride so that you're heel to heel, or hips' width aligned. If you're as wide as your hips, it's gonna be a little easier on your low back.

Hook the thumbs here, and just rise up. Take a little side bend to the right, little side bend to the left. Inhale, look up. Palms to prayer, and then bow. Plant your hands, step back, top of a push-up, knees, pull forward to cobra.

Inhale. Exhale. Downward-facing. Left leg sweeps up, snuggles forward, threads through, heel down, heel-to-heel, or hips' width, firming left hip and sweep it up. Hook the opposite thumb.

Dig in. As you draw the right hip forward, come up and over to the left. As you suck the left hip back, up and over to the right. Inhale, all four corners of your rib cage, lift up. Exhale, empty it out.

Step back. One more time, pull forward, knees down, if you like. Cobra. On your inhale. Exhale.

Press back. Child's pose to down dog. Bend your knees, look forward, gather your purpose, bend a little deeper, and then float to the top. Halfway up. Empty it all out.

Sweep the arms out, coming up to the surface, exhale, hands to heart. Inhale, sweep out, right thumb hooks, little side bend. Put your hands in the air if you just don't, what? And then exhale, forward fold. But you do care, inhale.

Exhale, step back, top of a push-up. So, second pass here, if you wanna fire it up a little bit more, lowering all the way down, maybe uncurl the toes, hands walk back, fingertips, just a little bit more in connection, more in line with your ribcage, so you can build your up dog from the floor, and then lift it back. Right leg paints the sky, step it on through, warrior one base. Heel-to-heel or hips' width, reach it up, hook your thumbs, and then open up, transition warrior two base. So you'll walk your right foot in so it's in line with the back arch of the foot, and then be mindful that your ribcage is floating right on top of the hips here.

Right knee moves towards the second and third toes of that right foot. Don't look at it, 'cause it's worse if you look at it, it's really hard, look at the back leg, that's the leg we need to be working harder, so look at, oh, let's fire up the back leg, lift through the inner or to the left foot. Inhale. Deepen. Flip your palm, reverse.

And then you cartwheel back down, spin onto the ball of the back foot. Square yourself off, plant yourself in the moment, plank. So that's second variation if you like, chaturanga all the way down. Walk the hands back, still feel like you're pulling yourself through. Scoop and hollow back, downward-facing.

Inhale, left leg, reconnect, massage it through, plant it, warrior one base, heel-to-heel or wider, and reach up, left thumb hooks, just a breath, present, and then open and expand, left leg migrates a little bit more in line with the right arch, and then sense that you're right on top, floating. Front rim of the pelvis is lifting, and the tail's dropping down like an anchor. Dig in. Reverse your warrior. And cartwheel up and over.

Lift through the belly to step back, one more time, pull forward, whole body lands at the same time. Uncurl the toes, walk the hands back, inhale, upward-facing dog. Exhale, back to downward-facing dog, right into it. Inhale, bend your knees, look forward, exhale, step or float it to the top of your mat. Halfway.

Surrender. Reverse your swan dive, come all the way up. Hands to heart. Inhale, sweep it up. Left thumb hooks, up and over to the left side.

Up and over to the right side. Back to center, inhale. Exhale out, over to the ledge here, and then emerge. And step back, top of a push-up. Inhale, pull forward, so now perhaps, elbows in full chaturanga, upward-facing dog.

Scoop back, downward-facing dog. Inhale, right leg lifts, letting it flow. Scoop it on up, anchor it in your base. Transition, warrior two. Reverse your warrior.

From here, straighten the right leg, keep all that length in your right-side body, and pitch out over the edge for triangle pose. Imagine with your right foot, you're trying to almost tighten a really sticky mason jar, so you're activating the feet, the legs are like straws drawing energy up out of the earth. Lengthen, get lighter through the upper body, 'cause you're so grounded, so connected in the lower body, pushing and pulling. Inhale. Exhale.

Reverse your triangle. Tipping up and over, and it's almost like a fan, you create a little breeze, almost, there, so you sweep back, plank. Chaturanga dandasana. Mukha shvanasana. Adho mukha shvanasana.

That's fancy talk. (chuckles) Inhale, left leg lifts, (groans). Snuggle it through, warrior one. Sweep up, left thumb hooks, one big breath. And then transition, adjusting your stride, warrior two.

Lengthen, reverse. Sweep up and out, triangle. Lift up and out of the legs, now you're trying to loosen that sticky mason jar with your feet, so your feet are really yoking the earth here, reach up, beam through the crown, and all the weight that's in your left hand, see if you can push that into your right leg, so you're light. Inhale. Exhale, reverse.

And then sweep those arms up and over, step back. Top of a push-up. Shift it forward, chaturanga, feel like you're kicking with the legs, really use your legs in those push-ups, upward-facing. Downward-facing. Bend your knees, look forward, float.

Halfway up. Push off and bow, sweep up and over, hands to heart. Inhale, sweep up, hook your right thumb, side bend. And left side. Back to center.

Sit down into a deep chair pose, and then forward fold and let it all surrender. Inhale halfway, exhale, bend your knees, and either step back again, or springy, shoot your chest forward and jump your legs back, landing in that lower push-up position on bent elbows. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

That was exciting, exhale, lean back in your down dog. Right leg lifts, adding on, snuggle it through, warrior one, starting to feel good and familiar, just up, and transition through, warrior two. Reverse, lengthen up and out to the triangle. From triangle, reverse it. All that length in the right-side waist.

Lengthen up and over, right elbow to your right thigh, left arm sweeps across, firm your right hip in towards your left heel, rather than letting it break back, keep the hips and the heart in a straight line here. As you draw the left arm down, shift the weight, hips over toes, to half moon pose. Inhale, gather the center, feel the low belly lifting, the heart emerging, steady your gaze, and then square this shape off so the hips are gonna come and turn down towards the earth, like your warrior two energy here. And lift and plug everything in, maybe you can even take your fingertips off the floor, come back to the hands at the heart. Inhale, thread the left hand towards the floor, just switch the arms now, and the right arm's gonna unfold and open up and ring out.

Exhale. Palms to the earth as you step back. Sweep the right leg back, vinyasa, or downward-facing dog. Swim through, hollow back, notice the difference in your legs, 'cause one is gonna feel a whole lot longer than the other, and then inhale, left leg, gets to enjoy that newfound length. Warrior one.

Sweep it up. Go right into it, warrior two. Little adjustment. Reverse. Up and over, triangle.

Up and over, rebounding, reverse triangle. And then lengthen into Parsvakonasana, without collapsing on that left side, stay nice and buoyant through the torso. Sweep that right arm down, shift and lift the weight, hips over toes, half-moon. Sense the core awakening here. Steady your gaze, square it off, find your warrior three as you scoop up, perhaps, testing your balance.

Dropping chin to chest a bit. Right hand down, left arm's gonna scoop up, open and peel the left hip away from the left ribcage. Breathe. Let it all go. Crawl it back into your lunge, and then step back through your last vinyasa for this round here, chaturanga.

Upward-facing dog. Hollow back to down dog. Bend your knees, look forward, let's finish it out, nice and strong, inhale. Exhale. Sweep the arms out and up, bring the palms to touch the back of the heart, third eye, and heart center.

Scoop down, deep chair. Sit all the way down. (sighs) Baddha Konasana, forward fold, you might even use your elbows to kinda massage the legs here, inhale, leading with the heart, and then exhale, bowing any amount as you pitch forward from the hips, rather than rounding from the lower back. Find that dog tilt in the pelvis. (sighs) And then gently rolling up, using your hands to draw the knees together, just adjusting yourself so you have some space on your mat to go wider, little bit wider, you don't have to go big, but perhaps taking the legs out into a wide V, and walking the hands forward any amount.

I might stay here, you know? This feels good. You might walk hand-over-hand, into a little side bend, you could even, where they'd go? There they are. You might find your toes, they might be elusive, don't find them, and stay up a little higher, and then walking hand-over-hand to the other side, lengthening, maybe touching down, and then crawling back to center, and breathing it out, flexing through the feet.

Might even take your own healing hands to the back of your neck, and massage. And then your own timing, coming back up, using your hands to gather the legs, and coming on to your back. On the way down, it might feel nice just to say hello and thank you to the feet here, on the way back, for carrying this load, and then with the heels anchored in the earth, rolling down with control, one vertebrae at a time on the way down, unfolding for shvasana. And settling in. Feeling the breath roll up the body on an inhale, and soak down the body as you exhale.

As it comes in like a wave, and draws down and out of the body like the undercurrent any last bit of tension. And then you relax completely. Just gently wiggle the fingertips and the toes. And circle out the ankles and the wrists. And gently gather your energy, drawing the knees in to your chest.

And then this time, let's hold on to the backs of the knees, the backs of the legs there, and just rock yourself up to seated, as you come to sit, and sit with the palms open. And bow your chin to your chest, looking into the light of your heart, and the light of your heart shines a clear path for you today, as you carry your practice off your mat into all that you do. Gently breathe the hands to your heart in prayer. May you be happy, may you be healthy, may your heart know joy, and your spirit find peace. Namaste.

Pwah!