Strengthen and Flow

Hey, welcome back to yoga anytime nice to see you again. This is a vinyasa flow that I think you might enjoy. So join me. Let's have some fun. Come to the front of the mat.

Let's start first with a few breaths. Bring the palms together at your chest, at your heart, stand tall, breathe in, and breathe out. Good, inhale, and exhale, and you feel that little lift as you inhale and a little ground as you exhale, breathe in. Stay lifted as you exhale. Inhale, sweep the arms out and up.

Exhale into a forward bend. Inhale into a half lift. Exhale plank pose, lower down. Push your toes back, cobra pose, inhale, curl the toes, exhale from your core, downward dog. Walk up to the front of the mat.

Inhale lift halfway. Exhale fold. Rise up, breathe in, touch the palms, overhead, reach to the ceiling, and exhale, palms to your chest. Good start, inhale, breathe in, reach up, exhale, forward bend. Inhale lift and lengthen the spine, exhale plank pose, lower down to the mat again, point your toes back, inhale cobra, exhale, downward dog.

Right leg lifts as you breathe in, one time knee to nose, exhale into plank, inhale, send it high, right foot high, exhale, send the right foot up between the hands, good, land it and high crescent lunge as you breathe in. Place the palms together overhead, cross your thumbs, index fingers long. The arms are up alongside your ears, pull the arms back and then draw those shoulders down your back or toward your back. Lift your chest, but make sure you've drawn your tailbone down toward the floor, lift the chest, lift your heart, lift your gaze, good. So let's set the back heel down, shorten your stance just a tad, warrior one version now.

Same thing, arms up over your head, chest and heart, lifting, lifting, lifting. Keep this space in your upper body, but release the hands, reach back behind you, interlace your fingers, open up the chest and shoulders as you breathe in. On your breath out humble warrior, draw the upper body down either onto your right thigh or on the inside of your right thigh with the back of your head, relax the back of the neck and head, relax, good, get into the shoulders and hips here as much as you can, allow that breath to help kind of guide you in and around the space of the pose, good, draw like down through your feet, strong legs, use your core to rise all the way back up. Open up the chest as you breathe in, good, release the hands, breathe out, inhale, circle the arms high, exhale, hands come down to the mat, step back into plank pose. As you exhale this time halfway down, heels draw back, right, elbows stay right over the wrist, pull your shoulders back, draw your tailbone in the direction of your heels, pull the belly up, good, upward dog breathe in, downward dog breathe out, left leg rises, breathe in, in plank pose, knee toward the nose, core active, inhale, stand the left leg high and exhale, step the left foot all the way up, moderate stance, rise up for lunge, high lunge, good, interlace your fingers, index finger long, cross your thumbs, reach up, squared hips, extend your tailbone down toward the floor, good, steady breath, reach up to tip back a little bit, so your chest is pointing sort of like forward and then up a little bit, good, keep these arms, right, keep the arms just how they are, change the foot position to warrior one, back heel down, make sure you have a nice little angle on that right foot, that'll allow your right hip to come forward a little bit more, good, so now warrior one, chest up, tailbone drawing down still, keep this shape, just reach back behind you, interlace your fingers, inhale, open up the chest and shoulders, make any adjustments in your feet necessary for you to on your exhale, dive down, either onto or on the inside of that left foot, left leg, keep working some space in the shoulders, your hands up high, if your hands need to rest at your low back, do that, relax your neck and head, stay firmly grounded and committed to your feet and your legs, good work, press through your feet, use your strong legs and your core to rise all the way back up, good, inhale circle those arms high or reach up high and exhale, hands come down, step back little vinyasa transition, so on your exhale, lower down, inhalation for upward dog, exhalation downward dog, here's an opportunity to gather some strength, take a couple stretchy moments and downward dog, regain a flow of breath, feels good and consistent, take the right leg, lift it up, breathe in, knee to nose again, knee toward the nose in a plank pose, so pull the belly up and in, spread your back wide, inhale, send the right leg high, exhale, step it up, warrior one, back heel down, left foot's got like a little 45 degree angle on it, rise up, warrior one, that hand position again, interlace your fingers, index finger long, cross your thumbs, lift up, a little baby back bend, lift your heart, lift your chest, close your eyes for a little balance, balance challenge, really nice, bring your palms to the chest, straighten your front leg, lock it out for a moment and then put like a little micro bend in it, push your right hip back, reach your right arm forward, so counter the right hip pulling back and your right arm reaching forward, bring your right fingertips to the shin, your ankle, a block or the floor, okay, now the left hand, go ahead and bring it up high for triangle pose, stay committed to your feet, like bury the bones of your feet down into the mat, really commit to that, that action, right hip keep pulling back, open up your chest, breathe, bend your right knee a little bit, get into the muscle a little bit more, come all the way back, up, place your left hand on your left hip, reach your right arm forward, put a bend in the right leg, more than anything find a focal point, find your breath, find a focal point and don't worry about perfecting the pose, let's see what happens, okay, so reaching forward with the right hand, a little bend in the left leg, launch, okay, so the right fingertips, reach them down without really feeling like you have to touch, if you have a tall block or something, rest your fingers on that, if not you're gonna have to kind of really engage the core and balance even more, that rhymes, left leg send it back, really drive through that left heel and curl your left toes toward your shin, still holding onto my hip it gives me a little stabilization, so now my fingertips are down toward the mat, left arm reaching high, super laser focus, extending the hip a little bit, left hip opens, shine, shine, shine, put a bend in that right leg, step back into like a little warrior two, breathe in, take a reverse, exhale, windmill the arms down, step back into plank pose, exhale, lower down halfway, keep that tailbone drawing towards your heels, strong legs, shoulders back, inhale upward and exhale downward, again gather some strength, take a few breaths, I'm here with you, let's do this together, left leg lifts, breathe in, exhale, knee to nose or knee toward the nose in this plank, inhale send it high, exhale, send the left foot all the way up, warrior one, inhale, okay, interlace those fingers, index finger long cross your thumbs, ground down to lift all the way up, little baby back bend, palms to the chest on the exhale, straighten the left leg, put a micro bend in it, reach the left arm triangle pose, left hip back, right arm high, think long, long limbs, long torso, long neck, long breath, longevity, good, put a bend in that left leg, rise back up, right hand rests at your right hip, focus half moon, or half moon, okay here we go, ready and left hand reaching down toward the mat or the floor, right leg lifting, try to straighten that right leg as much as you can, push and drive through that right heel as if you were standing like in a strong mountain pose, curl those right toes toward your shin, try not to lock that left leg out, keep a little bend, release the right hand high if that's something you've got, open up as much as you can, where can you find more, pause and good, thanks for being patient with me, staying with me, big breath as you open up and step back, take a little reverse, breathe in and exhale, wind mill the arms down, step back into plank pose, from plank pose let's lower down halfway, exhale, inhale upward and exhale downward, let's take two giant steps to the front of the mat, right foot then the left, land exhale, inhale lift halfway and exhale fold, inhale rise up, rise and shine open up a little baby back bend and exhale palms to the chest, okay so make sure your feet are about hip width and we'll do a couple of slow chair squats okay so reach the arms out in front of you, reach your seat back, keep your chest up lower good and exhale arms come down alongside your body, just five little cherries, cherry squatties, inhale lower, rip, exhale, so real quick feet down into the mat, imagine ripping newspaper apart right, stay grounded you're gonna feel it up through here by doing that okay, so lower keep ripping that newspaper apart and exhale, we'll do two more inhale exhale, inhale now come on down, arms out in front or maybe the arms up alongside your ears, keep ripping the newspaper, pull the belly in, steady breath, lowering, spine is long, press through your heels, rise all the way up, breathe in and palms to the chest as you breathe out, okay this one you're probably gonna need a little focal point for bounce, lift your heels up off the mat, okay now you're gonna bend your knees, keep your body upright as much as you can, the play here is reaching your arms forward and your hips back to lower down, good keep lowering, stay in the muscle don't lower your butt all the way to your heels, now press and come all the way up, same arm position, arms come down, chest opens up, we're doing two more, breathe in, body stays upright, little bend in the knees, hips back and then there's this lower, lower, lower, lower focus, exhale, good now you're gonna have to stay with me here, I'm gonna work into crow, so lower down, good, maybe you come all the way down for a little rest, stay in the muscle, your choice, reach the arms out in front of you, plant your palms down, those knees up as high as you can, up onto the triceps, lean forward and crow it, crow it out, big toes to touch, I'm gonna come back down, move back on my mat a little bit, do another one, come out of it if you're still there, pause, reset, knees where you can get them, hands firmly grounded, shift your weight forward, lift your toes, engage the belly, option is to step down or shoot back into plank, half plank, upward dog breathe in, downward dog breathe out, good work, good, come into plank pose and lower all the way to your belly, lift your hands up off the mat completely, pull your elbows to your heels and then lift your elbows to the ceiling and then the elbows to your rib cage, really like tight, lift your chest, keep your head in line with the spine, there's no real reason to look forward, let's keep the head in line with the spine, neutral, chest lifting and don't forget, right, strong through the tops of your feet, down into the mat, strong legs, good, stay lifted, take your arms out into this like field goal shape, like you're flying, you've just jumped out of a plane with a parachute but before you pull that, right, this might be the action, you might even lift your feet a little bit, keep your chest, keep your chest lifted, hands come to the mat, lift up for a little upward facing dog and come on to your knees, good, take one cat cow, inhale for cow, exhale cat, round it out, come to sit on your heels for kneeling pose, okay, we're gonna build slowly into camel, first one, arms back behind you, fingertips pointing back, chest up, shoulders back, I might feel just enough for you today, heart forward, like super, super spacious in your chest, shoulders, collarbones and always open in your heart, okay, next phase, come forward and lift your seat up so you're on your shins, you can curl your toes under, take your hands at your waist, kind of like where your fingertips are wrapped around your waist and your thumbs at your low back, kind of like that stance where you're like, you know, like, right, you think you know it, I've done it, we've all done it, jeez, really?

Okay, but this is where we're gonna hold to support your back a little bit, the other option is fingers running down towards your seat, the palms of your hands in your low back, so you choose between those two, shoulders back, tailbone draws down like crazy toward the mat, toward your heels, good, chest up, shoulders back, we just did this on our bellies, really elbows working toward one another, elbows toward the heels, hips forward, zero or minimal compression in your low back, think about this opening, upper back, upper chest heart, good, back up to center, for the last one, we're gonna reach to the heels, you can choose the one I just finished or the first one, right arm reaches up, circle it back, a little rotation for your shoulder, reach back, take the right hand on that right heel, left hand, reach it up and back, a little shoulder rotation, kind of wiggle your way into the pose, remember tailbone down, glutes are active, hips forward, palms facing forward, holding onto those heels, good, pull up through the heels, push your chest up, camel pose, close your breath, good, slowly come back to neutral, bring your seat down to your heels, breathe in and breathe out, reach your hands forward, tabletop cat cow, let's start cat first, exhale, round it out, pull your belly up and in, extend your tailbone down toward your heels, inhale, cow pose, good work, downward dog, exhale, walk up to the front of the mat, hold exhale, one half lift, so hands into the shins, chest lifting, spine lengthening, inhale, exhale, fold for five breaths, standing forward bend, hips up over your feet, soft bend in the knees, you can place your hands behind your head, lengthen your neck, three more breaths, emphasis on the exhalation, good, one more breath, exhale, stay low like this but heel toe, move your feet to the edge of the mat via heel toe movement, heel stay on the mat, malasana, squat pose, elbows pressing into the knees or the inner thighs, spine lengthening, chest lifting, good work, bring your seat down, we're going to roll onto our back, roll onto your back, hug your knees in, give yourself a big hug, a little hug, bring your right knee into your chest and extend your left leg out, knee to chest pose, slide your left foot towards your seat, shift your hips to the right side of your mat, extend that left leg back out again, so if really you're on your left hip, this helps to align your spine for this twist, left hand on the right thigh and twist to the left, reach your right arm out, sometimes it's nice if you really twist as far as you can, see how my shoulders up but then I'll pause here with the shoulder lifting, take like three breaths, so right now if I push and push that shoulder down it's not going anywhere but if I breathe in, very deliberate long exhale, two more, breathe in, exhale, one more breath, breathe in, good, slowly come out, back over to center, extend your right leg out, hug that left leg in, this is like that cool down where you can really have an element in the left knee into your chest, like a big component of the last final couple poses here is relaxation, so you can start to really minimize a lot of the effort and begin to enjoy the process of letting go and relaxing, slide the right foot in towards your seat, shift your hips to the left, so in your right hip extend the right leg back out, make sure your back is nice and spacious, left arm reaching out to the left, right hand on that left thigh or left knee, breathe in, exhale, twist it out, so you have that option again, you can bring that left knee so far over, that left shoulder is going to lift and shoulder blade is going to lift but you can practice what I just did before, really seeing the benefit of that breath, exhale, you put your focus on that region you want to soften or let go and you send the exhalation there, it just works, but if I didn't have that awareness or take that time or be patient and I just pushed and pushed the body would reject it, it's that communication I'm generally talking about, speaking to that space, reassuring that space that it's okay to relax, chill out, let go, okay, let's come back out, center yourself back on to your low back, you may even kind of like slide your low back from side to side or forward and back, kind of loosen up any tension you may have, little subtle little bumps, okay, now take the arms overhead, take your feet forward, take a big stretch, big full body stretch, big inhale, lift your arms, don't lift the legs, just lift your chest, raise your fists, point your toes, engage everything, take a deep breath in and exhale, let it all go, good work, really, really good, sort of like as you move into relaxation, see how you feel, position your arms alongside your body if you'd like, anywhere where you feel comfortable and relaxed, anywhere that promotes relaxation, and just as we did with that twist, right, that focused exhalation, can you scan your body, certain areas like let's go to the hips, focus your attention on your hips, your pelvis, your seat, breathe in and exhale, see you can kind of relax that space, let's do that with the chest and shoulders, breathe in, exhale, relax your chest and shoulders, and lastly let's do it with the face, breathe in, exhale, relax every single muscle in your face, let's roll to the right side, bending your knees, rest your head on your right arm for a moment, push up to sit, you can join me or stay exactly where you are, all right, so as always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my gut, my soul for joining me, it's so cool to have you here with me, means a lot, so wherever you're headed from this point on, enjoy it, have an awesome day, evening, lunch, whatever, peace, respect, namaste.