Strengthen and Stretch

Hey what's up welcome to yoga anytime thanks for joining me this is a vinyasa flow class let's get to it come to the front of your mat all right so feet are hip width as always the breath let's take three breaths together place your palms together at your chest stand tall breathe in and breathe out breathe in breathe out breathe in and breathe out let's begin to explore some movement with the breath inhalation circle the arms high stretch get long exhale forward bend inhale lift and lengthen your spine so it's a half forward bend hinging from the hips exhale the right foot back set the back knee down bring your fingertips down to frame that left foot untuck the back toes lean into the lunge lift the chest look forward see what it feels like to hinge the hips back slide your fingers back a little bit just just kind of straighten and fold over your left leg little hamstring loving good back into the lunge pause here breathe in exhale slide back hamstring love okay you can point those left toes up or point them forward right come back into the lunge good step back into plank breathe in exhale let's bring the knees down on the first one exhale lower all the way down inhale slide up for cobra tabletop exhale curl the toes as you breathe in and exhale downward dog pedal it out create a good stable base fingers spread wide arms nice and strong and sturdy head is free neck is relaxed good take the right foot step it up to the front of the mat bring the back knee down good so low lunge make sure the back knee is comfortable lean into the lunge a little bit on the exhale like slide the fingers back reach your hips back reach your right toes up a little bit sometimes like if you take a moment to look I'll put my hands back to give myself a little support kind of like lean into it let's do this one more time on each side so breathe in and then exhale hinge and lean into the lunge breathe in here exhale slide it back good back into the lunge curl the back toes step the left foot up to meet your right exhale as you fold inhale lift and lengthen the chest or spine sorry exhale fold rise up breathe in exhale palms to the chest let's go from here really working on linking the breath one breath at a time for each movement and we'll work through some high lunge sun salutations so inhale bring the arms up reach up exhale forward bend inhale lift and lengthen the chest and spine exhale step back into plank pose and lower that's one exhale inhale upward facing dog exhale downward facing dog inhale send the right leg high exhale right foot steps all the way up finish the exhalation to rise up high lunge on the inhalation on the exhalation you place your hands down step back and lower inhaling cobra up dog exhaling down dog inhale lift your left leg high exhale send it up to the front of your mat finish the exhalation get your framing right inhale rise up exhale hands come down step back into plank and lower that's one exhale ideally inhale upward exhale downward hold here three breaths good one more breath in dog pose look forward let's take two big steps start with your right foot so step all the way up with the right all the way up with the left landing in exhalation forward bend inhale half forward bend exhale forward bend inhale rise up to stand reaching your hands up and overhead and exhale palms to your chest your heart one more like that breathe in reach up exhale fold inhale lengthen half lift one exhale step back into plank and lower upward dog breathe in downward dog breathe out right leg lifts inhale exhale step it up toward your right thumb inhale high lunge exhale hands come down to frame the foot step back and lower inhale upward exhale downward dog good job left leg rises breathe in exhale step it up as you breathe out inhale rise up for high lunge exhale hands down step back and lower inhaling cobra or upward dog exhale downward dog three breaths one heel down at a time constantly working for length and space in the legs your back spine this time lead with the left foot so lift your left leg step it all the way up finish the exhale by stepping the right foot forward folding exhaling inhale rise up and exhale palms to the chest okay let's build on to that inhale arms out and up exhale forward bend inhale lengthen the spine half lift exhale step back into plank and lower inhale upward dog exhale downward dog inhale the right leg high exhale step it up high lunge as you breathe in nice okay bring your palms to your chest for a moment send your gaze directly forward good soft little bend in the back knee enabling you to draw your tailbone down toward the floor take the arms out into this like Y shape palms facing forward pull the arms back palms to the chest straighten your front leg and spin your back heel down maybe even get a little more length in the stance for warrior 2 check in quickly right heel to back heel or right heel to the left arch of the left foot and open up arms open warrior 2 evenly press into both feet and then maybe even like pull both feet together a little bit like you're trying to slide them together just so you bring a little strength to the center line okay and take the gaze over your right fingertips maybe even close your eyes hold another couple breaths steady relaxed just enough strength to hold the pose not overdoing it good so from here bring your right forearm down to the right thigh draw your right hip back nice okay left arm draw it high so extended side angle try not to let the right ear drop down to the shoulder like push the body away a lot of space between the right shoulder and the neck maybe take the gaze upward towards your left hand how's your breath probably feeling a little fatigue in that right thigh possibly that's normal good back into warrior 2 notice every once in a while when you take that breath that inhalation right kind of can lift you the exhalation really helps to kind of like ground you okay so palms back to the chest a little hip shift here palms back to the chest straighten the front leg a little bit and kind of like take that left heel come back into high lunge okay warrior 3 you can launch straight from here so get a super super set focal point right when you're ready launch up onto your right leg start with a nice little bend in that right leg stand the muscle and strength of the posture palms now pressing at your your chest keeping your chest lifted spine long hinge forward whoa hinge forward lifting your left leg as high as it's appropriate for you right now point your left toes down your left heel back stretch your long your spine long balancing on your right leg good while breathing focusing good now on your exhale you might want to bend your knee a little bit that right leg a little bit bring your fingertips toward the mat so more of maybe a stretch in that right leg don't worry about how high your left leg goes that really doesn't matter what matters maybe right now is like how you're breathing how's your breath good on your exhale step your left foot down to the mat finish the exhale inhale lift and lengthen your spine exhale fold beautiful good rise all the way up on the breath in and breath out palms to the chest let's do the other side inhale reach up up up and away stretch hinge and fold exhale inhale lift the chest half lift breathe in exhale step back into plank pose lower down inhale upward dog exhale downward dog left leg rises breathe in and exhale step it up high crescent lunge breathe in good arms out into that wide position again you may even bring those hands together interlace your fingers cross your thumbs and bring your index fingers long so there's more of like an overhead reaching up feeling steady gaze focus conscious breathing straighten the front leg kind of like decompressing taking the pressure out of the hips straighten the left leg spin the right heel down stretch your stance out a little bit open the hips take your left knee in the direction of your left pinky toe when you look down it's nice to be able to see your big toe left big toe there arms out powerful and relaxed straighten and bend that left leg a little bit that's cool take that left the gaze over the left fingers eyes are either open or closed for another breath or two be sure with all this kind of forward momentum or what seems like forward momentum you keep pressing into the outer edge of that back foot now left forearm on that left thigh but try not to put too much weight on it maybe it's like 50% okay right arm reaches high extended side angle you can work toward pulling your left hip back right hip forward legs are strong and sturdy breath is alive look up to the right hand warrior to hinge back palms to the chest you might want to shorten your stance just a tiny bit and then the idea is to square your hips so lift your back heel and square warrior three you really want to hit warrior three with hips square best you can okay so palms to the chest breathe in as you exhale launch up and balance it's normal to shake and wobble in fact I think that's a nice benefit of the pose right you're working all those small little muscles around your ankles your shins and calf so same thing press your thumbs into your chest to keep your chest lifted but you can lean forward just don't round the back point your toes right toes down push that right heel back belly in long spine try not to lock that left leg out I personally prefer a little muscle rather than sitting in the joint on your exhale you can straighten that left leg a little bit more hinge down reach your fingertips to the mat let your head relax stretch very deliberately into your left leg standing long on your left leg breathe in use an exhale to step your right foot down and fold exhale inhale lift halfway and exhale fold rise all the way up breathe in and palms to the chest exhale okay next phase inhale circle the arms up exhale forward bend inhale lifting halfway exhale plank pose okay let's see how this works out take the right hand right center of the mat shift your heels to the right side plank from here take your left foot step it behind the right leg okay your left leg is bent left arm high now it's kind of like that rock star pose where you enter it from downward dog right but it's more side planky so that left arm reach it all like you're trying to reach back behind you lifting your hips make sure your right shoulder is steady okay now try this is working on this the other day it's kind of interesting so if you bring your right toes up so you're on your right heel so lower your hips almost to where your butt comes down push through your left heel to lift the hips back up and open that's five inhale good exhale four exhale three exhale two good work not easy exhale one bring the right side of your right foot down left hand down right downward dog so kind of shift yourself it might be a funky little transition but left leg lifts high inhale exhale step it all the way up step the right foot up exhale fold inhale lengthen your spine breathe in exhale plank pose left side left center of the mat with the left hand shoulder supported left shoulder supported good stack for now feet right right foot on top of left and then take that right foot bend it step it on behind your left knee okay now take that right arm high and then push through the right heel to lift your hips get a little kind of bendy here okay try the same thing we did on the other side right so on your left heel toes pointing up inhale lower make sure look at my leg my knee is stacked over the right ankle push through the right heel to activate the glute push push push one inhale lower exhale two exhale three exhale four exhale nice slide your left foot over a little bit right hand down downward dog with that right leg lifting as you breathe in bring the right foot down breathe out okay so from downward dog take the right leg lift it up we're gonna do our best to sweep it right up into pigeon so draw the right knee to your right hand land the right foot to the outer edge of your mat on the left side take a moment situate your pigeon point your right toes toward the front of the mat this will help kind of protect your right knee okay you can stay here or you can begin to walk forward let's take five breaths starting now breathe in and breathe out inhale and exhale inhale exhale notice the effect of the exhale right you might feel subtle tiny little releases here and there one more time breathe in and breathe out fully completely breathe out walk up onto your hands release back up into three-legged dog maybe even open that hip for a moment the right hip open bend the right leg roll the ankle bring it back down to the mat lift your left leg high inhale and exhale pigeon pose point your left toes to the front of the mat create the desired angle of the left shin you know your right hip points down stretch through the back leg and land five breaths breathe in breathe out inhale exhale inhale exhale good last one breathe in and exhale great so this one unless you feel compelled we're just going to kind of lean to the left and come up into a seated position if you want to open up into downward dog open the hip go for it from the seated position let's take a spinal twist so if you lean back a little bit draw your left foot kind of underneath your right glute or right hip okay pull your right knee in take the little right foot across your left thigh okay make sure both sit bones are grounded sit up tall reach the right hand back behind you that might be enough if you just take the left hand onto the right knee you can hook that left elbow across your thigh stretch the chest and rotate for three gaze over the right shoulder for two and release you take a little like tip to the left somewhat of a counter stretch okay good lean back switch it up right heel near the inside of the left hip left foot on the right side of the thigh but I don't want to stay here I'm gonna lean over get the sit bones grounded right so situate myself sit up tall breathe in left hand back behind me right elbow crossing that right thigh lift like really can you imagine lift lengthen your spine pull the belly in and exhale twist for three two and last one come back to center take a little counter to the right good okay from here take your left leg hurdlers like a hurdler stretch that's what they call it quite simply right leg reach out so the left leg is in this flexed mode untuck the back toes top of the left foot grounded breathe in take three breaths folding over the right leg breathe out inhale exhale you can bend your right leg a little bit breathe in and breathe out one more breath breathe in and breathe out push back up and so the concept here right the idea is to stretch the top of your left thigh maybe even up into your hip so walk your hands back safely point your left knee down some of you could really like come back onto your forearms right I'm gonna stay right here for now okay nice come back up to center take the left leg long right leg good so breathe in and exhale reach over that left leg so the left leg you're pushing through the heel your left toes are up let's take two more breaths so the left toes are up and curling back pushing the ball of your right foot forward good one more breath nice inhale and exhale okay let's take a little counter stretch lean back top of the right thigh might be getting a little a little stretch see my Chewbacca shirt it's kind of cool it's got a skateboard you probably can't see it should we all right cool come back out undo the right situate yourself up onto your seat sit bones back forward bend little bend in the knees that feels better inhale reach up and exhale reach forward and maybe hook your index finger and middle finger around your big toes a good pose to practice feeling okay with where you've landed this is that one where always feels like well I could be further I could be further why are am I not farther settle in two more breaths inhale and exhale land good come back all the way up take the hands back behind you push your chest up for a moment like press the chest forward lift a little bit through the chest lift your chin see a little bit of a counter pose okay nice now slide the legs back back into a cross-legged position sit upright we'll take a rest here in a seated position if you'd rather lie down please feel free to lie down I will sit here legs crossed hands resting on my thighs eyes closed take your tongue wet the lips sometimes the practice the lips get kind of dry kind of nice to just get that done chin comes down a little bit head presses back shoulders relax take a few moments to feel the effects of the practice how do you feel now breathe in through your nose one of my more like favorite calming end of practice breaths if you breathe in through your nose comfortably not too too much hold the breath when you exhale open the mouth just a little bit it's enough for the air to exit through the mouth three more times breathe in through the nose comfortably hold and retain the breath open the mouth just enough and exhale two more breathe in hold the breath comfortably open the mouth a little bit completely exhale one more time breathe in hold the breath go through the mouth completely take your right hand on your left shoulder left hand on your right shoulder or situated somehow where you feel like you're simply giving yourself a huge hug right thank yourself for making the effort to practice once again right bring the palms together forehead to the fingertips always grateful right breath body life namaste thank you thank you thank you.