Flow and Glow

Welcome back. So this is going to be just an overall feel good practice to warm and energize the body. So we're going to start seated. So if you want to meet me in a comfortable cross-leg seated position, we'll start there. And just take a moment to arrive. So find your seat and just find the sitting bones rooting down. You can find some length in your spine. And just close your eyes for a moment. Maybe bring the backs of the hands to your knees and you can bring the thumb and index finger together. Maybe close the eyes for a moment. And let's just breathe together for three cleansing breaths. So taking a big breath in through the nose and then let it out the mouth. Good. Two more inhaling. Sigh it out. Inhale. And let it go. And just gently pressing the lips together, allowing the breath to move evenly in and out through your nose for ujjayi pranayama. Feeling that ocean like sound in the back of the throat. And then just starting to take your left fingertips to the outside of your left hip. And we'll reach the right arm up and over your ears. So just finding that nice stretch on the right side body. And you might take your gaze up toward the ceiling. Keep firmly rooting down through both sitting bones. And then take a big breath in through the nose. And as you exhale, take your right fingertips behind you and your left hand to the outside of your right leg. And then just kind of use that as you inhale, lengthen up through the spine. And then finding the spinal twist, maybe taking a gaze over that right shoulder. Taking a big breath in here. And then exhale, letting it go. Good. And then take the right arm up. We're gonna cross the right hand to your left knee or thigh. And then just find this rounding through the spine so that you're kind of tilting your weight back and drawing the navel in toward your spine. And the shoulders can even start to creep up toward your ears a little bit. Should feel really nice. Good. And then just rocking forward, you can let the arms go and then just sit with that for a moment. So just noticing how that feels. And then we'll come right to the other side. So fingertips to the right. Inhale, reach the left arm up and over your ear. Again, if it feels okay in the neck, maybe gaze up. Keep soft in that right elbow and then take a big breath in. As you exhale, find a twist so the left fingertips come behind you, right hand to the outside of that left knee. And then use the back fingertips as leverage to start to lift up through the spine. And then maybe take a gaze over that left shoulder. Good. And then reach your left arm up and over, crossing the arms, tilt it back round through the spine and just feel that nice release here. Beautiful. And you can let that go and we'll come to all fours.

So finding a tabletop position. Shoulders over wrists, hips over knees. And then as you inhale, let's arch the back. So coming into cow pose, let the heart melt between the hands, lift your gaze. And then this time on your exhale, round through the spine and sink the weight back into child's pose. So let the hips come back toward your heels and you can let your head kind of rest down toward the earth. Keep your arms nice and active. Fingers spread wide. Good. And then inhale, come back to cow pose. So let the heart melt down, lift up and arch. And then we'll come right back to child's pose on your exhale, rounding through the spine. One more like that. Inhale, lift up, arch the back, look up and lengthen. And then exhale, draw it in and back. Holding child's pose here for a few breaths, start to walk your fingertips over to the right side. You might even lift the torso up and reach your arms to the right. Maybe that left hand comes on top of the right hand and just feel that nice stretch in the left side body. Taking a couple breaths here. And then bringing it back through center and we'll just take it right over to the other side. So crawling the hands to the left, maybe taking that right hand on top of the left. You can even kind of lift up the torso and drape it over that left leg. And then just let the head and neck relax, feeling that stretch into the right side body this time. A couple breaths here. Nice. And then bring the hands back through center, come back up onto all fours. So from here, start to bend the elbows. We're going to bring the chin and the chest all the way down to the earth. Keep the hips nice and lifted and then slide your way through into a cobra pose, pressing through the tops of the feet. Draw the shoulders back, start to peel the chest up. Keep the chin slightly tucked. Good. And then come back to your knees, tuck your toes, downward facing dog, lifting your hips all the way up and back behind you. Good. And then inhale, glide forward to plank pose, lower your knees down, come back to child's pose. And then just finding the flow here, come back up to all fours. Bend the elbows, bring your chin and your chest down to the earth. And then gliding through, hugging the elbows in, roll the shoulders back, cobra pose, bhujangasana.

Good. And then again, right back to down dog, maybe pressing back to the knees, lifting your hips up and back, downward facing dog. Maybe pedaling it out the feet a few times, swaying the hips from side to side and just breathing. And then from here, we're going to inhale the right leg up to the sky and then exhale, bring your knee into your nose. So rounding through the upper back, shoulders right over your wrists and then lower your right knee all the way down to the earth. So it comes right under your nose. And then you can walk your hands forward a little bit, start to bring the weight into your right hand, spin onto the heel of your back foot. And you might kickstand that right shin back a little bit and then just reach the left arm up so that you're coming into this art of ashisthasana balance here. Good. And then if you would lie, you can start to bring the weight into the right hand, get light on the back toes and lift that left leg up. Good. Maybe even bending through the top leg, kicking your foot into your hand and just starting to rotate the chest toward the side wall. Beautiful. And then from here, when you're ready, release the leg if you're holding it, come back up, bring the sole of the foot back down to the earth and then spring on up, bring your left hand to the outside of that left leg and then reach your right arm up and over your ear. Good. So you're really sealing the outer edge of that left foot to the earth and breathing. Yeah. And then cross your hand in front of your face, bring your hands down in front of you. We're going to find a little bit of a shoulder stretch here. So walking the hands forward slightly so the hands are under your shoulders, inhale, reach your right arm up and then thread your right arm underneath coming onto that right shoulder in the right side of your face. And then whatever feels good with that left hand, so you can walk the hand forward or maybe take the left hand behind your back for a half wrap and then use that to start to spin a little bit more toward the back of your head and then breathe. Notice how this feels in your body. Come back to your breath. Beautiful. And then slowly coming out of there, you can bring the left hand back down to the earth, press up onto both hands. Then we're going to come back to the front of the mat. So you can walk your hands forward and then maybe just lift the knee up a little bit so that you can reposition yourself in that tabletop position and then lift your left leg up, take your weight into your left hand, reach your right arm forward. So you're coming into this balancing tabletop and then take a big breath in here as you exhale, draw the knee to your nose and your elbow to your knee rounding through the back. Good and then inhale, lengthen, reach out, fingertips and heel energized. Exhale, knee to nose. One more like that. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, draw it in. Good and then inhale, lengthen here. You can stay right here drawing the navel into your spine or start to bend through your back leg. Reach back with your right hand, take hold of the top of that foot and then kick the foot into the hand, draw the shoulder back and start to open up your chest to the right. Good. With every inhale, just finding a little more expansion. And then exhale, let that go. Good. Hand down, toes back, come back to plank pose. And then from here, you're welcome to lower down if you want to take a vinyasa or you can just lift the hips right up and back into downward facing dog. And then just taking a couple of breaths, maybe pedaling it out if that feels good. We're finding stillness. Coming to the left, inhale your left leg up and back. Exhale, draw the knee to the nose, rounding through the upper back and then lower the left knee down. Maybe kickstand that left shin out a little bit. Walk your hands forward, take the weight into the left hand, spin onto the heel of your back foot and reach your right arm up. Good. And you can stay right here in ground. Maybe that top arm reaches over your ear. Maybe you lift through that back leg and you can stay right here drawing the navel in, breathing. Or bend through the back leg, take hold of the top of the foot and start to kick your foot into your hands.

Good. Taking a couple of breaths here in chapasana. Beautiful. And then letting that go. Coming right up so that the right foot comes down and we'll take the right hand to the outside of that right leg, reach the left arm over your ear. Good. Maybe take the gaze up if that feels okay. Let the pinky side of your hand start to spin down toward the earth. And then take the hand in front of your face. Both hands come in front of you. Walk your hands forward so the wrists come right under your shoulders. And then this time inhale the left arm, reach it up to the left and then threading your left arm underneath the right coming onto your left shoulder and left side of your face. And then again, maybe the right hand walks forward. You can tent the fingertips or maybe there's a half wrap here, bringing that right hand behind your back. And then just using that to start to roll open a little bit more. Good. Breathing. Beautiful. And then coming out of there, pressing through the hands and walking back toward the front of your mat. And again, that doesn't feel so good on the knee. Just lift up the knee a little bit and replace it down. And then we'll lift the right leg, square off the hips, reach your left hand forward like you're shaking someone's hand. Draw the left shoulder back into the shoulder girdle and then take a big breath in. Good. As you exhale, knee to nose rounding through the back. Inhale, lengthen. Inhale, draw it in. One more. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, knee to nose. Good. And then lengthen it out. You can stay right here drawing the navel into your spine or maybe bend through that back leg, reach back with your left hand to take hold of the top of the foot and then kick the foot into the hand. Start to roll the left shoulder open. Chest opens up to the left. Taking a couple of breaths here. Good. And then you can slowly let that go. Coming back to center, hand comes down, tuck your back toes. Plank pose, straightening out both legs and then coming back to downward facing dog. Hips up and back. Taking a couple breaths here. Good. On your next breath in, rise high up onto your toes, bend your knees, look forward, step or lightly float to your hands coming to the front of the mat. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, fold over your legs and then root down to rise all the way up to stand. Inhale, arms sweep up and then drawing your hands into your heart. Taking a moment, close the eyes and breathe. Let's flow through just a few rounds of sun salutations together. As you inhale, sweep your arms all the way out and up. Good. Exhale, hinge forward at the hips, folding down. Step your left foot to the back of the mat and then flatten out your palms and come back to downward facing dog. Inhale, glide forward to plank pose, maybe lower the knees for this one. Lower your way all the way down to your belly. As you inhale, cobra or maybe upward facing dog, if you feel ready for that, straightening the arms, lifting the thighs. And then exhale, roll over the toes, downward facing dog. Inhale, your left leg up high and then exhale, step the foot through between your hands. Keep your right hand down, sweep the left arm up and twist. Good. From here, lower the left hand down, lower the back knee down and sweep your arms forward and up coming into unjaniasana.

Nice low lunge, softening the shoulders, breathing here. Take a big breath in, maybe press the palms together above your head. And then exhale, lower the hands down. Step your right foot to meet your left forward fold front of the mat. Good. Inhale, root to rise, come all the way up to stand and then draw your hands into your heart. Good. Coming to the right side. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, hinge forward, folding. Step your right foot to the back of the mat and then flatten out the palms, come right back to downward facing dog. Inhale, forward to plank. Knees can lower if you'd like or maybe lower all the way down with the knees lifted this time. Draw the shoulders away from your ears, lift up cobra pose and then exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, the right leg up. Exhale, step it through. Keep your left hand down, sweep the right arm up and twist. Good. And then come back through center, lower the back knee down, sweep your arms up unjaniasana. Soften the shoulders, let the fingers energize up. Take a big breath in, maybe press the palms together. Exhale, hands come down and then spring the left foot to meet the right, forward fold front of your mat. Root to rise all the way up to stand. Draw your hands to your heart. Exhale. Let's move through one more round. Just picking up the pace a little bit to build the heat. When you're ready, inhale, sweep the arms up. Exhale, forward fold, hinging at the hips. Good. Step your left foot back. And then this time, maybe step right back to plank pose. Lowering halfway or all the way down. Inhale, cobra or upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Good. Staying with the left. Inhale, the left leg up, and then step your left foot between your hands. Keep the right hand down, sweep the left arm up and twist. Come back through center, lower the back knee down, sweep the arms up. Good. On your exhale, step to a forward fold. Maybe finding a lift with that back leg as you come forward. Root to rise up. On an inhale, reach the arms up over your head, and then prayer in front of your heart. Good. Last side. Inhale. Arms up. Exhale, fold. Step your right foot to the back of the mat. Maybe right to plank pose. Taking a vinyasa, lowering down, chaturanga. Lower or upward facing dog. Downward facing dog. Exhale. Inhale, the right leg up. Exhale, step it through. Left hand down, right arm sweeps up. Lunge, twist. Inhale. Lower the back knee down, sweep the arms forward and up. Inhaling. And then exhale, maybe find a brief standing split on your way to the top. Lowering the left foot down, folding.

And then root to rise up. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, hands to your heart. Good. And then let's take the weight back into the heels. Coming into utkatasana, chair pose. Draw the shin bones back. Take a peek down. Make sure you can see your toes. Starting to bring your hips in line with your knees. Take a big breath in here. And then exhale, fold down over your legs. Inhale, lift halfway up this time, either walking your hands up to the shins or fingertips can stay down. And then take a vinyasa, either stepping back to plank and lowering through or finding your way back to down dog, however you'd like to get there. Inhale, lift. Exhale, downward facing dog. Good. Take a breath. Good. And then inhale, your right leg up to the sky. Step your foot through between your hands. This time, spin the back heel down. Circle the arms open to Virabhadrasana II, Warrior II. Start to sink down into that front leg and then start to square the torso toward the left side wall, finding your gaze over that middle finger. Nice. And then from here, flip your front palm, reach it back, reverse your warrior. Keep the bend in your front leg as you come back. Good. And then coming forward, bringing the elbow to the top of the thigh, reach the left arm over your ear, extended side angle, holding for a couple breaths here. And then let's flow with this a few times. So on your inhale, reach it up and back, reverse your warrior. Exhale, extended side angle. Good. Again, inhaling, bring it back. Exhale, extended side. One more. Inhale, bring it back. Exhale, extended side, holding here for a moment. Take your left hand in front of you. Start to swivel your right foot in so that the feet are parallel. And then walk the hands forward, fingertips under the shoulders. Inhale, lift up and lengthen. And then exhale, fold into yourself. You can walk the fingertips back in line with your toes. Let the crown of the head get heavy. And then anything that feels good with your hands here. So they can stay down. They can start to walk back behind you. Maybe you bring your hands to your ankles. Just let it feel nice. Keep engaging the leg muscles, lifting up on the knees. Last couple breaths here. Of course, if you'd like to go upside down, you're welcome to do that. Beautiful. And then slowly start to walk your hands forward again. Find length in the spine and then come all the way back to the front of your mat runner's lunge. Come onto the ball of the back foot. Keep your left hand down. Sweep the right arm up and twist. So you might stay right here and breathe. If you want a little more, roll to the outer edge of your back foot. Step your right foot back and stack for Vashisthasana. Side arm balance, maybe big toes together. A little space between the heels. If you want to take that top arm over the ear, that might feel nice. And breathe. And then slowly come back to plank. Vinyasa, if you want it, feel free to skip it. Cobra or up dog on the inhale. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Nice job. Take a big breath in. Let that go. Good. Coming to the left. Inhale the left leg up. Exhale. Step the foot through between your hands.

Spin the back heel down. Circle open. Warrior two. Sink it down. Front knee right over the ankle and breathe. Taking a couple of breaths to hold. Good. And then flipping the front palm. Keep the legs how they are. Tilt it back. Reverse your warrior. Good. And then elbow to the top of that left thigh this time. Reach the right arm over your ear. Extended side angle. And then flowing between those two postures. Building some fluidity here. As you inhale, reach it back. And then exhale, extended side. Two more like that. Inhale, reach it back. Exhale, extended side. Beautiful. Last one. Inhale. And exhale. Checking out the beautiful view we have here today. And then taking your right hand across your face. Start to parallel the feet. Straightening out both legs. Inhale, lift up. Lengthen. And then exhale, folding down. Proserita. Again, let the crown of the head be heavy. And maybe this time you try something different with your hands. So maybe they come to your ankles or peace fingers to your big toes. Just take a few breaths here. And then slowly coming out of there. Start to walk your hands forward. Lengthen through the spine and then back to the front of the mat. Crawling forward. All of your back foot. Good. Keeping the right hand down. Sweep your left arm up this time. And then find that twist. You can stay right here and breathe. Some of you might want to roll to the outer edge of the back foot. The pinky toe side of that right foot. And then you can step your left foot back and stack for Vashisthasana. And then engaging the bicep of your right arm. Lift the hips up. Maybe that left arm comes over your ear. Last breath here. Good. And then slow and easy. Come back through center. If you want to Vinyasa, take it. I'm going to meet you right back in downward facing dog. Hips up and back. Landing here. Take a big breath in. Side out. Rise high up onto your toes. Bending through your knees. Look forward. Step or lightly float to your hands. Good. Inhale. Lift halfway. Exhale. Fold down over your legs. Come back to chair pose Utkatasana. And then bring your hands to your heart center. Sink it down so that the hips come toward the height of the knees. And then we'll find revolved chair. So taking the left elbow on the outside of the right leg. And then opening the chest toward the right. And taking a couple breaths here. Keeping the knees nice and even. Good. If you want, you can open up the arms to go a little deeper. Yeah. And then coming back through center, reach your arms all the way up. And then as you exhale, just fold down over your legs.

So take your feet to hips width. Hook onto your big toes with your first two fingers and your thumbs, your peace fingers. Inhale. Lift halfway up. Lengthening. And then exhale. Bend the elbows. Let the torso drape down over your legs. Taking a few full deep breaths here. Release your toes. Heel to the feet back together. Inhale. Lift halfway up. Exhale. Fold back in and then come back to chair pose. Sweep the arms up Utkatasana. And then again, hands to your heart and we'll take that revolved chair to the other side. Taking your right elbow to the outside of the left. Palms together and then breathe. Taking three full deep breaths here, evening out the breath. Last breath. Beautiful. And then inhale, come back through center. This time we're going to step the feet almost as wide as the mat. Let the toes come in. Oh, excuse me. And the heels come in and then draw the hands in front of your heart sinking down into yogi squat Malasana. Just taking a couple of breaths here, maybe closing the eyes. And if this does not feel good in your knees, you're welcome to bring your weight forward. You can always take something under your heels if that feels a little better for you or sit on a block. So finding the length in your spine here, we're going to sit back. So you might just take the butt back or the hands might come behind you to come to your seat and then lift your legs up for boat pose. So you can parallel the shins to the earth if you'd like. You can straighten the legs if that feels okay, but just go easy on the hip flexors here and then draw the shoulders back. Feel the length in your spine. Take a big breath in here. You're welcome to stay right here. Or as you exhale, maybe, maybe, maybe lower halfway down. Ardha Navasana. Good. Inhale, come all the way back up and we'll take nine more of those. Exhale, lower. Inhale, come back up. And again, bend the knees if you'd like. Exhale, lower. Good. Inhale. Exhale. Six more. Inhaling. I think I lost count. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. We'll take four more together. Inhaling. Exhale. Three. Two. Good. And last one. Lift up. And then bring the soles of the feet to the earth.

Take your fingertips behind you. Inhale. Just lift the hips up to counterbalance. Take a big breath in. Stick out your tongue. Lion's breath. Good. And then lower your hips down and we'll come on to our backs. I'm going to spin around here so you can see me a little better. So coming onto your backs, walking your heels in towards you, ankles right under your knees. Just finding one bridge pose here, pressing through the soles of the feet. Lift the hips up. If you'd like to interlace the fingers, you're welcome to do that. Maybe you hold onto the outsides of your mat. Just drawing the chest towards your chin. Taking a couple more breaths here. Good. And then letting that go. Slowly releasing all the way down. Bring your arms out. Let your knees drop to the right. And then inhale your knees back up through center. Exhale at the knees. Drop to the left. It's releasing the low back. Come back through center. Hug your knees in and maybe wobble it a little bit from side to side. Take the knees in circles in one direction and the other. And then as you're ready, you'll lower into Shavasana, straightening out both legs, bringing the palms to face up. And then as you come, just start to notice and check in. Feeling the effects of that practice. Noticing the breath, the effect of the mind, and the quality of your thoughts. And then begin to just let go. Shavasana. Inhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. And you're welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like.

If you have more time, then definitely marinate in Shavasana for as long as you'd like. Please meet me when you're ready in a comfortable seat. And then as you come up gathering your hands together in prayer, Anjali Mudra in front of your heart, just taking a moment to bow down towards your hands, thanking yourself for showing up for you. Thank you so much for sharing your practice.