Awaken Your Core

Welcome back, so we're going to move through a quick heating sequence to awaken and ignite our core. So let's start on our backs, I'll meet you there. So coming on to your back, just taking the feet a little bit wider than your hips. Take a big breath in and just reach your arms up over your head. Good, and then from here, drop your knees to the right side, finding an easy spinal twist.

Good, inhale the knees back up through center, and then just exhale the knees to the left. And then just moving from side to side, just starting to windshield wiper the legs, starting to warm the spine a little bit here. And moving with your breath, seeing if you can link the breath with your movement so that the inhales and the exhales start to become the same length. Nice, and then come back through center. Let's cross the right leg on top of the left, and then lift your legs up towards you.

You might even hook the right foot behind your left calf. And then taking your right arm underneath, find eagle arms, either backs of the hands together or palms of the hands can start to press together. And then take a big breath in, start to draw the legs away from your center and the arms up over your head. And then as you exhale, draw the knees to the elbows and the elbows to the knees, start to crunch everything into center and lift up. Good, and then inhale, start to come back down, draw everything away from you.

And then exhale, draw everything in. Let's take three more like that, inhale, lengthen. And then exhale, crunch everything in, elbows to the knees. Two more, inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw it in. Last one, inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw it in, and then let that go.

Let your arms come on either sides of your shoulders, palms face up, drop your knees to the left, gazing to the right, and just wringing out the spine for a nice eagle spinal twist. Then as you're ready, come back through center and we'll just take that to the other side. So uncross the legs, this time left leg on top, wrap it up, eagle arms, draw the knees in toward you. And then left arm underneath this time, eagle arms, take a big breath in, draw the elbows up over your head, let the toes lower down, and then exhale, elbows to your knees, crunch everything in. Good, inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw everything in.

Three more like that, inhaling, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, last one, exhale, draw it in. Beautiful, and then let that go. Let the arms come out on either sides of the shoulders, this time drop your knees to the right, eagle spinal twist, maybe gazing toward the left. Just taking a couple breaths here, super nice. And then slowly unravel, come back through center, hug your knees in, just give a gentle rock from side to side, massaging through the low back a little bit, and then we'll start to take that rocking up and down along the length of the spine, maybe catching a little pause as you come up in Navasana.

So just taking a few rolls here, maybe pausing at the top, coming back, maybe pausing at the top, and then cross at your ankles coming to all fours. So coming into tabletop with the shoulders over the wrists, the hips right over your knees, and we'll come right into the core here. So start to reach your left leg back, flexing through your left foot, spin the left hip down so the hips stay even, and then you're welcome to keep both hands firmly rooted here, or maybe start to reach your right hand forward, like you're shaking someone's hand, finding a balance, and then take a big breath in, energizing through your fingertips and through that back heel, and then exhale, draw the elbow to the knee and the knee to the elbow. Taking four more like that, inhale, lengthen out, reach with the fingertips in the heel, exhale, draw it in. Good, three more, inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw it in.

Last two, inhale, exhale, last one, inhaling, and exhale. Good, reaching out, let the right hand come down and take the left toes behind you, and then start to spin onto the heel of your back foot. You might kickstand that right shin back a little bit. Take the weight into your right hand and then sweep your left arm up for Ardavashisthasana. Now you can stay right here and breathe, just stretching through the abdominal wall.

If you want a little more, take the top arm over your ear, maybe lift through that back leg. You might even bend through the leg, kick the foot into your hand, and start to rotate the chest. Taking a big, full, deep breath in, and then as you exhale, just let that go. Come back to all fours, press the floor away, and round through the spine, just counterbalancing here. Good, and then come back to a neutral spine, and we'll take it to the right.

So reaching the right leg back behind you, flex the foot, let the hips spin down, and then again, you can stay planted here and just kind of take it from here, or take the weight into your right hand, reach the left arm forward like you're shaking someone's hand. Take a big breath in, draw the knee to the nose and the elbow to the knee, and then taking four more. Inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw everything in. Inhale, lengthen, exhale, draw it in. Just two more, inhale, reach out, lengthen through the spine, exhale, draw it in, and last one here, inhaling, and exhale.

Good, reach out, let the left hand lower, right toes lower behind you. Spin onto the heel of your back foot, maybe kickstand that left shin to the left a little bit, weight into the left hand, sweep your right arm up. Good, either staying right here, or maybe sweep the top arm over your ear, lifting through that back leg, reaching back, grabbing hold of the foot or the ankle, and then kicking the foot into your hand, breathe. Good, and then let that go, come back through center again, press the floor away, round through the spine, and then come back to a neutral spine, straighten out your legs, come to plank pose, and pause. Find the shoulders over your wrists, keep your hips in line with your shoulder blades, actively press back through your heels.

Take a big breath in here, good, and then come back to downward facing dog, lift your hips up and back, and breathe, just taking a few breaths to explore in this first downward facing dog, any movement that feels nice, maybe pedaling it out through the feet, maybe swaying the hips from side to side, just let the back of the neck be nice and long, good, and then on your next breath in, glide forward to plank pose, come to the top of a push up, bring the shoulders over the wrists, press back through the heels, keep light on the toes, and then exhale right back to downward facing dog, let's do that four more times. So paying attention and moving from the core, inhale, come forward to plank pose, good, exhale downward facing dog, three more, inhale, glide forward to plank, exhale downward facing dog, two more, inhale, exhale, last one, inhale, and exhale, beautiful, this time come forward to plank, now you're welcome to lower your knees here, we're going to just lower half way down, chaturanga, and pause, bring your shoulders in line with the elbows, and then from here lift all the way back up to plank pose, and find downward facing dog, again lower the knees if you'd like, we're going to do that two more times, inhale glide forward to plank, shift forward a little bit more, lower halfway down chaturanga, come all the way back up to plank, and exhale downward facing dog, one more, inhale forward to plank, lower halfway down, come back up to plank, and then downward facing dog, good, breathe, come forward to plank one more time, and then lower your weight all the way to your belly, untuck your toes, let your hands come back just a bit so that the wrists are under your elbows, and then pressing through the tops of the feet, lift your hands up off the earth just about an inch, and then start to roll up into cobra pose, so notice that this lift happens from the core in the upper back, good exhale lower down, two more like that, inhale roll the shoulders away, lift the hands up, lift up, and then exhale lower, good inhale last time, lift up, and exhale lower down, so nice, come on to your forearms, walk your elbows a little bit in front of your shoulders, and then press through your hands for Sphinx pose, taking a breath here, keep the core engaged to protect the low back, press through the tops of your feet, and then walking the hands back just a bit so the elbows are right under your shoulders, press through the hands, now you're welcome to interlace your hands here if you'd like, tuck your toes, lift your hips up, and come into forearm plank, and then we will be here for five full deep breaths, so fire up the core, draw the navel in towards your spine, let your hips be in line with your shoulder blades, and breathe, welcome to lower the knees if you'd like, three more breaths, might feel a little shaking in your core, I am, good, and then from here one hand at a time, come back up to plank pose because all of a sudden plank feels really nice, good, and then you might come back down onto your forearms one hand at a time, and then climb back up, try to limit the swaying of the hips, come back down opposite hand down first, and then come back up to plank downward facing dog, take a big breath in, sigh it out the mouth, let it go, good, and then inhale your right leg up to the sky, as you exhale draw your knee to your nose, come to the top of a push up and hover, round through the upper back, shoulders right over your wrists, and then inhale sweep the leg all the way up and back, three leg downward facing dog, two more like that, exhale knee to nose, hover, inhale sweep the leg up and back, exhale knee to nose, inhale sweep your leg up and back, beautiful, and then step your foot all the way through between your hands, come onto your fingertips, step your left foot to the left a little bit so your feet are on train tracks instead of a tight rope, and then draw the navel in toward your spine, so you're lifting the belly up off that right thigh, but stay long in your spine and just reach your arms back behind you, so you're hovering here, good, reaching the crown of the head forward and reaching back actively through that left heel, good, so you're welcome to stay right here, if you want to turn up the heat a little bit reach your arms forward, keep the hover, draw the shoulders back, energize through your fingertips, and then rooting down through the legs to rise up, come up to crescent pose, good, front knee over your ankle, settle in and breathe, just taking a couple full deep breaths right here, good, keep drawing the navel into your spine so that you're keeping the core engaged, take a big breath in, and then lower your hands down, step back to plank pose, and then lower through halfway chaturanga, cobra or upward facing dog on your inhale, and then downward facing dog exhale, take a big breath in, and then let it go, good, coming to the left side, inhale sweep the left leg up, exhale draw the knee to your nose and hover, inhale sweep the leg up and back, exhale knee to nose, last one, inhale sweep it up, exhale knee to nose, step your foot through between your hands, again step the right foot to the right a little bit, keep drawing that left hip crease back, and then draw the arms back, draw the shoulders back, find length in the spine, and then pick the belly up off the thighs so that you're engaging through the core, maybe reach the arms forward, plug the shoulders back into the shoulder girdle, and then actively you can lift up in crescent pose, soften through the back knee, and breathe, so nice, last two breaths here, good, take a big breath in, and then exhale lower the hands down, find a vinyasa here, or totally skip it and find downward facing dog, cobra or up dog, downward facing dog, exhale, on your next breath in rise high up onto your toes, put a bend in your knees, step up or fly, come to the front of the mat, good, inhale lift halfway up, exhale fold, and then come to chair pose, sink the weight back into your heels, sweep your arms up, and breathe, good, straighten through the legs, draw your hands to your heart center. Coming into surya namaskar b, so coming back to chair, inhale sweep the arms up, chair pose, exhale fold uttanasana, inhale lift halfway up, offer the heart forward, exhale plant your palms step or lightly float back, coming through a vinyasa, cobra or up dog on your inhale, and then exhale downward facing dog, inhale your right leg up to the sky, exhale draw the knee to your nose and hover, inhale sweep the leg up, and then stepping your foot through between your hands, stay on the ball of your back foot, and we'll come right up to crescent pose, so sweep the arms up, soften through that front knee and through the back, and then take a big breath in, maybe press the palms together, exhale to lower, take a vinyasa here or skip it, you can always come right back to downward facing dog, meeting there on your exhale, inhale your left leg up, exhale knee to nose, hover, inhale sweep it up, exhale step it through, ball of the back foot, inhale crescent pose, one breath per movement, exhale hands come down, flowing through vinyasa, inhale cobra or up dog, downward facing dog exhale, take a big breath in, allow an easy exhale, allow an easy inhale through the nose, and sigh it out, taking one more round here from the back of the mat, inhale the right leg up, exhale knee to nose, hover, inhale sweep the leg up, exhale step through, one breath per movement, inhale sweep up crescent pose, exhale vinyasa, maybe keeping that right leg lifted as you lower, cobra or up dog inhale, downward facing dog exhale, inhale the left leg up, knee to nose, exhale, inhale sweep it up, step the foot through, crescent pose, inhale arm sweep up, exhale come back down, maybe the left leg stays lifted shifting forward, finding your vinyasa, and meeting back in downward facing dog, and let's take a moment to lower the knees, finding child's pose, just coming back to the breath, you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, whenever you're ready meet me back in downward facing dog, good so from here step your feet together at the back of the mat, and then inhale slide your way forward into plank pose with the feet together, and then take your weight into your right hand, start to roll to the outer edge of your right foot, sweep your left arm up, so you're welcome to lower that bottom knee down if you'd like, or you can stay right here and stack for vashisthasana, good lift the hips up, engage your bicep on the right arm, and then slow and controlled come back to plank pose, feet together at the back of the mat, and then we'll come right to the left side, so rolling to the outer edge of the left, take the weight into your left hand, and then reach your right arm up, breathe, and then nice and slow and controlled, back to plank, and then come right back to your downward facing dog, if you want the vinyasa of course you're free to take that, I'm good coming right back to down dog, and then inhale rise up onto the toes, bend your knees look forward step or lightly float to your hands, inhale lift up, halfway exhale fold, sink it down into chair pose, utkatasana, arms sweep all the way up, and then sink it down so much that you come back to a seat, and let the legs lift up, so you can parallel the shins to the earth, draw the shoulders back, feel length in the spine, and then spread your toes, so that your toes are in line with your nose, and then just finding five full deep breaths here, good, and so you can stay right here and breathe, otherwise take a big breath in, as you exhale lower halfway down, and then inhale come back up, just four more like that, lowering down, coming back up, three more, lower down, come back up, last two, lower down, come on back up, and then last one, come back up, nice, take your feet down, hands behind your back, lift your hips up, take a big breath in just a counterbalance, pick out the tongue, lion's breath, good, let the hips melt down, sit back down, and we'll come on to our backs, rolling down onto your back, and just walking your heels in toward you, and we'll take the ankles right under your knees, and then finding a nice counterbalance with a nice bridge pose to open up the front of the body with all that core work that we've done, so you can step your feet in, press through the soles of the feet, feet hips width apart, and then start to lift your hips up any amount, now you can hold onto the outsides of your mat if you'd like, if it feels okay you can start to roll the shoulder blades underneath you, maybe interlace the fingers behind your back, and roll the inner thighs down, keep the knees right over your ankles, draw your chest toward your chin, and just take a few breaths here, good, and then slowly release, shoulders first, and then rolling down, one vertebra at a time, as you come all the way down, and then step your feet as wide as your mat, let your knees knock into touch, and just release the low back here for a moment, maybe resting your hands on your belly, and just check in, taking a moment to observe, and then crossing your right ankle on top of your left knee, you're going to use the right foot to start to drag your left knee down toward the earth coming into a nice final twist here, so wherever it feels good with the arms, I like to kind of take them out to the sides with the palms facing up, they might come up and over your head if that feels good for you, and then maybe you gaze toward the left, and then just feel that opening through the left outer hip, taking a couple of foldy breaths in this nice final twist, good, and then slowly come back up through center, and we'll take it to the other side, so step the right foot back down, cross your left ankle on top of your right, and then slowly use that foot to start to bring your right knee toward the earth, finding a spinal twist to the other side, and maybe gazing toward the right, allowing a few breaths here, nice, and then slowly let that go, come back through center, hug your knees into your chest, and just gently start to wobble from side to side, massaging through the low back. From here, coming into happy baby, holding onto the outsides of the feet, bending the knees wide, letting the low back soften down, and then if it feels nice to invite a rock from side to side here, you might do that, maybe straightening out one leg and then the other, you can straighten out both legs wide if you'd like, maybe just finding that grounded stillness, and then hug the knees back into your chest, and then we're going to take the legs up and over our head for plow pose, so you can press through the palms of the hands, let the legs come over your head, tucking your toes, or maybe pointing through the feet, and then you can leave the palms of the hands pressing into the earth, or if it feels okay, maybe roll the shoulders underneath you, interlacing the fingers behind the back, and just taking a few full deep breaths right here, and then slowly release the clasp of the hands if you have it, and start to roll back down, keeping the legs straight until you get the legs right up over your hips, and then you can bend the knees, hugging the knees back in, maybe one more happy baby, or just open up the knees wide, and then squeezing everything in, draw your nose up towards your knees, one last, squeezing in of the core, so draw the navel in towards your spine, take a big breath in, holding the breath at the top, good, and inside out the mouth, let everything go, straightening out the legs for your shavasana, letting the feet fall open like books, the thighs will follow, and then soften the belly, bring the palms to face up, arms away from the body, and then just invite in any intention here, anything you'd like to call in, or maybe let go of, as you come into this final resting pose of shavasana. All right, now we're going to start with our shavasana, our shavasana, our shavasana, our shavasana.

Begin to deepen your breath, feel free to stay here as long as you like, if you have the time, otherwise inviting any movement back in, the fingertips, the toes, the ankles, your wrists, and just a nice full body stretch, so interlacing the fingers, press the arms up over your head, pointing through the toes, take a big breath in, and then let it go, bending your knees, bring the soles of the feet to the earth, and make your way to your right side, resting your head on your arm for a moment, and then just taking a moment on your side to notice how you feel, and then pressing up, coming into a seat, we'll meet you there, and as you come into your seat, just gathering your hands together in front of your heart center in prayer, bowing your head towards your hands in gratitude. Thank you so much for sharing your practice and being here today, namaste.