Energized Core

Namaste. Welcome. We'll be doing a very energizing practice, so if you're feeling a little sluggish or maybe you haven't worked in a while, we'll be building some strength and building some energy. And I've got my fire red on to inspire you. So I'll start seated. Go ahead and just close your eyes and rest your hands on your thighs and maybe take your palms and face them up today. Okay? You can bring your thumbs to touch your index fingers, just the nail of your index fingers. This is called Yana Mudra. And by having the palms up, it's a very receptive energy. So I want you to just receive here this moment right here, right now. So receive your breath as it moves slowly in and out through your nose. And allow yourself to receive that which you wish to create from your practice. So maybe ask yourself the question, what do I need? What's missing in my life right now? And allow an intention to form. Couple more breaths. Gently blink your eyes open. Smile. Switch the crossing of your legs.

Reach your arms all the way up and just feel a lot of space in your ribs here and engage your belly. Lengthen your spine. Reach your arms up. We're gonna do something called energizing breathing. It's really great for building energy and heat. So it looks like this. You'll reach up as you inhale, exhale, bend your elbows, pull them alongside your body and like you're making fists, you're pulling everything in and engage your belly and you'll pull back. And then you'll inhale, reach back up, exhale, pull everything in. Inhale, reach up, exhale, pull it in a little faster. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Stay with it. You can start to pump your breath like this. A little faster maybe. Start to slow it down.

Reach your arms back up. Hold energy through your fingertips. Keep breathing slower. Release your hands to your heart. Exhale. Feel that energy. Let's come on to hands and knees. Palms flat, wrists under shoulders, knees under hips. Tuck your toes for this version. It's a nice stretch for the feet. Reach your chest forward as you inhale into cow pose and then exhale, round your spine for cat. Inhale, cow, chest forward. Exhale, round your spine, cat. Inhale, chest forward. Exhale, round. Pull your belly in. Two more. Inhale, feel the breath.

Exhale, round. Inhale, reach forward. Exhale, round. Now hold here in this rounded version. Belly draws in. Do your best here. Keep your toes tucked and see if you can lift your knees off the floor like two inches and you'll feel your core light up a little bit more. So we got five breaths here. You're welcome to lower the knees back down at any point. Otherwise keep them lifted. Spread through your palms. Push the floor away from you. Stay with a steady slow pace of breath in and out through your nose. Two more breaths. Slowly press back downward facing dog. Feel free to pedal out your feet. Maybe take your dog a little bit wider so you can widen your feet. Something I like to do sometimes if my hamstrings are feeling tight. Just give yourself a little more space. Many kinks that need unwind maybe. Nod your head yes and no. A couple more breaths here. Come back onto your hands and knees and then gently shift your shoulders over your fingertips but keep your shoulders away from your ears so your neck is long, gaze is slightly forward. A modified plank pose. You're certainly welcome to explore full plank. Lift your knees. We'll take three breaths here. So if you're in full plank full plank full plank then you'll engage your belly. Really find some buoyancy in your hips. One more breath and then everyone lower the knees. Deep breath in. Exhale all the way down to your belly. Maybe you just want to stay there but we're gonna keep moving. Flatten your feet. Inhale lift your chest. Shoulders back.

Cobra. Exhale lower back down. A few more like that. Inhale open the heart. Very energizing for the body. Exhale lower back down. Two more. Inhale lift your chest. Push down through your pelvis. Exhale lower down. One more. Inhale cobra. Exhale lower back down. Tuck your toes. Engage your belly. Push back to downward facing dog. Walk your feet to your hands slowly. Come halfway up. Flat back. Fingers up your shins. Take a deep breath in. Exhale fold and round. You can hang here. Maybe grab your elbows for a moment. Bend your knees as much as you like. Sway side to side. Nod the head yes and no. Open and close your mouth. One more breath here. Release your arms. Come halfway up on your inhale. Pause. Engage your belly.

Keep your back flat. Inhale reach your arms all the way to the sky. Exhale bring your hands to heart center in prayer. We'll do modified surya namaskar a sun salutations to build some more heat. Inhale reach your arms all the way up. Exhale dive forward fold. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold. Step back to plank pose. Maybe lower your knees and then take a deep breath in. Definitely lower your knees and exhale lower slowly to the floor. Inhale cobra lift your chest. Exhale to downward facing dog. Take a full deep breath and then walk your feet to your hands. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold. Inhale all the way up through halfway. Keep your belly strong and then exhale hands to heart center prayer. Inhale reach back up. Exhale dive forward fold. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold. Step back to plank. Maybe keep the knees lifted for a full breath. Then lower the knees. Take a deep inhale.

Exhale slow lower to your belly. Inhale lift for cobra. Exhale downward facing dog. Full deep breath. Walk your feet slowly to your hands. Halfway lift. Inhale. Exhale fold. Inhale rise through a flat back. Reach through your arms. Exhale to the heart. One more. Inhale reach up. Exhale fold forward. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold. Step back plank. Take a full deep breath. Lower your knees. Inhale shoulder shift forward. Exhale lower down. Inhale find cobra. Exhale downward facing dog. Full deep breath. Walk your feet to your hands. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold. Inhale rise. Reach through your arms. Exhale palms to the heart and prayer. Pause for a few breaths here. Maybe close your eyes. Feel your feet rooting down. Shoulders pull back. Feel the heat that you've created. There's a reason these are called sun salutations, right?

We're building heat like the sun. Lighting up our whole body with energy. One more breath. Bend your knees. Find chair pose. Utkatasana. Sit the weight back into your heels. Feet can be hip distance apart or your toes can come together. Start to come down a little bit deeper. Take a deep breath in. Exhale sweep your arms behind you. Inhale come back to chair. Exhale sweep the arms behind you. One more. Inhale chair. Exhale sweep the arms. Inhale reach your arms all the way up. Exhale palms to heart center. Step your left foot all the way towards the back of the mat. Find warrior two. Right toes are pointing to the front edge of the mat. Right knee comes over the ankle. Left toes are slightly angled in and then the arms come out to the sides. Find your breath. You can gaze over your right fingertips. Maybe even close your eyes.

Maybe with each exhale you sink a little deeper into your right thigh. Make sure your right knee is not going over your ankle. Keep the joint stacked. One more breath. Straighten your right leg. Maybe walk your back foot in about two inches or so. Just shorten your stance. Reach your right arm forward like you're going to touch the wall in front of you. Pull your right hip back. Then land your right hand on your right shin. Left arm reaches up. Triangle pose. Find your breath and find your core. So as your core stays engaged you have an opportunity to kind of twist the left rib cage towards the ceiling. Gaze can be up or down.

Whatever feels best on your neck. A couple more breaths. Strong legs. Open heart. Slowly inhale. Come back up. Pivot your feet. Find warrior two facing the other side of your mat. Left toes point straight back. Right toes slightly angled in. Bend the left knee. Feel your breath. So as much as possible get your ribs to stack over your hips. So we tend to lean forward here. Try to find a lot of length. Engage your belly. Keep breathing. Maybe sink a little deeper.

Maybe a little smile in the effort. Finding a balance between effort and ease. And then straighten your left leg. Bring your back foot in about two inches or so. It's nice to shorten your stance here. Reach your left arm towards that side of the room. Pull your left hip back. Left hand lands on your left shin. Right arm stacks. Gaze can be up or down. Open through your chest. And imagine your right rib cage spinning up. Engage your belly a lot here. So you don't want to dump all the weight into your left hand. That's the tendency here. You want to lift out of the pose and work the core and just find more space. A couple more breaths. Slowly come all the way back up. Let's walk ourselves up to the front of the mat. Inhale. Reach your arms all the way up. Exhale. Forward fold. Inhale. Halfway lift. Exhale. You can go to plank. Lower the knees. Move through vinyasa. You can always just skip this and go to downward dog. If you're doing vinyasa, inhale cobra. Downward dog as you exhale.

From here, lower both knees to the floor. Keep your right hand down and your right knee down. You can flatten the right foot. Tuck your left toes back onto the floor and straighten your left leg. And then pivot your left foot down so the left foot lands on the floor. And you might want to kind of pivot your right foot behind you a little bit. So you kind of kickstand your right foot behind you. Lift your left arm into the air. This is a modified side plank. You want to feel very supported in your right shoulder, root through your right palm. And just like triangle, open up through your chest and just lift through your left fingertips. And you're welcome to stay here or maybe hover that left leg. A little extra challenge. Maybe sweep the left arm over the ear. A few more breaths. Do your best. Switch sides slowly. Left knee down, left hand down. Simply tuck your right toes back and then flatten the right foot on the floor. Kickstand that left foot behind you a little bit.

Left hand stays on the floor. Left shoulder plugs in. Reach the right arm up into the air. Breathe. So here, opening the heart again, feeling that burst of energy pour into your heart. Maybe feeling balanced and lifting the right leg in the air. Maybe sweep the right arm over the ear. A couple more breaths. Slowly lower back down. Right hand, right knee. Let's come into downward facing dog. And then lift your right leg in the air behind you. Three legged dog. Take a deep breath in and then exhale. Bring your right knee all the way towards your chest. Round your shoulders and step your right foot through. So take as many steps as you need to get your right foot all the way between your hands. Come high to your fingertips here and then take a deep breath in and exhale. Lower the left knee towards the floor and just lightly tap it. And then inhale, lift the left leg back up. Exhale, little tap, left knee down. Inhale, lift it back up. Two more. Exhale, lower. Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower. Inhale, lift. Now pause here. Legs are strong. So this is optional. Just see how you're feeling in your legs. You're welcome to maybe hover. Sweep your arms alongside your body. Strongly pull your belly in. You've got two breaths here. Reach through the top of the head. And lower your hands down. Step back, downward dog. Reach your left leg in the air. Deep breath in. Exhale, knee to chest. Take your time. Use your belly. Step your foot forward. Maybe grab the ankle. Come high to your fingertips again. Slowly dip the right knee down. Just let it tap the floor. Inhale, lift it back up. Exhale, little tap. Inhale, lift it back up. Exhale, little tap. Inhale, lift it back up. Two more. Exhale. Inhale, feel each breath. Exhale.

Inhale. Now either stay here. Very strengthening for the legs right here. Or engage your belly a lot. Reach your arms alongside your body. Palms face towards your hips. Two breaths. And release your hands to the floor. Step back, downward facing dog. So let's stay in the fire a little bit longer. Then we'll take a child's pose. Promise. Reach your right leg in the air. Deep breath in. Exhale again. Step your right foot through. Try to use your core to pull the right foot forward. Lower the left knee down. And if your left knee is sensitive here, we'll put a little more weight. You're welcome to pad the left side of your mat under your knee. And then shift your hips back. So your hips land right over your left knee. Flex your right toes up to the ceiling. Walk your fingers under your shoulders. Hide your fingertips. You can bend your right knee as much as you need to. So if your hamstring is feeling really tight back here, then go ahead and bend the right knee. Engage your belly again. Lift away from your right thigh. Reach your chest forward. Take an inhale. And then exhale. Round your spine any amount over your right leg. Inhale again. Lengthen your spine. Engage your belly. And then exhale. Round your spine.

A couple more like that. Inhale. Heart forward. Exhale and round. Inhale. Heart forward. Exhale and round. Start to bend the right knee. Pause there. Bring your hands to the inside of your right foot and wiggle your right foot over to the right a little bit. Then tuck your back toes and lift your back knee. Active lizard pose. So you can keep your hands on the floor. If you're feeling like you've got the flexibility today, maybe the forearms come to the floor. You can interlace your fingers and release your head. So you've got two more breaths. Whatever you're choosing. Into your hips. Reach your heart forward slightly. Keep your belly engaged. Step back. Downward facing dog.

Left leg rises. Deep breath in. Exhale. Bring your knee to your chest. Step forward. Lower the right knee down. Pat it if you need to. Shift your hips back. Hips land over the right knee. Fingers right under the shoulders. High to the fingertips. Maybe bend the left knee as much as you need to. Keep your left toes active here. It really helps emphasize the stretch. Take an inhale. Reach your chest forward. Exhale and round your spine. Inhale. Chest forward. Exhale. Round your spine. Two more. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Nice. Go ahead and bend the left knee. Flatten your palms out. Actually, we've got to do lizards. So bring your hands to the inside of your left foot. Wiggle the left foot over and lift your back knee. So the idea here is to kind of get into the hips a little bit more. Maybe feeling it in the right hip flexors a little more in the left hamstring.

You can stay here. Come to your forearms. Maybe let your head release. So we've got a couple more breaths here. Keep your belly engaged. And then step back. Downward facing dog. Lower your knees. Let's take a child's pose. Sit your hips towards your heels. Rest your forehead. Let your shoulders round. Maybe the arms even come alongside your body. Three breaths. One more full deep breath here. And then slowly start to roll yourself up. We'll come onto the back. So go ahead and just sit down.

Bend your knees. Place your feet on the floor. Grab behind your knees here. We're just going to do a slow roll down to really emphasize that hugging in of the navel and start to stimulate a little more in the core. So just take your time here. We'll count for about 10. Start to slowly round your spine. You're welcome to do this without holding the knees if you're feeling really strong. Let's see. We got eight, seven, six. Keep rounding. Keep hugging the belly in. Five, four. You'll feel that point where the lower back starts to touch the floor. Three, two. Lower all the way down. One. Nice work. So good for your body. Okay. From here, take your legs straight up towards the ceiling. Maybe the knees are bent a little. That's totally fine. Take your arms alongside your body. So this is really strengthening and stabilizing for the core. Take a deep breath in and then exhale. Lower your right leg and just let it hover off the earth. And then inhale, lift it back up to meet the left. Exhale, lower the left leg. Inhale, lift it back up. Exhale, lower the right leg. Pull your belly in. Inhale, lift the right leg back up. Exhale, lower the left leg. Inhale, lift it back up. So stay with this motion with your legs. Your legs are pretty active. Your feet are pretty active. They're either flexed or maybe a little flainted like mine are, which is a mix between point and flex. And then just keep breathing. So every time you lower the leg, you exhale. Every time you lift the leg, you inhale. Now again, if you're feeling a little bit more strength, come on here. You're welcome to maybe lift your chest, shoulders, head up. Reach your fingers forward. Do the same action.

This is not easy. Smiling helps. We'll take a few more. Slow and steady wins the race here. So we're not like flailing the legs. It's just really slow and steady. A few more. You can always lower the head back down if you made that choice. But I want you to keep with that fire in the belly. Draw the navel towards the spine. Last couple. Make sure you finish on the left side. And then bring your knees into your chest. Give yourself a big hug. Oh my gosh. So thank your body for being so strong and capable. Thank yourself for committing to this practice. And with that, we have one more core exercise to do. Yay. Let's do it. Okay. Big smile. Knees right over the hips. Flex your feet. Keep your ankles touching. Your knees might part. Take your arms out to the side. Two knee twist. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. Lower the knees towards the right. Let them hover. Inhale. Bring the knees back to center. Exhale. Lower the knees to the left. Hover. Inhale. Bring the knees back to center. Exhale to the right. Press your shoulders down. Inhale. Back to center. Exhale to the left. Inhale. Use your belly. Back to center. Exhale.

Slow and controlled. Inhale. Back to center. Exhale to the left. Inhale to center. Couple more. To the right. Back to center. To the left. Back to center. Nice. Go ahead and release your arms all the way over your head. Extend your legs forward and just stretch along through your belly, through your toes. Maybe interlace your palms. Press your hands away from you. It's a nice stretch for the wrist too. Big breath in and out. Bring your knees all the way into your chest. Cup your knees with your hands. Bring your knees towards the edges of your body. We're moving into happy baby. You can stay here or grab the outer edges of your feet. Flex your feet up towards the ceiling. Make right angles with your legs. And maybe rock side to side. Back of your neck is long. And maybe find some stillness. Close your eyes. Do your best to get your lower back towards the floor. It may or may not touch. Release your feet to the floor. Final back bend here. Knees bent. Take your arms alongside your body. Inhale to lift your hips all the way up. Bridge pose. Opening your heart. Maybe interlace your hands underneath your body. Push down through your shoulders. Puff up your chest.

Three more breaths. Let yourself receive here through your heart, feeling space, feeling energy. Slowly lower back down to the floor. And then walk your feet over towards the side edges of your mat. Just kind of heel toe them and let your knees fall together. A little tipi with your knees. Place a hand on your heart, a hand on your belly.

Full deep breath in, fill up. Exhale, let it go. Deep breath in. Let it go. One more. Release your arms. Palms up. Let your legs splay out onto the floor in front of you. Final reshavasana. And just ending with this lifted space in the heart. Palms are open for that receptive energy. Maybe bring your thumbs back to the nail of your index fingers. Yana mudra. It helps seal the energy in your own body. Let yourself completely rest. Back of the head is heavy. Shoulders melting down. Hips sink into the floor. Do nothing.

Hips sink into the floor. Hips sink in. And take a few more moments here in stillness. One of the best ways to feel stronger and more energized is to really allow your body to completely rest. And most of the time in our society we don't give ourselves that opportunity. A few more moments, soak it in. Begin to deepen your breath. Wiggle your toes and fingers. Stretch your arms over your head. Bend your knees and roll over to your right side. Make a pillow with your right arm for a moment.

Use your left hand. Press yourself up to seated. Stay soft. Once you arrive to your seat, keep your eyes closed. Palms together at the heart in prayer. Take a moment, bow your chin down towards your palms and seal your practice with gratitude. Just once again saying thank you. Thank you body. Thank you strength. Thank you for being so capable.

So willing to form into a place of energy and strength and power. We're so much stronger than we think we are or that we give ourselves credit for. So may you take this energy with you for the rest of your day and your week. Take another full deep breath in and out. Blink your eyes open. Namaste.