Pitta Morning Practice

Namaste, I'm Ali and we're going to start today in Vajrasana and you can go ahead and sit on a block. For this practice I'm going to be using a block and a blanket will also be available. So we're going to start with something fun today. We're going to start off with a Kundalini exercise and this one is to wake up the heart. So we're going to clap 26 times, okay?

So open up your arms real wide, stretch through your fingers, get your hands like real wide and spread. Fingers are open, heart open and then 26 times, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and if you laugh it's cool, 17, 18, 19, 20, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whoo, okay. And so once you've done that and you've gotten a little blood flowing, you've gotten your arms and your heart woken up, your hands are tingly a little bit, you're going to slide your block off to the side and come on to your hands and your knees and same deal here. Spread the fingers nice and wide and on the inhale, arch your spine and look up and on the exhale, let the spine round and drop your chin in towards your chest and we're going to stay with that and inhaling, arch the spine, look up and exhaling, let the spine round and drop the chin in towards the chest. And we'll do that four times and round and arching and rounding.

And then tuck your toes under, lift your hips up, downward facing dog. And you can take a moment in your downward facing dog and bend one knee and bend the other, whatever makes you feel good there. A couple of breaths. And then you'll step the feet a little closer to each other, lift your right leg up, draw it in towards your nose and take a big step forward, come into a lunge and let your back knee drop. And you can pat it up there if you need to.

Coming to the top of the foot, reach your arms all the way up like a high prayer above your head. From there, take the prayer and fold the hands behind the head. Draw your elbows in today, press into the top of the left foot and lift the chest and point the elbows straight up towards the ceiling. Inhale, reach the arms back up and on the exhale, hands come down on either side of your right foot. Step back into down dog.

Roll out to your plank pose and then you'll lower all the way down to your belly. If you need to drop your knees first, you do that. Once you've gotten down there, tops of the feet stretch back, baby cobra, lifting the heart and soft in the neck, elbows in. And coming back to downward facing dog. Lift your left leg up, nice long arms and big step forward, coming into the lunge, drop the back knee down, coming to the top of the foot.

Again, reach the arms all the way up, touch the palms above your head, high prayer, you can look up at the thumbs and then fold your hands behind your head. So they come towards the nape of the neck. You can even take the thumbs and just press them into the base of the neck there. Elbows in, head lifting, hips dropping. Bend your arms back up, reaching up and bring your hands down on either side of your left foot.

Step back, downward facing dog. Rolling out into plank pose, reach the heart forward and lower all the way down to your belly. Coming up into the baby cobra, tops of the feet stretch back. Try to keep a soft gaze down the tip of your nose and then back into downward facing dog. And then start to walk your feet forward one step at a time.

Come to the front of your mat and when you get there, take a moment just hanging over in your easy forward bend. And then walk your fingertips forward, get some length in your spine, hands right underneath the shoulders, really reach out through the tailbone and the crown of the head. Hands will come to your hips, circle your shoulders back, you're in a flat back, press into the feet and come all the way up to stand at the top. Release your arms down and take a breath into dasana and then we'll begin. Inhale the arms up and on the exhale folding forward, you can spread the arms wide, lead with the heart.

Step back with your right foot into a lunge. Walking forward, downward facing dog with your breath out. Roll your way out long plank pose. From here chaturanga or to the ground, upward facing or stay with your cobra and downward facing dog with your breath out. Reach your right leg up, step it in between your hands.

Let your back knee drop again. Reach both arms up, high above the head, touch the palms, fold the prayer behind your head. Elbows come in, lean back and then lengthen the arms back up, looking up, hands on either side of your right foot. Tuck your back toes under, look forward and step forward. Left foot meets the right, folding into the legs.

Inhale, reach the arms all the way up, keeping the flow going. Spread your arms wide and come all the way back down. Send your left leg back into a lunge. Looking forward, downward facing dog, set your palms, spread your fingers. Left pose, reach it out, lowering chaturanga, inhale up dog and exhale down dog.

Bring your left leg up, step it in between your hands. Drop your back knee, reach the arms all the way up. High prayer above the head, fold it behind your head, lean back into the elbows. Reach the arms back up, hands on either side of your left foot. Tuck the back toes under and step forward, folding into the legs, uttanasana.

Come all the way back up, reach up long and fold forward. Let's just take one more round, just like that, send your right leg back into a lunge. Downward facing dog with your breath out. Roll out to plank pose, lowering halfway, inhale up dog, exhale down dog. Reach your right leg up, step it in between your hands, look forward.

Let your back knee drop, reach your arms all the way up, connect the palms, fold them behind your head, lean back and lift, nice full breathing, reach it back up. Bring your hands down on either side of your right foot, tuck your back toes under and step your left foot forward to meet your right. Exhale all the way back up, rise up long and exhale, spread the arms, come all the way back down. Send your left leg back and right into downward facing dog. Move it out into plank, lowering down, rise right back up over the tops of the feet, exhaling downward facing dog, stretch your left leg up and exhale it between your hands, let the back knee drop, reach the arms all the way up, connect the palms, fold the hands behind your head, leaning back, chest stays very lifted here and then reach your arms back up.

Bring your hands down on either side of your left foot, tuck your back toes under and step your right foot forward to meet your left, folding into your legs. All the way back up, reach the arms up and a breath in your Tadasana. One time, let's come into Utkatasana and it doesn't have to be a big hold, just a moment to build a little bit of heat and then fold forward over your legs. Come up onto the fingertips, lengthen the spine forward, plant your hands and you're going to hop or step your feet back and come right into Chaturanga or downward facing dog. And that's where we'll meet.

Once you're in down dog, lift the right leg up. We're going to move into some standing sequences. Big step forward, let the back knee drop. We're starting off exactly the same as we just did. Reach the arms up, take your hands behind your head, lean back into your forearms and then reach the arms back up and your hands will swing back.

You're coming right into triangle pose, a little bit of a tricky transition. Tuck your back toes under and swing the left arm past your face, opening right up and nice and long in the sideways, stretching up through the fingers. From there, let's inhale up, long legs, exhale, warrior two. Turn your right palm up, lean back, peaceful warrior and bring your hands down to the ground. Step back, vinyasa or right into down dog.

So starting off very simple and then we'll build on it. Reach your left leg up and step it forward. Let your back knee drop. Reach the arms all the way up, connect the palms, fold the hands behind your head. Leaning back into the forearms, elbows stay lifted.

Reach your arms back up, hands come down, tuck your back toes under, straighten out both legs, triangle pose, opening right up into it, sending the heart forward out of the hips and then inhale your way up. Long straight legs and then exhale, warrior two. Turn your left palm up, lean back, peaceful warrior and let your hands come all the way down to the ground, circle them down, step back, chaturanga dandasana. And then we'll build on that same sequence with a couple of switches along the way. Lift your right leg up and step it forward.

Let your back knee drop. Reach the arms up, fold the hands behind your head, leaning back, elbows lift, tuck the back toes under, coming right into triangle, hands can touch or not, it's up to you, opening up the left arm. Little different from here, come all the way up with long legs. This time turn the right toes in and your left toes out, warrior two to the back of your mat. Turn your left palm up for a peaceful warrior and then switch your arms and switch your legs, peaceful warrior around to the front.

From there, extended side angle coming right into it and you can take the forearm to the thigh and reach the left arm up and over. Coming back into it, even revolve the underside of the chest up a little bit more. From there, let's come back up into warrior two, lengthen out your right leg, reverse triangle. Big stretch, hands come down to the ground, step back, vinyasa or down dog. Inhale back up and exhale down dog.

Bend your left leg up, step it forward, let the back knee drop and reach your arms up. Connect the palms, fold the hands behind your head, lean back, open up the front of the right hip and then bringing the hands down, open up, triangle pose. Reaching the chest forward, inhale back up, long legs, turn the left toes in, right toes turn out, warrior two, back of your mat. Right palm will turn up, peaceful warrior and then peaceful warrior around to the front, switching the arms and legs, coming right into extended side angle. Right arm reaches over the ear, spin the heart up.

Full of breathing here and then back into warrior two. Lengthen out your left leg, lean back, reverse triangle, heart lifts high and bring your hands down, step back, vinyasa or right into down dog. Last time with this, lift your right leg up, stepping forward, let your back knee drop. Reach your arms up, connect the palms, hands behind the head, lean back, inhale reach the arms back up, exhale right into triangle pose. This time you can let the left hand fall behind your back and take a moment even to lean into your own forearm so that the shoulder blades come together on the spine.

Come all the way back up, straight legs, turn your right toes in, left toes out, warrior two, back of your mat. Take it into a peaceful warrior, swing your arms and legs around to the front, peaceful warrior to the front of your mat and right into extended side angle. This time you can take the right hand down inside the right foot if you like and reach the left arm straight up. Take the left hand back behind you again, it could be a half bind or a full bind and then from there coming back up, warrior two, lengthen out your right leg, reverse triangle, back into your triangle pose and then walk your right hand forward. We're coming up into artichandrasana, if you need a block here you can just toss a block underneath your right hand and open up the left arm and then bend your knees and step your left foot to meet your right and fold forward into your legs, uttanasana.

Let your head go, relax your neck and then take your left hand down and reach your right arm up. You're coming into a little twist here, so the left knee can bend, right arm lifts up, left hand underneath the left shoulder and then bring your right hand down and lift your left arm up and this time you can bend the right knee a little bit. From there thread your left arm underneath your right arm, eagle wrap your arms and come all the way up. From here we're going to come right into eagle, so left leg on top and you can single or double wrap the leg and start to fold forward and the gaze can stay pretty steady here right over the front of the hands, spreading through the back of the waist. From here warrior three, so unwrap your arms, kick back through your left leg, move the heel away from the crown of the head, reaching out, high lunge from here, bend your right knee and place your left foot down, reach the arms up and there can be a little bit of a bend in the back knee here if your hips need a little bit of room.

Turn your hands down on either side of your right foot, swing your right leg up and through, down dog split. Draw your right knee in towards your nose as you come forward, shoulders over wrists, almost like a plank pose but your right knee is in towards your nose. Fall in triangle from here, slip your right foot underneath your left hand, right leg comes out to the left, reach up through your left arm, lean the chest back, open up, come all the way back around into down dog, vinyasa if you want it, down dog if you don't. I'm going to stay here right now. And then lift your left leg up, last time, step it forward, let your back knee drop and put your arms up, crescent lunge, hands come back behind the head, lean back into the elbows, reach the arms back up, triangle pose, tucking the back toes under, lengthening out, open up the chest, let your right hand fall behind your back if you like that variation.

Just leaning into your own support here, chest opens nice and wide, come all the way up, long legs, turn your left toes in, right toes out or your tube back of your mat. Peaceful warrior and peaceful warrior around to the front. Stay right there for extended side angle, left hand can come down inside the left foot, reaching the right arm up, couple of breaths, coming back into warrior two as you're ready, straighten out your left leg, reverse triangle and right back into triangle pose. And then one more time, the right hand will come behind the back, looking down, walk your left hand forward if you like the block, you can grab it here, right outside of the left pinky toe, a little bit forward enough so that you get a reach out of the underside of the waist, right arm high, and then bend your knees, step your right foot to meet your left, gently, gently folding forward, drop your head, right hand down, left arm up, you'll take your twist, hand right underneath the shoulder, reaching the chest forward, and then left hand down and right arm up, twisting over to the other side, thread your right arm underneath your left, eagle wrap your arms, come all the way up to stand through soft knees. Once you get to the top, right leg comes around for eagle, garudasana, and you can single or devil wrap the leg, if your balance is feeling tippy like mine just was, you could step your foot down for a moment.

And then you'll come into warrior three from here, so kicking the right leg back, stretch the arms back, chest moves forward, lengthening out, nice long shape, slide it back into a high lunge, reaching up through the arms, take a moment in your high lunge, feel your legs, feel your feet, lift your chest, and then we'll slide back into a down dog split, left leg up, bring your knee in towards your nose as you come forward, shoulders over wrists, slide it underneath your right hand for fall and triangle, left leg moves out to the left, to the right, right arm lifts up, and then step back into downward facing dog. And vinyasa here if you want it, and then looking forward, you'll either hop or step your feet to the front of your mat, inhale long spine, exhale fold into your legs, and then walk your fingertips forward, same as we did in the beginning, hands right underneath the shoulders, long spine, strong legs, hands to your hips, circle your shoulders back, press down and come all the way up. And if you need a moment in your tadasana there, you'll take it. And then we're going to move into a little bit of balancing shape. So bend your left knee and reach back for your left ankle with your left hand.

And we're coming into shiva nataraj, flex your left foot, reach your right arm up. And then as you start to kick the left leg back, if you want it, sweep your right arm back behind you as well, bigger heart opener, holding onto the ankle with both hands, kicking through the leg, heart reaches forward. From there you'll come into a high lunge again, so the left leg moves back, reaching up through the arms, you might need a moment to steady yourself. And then bring your hands down, sit back into plank pose. From here, lower down to your belly.

Elbows stay in close to the side, reach your arms back, and then you're going to lift up your head, your chest, and your legs. Coming into shalabhasana, reach out, think more long here than lifted even, so you get a sense of the whole back body waking up, stretch back through the fingers. From there, upward facing dog, pressing into the tops of the feet, lift the chest, and downward facing dog. Once again, lift up the heels and look forward, hop or step your feet in between your hands, folding into your legs. Walk your fingertips forward, reaching out through the chest, hands to the hips, shoulders back, press down, and lift up.

Other side, bend the right knee, reach back for the right ankle with the right hand, stretch your left arm up. And then once you start to kick back, the left arm comes back as well, reaching for the ankle with both hands, kicking through the right leg, reach out through the chest, sliding back into your high lunge. Again, a soft back knee, just to cushion the landing a little bit there, and reach up through the arms, and then you'll put your hands down and step back into your plank again, lowering all the way down to your belly. Reach the arms back, lift up into shalabhasana, and if you want it, bend the knees and you'll reach back into dhanurasana, kicking through both legs again. So we've been in this shape before, reaching up, stretch the legs back out, upward facing dog and downward facing dog.

Roll out to plank pose and press back into child's pose. Take your hands underneath your shoulders and push yourself up to sit on your heels. And then you can set up a blanket here for the knees. We're going to move into ustrasana, camel pose. So you set up your blanket or you can double over your mat and come to stand on your knees.

If you need a little bit more space today, toes tucked under is a great idea, otherwise tops of the feet down, reaching back through the toes and send the arms up and we're going to come back into that same variation we were working with. So press the palms together for a moment and then take your hands behind your head again. Draw the elbows in, lift the chest. From there, reach your right arm up and slide it back towards your right heel. And then your left arm will come up towards the ceiling.

And for your neck, I would say look back over your right shoulder, pressing into the tops of your feet. So it's a little variation on your ustrasana, almost like you're hanging from the left arm a little bit. And then press into the shins and rise all the way back up and have a moment on your heels. Just sit and breathe. And then coming back up to stand on the knees again, reach the arms all the way up, touch the palms above your head, fold them behind you, elbows in, lift the heart and then stretch your left arm up and take it behind your back towards your left heel.

Send the right arm up, look back over your left shoulder. And you can even like let the neck go, shake out the head there if that's helpful. And then reach your arms back up and once more have a seat on your heels and breathe. Last time, coming all the way back up, reach the arms up, fold the hands behind the head. This time we're coming into regular camel, so reach both arms back with the shoulders nice and open.

And you can reach for your heels or your ankles, pressing down into your shins, lift your heart, pull out of the lower back, think of it as a heart opener, less of a big back bend. And then reach the arms all the way back up to pull you up out of the lower back before you have a seat. And have a seat. And then you'll take your block if you need it, you can come back to sit in your vedrasana. And one more time, just reaching the arms up, hands behind your head, open up the chest, full breathing, reach the arms back up and take your hands to your heart.

And thank you so much for joining me, namaste.