Big Kid Throne

Welcome back to Accra Yoga Family. I'm Devin Sisler and I'm here with my new friends Kai and Nikolai. Thank you both so much for joining us today. So we are going to start with some Accrobatic Accra Yoga. That means that both the base and the flyer are engaged and active and then we'll take you through one or two restorative Accra Yoga poses where the flyer is intended to relax and be passive and enjoy some stretching. Sound good? Alright, let's begin by taking three centering breaths and one long arm to remind us during the practice, especially if we get excited or frustrated, that we should keep focusing on our breath. So reach your hands out and in, breathing in, exhale to center twice more, sweeping up, breathing in, exhale. Once more, sweeping up, drawing your hands through midline, coming down through center. Let your gaze fall to your own fingertips and we'll take one deep arm together, breathing in. Now take one hand over your heart, your other hand on top of that, close your eyes. I'm watching and I want you to think about a time that you felt really, really strong. You got it? You got it? You got one? Alright, so just keep that with you as we begin to fly together. So we will start and you can come down to base with your head in this direction. Nikolai will stand up. So flyers, we are going to step into a pose called straddle throne. So start by just lifting one leg out to the side like this and place it back down all the way on the ground. Take your other leg out like this and place it down on the ground. That's the position that you're going to take so the base can put their foot perpendicular to your hamstring, a little pigeon-toed, as they press you up. So we'll start with a reverse hand-to-hand grip, strong straight arms, and we'll take one leg up, give him that leg. Yeah, that's great. Now wrap this foot in front. That's like a little anchor down. From here we'll pour the weight into this one side as the base straightens the legs. The other leg comes out to the side, wrap it in front, and we'll release hands so the base can straighten their legs all the way. Yep, we can straighten all the way up. And then can you lift your hands to the sky? How are you doing? So that is our walk-in to straddle throne. Okay, a couple of things. If it doesn't feel great for the flyer, come down, reset, find that really sweet spot really in the middle of the hamstring to come up. And now we're going to do something a little tiny bit adventurous. I need you to sit up nice and strong. Oh, that was really good. And we're going to unwind one leg and stick it out to the side. And you can lean away, straighten that leg, and then reach your hands to the sky. There we go. There's our ninja pose. We're doing a little bit of balance. A little fun, a little scary. Oh, I like it. That's perfect. And we'll re-wrap that leg. Right in front. Perfect. You want to do that on the other side? Here we go. Reach your hands to the sky. All right. Make a funny face. Make your ninja face. And we'll re-wrap that leg. And then we'll come back to a hand-to-hand grip. Strong, straight arms. We'll lower down, unwrap one leg at a time. Push that foot on the ground, other foot on the ground. Yeah, that might be the hardest part. Give your base a high five. Awesome. Okay. Do you gentlemen want to try jumping in? Yeah. So the jumping in makes sense when the base knows where to put their feet, right? We're gonna jump in with hands connected. That's a little bit later in life. That's when you're ready to join the circus, okay? Right now we're just starting with basic acro yoga. So as you jump, will you do this once with me before we do hands? Hands strong and straight. Take one big frog hop. Knees all the way up to your elbows. Awesome. Okay. So taking that a couple of times to help get everything warmed up in the body. Awesome. And if you can keep your arms straight while your knees bend, that's pretty awesome. Good. Bring your hands reverse hand-to-hand grip. Now you're gonna take that big jump. Will you start, pretend you're on tippy toes with your knees out to the side a little bit. So bases can put their toe just to the inseam of the leg. They're gonna follow the movement and be there solid to catch their flyer with gentle feet. I'm gonna have hands on hips so that my flyer stays safe and won't fall if we miss the catch. Although we're all following his movement as he goes up. Are you ready? High heels on. High ish heels. Knees out to the side. There you go. So big jump, knees straight up. One, two, three. Awesome. Wrap those toes in front. Reach your hands to the sky. How was that entry? All right. Super fun. Here we go. We can do a little ninja. Ninja to one side. Ninja to the other side. Oh, we've got this down.

We're gonna choreograph a whole piece now. Inhale together. Exhale together. Kai, can you bring your palms together? Let's all bring our palms together. And then shoulders back towards me. Yeah. Let's take one deep breath right here. We could just relax and meditate now. Okay. But instead we're gonna come on down. So come to the hand-to-hand grip first. Perfect. Unwrap one leg and we'll place that foot on the ground and unwind other foot on the ground. High ten this time for our base. Okay. Are you ready for super yogi? Yeah, sure. Okay. In this one, base is gonna take their feet below the hip bones, feet out to the side of our flyer. And remember how before I was saying you shouldn't hinge and you should keep a plank pose. Now you're gonna start standing and you are gonna hinge forward. So can you do your superhero mudra like this? Interlace your fingers over and head. And you're gonna reach for his wrist. And you're gonna draw him in just a little bit and straighten your legs. Legs out to the side a little bit. And then feet heavy towards the ground. And then we'll take three deep breath cycles here. How are you both feeling? Good. So this is our super yogi pose. One more. Inhale together. Exhale together. Perfect. And from here we're gonna release the hands and let his torso hang for folded leaf. Keeping his feet nice and heavy towards the ground. And then we'll check in. How are you feeling? Good. All right. And if you want to give him a little tiny back scrub, some scratching, whatever your partner really enjoys. And so notice the flyers feet are in a pike straddle out to the side. And they're heavy towards the ground. That gives the base a really really nice shelf so the torso of the flyer can fully relax. Again this works for kids flying on adults as well as adults flying on adults. To come down place your hands on his shins. Where are your dead shins? I know we got to find them. And now you can place your hands on his shoulders as you simply bend your legs. And we bring him down for a landing. Yep. Sometimes that happens too. Was that relaxing? All right. I like it. One more restorative pose today. This time you're gonna walk all the way around and line your heels up with your dad's shoulders. Perfect. You're gonna take your feet up just above his waist. So depending on how you and your partner match up. There we go. We're gonna lean back so you can lean back. And then I'm gonna check in right here. How does that feel? Okay. All right.

Let's come back up. So a couple of the indicators that I'm always looking for. If breath stops or we get a scrunchie face it means it doesn't feel good. And that's an opportunity to come down so we can build it back up. Does that sound alright? Okay. So we'll bring those toes back up and then leaning back. How does that feel? That's better. And from here your hands are gonna go to his legs, his heels. Yep. Press your legs away. Legs all the way off of 90. Little tiny bit more. How are you feeling? Let's come on down. Here we go. To bring his feet as close to your shoulders as you can. And we'll come all the way back up to standing. Yeah. So high flying whale. Very nice. Okay. So do you want to give a little head scrub while I do a little leg glove? This is a really nice way you can pause the video and transition and change roles so that different people get a chance to base and fly and spot. Or you can join us for what we call some leg gloves. So take your legs long down towards the ground. This is kind of like the shavasana of acro yoga. And this is perfect. A little bit of head love, leg scrub. I'm gonna take one heel and come to stand. And then I step across my partner and I give a little traction. So there are a lot of muscles in the low back and the front of the hip flexors that work really hard when we're basing. So even though this flyer is not quite as big as our base, we have to deeply bend to lift him up and all sorts of other things. And you know maybe there was sitting in a car or computer time or other stuff that happened in your life. You don't necessarily need to do acro yoga to share some leg love. I'm gonna windshield wipe this leg down to the ground. Switch to the other side. And notice I'm standing in a warrior stance. I'm protecting my body. So I encourage you, if your shoulders are kind of hunched over, use this opportunity to open through your shoulders and get a little back bend so that you feel better and better in your body every time that you get to give and receive a little. You can stay here as long as you like or as long as your base likes, right? Bring their feet back down to center. And three brushes indicates that leg love is complete. We'll bring palms together. Can we make our way to seated so we can do a closing om? Help you up from right there. Disco spin around. Palms in. Please join me in one om to finish our practice today. Om shanti, shanti, shanti. Peace, peace, peace. Namaste. Thank you both so much for being here today. Happy flying.