Grounding Flow

Welcome back. So we're going to move into a sequence now of really grounding postures and some hip openers. Still feel really grounded, supported, connect with that earth element and we'll feel really strong in the legs and the feet. So we're going to start standing at the front of the mat, so please join me there. So let's start with the feet. It's about hips distance or a little bit wider and then take a moment to take a gaze down at your toes, lift your toes up off the earth and then spread the toes wide and just let them come on back down so that you really feel connected through the soles of your feet. You might shift the weight back and forth a little bit just to find your center and just feel that connection and then soften the knees a little bit, maybe close the eyes and just draw the hands together in front of your heart and just take a moment to just really feel the earth beneath the soles of your feet. Good and then we'll just take a few breaths to get really grounded here. So keeping the knees soft on an inhale, just reach your arms forward and up and then as you exhale, draw the hands through center, soften the knees and really ground down as you come down and we'll just take that a few more times. So as you inhale, lift up, as you exhale, soften the knees, come down through your center, breathing out. Good, one more, inhale, lift up and then as you exhale, draw the hands down, really rooting down through the soles of the feet as you come down. Good and let's move into malasana. So finding a yogi squat, let your toes come out and your heels come in a little bit and then sweep your arms all the way up. Inhale, as you exhale, draw the hands through your heart center, bend your knees and sink your hips down. Now if this is problematic in your knees at all, you're welcome to come out of it a little bit and just kind of hang in this higher squat with the elbows resting on your knees. Otherwise coming down and you might move into this a little bit, just kind of feeling into the legs and really rooting down here through the soles of the feet, bring the hands to your heart center and just kind of feel that opening and the lengthening through the spine. Good and then hands come down to the earth, take a wider leg forward fold. So start to parallel the feet, keep the knees soft and just kind of drape your torso down over your legs. You might hold on to opposite elbows here, letting the head hang heavy, maybe shifting a little bit more weight into the balls of your feet. You might feel good to invite a little sway from side to side or shake your head yes and no. And then let's take the opposite elbow on top just to balance it out, taking a couple more breaths here and again just kind of letting everything melt down over the legs. You can keep the knees as bent as you need to here. Beautiful and then let your hands come down to the earth, come halfway up on your inhales. You can come on to your fingertips, maybe the hands come up onto your shins as you lengthen out through the spine and then as the hands come back down to the earth, step your right foot to the back of the mat. So you're in this wide leg lunge, your hands are on the inside of your left foot and then flatten out your right hand. We'll take a twist, so opening the left arm up, twisting over to your left side and just taking a couple breaths here, just feel that expansion, that ringing out. Good and then take one more big breath in as you exhale, lower the left hand down and we'll step right back to downward facing dog.

Good and as you come to this first down dog, just any movement that feels good, maybe pedal it out a few times, sway the hips. Yeah, good and then from here, inhale your right leg up to the sky and as you exhale, we're going to step the right foot to the outside of your right wrist. So coming back to a wide leg lunge, the other leg in front and then we'll step the left foot to the outside of the left wrist, coming right back into your squat. Malasana hips, lower down, hands to your heart. Good and then as you exhale, fingertips down, parallel the feet, fold over your legs. So find that release here. Good and then inhale, lift halfway up, hands come up onto the shins or they can stay down and then hands lower down. This time, step your left foot to the back of the mat. So finding that wide leg lunge on the other side. We'll flatten out the left hand, reach out and reach the right arm up and find that twist over to the right side. Just opening up through the heart, through the chest, really rooting down through that right foot, hugging your right hip in as you twist. Good, take one more big breath in and then exhale, right hand lowers to the inside of your front foot. Step back, downward facing dog. Nice, good and then this time, reach your left leg all the way up and back. Good, step your left foot to the outside of your left wrist and then step the right foot to the outside of the right wrist, malasana, yogi squat, front of the mat, hands to your heart. Good and then hands down, fold over your legs, parallel the feet and then let's soften the knees here and then roll up, tuck the chin one vertebrae at a time as you roll all the way up to stand and as you get to the top, just kind of bring the shoulders up towards your ears, roll them down the back, bring the palms to face forward and just take a moment here to check in, pause, maybe setting an intention for your practice, something you'd like to call in or maybe let go of. Yeah and then we're going to move through, it's a namaskar to open up the hips a little bit and feel really grounded. So bring in the hands to the heart, bring the toes out, heels in. On an inhale, reach your arms all the way up. As you exhale, come through malasana, hands come through center. Good and then hands down, let's step the left foot to the back of the mat. Good and then right to downward facing dog on your exhale. Come forward to plank pose on your inhale, you're welcome to lower the knees first, we're going to lower all the way down to the earth. On an inhale, come up to cobra pose, bhujangasana, hug the elbows in as you lift up, back of the neck nice and long and then exhale, lower down, coming back to downward facing dog. Good and from here inhale, the left leg up and back. Exhale, step your left foot to the outside of your left wrist and then right foot to the outside of the right wrist, sink down, malasana, hands to your heart. Good, hands come down, we'll fold over the front legs and just come halfway up. Inhale, exhale, fold in and then root down to rise. Come all the way back up to stand, circle the arms out and out. Hands come to your heart center, exhale, and we'll take that all to the other side. Inhale, arms sweep up, toes out, heels in, malasana, squat down. Good and then stepping the right foot to the back of the mat, come right back to downward facing dog on your exhale. Come forward to plank pose on your inhale, this time maybe coming through chaturanga halfway down, cobra or up dog. Inhale, exhale, downward facing dog. Good, staying with the right side, inhale, the right leg up. Exhale, step the foot to the outside of the right wrist and then left foot comes to the outside of the left, sink down, yogi, squat, malasana, hands to your heart. Really nice and then folding over the legs, exhale, come halfway up on the inhale, offer the heart forward. Exhale, fold in and rooting down, rise up to stand, inhale, arms sweep up, draw your hands to your heart, exhale. Good and then let's step the feet together. So big toes together, heels slightly separated and we'll come into a chair pose. So coming to utkatasana and we're going to pause here and chair just to feel that rooting down through the feet. So draw the shin bones back. You might even start to peel the toes up off the earth and let's come into a breath of fire.

So you'll take a big inhale and then rapid exhales in and out through the nose. Ready? So inhale and then a little bit longer. Good and then last breath in, fold over your legs, utkatasana. Good. Come halfway up, inhale and then your choice step or lightly float it back coming through a vinyasa and a little lower and through chaturanga, cobra or up dog on the inhale, downward facing dog. Exhale, good. Take a couple breaths here. Good and then on your next breath in, let's reach the right leg all the way up and back. Let's put the bend in the knee for a moment just to open up that hip. Maybe roll out the ankle in one direction and then the other. Good and then as you're ready, straighten out through the right leg, square your hips, step your right foot all the way through between your hands. Let's come up to warrior two. So spin the back heel down, circle the arms open, finding warrior two. Good and we're going to hold here for about three breaths. So coming toward 90 degrees in that front leg, front knee right over the ankle, softening through the shoulders, take a gaze over your middle finger. Nice and then on your inhale, straighten through the front leg, start to reach your arms up over your head. Maybe press the palms together and then as you exhale, just come back to your warrior two and let's take that two more times. So as you inhale, straighten through the leg, look up, lengthen, reach the arms up and then as you exhale, come back to warrior two. Good last one. Inhale, look up and lengthen. Exhale, feel the feet as you come deeper into your warrior two. Beautiful and then lengthen out, start to parallel your feet. So you're in this wide leg stance and then hands to your hips for a moment. Bring your toes out, let your heels come in and then sink down into a squat. So coming into horse stance. Now you want your knees to be tracking out so they're over your ankles and let's bring the arms forward, bring the palms to face up and then right arm underneath the left coming into eagle arms. Good. As you sink down, start to draw the elbows up away from you as you sink down a little deeper and then maybe close your eyes and just feel that rooted connection with the earth. Breathe, maybe sink it down a little deeper.

Embracing any shaking that's happening in the legs. Yeah and then let's get out of there. Come to warrior two, this time facing the back of your mat. So we'll turn it to the other direction and then sink it down into your warrior two. Flip your front palm here, keep the legs how they are and we'll just tilt back, reverse warrior and then circle the arms all the way down and through either taking a vinyasa here or you can step right back through to downward facing dog, your choice. If you're coming through the vinyasa, inhale as you open the heart, cobra or up dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Breathe, yeah and we'll start that whole thing all over again. This time just starting facing the back of our mats. So coming to the left side when you're ready, inhale the left leg up, bend your knee, open up your hip, maybe roll the ankle one direction and then the other and keep pressing evenly through both hands so that your shoulders stay square toward the front of your mat and then straighten out your legs, square off your hips and step your left foot this time between your hands. Warrior two, inhale, circle it open and then let's pause. So taking three breaths here, really ground down, be afraid to go a little lower here. Inhaling, exhaling, inhale, exhale, last one. Inhaling, maybe sinking it down, exhale, good and then straighten through the front leg, get out of that hip, inhale, lift up and then exhale, come back to your warrior two. Two more like that, moving with the breath, inhale, lift up, exhale, deepen your warrior two, inhale and exhale, good and then lifting up, parallel the feet. Then you might heel toe the feet in just to shorten your stance a little bit, hands to your hips, toes out, heels in and then sink it down. So again, just find that nice low base and then hands come forward, palms up, this time left arm underneath, eagle arms. So you can either bring the backs of the hands together, maybe the palms come together and then from here, draw the elbows up away from you as you sink it down a little deeper, maybe close the eyes and just hang out for a couple breaths. It might feel nice to sway a little bit from side to side, really turning on the inner thighs here. Good and then we'll open it up, warrior two, this time toward the front of your mat, good and then just flipping the front palm, inhale, reverse warrior and then circle your hands down, vinyasa if you want it or maybe it's time to just step right back to downward facing dog. We'll meet there, taking a few full deep breaths. Good, so moving from our downward facing dog, let's go through one more round, a little different this time. So when you're ready, just inhale that right leg all the way up and back and we'll step it right through between the hands. Come up to warrior two again, so circle the arms open and then let's move right with the breath here. So inhale, straighten the front leg, reach the arms up, exhale, ground down and lengthen through your warrior two. Good, inhale, lift up, exhale, ground down, warrior two. Last one, inhale, lift up, exhale, warrior two. Good, this time inhale, straighten both legs, again we'll parallel the feet but coming right into your forward fold. So lifting up on the kneecaps as you come forward, maybe the hands come to your hips and then fold in for a moment and then we'll come halfway up. So walk your hands forward here so that the shoulders are right over the wrists and then turn your right toes out just slightly and we'll put a bend through that right leg as you walk your hands over toward the right. You want to keep your chest and hips aligned here, coming into skandhasana. So you can keep that left foot flat or if you want to come onto the heel you might do that as well and then let's just move from side to side, getting into the hips. So bending through the left knee, straightening through the right and then one more time, right side, walking the hands over. If you want this to be a little more strengthening, you can always lift the arms up here. Good and then let's walk it all the way back to face the back of your mat. So coming into your runner's lunge, ball of the back foot and then take your hands on the inside of that front foot and we'll heel toe the left foot over a little bit, setting up for lizard pose. So lots of variations in lizard, you can stay right here.

If you want to go a little deeper, your hands or your forearms might lower down to a block or maybe the earth and you can keep that back knee lifted or maybe lower it down to the earth. Just find your edge, find that place where you feel the sensation without going too deep here. So you want to really listen in to the teacher within and then send the breath to wherever you feel this. Taking a couple breaths here, you might roll to the knife edge of that left foot. If you're doing that, just go gentle with the knee. A couple more breaths. Yeah and then we'll slowly come out of there. So walking back up onto the palms of your hands, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee up and then start to heel toe the left foot toward the center of your mat. So hands on either side of your front foot and then let's lower the back knee down. On an inhale, just come on to your fingertips, lift up through the heart and then half split. Start to straighten out through your left leg. Come on to your left heel for Ardha Hanuman. So as you inhale, lengthen out through the spine and then as you exhale, fold into your left straight leg, drawing your left hip back and breathing. Yeah and feel free to soften that right knee any amount. It's finding this hamstring stretch for a few breaths. Good and then as you're ready, let's re-bend through that left knee and then keeping the back knee lowered, reach your arms forward and up. Let's interlace everything but the index fingers. So finding steeple mudra with the arms and then invite a little bit of a lift through the upper back. So you're lifting up and out of the waist and then lifting through the sternum, maybe taking the gaze up toward the ceiling. Good and then take one more big breath in.

As you exhale, hands lower down, vinyasa if you want it. We'll step back to plank pose, shift forward, lower halfway down, chaturanga. Inhale, cobra or up dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Nice job. Just take a couple cleansing breaths here before we move on to the other side. So taking a big breath in, open the mouth, sigh it out. One more inhale and exhale. Left leg lifts, inhale, step it on through and we'll come up to warrior two. Spin the back heel down, circle the arms open. Take a moment to settle in and arrive and then right to the movement with the breath. So inhale, arms lift. Exhale, warrior two. Two more. Inhale, exhale. Last one. Inhale and exhale. Good. Again, straighten through the front leg, parallel the feet. Let's bring the hands through the hips this time. Take one nice long forward fold. So as you inhale, lift up through the heart and then hinging forward at the hips. Keep engaging your thighs as you come down. Let the crown of the head melt down and then whatever feels good with your arms here. So you might take your hands to your ankles. Maybe the peace fingers hook on to your big toes or hands can just come right down to the earth or block. And then just folding in, kasimottanasana. And as much as you can with every exhale, just letting go a little bit more.

Good. And then releasing wherever you are. We'll just lift halfway up and then walk, stay low, coming to a lunge, this time facing the front of your yoga mat. Let's take lizard pose on the other side. So start to heel toe your foot to the right a few times and then hands on the inside of your front foot. You can flatten out the palms. You might stay here. This might feel like a good stretch for you. And if you're lowering in, just go easy. So you might lower the forearms down to a block or maybe all the way down to the earth. And feel free to let that back knee lower down if you'd like. The important thing is to keep your right knee over the ankle just to protect your knee here. And if you're going to roll to the outer edge of that right foot, just go easy, letting the knee stay over the ankle as you roll open and reaching the heart forward and breathing. Send the breath to wherever you feel this in the body. Just a couple more breaths here. Nice. And then when you're ready, just walking on out of there, we'll come up onto the palms of your hands. Start to tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, and then heel toe the right foot toward the center of the mat. We'll lower the back knee again and then that half split Ardha Hanumanasana. So straightening out through that right leg, draw the right hip back and activate your toes a little bit here. And then as you inhale, lengthen out through the spine. And then as you exhale, fold in. And again, if you want to bend that right knee any amount, go for it. Just want to feel that sensation without going too far. Nice. And then when you're ready, let's re-bend through the right knee. Coming into that low lunge, reach your arms forward and up, interlace everything but the index fingers. And then again here, think about lifting up first, and then you're going to find that lift through the chest. So reaching the arms up, finding a back bend through the upper back, and then you can sink down a little deeper. Maybe take the gaze up. Good. Breathe. And then as you're ready, hands lower down.

Good. And then we'll step back through Vinyasa. So stepping it back to plank pose. Feel free to skip it otherwise. Chaturanga, cobra or up dog. Inhale, last one, and downward facing dog. Exhale. Nice work. Yeah, let's get into our hips a little deeper now. So when you're ready, right leg lifts up. Draw the knee into your nose and then start to parallel the shin toward the front of the mat. So we're going to lower into single pigeon. So the knee and the ankle come behind the wrists and take your time lowering in. If you need anything under that right hip, feel free to take a block or a bolster or blanket under that right hip. And if this just isn't a hip opener for you, feel free to come onto your back. You can always take thread the eye of the needle. Good. And then just take a moment at the top to arrive. Notice. And then any amount when you're ready, just transitioning forward into pigeon pose. Yeah. And as you come forward, maybe even bringing the palms to face up as a gesture of your gratitude and offering. Just noticing the breath. This is one of those poses that resistance is pretty typical. Just notice that. See if you can sit with that.

Breathing through this and noticing is if the thoughts start to enter, if you could just gently encourage it to come back to the breath. Just a couple more breaths here. Good. And then when you're ready to walk your hands back up, up, peel the chest up off the earth. And then we'll come into Gomukhasana. So just shifting your weight off to your right side, take your left leg in front of you. Now, this is one of those poses that may not be for everyone, of course. So if it's too much to cross at the knees and draw the heels in coming into the shape of Gomukhasana, you can always just take a nice crossleg seated position and walk forward from here. And that might be better for you. Otherwise we'll just start to stack the knees, draw the ankles in. You might sit up on a block here if you'd like. Good. And then you can stay upright. You might just press into the feet, give the feet a little bit of a massage or keep your sitting bones rooted down. And then any amount, walk your hands forward. Breathe. Just a couple breaths here. More in the outer hips this time. Nice. And then as you're ready, walk your hands back up. Let's take the hands behind us. Step the soles of the feet to the earth and we'll come into reverse tabletop. So big breath in, lift the hips, stick out the tongue, lion's breath. Good. And then lowering down, cross at the ankles. If you want to jump through a vinyasa, go for it or you can step right back to downward facing dog. And then we'll meet in down dog, however you'd like to get there, setting up for the left side. So inhaling the left leg up, draw the knee in. And then again, lowering down, start to parallel the shin toward the front of the mat. And then taking your time with the transition. So noticing if this side feels a little different. I know for me, it's definitely a little bit tighter. So you might take a prop under that left hip this time. And then just taking a moment at the top to really arrive and just notice. And then just being as aware of the transition as you are of wherever you're trying to get to. There's really nowhere to get to in yoga. It's going to be wherever you are. It's all about the transition.

So bring the head rest if you can, bring in the palms maybe to face up. And breathing here. And just taking about three more breaths. Good. And then when you're ready, slowly walking your hands back up. And again, this time we'll shift the weight off to the left. Take that right leg out in front of you. Gomukhasana with the right knee on top this time. Or again, maybe that cross leg seated position you can fold from here. And if you're coming to Gomukhasana, draw the heels in towards you. Root down through your sitting bones. So both sitting bones are rooting down.

And then you can stay upright. Maybe just close the eyes and stay right here. This might be enough or any amount. Walk your hands forward. Just a couple breaths on this side. Good. Walk your hands back in. And then this time just taking both legs out in front of you. And sitting up high on your sitting bones, flexing through the feet. On an inhale, reach your arms all the way up. And then hinging forward at the hips will come into a fold. So you can let your hands come to your toes, your shins, the earth, wherever they fall is totally fine. It's leading forward with your heart instead of your head. Maybe relaxing in for just a couple breaths. Good. And then as you're ready, just inhale, slowly come all the way up. We'll roll down onto our backs. I'm going to spin around here so you can see me a little better. Bring the soles of the feet down to the earth. Reach your arms forward and then just nice and slow, keeping the feet connected, rolling on to your back. And let's come right into your resting pose. So straightening out the legs, bringing the arms away from your body, palms face up. Just settling into your Shavasana, allowing yourself to let go and let be. So if you have more time, feel free to stay here as long as you like.

And if you don't have the time, stay here even longer. When you're ready, we'll start to deepen the breath. Find any movement back into the body. And you can hug your knees back into your chest, maybe rocking a little bit from side to side. And then just finding your way up to a comfortable cross-leg seated position, however you'd like to get there. Just taking a moment as you find your seat rooting down at the same time, a lift through the heart, really feeling that connection with the earth. And then hands gather in front of the heart, bowing the head towards the hands in gratitude for this practice and just for showing up for yourself today. Thank you so much for sharing your practice and being with me here. Namaste.