Energy Flow

Welcome back. So in this practice we're going to move through an energizing flow and we'll move with some elements of qi gong as well to really circulate the energy. So we're going to start seated. So find a comfortable cross-leg seated position. I'll meet you there. And then as you come to a seat just take a moment to really root down and arrive so you can really feel the sitting bones rooting down. Maybe close your eyes for a moment and just arrive. So we'll start with a few cleansing breaths together just to find our seat. So allowing a big breath in through the nose. I'm going to opening the mouth, sigh it out, let it go. Good. Again big breath in through the nose and then sigh it out. Let's start to add the hands in with this. So bringing the hands to the heart. Take a big breath in through the nose. As you exhale open up the arms and then inhale bring the hands back to the heart. And then as you exhale open up the arms. Let the chest kind of melt forward a little bit. Inhale hands to heart and then exhale open up the arms. Let's do that two more times. Just linking the movement with the breath. Inhale. Exhale. Good last one. Inhale draw the energy in and then exhale. Beautiful and then just start to take some circles with the spine. So we'll move into some Sufi circles. As you exhale tilting back. As you inhale coming forward. Good. And you can take these circles as big or as small as it feels good for you. You might close the eyes and just kind of let the head and the neck relax into these circles. Good. And then start to make the circles a little bit smaller. We'll come back through center and then just change the crossing of your legs for a moment. So taking the opposite leg in front and then start to take the circles in the other direction. So coming over the left knee, inhale as you come forward. Exhale as you round back and taking that a few more times. Inhaling. Exhaling. And again as big or as small as it feels good for you. If it feels good to linger anywhere, feel free to linger. Just my feeling into the sensations in the body. And then start to make the circles a little bit smaller.

We'll come back up through your center. Just take a moment as you get to the center to circulate the energy. Like you're churning the energy toward your center. Yeah. And then just pausing, noticing. And then we'll come to all fours. So finding your way in a tabletop position. And we'll bring the shoulders over the wrist, hips over the knees. And we'll start to find some circular cat cows. So inhale just kind of shift the weight to the right. You can drop the belly through the center. Shift the weight to the left. And then round up through cat. And just kind of taking that for a few times in one direction. Starting to link the breath. And then we'll start to come to the other direction. So left side. Just any movement here that feels good that really just allows you to start to warm the body, warm the spine. Yeah. Shifting the weight around a little bit. Good. And then starting to come back to your center. Walk the hands forward just a little bit in front of your shoulders. And then tucking the toes. Lift your hips up and back. Coming into your first down dog. And as you come to your first downward facing dog, just finding any movement here. So maybe pedaling it out through the feet a few times. And maybe swaying from side to side. You might lift one leg up and then the other. Just really feeling into this first dog pose. All right. So let's lift the right leg up to the sky. You might put a bend in the knee for a moment. Open up your hip. Just kind of feeling into that right hip. And then straighten out through the right leg. Square off your hips. Allow a big breath in. And then draw your knee into your nose. Round through the upper back as you come forward. And then inhale. Sweep the leg all the way up and back. Three-leg dog. Let's do that two more times. Need a nose. Exhale. Inhale. Sweep the leg up and back. Need a nose. Exhale. Inhale. Sweep the leg up and back. And then this time we'll step all the way through between the hands. Finding a lunge. Good. And as you come to your lunge, you can grab a couple blocks here if you'd like. A couple books would work as well. I like to take the blocks to the medium height on either side of the front foot. And then we're going to take some cat-cows here in this lunge to start to warm the spine. So on an inhale, to reach the heart forward, you can kind of lift the gaze a little bit. And then as you exhale, keep the legs how they are. Just draw the navel into the spine. Rounding through the upper back. Coming into this modified cat pose. Good. And then again, inhale. Look up and lengthen. As you exhale, round into cat.

Good. Last one. Inhale. And exhale. Good. And then moving the blocks out to the side. We'll put the palms down and step back to downward facing dog. From your down dog, come forward to plank pose. And then you might lower the knees. Otherwise, let's lower all the way down in one line coming to the earth. Untuck your toes. Hug the elbows in. Scoot your hands back a little bit. And then coming up into cobra pose. Press through the tops of the feet. Draw the shoulders away from the ears. And lengthen up into bhujangasana. Good. And then exhale. Lower down. Let's take that a couple more times. So inhale. Cobra pose. Exhale. Lower down. Good. Maybe coming up a little higher this time. Inhale. Maybe float your hands up off the earth. And then exhale. Lower down. Coming back to down dog. Either pressing up through plank. Or you can press back to your knees. Tucking the toes. Lift your hips up and back. Down dog. Nice. And then we'll just take that to the left side. So inhale. The left leg up. Bend the knee. Open up your hip for a breath or two. And then straightening out through the left. Square your hips. Take a big breath in. Need a nose. Exhale. Inhale. Sweep the leg up and back. Exhale. Need a nose. Last one. Inhale. Exhale. Need a nose. Step all the way through between your hands. Let's grab the blocks again. Bringing them under the hands. And then same thing here. As you inhale, lift the heart. As you exhale, draw the navel in. Rounding through the back. Press the floor away. Inhale. Lift up and lengthen. Good. Exhale. Round in. Last one. Inhale. And exhale. Nice. And then you can move the blocks out to the side. We'll step it back to downward-facing dog. And then moving through a vinyasa here. Come forward into plank pose. Inhale. This time maybe lowering through chaturanga. Come halfway down. Roll over the toes. Up dog if you're ready for that. Or stay with cobra. Good. And then downward-facing dog. Lift the hips up and back. Breathing here. Take a big breath in. And then open the mouth and let it go. Good. And rising up high onto the toes. Bend your knees. Just take a nice slow walk to the front of your mat. And we'll come to a forward fold at the front of your mat. Good. And then as you come to your forward fold, you might hold onto opposite elbows, softening the knees as you fold in. Maybe sway a little bit from side to side. You might shake the head yes and no. It's releasing any tension in the head, the neck, your shoulders. Yeah. And then taking the opposite arm on top. Taking a couple more breaths here. Beautiful. And then let your hands just kind of dangle down. Soften your knees and just gently start to roll up. Tuck the chin. Rolling one vertebra at a time. Nice and slow. Let the head be the last thing to arrive. As you get to the top, bring the shoulders up to your ears. Roll them down the back. Bring the palms to face forward. Tadasana. Close the eyes for a moment. And just check in with your breathing. Maybe set an intention for your practice this afternoon or morning. Whatever you're practicing.

Still allowing this to be the purpose of your practice. Good. And then as you're ready, let's step the feet together and we'll come into chair pose. So coming into Utkatasana, sweep the arms back and up. And then sink the weight down into your heels. Now from here we're gonna do a little movement with the arms. So stay in your chair. Allow a big breath in. And then as you exhale, just sweep the arms to your right and back behind you. Like you're pushing the energy that you don't need away from you. And then as you inhale, gather the energy. As you exhale, bring the hands to the left and back behind you. Let's do that a couple more times. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, sweep it to the right. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, sweep left. Good. Last one. Keep the legs nice and low. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Your hands sweep to the left. Exhale. Good. And then inhale. Stand up nice and tall. Bring the arms up over your head. And then fold into your fold. Utkatasana. Good. Lift halfway up on your inhale. And then your choice. You can jump it back through a vinyasa. If you want to step back to plank and lower through, feel free to modify however you'd like. And if it feels good for you to just step back to down dog today, go for it. Inhale to lift the heart. Exhale. Downward-facing dog. Good. And then let's reach the right leg all the way up and back on an inhale. And then step your foot through between your hands. Into warrior two. Spin the back heel down. The front heel is aligned with the center of your back arch. And sweep the left arm forward and back as you land in warrior two. And just take a moment here to feel strong in the legs, sinking down toward 90 degrees in that front leg. And then keeping the legs how they are, we're just gonna move with the energy of the arms. So on an inhale, reach your arms up. On an exhale, bring your arms back to warrior two. Good. And then on an inhale, bring the hands to the heart. On an exhale, reach your arms out. Good. Again. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, hands to heart. Exhale, warrior two. Last one. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, warrior two. And with tension, draw everything in. Inhale. Then as you exhale, press it away. Beautiful. And then flip your front palm, tilt back, reverse your warrior, straighten out through your front leg as you come back. Good. And you might shorten your stance a little bit here if you'd like. And then hinging forward at the hips, right hand down, left arm lifts up, triangle pose. Good. And you might take a gaze up toward your left fingertips and triangle. And then just keeping with the movement, with the breath, reach your left arm over your ear. And then circle it in front of your face and bring it all the way up. So you're taking a big full circle with that arm. Inhale, over the head. Exhale, bring it up. Last one. Inhale, circling it all the way around. And then taking it in the other direction. So inhale it back. Exhale it up and around. Good. Inhale it back. Exhale, up and around. And then one more time. Really opening up through the shoulders here. Beautiful. And then from your triangle, let's just re-bend through your front leg. Come back to warrior two. And then flip your front palm, tilt back. It's coming back to go forward. Circle the arms down. Come onto the ball of your back foot so you're in a lunge. Lower your back knee down in your lunge. And then Ardha Hanuman straighten out through your front leg, folding over your front leg. Just for a couple breaths. Hamstring stretch. Drawing the right hip back. I energize through the toes. Good. And then re-bending. Vinyasa if you want it. Or you can step right back to downward facing dog. Your choice. Good. And then just taking a moment we'll meet in downward facing dog. Notice how you're feeling. And then when you're ready we'll come to the left side. So inhaling the left leg up. Step it through. Warrior two. Spin the back heel down. Circle the arms open to warrior two. And then just take a moment here to arrive. And we'll start to move with your arms again. So inhale arms up. Legs stay the same. Exhale warrior two. Good. Inhale arms to your heart. Excuse me. And then exhale press away coming back into warrior two. And then again. Inhale arms up. Move the energy. Exhale warrior two.

Sink down into that front leg. Inhale hands to heart. Exhale warrior two. Last one. Inhale arms up. Exhale warrior two. Good. Hands to heart. Inhale. Then again press away with some tension here. Like you're pressing away what you don't need. Good. And then flip your front palm tilt back. Inhale. Straighten through your front leg. Maybe shorten the stance a little bit. And then triangle pose. Bringing the left hand down. Reach your right arm up. Maybe gaze up toward those right fingertips. Yeah. And then take the top arm over your ear. Spin it around. Bring it all the way back up. And we'll take that a couple more times. Find that release through the shoulders. Good. And on your third one bring the arm back up. And then we'll take it back and around. Inhaling as you come down. Exhaling as you lift up. Circling the arm back and up and around. Last one. Back up and around.

Good. And then from here we bend through your front leg. Reverse your warrior. Come back to come forward. Hand circle down. Come onto the ball of your back foot. Let the back knee lower. Inhale lift up. And then we'll straighten through that left leg. Hamstring stretch. Ardha Hanumanasana. Drawing the left hip back. Folding over your front leg as you bow in. With devotion. Yeah. And then sending the breath to the back of that left leg. Feel free to soften the left knee any amount. Good. And then as you're ready, rebend through your left leg. Come back to your lunge. And if you want the vinyasa, take it. I'll lead us through a vinyasa. Feel free to step right back to down dog. So from plank pose. Lower halfway down. Chaturanga. Inhale cobra or up dog. Exhale downward facing dog. Beautiful. Take a couple breaths. Letting go. Good. And then as you're ready we'll come back to the right leg. Inhale the right leg up. Exhale step through. Warrior two. Spin the back heel down. Open it up. Good. And then again stay in your warrior two. Just one breath. Inhale arms up. Exhale warrior two. Good. Inhale hands to your heart. And then press away. Good. From here flip your front palm right away. Tilt back. Reverse warrior. Straighten out through your front leg for a reverse triangle. And then coming into triangle pose. Right hand down. Left arm lifts. And then let's make the transition into half moon this time. So maybe the left hand comes to your hip. You'll gaze down beyond your front toes. Put a bend in your right knee. And then reach forward with your right fingertips. Lift up through that left leg. Flexing through the left foot. And maybe add the left arm. Reaching the arm up. And you can start to stack the hips. Shoulders. Be gazing up toward your fingertips for a breath or two. Testing your balance. Beautiful. And then we'll softly step the left foot to the back of the mat. Finding your warrior two. Flip your front palm. Inhale tilt back. Good. And then circle your hands down. Runners lunge. Good. Let the back knee lower. Now you can come to where we went before. Ardha Hanumanasana. Where you might slide into the full posture. Hanumanasana. I like to do that with a couple blocks. So you might take your blocks or your books again. And you can take your blocks to any height.

Coming on either sides of your hips. So as you come from the half version. Ardha Hanuman. You might slide the right leg forward. Taking your hands to the tops of the blocks. And you might even turn your back toes under to encourage that left hip to roll down. And you can keep your hands on the blocks. You might release all the way down. It's totally up to you where you want to be today. Just finding your edge. Breathing into the sensations. Just a couple breaths. Good. And then as you're ready. There's no good way to transition out of this. But we'll re-bend through the front leg. Coming back to your lunge. Take your blocks out to the sides of your mat. And then Vinyasa or step right back to your downward facing dog meeting there. Good. And we'll come to the left side. Inhale the left leg up. Exhale step through. Warrior two. Spin the back heel down. Circle open. Good. Inhale the arms up. Exhale open it up. Warrior two. Inhale hands to heart. Exhale press away. Warrior two. Flip your front palm. Inhale reverse your warrior. Straighten through your front leg. And then triangle pose. Left hand down. Right arm lifts. Take a couple breaths here. Good. And as you're ready. Half moon. Maybe right hand to the hip. Gaze down. Bend through your front leg. You might step your back foot in a little bit first. And then left hand down. Right under your shoulder. Straighten through your front leg. Flex through your back foot. Start to open up the hip. Open the shoulders. Stacking hips and shoulders. Breathing here. Press through the ball of the left big toe. Yeah. And softly as you can we'll step the right foot to the back of the mat. And that's not always a soft landing. But take a moment to arrive. Good. Reverse warrior. Inhale. Circle down.

Exhale. Back knee lowers. And then again either coming into that nice half version enjoying the hamstring stretch here. Or you can slide in to your hanumanasana. Maybe with a couple blocks as you come forward. Maybe tuck your back toes. Encouraging that hip to roll down. And then see if you can find a lift up through the heart. Breathe. Good. And then as you're ready coming out out of that side. Rebending. Take the blocks out to the side of the mat. And then your choice if you want the vinyasa here. Take it. Otherwise I'm just gonna step right back to down dog. Good. Inhale the right leg up. Step through. And let's come to warrior one. So spin the back heel down. Circle the arms up. And just take a moment here to land. And we'll take the hands behind the back. Interlace your fingers. You might grab a strap here. You can also hold opposite elbows if that feels like too much for you. And on an inhale start to draw the shoulders away. Lift up through the heart. And then bow in the humble warrior. Then resting the torso on the thigh or the inside of that front leg. And just send the breath to any sensations holding here for a couple breaths. Hugging your right hip in. Just letting the crown of the head melt down. Good. And then start to lift up just a bit. Take your hands down to the earth. We're gonna sweep the right leg all the way up and back. So you're in a three leg dog. Bend your knee to open up your hip for a moment. Yeah. If you want to flip your dog, we'll shift the weight forward. Step the right toes behind you and lift up. Good. And then unravel here. We come into pigeon pose. So bringing the right knee forward. Start to parallel the shin toward the front of the mat. We'll bring the ankle and the knee behind the wrists. And lower in. Now you have your blocks. If you want to take a block under that right hip, go for it. Otherwise, any amount you can start to crawl the hands forward. Coming into pigeon. Just a few breaths here. And you can keep this active. Moving with the energy if you'd like. On an inhale, it's kind of lifting up. Reaching the heart forward. On an exhale, folding back in. Inhale, lift up. Exhale, fold.

Maybe holding for a few breaths. Good. And then slowly start to walk your hands back up. Press into the palms of the hands and we'll just lift back to downward facing dog. Anything you need to let go of that first side. Maybe pedal it out or shake the right leg up into the sky. Good. And then coming to the left side. Inhale, the left leg up. Step it through. Warrior one. Spin the back heel down. Reach the arms up. Just taking a moment to arrive in warrior one. Good. And then again, hands behind the back. This time take the opposite thumb on top. So the one that might feel a little strange. And then start to draw the shoulders away from the ears. Inhale, lift up. And then fold in. Humble warrior. Bowing in. Rooting down through the feet as you bow forward. Taking a few full deep breaths here. Good. And then gazing forward. Coming up just a bit. Hands down. And again, this time sweep the left leg all the way up and back. Bend the knee. Open up your hip. If you're flipping your dog, start to shift the weight forward. Step the left toes behind you. And then coming onto the ball of your left foot. Good. And then we'll unravel. Reach the left leg up. And then single pigeon on the left side. Bringing the left shin forward. Slowly lowering your way in. Anything you need under that left hip. Yeah. And then you can walk the hands forward as you come to single pigeon. And again, you might keep this active with the breath. Just circulating the energy. So as you inhale, lift up. Lengthen. As you exhale, fold in. Good. Again, as you inhale, lift up. Lengthen. As you exhale, fold in. And maybe hold for a couple breaths.

Beautiful. And then as you're ready, slowly start to crawl your hands back up. We'll just shift the weight off to one side. Bring the legs out in front of you. And let's come onto our back. So I'll spin around here. And as you come onto your backs, bringing a block with you on the way down. So coming down. And then stepping your feet to hips distance. We're gonna come into a supported bridge. So fixing your hairdo if you have one. And then we'll press into the soles of the feet. Walk the heels in. And then lift your hips just enough to slide the block under your sacrum. So very, very low back. And you can take the block to any height. I kind of like having it on the lowest height or the medium height. But you find out what works for you. And then allow everything just to melt down onto the block. Feel the support of the block, the earth beneath you. And then you can bring the palms to face up, gently encouraging the shoulders to roll down.

And you might stay right here. This might feel like a sweet release for you. Maybe close the eyes and just breathe. Or maybe start to draw the knees in towards your chest. And then you might take the legs straight up toward the ceiling for supported shoulder stand here. And then maybe close your eyes here and just breathe. And take about ten full deep breaths, allowing that reverse flow of energy in the body. You might feel a little shaking in the legs. It's totally normal. It's kind of tuning into those subtleties in the body. Subtle sensations. That movement that's happening within that's so often we aren't even aware of. Taking this time to become aware, become present. Good. And then whenever you're ready, you can slowly start to lower the feet back down. Take a moment in this supported bridge. Yeah. And then we'll press through the soles of the feet just to lift the hips enough to slide the block out from underneath the low back. And then lowering down all the way to the earth. And as you lower down, just bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees open up wide. Just releasing through the low back.

Bringing the palms to face up on either side of the body. You might stay right here for your Shavasana. If you like to straighten out the legs at any time, feel free to do that. And just set up however you need to to allow yourself to let go in the next few moments, allowing the integration of your practice. Where can you soften just a little bit more? Let go a little bit more. If the hips start to feel a little tight, feel free to straighten out the legs. Every exhale releasing into the support beneath you just a little bit more. As you're ready, just bring the awareness back into the body. Bring the hands together in front of your heart. So finding a prayer in front of your heart and just start to rub the hands together so that you start to generate some heat, some energy in the hands. A little bit faster. Just feeling the heat as it starts to form. And then when you're ready you'll take your hands to any part of the body that could use a little extra love. Maybe your head, your heart, your belly. Just letting the hands rest and then feeling that energy beneath the hands and your body. And then gently when you're ready roll to one side. Gently press your weight up to seated. Keeping that ease of Shavasana will come to a comfortable cross-leg seated position. Just taking the hands again in front of the heart, bowing your head towards your hands. Taking a big breath in, open the mouth, sigh it out. The light and love and me, greets and honors. The light and love in each of you. Thank you for being here and sharing this practice. Namaste.