Resist and Persist Flow

Namaste friends, welcome to your practice. We'll start in a seated meditation, so just a comfortable cross-legged seat. Close your eyes and gently rest your hands on your thighs, palms facing down and just take a nice big inhale through your nose, fill up and expand your lungs and just sigh out your mouth, let it go. And again, a slow inhale, fill up your belly, fill up your ribs, fill up your chest, hold for a moment, open mouth, exhale, letting go. Just one more nice full breath like that, in through your nose, out your mouth.

And just start to let your breath be a little slower than normal and keep your lips softly closed and as you exhale, feel the weight of your hips grounding down into the earth. And as you inhale, just feel some nice length through your spine all the way to the top of your head. Just allow the awareness of your breath to center you, to calm you, to allow yourself to be here now. Just three more nice slow breaths. And then on your next inhale, just gently blink your eyes open and come into your space.

We'll come into forearm plank right away. So I'd like you to come to hands and knees first and then place your elbows right under your shoulders. If your hands want to come together here, that's fine, go ahead and interlace your fingers otherwise make a number 11 with your forearms and then tuck your toes back and gaze between your thumbs so the back of your neck is long. And just pause here and just find your nice slow breaths again. So a very challenging pose right off the bat can sometimes make us feel a little antsy or tense.

But I'd like you to try to find some ease within the effort through your breath, maybe even close your eyes and feel your body from the inside. So you might feel like your abdominals are shaking a little bit or your legs and that's a good thing, you're getting stronger. So just seek to find some gratitude even though you're working very hard. About five more breaths here, you can do it. You're always welcome to lower the knees if you need a break, otherwise stay, hold, try to suck your elbows and toes towards each other, strongly lift your belly in and up.

Last full deep breath. Go ahead and lower your knees to the floor, walk your knees under your hips, cat cow on the forearms, inhale chest comes forward, exhale round your spine, inhale chest forward, shoulders draw back, exhale round spine, three more, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Go ahead and sit back towards your heels for an active child's pose, let your hips come as close towards your heels as possible and push into your palms to stretch back, draw your belly in away from your thighs to feel more space and rounding in your lower back. Shoulders are still away from your ears here and then push palms into the floor, two more breaths, belly in, walk your hands over towards the left, keep your hips where they are and then place your left hand on top of your right hand and let your right hip sink down a little towards the right to feel a side stretch, take a full deep breath, walk your hands slowly all the way over to the right and then place your right palm on top of your left, let your left hip sink down, breathe into the left side of your body and gently walk yourself back to center, come on to your hands and knees, send your right leg straight back into the air and really spread wide through your palms here, root down through your fingers, your knuckles so you have a lot of support through your palms, push the floor away from you, scoop your lower belly in, try to find that same action you did in forearm plank where you just felt strong and steady in your core. Take the left arm forward as you're ready, balancing cut, strongly continue to hug in towards your body, imagine your right hand and your left knee kind of suck towards each other here and that will draw more awareness into the center line of your body adding to your balance here, take an inhale through your nose, as you exhale bring your elbow and knee together and round your spine, inhale send the arm and leg back out, exhale bring it in really scoop in through your belly, inhale back out, exhale bring it in, last two, inhale out, exhale in, inhale out, exhale in, inhale out and either hold here or bend your back knee, reach back with your left hand, hold the top of your foot, kick the foot into the hand, reach the chest forward two breaths, continue to push down through your right palm, your right arm is super strong and then gently release and then just take another child's pose for a moment just to give your arms a break, take a deep full breath and slowly come back up, hands and knees, now inhale your left leg back, you want the leg about parallel to the earth, flex your left foot strongly so your leg is active, draw your belly in, sometimes it's nice to think about the bottom part of your ribcage moving towards the front of your hips and at the same time the hips draw towards the bottoms of the ribs, that keeps your belly really singed in like a corset and then root through your left palms and your right arm forward and just feel the resistance here, press down through the left palm, don't let yourself dump into the left shoulder or dump into your lower back, keep resisting, from here take an inhale, exhale elbow and knee come together, inhale send it back out, exhale bring it in, inhale press back out, exhale scoop in, inhale out, one more, pull in, engage your belly, inhale back out, pause and either hold or bend the back knee and reach back with your right hand to grab your foot, kick the foot into the hand, reach the heart forward, keep your belly scooping in and keep pressing through your left palm, one more breath, gently release, hand and knee to the floor, one more time a little child's pose, maybe have the knees a little wider for this one and take three smooth breaths into your back, into your shoulders, maybe let your shoulders just really relax to the floor this time and then slowly come back up onto your hands and knees and tuck your toes for downward facing dog, lift your hips, take a few breaths here maybe bend one knee and then the other, relax your head, maybe nod yes and no, continue to root down through your palms here, push the floor away from you to engage your belly and lift your hips up and back a little longer, a little more length in your side body, your lower back, you can always bend your knees here if your hamstrings feel tight but continue to send your heels towards the floor to lengthen the backs of your legs as much as possible, take three more breaths and just feel how your resistance is adding to your strength, adding to your stability, go ahead and shift forward to upper push up plank, shoulders over your wrist, go ahead and lower your knees, so sometimes it's nice to have the toes on the floor, sometimes they lift up, it's up to you and then just have your shoulders over your wrist for a moment, then shift the shoulders over your fingertips so the whole body weight shifts forward, take an inhale, firm your belly and exhale either just two inches down or maybe halfway to a modified chaturanga, hold, breathe, firm your belly, tailbone towards your knees, heart reaches forward and then push back up inhale and then child's pose one more time, you're gonna appreciate these child's poses in this practice, take a deep full breath, you got lots of arm strengthening going on because we're really using the floor to resist and strengthen and come back up, find your modified chaturanga, you're certainly welcome to come to full plank, I'm not going to because here we want to feel as strong as possible, as capable as possible, so take an inhale shift forward from your belly, exhale maybe two inches down, maybe halfway down, hold, breathe, reach your chest forward, squeeze your elbows in, send your tailbone towards your knees, one more breath, lower all the way down this time, hands onto the wood, high to the fingers, lift your elbows straight up, you got bent elbows, little spider hands here, inhale lift your chest and exhale lower down so it's a wide cobra, inhale with resistance, lift like you're moving through a really thick liquid, exhale slowly lower down, two more inhale lift, press through your fingers, push through your legs, exhale lower, inhale lift, exhale lower, good, bring your hands back by your ribs, tuck your toes and you can come to that modified plank or full plank if you prefer, inhale push up, exhale down dog, deep full breaths, continue to feel your palms push down to send your hips up and back to draw your lower belly in, a little bit more length to be had here, one more grounded breath, from here lift your right leg up and back, from the top of your hip open your hip towards the right and then bend your right knee, so from here you can try to keep your arms the same as they were in downward dog meaning that your right shoulder really plugs in just evenly with your left and then you'll feel more of a twisting sensation as you open your hip, take another deep inhale, exhale bring your knee to your chest, pause for a couple of breaths, push the floor away from you and round your upper back, your middle back, your lower back, lift your knee to your chest, feel this resistance and then look forward and you'll also get a little more room to step the right foot through, so the right foot comes between your hands, spin the left heel flat, warrior two, inhale the left arm back, right arm forward, pause here, gaze over your right fingertips as a point of focus or you could even close your eyes for a few breaths and just connect inward, root down through your feet, lift through the top of your head and then feel your feet root down into the earth, feel that sense of resistance and push down through your feet to engage all your leg muscles to lift your vibration up through the crown of your head and then out through your fingertips, stay strong in your legs, so slightly square off your torso a little bit more towards the side of the room and then bring your right arm under your left for eagle arms, keep your legs exactly as they are and then hold here, so if this grab is a little much you can always hold your shoulders which is a nice option and just breathe, belly in, feel the resistance here as your arms hug together, squeeze your elbows, squeeze your forearms and then push your forearms away from your face, so as we do this deep work, this deep resistance, find an inner smile or an outer smile because it helps, one more breath, release your arms back out, feel that freedom in your shoulders, straighten your right leg, walk your back foot in about two inches, inhale the right arm reaches forward as the right hip draws back, exhale the right hand down triangle pose, stack your left arm on top and breathe here, so you can look up or you can look down or you can even let your head kind of hang in its own weight to release your neck but all the while your legs are still strong, so push through your feet, draw your right hip back, send your right ribs forward towards the front of the mat, engage your belly and open up through your chest, notice how the more you root down, the more you engage, the more you can expand open, I have my right hand pretty high on my shin here because I want to feel more length, more space in the chest and the side body, sometimes when we go down here we compromise that length and that space and that integrity in the pose, take two more breaths, good and then gently look down, bend the right knee, place your left hand on the floor, pivot onto your left foot and then slide to the outer edge of your left foot and then take your right leg and stack it on top of your left for Vasisthasana side plank, right arm up, you can always lower the left knee down as a modification and maybe kickstand that left foot behind you a little bit, so take two more breaths here, push into your left palm, find that sense of resistance and draw it all the way up through your right fingertips, lift onto your left hip, maybe imagine like a little ball under your left hip, take two more breaths, firm your belly and then lower the right hand down, good and maybe even waiting for this, we'll take a vinyasa if you'd like, take an inhale, shift forward, feel free to lower the knees, exhale chaturanga or to the floor, cobra or up dog, big inhale, lift your chest, exhale with resistance, press back to down dog, left leg rises, open hip bend knee, push through your palms even out your shoulders, take another inhale here, exhale draw your knee to your chest, press through your palms and round your upper back, your middle back, your lower back, lift your knee to your chest, stay with your breath, step your foot forward, right between your palms, spin the right heel down, Virabhadrasana 2, inhale, right arm back, left arm forward, pause here.

So when we do a practice that is a little more heat building and challenging, sometimes we do have that tendency to kind of get lazy and drop into our joint, so resist that, hug your feet towards each other, press your feet down into the floor, lift through the top of the head, firm your belly, all the while, keep those calm steady breaths, race and then face the side of the room and kind of square your torso off a little bit more and wrap the left elbow under the right for eagle arms, press your forearms away from your face, shoulders are down your back, away from your ears, lift tall through the top of the head, one more full deep breath, arms come back out, straighten your left leg, walk your back foot in about two inches and then send your left hip back, left arm forward, triangle, stack your arms, right arm up, breathe, continue to press down firmly through your feet, all the points of contact in your feet, push down to engage your legs, that will also keep you from locking out your left knee, so the more you push into your left foot, your left quadricep engages and lifts up, send length through your side body, use your core, draw your belly in, two more breaths, look down, bend the left knee, plant the right hand on the floor, pivot the right foot around until you're on the outside of the foot and then take your left arm up and stack your left leg on top, voila, vashisthasana, breathe, feel free to lower the right knee again, push the floor away from you, lift up, lift under your right hip, look down, lower the left hand, optional vinyasa, inhale, shift forward, exhale, slowly lower, inhale, lift into up dog or cobra, downward dog, push and exhale all the way back, oh you might want a child's pose now again, so take it if you need, otherwise you can stay in down dog for three nice full breaths. And as you exhale, mentally say the word release, and start to come back to down dog, if you're not there already, send your right leg up and back, just keep your right leg straight this time for three legged dog, take an inhale, exhale, draw your knee to your chest and really again round your spine, hold for another breath, push the floor away so you feel that lift in your spine, step your right foot forward as you're ready. Now the right foot's kinda right by your right thumb for this one, flatten your left heel to the floor and come for warrior one, arms forward and up, good and breathe here, root through both feet, lift through your chest, there's a little bit of a heart opener here, as you root through your chest, shoulders draw back, you might bring the palms together, take another big inhale, exhale, circle the arms down and back behind you, interlace your fingers and then pause here, find some resistance in your arms and your shoulders, so as your hands stay interlaced, try to pull them apart, yeah, so there's that resistance, as you keep your hands interlaced, you pull them apart at the same time and you start to find more traction and space in your chest, you also feel your arms work a little bit more, but in a different way, good, take one more breath, a different way than all the chaturangas we usually do, take an inhale, exhale, hinge forward at your hips, come into a humble warrior, so some of us might be about halfway up, that's fine and some of you might be all the way to the inside of the right knee, but even here, instead of dumping down and just getting lazy, try to push down through your feet, engage your belly, keep trying to pull your hands apart from each other and find something more interesting here, soften your face at the same time, take one more breath and then inhale to come back up, take your arms wide out to the side, take an inhale, exhale the left elbow under the right, back to your eagle arms and then come halfway down and pause, so as you're halfway down, push the forearms away from you, squeeze your elbows in towards each other, feel the resistance and then put the weight in your right foot, pivot to the ball of your left foot and come into full eagle, root through your right foot and sweep the left leg over your right, squeezing your inner thighs together, you might double wrap here, left foot behind the calf or you can even place your left foot on the floor as a little kickstand, take a couple breaths, squeeze in, good and then gently start to unhook your left leg, release your hands, send your fingers to the floor and lift your back leg in the air, so your fingers are here as support, left leg comes up for standing split, so I always say that standing split doesn't have to look anything like a split because it's more about pushing through your right foot, finding balance and as you push through your right foot, you start to actively lengthen your hamstrings, it's a really nice hamstring stretch, so focus on that instead of looking like an Olympic figure skater, two more breaths because most of us never will right, good and then now look forward, come out of the pose a little bit, just really hide your fingertips, about a half back here, half lift and then bend your right knee and squeeze your left knee behind your right knee, good, so this is like a little squat here, a jiva squat they call it in yoga and we'll just flow through this a few times with resistance, inhale left leg comes back up, exhale squeeze in, it's a nice booty blast on the right but inhale the left leg back up, exhale squeeze it in, smiles are really helpful here and one more left leg up and then bring it in and hover, you can hold here or maybe balance a little extra challenge, palms to heart, breathe for three, for two, for one, good, go ahead and release your hands down, step your left foot back, plant your palms, step your right foot back, find that beautiful resisting plank, inhale shift forward, exhale chaturanga, inhale up dog or cool bruh, down dog, exhale, three grounded breaths, maybe sigh out your mouth, maybe even an audible sigh, I find that to be extra releasing when you add sound, left leg back, inhale here, exhale bring your knee to your chest, take another breath, push the floor away around your spine and step your foot forward right by your left thumb, spin the right heel down, where you're one inhale come up, lift through your heart, root through your feet, strong legs, try to suck your feet towards each other and then take a deep inhale, exhale circle the arms down and back, interlace your hands the funny way, other pinkies on top, good, lift through your heart and try to pull your hands apart without breaking that interlace, belly in, take an inhale, exhale hinge at your hips, humble warrior, maybe let your head just really relax here but keep your legs strong, keep your belly engaged and just find that resistance, one more breath, root through your feet, inhale come back up, take your arms wide out to the side, sweep your right elbow under your left, eagle arms, hinge forward halfway down, pause, suck your outer left hip in, root through your left foot and pivot to the bowl of your right foot, gaze slightly forward and then lift off, right leg comes over the left, eagle, squeeze in, so whatever you'd like to do with that right foot and breathe, sit the weight back into your left hip, left heel, lots of resistance here, squeeze everything towards the center of the body, one more breath, good and then slowly release your right leg, start to lift it up and back, fingers come to the floor, standing split, that's not a split, breathe, maybe it's a split, it could be a split for you but again focus more on the back of your left leg, root through your left foot, one more breath, bend both knees, bring your right knee behind your left knee and squat in, squeeze your inner thighs, good, inhale the right leg back up, exhale, squat and squeeze, inhale, lift back up, one more, exhale, squat and squeeze and then maybe challenge yourself in balance, palms to prayer at your heart, firm through your belly, two more breaths, let it shake, let yourself get stronger, let yourself resist, fingers down, back leg up, inhale and then step back into plank pose, palms flat, both feet together, take an inhale to shift forward, lower slow on your exhale, inhale for cobra or up dog and back to down dog with resistance, push the floor away, change your breath, from here you can just walk or if you'd like hop your feet up to your hands, take your feet a little bit wider than hip distance apart, toes out, heels in, bend your knees and squat down, malasana, so as you come into malasana your heels might lift off the floor, that's fine, maybe keep your fingers on the floor otherwise palms to prayer at your heart, elbows push into your inner knees and then open your chest and find some resistance here, so push down through your feet, lift through your heart, draw your shoulders back, press into your palms, scoop your belly in, you can stay here maybe this is enough for you, if you want to explore an open twist take your left arm under your left shin, high to your left fingers, take your right arm straight up towards the ceiling open through your chest, find that same element of resistance and push your left arm into your left inner knee and at the same time push back into your arms so that you feel a little bit more opening in your inner thigh, you're groin, you can always take a full bind here as well, wrap the right arm behind, bend the left elbow, try to find your fingers, one more breath and then from here just go ahead and switch sides, take the right arm under the right shin, high to the fingers, take the left arm straight up, open your chest, feel the resistance in the right arm and the right shin and then maybe bind here, sometimes it's nice to even let the head go and relax it back, soften your face but keep feeling your feet root down, one more breath and gently release and come back to your melasana, straighten your legs and bring your feet back to about hip distance apart, from here bend your knees, bring your hands behind your head and just cup the back of your head and then with resistance go ahead and slowly push into your feet, we're going to roll up for a count of five, use your belly, four, push into your feet, three, push your head into your hands a little, two and then slowly come all the way up for one and pause, root through your feet, press your head back into your hands and open your chest, elbows drop back, scoop your belly in, one more breath, go ahead and release your arms down by your sides, hug your right knee into your chest and root through your left foot, find a steady focal point out in front of you, so taking all this resistance and adding it into our balancing postures, you can stay here, this is a half staff, it's a beautiful shape, you could always take a tree as well maybe bring the right foot to the inside of your left inner thigh or a fun variation on bird of paradise, you can bring your left hand to your left hip and then grab the inside of your right foot and then start to straighten your right leg up and out to the right any amount, breathe and sometimes even taking it to the outside of the foot can feel nice too to open the chest a little more, steady breaths, lift tall and slowly start to bring the right knee back in and release it down, right foot down, left leg up, take your time, push down through your right foot to lift tall through the top of your head, stay here or tree or bird of paradise variation, you'll grab the bottom of the foot to start, right hand on the hip and reach up and out any amount, maybe wrap on the outside as well, you can always bend the left elbow a little to draw the shoulder down the back, one more breath, belly in, go ahead and gently release the left foot down, hands to heart, take a grounded breath here, close your eyes, just a little bit more to go, find your inner strength, our favorite chair pose, bend your knees, take your arms alongside your ears, sit the way back into your hips and heels and bring your palms to prayer at your heart again, take an inhale, exhale twist to the right, let your left elbow come over your right thigh or you can just let it hover as well, it should feel really nice to twist, we haven't done any twist yet, open your heart, push through your palms, find the resistance here, so as you push through your palms and push the outer left arm into your right thigh, open your chest a little bit more, two more breaths, maybe gaze up, and then keep your hands in prayer as you come back through center, inhale use your core, exhale other side, right elbow crosses over left thigh, open your chest, push through your palms and breathe, try to enjoy the twisting action in your core, in your organs, a gentle massage, keep hugging your belly in as you exhale, one more breath, come back to center, chair pose, inhale and fold, exhale, pause for a moment here and you can either grab your elbows behind your legs or just grab your calves or your shins and pull in, one more breath, go ahead and release your hands, step back to plank pose, lower your knees to the floor and then lower your forearms to the floor, elbows under your shoulders just like we started our practice, you might interlace your fingers again and you'll come into forearm plank, why again? Because we can, because we're getting stronger and let's take three more breaths here, maybe close your eyes, push down through your elbows, broaden your upper back, engage your belly last breath and then lower your knees to the floor, flatten your feet and come to sphinx pose, reach your chest forward, draw your shoulders back, find some resistance here as well, push down through your elbows, energetically feel like you could pull your arms towards your toes and reach your chest further forward, feel free to roll your head around here, little side to side stretch or maybe a full circle to relax your neck, and then slowly lower all the way down, take a pause, take your arms alongside your body and turn one cheek to the mat and let go, from here bring your chin to the mat, we'll just do one back bend, you can either do shalabhasana variation, interlace your hands, keep your legs straight or bend your knees and grab the tops of your feet or ankles, so with resistance, kick your feet into your hands and lift up, inhale, reach your chest forward, point your toes straight up, keep kicking your feet into the hands, push down through your pelvis a little and try to lift up a little higher, two more breaths, and gently lower down, turn the other cheek to the mat, arms rest alongside your body, pause, and bring your hands by your ribs, slowly push up onto hands and knees, maybe take a couple cat-cows or just shift your hips side to side just to unwind the back, and then we'll move into just a brief inversion, so a couple options, you can come onto your back right away and just take your legs straight up, like an L shape, this is nice, or if you have a wall, take the legs up the wall, or you could come into a headstand practice, and a few options with headstand, you'll grab your forearms, interlace your hands, so you have a nice triangle with your forearms, place the top of the head on the floor, cap the back of the head, and tuck the toes and lift the hips, okay, so this might be all you do, right, you're just here on your head, feeling what it's like, or with resistance, push down through your forearms, a little bit of weight in the head, but not much, and then slowly lift the legs off the floor, this is really fun, find an L shape, hold, and then maybe take the legs up, or just keep that hold, and breathe, keep pressing down into the earth through your forearms, through the top of the head, shoulders are away from your ears, and then come back to that hover if you're in headstand, with resistance, belly in, belly in, belly in, slowly, slowly, slowly let the toes come to the floor, and lower your knees, and child's pose, if you're having your legs up the wall, just stay there a few more breaths, and from here, gently roll up, if you're in child's, let's all meet in a seated position, in the center of the mat, scoop the flesh away from your sitting bones, legs straight out, coming into Paschimottanasana, reach your arms up on your inhale, maybe a little bend in the knees here, as you exhale, reach forward and grab your feet, or your calves, or even edges of your mat, okay, again, if you have tighter hamstrings, keep your knees bent, let's keep it active at first, so find that resistance here, really great stretch for your hamstrings, your lower back, flex your toes up, inhale, reach your chest forward a little bit more, exhale, go deeper, inhale, reach your chest forward, exhale, go deeper, if you have your feet, pull on your feet, inhale, chest forward, exhale, go deeper, two more, inhale, exhale, inhale, belly in, reach forward, exhale, this time maybe you just want to fold and relax completely for about five more breaths, let everything go, all that resistance, just let it go, let it feed this release even more, the fact that you don't have to do anything, just let yourself surrender, one more full deep breath, roll up slowly, bend your knees and gently roll onto your back, hug your knees into your chest, once you get there, one more little bit of resistance, squeeze in tight, deep inhale and exhale, let it all go, let your whole body just rest on the floor for shavasana, shoulders relaxed, let your arms just splay out, let your legs splay out and just feel the beautiful contrast from this strong challenging practice into this place of just relaxation and peace, softness forming over every muscle and every joint, every bone, let your breath just be natural and effortless, let it go, nice and moist, inhale again, just stay there for another minute, continue to drop, then Staying here for another minute, continue to drop in and be heavy. And then just softly begin to deepen your breath.

Wiggle your fingers and toes. Bend your knees. Roll gently to your right side and press yourself up towards a seated position. And then just keep your eyes soft and settle back into your seat as we started our practice. And bring your hands to prayer at your heart, close your eyes, bow your chin down towards your palms, and seal your practice with gratitude.

Thank yourself for showing up today, for rolling out your mat and honoring your body, deepening your breath and connecting to your spirit. And just know that you are stronger than you think you are. You are so capable and you are so worthy of continuing down this path of yoga, getting stronger and just committing to yourself. Have a beautiful day. Namaste.