Fluid and Free

Namaste friends, welcome to your practice. We're just going to get right into some movement, so go ahead and find a comfortable cross-legged seat. Rest your hands right on your knees and kind of cup your knees with your hands. We'll start with Sufi rolls. Take your chin and chest over your right knee, circle all the way over to the left knee and then round back through your spine.

Inhale, circle over your right knee, all the way forward to the left and then exhale and round back through your spine. So just close your eyes here and continue to move in a circular pattern over your hips. So everyone feels this a little differently. Sometimes the hips feel tighter, sometimes the back, sometimes the shoulders and the neck. So just kind of let yourself ease into it.

Feel it out for your body on this day and just kind of listen and tune into your breath. Long inhales as you reach the chest forward, long exhales as you draw back and try to keep your hips grounding into the earth and then switch directions. You might want to switch the crossing of your legs as well just to balance things out. So when you move in a circular pattern, it really helps shift your energy. It's something I've learned actually in kids' yoga.

Just bring them into a circle, walk around in a circle, they instantly calm down and connect. So find that here. Find this way of moving and letting go of your to-do list, your thought patterns, whatever's going on in your life that maybe just needs to be pushed off to the side and unwind. A few more breaths. And then come to a tall spine and just pause just a brief meditation after the movement.

Find some stillness. And then keep your eyes closed, take your arms out to the side, reach them all the way up and over your head, big inhale, exhale, palms together, prayer to your heart. Inhale, circle the arms out and up, fill your breath up into your lungs. Exhale, prayer to your heart. One more time.

Inhale, just gather up what you want to feel today. And then exhale, bring it into your heart. Continuing to move here, hands and knees, plant your palms, knees under your hips, cat cow, inhale, chest forward, shoulders back, exhale, round your spine. Inhale, heart forward, exhale, round, draw your chin to your chest, inhale, heart forward, exhale, round. Good.

And then circle your ribs to the right, all the way up towards the ceiling and then over to the left. Like you're making, like your chest is almost like a cement truck and you're just circling around, going down towards the floor and up towards the ceiling and then move the direction other way. Maybe close your eyes here, just feel these water-like movements like you're just floating through your body. And then move the circles into your hips, circle them to the right and then back towards your heels and over to the left, bring them forward, over to the right, over to the left. So in this type of practice, just continue to listen to the little crevices in your body that are getting a little more space now because you have the freedom to move in so many different directions and then come into downward dog, tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back and then continue to move here.

So bend one knee and then the other, maybe shift the hips a little side to side, root through your palms, relax your head, maybe nod yes and no a few times and then bring your feet about hip distance apart if they're not already, inhale into plank pose, shoulders over the wrists, exhale down dog, inhale plank, use your core to support you, exhale back down dog, inhale plank, you can maybe find a little rounding, exhale down dog, so as you come into plank, you round your spine, inhale and down dog, exhale, two more fluid movement. Now lift your right leg up and back, open your hip and bend your knee, just feel that stretch for another breath and then bring your right knee into your chest, step all the way forward to your hands, warrior two, spin the left heel down, circle the left arm back and just land for a moment here, then reach your arms up as you inhale, straighten your right leg, exhale palms and arms back down, bend the right knee, inhale straighten the leg, reach up, exhale bend the knee, arms sweep down, do that three more times, inhale, inhale, try to find a little more fluidity and then exhale here, good, pause in your warrior two, maybe sink a little bit deeper, now inhale reverse warrior, reach your right arm up and back, exhale hands down to the floor, pivot on your left foot and lower the back knee down, shift your hips back, half split, walk your fingers under your shoulders, maybe a little bend in the right knee, inhale, heart forward, exhale gently round your spine, inhale heart forward, exhale slowly round, feel the breath move you, inhale and exhale palms continue like this, two more, last inhale and exhale, go ahead and bend the right knee, walk your hands just framing your right foot and then lift your back knee off the earth, your back and your lunge, right arm reaches up, inhale, exhale reach the right arm back behind you, down towards the floor, big circle with your right arm towards the front of your space and then all the way up and then all the way back and down, let's do two more like that, reach up and all the way down and forward and up and all the way down and then look down, walk your fingers forward and lift your back leg into the air, standing split, take an inhale, exhale bring your feet together and fold, inhale for a half lift and then exhale fold, inhale chair pose, pause for a breath just to feel yourself root down here and then interlace your hands at your lower back and fold forward, so this may look different than mine, maybe your knees are bent, maybe you have your elbows bent, no worries or maybe you're just reaching straight back but let's flow through those two shapes, so inhale back to chair and exhale sweep the arms back, interlace and fold, inhale back to chair, exhale sweep back interlace and fold, one more time inhale chair, exhale interlace and fold, release your hands to the floor, find a half lift on your inhale, exhale vinyasa step back to plank or float to chaturanga and if you step back lower cobra or up dog on your inhale back to down dog, exhale take a full deep breath and then either walk or lightly hop back to the front of the mat, inhale for a half lift and exhale fold, let's step the left foot back, warrior one plant your left heel on the floor, arms reach straight up, good and then take your hands behind you and interlace your fingers, inhale lift your chest up, exhale hinge forward and fold any amount, keep your hands interlaced, inhale come back up, exhale hinge forward and fold, inhale come back up, exhale hinge forward and fold, good come back up, bring your right hand to your right hip, send your left arm straight up and then come halfway down and pause and just feel some nice length through the left heel up through your left fingertips, take another full deep breath and then lower the left hand down to the floor, you can be high on the fingertips or flat in the palm and start to twist the right ribs up towards the sky, maybe take the right arm up, if you need to you can always lift your left heel off the floor, so take two more breaths open your chest and then lower the right hand down to the floor, plank pose, inhale exhale to lower, inhale up dog or cobra, down dog exhale, feel your breath moving slowly in and out through your nose, let's do the other side, lift your left leg open your hip and bend your knee, take another inhale exhale to step your foot forward, warrior two spin the right heel down, circle the right arm back and pause, feel yourself land into your feet here and straighten your left leg reach your arms up inhale, exhale arms back to warrior two, inhale reach back up, exhale bend let your arms come down, two more inhale straighten up, exhale bend, inhale reach up, exhale bend and pause here, now inhale reverse your warrior, reach your left arm up and back, exhale hands to the floor, pivot on your right foot and lower your right knee down, shift your hips back half split, walk your fingers onto your shoulders a little bend in the left knee, half lift inhale, exhale round and fold, inhale half lift, exhale round and fold, inhale half lift, exhale round just two more feel the wave of your breath, then bend your left knee, walk your hands forward tuck your back toes find your lunge back knee off the floor and sweep your left arm up, inhale and then exhale sweep your left arm all the way to the back of your space down and then forward and up big circles through the arms reach back and down forward up one more big circle feel your breath and then lower the left hand down to the floor walk your fingers forward lift the back leg for a standing split take a breath and bring your feet to gather good bend your knees chair pose inhale exhale sweep the arms back straighten your legs and fold maybe interlace inhale back to chair exhale sweep back inhale chair exhale sweep back this time come all the way up to standing reach your arms grab your elbows and then this is called sunflower pose or sunflower movement because you're just going to make a big sunflower with your arms so go ahead and bend your knees a little hold your elbows and lean over to the right circle all the way down round your spine towards your toes and come up and over the left oh beautiful sunflower go to the right and down and up and over and I love this because it again gets into those little crevices that you don't always think about in your outer shoulders and your hips move the other direction maybe just switch your arms so it feels kind of funny or maybe you're just making a big sun bright spacious light one more big circle and then just one dive forward and fold half lift inhale chaturanga exhale or maybe just step to plank and slowly lower cobra or up dog inhale and down dog exhale hold for a few breaths from here either walk or a little light hop to the front of the mat half lift inhale exhale fold step your right foot to the back of the mat pivot the right heel flat warrior one arms come forward and up pause for a breath or two just lift through your heart feel lots of space in your side body and then reach your hands behind you interlace maybe the funny grip just to balance things out lift your heart inhale exhale to humble warrior keep your hands as they are inhale to come back up use your feet exhale humble warrior again inhale come back up slow and exhale come forward now come back up send your right hand know your left hand to your left hip take your right arm straight up and then lean forward halfway down and just pause find so much beautiful length in the whole right side of your body push down to your right heel reach to your right fingers send your right hand down to the floor twist the left ribs up towards the ceiling maybe take the left arm up one more breath left hand down plank pose inhale lower exhale cobra or up dog inhale down dog exhale deep inhale through your nose long exhale through your mouth again deep breath in and long breath out good so from here lower your knees and we're just going to continue to find some dynamic movements so one option is maybe you're in a child's pose and then you reach your arms forward and you come all the way into a cobra inhale and then you push back to a child's pose okay the other option is you're in downward dog this is a little more challenging then you'll round forward all the way to an up dog but keep your toes tucked you have to keep your abdominals engaged and you push back to a downward dog so it looks like this it's very dynamic and strengthening but again do the child's pose cobra variation if you choose and just start to move so choose your first shape either down dog or child and then inhale either cobra or up dog and then exhale back to either down dog or child and just continue to ride the wave of your breath maybe close your eyes let yourself go here three more let's meet up and downward dog deep breath in long breath out from here let's bring the big toes together lift your right leg up and back open the hip and the knee maybe flip your dog this time right foot over lift through your heart take an inhale exhale the right hand down step your right foot forward and come into warrior two so back here where we started and this time take your hands and interlace them at your lower back start to lean towards a reverse warrior keeping your hands interlaced and just draw your interlaced hands towards the floor belly in heart up good take an inhale exhale towards a humble warrior too so come towards the inside of your right knee bring the right shoulder towards the inner right knee and let your head hang a couple breaths and slowly rise up strong legs come back to that reverse humble warrior funky thing and then place your interlaced hands on your right thigh if you can and get a little deeper push your hands into your right thigh and lift through your heart take another breath and then come back to warrior two inhale full reverse warrior exhale cartwheel the hands down to the floor pivot on your back foot and lower your back knee shift your hips back art a Hanuman half lift inhale exhale round and fold just to this time inhale and exhale round and hold you can either stay here maybe it just feels good to hold this stretch or you can slide into a full split if you choose it doesn't mean you have to come all the way down these days I don't and if you aren't coming all the way down just back out of it a little hug your legs towards each other lift through your heart take two more breaths and just feel the active stretch in the back of your right leg and go ahead and release everyone meet with the bend right knee pause here your left hand can be on the inside of your right foot and then bend your back knee and reach your right hand back to grab your foot see if you can grab it if you can't you can just reach back in that direction and one day you will work on the strength in your hamstring to pull your left heel towards you keep breathing maybe let your head hang towards your left shoulder one more breath go ahead and gently release walk your fingers forward lift your back leg a standing split for an inhale and exhale bring your feet together one chair pose inhale exhale sweep your arms back maybe interlace and hold and then reach your hands down to the floor come halfway up on your inhale exhale step or float chaturanga inhale lift your heart cobra up dog back to down dog exhale left leg rises open your hip bend your knee and maybe flip your dog if you did on the other side lift your heart inhale exhale left hand down step your left foot forward warrior to inhale come up settle in on your exhale interlace your hands behind you lift through your heart start to find a little reverse warrior action here lift the left side of your ribs up hands reach down to the floor belly in take an inhale exhale to the inside of your left knee humble warrior two maybe let your head hang maybe let your interlace hands lift up towards the ceiling a little more and slowly come back up and then find that funky reverse warrior with interlace hands maybe place the interlace hands on your left thigh push down into the left thigh to get a little more lift into the left side of your chest one more breath come back out to warrior two arms reach inhale full reverse warrior exhale hands down to the floor lower the back knee shift your hips back you can stay here or slide into your full split variation again maybe just not even going all the way down that's not the point just engage your legs flex your left toes hug in breathe into your left hamstrings lift through your heart one more breath go ahead and gently pull your left foot back bend the left knee walk your fingers forward standing split take an inhale and exhale bring your feet together inhale chair exhale sweep your arms back interlace if you'd like take your feet hip distance apart this time dip your right shoulder towards the floor and bend the right knee and switch sides dip the left shoulder down bend the left knee switch again right knee bends right shoulder to the floor and switch again gently release your arms down bring your big toes together half lift on your inhale exhale vinyasa you could step back you could float back or you can even just go to down dog and skip the whole thing feel your breath from here just lower your knees to the floor and come on to your forearms elbows under your shoulders you might interlace your hands or maybe keep your arms parallel to each other and then start to tuck your toes back for a forearm plank we'll just do a little core work here to continue to warm the belly and the heart and just kind of break down some patterns feel your breath you're welcome to hold here you're always welcome to lower your knees and take a break otherwise we're going to do little knee taps with the breath so take an inhale don't move your hips just exhale lower your knees to the floor let them tap and then inhale slowly lift them back up exhale little tap down inhale slow lift back up good exhale lower inhale lift use your abdominal muscles exhale lower inhale lift one more exhale lower inhale lift now get to lower all the way down yeah you deserve it tops of the feet on the floor lift your chest forward sphinx pose push down through your elbows a little to feel some resistance reach the heart up and then feel free to roll your head around side to side or maybe a little figure eight let's find some space in your neck and slowly lower all the way down and bring your hands by your ribs press up to hands and knees and then we'll come into a headstand a few variations so if you're new to headstand just play with this first part so your hands interlace your elbows are right onto your shoulders push the top of the head crown of the head right into the floor and then let the back of the head come to your palms so you're kind of cupping the back of the head tuck your toes lift your hips and walk your feet in any amount so for some of you this might be enough press through your forearms feel the weight start to move into your head otherwise you're gonna walk your feet in and then bend your knees and try to find some balance you might just hover here with your knees bent into your chest or you take your legs all the way up and you might want to play with some variations here so you can just open your legs perhaps if you have a really strong headstand circle the legs around a few times just kind of be playful and flowy even in your headstand keep breathing we'll slowly lower the legs down take your time come into child's pose please lower your hips towards your heels relax your arms alongside your body from here we'll come into rabbit pose you'll grab your heels with your hands and then tuck your forehead all the way towards your knees as far as it'll go and then lift your hips up towards the ceiling to straighten your arms you'll get a nice stretch in the back of your neck the back of your shoulders and just breathe here scoop your belly in not too much pressure on your head here two more breaths pull on your heels slowly release roll yourself up one vertebra at a time to verasana I'm gonna go ahead and swing your legs out in front of you we'll start with the left leg straight the right foot comes to the left inner thigh for Janu sushasana so just maybe pull the flesh back away from your sitting bones reach your arms up as you inhale exhale reach for your left foot or your calf whatever is available and on your inhale reach your heart forward back out of the pose a little as you exhale round and go deeper inhale back out a little and exhale round and go deeper two more you can always have a little bend in the left knee as well if your hamstrings feel tight and just stay with your breath one more and then just hold round and hold if you're pretty flexible you could even wrap your arms your hands all the way to the base of your foot and even grab your left wrist with your right hand maybe just completely surrender your arms and listen to your body here listen to the subtle layers of unfolding two more breaths and slowly round yourself up switch sides right leg out so the left foot on the inner thigh you pull the flesh back a little bit here just to ground your sitting bones in the earth arms come up inhale exhale reach forward grab foot or calf half-lift inhale just back out of it go deeper as you exhale inhale for a half-lift exhale go deeper inhale reach your heart exhale round inhale and exhale just fold hold here relax round drop into your breath two more nice slow even breaths and gently come out roll yourself up and then let's come onto the back so just roll yourself down onto your back hug your knees into your chest for a moment now take your arms out wide to the side bring your knees directly over your hips flex your toes straight up so you have a nice L shape with your legs take an inhale exhale gently lower your knees to the right just let them hover off the floor and inhale to bring your knees back right over the hips exhale the knees to the left hover inhale come back exhale to the right really slow and controlled here inhale back up use your abdominals exhale knees to the left press through your shoulders inhale come back up so just continue this slow twisting core and feel the gentle massage happening in your spine in your organs and even on your glute muscles I just love this action of rolling on the glutes take a few more breaths try to keep those shoulders pressing down come back to center go ahead and place your feet on the floor take your arms alongside your body palms flat and we'll do a few bridge rolls here so on your inhale lift your hips up towards the ceiling and on your exhale just slowly lower back down inhale lift your hips up root through your feet and exhale to slowly lower a few more inhale gently peel your hips up press your shoulders exhale slowly inhale lift exhale lower so next inhale you can either come back to bridge you can maybe take restorative bridge if you have a block nearby and you want to place it under your hips or you could take full wheel if you want to go deeper the palms come behind your shoulders push down through your feet and maybe push to the top of the head first this might be all you do or you come all the way up to a full Urdva Dhanurasana open your chest hold for about five breaths root through your palms root through your feet and then slowly lower yourself down one vertebra at a time happy baby grab your feet inner or outer edges knees come to the outside of your body and then just rock side to side a few times a few more breaths here you might just want to pause and hold breathe into your hips and gently guide your knees back together release your left leg long on the floor keep your right knee hugged in place the ball of your right foot just above your left knee and you'll take your left hand to the outside of your right knee and guide your knee across your body all the way towards the left it may come to the floor and then let the right arm just come to the right and hang in its own weight for universal twist maybe the right arm is a little bit up towards your right ear slightly and just enjoy this very specific twist that stretches the entire right side of the body more muscle groups than any other pose in yoga and you may feel your breath constricts a little bit as you twist so focus on the expansion in your ribs and your lungs one more breath inhale back to center release your right leg even at your hips a little and hug your left knee into your chest and just place the ball of your left foot just above your right knee take your right hand to the outside of your left knee and guide your left leg all the way towards the floor as far as you can at least and then send the left arm out to the left maybe let it hang in its own weight and gaze to the left if you'd like and settle into your breath close your eyes if you haven't already and just internalize your breath your awareness and gently come back to center on your next inhale and then just place both feet on the floor take your arms alongside your body and from here just reach your legs out on the floor long and start to settle into your final rest shavasana relax your shoulders away from your ears let your palms face up let your fingers naturally curl feel softness in your face and let your shoulders just melt down into your mat and then just enjoy the space here as thoughts come up as they naturally do just look at them acknowledge them and allow them to float away like a cloud in the sky go We'll be here for just one more minute of stillness. Soak it in. Feel the gentle natural wave of your breath just as you did in your practice but not forced in any way. Allow each cycle of your breath to be a reminder of this moment right now, right here.

Feel the gentle natural wave of your breath just as you did in your practice but not forced in. As you're ready just start to deepen your breath and softly move your fingers, your hands. Bend your knees and gently roll off to one side and pause there for a moment, maybe make a pillow with your bottom arm and just rest, easing back into your day. Use your hands to press up to a comfortable seated position, keep your eyes soft, allow your palms to come to prayer at your heart, bow your chin down for a moment of gratitude. What a gift this practice is, what a gift this life is, make the most of it.

And continue to allow your breath to be there for you, the beautiful flow of your breath as a reminder of what truly matters this moment right here, right now. Have a beautiful day, namaste.