Earth and Air Flow

Namaste. For today's practice we will be working with the elements of earth and air. So that means that the practice is going to have a lot of connection to the feet and the legs and then it'll be a nice heart-opening practice. So let's get started. We're going to start on our knees, sitting on your heels, face side so you can see what's happening and start with rubbing your palms together. Just get a little friction in the palms and then interlace your fingers and press your hands forward and you can even let the shoulders come a little bit off the spine here to get a little bit more reach through the elbows. Lift your arms up, get a little longer in the sides of the waist. Now as I'm doing this I'm pressing the tops of my feet down, pressing the ankles down, pressing the shins down, really feeling that connection to the legs that keeps me grounded so I can lift up a little higher. Keeping the fingers interlaced let them rest behind your head and the elbows can be wide here and then go ahead and open up the elbows, lean back, lift the chest, lift the heart and on the exhale let the spine round, drop the chin in towards the chest and the elbows can fold forward. We're going to repeat that. Inhale, opening up, nice full breath here and on the exhale let your spine round and drop your chin in towards your chest. Let's do that twice more. Inhaling and opening, elbows go wide, tipping the chin up and exhale round. Last time, inhale, opening up and exhale and let the spine round and then just keep the elbows draping forward around the ears, the head can still stay down. Let your hands rest on your thighs and push into your thighs and let that be the impetus that brings you back up to a long spine and give your shoulders a little bit of a roll there. And then we're just going to repeat that but change the interlacing of your fingers. So pressing the palms forward, getting the heels of the hands extending away from the shoulders, press down into the feet to lift the arms up higher, reaching out of the sides of the waist. If you want to add a little bit of a wriggle up out of the waist you can do that, that might feel good. And then take your hands behind your head again and on the inhale, opening up, just getting the breath and the movement coordinating here and let the spine round, drop the elbows in towards you. Three more times like that, inhale, elbows open wide, looking up and exhale at the spine round. Pressing in, open up, elbows go wide, lifting the chest, engaging the muscles of the upper back and round. And last time, inhaling, opening up, tip the head up and exhale at the spine round. And then keeping the head down, keeping the elbows in, let your hands come down to your thighs, push down into your thighs and roll yourself up to sit. Give the shoulders another roll, just loosening up the muscles of the upper back and slide forward onto your hands and your knees and if you're sitting on a block you can take the block off and place it off to the side. And then tuck your toes under, lift your hips up and press back into a downward facing dog. And lift your right leg up. Stepping forward, come into a lunge and let your back knee drop and you can untuck the back toes and then interlace the fingers, same as we did before, press the hands forward and reach the arms up and as you do that, you're still pressing into the top of the left foot. Take the hands behind the head, inhale, lift the chest, open up the elbows and on the exhale, let the spine round and drop the chin in towards the chest, elbows come in towards you. From here bring both hands down, tuck the back toes under, straighten out the back leg and peel open your right arm, coming into a twist. And then looking up past the right fingertips. And then bring your hands down, hop your back foot in a little bit and straighten out both legs. If you need blocks here underneath your hands, feel free to grab those and let your head drop, coming into an early prosaureta. So I'm going to turn away from you first. And you're going to turn to face the side wall. So the long side of your mat, just let your head fall, coming into your prosaureta and if you like to sway a little bit from side to side, you can do that. And then tuck your chin and roll your way up to stand. At the top, reach the arms all the way up, interlace your fingers. You've been here before in this shape. Stretch the arms up, get long and then take your arms back behind you and interlace your fingers behind your back. Roll the chest open and slowly fall forward, relaxing the head, prosaureta padottanasana. Release your hands all the way back down, take a walk over towards your right foot, come back into your lunge and step back into plank pose and lower all the way down to your belly. Pressing into the tops of the feet, roll the shoulders back, lift the head and chest, coming into cobra and press back through bent knees into downward facing dog. Left side, reach the left leg up and step forward, come into your lunge and let your back knee drop. Untuck the back toes, change the interlacing of your fingers, press forward and up. And let the hand slide back behind the head, open up the elbows, lift up, lean back, that's your inhale. Exhale and let the elbows come in, drop the chin in towards your chest. Bring your hands down on either side of your left foot, tuck your back toes under, straighten out your back leg and open up your left arm in a twist. Place your left hand back down, hop your back foot in a little bit, straighten out both legs. Again, coming into your parsvottanasana and then turn to face the sidewall. Wide side of your mat, a little sway from side to side, whatever feels good for you here. And then tuck the chin, you can soften the knees and roll your way up. At the top, reach the arms all the way up, changing the interlacing of your fingers, get long. And then on the exhale, hands back behind you, opening up the chest, look up. And on the exhale, folding forward, drop it down, let the head go. Release the arms back down, walking over towards your left leg, towards the front of your mat and step back into plank pose and lower all the way down. Rolling open into cobra and I'm still keeping my legs grounded, pelvis dropping and through bent knees into downward facing dog. We're going to take that sequence one more time and build on it a little bit. So lift the right leg up and step forward. Let your back knee drop, untuck the back toes, interlace the fingers, lift up, getting long, hands behind the head, open up the elbows and let the spine round, elbows come in, drop the hands down, tuck the back toes under, open up your right arm. So just moving a little bit more through the flow, place the palms down, hop your back foot in a little bit, straighten out both legs and right away turn to face the sidewall. Tuck the chin, soft knees rolling up, reach the arms all the way up, interlace the fingers, lift, get long, hands back behind you, lift up, open up the chest, exhale, fold yourself forward, drop the head down, Prasadapadottanasana. A little different this time, walk your hands out in front of you, get some length into your spine, bend your knees and hop or step your feet together. Bring the arms back behind you, come up to a flat back, 90 degree angle with the spine and see if you can lift up your heels, we're calling this one Diverse Pose and you can look down the tip of your nose and then big bend in the knees for Utkatasana, lift up through the arms and on the exhale fold yourself forward, come right back down Utanasana. Once again walking the hands forward, this time I'm going to hop my feet wide and take a walk over towards my right foot, coming into a lunge towards the front of my mat and step back into plank pose. Lower your left knee down, spin your right heel down and lift up into a side plank variation so the right arm will lift up, your left knee is down and I'm still reaching into the outer edge of the right foot so that I've got some lift on the inseam of the right leg. Take the right arm over your ear and see if you can turn the underside of the chest up a little bit higher and then bring both hands down, you're coming right back into your plank pose and lower down. You can always drop your knees first. Cobra a little higher if you're ready for it, pressing into the hands, still drawing the elbows in and downward facing dog. Left side, reach the left leg up and step it forward, let the back knee drop and tuck the toes, reach the arms up, getting long, hands behind the head, inhale open, exhale folding forward, hands come down, tuck the back toes under, straighten out the back leg, open up your left arm and twist and then placing the left hand down, hop your back foot in a little bit, straighten out both legs, parsvottanasana and turn to face the side. Soft knees, tuck the chin, roll your way up to stand, the top, reach your arms all the way up, interlacing the fingers, getting lifted, hands back behind you, open up and soft knees to fold yourself forward, drop the head down, walk the fingers out slightly in front of you, get some length in the spine, hop or step the feet together, reach the arms back, coming into your diverse pose, lift the front of the thighs, stay engaged in the legs, utkatasana, bending the knees, lifting up through the arms so the legs are staying heavy, the heart is getting lighter and fold yourself forward, walk the fingers forward, hop or step your feet wide, take a walk over towards the left foot coming into a lunge, hands on either side of the left foot, step back into plank pose and lower your right knee down, right underneath your right hip, spinning open into your side plank variation and I'm using the lift of the left arm to pull me out of the right wrist, take your left arm over your ear, getting a little longer, feeling that spreading in the left ribs, come back into your plank pose and lower all the way down. Cobra, drawing the elbows back, pushing in with the tops of the feet and downward facing dog and then start to walk your feet forward one step at a time until you get all the way to the front of your mat, all the way. Once again, walking the fingertips forward, take your hands to your hips, circle your shoulders back, pressing into the feet, come all the way up to stand, reach your arms up, interlace the fingers, invert the palms, moving the heels of the hands away, so much that you actually can lift the heels of the feet up. Get a little longer there, pull the bottom ribs in and then let the heels land and bring the hands to the heart in anjali mudra and let the hands fall by your sides and take a breath in to dasana. And so now we're just going to move through some pretty basic surya namaskar.

So go ahead, inhale the arms up, high prayer above the head and pulling right down through center, fold yourself forward, uttanasana. Step the right foot back into a lunge and you can look forward here, down dog with your breath out. Rolling out into plank, chaturanga if you want it or to the ground, upward facing or you'll stay with your cobra, downward facing dog with the breath out. Reach the right leg up, step it in between your hands, bring the left foot to join it and fold into your legs. Come all the way back up on your inhale, rise up long and exhale right back towards your feet folding forward. Send the left leg back, downward facing dog, slide out to plank pose, heels reaching back, heart comes forward, chaturanga, urdvamukasvanasana, lift the chest, lift the head, adho mukasvanasana, downward facing dog. Take the left leg up, step it in between your hands, bring the right foot to join it and fold into your legs. Inhale rise up, reach up and exhale coming right back down. One more round just like that, step the right foot back, downward facing dog, move it out into plank, legs stay strong, press in with the hands halfway down, rise back up, open up, adho mukka downward facing dog with your breath out, reach the right leg up, step it in between your hands, bring the left foot to join it, folding into your legs all the way back up with your inhale, press into the feet, exhale bowing right back down, send the left leg back, downward facing dog, inhale out into plank, exhale chaturanga, keep the fingers spreading, lift up into up dog and press down into down dog. Send the left leg up, step it in between your hands, bring the right foot to join it and fold into your legs. From there coming right back into divers pose, reach the arms back, move the heart forward, lift the heels up if you can and then drop the heels and utkatasana and this time you might feel that you're a little warmer, I'm a little warmer, so let the ankles soften and you can tip the body weight way back into the heels. Keep the undersides of the legs firing up here, lift the hamstrings enough to support the weight of the pelvis dropping back and then folding forward over your legs. Come up onto your fingertips and look forward, on the exhale you can hop, you can step, take it through a vinyasa or step right back into down dog if that's better for you today. Move it through and that's where we'll meet. And then we're going to build a flow together, some of the same elements from the beginning of practice will be here. So lift the right leg up and step it forward, spin your back heel down, come on up, warrior one, reaching up, straightening out your right leg, take your arms behind your back and interlace your fingers, lift up, lean back, coming into devotional warrior, big bend of your right knee and fold yourself forward, drop the crown of the head down inside your right leg. From there bring the left hand down, peel up your left heel, you're in a twist, the right arm will lift towards the ceiling and then let the right hand come down and you'll turn to face the side right away, you're in that wide straddle again, prasarita padottanasana, tuck the chin and roll your way up to stand, at the top reach the arms up, interlace the fingers, you've been here before, lift up and get long, but this time keep the lift on the side waist, warrior two, towards the front of your mat, reaching the right arm forward, left arm back, let yourself settle in there for a moment, right, because we've got the strength of the legs dropping down, the reach of the arms pulling you in opposite directions, turn the right palm up, lean back, peaceful warrior, reach to the side waist, bring the hands down to the ground and step back, you're either going to take it through a vinyasa or step right back into down dog and we'll meet you there, stretch the left leg up, step it forward, spin the back, heel down, come on up, warrior one, reaching up, pressing into the outer edge of the right foot and letting the pelvis drop, straighten out your left leg, take your arms behind your back, interlace your fingers, lift up, lean back and bend your left knee, fold forward and the heart leads, head follows, even the chin can drop in here, bring your right hand down, spin up your right heel and lift your left arm, you're back in that twist, bring the hands down, wide straddle forward bend facing the side of your mat, turning the left toes in to meet the right, roll your way up to stand at the top, reach the arms all the way up, interlacing the fingers, lift up and then falling into warrior two front of your mat and we'll pause there for a moment, just breathing and feeling the extension in both directions and as much as the pelvis is dropping down, keep the crown of the head lifting up, sides of the neck even stay long, turn your left palm up, lean back, peaceful warrior, right hand can come down the right leg and spin the hands down to the ground, step back, vinyasa or right into down dog. And then we'll build on that sequence, lift the right leg up and step forward, spin the back heel down coming up, warrior one, straightening out your right leg, arms back behind you, interlace the fingers, lean back and slide your way down folding forward, devotional warrior, drop the head, bring the left hand down, spin up the left heel coming right into your twist, right arm high, wide straddle forward bend facing the side of your mat, soft knees, tuck the chin, roll your way up to stand at the top, reach the arms all the way up, interlace the fingers, invert the palms, reach up, little different, warrior two to the back of your mat this time, turn the left toes out, the right toes in, pause and breathe there and then right back into your peaceful warrior, left arm reaches up, switch your arms and switch your legs and take your peaceful warrior around to the front of your mat, right arm reaches up and from there we're coming right into your triangle pose, lengthen out the right leg and lift the left arm up, leaning back, open up the chest and if you need a block here, no big deal, grab your block, place it behind your right foot and you can let the right hand rest there or on your shin or your ankle, take your left hand to your left hip, walk your right hand forward with or without your block you're coming up into arda chandras and a half moon pose, lift the left leg up, once you've got the body weight over the ball of the right foot then lift the left arm, leaning back, slide back into warrior two, turn the right palm up, lean back, peaceful warrior, this time stay leaning back and straighten out your right leg so you're in a reverse triangle pose, lift up out of the lower back, stretch through the right arm and then bring your hands down and send your right leg up and through, down dog split, bring your knee towards your nose as you come forward, shoulders over wrists, plank pose and it will either be chaturanga or down dog, lift the left leg up, step it forward, spin your back heel down for warrior one, lengthening out your left leg, arms back behind you, open up, reach up and bow down, let the head fall, bring the right hand down, lift the left arm up, come into your twist and wide straddle forward bend, facing the side, tuck the chin, soft knees rolling up, reach it up, interlacing the fingers, lifting the side waist and then warrior two, so you're turning the right toes to the back of your mat, you might need a longer stance there, just so that you can really bend the right knee, lift up and back, peaceful warrior, right arm high, switch the arms, switch the legs, peaceful warrior around to the front, leaning back and come right into triangle pose and then once again if you're using your block, block right behind the left foot, I like the block behind the foot, I think it gives a little bit more of an open heart quality, you can lean back over the strength of the legs, take your right hand to your right hip, walk your block forward, artichandrasana, lift up through the right leg and the right arm and then maybe even taking the gaze up towards the right hand, kicking back through the right heel, let's slide back into warrior two, lean back into peaceful warrior, stay leaning back and straighten out your left leg and then bring your hands down to the ground, left leg up and through, down dog split, knee in towards your nose, coming forward, shoulders over wrists, plank pose, chaturanga or right to dog, up dog and down dog. And last time through this sequence, lift your right leg up, stepping forward, spin the back heel down, come on up warrior one, reaching up through the arms, straighten out the right leg, take the arms back behind you, interlace the fingers and fold forward devotional warrior, drop the head, left hand comes down, right arm will lift up, coming into your twist and then it's going to be a little different from here, look down at your left hand, push into your left hand, side plank, left hand, left foot, bring the right leg to meet the left and if that feels like too much you can always drop the bottom knee, put your left knee down, step your right foot back behind you, let's come into that rockstar shape, pushing down into both feet, lift up, send the right arm over your ear and then all the way back around, down dog split, right leg up, stepping forward, coming back into your lunge and face the side wall, wide straddle forward bend, same as we've been doing, let your head go, soften the knees, tuck the chin and roll on up to stand, the top reach the arms all the way up, interlace the fingers, invert the palms and then this time take your hands back behind your head like we did in the beginning of practice, elbows go wide, turn out your toes and bend your knees and the elbows are staying wide here, lift the chest, keep the hips low, so this is legs and heart, take a full breath in here and then a big lion breath on your breath out and then straightening out the legs and come right into warrior two, back of your mat, turn the left palm up, lean back into peaceful warrior, switch the arms, switch the legs, take your peaceful warrior around to the front and then right into triangle pose and you've been here before, take your left hand to your left hip, look down, grab the block if you're using it and come on forward into artichandrasana, placing the left leg, for this time if you want the chapasana variation, bend the left knee, reach back for your left ankle, kicking through the left leg, legs and heart, legs and heart, try not to fall over like I am right now and then straighten out your left leg, slide back into warrior two, turn the right palm up, lean back for peaceful warrior, stay leaning back and straighten out your right leg and we're lifting up here out of the lower back, spiral your hands down to the ground, spin up your back heel a little different this time, look forward and hop and switch your feet, spin your back heel down, come on up warrior one, you're right there on the left side, straighten out the left leg, interlace the fingers, lifting up and then folding yourself forward, bring the right hand down, spin up your right heel, you're in your twist, left arm high, look down at the ground, push into your right hand and step into your side plank, right hand right foot, step the left foot back behind you for a rock star, pushing down, send the hips up high, left arm over your head and come all the way back around, downward facing dog, left leg up, step forward into lunge and turn to face the side wall, wide straddle forward bend, tuck your chin and roll your way up, reach the arms up, interlace the fingers and then hands behind your head, turn out your toes and bend your knees and let the hips sink a little bit but tip the chest up, tip the head up, take a full breath in and then open your mouth and breathe it out, let's take warrior two to the back of your mat, lean back into peaceful, switch your arms, switch your legs, peaceful around to the front and then straighten out your left leg and come right into triangle, block if you need it and take your right hand to your right hip, walk your block forward, coming up into artichandrasana, chapasana variation if you want it, bend the right knee, leaning back, open up the chest, pull out of the standing leg, kicking through the heel and then send your right leg back out nice and long, slide back into your warrior two, turn the left palm up, lean back for peaceful, stay leaning back, straighten out your left leg, reverse triangle, lift up out of the legs and then hands come down to the ground, looking forward, keep breath in, on the breath out hop and switch your feet and step back, plank pose, chaturanga, urdvamukasvanasana and adho-mukasvanasana and then slide out to plank and drop the knees, hips to heels, take your child's pose for a moment. Rolling up and we're going to take our mats a little closer to the wall for the last part of the sequence. So you can slide off your mat, scooch it up right next to the wall and then we're going to start off in an L-shaped handstand for this one.

So if you want to measure off about the distance, you'll put your back to the wall and let your legs come out into dandasana and kind of eyeball roughly in where the heels are and then place the heels of your hands about where the heels of your feet were, come into your down dog and step your feet up the wall, coming into your L-shaped handstand. Now if handstand is a newer practice for you, this might be where you stay. But if we're doing feet or legs and heart, I'm going to start to creep my feet up a little higher and walk my hands back and so the hands and the feet are really working together here and yeah, this one's a little scary, right? You're putting your head towards the wall but I'm keeping my legs very energized here. Make sure you keep enough juice to walk out calmly, no panicking and then step your feet down and come right back into child's pose and that one will get your heart rate up, get you a little bit sweaty, which is always a nice feeling to close out the practice with, that last little burst of energy, legs, heart, feeling grounded and yet very open.

And then we're going to close the practice off with legs up the wall, Viparita Karani. So you can just grab your blocks and place them off all the way to the side, you won't need those anymore and then I'm going to scooch up right next to the wall and sit right next to the wall and then just roll back and send my legs up the wall and it should feel nice. Stretch your arms out. I know some of you like the cactus arms but just keep in mind if you are having the arms a little higher than the heart, it's a little bit more stimulating so if this is a practice that you're doing during the day, you might do arms up but if you're doing this practice at night, maybe slide the hands down by your sides, turn the palms up, eyes can close here and just let yourself come back to a softer breath. You can just let the pelvis hang from the legs.

That's it for now. Thank you. Thank you. And take a deeper breath in and you might sigh it out and then if you feel like you want to stay here a bit longer, like I said, maybe if this is an evening practice and you want to hang out here a little bit longer, please feel free to do so. Otherwise, you can start to walk your feet back down the wall.

Draw your knees in towards your chest and give them an easy squeeze. You might press the feet into the wall for a moment just to let the tailbone release. And then carefully rolling off onto your right side and turn almost towards your belly so you can use the arms to come on up to sit. And that will be our kshaya practice, our astringent practice with the energy of earth and air. I hope you had a great practice.

Namaste.