Heart Medicine Flow

Namaste, I'm Allie. This practice will be associated with the taste of bitter. But that doesn't mean you need to be bitter about it. It just means that it's associated with the elements of air and space. So this will be a heart-opening practice, a little bit more getting your energy up, a little lighter, and actually kind of a fun practice.

Have fun with this one, all right? We're going to start off with an exercise from the Kundalini tradition. So rub your palms together and take your hands out like this, like jazz hands, all right? And then you're going to combine these circles with your breathing. So it'll be exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale.

And actually just think of this as a way of loosening up the shoulders and starting to get the blood circulating. And I don't remember what this one is called, I never remember what it's called, but I call it polishing the heart. So think of this as just polishing your heart and stay with it, stay with it. And if it makes you laugh, then that's great. And exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale.

And then let's call this 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Hands come together, and then we're going to move into our downward facing dog. So just make sure you have a blanket for this one. There will be some dropping the back knee, and I just want you to take care of your knees, okay? Come on to hands and knees, spread the fingers nice and wide, tuck the toes under, and lift the hips, pressing back into downward facing dog.

And then you can have a moment in your down dog. Some of you like to pedal through the feet or swing the hips a little bit from side to side or if stillness is better for you, stay with stillness, remember we're working the energy up towards the fourth and fifth chakra or the heart and the throat. So nice to be in a gentle inversion for a moment. And then roll your way out long into a plank pose, drop your knees down, and come into child's pose. Rise up to stand on the knees and swing your arms up, catch a hold of your elbows, pull them into your belly and fold right over your elbows, almost towards the child's pose.

Pulling into the feet, lift the arms, pull the hands in, holding the elbows, bowing down. We'll take that twice more. Inhale lift, and exhale fold, and inhale lift, and exhale fold, and then a little different. Rise up to stand on the knees and reach your arms all the way up, and then step your right foot forward into a lunge, bring your hands down on either side of your right foot. And just for a moment, let your hips drop in, reach the chest forward, drop the shoulders down, and then you're going to take your left foot and swing it out to the right, and turn onto the side.

You're coming towards a gate pose, so step the right foot down to the ground. You can brace the right arm against the right side, lift your left arm up, and take a side bend over towards the right, just working into that side waist, and spinning the underside of the chest up. Inhale your way back up, bring your hands down right in front of you, and slip your left foot through. Have a seat right behind your left leg, so your left leg is almost like a Januschesasana. You'll straighten out the right leg, flexing the right foot, and take a gentle twist over towards the left.

Lift up your left arm, and then same as we did in gate pose, you'll take a side bend here, and reach over. And I'm kind of using the right hand here to press the left thigh away, and maybe go in a little bit deeper, but early in the practice, let this unfold as it needs to. Inhale your way back up, left hand outside of the left hip, lift up onto your left shin. We call this one Stargazer, and you can look over the right hand, and then come on back down, and bring the soles of your feet together, almost like a Baddha Konasana. And you can hold onto the ankles, and lift the chest, and then keeping the right knee where it is, step your left foot forward to the front of your mat, shoot your right leg back, you're in a lunge, left leg forward, right leg back, plant the palms, and step back into your plank pose.

And lower all the way down. Roll the shoulders back, and peek up through the chest, coming into a cobra, tuck the toes under, downward facing dog. Set your down dog, stretch the fingers wide, and then other side, rolling out plank pose. Knees come down, hips to heels, child's pose. Rise up to stand on the knees, swing the arms up, and hold onto the elbows, pull in.

Inhale lift, and exhale fold, and you might take these breaths a little sharper and faster, or slower and smoother, whatever feels good for you here. About four breaths, it might be five, it might be three, depending on your pace, and then rise up to stand on the knees, and step your left foot forward, you're in a lunge, bringing the hands down to the ground, and letting the hips fall forward, but keeping the chest nice and lifted here, even reaching up a little bit through the chin. And then swing your right foot to the left, and you're going to face the side, coming back into gate pose, this time lift the right arm up, and take a side bend over towards the left. And I'm using the back of the left arm as leverage to twist the underside of the chest up a little more, and then slip my hands down to the ground, and the right foot's going to sneak through, I'm going to have a seat, and stretch my left leg out long to the left. Take a little twist to the right, you can look over the right shoulder, take your right arm up, and side bend over to the left.

And just get into those side ribs, create a little space for breath, and inhale your way up, right hand outside of the right hip, lift yourself up into your shin one more time, stargazer looking up, and come on back down, soles of the feet together, knees open, coming into that Baddha Konasana shape, but staying lifted, you can hold onto the ankles there, keep the chest up, keep the head up, step the right foot to the front of your mat, shoot the left leg back, you're in a lunge, hands on either side of your right foot, step back into plank, and lower all the way down. Standing up into Cobra, reaching the chin forward, and press back, downward facing dog. And then you can take a hold of your blanket, and you're going to slide it off towards the side, and then start to walk your feet forward, one step at a time, coming all the way to the front of your mat, have a moment to hang over your legs, if you like to hold onto either elbow, you can do that, give a little sway, changing the crossing of the arms, release your hands, a little bend in your knees, tuck your chin, roll your way up, at the top reach the arms all the way up, and you're going to catch a hold of your left wrist with your right hand, and take a side bend over to the right, and the same feeling here, that turning and wrapping of the right ribs, and then inhale your way up, and exhale, take it right over to the other side, leaning over to the left, and I'm poking my hips out a little bit to the right just to increase the stretch, but holding the navel back and in to support the lower back, inhale back up, and on the exhale take your arms back behind you, interlace your fingers, you're not going to fold forward here, just reach down through the fist of the hands, and look up, look up, open up the throat here, swing your arms all the way up, high prayer above your head, and then catch a hold of your right wrist and side bend over to the left, turning just slightly, but anchoring the legs and press down to lift back up, changing wrists, do it again, side bend over to the right, and inhale back up, and on the exhale take your arms back behind you, changing the interlacing of your fingers, reaching down through the hands, and let the impetus of reaching down lift the chest up a little bit, but keep the legs anchored, and then swing your arms up high, prayer over the head, looking up, and from here you're going to come right into diverse pose, reach the arms back, coming into your 90 degree angle with the spine, look down the tip of the nose, see if you can lift your heels up, and then let the heels land, utkatasana, lift up through the arms, reaching up, open up the front body, and fold forward over your legs, coming up onto the fingertips, look forward, on the exhale soft hop or step, and we'll meet in down dog through vinyasa or not, and then lift your right leg up, stepping forward, spin the back heel down, come on up, warrior one, straighten out your right leg, and take your arms behind your back, turn your right toes in to meet the left so you're facing the side, and then same thing here, lift up the right arm and side bend over towards the left, and get a good reach over, a full breath in right there, on the breath out, swing the arm in front of your face, wide straddle forward, prasarita padottanasana, take a walk over towards your right foot, come into a lunge towards the front of your mat, step back, and vinyasa or right to dog, it's up to you, stretch the left leg up, stepping forward, spin the back heel down, coming up, warrior one, reach up through the arms, lifting the chest, lifting the head, straighten out your left leg, arms back behind you, turn the left toes in to meet the right, a little bit of a lift there, and then swing the left arm up and side bend over to your right, and reach, big breath in, on the breath out, arm in front of the face, prasarita padottanasana, folding forward, walk yourself over towards your left foot, step back, plank to chaturanga or right to dog, and then building on that sequence and a little bit of shifting around with it, lift the right leg up, stepping forward, spin your back heel down, come on up, warrior one, straightening out your right leg, take the arms behind your back, same as we did, turn the right toes in to meet your left, a little different this time, reach your left arm up and side bend over to your right, and get long through the left side, prasarita padottanasana, swing the arm in front of the face and fold forward, but this time you're going to walk over towards the back of your mat, coming into a lunge and let your back knee drop, crescent lunge, swing the arms up, and just let the hips start to fall forward, but keep the chest lifted, keep the head lifted, from here bring your hands down on either side of your left foot, straighten out your back leg, spin your back heel down, you're coming into a triangle pose, straighten out your left leg and lift up through your right arm, reaching out through the underside of the waist, take your right arm over your ear and get a little longer, sweep it in front of your face, left toes turn in to meet the right, take a walk towards the front of your mat and step back, vinyasa, stretch the left leg up, step it forward, spin the back heel down, come on up, warrior one, straightening out your left leg, interlace the fingers behind your back, turn the left toes in to meet the right, reach the right arm up and side bend over to your left, there's your breath in, wide straddle, prasarita padottanasana, walk to the back of your mat, right toes turn out, walk the back knee, crescent lunge, back toes can untuck and lift the arms, lift the head, open up the throat, bring the hands down on either side of your right foot, tuck your back toes under, straighten out the back leg, triangle pose, right hand down, left arm up, reaching up and open and then left arm reaches over the ear, see if you can move the left hip point a little further away and walk it through center, over towards the front of your mat, step back, plank to chaturanga or right into down dog. And last time with this right leg up, step it forward, spin the back heel down, come on up for your one, straightening out your right leg, arms behind the back, turn the right toes in to meet the left and then take your side bend, left arm reaches up, side bending to the right, even drop the head here, swing it around into your prasarita padottanasana, take a walk towards the back of your mat again, hands on either side of the left foot, drop the back knee, swing up into your crescent, lifting the head, lifting the chest, hands come down, back into triangle, tuck the back toes under, spin the back heel down, peel open through the right arm and then right arm over your ear, sweep it in front of your face, take your walk to the front of your mat, a little different this time, artichandra, so right hand down and lift the left leg up and if you want the chapasana you'll bend the left knee and reach back for your left ankle with your left hand, just getting a little bit more of a heart opener, a little bit more of a throat opener and then stretch the left leg back out, bend the knees a bunch and step your left foot forward to meet your right, big bend in the knees there, lengthening out the legs in an uttanasana, take your left hand down, bend your left knee and peel open your right arm, you're in a twist, place the right hand down, just switch sides and the hand can come a little bit more towards the center of your mat, lifting the left arm up, eagle wrap, left arm underneath the right, so you're threading the left arm underneath the right and come on up, lift the forearms, coming back and then coming back up to center and you've got an eagle, left leg up and around and you can single or double wrap the leg and start to come forward. From here we're coming into shiva nataraj, reach back for your left ankle with your left hand, send your right arm up, I like to narrow off the knees first and kind of collect myself here and then kick back through the left leg and staying a little bit more lifted for this one, we'll come right into uttanasana, step the feet together and bend your knees deeply, bring your hands into a prayer at your chest and twist, left elbow to the outside of the right thigh and rolling the right shoulder back and I'm still looking for a little hint of the back bend heart opening quality here and then I look down and step your left foot back into a lunge, keep the twist.

From there if you'd like to open up the arms, left hand can come down, right arm can reach up or stay with the prayer twist, I know some of you might want to bind, see if you can keep the breath moving here and then bring your hands down on either side of your right foot, swing your right leg up and through, down dog split, lift the right leg up, step it right through center, standing split, send the left leg up and I'm working to keep the hips even here, walking the hands back in line with the toes, pushing down into my right foot to try to get my left leg up and then tuck your left knee and have a seat for spinal twist, arthamatsyandrasana. Coming down and taking your twist around and you can hug the right knee in close to the chest or take your right, your left elbow outside of your right knee and then start to turn and not only am I emphasizing the shoulders here but also even the chin so see if you can move the chin a little closer towards your right shoulder, really getting that twist in the throat. Take one more breath in, twist a little deeper with your breath out, take a counter twist in the opposite direction, you can bow the head down and then bring the hands back behind you, the soles of your feet to the ground and lift up, I call this one an alter pose but it's like a reverse table top, pushing into the arms and the legs and you can let the head fall back if that's okay for you, take a lion's breath, breathe in, open your mouth and then release your sit bones down, cross your ankles, come on forward onto your hands and your knees, you'll step back and move into your vinyasa, plank chaturanga, up dog and down dog or right into down dog, so there's chaturanga, upward facing dog on the inhale, down dog on the exhale and then let's work on the left side, lift the left leg up and step forward, spin the back heel down, warrior one, reaching up, straighten out the left leg, arms back behind you, interlace the fingers, turn the left toes in to meet the right, right arm lifts high and side bend over to the left, reaching over and take your wide straddle, forward bend, walking to the back of the mat, right toes turn out, drop the left knee and swing your arms up coming into crescent lunge, lifting up which becomes triangle pose, back heel spins down, opening up through the left arm, reaching out, left arm over your ear, swing it in front of you, take a walk to the front of your mat, we're coming back into artichandrasana, left hand down, right leg up, and then if you want the chapasana, bend your right knee, reach back for your right ankle with your right hand and kick, and then lengthening your right leg back out, bend your knees, big bend in your knees, and step forward, and I'm bringing both hands down there so I just get that grounding. Tent the right fingertips, peel open the left arm and twist, and then take it right over to the other side, left hand down, right arm up twisting, thread your right arm underneath your left, eagle wrap the arms and come on up, lifting the forearms, lean the head back, re-center yourself and come right into eagle, right leg up and around, and folding forward, reaching into shivanatharaj, holding onto the right ankle, lift the left arm up and start to kick back through the right leg, staying pretty lifted on this one, keep lifting the chin, and right into utkatasana, prayer your palms and take your twist, right elbow to the outside of the left thigh this time, leaning and tipping the chin back a little, lengthening the knees a little deeper, and then looking down and step your right foot back into a lunge, and when you step the right foot back, step it a little wider to the right, gives you a little bit more leverage in terms of balance, if you need to put the back knee down you'll do that, if you'd like to open up the arms, right hand down, bring the left arm up, and then slip your hands down to the ground, let your belly untwist itself, send your left leg up, down dog split, step back through center, standing split, lift your right leg, and I'm walking my hands back, working on lifting my right leg without letting the hips open up, and coming right down into seated spinal twist, give you a moment to just release down towards the ground, drawing the left knee in towards the chest, or taking the right elbow outside the left thigh, and I'm working on getting my left hip down just as much as my right one here, so that might mean inching the right foot open a little bit further, and then turning the neck, turning the head, even turning the eyes, to get a little deeper into that twist, take one more breath in, and then counter twist in the opposite direction, you can drop the head down, come on back up, hands back behind you, soles of the feet to the ground, lifting up into your alter shape, and letting the head fall back, breathe in, open up your mouth, breathe it out, release the sit bones down, crossing the ankles, come forward onto hands and knees, step back into plank, and this time you're going to lower all the way down to your belly, once you're down on your belly, reach back, grab your blanket and just have it close by, you can put it right in the front of your mat, and then you're on your belly, and stretch your arms out to the sides, and big big heart and throat opener, take your left hand and put it underneath your left shoulder, keep your right arm where it is, and start to roll towards your right side, and you can step the left foot to the ground with the left knee back, now I like a blanket under my head here because otherwise I feel like the angle for the neck is a little funny, so a blanket underneath the head could be nice here, if there's no blanket nearby just use a block, and then you can take your left arm up and place that behind your back, and see if you can roll the left shoulder blade open a little bit more, and a lot of breathing, you know in our daily lives we do a lot that closes off the shoulders, so this is just a way to get them back open, and then slowly, slowly take your time, come back through center, have a moment, and then other side right hand underneath the right shoulder, and take the right leg back behind you, and again you can snuggle the blanket underneath the left ear, and take the right arm up, fold it behind the back, you know if you're super open here you might roll a little bit more towards your back and try to step both feet to the ground, but for today my shoulders are saying keep one leg long and one knee bent, couple of deeper breaths here just working into the shoulder, and then carefully roll back onto your belly, and you can slide your blanket off again, and then on your belly coming into shalabhasana, so interlace the fingers behind your back, your shoulders should feel pretty open, lift the head, lift the chest, and then see if you can lift the legs up, and I'm really emphasizing opening up the throat here, so reaching the chin slightly forward, and then lower yourself down and turn the head to one side, you know I used to give the cue all the time in shalabhasana of kind of dropping the head, and I don't do that anymore because I think in our daily lives we're looking down so much, so now I've changed that cue and I tell people to lift their heads up a little bit, so change the interlacing of your fingers, lifting the head up, and slightly lifting the chin, not straining in the neck but lifting the chin, and then you're welcome to stay there if you want it, bend your knees and reach back for your ankles and come into your dhanurasana, reaching through the heels, lengthen out the legs, loosening the ankles away, upward facing dog, and downward facing dog, and then take your right leg up, and bring your right shin through for a pigeon pose, now your blanket is still close by, you can slide it underneath your right sit bone, I like to walk my hands back and come up onto my fingertips, again rolling the shoulders back, keeping the chest lifted, if this is enough you'll stay there, otherwise see what happens if you bend your left knee and reach back for your left ankle with your left hand, and I'm drawing the left foot in, moving it towards the outside of the left hip, and you can stay there or slip it into the crease of the elbow, and if you want to go a little further you could take it into more of a Shiva shape here, and lift the head, lift the chest, and let the hands come down, you might take a little bow forward, and roll right back up, hands down, tuck the back toes under, downward facing dog, just down dog here, and lift your left leg up, and bring your left shin through for a pigeon, adjusting your blanket, walking the fingers back, staying pretty lifted here, head up, chest up, and then bending the right knee, reaching back if you took the variation on the other side, and you can draw the foot in a little bit, and then maybe, and my pelvis is not on the ground for this variation, yours might be, but try to draw the ribs back and keep the lower back supported, and if that means that the pelvis comes up, that's cool, we're bringing the energy up for this particular practice, and then just let yourself fall forward for a moment, coming back up, tuck the back toes under, and step back downward facing dog, and then once again, you can take your blanket, unfold it, come out into plank pose, knees come down, child's pose, but try to keep the knees a little bit more parallel for this variation, arms can even come back behind you, and then finally, we're going to come to our peak pose here, you'll rise up to stand on the knees, we're moving into a strawsna, so I know some people like to tuck the toes under, for this pose, I like the tops of the feet down, just so I can feel my legs a little bit more, but roll the shoulders back, pick up the chest, pick up the head, bend the back of the heart up, and then lean back and see if maybe you can catch your ankles or your heels, and then if it's okay for your neck, let your head fall back, but keep a slight engagement in the lift of the navel, that'll support your lower back, and then swing the arms up and come on down, and just have a breath there, yeah there's a really beautiful Ayengar teacher by the name of Patricia Walden, and she offered me that adjustment in camel, the lift of the navel, so then you're really, it's like you're building this circumference of support for your lower back in camel, so let's try that one more time, rise up to stand on the knees, and I'm lifting my navel up slightly, and that automatically builds like a little shelf for my chest, reaching and rolling the shoulders back, and then I lean back, see if I can grab my heels, push down into the feet, lift the navel, lift the chest, head can fall back, if it doesn't feel good for your neck, just bring your chin in more, and then lift up, and swinging the arms up, contracting even more, and hands to the heart, a couple deep breaths, all that space for the lungs, it feels so good, and then we're going to close with a restorative fish pose, so have your two blocks handy, your blanket you can put off to the side, or if you feel like you might get a little chilly, you could use the blanket here, and I'll show you, I'll show you from the back, the first block is going to go right down the center of your spine, but it's the upper spine, yeah do we see that, so it's not down here in the lower back, it's a little higher up, like right in the thoracic spine, and that's the first block, and it's on the second height, and then the other block is actually going to go on its highest height, because anytime we're taking a restorative pose, we don't want the head below the heart, it's too stimulating, have the head above the heart, so this is going to go on the very highest, right behind my head when I'm lying down, and then you'll take your blocks, and it might take a little bit of working with the blocks to really get the right spots, there's a big difference I found in restorative between like it feels good, and it feels amazing, and it's nice to have it feel amazing, so I'm really working to try to get the tips of the block right in between my shoulder blades, and that's the first one, I set up that one, and then I grab the other block, and I place it behind my head on the highest height, and make sure that you don't take this second block too close, it's not going to feel good, you've got to really find like the back of the head there, and then it feels nice, and you can just let the arms follow up into the sides, and I know some of you like the sup debata here, what I would just ask if you're going into the sup debata, make sure you're supporting your thighs, otherwise the ligaments of the hips can get a little overstretched, some of you like to bring the feet apart and the knees together, that's cool too, it can be a little bit more on the lower back, so if you're going to do that variation, I would say push down into the feet, lift up, slide the flesh of your bum down a little bit, and then bring the knees together, or some of us just like to take this into more of a shavasana shape. One more big sigh if you need it there, and then just let yourself be supported by the blocks, and breathing right there, and letting the shape itself do the work here, and give yourself this time, and in Ayurveda we say that the taste of bitter is very medicinal, it's good medicine, so let this be good medicine for you.

Thank you. And taking a little deeper of a breath and step your feet in and super slow careful you'll roll over onto the right. And you've got some options here if you would like a shavasana just lying flat on your back you can slip the blocks off and come into your shavasana if it's time for you to come out of it use the arms push your way up to sit and you can have a moment either sitting cross legged or on your heels and you might even turn your palms up it can be the smallest little shift in a gesture that just brings so much intention into the movement. So if you're in shavasana please enjoy if you've come up to sit and you have a sitting practice it might be nice to stay and be breathed otherwise thank you so much for joining me namaste.