Grounded and Heating Flow

Namaste. I'm Allie. And this will be your sour practice, which sounds a little funny, but the sour taste is just related to the elements of earth and fire. So we want the grounding element of the earth, but then also the heating element of the fire. So this would be a good practice if you're feeling a little bit light and cold and you need to come back down and find some strength. So we're actually going to start sitting and you'll need a block. So have a seat and bend your knees, bring your feet to the ground and the block is going to go right in between the thighs, high up in the thighs. And my legs are a pretty comfortable distance from me and then I'll reach the arms forward and you can just roll down onto your back, but take your time and squeeze in on the block. Keep squeezing and keep squeezing and tuck the tailbone under, roll yourself down. And then notice that I'm pulling the heels in a little bit closer to me as my arms reach over my head. So I land there, knees are pretty bent, heels are close, still squeezing on my block. Press up into a bridge and as you do that, press the arms down by the sides, squeeze in on the block, push into the feet, getting that first chakra. And then as the hips lower, reach the arms back over the head and let the tailbone land and then swing your arms around in front of you. You can move the feet slightly forward, tuck the chin and roll your way up. So it seems kind of complicated, but you'll get the hang of it. Let's do it twice more. Lower down onto your back, squeezing in on your block. Arms go overhead, heels move in close, push the hips up, bring the arms down, bring the hips down, lift the arms up, swing the arms around in front of you, move the feet slightly forward, tuck your chin and roll up and squeeze the block. Last time like that, roll it down, keep squeezing, keep squeezing, bring the heels in, reach the arms overhead, press the feet down, press the arms down, lift the hips up, bring the hips down, reach the arms back up, swing the arms around in front of you, moving the feet slightly further away, tuck the chin and roll your way up and keep squeezing. And then this time just roll yourself down onto your back and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and go as slow as you can. And then finally landing on your back and you can put the block off to the side, you will need it later. And just squeeze your knees into your chest. Having a moment there to let your body weight drop into the ground, into that earth element. And then let the legs drop off to the right and take a twist, looking back over your left shoulder and then bring the legs up and just take them off to the other side and the right arm can reach out and come on back up. And then squeezing the knees back into the chest, a few rocks and rolls and rock yourself up to sit and you'll come onto your hands and your knees, wrists under the shoulders, knees underneath the hips, step your right foot back, tucking the right toes under, reach to the right heel and then step your left foot back and come right into a plank pose. So starting to work the core a little bit more, push through the heels and you're just going to move a little forward and a little back and a little forward and a little back. This is also good to get the wrists working. And then settle right into your plank, look slightly forward, draw the navel up, press the heels back, breath of fire here. And then big inhale and drop the knees and take a child's pose and I'm keeping my knees a little bit more parallel in this child's pose. Rise up to stand on the knees, reach your arms all the way up and take a twist, left hand to the outside of the right thigh, right hand back behind you. Press into the shins, rise up to stand on the knees, reach the arms up and take your twist over to the other side, right hand to the outside of the left thigh, left hand back behind you. And then take both arms back behind you, coming on to the fingertips, push down into the tops of the feet, lift the hips but you don't need to throw the head back here. Make it more of an opening for the fronts of the thighs and to feel the strength of the feet pressing down. Think long through the inner legs, pressing the inner knees down. Bring the sits bones back down, come back on to your hands and your knees and step your left foot back and tuck your left toes under. And then step your right foot back and come back into your plank, move a little forward a little back, a little forward a little back, gaze stays slightly out in front of me and then settling into your plank, steady yourself and breath of fire. Big breath in and again child's pose on your breath out. Rise up to stand on the knees, reach the arms up, right hand to the outside of the left thigh, left hand back behind you taking your twist and inhale lift up and exhale take it over to the other side. Keep your right arm where it is, left hand back behind you coming on to the fingertips again, pressing into the tops of the feet, lift the hips, press down through the inner knees, open up the shoulders and then coming back down, come back on to hands and knees, tuck your toes under, lift your hips up, press back, 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 and the feet can be slightly apart here and let yourself drop there for a moment in Uttanasana. Take your left hand down and lift your right arm up, come into a twist and I'm bending my left knee slightly to get the outside of the right leg reaching the chest forward and then place your right hand down and lift your left arm up, taking your twist, a little twist for the guts and then bring your hands back down, reaching the chest forward, take your hands to your hips, circle your shoulders back, press into the legs and come on up to stand taking a breath in your Tadasana. And then just organizing your props you can slip the blocks off to the side, you will need them a little bit later on. Find your Tadasana and on the inhale reach your arms up, on the exhale right down the midline folding forward Uttanasana, step your right foot back into a lunge, plank pose from here, legs stay strong lower all the way down to your belly, pressing into the tops of the feet, lift the chest, lift the head and then lower right back down, tuck your toes under, take a deep breath in and on the breath out, plank pose, press back, downward facing dog, lift the right leg up step it in between your hands, coming into a lunge, open up your right arm and twist, place the right hand down, step your left foot forward to meet your right and fold into your legs, walking the fingertips forward, hands to the hips, press down and rise back up to Tadasana, inhale begin again, exhale fold, Uttanasana, send the left leg back into a lunge, plank pose and lower all the way down, opening up into Cobra, still engaging the navel and exhale folding back down, tuck the toes under, deep breath in on the breath out, plank pose, downward facing dog, send the left leg up, step it in between the hands, open up your left arm and twist and then place the left hand down and step the right foot forward, fold into your legs, walk the fingertips forward, hands to your hips and come all the way up to Tadasana, one more time just like that, inhale arms up and exhale fold forward and again step the right foot back into a lunge, plank pose and lower all the way down, rolling open into Cobra, maybe a little higher and lower right back down, tuck your toes under plank pose, downward facing dog, send the right leg up, step it in between your hands, open up your right arm and twist, place the right hand down, step the left foot forward, fold into your legs, walk the fingers forward, hands to the hips, press down, come up to Tadasana, last time exactly like this, arms up and exhale fold forward, send your left leg back into a lunge, plank pose and lower down, rising up into Cobra and right back down, tuck the toes under plank pose, downward facing dog, inhale left leg up, step it in between your hands, open up your left arm and twist, place the left hand down, step the right foot forward and fold into your legs and then take your blocks and place them on the highest height, one on either side at the front of your mat, take the hands to the hips and come all the way up, last time with the sun salute, inhale the arms up and exhale fold yourself forward, step the right foot back into a lunge, plank pose and lower all the way down, Cobra, lower back down, tuck the toes under deep breath in on the breath out, plank pose, downward facing dog and then a little different, right leg up, step it forward, open up your right arm and twist and then bring your hands down onto the block, supported warrior three, so reaching the chest forward, leveling out the pelvis, strong flex in the back foot, bend the knees and step your left foot to meet your right and fold forward into your legs, walk the fingers forward and you can always put the hands on the blocks here if that's better for you, hands to your hips and come all the way up, last time reach it up and bowing down, send the left leg back into a lunge, plank pose and lower all the way down, Cobra, lifting up and exhale to come down, tuck the toes under, plank pose, down dog, stretch the left leg up, stepping forward, open up your left arm and twist, place the hands down on your blocks, supported warrior three, so remember that this is first and third chakras, the legs and the core, so the ribs come in, I'm reaching back through the right heel, chest moves forward, bend the knees and step your right foot to meet your left, folding forward into your legs, let that go, walk the fingertips forward, take your hands to your hips, circle your shoulders back and press down to come up and then I'm stepping back a little bit more towards the middle of my mat, have a moment into Dasana again, feeling the strength of the legs underneath you, opening up the feet and then moving on, let's draw the right knee up into the chest and you're going to interlace your fingers underneath your right thigh, point your right foot and lengthen the right leg out in front of you any amount as much as it will go and then flex the foot and pull it back in and again point the foot and extend and flex and bend it in, last time point and extend and flex and bring it back in and then this time point it and extend it, flex just the toes and reach both arms up.

Step the right foot two and a half feet in front of the left, make sure that the right foot is in line with the right hip, left foot is in line with the left hip, send your arms out in front of you shoulder height, retract the shoulder blades, pull the ribs in and lift your heels up and then you're going to start to bend your knees but try to keep the heels lifted and yourself very upright here and slowly coming down, bring your hands down to the ground and step your left foot back, you're coming into parsvottanasana, pyramid pose, both legs are long and your blocks are right there, if you need them you can slip them underneath your hands and then a little different today, you take the left foot to the right and start to turn towards the long side of your mat and you're just crawling your hands over towards the right, you're going to come onto the outer edges of both feet, it's a little bit of a weird stretch here, I call it rated X asana, the legs are in a big X and it's great for the outsides of the legs, what's called the IT bands, so just have a moment there, breathe into it, keep squeezing the inner thighs and then right out of it, walk yourself over towards the other side and you'll come into your prasarita padottanasana, wide straddle forward bend, from there walk your hands forward, coming back onto your blocks, again supported warrior three here and have the blocks right underneath your shoulders, reach the chest forward, stretch out from the back of the heel all the way to the crown of the head, bend the knees and step the left foot to meet the right and fold forward into your legs, coming forward, separate your feet slightly, grab a block, place it high up again in between the thighs and reach for your big toes, first two fingers of each hand, wrapping the big toes, press the thumbs down on the inhale, lengthen the spine forward and on the exhale folding in, elbows widen out to the sides and I love the block for this because it keeps us from hyperextending in the lower back or in the hamstrings, if you've ever had that hamstring attachment pull you know exactly what I'm talking about, it's not fun. And then walk the fingertips out in front of you and take your hands to your hips, circle the shoulders back, squeeze in and come on up, you can take the block off to the side and then draw the left leg in and give it a little squeeze, still working to stay very upright, interlace the fingers underneath your left leg, point the foot, stretch it out, flex it and bring it in, point and stretch it out, I'm trying to work the hamstring flex and pull back in, one more time, stretch the leg forward and pull it back in and then stretch the leg forward, take both arms up and step your left foot about a foot and a half to two feet in front of the right one, reach the arms forward, strong fingers, palms face down and lift up your heels and then again start to bend your knees, try to keep the heels lifted, breathing the whole way down, bring the hands down, step the right foot back and your back in parsvottanasana, folding forward, take your right foot a little bit to the left and come into your rated X, walking towards the left, coming onto the outer edge of both feet, squeeze the inner thighs, try to breathe, if this is a lot for you, this one's a lot for me so I'm breathing through it and then go ahead and unwind yourself and take it right over to the other side and you're in your prasÄ쳌rida, you can just let your head hang, walking over towards the front of your mat again, hands on blocks, pushing off supported warrior three, reach the heel back and the heart forward and then bend the knees and step the right foot to meet your left and fold forward into your legs, separate your feet, it's about one fist distance, again grab the block, place it high up in between the thighs and this time coming into padahastasana, stepping on the hands, so I'm slipping my palms underneath my feet, reach the chest forward and on the exhale folding down and if this is too much for you, bend your knees and just give yourself this moment to squeeze in to reconnect to center or what we call samana vayu, that energy of pulling in, pulling into the middle and then coming out of that, slip the hands out, block and come out from between the thighs and reach for your big right toe with the first two fingers of your right hand, take your left hand to your left hip and I'm keeping the right heel pretty close to me as I come up to stand, now if this doesn't feel right for you, you'll interlace the fingers underneath your right leg again, otherwise start to send your right leg out long in front of you and then see if you can take the left hand to the outside of the right leg or right foot and reach the right arm back, coming back into your twist, nice IT stretch again, lift both arms up and then step your feet together utkatasana, bring the palms together and twist, left elbow to the outside of the right thigh, coming into your prayer twist and then you're going to work into a side crow, so I'm just going to shift so that you can see what I'm doing, from your utkatasana, take the twist and lift the heels up, now my left hand is in line with my right pinky toe and then my right hand comes about shoulder distance from that and I'm squeezing my legs together pretty tightly, reach the chest forward, really think forward until you can just tip the feet up and if you want, you can extend the legs, coming back in and then just let your bum land and lift the legs up, navasana, now in this navasana, I find that sometimes navasana cramps my hip flexors, so if I turn my legs out a little bit, it doesn't happen, come onto the fingertips, straighten the arms in front of you, take a deep breath in, on your breath out, push the fingers down and forward and try to get your legs closer to you, go right into that lower gut, deep breath in, on the breath out, push the fingers down and forward, get the legs closer and then one more time, deep breath in and on the breath out, get the legs closer, squeeze it in and up and then bring your hands down, bring your feet down, lift your hips up, full breath in, open your mouth, breathe it out, release your sit bones down, cross your ankles, come on forward onto your hands and your knees, step right back into plank pose and lower down to your belly, reach the arms back, lift up the head, the chest, the legs, shalabhasana, just to open up the front body again, hands down by the ribs, upward facing dog and downward facing dog, lift up the heels, bend the knees, look forward, hop or step your feet wide, come back into a squat and then bring your hands down, lift your hips up high, lengthen out your legs, heel toe your feet in a little bit closer, again about one fist distance and reach for your big left toe and then start to come up, bringing the left leg with you, push down into the right foot as you go, rolling the shoulders back at the tops and the left leg out in front of you, reach for the outside edge of the left foot or the left knee with your right hand and take your left arm back behind you, hello and then both arms up, leaving the leg up as high as you can, breathe into it, step the left foot to meet the right, utkatasana, yeah you know you're working with it if the utkatasana feels like a break and then pry your palms and take a twist and this time it'll be right elbow to the outside of the left thigh, twisting, I keep bending the knees and then working on that side crow, bring the heels up, twisting over as far as I can to the left, lining up my right pinky with my left pinky toe this time, my left hand comes shoulder width, shift the body weight forward, pull the elbows back and in and pick up the feet and then again if you'd like to straighten out the legs, left leg comes forward, right leg will come back, bring the legs together and land yourself down, navasana, lift the arms and legs, now if you've got lower back or hamstring stuff going on keep the knees bent here, otherwise lengthening out the legs, deep breath in, pushing into the fingers, try to get the legs closer but push resist with the hands coming down and again deep breath in and your legs might only move like one inch, strong exhalation one more time, deep breath in and then bring your feet down, hands back behind you, pressing up into an alter shape, full breath in, take a lying breath and then release the sit bones down, cross the ankles, come on forward, hands and knees, plank pose to lower all the way down, one more time, shalabhasana, stretch the arms back, lift up the head, the chest, the legs, stretch through the fingers, upward facing dog and downward facing dog, roll out to plank pose, press back into child's pose and then grab your block and one more time flip yourself over, have a seat, stepping the feet to the ground, right back where we started, block in the thighs, reach the arms forward, plug the shoulders down, tuck the chin in and roll down, pushing into the feet, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze all the way down, drag the feet in a little closer, arms over the head, press the hips up and the arms down and then fake yourself out here, grab your block and slip your block underneath your butt, coming into a supported bridge pose, let the belly stretch, feel the weight of the legs, give a strong exhalation if you need it, you could sigh, just let the eyes close. So, thank you. And then walking the feet in and under you, push down into the hips, lift your hips up, let your tailbone come down, block and move off to the side and then coming into constructive rest. So take your feet just a little wider than your hips and let your knees drop in on each other and then I'm taking my hands to the very lowest part of my belly, just feeling the breath and the stability of the legs, just following the movement of the belly up and down, let your body drop and be supported.

Excellent. Thank you. And then start to bring a little bit more awareness into your breath. If you need a little bit longer on your back, please stay there, otherwise releasing the hands and carefully roll onto your right side. And then pressing into the ground, and come on up to sit.

And just feeling the effects, strong legs, strong belly, earth and fire, and that will be your sour practice for today. Thank you for joining me. Namaste.