Slow Lunge Flow

Welcome back. Today's practice will be a slow flow, giving us time to observe, nurture, discover, and reflect. So we're going to start seated. So go ahead and find a comfortable seat. Sit up nice and tall. Just on an exhale, let your right ear drop towards your right shoulder. At the same time, see if you can soften the shoulders down. Inhale, come back up to center, and exhale, let the left ear drop towards the left shoulder. Inhale, come back up to center. Exhale, take the chin to the chest and see if you can keep the chest lifted. So getting a nice stretch through the neck. On your next inhale, come on back up to neutral. Start to take the chin upward, slide the shoulder blades towards each other, creating a little bit of shelf, and then reach the crown back, not letting the head go, but creating some length, opening up through the throat. Inhale, come back up to center. This time, let the left ear drop towards the left shoulder, and then just reach the right arm away. So you might find a little bit of lower, a little higher. You'll find your happy place. You might explore taking the thumb up, palm up, reaching the bicep back a little bit. Okay, from here, let the left hand slide out to the side. Let the right arm come up and frame the ear, and then dip down in a big side body stretch. So from here, take the crown long, and you decide if it feels good to soften the left ear towards the left shoulder in this, you can stay in that. You can spin the chin up a little bit, just taking a little bit of self-discovery. Exhale, let the right hand come down to the left knee. Draw the left hand back, sit up nice and tall, into a twist. So taking the sternum over to the left. Continue to feel both sit bones in the mat. Keeping the right hand on the left thigh, take the left arm up over to frame the left ear, so reaching up and over. So feeling through your left side body. And again, you can decide where it feels good in the neck. You can take the gaze down, neutral. You can explore the gaze up. Exhale, let the left hand come down across to the right thigh. Sit up nice and tall, and then exhale, start to fold. Right, as you start to fold, if you feel the sit bones come up back up a little bit. So we still want to feel weighted in our seats. And if you have the cross still, take the hands out long, tent the fingers. See if you can inch them forward, reach the sit bones back, find a little traction. Walking the hands back, lifting the torso. Change the cross of your legs. And when you arrive, exhale, take the right ear towards the right shoulder. The left arm away. And you can play with the spin of the palm up, and almost like you reach back a bit. Maybe you feel that through the bicep and the chest a bit. For you, it might be a little lower, a little higher. Slide the right hand out to the side, frame the left ear with the left arm. Big stretch through the left side body.

Exhale, let the left hand come down to the left thigh. Slide the right hand back. As you sit up nice and tall, find a twist to your right. And in the twist, see if you can root both sit bones into the mat. Good. Start to bring the torso back to center. Let the left hand slide a little bit as you take the right arm up to frame the right ear, and a little dip over to the left side. Again, you choose with the neck, it could stay neutral, or you can take the gaze up under the right arm. Exhale, let the right hand come down to the thigh. Sit up nice and tall, and then exhale, fold forward. And again, if you feel like the lever when you come forward, the sit bones lift back up a little bit. It's taking the arms out in front, tent the fingers, inch them forward, reach the sit bones back, so an active stretch. And then slowly walk the hands back, lifting the torso up. We're going to meet on all fours. Hips over knees, shoulders over wrists. Starting to move through a little bit of cat-cow here. On an inhale, lift the chest. Exhale, round in. So the invitation is you can stay right here, add your own flavor, or we can slide forward through a supported upward dog. So on exhale, we're first going to round, press all the way back to child's pose, and then start to slide forward, spine high. Let it ripple down, thighs, pubic bone, shoulders back, heart forward. Exhale, round. If this is too much on the low back, press all the way back, child's pose. You can stay with that cat-cow on all fours.

Inhale, slide forward, ripple all the way, thighs, pubic bone, peel the shoulders back, and heart forward. Exhale, round. The sit bones come all the way back. And one more inhale, wave all the way forward, slow, steady. And exhale, back. Inhale, come up to all fours. Start to curl the toes under, lift the hips, downward facing dog. On an inhale, take the right leg high, spin the right inner thigh up to keep the hips evenish. Exhale, knee in towards the heart, round the spine. Take a little micro moment, place the foot down, rise up, warrior two. We'll play with this sequence a little bit. Right into reverse. As we come through high crescent, wings back. So lift the back heel, let the arms swoop back. On an exhale, soften the back knee down, rise up, anjanaasana. So let the top of the back foot come to the floor. Take a moment to get tall through the spine, get low in your lunge. In an exhale, let the hands just swoop behind. Any shoulder mischief, feel free to keep the arms moving forward instead of back. Exhale, take them back. One more in, big reach, lift up, and then exhale, soften back. When the hands meet at the bottom, interlace, and either palms come together or pour new fingers down. A little softness through the elbows. You can take full, complete breath. Exhale, release the hands down to frame the front foot. Take the hips back just for transition, aradhana manasana for a beat. Come forward, hands frame the front foot, step back, plank. Chaturanga, the floor, knees up or down, take a pause. Inhale, upward or low cobra, heart shining. Exhale, back, adamukha. On an inhale, left leg up and back. Spin the left inner thigh up. Exhale, knee to heart. Place the foot down, rise up warrior to strong stance, right into reverse. Let the arms windmill back by your side, lift the back heel. Soften the hands down, soften the knee down, rise up anjana asana, low lunge. Right, find that lift of the hips, rise of the heart. And on an exhale, let the arms just windmill back. Good, two more. Inhale, exhale back. One more. Exhale back, right. Either leaving the hands at the side or interlace, an option to take the pointer fingers downward. Release the hands to frame the front foot. For transition, just lengthen the leg and then come forward. Hands frame the front foot, step back, plank to chaturanga or the floor. Knees up or down. Inhale, long legs, top of the feet to the floor. Exhale, back, downward facing. On an inhale, slide forward into plank pose. Lower all the way down. Feel free to take a beat in chaturanga. Good. To the belly, arms at the side, palms down. On an inhale, lift legs, chest, arms, shalambhasana. Right, finding a place that you can sustain, that you can still get a full breath in. Exhale, release. On an inhale, come back up, shalambhasana again. Choice to stay here or interlace the hands behind. Again, that same action of taking the fist down or pointer finger. Heart shining, neck long. Exhale, release. Bring the forearms to the floor. Elbows right under the shoulders. Hands in the number 11 with the forearms. Curl the toes under. Coming into dolphin plank, either knees or knees up. Your choice. So just taking a few breaths here. See all the toes are facing forward. Belly button drawing to spine. Just notice paying attention to your breath. Not shying away if the breath of the body starts to shake. We often think how blessed are we that we get to be able to try this and experience this. Good. Belly button to spine. Core engaged. See if you can keep pressing up between your shoulder blades. Keep rooting down through the forearms.

One more breath. Really glue down your inner wrists and base of the thumb. On an exhale, lower the knees. Pubic bone. Come into sphinx for a little opening. Good. Exhale, release. Hands on the shoulders. Curl the toes under. Rise up plank pose. Right into downward facing dog. On an inhale, take their right leg up and back. Exhale, knee to nose. Place the foot down, warrior two. Right into reverse. Let your arms kind of just dance through. On an exhale, wings back, back heel lifts to bring the left hip around. Good. Hands down. Inhale, rise up, low lunge. On an exhale, we're gonna let the arms come down, right leg long. So half split. Option to stay here or the wings come back. So we're gonna flow a little bit with breath here. On an inhale, come forward, low lunge. Exhale, arms back.

Either pause in the kickstand or wings. Inhale. Exhale. Two more. Exhale. Hands come down. Slide forward through a lunge. Palms to the floor. Step back. Plank pose. Chaturanga or the floor. Knees up or down. Inhale, upward or low cobra. Exhale, back, downward facing. Left side. Inhale, left leg up and back. Exhale, knee to heart. Place the foot down. Rise up, warrior two. Right into reverse. Exhale, high lunge with the wings back. Hands come down to frame the front foot. Bring the back knee down as you inhale. Rise up, low lunge. Right. So as we move with breath on this first one, hands come down. They can be a kickstand. Heel presses deep in. So now we flow with breath or the option of wings back. Inhale. Exhale, wings back. In. Be sure that you're using your full breath. Last one. Hands come down. Slide forward through a lunge and then we'll make a way to plank. Chaturanga or the floor. Knees up or down. Inhale, slide the shoulders back.

Beam the heart forward. Exhale, back, downward facing. Inhale, slide forward to a plank. Lower all the way to the floor. Slowly come up into sphinx pose. So lining up, elbow is in the same plane. And we're gonna take their right hand to the left wrist. Bend the left knee. Reach back with your left hand. Right. So start to draw the heel in towards the bum. Root through the forearm to sit up a little taller. So the option here is to draw right in knee to bum as far as you can make it. You can also start to spin fingers forward. Left elbow lifts up high. Right. So the play here is can you lift up through the heart? Can you stay soft through the eyes? Good. Two more breaths. A soft release. Try not to slingshot the leg back. Come back into sphinx. Maybe a little wiggle the tail. Shoulders back. Left hand comes to the right wrist. Bend the right knee. Reach back at the same time, sitting up nice and tall with the chest. From here, draw in towards the bum. Or you can start to take the right elbow high. Fingertips forward. Continue to press through the left forearm. Keep drawing the left shoulder back. One more big breath. The soft release. Bring the forearms back forward a little lift in sphinx. From here, curl the toes under. Lift up either knees or straight up. Plank pose. And then you're going to start to walk the feet in. So pinch a mayrasana prep. Find a place where you can root through the forearms and your hamstrings will dictate how close in the toes will get to the elbows. So everything from the elbows down to the feet is just like downward-facing dog. See if you can root through the forearms, root through the inner wrists, get some weight back into the heels. So option to stay here or gently start to lift one leg in the air. Good option to stay here. Lift onto the ball of the left foot.

You have one leg up. Go ahead and bring it down. Change it up. Opposite leg. Left leg comes down. Lift on the balls of your feet. Come down onto the knees. Take a few beats right here in the child's pose. Reach the arms out long. Okay, activate through the palms. Slide forward onto all fours. Curl the toes under, lift the hips back into downward-facing dog. On an inhale, right leg up and back. Knee draws into the heart. Soft step down, warrior two, right into reverse. You know this. Wings back, back heel lifts. Hands come to the floor, find a little lunge, arms come up. Good. On an exhale, bring the left arm down, right arm up. So a lunge twist. You can start to let your right sit bone, almost like there's a magnet between your right sit bone and your right heel. Start to drift towards each other. Okay, right hand can start to reach back behind you. Reach towards the wall behind you and maybe this is fine and plenty. Second option is to bend the back knee. So for the first round, draw the heel in. So getting a little bit more into that top of the left quad. And then the change-up, kick away to peel back the right shoulder. Almost exploring more of a back bend. Chin lifts, gaze can lift. Soft release of the back foot. Right hand frames the right foot. Step on back, plank pose. Chaturanga, knees up or down. Inhale, upward or low cobra. Exhale, back.

Downward facing dog. On an inhale, left leg up and back, left inner thigh high. Exhale, knee to nose. Place the foot down, rise up warrior two. Right into reverse. Windmill the arms back to your side as you lift the back heel. Hands down, inhale up, anjana asana. And then exhale, bring the right hand down, left arm up, lunge twist. Take the left arm, reach it back behind you like you're trying to grab the wall. Option to stay right here. Second place, bend the knee, heel comes in towards the bum for the first one. So left sit bone moves in the direction of left heel. And then start to kick the foot away. So you're trying to open up all through this left side. Explore a little bit more of a back bend as you slide the shoulder blades towards each other to create a little support for the back of the heart. Release the legs softly, bring the left hand down to frame the left foot. Step on back plank pose. Chaturanga or the floor or skip it all together. Inhale, upward or low cobra. Exhale, back, downward facing dog. Taking a few rounds of breath here.

When it inhales, lift onto the balls of the feet, lower to the knees. And we're gonna sit on back for Virasana. And so you're gonna go ahead, sit back, sit bones to the floor. Please feel free to use a block or a bolster. And so once you've land, see if you can feel the sit bones pressing deep. Lift the hips high and sit up nice and tall. And just take a few beats here with right hand and left. Eyes either soft or closed. The option is to start to move back but please stop anywhere along the way. So bringing the hands back and gently walk down. Maybe pausing here. Maybe coming down onto the forearms. Take a pause and if you're sitting up on anything, please don't lower down past the hip height. And then the option is to keep coming all the way down. So the tendency is that our legs are gonna want to spread. See if you can keep them towards each other. You're gonna have the natural curve in our spine. So a little space between the floor and your low back. A little space between your neck and the floor. The next option is if you'd like to take the arms up overhead grabbing opposite elbow. And often what happens is the low ribs go up and see if you can just calmly talk them down. And two more big breaths. We're gonna come out of the pose the same way we came in. So if your arms overhead go ahead and bring them to the side. See if you can scoot on up to your forearms. Lightly coming all the way up. Sitting off to one side and gently roll on back. Just bring the knees into the chest. Gentle squeeze. You can take the knees wider together. And then squeeze them in. Take the arms long and exhale. Take the knees over to the right. Gaze to the left.

Right. Nothing to do here but let gravity do its magic. And bring the knees into the chest. Let them continue to roll over to the left. Gaze to the right. Inhale bring the knees back up to center. So from here you might stretch out and take Shavasana or continue to roll onto your right side. Just sit on up and join me in a seated meditation. Finding a comfortable seat. Allowing yourself to cozy into yourself. Just allowing thoughts to go by. So like bringing your hands to your heart. Thank you for joining me for a slow flow. Look forward to seeing you again soon with so much love, respect.

Namaste.