Day 7: Mandala Flow

Greetings tribe, welcome back, it's day seven. This is a milestone, so congratulations, you're doing a great job, you've completed week one. How's it going? I'd love to hear from you, so send me a note and let me know how it's going. Today's practice is going to flow in a mandala, a circular pattern around your mat.

We're going to run the dogs a little bit and take a lot of the structure of what you've learned and put it into a flow. So let's enjoy. Take your feet a little bit wider than hips width apart and let's draw the hands to the heart center. And as you close your eyes, take your thumbs right up to your third eye and just take a deep breath in right here, feeling into your wisdom body and as you exhale, just release your hands down, let your chin melt into your chest and release your palms open. Circulate the arms out and up, full breath in, exhale, draw the hands through the midline and just take that twice more, inhaling, breathing in through all the pores, breathing into this day and exhale, release anything else that you don't need right now.

Let's do that once more, full breath in, exhale, draw the hands back to the heart and let's step to the front of the mat, come into a forward fold, just crease at the hips, relax down and turn your palms to face up on your mat and you can bend your knees as much as you need to to do that, relax through the head and neck and just feel this as an offering, as an opening and also as a receiving, palms up, emptying your cup, full breath in here, exhale completely, bowing in. On your next inhale, lift your heart, slide your hands up, your shins, take a full breath in and then exhale back into your forward fold. Twice more like that, inhale, lift your heart, just kind of revving your engine, exhale back into your forward fold, palms up and once more, inhale, lift the heart halfway. As you exhale and soften, let your palms facing up, just be symbolic of any intention, any dedication or even just this feeling of gratitude that you're giving yourself this gift of this challenge. Let's take one more breath here, exhale completely, soften the knees a bit more, pull the belly in and slowly roll up your spine one vertebrae at a time, step your feet together, find Tadasana standing on top of your favorite mountain and let's move into sun salutation A, so full breath in as you reach up.

We're going to flow through this pretty briskly today as you exhale, so feel free to take breaks as you need to, inhale, lift your heart and then exhale, step back to plank and let's move through a stage one Vinyasa, lower the knees, come all the way down to the belly. Inhale to cobra, feel the shoulders roll back, maybe lift the heart a bit more and then exhale back to downward facing dog for just one cycle of breath, take a full inhale here, exhale completely and then inhale to your toes, bend the knees, step or lightly hop to the top of the mat, lift the heart halfway as you inhale, exhale forward, fold, come all the way up to standing, full breath in, exhale hands to your heart, let's do it again, circle out and up, full inhale, exhale forward, fold, inhale, lift the heart halfway, exhale, step back to plank, this time maybe a stage two Vinyasa, shift forward, keep the legs straight as you lower through chaturanga to the belly, relax the toes, inhale to cobra, exhale move the hands back an inch, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog, take a single deep breath in, exhale completely, inhale to your toes, bend the knees, step or float top of the mat, lift the heart halfway on an inhale, exhale forward, fold, come all the way up to standing, reach, exhale hands to your heart, let's take three more rounds, full breath in to reach, exhale forward, fold, inhale, lift the heart halfway, exhale, step back to plank, your choice, stage one or stage two Vinyasa, lowering down, inhale to cobra, maybe straight back to down dog or maybe lift into upward dog and then we meet up in down dog, so start to customize your practice for however it works for you, inhale to your toes, bend the knees, step or hop, top of the mat, lift your heart halfway, exhale forward, fold, come all the way up to standing and reach, exhale hands to your heart, two more rounds let's circle out and up, full breath in, building your energy, exhale forward, fold, inhale lift up halfway, exhale step back to plank and this time let's take a zigzag Vinyasa, so lower the knees and melt into child's pose, oh yes, feels good, inhale hands and knees, curl the toes, exhale downward dog, just feeling into these different options that are available to you, inhale to your toes, bend the knees, step or hop, top of the mat, lift your heart halfway, exhale forward, fold, come all the way up to standing, deep breath in, exhale hands to your heart, let's take one more round to complete our warm up, full breath in as you reach, exhale pour the body forward, release your head and neck, inhale halfway, exhale step back, plank and once again zigzag your way into child's pose, inhale hands and knees, exhale downward facing dog, rise to the toes as you breathe in, bend the knees, step or hop, top of the mat, lift the heart halfway, exhale forward, fold, come all the way up to standing, deepest breath, this time as you bring your hands down the midline just pause for a moment, thumbs at the third eye and then bring the thumbs down to the heart, let's just take a moment here with our eyes closed before we progress any further and just feel into your breath, feel into your energy and any special intention, dedication, offering, always good to give our practice a purpose and then release your hands, open your eyes, circle out enough as you inhale, exhale forward, fold, let's lift the heart halfway and this time step directly back to downward facing dog and let's lower to child's pose with a shoulder release, so big toes touch and just slip your left arm underneath the right shoulder as you come down, take a moment or two here and breathe into the outer left shoulder and then slowly changing sides, left arm reaches forward, right arm reaches under and just relaxing down into the outer shoulder here and then take your hands forward, inhale hands and knees, exhale curl the toes under, press back to downward facing dog, okay from here bring the feet close together, let's move into our first couple of standing sequences, take the right leg to the sky and a nice big inhale and as you exhale open the hip, bend your knee, stretch the right leg long as you inhale and then step all the way through between your hands and set up a really good warrior two base. As you come up lead with your left arm and spiral the arms through a typical warrior two and just let your arms weave like jungle vines coming into garudasana arms and if your hands don't come all the way around you can hold one arm across or bring the backs of the hands together but just feel this shoulder opener in the back of the heart and exhale sink into your base and just like you're riding up and over the surface of a wave, exhale sink into the base, building strength here in our roots, exhale sink down and from here allow your arms to open up and let's reverse our warrior, reach up and back through your reverse warrior, sink in a little deeper and then exhale will come through parsvakonasana so feel your hand touch down to the mat, top arm reaches over, take a full breath in here and as you exhale just let your hand trace down the long edge of the mat, pivot your feet and walk your hands to the back of the mat. Step back to downward dog with your left leg high, that's a nice big inhale and then exhale open your hip, bend your knee, so we're coming around the mandala, reach your left leg long as you inhale and then exhale step all the way through into warrior two base, leading with your right arm come all the way up through warrior two and let your arms continue to spiral and wind until you find your garudasana, eagle arms, inhale feel a little lift through the hips, exhale sink down, inhale riding the current of your breath, exhale rooting through your base, one more breath here, exhale release your arms come into your reverse warrior, stretch upwards towards the sky, down through your roots, stay for the exhale, reach a little further back, create some extra length in your side waist and exhale slowly into side angle pose, fingertips on the mat, top arm alongside your ear, take a peek towards the sky as you inhale and then as you exhale this time we'll step directly to plank and you get to choose your vinyasa from here, so we have all these choices, zigzag, cat cow, stage one or two, take the one that works for you, I'm going to take a cat cow vinyasa, so inhale to arch, exhale around, inhale arch and tuck the toes, exhale downward facing dog, let's keep coming around the mandala, right leg rises on the inhale, exhale open the hip, inhale stretch it out long, exhale step it all the way through to warrior two, it's a really similar pattern so lead with your left arm but this time let your arms spiral into what we call gomukhasana arms and if you can touch your fingers great, if you can't touch your fingers great, just hold on to your shirt, your hair, if you have a strap you want to grab but whatever you can work with even just kind of holding the shape is fine, we'll pulse for just one breath, sink a little deeper and then as you come into your reverse warrior reach the top arm on a diagonal and let your bottom hand slide towards a half wrap, so your hand might rest at the back of your hip, might reach all the way around your battery pack here to your front thigh and just breathe into the back shoulder, as you exhale come through your parsvakanasana, your hand can touch down or elbow to knee and then sweep it all the way around, runner's lunge to the front of the mat, take the left leg all the way back and up, big inhale, exhale open the hip, stretch it out long, full breath, exhale step it all the way through warrior two base, let's lead with the right arm, continue to pinwheel through the arms finding that reach towards gomukhasana, fingertips may or may not touch, just work with what you've got and then inhale lift through the hips, exhale sink into your base, as you start to side bend let your top arm extend long, let your bottom arm reach for your hip, your inner thigh reversing your warrior, full breath in here, exhale parsvakanasana, hand to the floor or elbow to knee, top arm alongside the ear, one breath here and then exhale hands to the mat, step back to plank, what kind of vinyasa will it be for you, I'm going to take a stage two lowering down to the belly, glaucoma cobra, exhale move the hands back, inhale upward dog, exhale downward dog, so we made it around the mandala leading with the right side, let's come back around leading with the left leg shall we, so let's take the left leg to the sky on inhale and this time a little bit different instead of opening the hip, let's pump the knee in and out, three cycles, so inhale keep the hip square as you reach back, exhale coil it in, inhale reach it up and back, exhale coil it in and then step forward, once again a warrior two face, lead with your right arm, we're going to revisit warrior two with our gomukhasana arm, so the left arm is high, the right arm is low and you're feeling for that linking of your fingertips like a bicycle chain and again it may or may not be there today or even next week, so you can always just place one hand at the nape of the neck, it'll be the left hand and the right hand at the low back eventually reaching up between your shoulder blades, so just to be clear there, let it lean back into your reverse warrior, once again let that top arm reach into reverse warrior, bottom hand is going to reach for the front thigh and then exhale into your side angle pose, parsvakonasana, top arm alongside the ear, feels really good the second time we come into this shape, I feel like it just opens a bit more, exhale sweep it forward and down, walk it all the way to the back of the mat and then step back to down dog, keeping the hips square the right leg reaches straight back, exhale knee coils in, inhale reach it back, exhale knee to nail, once more, exhale reach it all the way through warrior two base, lead with your left arm, continue to spiral into gomukhasana on this side, the right elbow is high, the left elbow is low, see what you can grab and just feel the strength in the lower body, the freedom through the upper body as you breathe, lean into your reverse warrior, notice if there's a little more play, a little more give here on the second round and then reach the top arm long and let the bottom hand reach for the front inner thigh, battery pack, whatever happens to be there, take a full breath in, exhale to your side angle pose, top arm alongside the ear, deep inhale and then exhale to plank and here's your choice for your vinyasa, I'm going to take a stage one, lower the knees all the way down to the belly, inhale cobra, exhale downward facing dog, last half of the cycle here take that same left leg to the sky as you inhale, once again exhale three cycles, knee to navel, keeping the hips square, inhale to reach up, exhale to pull through, inhale reach up, exhale pull it through, this time let's stay on the ball of the back foot, inhale to crescent pose, as you exhale stay in your crescent pose but release your hands behind your back and lace your fingers to open the chest. Now from here you can stay on the ball of the back foot, we're about to fold forward into a humble warrior or you can reposition the back foot in a warrior one base and this might feel a little more stable so lift through the heart and then exhale lead with your navel, your ribs, your heart and finally the crown of your head melts down inside the front thigh and just enjoy a couple of breaths here, if you're still on the ball of your back foot just keep scissoring the inner thighs to the midline and then we'll come back up into crescent or warrior one depending on your base, exhale reach forward and down walk it to your right and step back to down dog with the right leg high, last half of the mandala, exhale knee to the navel, inhale reach it back and exhale coil, inhale, exhale step it forward and just feel all the prana, the energy that you're circulating and generating as you rise, exhale release the fingers behind your back open up across the chest, you can stay on the ball of the back foot or set it up for a warrior one and then exhale fold down towards the earth, hang out here for a couple of breaths, release your hands come all the way back up to either crescent pose or warrior one, exhale last vinyasa stepping back to plank and maybe this time you slow it down and hover in your chaturanga before coming down, inhale either cobra or upward facing dog, exhale downward dog you did it all the way around the mandala right and left, let's enjoy a couple of breaths here, from your downward facing dog ripple forward to plank, feel that navigation of the body and unfurl through your heart, shift your shoulders forward and then keep the legs straight maybe lower down through chaturanga go slow, slow, slow, slow to the belly ah and let's come into locust pose, so this next little pattern, this grounding pattern we did in yesterday's practice, you can reach back through your palms, feel the back body activate, thighs turn in a bit and then lift your legs, lift your wings, free up through the neck, you're welcome to keep the hands kind of low and wide or if you'd like to reach back traditionally release the fingers and draw the shoulders back just depends on what feels good for you and sometimes when my shoulders are a little tight I like to just keep my arms open and let the chest be open and then as you exhale bend your elbows, plant your palms forehead on the backs of the hands and bend your knees and let's just windshield wiper a bit here and notice how that just returns a really therapeutic feeling into your low back and hips and coming back to center and draw the thigh bones to parallel, lift your heart, let's reach our hands back towards our feet, coming into bow pose on your asana and notice if your hips kind of pike up when you reach for your feet, press the front of the pelvis down and lift your thighs, open your heart, all that information that we received yesterday with the tilt to the pelvis just see if you can check in with that and refine this posture tailbone towards the back of the mat, heart reaches forward, thighs kind of pull in but let it feel really free and light, if you feel like you're forcing back off a little bit, let it feel like an opening, an invitation to the heart to breathe.

One more cycle of breath, brighten the shape any amount and then as you exhale once again hands can stack, knees can oscillate, shins can oscillate side to side and stretch back long through your legs, let's draw the elbows in under our shoulders building sphinx pose here palms flat and pull your heart forward, a really nice foundation backbend as you inhale you can lift your gaze and then exhale chin drops down at the back of the neck breathe, curl your toes under and start to build upward towards the forearm plank and then walk the feet in towards your elbows and let's revisit dolphin pose so feet can be kind of wide press the heart back towards your thighs and breathe and if you're feeling inspired to lift one leg up to the sky go for it followed by the other leg but that'll come later right now we can just breathe into the shoulders and chest feel the head below the heart empty out the mind and fill it with the sound of the breath and that simple essence of your intention from here lower down to child's pose knees wide big toes touch you're welcome to reach your hands back alongside your legs last breath here and as you exhale just roll up onto your hands and knees we'll take our right knee forward and turn it out crawling the outer edge of your foot towards the edge of your mat and draw the right knee down right behind your right wrist start to slide the left thigh back coming into your pigeon pose and lift up your chest see about squaring off your hips as best you can and then exhale leading with the navel ribs heart forehead meltdown arms can stretch forward or you're welcome to stack your palms even stack your fists and rest your forehead your third eye right there in your hands relax your jaw your toes your fingers relax your mind taking one more breath here and lifting through the heart walk the fingertips in let's lean off to our right hip swing the back leg around cross it over and just visit a twist for a moment just kind of ring it out unring it out and then we'll come into pigeon on the second side so you can come back through your hands and knees super simple draw the left knee forward turn it out you can walk it over and just kind of approximate it here so the shin is eventually working towards parallel to the front of the mat but doesn't have to be parallel it can be an angle as you reach back through your right leg lift up through the heart and then just pour forward and down coming into pigeon second side start to notice as we build these patterns and open up through the different gateways of the body it becomes much more accessible to start to travel in to the inner space and the relaxation of the mind a little more spaciousness between the thoughts last breath here walking the hands in lift up through the heart and lean off to the right hip swing the back leg around cross it over it's just a moment here in our twist and then slowly unwind for Shavasana yeah stretch out make yourself comfortable slowly roll down take your feet wide close your eyes and go right into a deep state of relaxation step right through the temple doors drop your bags at the door and relax and rest relax