Fresh Start Flow

Welcome. So in this practice we're going to move through some detoxifying and cleansing twists to really clear any stuck energy and just start to energize and strengthen the entire body. So let's begin on our backs and we'll start with windshield wipers. So as you come on to your back, take your time rolling back, step your feet as wide as your mat and then as you come there reach your arms up over your head, allow a big full breath in here. And then on your exhale drop your knees to the right side.

And your gaze can either be straight up or if it feels nice to take a gaze over your left shoulder you might do that so the knees and your gaze are opposite. Then on a breath in bring the knees through center. As you exhale drop your knees to the left side. Take a couple breaths here on this side, good and then just start to move the legs from side to side so we'll come to windshield wipers. So as you inhale knees through center, as you exhale knees to the right, inhale knees through center, exhale knees to the left, maybe just taking a few more rounds on your own with your rhythm of breath.

So just really a nice way to start to come into our twist right away but gently warming and opening through the spine. Take one more round wherever you're at, inhaling, exhaling, inhaling, knees to one side, exhale, good. And then come back up through center, we'll hug the knees into the chest. Take your hands behind your knees and just start to rock up and down along the length of the spine. You might do that a couple of times otherwise you can always just sit up and then we'll meet on all fours.

So coming to a tabletop position, letting your shoulders come over the wrists, hips over the knees. Let's move right into cat cow. So continuing with the spine as you inhale and drop the belly, lift the gaze as you exhale, press the floor away and round. And again, if it feels good to stay with this back and forth movement in cat cows, you're welcome to do that. Or feel free to invite any other movement here, circles with the spine, shifting the weight around.

You might come back through a child's pose for a few breaths, just kind of taking a few breaths and rounds of breath, coming into intuitive movement. Move how it feels good to move. And then as you're ready, we'll meet back on all fours. So find that neutral spine and let's come into a shoulder stretch and twist from here. So on an inhale, reach your right arm out to the right, let the chest open up to the right a little bit.

And then as you exhale, thread your right arm underneath your left, coming onto your right shoulder and the right side of your face. And once you're there, you might walk your left fingertips in front of you, or it might feel nice to take the left arm up and behind your back, taking a half wrap. So whatever feels good to you. And then just take a couple breaths, breathing into that right shoulder, feel the twist in the upper body. Just let your hips stay level.

Beautiful. And then whenever you're ready, we'll bring the left hand back down to the earth, press up onto both hands, coming back to tabletop position. Good. And then we'll take it over to the other side. So from here, inhale, reach your left arm up, open the chest to the left.

And then as you exhale, thread your left arm underneath your right, coming onto the left side of your face, left temple. And then whatever you did with that opposite arm on the first side, do that here. So you might walk your fingertips in front of you with the right arm, or maybe take the right arm up and behind your back, taking that wrap in the upper body. And then just a couple breaths to breathe into wherever you feel this, left shoulder, spine. It's a really nice way to open the shoulders, if you come into that twist.

Good. And then right hand back down to the earth, press up, all fours, and let's come back to downward facing dog. So walking your hands in front of the shoulders a couple inches, tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back, coming into your first downward facing dog, and in your down dog, feel free to pedal it out. Any movement at all to start to feel into the backs of your legs. Maybe shake your head yes and no a few times, sway the hips around a little bit.

Good. And from down dog, let's glide forward into plank pose. Come to the top of a pushup, and just take a moment to pause in your plank, draw the low belly in and up so you can feel that strength in the core, and then we'll slowly lower all the way down to our bellies. As you get down, untuck your toes so you're bringing the tops of the feet to the earth, and then bring your hands on either side of your mat, let the elbows bend, and we're going to take this wide cobra. So on an inhale, start to peel the chest up any amount, and then as you exhale, drop your right shoulder down toward the earth, and let the right cheek come down as well.

So you're stretching through that right shoulder. There is a twist happening in the upper body. Good. And then as you inhale, peel back through center, exhale, let the left shoulder come down, left side of the face come down toward your mat, and let's take that one more time. So as you inhale, back through center, exhale, right shoulder down, right side of the face comes down, and then last time, inhale through center, exhale, left shoulder, left cheek.

Good. And then inhale through center, we'll lower all the way down. Bring the hands next to the side ribs, hug your elbows in, tuck your toes, firm your thighs up off the earth, and on an inhale, come all the way up to plank pose, top of a push-up, exhale, come back to downward facing dog. Good. And then start to walk your feet to the front of the mat, coming to a forward fold as the front of your mat.

So you can soften the knees, maybe hold on to opposite elbows, sway a bit, maybe shift a little bit more weight toward the balls of your feet. I'm seeing a brief fold here, and if you're crossing the elbows and you take the opposite arm on top for a couple of breaths, just to balance it out, good, and then deepen the bend in your knees, let your hands come down toward the earth, and let's roll up slowly one vertebra at a time. So letting the head be heavy, let the head be the last thing to arrive as you come up toward tadasana, good, and then we'll circle the arms all the way out and up, and then just draw your hands to your heart center, take a moment, let me close your eyes and just check in, maybe setting an intention here for your practice. Why did you show up to your mat today? What would you like to call in, or perhaps there's something you'd like to let go of.

Good, and then if the eyes are closed, you can blink the eyes open, we'll come into chair pose. So feel free to keep the feet hips distance, or you can step the feet together, whatever feels more natural to you, and so as you come to chair, utkatasana, sink the weight into the heels, sweep the arms up, and then let your hips sink back, good, take a big full breath in here, and then as you exhale, hands come down, straighten through the legs any amount, uttanasana, fold over your legs, good, come halfway up, inhale, as you offer the heart forward, maybe walk your hands up on your shins, or you can keep the fingertips down on the earth, and then we'll step back to plank pose, so plant the palms as you step back, maybe coming through chaturanga this time, shifting the weight forward, come halfway down as you lower, and then cobra, maybe upward facing dog, if you'd like, straightening out the arms, firming the thighs up off the earth, and then exhale, we'll meet in downward facing dog, rolling over the toes as you come back to your down dog, good, and then let's inhale the right leg up, take a moment to bend through the knee, open up your hip, pressing evenly through both hands, let your shoulders be even, good, and then straighten out through the right leg, square off your hips, take a big breath in, need a nose, just round through the upper back as you come forward, good, and then inhale, sweep the leg all the way up and back, this time gaze forward, step your foot through between your hands, stay on the ball of your back foot, and then we'll come up into crescent pose, so start to reach your arms forward and up as you come into crescent, soften through your back knee a little bit, so let the tailbone melt down, and then bring that front knee right over your ankle, good, soften through the shoulders, relax your gaze, beautiful, and then let's bring the left arm forward, let the right arm come back, so you're coming into crescent twist, and then allow this twist to happen from the navel up, so the legs stay just how they are, beautiful, and then take your gaze over your left hand, take the right hand to the back of your left thigh, and then reach the left arm up and over your ear to reverse your crescent pose, nice, and then let the left hand come to the inside of your front foot as you come into a lunge twist, inhale your right arm up, stay active in your left leg, hug your right hip in as you twist, yeah, and then lower your right hand down, let's take a vinyasa from here, so stepping the right foot back, lower through chaturanga, cobra or up dog on your inhale, and then we'll meet in downward facing dog, nice work, allow a big full breath in, and then let it go, sigh it out, good, left side, inhale your left leg up, go ahead and bend the knee, open up your hip for a breath, and then straighten through the left leg, square your hips, big breath in, need a nose, round through the upper back as you come forward, and then sweep the leg all the way up and back, inhale, and then look forward, we'll step the left foot all the way through between your hands, and again we'll set up for crescent pose, so stay on the ball of your back foot, reach your arms forward and up, soften through your back knee, and then bring that front knee right over your ankle, so feel that rooted stability in the legs, and then again relax your shoulders, soften your gaze and breathe, nice, and then this time right arm comes forward, left arm goes back, so you're twisting again from the upper body, find that crescent twist, and then we'll reverse, so bringing the left hand to the back of the right leg, reach the right arm up and over your ear, tilting back, good, feel that stretch, take a big breath in, and then lunge twist, right hand down on the inside of your front foot, left arm lifts up, good, lower your left hand down, step back, vinyasa, or right to downward facing dog, maybe lowering through chaturanga, cobra or up dog, inhale, and then downward facing dog, exhale, beautiful, take a big full breath in, and then open the mouth, let something go, sigh it out, so we're gonna take that one more time with your breath, so when you're ready we'll inhale the right leg up, bend your knee, open up your hip, straighten through the right leg, take a big breath in, and then step your foot all the way through between your hands, crescent pose, stay on the ball of the back foot, arms sweep up, soften through the back knee a little bit, front knee over the ankle, and then twist to the right, so left arm comes forward, right arm goes back, twist the upper body, and then we'll tilt back, inhale, right hand to the back of the left thigh, reach the left arm up and over your ear, lunge twist, left hand down, right arm lifts up, allow a big full breath in here, and then exhale through your vinyasa or right to downward facing dog, your choice, we'll meet in downward facing dog, and again let's take a big full breath in as you arrive, and then let it go, left leg lifts up, inhale, bend your knee, open up the hip, and then straighten through your left leg, gaze forward, step your left foot through between your hands, stay on the ball of the back foot, the inhale brings you all the way up to crescent pose, take a moment to arrive here, and then twisting in the upper body, right arm sweeps forward, left arm back, good, hold for a breath, and then tilting back, left hand to the back of the right leg, inhale, tilt all the way up and back, reverse crescent, and then find that twist, right hand down, left arm lifts up, lunge twist, vinyasa or right to downward facing dog, nice work. And let's take a wide leg child's pose at the back of the mat once you arrive, so lowering the knees down, bring the big toes and heels together, let the knees go almost as wide as your mat, and then walk your hands forward so that you're finding that opening through the hips, letting the head and neck relax, take a couple breaths right here, good, and let's walk your fingertips over to the right side, feel a stretch through the left side body as you do that, you might even pick up your torso and let it drape over your right leg, and then come back through center, walk your fingertips over to the other side, maybe the torso drapes over your left leg, reaching the arms toward the left, stretching through the right side body, beautiful, and then back through center, we'll meet back in downward facing dog, take your time to arrive back there, tuck the toes under, lift your hips up and back, coming back into downward facing dog, good, and then from down dog, let's rise up onto the toes, bend your knees, look forward, step or lightly, float to your hands, come to the front of the mat, come halfway up on your inhale, fold over your legs, uttanasana, exhale, and come back to chair pose, so sink the weight into the heels, sweep the arms back up, this time draw your hands to your heart, we're gonna take a twist here, so bringing the left elbow on the outside of your right leg, and then twisting open to your right, so hands in prayer, if you wanna go a little deeper, you're welcome to open up the arms, and then just try to keep your knees even to one another, take two more full deep breaths here, beautiful, and then inhale back through center, arms reach up, take it over to the other side, hands to the heart, right elbow on the outside of the left, twisting toward the left this time, good, maybe take the gaze up toward the ceiling, and then you can lower your hips toward the height of your knees, allowing for just a couple more breaths right here, really nice, and then inhale back through center, last push, fold over your legs, exhale, get out of there, good, you might heel toe the feet, hips distance, and then this inhale, come halfway up, take your vinyasa or you can always step it right back to downward facing dog, you might be hopping back through chaturanga, inhale as you come to cobra or up dog, opening through the heart, and exhale, downward facing dog, so from here, let's reach the right leg up and back, bend the knee to open up your hip, you're welcome to stay right here, or maybe flip your dog, so start to shift the weight forward, shoulders come over the wrist, step your right toes back behind you, taking the weight into your left hand, and then maybe reach that right arm up and over your ear as you lift up through the heart and the hips, good, and then to come out of there, we'll unravel, bring the right hand back down, float the right leg up to the sky, and then draw your right knee across the body, left tricep, hover here, thread your right leg all the way through for fallen triangle, spinning onto your left heel, bring the weight into your right hand, sweep the left arm either straight up or maybe it comes up and over your ear, nice, and then left hand down, come out the same way you came in, reach the right leg all the way up and back, good, gaze forward, step your foot all the way through between your hands, stay on the ball of your back foot again, and we'll come up into crescent pose, so reaching the arms forward and up, take a moment to land here, relax your shoulders, relax the gaze, and then let's bring hands to heart, we'll take twisting crescent pose, so keeping the length in the spine, just come halfway forward, and then hooking the left elbow on the outside of your right leg, finding crescent prayer twist, lots of options here, you're welcome to lower the back knee down for support, if you know you want to go a little deeper, you can open up the arms, you might even take a wrap with your arms if you'd like, and then wherever you're at, energize through that left leg, draw the right shoulder back and lengthen through the spine through the crown of your head, beautiful, and then to come out of here, gaze down, hands find either side of your front foot, and then step your back foot in just about a foot as you fold over your front leg and press back actively through your left heel for pyramid pose, and again, whatever feels good with your arms, they can be remaining on either side of your foot, they might walk back a little bit, if you want a little bit more strengthening for the legs, you might take the hands behind your low back, maybe holding opposite elbows or taking a reverse prayer, just be with whatever feels good in your body right now, nice, and then to come out of here, walk the hands forward a little bit, come halfway up, gaze forward, and then your left knee is going to come behind your right ankle, so left knee comes behind the right ankle, bend both knees, and sit back so we're preparing for a seated spinal twist, so if this feels like too crunchy in your body, you can also just straighten out your left leg, you can even uncross the legs and just hug the right knee in, so wherever you're at, let's sweep both arms up, take a big full breath in, and then twist to the right, so either hooking the elbow to the outside of the right leg, you might hug that right knee in, wherever you are, just root down through your sitting bones, lengthen up through the spine, through the crown of the head, and with every inhale, sit up nice and tall, with every exhale, maybe ease into the twist a little bit more, good, and then take the gaze to the front of your mat first, and then unravel your body, bring your hands behind you, step the soles of the feet down, and we'll lift the hips for a reverse tabletop, take a big breath in, lion's breath, stick out the tongue, let it go, beautiful, and then let's lower your hips down, we'll cross at the ankles, your choice, if you want to shoot it through a vinyasa here, go for it, or you can meet right back in downward facing dog, take your time to arrive there, and as you come to your downward facing dog, just take a couple breaths, good, in front of your down dog, let's step the feet in about a foot, step your feet as wide as your mat, and we'll take a twist from our down dog, so picking up the right hand, take it to the outside of the left leg, maybe the ankle or your shin, and then gaze under your left arm, keep pressing actively through your left hand, good, and then gaze forward, take your right hand back to the mat, pick up your left hand, take it to the outside of your right leg, the ankle, your shin, wherever it lands, and you're welcome to bend the knees here too, if that feels better, and then maybe gaze under that right arm, nice, and then gaze down, left hand down, step back to downward facing dog, feet step back, and we'll take it to the other side, so inhale, left leg lifts, bend your knee, open up your hips, start to shift the weight forward if you're flipping your dog, and then toes behind, lift up through the left arm, weight into the right arm, lift through the heart, and then out the way you came in, unravel, left hand down, left leg lifts, left knee right tricep, thread the left leg through for fallen triangles, spin onto your right heel, weight into the left hand, right arm reaches up, maybe over the ear, nice, and then out the way you came in, right hand down, sweep the left leg up, good, and then step through for crescent pose, stay on the ball of your back foot, soften the back knee as you lift up, just take a moment to arrive, then again we'll bring hands to heart, keep the length and the spine come halfway forward, hook your right elbow on the outside of the left this time, and then come back to your breath, any variations that you took on that first side, again welcome to lower knee, open arms, take a wrap, and stay active in that right foot as well, sometimes that right leg wants to do its own thing, stay active, and then take one more big breath in, as you exhale hands down on either side of the front foot, step the back foot in about a foot, fold over your front leg for pyramid, a couple breaths sending it through the back leg, back of the legs, and then you're drawing the left hip back as the right hip rolls forward so that the hips are even, nice, and then gaze forward, walk the hands forward, and this time right knee comes behind the left ankle as you sit down for your seated twist, and once you land where you want to land, root down through your sitting bones, inhale both arms up, exhale this time twist to the left, maybe hooking the elbow on the outside of the left or hugging that leg in, and then again as you inhale we'll lengthen, and as you exhale find your twist, couple breaths, wringing everything out, good, and then gaze toward the front of your mat, unravel, and we'll bring both legs out in front of you for a forward fold, so sitting up high on your sitting bones, and let's actually draw the soles of the feet together, knees wide, as you inhale lengthen through the spine, as you exhale fold into bada konasana, the head and neck relax, and you can use the elbows to open the legs up a little bit wider, just a couple breaths, and then as you're ready inhale come all the way up, and let's roll down onto our backs from here, and as you come onto your back just hug your knees in, rock a little bit from side to side, massage out the lower back, and then keep your right knee hugged in, let the left leg go long, and then float the left foot up off the earth and the leg up off the earth just about an inch, and then take a big breath here, and as you exhale switch sides, hug your left knee in, let the right leg go long, hovering the leg up off the earth an inch or two, and then start moving from side to side, so inhale right leg in, exhale left, and you can stay with the legs, or you might start to lift up the head, the neck, the shoulders, maybe interlacing the fingers behind the back of your neck, and you might take this into yogi bicycles, so bringing the opposite elbow to the opposite knee, snuck it in, maybe moving from side to side with your breath, just taking this for another 20 seconds or so, right to left, opposite knee, opposite elbow, and again, you might have stopped somewhere along the way, and that's beautiful, okay, let's take two more rounds, inhaling, exhaling, one more, inhale, and exhale, beautiful, and then release the head, the neck, the shoulders down, let's bring the soles of the feet to the earth, stepping them hips distance, and then just counterbalancing the core work by pressing up into bridge pose, feeling that stretch through the front body, maybe pressing the palms of your hands into the earth if you'd like, you can interlace if that feels good, and just feeling that whole stretch across the entire front of your body, as you lift the heart, and then we'll slowly release one vertebra at a time, nice and slow, all the way down to the earth, good, and let's finish up with one last twist here, so crossing your right leg on top of your left, like you're sitting in a chair, and you might hook that right foot behind your left calf, and bring your arms out on either side of the shoulders, goal post arms, palms facing up, and then drop your knees to the left side for eagle spinal twist, and if that's too much, just uncross your legs, if it's pulling too much on the lower back, and then maybe take a gaze over that right shoulder, and with all of these twists, we're feeling the length in the spine on your inhale, and that gentle ease and release on the exhale, and then uncross, come back through center, we'll take it to the other side, crossing left leg on top of the right, maybe hooking the foot, you might scoot the hips to the left a little bit as you drop the knees to the right, and then maybe take the gaze to the left, couple breaths, beautiful, and then come on out of there, unravel, hug your knees into your chest, draw your nose up towards your knees, take a big full breath in, and then exhale out the mouth, let everything release into your final resting pose, so setting up for shavasana, bringing the arms away from the body, palms facing up, let everything relax, integrate, just letting go, letting be. All right, let's do it again, let's do it again, let's do it again, let's do it again, start to bring some awareness back to the physical body, inviting any movement back in, and you're welcome to stay here as long as you like, otherwise we'll reach the arms up over the head, taking a full body stretch, and rolling over to one side as you're ready, pressing your way up to a comfortable cross-leg seated position, and as you come to your seat, just take a moment to check in, observe, witness, hands together at the heart, anjali mudra, bowing your head towards your hands in gratitude, and just acknowledging yourself for showing up for you for this practice. Thank you so much for being here, namaste.