Go-to Sequence v.8

Welcome back. We're going to go ahead and head to the top of the mat to jump right in. Inhale, interlace your hands. Reach the palms up. Exhale, find a shift to the right. Soften the left knee. Inhale, come back up. Exhale, shift to the left. Soften the right knee. Inhale, center. Let the arms drape down behind you. Interlace the hands. Lift the heart and exhale, fold forward. Release the hands down. Soften the knees. Inhale, roll it up slowly. The arms continue to rise. Hook the thumbs. Pull the hands apart and reach up over to the right. Soften the left knee. Inhale, center. Up and over to the left. Soften the right knee. Inhale, center. Exhale, let the arms drape behind you. Find the opposite hand position. Inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, fold forward. Exhale, release the hands down. Soften the knees. Rise up, chair pose. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, hands to heart, mountain pose. And just take a moment to connect in. Good. Exhale, palms down. Let the arms rise up right into our first lunge sequence. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, halfway rise. Exhale, left leg back, runner's lunge. So this round through, we'll do a little bit less alignment cues and just more time to check in with yourself and your breath. One more big breath. And bring the palms down, step back, downward facing dog. Deep press through the palms, lift through the hips, thighs pressed back. On an inhale, bring the left foot forward, runner's lunge. Heart forward, gaze soft. Finding those places of ease, finding those places of effort. Inhale, right foot meets left, fold it in. Inhale, rise up, chair pose, knees bend deeply, arms frame the ears. Press all the way up, hands to heart. Continue, let the arms down towards the ground, then inhale, rise up. Second round of lunges, exhale, fold in. Inhale, halfway, right leg steps back. Hook the left hip, draw it back, spin the heart. Left arm up, lunge twist. Left hand down, back knee, low lunge. Dancing between low lunge and half split on the exhale. Inhale, come forward, low lunge. Exhale, hamstring stretch. Inhale, low lunge.

One more. Exhale, hamstring. At this time as you come forward, low lunge, hands walk up onto the thigh, heart lift. Arms sweep up, hook the thumb. Reach the hands spread and light through the fingers. You choose the depth of your lunge. Release the hands behind the back. Continue to ground through the left foot, almost like you're drawing the left heel back towards the right thigh. Exhale, release the hands to the floor. Let's find a counter pose, hamstring stretch. Inhale, heart lift, exhale, fold in. Slide forward through your lunge, plant the palms, step it back, downward facing dog. Right foot forward. Ground your runner's lunge, hook the hip, draw it back, roll the shoulders lunge, twist. Right hand down, left knee down, low lunge, and here's where we dance. Back into the hamstring stretch on the exhale. Inhale, come forward, low lunge. Exhale, leg long. Inhale, heart forward. Exhale, last one. Inhale, low lunge, let the hands come up to the thigh. Reach the arms up, hook the thumbs, light through the fingers, light through the side body. Release the hands behind, interlace, soft through the elbows. Let the hands come down to frame the front foot, counter pose with the hamstring, right toes high. Inhale to bring the heart forward and exhale, fold in. Bring the gaze forward, find a runner's lunge and then we'll take left foot to meet right. Exhale, fold in. Soft through the knees, rise up, chair pose, arms draw back. Inhale, stand up tall and then exhale, hands to heart, mountain pose. Taking a moment. If the eyes are closed, go ahead and open the eyes. Let's step back and wide, parallel the feet. Inhale, lift the heart, exhale, let the hands slide down the thighs, the shins, folding forward. Let the head go for a moment. A little slide side to side, bend the left knee, then the right. You can add a little flare, bringing the hands down in front, turning the right toes up towards the sky. Heart forward, left toes can lift, heart towards the sky. Come back to center, bend the knees, round it up. Let the upper body be heavy. Shoulders, head, heart light and buoyant. Warrior two, right toes face front. Take a little wider stance, arms long. Then inhale, let's come out and then exhale right back in. Again, kind of dancing our way in, teasing, letting our body know that there is a way in and a way out. Exhale. In and exhale, we hold the third one. We've been in here, you know the cues. See if you can just hold steady. Good. Inhale, lengthen the top leg, turn the toes in, left side, warrior two. Come on in. Inhale, lengthen the left leg. Exhale, dip back in. Inhale, leg long. Exhale, warrior two. One more in. Exhale, land warrior two. Hold this one by putting that exhale ground you. Feel the stability in the legs. Feel the lightness in the upper body. Coming to center. Good. Inhale, lengthen the left leg. Turn the left toes in. Let's shorten the stance just a little bit. Take the hands behind the back, interlace light to the heart and then exhale, folding forward.

Find that bend in the knees. Fists come up and you can play either pulling the palms apart or drawing the palms together. Just find a little tenderoo through the elbows, a little micro bend. A little shift to the chin, side to side. Then exhale, hands come down to the floor. Lock the hands away from you. Tent the fingers, coming into hammock pose. Finding as much space as you can from the sit bones to the hands. The heart can soften towards the floor. Stability in the feet, stability in the hands and shoulders. Walk the hands back under the shoulders. Toe heel the feet in as we move into squat pose. Going to lower sit bones towards heels. Toe slightly out. Find your place and you might land a little higher. You might land it all the way down. Breathe into the shoulders and always extra credit with the sides and the mouth lifting into a smile. Hands come down. Shift the hips up. Toe heel the feet closer. Soften the knees. Let the upper body go. Inhale, roll it up. Shoulders back and down. Take a moment to again just capture that. Finding tree pose will start right foot grounded. Left foot kickstand anywhere except for the knee up to the inner thigh. Allow the left knee to come in a bit. Soften the hip and your expression. Take a few breaths here. Bring the knee in to come out. Hands come down. Take a moment just to rock on your feet. Left foot grounds. Find the kickstand on the ball of your foot. The hip comes in and then your choice. Above the knee or hip. Any expression. Hands to heart. Arms up. Good. Knee comes in. Hands come down. Again, take a moment to feel the feet. And then we'll meet at the top of the mat for our standing pose sequence.

On an inhale, take the arms up to frame the ears. Exhale, fold in. Inhale, halfway lift. Heart light. Step back. Left leg. Runner's lunge right into dropping the heel down into our blueprint, form to the thigh, into the hip. Lengthen the right leg right into triangle pose. Take the left arm up. If you'd like, you can reach back behind you, thumb down. Finding a half bind. Rotate the shoulders back and down. Gaze can either be down, side, or up. If you would like, you can keep the bind. It releases. We move into side angle pose. Again, hand can be outside the big toe, inside, or forearm on the thigh. Maintaining full breath. Big inhales. Full exhales. Great. If you have the bind, go ahead and release. Take the arm up overhead. Let it come all the way windmill down. Lift the back heel. Long pyramids. Draw the right hip back. Square-ish hips. You can keep the back heel lifted. Soften the front knee, or you can drop the heel down and lift the front toes. If you'd like, do that little inhale to lift. Exhale to soften. Soften the right knee. Come high on the back heel. Slide from a runner's lunge right into a lunge twist. Excellent. This time, if you'd like an option, stay here or bend the back knee. Take the arm back a little bit more.

That way you can slide the right sit bone a little closer towards the right heel. Left ear can drop down towards the left shoulder. Exhale. Bring the right hand to frame the right foot. We'll step back to downward-facing dog. One more full breath here. This time we'll walk forward to take it right back to the top. When you arrive, inhale. Come halfway up. Exhale. Fold in. Bend the knees deeply. Inhale. Roll, roll, roll up. Let the arms continue to sweep up. Half sun salutation. Exhale. Fold down. Inhale. Halfway. Lift this time right leg back. From a runner's lunge, find your blueprint. Back heel down. Form the thigh. Hand to hip. Slide the left leg long as we find triangle pose and right arm up. If you'd like, add the bind. Thumb comes down and you can hook right on the thigh. If you have the thigh, start to spiral it towards the left. Option to keep the bind. As we soften the left knee right into side angle pose, you can go forearm thigh. Hand to the pinky side of the foot or inside. Gentle on the shoulders as you're rolling them back and down. If you have the bind, go ahead and release. Windmill the arm all the way forward and down. Frame the front foot. Find long pyramid. Back heel high. And then if you'd like, you can drop the back heel. Lift the front foot. We're both down. Take that inhale to lift the heart and exhale. Soften in. Moving into lunge. Twist. Soften the left knee high on the back heel. We're going to root the right hand down as you take the left arm up. Option. Same thing as the opposite side. Back knee can come down. Add that back bend flavor. Lift the heart, bend the elbow. Let the left sit bone dip down towards the left heel. See if you lift out away from the floor with your chest. Good. Exhale. Let the left hand come to the floor. Place the hand down, step back, downward facing dog. Again, your choice, stillness or a little movement. Continue to press through the thighs. Elongate through the back. On an inhale, slide forward to plank pose. Shoulders over wrists. Belly button to spine and find a little press up between your shoulder blades. And here we pause activating the core. Sweeten light through the heart. Sweeten light through the face and the neck. And two more big breaths. One more. Lightly bring the knees down. Hips over the knees. Let the belly soften, spread wide through the collarbones. Exhale, round exploring cat cow. One more in. Exhale, round. From this rounded position, take the sit bones all the way back to the heels. Just for a moment in child's pose. And then rise up with a ripple of the spine and come all the way onto the belly. The forearms land with the elbows under the shoulders. Right into sphinx pose. Almost like a pawing at the floor. To lift the heart. Pubic bone presses. See if you can soften through the glutes, through your bum. Soft through the toes. Good. Exhale, release. Forehead down. Let the finger pad slide under the shoulders. Give a little wiggle to release the low back. When you're ready, inhale, rise up, low cobra. Light through the hands. A light draw back. So the shoulder blades support the back of the heart. Eyes soft. So this pose is tricky. We're engaging the low back muscles, but we're trying to create spaciousness. So continue to take the heart forward and up. Continue to soften the legs. Good. Exhale, release. Give a little wiggle. First locus pose. We'll start from cobra again. Inhale, come up. Light through the hands. Once you're set with the upper body, take the arms back. Thumbs out. Take the legs up. Find the play of lifting up nice and high, and then getting long, crown to toes. Good. Exhale, release. Forehead or ear down. A little wiggle. Second locus pose. Now rise up, chest, legs, arms. Option to use the interlace of the hands where you roll the shoulders back and down. So again, with all this effort that we're giving in the body, can you find that sweet breath? Calm, steady. One more big inhale, lift the legs. Exhale, release. A little wiggle to release. Bending the knees, reaching back, setting up for bow pose. You reach back, inhale, lift the chest, exhale, kick back. And you can explore toes pointed, feet flexed. See if you see your breath, if you can feel lightness, a lift on the inhalation. On the exhale, kind of the rooting. One more big, big, big, big breath.

Exhale, release. Take a moment to let the back. And when your body is ready, step back into child's pose. Nice and easy from all those deeper backbends. Release the shoulders, release the hips. See if you can ride the rhythm of your breath, staying with each piece of the breath. Slowly start to lift the torso. We're going to come onto our backs. Landing with knees into the chest, just to release the low back a little. Feet come down, set up for bridge pose. Press through the feet, inhale, rise the pubic bone, the palms up. And if you like the interlays, feel free to add it. Take a few breaths here to explore your shape. Releasing the hands, taking the arms up to release the shoulders, lift the toes, roll it down nice and slow. Bring the knees back in. Let's bring the knees even above the hips, flex the feet, lift up. Let's take the hands behind the back, take the chest up. And we'll just do a few cycles of right leg long, a little bicycle and a little shift. So don't worry about bringing the knee weight in. Let's keep it right over the hip. Good. Inhale, center. Exhale, twist. Good. Inhale, center. Exhale, twist, even belly button to spine. Lift up. Exhale, twist. We'll do one more each side. Inhale. Exhale, twist. Inhale, center. Exhale, twist. Just a little extra icing on top. Lift up. Exhale, release. Knees in a little wiggle. Rock and roll. We're going to come on up for a forward fold. Legs long. Find that lift of the heart and then exhale. Take the heart towards the toes. Do a little inhale to lengthen and exhale to fold in. Dive in deep. Feel the sit bones in the earth.

Feel the hip bones lifting up and then soften in. Inhale, lift the torso. Bend the knees. Come on back down. Thread the knee and the right leg on top. Do a little wiggle to find your shape. Let the right leg come over the left. Eagle legs. Exhale, let your whole body come over to the right and then deliberately open up into the twist. You can add the left hand onto the thigh. Slowly unwind the legs. Bring the right shoulder back over. Come back to center. Left leg. Thread the needle. Arms come through to the back of the thigh or the shin. Engaging the feet. Letting the left thigh come over the right. Eagle legs. Then we'll just drape over to the right side. Shoulder stack. Left hand on right. Inhale. Peel it open into your twist. Option of the right hand on the right thigh. Bring the left shoulder back over the right. Untwist the legs. Inhale. Come back up to center. Maybe knees in. Just a little wiggle. And then right into our resting pose, Shavasana. Take the legs long. Palms up. Give yourself a moment to slide the shoulder blades down the back to set yourself up for full rest in a way that you can be completely in the moment. Cheers! You might stay here a little bit longer, begin to shift to join me in a seat. Taking your time to roll onto the right side, and try not to disturb yourself very much as you press up into a comfortable seat, either keeping the eyes closed or just light, light and trusty. Bring your hands to the heart, sitting up nice and tall. It's been my pleasure practicing with you with big, big love. Namaste.