Grounding Moon Flow

Welcome. So we're going to move through a lunar flow of moon salutations and it's a really steady grounding practice that can be really great during either the new or full moon or really anytime you just need to feel a little bit grounded. So we'll start in Vajrasana. So sitting back on your heels, feel free to put a block between your ankles if that feels more comfortable for you and then go ahead and bring the hands together in front of the heart, relax your shoulders, maybe bow your head towards your hands, taking Anjali mudra with your hands, a mudra of gratitude and then just take a moment maybe closing your eyes and just begin by stopping, checking in with your breath and just noticing the natural rhythm of your breath and just by noticing that natural rhythm, maybe the breath starts to deepen, allowing a big full breath in through the nose and then opening the mouth, sigh it out, let something go. Just maybe setting an intention here, anything you'd like to call in or let go of. And then we'll begin with our first round of moon salutations. So we'll go slow in this first round and then pick up the pace a little bit. So on your inhale, you start to rise up onto your knees. So stand up onto your knees and lift the arms up over your head, allow a big full breath in and then as you exhale, bow the hands forward coming into child's pose. So let your hips sink back towards your heels, let the head and neck relax down. Good. And then as you inhale, start to gaze forward, come into cobra pose. So scoot the chest forward, untuck your toes, hug your elbows in, start to lift the chest up, allow a big full breath in here. Good. Think about lengthening through the spine and then as you exhale, press back hands and knees, tuck your toes and then lift the hips up and back to your first downward facing dog. And as you come into downward facing dog, you can start to pedal it out through the feet, maybe sway your hips from side to side. Start to feel into the backs of your legs, just a couple of full deep breaths here. Letting the spine be long, allowing your sitting bones to reach up toward the ceiling. Good. And then allow a big full breath in. As you exhale, lower the knees down and we'll come back to Vajrasana. So sitting back on your heels, bring the hands back to Anjali Mudra in front of the heart. And now we'll start to move with the breath. So the moon salutations.

As you're ready, inhale, stand up on the knees, lift the arms up over your head. Exhale, child's pose, hips sink back, head and neck relax. Inhale, cobra pose, scoot your way through, hug the elbows in, untuck your toes, draw the shoulders away from the ears and then exhale right back to downward facing dog, either pressing up through hands and knees or through plank pose. Stay here for your inhale. And then as you exhale, lower the knees down, come back to Vajrasana, sit back on your heels. Good. And let's take two more rounds like that. So on your inhale, stand up on the knees. Exhale, child's. Good. Inhale, cobra pose. And exhale back, downward facing dog. Stay for your in breath. Exhale, lower the knees down, sit back on your heels, hands to heart, Vajrasana. Go one more round. Inhale, arms lift. Exhale, child's. Inhale, cobra pose, scoot your way through, draw the shoulders away, engage through the legs as you lift up. And then exhale back to your downward facing dog. Beautiful. Take a couple breaths here in downward facing dog. Let the heels get nice and heavy. Relax the head and the neck. Maybe shake the head yes and no a few times. And then we're going to start to walk the feet to the front of the mat. So finding forward fold at the front of the mat, walking the feet to your hands, soften your knees. And then hold on to opposite elbows as you drape the torso down over your legs. Feel free to sway a little bit from side to side or shake your head yes and no. And then maybe take the opposite elbow on top for a couple of breaths just to balance out the right and the left. And then let the hands come down toward the earth, soften your knees, tuck your chin, roll up one vertebrae at a time. Let the head be the last thing to arrive and then bring your shoulders up toward your ears and just roll them down the back as you exhale. Let that go. Good. And then stepping the feet together, we'll move into second variation of Chandra Namaskar's moon salutations. So as you're ready, inhale, arms lift all the way up, lengthen through the spine as you lift the arms. And then keeping that length in the spine, feel free to soften your knees, fold over your legs, exhale. Good. Now step your left foot all the way to the back of the mat, finding a lunge. And then lower your back knee down. You can keep the back toes tucked or untucked, whatever feels best for you and more stable. And then inhale, reach the arms up, interlacing everything but the index fingers for steeple mudra. And then feel a lift through the upper back. So you're reaching up and out of the side waist. There is this lift through the heart, through the upper back. Allow a big full breath in. And then as you exhale, lower the hands down. We'll step back to downward facing dog. Good. And then as you inhale, come forward to plank pose, top of a pushup. And as you come to plank, we're going to lower the knees down.

And then the chin and chest lower in one line. So hug the elbows in as the chin and chest lower down, keep the hips lifted. And then right back to cobra pose, hug the elbows in, draw the shoulders away from your ears. Nice. And then exhale back, downward facing dog, either pressing up through hands and knees or plank. Good. So we'll go a little slower in this first round. We're going to inhale the left leg up. As you exhale, draw the knee to the nose, step your foot all the way through between your hands. And then again, lower the back knee down. We'll take that steeple mudra with the hands. So interlacing everything but the index fingers as you come up. Relax the shoulders, soften your gaze, draw the low belly in and up to protect your lower back. Allow a big full breath in. Good. And then lower the hands down, tuck the back toes this time. Step the right foot to meet the left forward fold front of your mat. And then root down through the feet, rise all the way back up to stand, arms circle out and up. Exhale, draw your hands to your heart. Good. So that was one half of a round. We'll move into the right side. As you're ready, inhale, arms lift. Exhale, fold over your legs. Good. A little faster this time. Step your right foot to the back of the mat, lower the back knee down, inhale, anjai nyasana, interlacing everything but the index fingers. And then exhale back, downward facing dog. Good. Inhale, come forward to plank. Exhale, lower knees, chin and chest. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back. Inhale, the right leg up. Exhale, step it all the way through. Lower your back knee down. Inhale, arms sweep up, interlacing. Exhale, forward fold front of the mat. Step your left foot to meet the right this time. And then root down, rise all the way up. Circle the arms out and up. Exhale, draw your hands to your heart. Okay. So let's pick this up one breath per movement. We'll move through one more round of this moon salutation, this variation. So when you're ready, inhale, arms lift. Good. Exhale, fold over your legs. Step your left foot to the back of the mat, lower the back knee down on an inhale, anjai nyasana, lifting up the arms. And then as you exhale, come back, downward facing dog. Good. Inhale, forward to plank. Exhale, lower knees, chin and chest. Inhale, cobra pose. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg up. Exhale, step it through between your hands. Lower the back knee down as you inhale, arms lift. Good. Exhale, hands lower. Step the right foot to meet the left, uttanasana, front of your mat.

Straight down to rise. Inhale, arms circle up. Exhale, hands to heart. Right side, last round. Inhale, arms lift. Exhale, fold over your legs, soften the knees. Step the right foot to the back of the mat, back knee lowers. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, lower knees, chin and chest. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, your right leg up. Good. Exhale, step it all the way through. Lower the back knee down. Inhale, arms sweep up. Interlacing, lifting through the heart. And then exhale, forward fold, front of the mat. Nice work. Root down, rise up. Inhale, arms lift. And draw your hands to your heart. Take a moment. Just close your eyes. Check in with how you feel. And just notice the heartbeat. Feel the grounded energy beneath the soles of your feet. Beautiful. And then let's come to chair pose, utkatasana. So as you're ready, inhale. Arms sweep up. Sink the weight back into your heels. Lengthen through your spine. Find a point to focus your gaze. And then draw your shin bones back. Make sure you can see your toes. Good. Take one more full breath in. As you exhale, hands lower. Straighten out the legs any amount. Coming into utkatasana. And then inhale, offer the heart forward. Just come halfway up. Maybe hands up on the shins. Good. Draw the shoulders back. And then we'll step back to plank pose. From here, you're welcome to lower knees, chin or chest. If you'd like, you can start to shift the weight forward. Bend the elbows, lower halfway or all the way down. Cobra, maybe upward facing dog if you feel ready for that. And then exhale back. We'll meet in downward facing dog. Nice job. Good. And then stay with the left side, which is our lunar side. So we'll start with the left leg. Inhale your left leg up and back. Put a bend in the knee to open up your hip for a couple breaths. And then maybe roll out your ankle in one direction and then the other. Good. And then start to square off your hips. Straighten through your left leg. Take a big full breath in here. And then draw the knee to the nose. Round through the upper back as you come forward. And then inhale, sweep the leg all the way up and back. Good. This time, gaze forward, step your left foot through between your hands. Spin the back heel down. Maybe step the right foot to the right a little bit. And we'll set up for warrior one. So reaching the arms forward and up. Virabhadrasana one. Sinking down toward 90 degrees in that front leg. And then let the hips and shoulders be square-ish toward the front of your mat. And then we'll take the hands behind the low back. Interlace the fingers. You can also hold opposite elbows here or grab a strap if you'd like. Then start to draw the shoulders away from the ears. Lift up through the heart. Allow a big full breath in. Good. And then on your exhale, fold over your front leg. Humble warrior. Keep hugging your left hip in. Excuse me. Let the head and neck relax. Ground down through the soles of your feet. Good. And then on your next breath in, root down. Rise all the way back up to warrior one. Beautiful. And then hands lower. Frame your front foot. Come onto the ball of your back foot. Step back plank pose.

And then your choice. Knees, chin, chest. If you want to take a Chaturanga here, go for it. In a Cobra or upward facing dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Nice. Allow a big full breath in. And then open your mouth. Side out. Let that side go. Good. And then right side. Inhale the right leg up. Bend the knee. Open up your hip. Maybe roll out that ankle a few times. It's really getting into that right hip. Letting your shoulders stay even. And then straighten through your right leg. Square off your hips. Allow a big full breath in. As you exhale, knee to nose. Round through the upper back. Press the floor away. Inhale, three leg downward facing dog. Nice. Then gaze forward. Step your foot all the way through between your hands. Spin the back heel down. Look forward. Arms reach up. Warrior one. And then just take a moment to arrive. To settle in. Relax your shoulders. Soften your gaze. Good. And then hands behind the low back. This time maybe take the opposite thumb on top. Start to draw the shoulders away from your ears. Allow a big full breath in. Good. And then fold over that front leg. So you can rest the torso on the thigh. Letting the crown of the head melt down. Good. And then soles of feet grounded. Just hold for one more breath. And then on your next breath in, start to come all the way back up. Warrior one. Exhale, hands come down. Come onto the ball of your back foot. Step back. Plank pose. Other choice chaturanga. Knees, chin or chest. Cobra or up dog. Inhale. Downward facing dog.

Exhale. Breathe here. Nice work. Feel free to lower the knees if you'd like. You can sit back in Vajrasana or take a child's pose. Holding for a couple of breaths. So if you've lowered the knees, maybe meeting back in downward facing dog, we'll come into our hip opener here. Really staying grounded in this posture. So start with the left side again. Just to break our habit of always going the right side first. So as you're ready, inhale your left leg up and back. And then draw the knee in toward your nose. Start to parallel your shin toward the front of the mat. Letting the knee and ankle fall behind the wrist. And then we'll lower for single pigeon. So feel free to take any props underneath your left hip if you'd like. And you can wiggle in. Just take your time with the transition. And then any amount, start to walk your hands forward and just find your hip opener. Finding your edge without stepping over. And then sending the breath to the areas in the body where you feel the sensation, most likely that left hip. And then use the breath to anchor you to this moment. As the mind starts to potentially bring you elsewhere. Coming back to either a mantra. I'm inhaling, I'm exhaling. Just noticing the inhale and the exhale, the natural rhythm of your breath. Allowing for a few more breaths here on the side. Beautiful. And then on your inhale, start to peel your way back up. We'll press into the hands and then step back to downward facing dog. Take a moment to let that side go. Maybe pedal it out or shake the leg out if you need it. Good. And then right side, inhale the right leg up. Draw the knee to your nose. And then start to parallel the shin toward the front of the mat as you lower in. Just take a moment to notice the difference between the right side and the left side. Honoring the difference. Just noticing how that feels. Maybe taking a moment at the top to wiggle in. And then any amount. Walking the hands forward. Resting in your hip opener. Allowing a few more full deep breaths here. Breathing into, again, wherever you feel the sensation starting to create some space. Beautiful. And then as you're ready, start to walk your hands back in. Pressing back up. Either to down dog or you can just shift the weight off to one side and then take the legs out in front of you. So we'll find a seat. And then coming into a seated twist, draw your right knee in toward you and then step the right foot on top of the left leg or across the left leg. And then taking the right fingertips behind you as you inhale, reach your left arm up. And then hug your right leg in or you can hook the elbow on the outside of that right thigh.

Whatever feels best for you. And then as you inhale, feel the length in your spine. As you exhale, ease into the twist just a little bit more. Take one more big full breath in. And then as you exhale, let that side go. Straightening out the right leg. Draw your left knee in and then step it across the body. Left fingertips back. As you inhale, lift the right arm up. And then either hugging the leg in or hooking the elbow on the outside of the left thigh. A big full breath in to lengthen. As you exhale, maybe gazing over the left shoulder. One more big full breath in. Ease into the twist. Good. And then let that side go. Reaching the legs out in front of you. Sit up high on your sitting bones on an inhale, arms lift. And then leading with the heart, Paschimottanasana. Fold over your legs. Just letting the hands fall wherever they fall. Just a couple full deep breaths here. Good. And then leading with your heart on an inhale. Come all the way back up and just rolling onto your back. We'll set up for our final resting pose, Shavasana. So letting the legs go long. Letting the palms face up, arms away from the body. And you've done the work. Let the yoga work on you here. Just rest. Shavasana. And stay here as long as you'd like. You have the time. Feel free to stay, otherwise inviting movement back to the fingers and toes. Reaching your arms up over your head, allowing a big full body stretch. Big breath in. Exhale, let something go. And then roll your way up to seated however you'd like. To get there, either rolling off to one side or just rolling up. Gathering the hands together in front of your heart. Again, coming to Anjali Mudra. Recognizing something you feel grateful for. And holding that with you as you move out to the rest of your day. Namaste everyone.