Open Your Throat Chakra

Welcome to your practice. In this flow sequence we're really going to focus on opening up the throat chakra. So doing a lot to release the head, the neck, the shoulders and opening up through the throat. So we'll start on our backs with some rolling bridge poses. So feel free to join me on your back and then step your feet hips distance, walk your heels in toward you and then start with the arms by your side and then we'll start to move right away with the breath. So on your inhale reach the arms up over your head, press through the soles of your feet and start to lift the hips up any amount. Let your chest draw toward your chin. Good and then as you exhale lower the hips down, lower the arms down by your side and then just picking up the pace a little bit with the breath inhale arms lift, hips lift, exhale lower arms, lower hips and then one more reach the arms up over your head. Inhale lift the hips and then exhale lower your hips all the way down but keep the arms up over your head and then as you exhale just drop the knees off to the right side for an easy spinal twist. Good and then inhale bring the knees through center, exhale drop the knees to the left easy spinal twist to the left and then just start to windshield wiper your legs from side to side. So start to warm through the spine, inhaling as you come to center, exhaling as you drop the knees to one side, taking a few more rounds on your own just massaging out through the hips, glutes and finishing off on the left side as you're ready and then we'll come back through center, hug your knees in, start to rock up and down along the length of the spine and you can build momentum to come to all fours. So we'll meet in tabletop position and then from your tabletop right away we'll lower the forearms down so letting your shoulders come over the elbows spread the fingers wide and then come into forearm plank so stretch the legs back tuck your toes reach through the crown of the head gaze between the thumbs active in the core active in your legs just holding for a few breaths here so letting the shoulders land right over the elbows keep hugging your elbows in. Good take one more big full breath in and then as you exhale lower the hips all the way down to the earth untuck your toes walk the hands forward a little bit so the elbows are in front of your shoulders and then draw the mat back as you reach the heart forward for sphinx pose good and then just feel that maybe a light sensation in the lower back this is actually a really nice posture for the lower back beautiful and then drop your chin towards your chest feel the length through the back of the neck and then as you're ready bring your right ear toward your right shoulder so feel that stretch through the left side yeah and then draw the chin back through center and take your left ear to your left shoulder feel a stretch through the right side beautiful and then back through center chin toward the chest and then lower all the way down bring the hands next to the side ribs press back up to tabletop and then we'll come to our downward facing dogs tucking the toes lifting the hips up and back as you come to your down dog maybe sway a little bit from side to side feel the length in your spine maybe shake your head yes and no a few times maybe swivel your heels from side to side so coming up onto the toes let the heels come over toward the left feel free to bend the knees there and then inhale come back up onto the toes swivel both heels over to the right beautiful and then come back to center into your downward facing dog and on your next breath in inhale glide forward into plank pose and then lower your knees down and then we're gonna lower it the chin and the chest down slowly so hug the elbows in chin and chest lower and then come through to cobra pose untuck the toes draw the shoulders away from the ears start to peel the chest up and then coming back to your downward facing dog either pressing up through hands and knees or through plank tuck your toes lift the hips up and back move with that a few times start to warm the body so inhale glide forward to plank pose lower knees chin and chest down inhale to cobra exhale downward facing dog inhale come forward to plank pose exhale lower knees chin and chest inhale cobra exhale downward facing dog lifting the hips all the way up and back good and let's walk the hands back to the feet finding a forward fold at the back of your yoga mat and if it feels okay you might step your feet into the palms of your hands just to give the wrists a little bit of relief with the head and neck and shoulders relax maybe shaking the head yes and no a couple breaths here and then releasing your hands will walk it back to downward facing dog and then as you come to down dog will rise up onto the toes bend your knees look forward step or lightly float to your hands come to the front of your yoga mat good and then just lift halfway up maybe walking the hands up onto the shins as you lengthen through the heart and the spine good and then exhale fold back in root down rise all the way up to stand circling the arms all the way out and up and then draw your hands to your heart we'll move through a round of moon salutations as you're ready inhale arms lift exhale soften the knees fold over your legs step your left foot to the back of the mat tap your back knee down stay on the fingertips as you lift up through the heart and then we'll come right back to downward facing dog and just like we did before come forward to plank pose lower the knees chin and chest down inhale cobra pose exhale downward facing dog tuck the toes lift the hips up and back and then float your left leg up take a big breath in as you exhale we'll step the foot through between the hands tap your back knee down come on to your fingertips lift up through the chest and then as you exhale tuck your back toes step the right foot to meet the left forward fold front of the mat root down to rise come all the way up to stand circle the arms out and up and then gather hands to heart so that was one half around we'll move on to the right side as you're ready big breath in arms lift exhale fold over your legs step your right foot to the back of the mat tap the back knee down come on to the fingertips lift the heart exhale downward facing dog inhale plank pose exhale lower knees chin and chest hug the elbows in let the throat come down inhale cobra exhale downward facing dog good inhale sweep the right leg up exhale step all the way through between your hands lower the back knee down lift up through the heart lengthening keep the fingertips down and then tuck the back toes step the left foot to meet the right forward fold root down rise all the way back up circle the arms out and up and then draw your hands to your heart just take a moment and just check in pause and breathe and then blinking the eyes open we'll reach the arms all the way back up take a big full breath in as you exhale fold back over your legs come halfway up inhale lengthening through the spine and then you however you'd like to get back to down dog you might step it back through Vinyasa you might lower knees chin and chest as you lower all the way down staying with that variation cobra may be upward facing dog if you feel ready for that and then coming back in to downward facing dog we'll meet right there beautiful and then just take a moment to ground come back to your breath if there's something you'd like to call in and intention dedication for your practice maybe taking this time to do that beautiful and then as you're ready let's reach the right leg all the way up and back step your foot all the way through between your hands and then set up for warrior to base but pause before you lift up so spin the back heel down bend through your front knee toward 90 degrees and then take your right hand on the inside of your right foot you're welcome to bring elbow to top of the thigh as well start to peel the chest open coming into extended side angle so left arm lifts up maybe take the top arm over your ear and then we'll breathe here for a few full deep breaths notice the fingertips are on the earth the knee and the elbow hug into one another and then we'll root down through the feet to rise all the way up to warrior to beautiful and then from your warrior to flip your front palm tilt back reverse your warrior straighten for your front leg for a reverse triangle and then hinge forward at the hips let the left hip shoot back as the right arm comes down keep the length in the right side body and triangle pose left arm lifts up and then let's take a half wrap so let the palm of your hand face toward the wall behind you and then take the arm behind your low back maybe holding on to the hip crease and then use that to draw the left shoulder back maybe gaze up and breathe nice and then rebend through your front leg we'll come back to warrior to reverse your warrior one last time reach up and back and then circle your hands down come back to downward facing dog come forward into plank pose lower knees chin and chest down cobra maybe up dog inhale and then downward facing dog exhale allow a big breath in and then stick out the tongue for lion's breath let's do that two more times big full breath in tongue out lion's breath good clearing that throat chakra one last time inhale tongue out exhale beautiful super detoxifying for the body and we'll come into the left side inhale your left leg up need a nose look forward step the foot through set up your warrior to base so stay low for a moment spin the back heel down heel to arch alignment and then left hand to the inside of the left foot or elbow to the top of the left thigh and then we'll peel the chest open right arm lifts up for extended side angle either staying right here or top arm over your ear and maybe gazing up breathing beautiful and then rooting down through the feet rise all the way up to warrior two good and take a gaze over your middle finger we'll reverse our warrior so flip the front palm tilt up and back reverse warrior light on your back fingertips straighten through your front leg hinge forward left hand below the knee triangle pose good and we'll take that half wrap again bring the palm of the hand to face the wall behind you and then take the arm behind the low back maybe to the hip crease then again use that to draw the right shoulder back maybe start to lift your gaze toward the ceiling lengthening out through the side body through the crown of your head and at the same time really pressing back through your right heel good and then rebend through your front leg come all the way back up warrior to flip your front palm tilt back inhale reverse warrior exhale circle the hands all the way down step back downward facing dog then inhale come forward to plank one last time knees chin and chest inhale cobra maybe upward facing dog and then exhale to child's pose so letting the hips sink back toward your heels at the head and neck relaxed down just allowing a few full deep breaths here and slowly begin to roll up to sit back onto your heels and we'll set up for a couple variations of camel pose so standing up onto your knees you can spread the knees about hips width apart and then just bringing the hands to the low back so you can bring the fingers to face up or down whatever it feels best for you and then hug the elbows back as you lift up through the chest through the sternum and then just staying right here as you hug the elbows in keep lifting through the sternum keeping the hips right on top of the knees maybe lifting the gaze up allowing a few full deep breaths really opening through the throat beautiful and then let that go sit back onto your heels and just take a moment to check in maybe close your eyes and for round two you're welcome to stay with that variation or we might go a little deeper I'll bring us there but if you want to stay where we just were then please stay there so again we'll stand up onto the knees bring the hands to the low back fingers facing up or down then for this variation I'm gonna tuck my toes and eventually working back to bring my hands back toward my heels so as you lift up again let the hips land over the knees lift up through the sternum hug the elbows back lift your gaze and then maybe one hand at a time reach for the heels keep reaching the hips over the knees keep lifting up through the heart the sternum throat gaze and most importantly find the breath beautiful and then lifting from the core come all the way back up and then again we'll sit back onto your heels just take a moment to pause and check in beautiful and then bringing the weight off to one side we'll bring the legs out in front of us sitting up high on your sitting bones flexing through the feet for a forward fold inhale arms lift up and then exhale lead with the heart as you fold and let your hands fall wherever they fall pashimo tenasana just a couple breaths here feel free to inhale and lengthen through the spine maybe lift up a little bit and exhale fold back in and then you're welcome to stay here in pashimo tenasana or you can start to bring the legs up and over your head for plow pose so as you bring the legs up and over keep the toes tucked and then maybe you interlace fingers let the shoulders roll underneath you feel free to untuck the toes if that feels best for you and just keep the gaze straight the neck in one place find your breath good and then as we come out of this we'll land in fish pose so start to slowly lower you'll flatten out the palms of your hands and then let your butt fall onto your hands straighten through the legs bring the legs down to the earth flex the feet start to bend the elbows lift up through the heart and the chest bringing the crown of your head down toward the earth finding fish big opening across the chest the throat the heart beautiful and then to get out of there lift up a little bit remove the arms just come all the way onto your back and then from here let's just make our transition into our final resting pose of Shavasana so you can let the legs open up a little bit relax the effort and the body and the breath bringing the palms to face up maybe lifting up a little to let the shoulders roll down lift through the heart just take a moment to swallow and just feel through the throat maybe rock your head from side to side and then whenever you find stillness just take a moment to check in and just rest you're ready to begin to deepen your breath inviting any movement back into the body maybe the ankles your wrists you rock the head from side to side one last nice stretch for your neck and shoulders and then however you choose we'll make our way back to a comfortable cross legs seated position and as you come up to seated hands to heart bowing your head towards your hands just in gratitude for this practice thank you so much for sharing your practice with me today namaste