Heart-Focused Flow

Welcome back. So in this practice we'll move through a really fluid, energizing practice with a focus on the heart chakra. So really finding opening through the chest and the heart. So let's start in tabletop position. I'll meet you there. So again finding our alignment in tabletop. Shoulders over wrists, hips over knees. And then we'll come right into cat-cow. So as you inhale, drop the belly, lift the heart, lift the gaze. Good. And then as you exhale, navel to spine, press the floor away, rounding. Good. Inhale, let the heart reach forward coming into cow pose. And then exhale, navel to spine, round. Good. Let's do one more like that. Inhale as you come forward, let the heart melt forward. And then exhale, draw the navel in and round. Good. And then neutralize through the spine. So come back to your tabletop. And then from here we're going to reach the left leg back, float the leg up off the earth, and then let the toes come back behind you. Press into the back of the left leg a little bit. So really feel an opening through the back of your left leg, maybe kind of going back and forth a few times to feel that stretch. Beautiful. And then center your weight, spin onto your left heel, bring the weight into your right hand, sweep the left arm up and right over your ear. Good. So you're welcome to stay here. Otherwise we'll start to lift up through the left leg, float it up off the earth, and then bend your left knee, take your left hand to your ankle or your foot, and then just kick your foot into your hand as you start to open up through the chest here. Maybe even gazing up toward the ceiling. Art of Ashistasana with chapasana. Good. And then let that go, come back through center, left hand down, left knee down, and then tent your fingertips here.

So coming up onto the finger pads, keep your hips right over your knees, and then walking the hands forward, let the chest melt down, Anahatasana. Maybe the forehead comes down, maybe the chin comes down if that feels okay. And then a few full deep breaths here, letting the heart melt toward the earth. Nice. And then start to walk your hands back in, and we'll come back to our tabletop position, just taking it over to the other side. So float the right leg up, and then let the toes find your mat, and then with the toes tucked, start to press back, feel into the back of your right leg, and then you can start to shift the weight forward and back a few times, stretching through the back of your right leg. And then center your weight, shoulders over wrists, we'll take it to the other side, rolling onto your right heel, weight into the left hand, right arm up and right over your ear, feel that side body stretch. And you can stay here if this feels really nice for you, or if you want to play with the balance in the heart opener, lift up through the right leg, bend your right knee, take your right hand to your right ankle or top of the foot, and then kick the foot into your hand, start to spin the chest open, maybe even toward the ceiling, maybe gazing up.

A couple breaths. Beautiful. And then let that side go, come back through center, and then tucking your toes, let's come into our downward facing dog. So lifting the hips up and back, good, feel free to pedal it out a few times, sway your hips, maybe swivel the heels from side to side, and the hamstrings are feeling a little tight today, feel free to soften the knees any amount, you really want to find length in the spine, so if that means bending the knees, then go for it, you can find that freedom in the upper body, reaching the sitting bones up toward the ceiling. And then start to step the feet toward hips with, if they're not already there, and then from your downward facing dog, we'll come forward toward plank pose, keep the toes tucked, and then keep lowering the hips down, so coming into a modified upward facing dog from here, so toes are tucked, heart lifts, gazing in front of you, and then as you exhale, lift the hips up and back, and we'll move with that a few times, start to warm the body. So inhale, keep the toes tucked, come forward toward plank, and then pass plank, hips lower, heart lifts, gaze lifts, exhale, downward facing dog, we'll take that three more times, cueing the breath, inhale as you come forward, upward facing, toes tucked, exhale as you come back, downward facing, two more, inhale as you come forward, lower the hips, lift the heart, exhale, downward facing, and then last one, inhale forward, lower hips, lift heart, and then exhale, downward facing dog, take a couple breaths here, on your next breath in, inhale your right leg up to the sky, exhale knee to nose, round through the upper back as you come forward, and then we'll step the right foot through between your hands, come on to your fingertips for a moment, lengthen through your spine, and then lower your left knee down to the earth, you can keep the toes tucked or untucked, and then start to reach your arms forward and up, coming into anjali asana, and then from here you're welcome to keep the arms up or maybe take an interlace behind the back of your neck, and then rest your head into your hands as you lift up through the heart, lift the gaze, and breathe, good, keep the belly engaged, a couple breaths, good, and then take a big full breath in, as you exhale lower the hands back down, frame your front foot, and then just start to heel toe your foot to the right a few times, so the hands come on the inside of your front foot, feel free to pad up your knee here if your knee is a little sensitive, you can even roll the mat over and make a little cushion with your mat, and so from here keep the left hand down, we're going to start to bend through the back knee, and this might be where you stay, if it feels good in your body you'll take the right arm up and back, maybe holding on to your left foot, kicking the foot into the hand, and spinning the chest open toward the right, so we're in this lizard quad stretch posture, just maybe rocking back and forth a little bit, you can draw the foot in towards you a little bit more, it's really opening up through the quad, beautiful, and then let that go, hands come back to the inside of your front foot, and then heel toe your right foot back to the center of the mat, hands frame your front foot on an inhale, lift up through the heart a little bit, and then half split, start to straighten out through your front leg, maybe glide the heel forward a little bit, walk the hands back a little bit, as you inhale lengthen through the heart and through the spine, and then as you exhale we'll fold over your front leg, and you might walk the hands forward a little bit, and really think about lengthening through the spine, reaching forward with the heart, rather than folding in too much, so feel that length, good, and then we'll re-bend through the front leg, tuck the back toes, meet me back in downward facing dog, and then front down dog, just like we did before, let's take that modified up dog, so start to roll forward toward plank, keep the toes tucked, let the hips lower, lift the heart, lift the gaze, and then the exhale brings you back, downward facing dog, inhale your left leg up, draw your knee to your nose, round through the upper back, and then step your foot through between your hands, come on to the fingertips, lengthen, and then lower the back knee down, good, from here we'll reach the arms forward and up, coming into anjali asana, and then if you took the interlace on the first side, maybe interlace with the opposite thumb on top, rest your head into your hands, lean back, and open the chest, maybe close your eyes, it's noticing all the parts of the body that are holding you up, keeping you supported, the subtle details that happen within, that allow a big full breath in, and then as you exhale lower the hands down, nice, heel toe the left foot to the left a few times, hands on the inside of your front foot, and then you're welcome to stay here, you might pad up that knee, maybe start to bend through the right leg, and then right hand down, maybe sweep the left arm back, taking hold of the top of the foot or the ankle, and then just start to draw the heel in towards you, and then if it feels okay you can open the chest toward the left any amount, maybe lift your gaze, and breathe, beautiful, and then go ahead and release that side as you're ready, heel toe your left foot toward the center of your mat so you're framing the front foot, come up onto the fingertips, lift the heart, big breath in, and then exhale, arda hanuman, draw the left hip back straighten through your left leg, lengthen through the spine, reach the heart forward, maybe walk the hands forward a little bit, just fold in and breathe, and feel free to keep a bend in that left knee if that feels better, depends on how the hamstrings are feeling, good, and then rebend through your front leg, we'll meet back in downward facing dog, step the left foot back to meet the right, and then toes stay tucked as you come forward, finding that modified up dog, let the hips lower, inhale, lift the heart, lift the gaze, and exhale, downward facing dog, good, and then walk your feet to your hands, find a forward fold at the front of your mat, and as you come to your forward fold, maybe take the hands behind the low back, interlace, maybe reaching the arms up and over, and soften the knees any amount, and just a few full deep breaths, maybe shifting a little bit of weight toward the balls of your feet, maybe shaking your head yes and no, good, and then let the hands come down, and we'll roll up one vertebrae at a time, coming to the top of your mat, tadasana, bring the palms to face forward, close your eyes for a moment, just check in, and then blinking the eyes open as you're ready, we'll move into dancer pose, so playing with balance a little bit, bring the weight into your right foot, so really spread the weight evenly across that right foot, pressing into the ball of the right big toe, and then bend your left leg, the left knee, and take your left hand to your left ankle, good, and then reach your right arm up, take a big full breath in, and then any amount, start to tilt forward as you kick the foot into your hand and find dancer, find one point to focus your gaze, good, and then taking a big full breath in here, as you exhale, we're going to step it all the way to the back of the mat, finding crescent pose, interlace the fingers behind the neck, just like we did with the knee down, let the head rest in your hands, lift up through the heart, beautiful, and then release it down runner's lunge, hands come down to the earth, walk the right hand forward for half moon as you lift up through the left leg, reach your left arm up, and then maybe chapasana here like we did in artivashisthasana, bending through the left leg, take your left hand to your left ankle, kicking your foot into your hand, and open up, good, and then let that go, we'll step all the way back to warrior two, so start to bend through your front knee, let the left foot land toward the back of the mat, and then from your warrior two, straighten through your front leg, draw your hands to your heart, good, and then come right back in to warrior two, flip your front palm, tilt back, circle your hands all the way down, right back to downward facing dog, and then again toes stay tucked, come forward toward plank, lower the hips, lift the heart, up dog, exhale, downward facing dog, and then walk your hands to the front of the mat, or excuse me, walk your feet to the front of the mat, and then we'll come all the way up, so roll up slowly, circle the arms out and up as you get to the top, draw hands to heart, take a beat here just to breathe, good, and then we'll take it to the other side, so really get rooted in the left foot, press through the ball of your left big toe, and then bend through the right knee, take your hand to your right ankle, and you're welcome to stay right here, this might feel like enough of a balance for you, if you want to go a little deeper into the heart opener, reach your left arm up, find one point to focus your gaze, and then kick the foot into the hand as you start to come forward, couple breaths, if you fall out of it, no worries, come back in, good, and then step your left foot to the back of the mat, crescent pose, just take a moment to find your stability, interlacing fingers behind the back of the neck, resting the head back, opening the elbows, feel the lift in the heart, one more big breath in, good, and then lowering the hands down, runners lunge, and then there's that transition to half moon from here, so reach the left hand forward, feel free to put a block under the hand too, if that feels better for you, and then we'll lift up through the right leg, flex the right foot, peel the chest open, reach the right arm up, and if you want to take chapasana variation here, bend through the right leg, reach back for the foot or your ankle, kick it into the hand, open the chest toward the right, nice, and then stepping back to warrior two, nice and slow and controlled, bend through the left knee, right foot comes back, and just take a moment to land, as you're ready, we'll straighten through the left leg, draw the hands to your heart, allow a big full breath in, and then press it back out, warrior two, flip your front palm, reverse warrior, circle the hands down, one last time, downward facing dog, inhale, upward facing dog, keep the toes tucked, lower the hips down, lift the heart, downward facing dog, beautiful, and then just come forward to plank pose, and slowly lower all the way down to your belly, setting up for shalabhasana, we'll reach the arms back, bring the thumbs to face down, pinky fingers facing up, so the palms of the hands are facing towards your body, and then press through the tops of the feet, spread the toes, and on an inhale draw the shoulders away from the ears, start to peel the chest up any amount, keep the length in the back of the neck, and then if you'd like you can add the legs, so lifting up through the legs, spread the toes, good, feel the length in the spine, allow a big full breath in here, and then as you exhale lower down, bringing one cheek to the earth, rocking your hips side to side, feeling that release in the lower back, beautiful, and then we'll take that again, maybe a different variation with your arms, so bringing the forehead of the chin down to the earth, reach the arms back, maybe interlace the fingers this time, press through the tops of the feet, engage through the thighs, lift the kneecaps up off the earth, and then draw the shoulders back as you lift up through the chest, peel the chest up, lift the heart, and then maybe add the legs, as you lift up through the legs, spread the toes, feel the length here, allow one more big breath in, maybe lift up just a little bit higher, and then as you exhale come on down, maybe bringing the opposite cheek down to the earth, rocking hips from side to side, releasing through the lower back, and then you're welcome to stay with any variations of salabhasana, or if you'd like we'll start to bend through the knees, flex the feet, reach back with your hands, hold on to the feet or the ankles, and then we'll come into dhanurasana, so starting to kick the feet into the hands, lift up through the chest, good, taking a couple full deep breaths here, allowing one more big breath in as you exhale, lowering down, maybe reverse windshield wipering the feet from side to side, beautiful, and then let that go, we're going to roll onto our back, so just flipping around, coming onto your back, hugging the knees into your chest, and just taking this kind of child's pose on your back, rocking a bit from side to side, massaging through the lower back, and then from here let's just take the hands into happy baby, so hands to the outsides of the feet, bend the knees, you can hold onto the big toes or the shins, knees wide, maybe rocking a little bit from side to side, beautiful, and then we'll hug the knees back in, draw your nose up towards your knees, just hugging everything in, big breath in, and then exhale, release, bring the soles of the feet together, knees wide, coming into supta-bhagakanasana, so just getting into the hips a little bit here, and feel free to stay here as your shavasana, if at any time you'd like to straighten out the legs, go ahead and do that, otherwise bringing palms to face up, or maybe one hand to the heart, one hand to the belly, closing the eyes, and just shifting the gaze inward and resting. Begin to bring your awareness back to the body, inviting any movement back in, and straightening out the legs if they're not already, reaching arms up over your head, getting a full body stretch, and then making your way up to seated as you're ready, the rolling off to one side, or just rolling up to seat, and as you come there, we'll gather hands together in front of the heart, bowing the head towards your hands.

Let's take a moment to notice your breath, and blinking the eyes open, thank you so much for sharing this practice together, namaste.