Groove Is in the Heart

Welcome to your practice and this practice will be connecting to our heart and really finding your way back home to our center. And so you're welcome to start seated on your shins like I am or sitting on something comfortably. And we'll just take a moment to bring our hands on top of our heart, left hand then right. If you'd like close your eyes or gaze towards the floor in front of you, take a moment to arrive dropping into your breath, feeling your inhale and your exhale. Noticing this space under the hands as you breathe in and that sense of grounding towards your center as you breathe out.

Being connected to this pulse of our inhale and our exhales, we dive into our practice together. So when you're ready, you'll release your hands and open your eyes and we'll begin on all fours. So coming onto your knees, hands are on your shoulders, knees are on your hips, you'll tuck your toes under and as you inhale, you'll drop your belly, lift your heart, cow tilt. As you exhale, like a Halloween cat, you'll scoop your tailbone, chin towards throat. Couple more, inhale, lifting up through the heart, exhale, drop the tailbone, maybe gaze towards your navel.

One more, inhale, lifting up through the heart, create space. Now as you exhale, you'll dip your hips towards your heels and you'll peel your way into downward facing dog. On your next breath in, inhale, sweep your right leg to the sky and as you exhale, you'll step your right foot forward for your ones. You'll ground the back heel down completely, inhale, rising up, arms reach to the sky. Take a deep breath here and as you exhale, you'll cactus the arms.

So create some space in the heart, bending the elbows, lifting up through the heart. Just do that one more time, inhale, reach the arms up, exhale, cactus the arms, inhale, reach your arms up, lifting the back heel, exhale, take your hands to the mat, step back to downward facing dog. So here's our vinyasa, you'll take your knees to the mat, inhale, lift the heart, exhale, scoop your tailbone, chin to throat. One more inhale, lift the heart, collarbones are wide, exhale, hips to heels, downward facing dog. Next breath in, sweep your left leg high, inhale, exhale, warrior one feet, so step your foot forward, spin your back foot to ground, inhale, reaching up through the arms, virovandrasana one, create that space in the heart, take a deep breath here, inhale, cactus your arms, exhale, create some space, inhale, reaching up, one more, exhale, cactus your arms, inhale, reaching up, exhale, lift the heel, step it back, downward facing dog.

And let's take our cat-cow vinyasa, so knees down, inhale, spacious heart, breath in, exhale, scoop your tailbone, chin to throat, so finding your center even here. One more inhale, lift through the heart, create some space, exhale, inhale, let's do one more, lifting through the heart, hips to heels, downward facing dog. Spreading through the fingers, inner thighs roll back, really feeling the center line of the body today in this practice, right, finding that home line, that center line. And then when you're ready, on your breath in, lift your heels, look forward, bend your knees, taking two big lunging steps to the top of your mat, halfway lift, inhale, bend your knees, widen your feet, this is ragdoll, it's not like a really wide stance, you can go as wide as your mat, elbows and hands connect, and dingle your head, you can stay here, shake your head out yes, shake it out no, if you like you can even rock side to side, create some space, get that groove going, and then release your arms to center, bend the knees more, and then slowly roll your way up to standing, and you'll step your feet together, hands at the heart, samastitihi, this is chair pose of those same cactus arms, so on your inhale you'll bend your knees, reach your arms up, chair pose, utkatasana, you'll cactus your arms, create some space, inhale, you'll reach through the arms and then we'll forward fold, so as you exhale, peel yourself forward into a fold, inhale halfway lift, again fold in, exhale, chair pose, bend your knees, inhale, sweep the arms up, we're gonna do this again, exhale, cactus your arms, create space in the heart, you got it, inhale, reaching up, exhale, cactus, let's inhale, reach the arms, forward fold, exhale, let it go, inhale, halfway lift, exhale, folding in, again bend your knees, inhale, utkatasana, chair, exhale, cactus your arms, you got it, inhale, reach it up, forward fold, exhale, folding in, beautiful, inhale, halfway lift, bend your knees, take your feet about two fists width apart, padahastasana, you'll slide your hands under the feet, bend the knees as much as you like, fold it in, you can also straighten the legs, if that feels good, couple of breaths, still feeling the inner thighs rolling back, so you're still hugging that midline, two more breaths here, create some space, and then halfway lift on your inhale, gently remove the hands, exhale, bend the knees, and then inhale, roll your way to standing, and then taking a moment once you're standing, hands at the heart, dropping into your breath, if you like close your eyes or gaze towards the floor in front of you, this is a standing quad stretch, you'll take your hands to your hips, right foot is steady, your left elbow will bend, and you'll just lift the left foot, catch the foot or ankle, pulling the foot towards the hip to your degree, maybe the knees touch, option is to reach the right arm up overhead, couple of breaths here, create some space, and then slowly releasing down, if you need, shake it out, left foot down, left hand to the hip, right elbow reaches back, heel to hip, maybe knees touch, and if you like adding in the left arm reaching up, and then gently releasing the foot, hands to the heart, find your center, and then on the next inhale, arms release, sweep it up, inhale, Urdhva Hastasana, swan dive in, forward fold, Uttanasana, gaze towards your shins, inhale, halfway lift, plant your hands, exhale, step back to plank, and then from plank, go ahead, head to downward facing dog, on your next breath in, take your knees to the mat, this is a variation of side plank, so your right hand will be on the mat, your right knee is down, you'll kick down your right toes off the mat, and set your left leg nice and long, you want your left foot in alignment with your right knee, this right arm is nice and strong, claw the mat with that right hand, and as you inhale, take your left arm out, so the option is to stay here of course, this could be where you stay, otherwise we're going to add in that quad stretch, we did standing, so you'll spin your thumb back, you'll lift the left leg, reach behind you, see if you can catch the foot or ankle, and we'll begin just by having that nice sweet quad stretch, if it's too much of a strain to look forward or up, you can look down towards your hand, and then the option here is to add in the bow pull, so you're welcome to start to kick in to that hand, just try to hide the foot behind the hip quite a bit, and you're expanding into the front of the heart, if you like you can gaze down, or out towards the left corner of your mat, gently releasing, take your hand to the mat, knees down, cat cow, so as you inhale lift your heart, exhale, draw the tailbone in, one more inhale, lift the heart, clear any resistance or tension, exhale, scoop your tailbone, inhale find neutral, let's do left side, so you'll kick down left toes off road, you know, left arm is nice and long, you'll shift into that left knee, right leg is nice and steady, you'll stay there or lift your right arm up, if this feels sweet stay here or spin the thumb back, reach behind you, lift the right leg, see if you can catch your right foot, and you can begin here with a really sweet quad stretch, again you can gaze down, option is to begin to kick into that bow, spacious heart, see if you can find your center in the expansion, and then gently releasing, hands down, knees down, again cat cow, inhale, lift through the heart, find the rhythm of your breath, exhale, one more inhale, belly drops, heart lifts, exhale, let's do one more inhale, belly drops, collarbones are wide, hips to heels, and then you'll peel your way into downward facing dog, now on this next breath in, you might step your feet in a little bit closer, you can have your big toes touch, you'll inhale, lift your heels, look forward, exhale, bend your knees, step, jump or hop to the top of your mat, half lift on the breath in, exhale, fold in, on your inhale, bend your knees, chair pose, arms reach up, so coming back to our cactus, exhale, cactus your arms, heart spacious, inhale reaching up through the arms, fold, fold, exhale, peel it forward, inhale, halfway lift, again folding in, exhale, bend your knees, inhale, chair pose, utkatasana, one more, exhale, cactus your arms, you got it, inhale reaching through the heart, exhale, fold it in, inhale, halfway lift, exhale, bow, inhale, chair pose, exhale, standing hands at the heart, this is a sweet time just to bring your feet a bit more hip width distance apart, hands to the heart, you can stay here, eyes open or if you like close your eyes, drop into the breath, feel your roots, now keeping your feet hip width distance apart, we're going to add a standing back bend and so this is really sweet, you'll bring your arms up as you inhale, you'll cactus on your exhale, strong legs really feeling into the feet, as you inhale lift through the heart, as you exhale you'll curl back, lift your sternum up, inhale, exhale curl, stay steady, you can stay here or one more little lift of the heart, inhale, ceiling into the feet, exhale, inhale standing, arms reach, exhale, hands to the heart, let's take a vinyasa, arms release, inhale sweep it up, exhale fold it in, gazing towards shins, inhale, halfway lift, plant your hands, let's step back to plank together, let's take a cow vinyasa together, so knees down, inhale lift your heart, exhale scoop your tailbone, inhale lift the heart, collarbones wide, belly drops, exhale hips to heels, downward facing dog, taking a moment in down dog to really feel the roots of the feet, inner thighs roll back, next breath in, come forward towards a plank pose and if you need to use your knees, use your knees to come all the way down onto your belly and then we'll make a pillow with our hands, forehead on your pillow, release the toes if you like, rock your hips side to side, on your next inhale lifting your chin, so you're going to cactus your right arm to the mat, the right elbow will be down, you want to have your right elbow in alignment with your right shoulder and the right hand right above the right elbow, you'll turn your right cheek or your right ear to the floor, the left hand will be on the mat underneath your left shoulder and then when you're ready you'll start to roll towards your right shoulder, you might lift the left leg, you might set the right temple to the mat and you're breathing, couple of breaths, this is really about the shoulder, less about the back or the depth of the twist, so stay connected to your breath, in that center, inhale through center, nice and slow, switching sides, right hand under right shoulder, you'll cactus your left arm, again left elbow outside of left shoulder, left wrist above, left elbow, left temple to the mat, left ear, right hand under right shoulder, let's go the other way, slowly pressing into the right hand, maybe the right foot lifts, couple of breaths, so the breath connects us to that inner compass, stay connected to your breath, breathing in and out through the nose and then slowly making your way to center, come onto your belly, sinks pose, you'll come onto your forearms and the elbows are right under the shoulders if possible, wrists are in the same line as the elbow, now if this feels too deep for you, you can also walk the hands more forward, so it feels less intense on the low back, so really creating the space that you need and from here there's a sense of pelvis into the mat, low belly in and then sternum forward, we'll spin the right hand in and we'll bend the left knee, we'll take a quad stretch, breathing in and out through the nose, if you like, the fingertips can point forward, the elbow can point back, how do we create space where we need it the most, using the breath and then gently releasing, take that left forearm down, again you can spin that left hand in for stability, you'll bend your right knee, reach back, catch the foot, quad stretch, again I'm still connecting to the breath, so find your breath, pelvis down, heart forward and then gently releasing and then you'll make your way back onto your belly, and this time they'll bring your hands back behind you, your arms are by your sides, you'll bend your knees and see if you can catch the tops of the feet or the ankles, this first round, letting it be the, you know, the first exploration of the space around the heart and so as you next inhale, you'll start to kick in to the bow, lifting through the heart, so see if you can find that inner compass even here, couple of breaths for two, three, and then slowly releasing down, beautiful, forehead on your hands, make your pillow, rock your hips side to side if that feels good and letting the next round, you know, be the exploration of what we learned in the first, so as you bend your knees, you'll reach back, grab the tops of the feet or the ankles, try the ankles this round, you'll flex those ankles if you've got the ankles, so there's dorsiflexion in the feet, and then use your breath, inhale, kick into your bow, dawn your asana, find your bow, breathing in and out through the heart, pelvis down, belly in, heart forward, hands back, take a breath here, inhale, exhale, release it down, pillow, if you like, rock your hips side to side, and then when you're ready, hands under the shoulders, push your knees, we're just gonna sit back, lie down on our backs, so you'll find your way onto your back, feet are hip distance apart, take a moment here, maybe hands to heart, connect to your breath, we're gonna explore together, upward facing bow, so this is where we bring it all together, really find that connection, that midline, that center, and lift up through the heart, so feet are hip distance apart, when you're ready, you can place the hands above the shoulders on the floor, nice and strong in the legs, now as we inhale, we'll lift the hips, we'll pause on the top of the head if you can, set your hands, elbows in, inhale, lifting up into Urdhva, Dhanurasana, couple of breaths, and slowly come down, don't forget to tuck your chin, rest, we're just gonna rest with the knees together, feet wide, pausing here, ah, feel the sweetness of the pose, drop into the breath, you're welcome to pause here, we're gonna take one more together, so really just finding that center line, use your breath, hands set above the shoulders, feet hip with distance, inhale, again if you can, we'll rest on the top of the head, set the hands, elbows in, plug them in, inhale, lifting it up, Urdhva, Dhanurasana, couple of breaths for two, three, slowly coming down, tuck your chin, take your way onto your back, feet together, knees apart, left hand on your heart, right hand on your belly, ah, and just take a moment to pause, drop into your breath, and feeling that sweetness of that connection, and then when you're ready the knees will lift, you'll draw your knees into your chest, happy baby pose, so soles of feet shine to the sky, you can grab inner feet or outer feet dropping through the tailbone, I like to play with extending one leg, bending a knee, extending one leg, bending a knee, and then rolling through the low back to tuck the hips towards the earth, this is a beautiful counter pose to all the backbends and heart opening, and then gently releasing knees to chest, give yourself a hug, keep your right knee in but extend the left leg towards the floor, using your left hand you'll take the right knee towards the left and you can tee out your right arm, look to the right, soften your eyes and your jaw, option here is to add a variation, so you might just lift and shift your hips to the midline if that feels better, one option is to bend the bottom knee, use your right hand to catch that bottom foot, you can also extend the right leg towards the floor, that feels good, you can hold a shin or thigh, gently releasing the bottom foot if you have that variation, and slowly inhaling through center and we'll switch sides, so you can lift and shift your hips if you like and extend the right leg, draw the left knee in, right hand to left knee, you'll bring it across towards the right, again you can adjust that bottom thigh and you're welcome to stay here, extending the left arm out, again you might bend the bottom knee, catch that foot, if that feels good, again you can extend through the left leg, holding the calf if you like with that right arm, couple of breaths, stay connected to your inhale and your exhale, and gently releasing the bottom foot, if you have that grip, gently coming here to center here, plant your feet, lift and shift your hips, and we'll set up for our Shavasana, so I like to extend my legs out and cup my head and my hands, and rock my head out side to side, try that if that feels good for your neck, and then gently release the head down, arms are wide, you might lift the chest to adjust the shoulders and then making your way onto your back for Shavasana, take a deep breath inhale, big ah as you exhale, maybe closing the eyes and finding your center as you allow yourself to rest deeply. Alright, now we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, we're going to do our Shavasana, your inhale and your exhale, you might place the left hand on the heart, your right hand on the belly, just take a moment just to feel your breath moving through you, keeping this connection to your breath, gently bend your knees, place your feet on the mat, using your intuition choosing a side to roll to as you push your way up to your seat, gently push your way up, you'll find your seat, hands can find their way back on the heart, if you like close the eyes, just taking a moment to feel into the center of your being, your inner compass, thank you so much for sharing your practice today, namaste.