Find Your Rhythm

Welcome to your practice and today's practice will be exploring finding your unique rhythm. So let's begin standing at the front of the mat. You'll bring your feet together, a little space between the heels. If you like mountain pose instead, that's great. This is called a Viramudra or Jupyramudra, so as you inhale, you'll bring your arms up and overhead, we'll interlace the hands together, the pointer fingers still point up, the right thumb is on top and you'll straighten the arms and as you inhale, you'll lift up through the heart.

As you exhale, you'll lean to the right, little standing crescent, low belly in, inhale, come up, exhale, let's go to the left, couple of breaths, finding the rhythm of your inhale and your exhale. One more, inhale, come to center, exhale, over to the right, nice and long through the side of the body, use the breath, inhale, exhale, go to the left, inhale, coming up. As you exhale, release the arms, we'll swan dive in, forward fold, Uttanasana and gaze toward your shins and as you inhale, find your halfway lift position, exhale, plant the hands, let's step back to plank for this first vinyasa, so you'll inhale, take a deep breath, exhale, Chaturanga or to the floor, inhale, up dog or cobra, lifting up through the heart, exhale, downward facing dog, lengthening through the arms, find the rhythm of your breath, inhale, take your right leg high, exhale, step your foot between your hands, warrior two, back foot spins to ground, Virat two, inhale, coming up, Viravandrasana, exhale, take your low belly in, you're going to drape the left arm behind you, you'll inhale, reverse your warrior and as you exhale, you'll take your hands to the floor, when you go back to three-legged dog, lift your back heel, three-legged dog right leg high, exhale, foot to the mat, inhale, plank, rolling through the spine, nice and strong and long, exhale, Chaturanga, use your breath rhythm, inhale, lift through the heart, exhale, downward facing dog, inhale, taking your left leg high, exhale, step it through, warrior two, back foot spins to ground, inhale, rising up, Virat two, exhale, again you'll take that back arm draping it towards the waist, reverse warrior, inhale, exhale, hands to the mat, three-legged dog, the flag sweeps high, inhale, exhale, foot to mat, downward facing dog, you can stay here or Vinyasa, inhale, plank, exhale, Chaturanga, inhale, upward facing dog, exhale, downward facing dog, couple of breaths here, extending through the arms, find the rhythm of your breath and then on the next inhale, lift your heels, look forward, exhale, bend your knees, step or hop to the top, halfway lift, exhale, fold, so here we're in Uttanasana, so take a moment, if you need to bend your knees, bend your knees, you're welcome to keep the knees bent, you can have the hands on the floor or fingertips down, then we'll fold into our degree, inner thighs roll back, couple of breaths, and then you'll bend your knees, release the arms and slowly roll your weight like a rag doll, up to standing, beautiful and then you'll bring your hands to the heart, let's step our feet wide, temple pose, so you'll bring your feet about hip width distance apart and you'll turn your toes out, your heels in and then we'll bend our knees for temple and just take a moment to arrive, dropping through your tailbone, you'll take your right elbow to your right thigh, as you inhale you'll reach the left arm up, stretching through the side of your waist, bring that arm forward and through as you exhale, left forearm to left thigh, inhale, right arm reaches, exhale, bring it through, side to side we go, inhale, use the rhythm of your breath, exhale, find your rhythm, inhale, exhale, one more each side, inhale, exhale, last one right arm inhale, exhale, bring it through, now inhale, coming up to temple, right arm under, eagle arms, can hold shoulders if you need that instead, otherwise right elbow under left, eagle arms, sitting in, couple of breaths, elbows off the chest if you can, studying the legs, inhale releasing the arms, left arm under right, elbows off the chest, hands away from face, you got it, couple of breaths, inhale, straighten your legs, releasing the arms, turn your feet, up to the top of your mat, releasing the arms, inhale, sweep your arms up, standing crescent, so once again, this time you'll inhale, reach, as you lean to the right, you're welcome to bend the right knee to get even more depth into that left side of the waist, inhale, come up, and then leaning up and over to the left, and again if you like bend the left knee so you can get into the right side of the waist, let's do again each side, inhale lifting up, going to the right, again maybe you bend your right knee, find your breath rhythm, let that hold you steady, inhale come up, exhale up and over, inhale rise, forward fold, let it go, exhale, nice work, inhale halfway lift, so this is our vinyasa, you're welcome to plant your hands, step to plank or take a vinyasa, you can float to chaturanga, you're welcome to do that, always we'll step plank pose, inhale chaturanga, exhale, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog, inhale taking your right leg high, exhale step your foot through, set it up for warrior two, inhale coming up, virabhadrasana two, exhale, tone the low belly in, flip the front arm, reverse warrior backhand drapes, so that's your inhale, exhale hands to the mat, three-legged dog like we did before, inhale right leg high, exhale foot to mat, so this is side plank, we're going to go towards the right hand, outer edge of right foot, you can modify by taking a knee, otherwise your stacking feet lifting the left arm and then from here you'll turn your palm towards the top edge of your mat, take your arm towards your ear, side body stretch, you got it, inhale lift your arm, exhale hand to the mat, downward facing dog, nice work, stay here if you like, join me for the vinyasa, inhale to plank, exhale chaturanga, inhale upward facing, exhale downward facing dog, inhale left leg sweeps, second side exhale step it through, find your rhythm back foot down, inhale warrior two rising up, exhale tone the belly in, flip the front arm, reverse the warrior inhale back arm drapes, exhale hands to the mat, three-legged dog, left leg sweeps high, exhale foot to mat, inhale left hand, raise your edge left foot, plank pose to side plank, so right arm reaches, maybe palm towards front of your mat now, arm to ear and inside body long, couple of breaths, again modify if you need to, arm to sky, looking down, hand to floor, toes to floor, downward facing dog, you're welcome to pause or join us, inhale plank, exhale chaturanga, inhale upward facing, exhale downward facing dog, one more round as you inhale right leg reaches high, one breath per movement if you can, exhale step your foot between your hands, spin the back foot down, inhale warrior two, pause, exhale low belly tones, flip the front arm, reverse warrior, inhale spacious heart, hands to the mat, exhale back to three-legged dog, right leg hovers to the sky, exhale foot to mat, right side plank, right hand raise your edge right foot, again modify if you did before, inhale arm up, turn the palm, exhale side body long, inhale create space, exhale look down, hands down, downward facing dog, nice work, stay here, pause or join us, plank pose, inhale chaturanga, take your vinyasa, again you're finding your rhythm as we flow together, find your rhythm, inhale left leg high when you're ready, exhale step through, back foot grounds, inhale virabhadrasana two, exhale tone the belly in, drape the hand, flip the front arm open, reverse inhale, let it flow, exhale hands to the mat, three-legged dog, inhale left leg high, exhale foot to mat, inhale plank, let's go to left hand, raise your edge left foot, again right arm can reach, option palm, arm to ear for two, palm three, arm to sky, gaze down, hand to mat, toes down, downward facing dog, nice work, you can stay here or inhale through a vinyasa, plank, exhale chaturanga, inhale up, exhale downward facing dog, and then together we'll spinal wave to plank, so inhale ripple through the spine, find plank, exhale you'll lower all the way down onto the mat, keeping your hands under your shoulders, forehead down, legs are long, if you like take your feet corner to corner, this is cobra, as you next inhale you'll slowly push into your hands, lift through the heart, so first using the strength of the back to do the lifting, and then when you're ready starting to push into the hands lifting up through the heart inhale, and then as you exhale you'll lower and wave yourself down, we'll do two more like that, as you inhale using the strength of the back find the rhythm of your breath, so as you get to the peak of your inhale you'll come to the peak of your pose, and then as you exhale you'll lower down and pause, last one, spinal wave, inhale and this time we'll stay here for about five breaths, elbows are wrapping, tailbone's long, heart's lifting, use your breath, I like to really think about thighs down, belly in, sternum forward, elbows wrapping, maybe you walk those hands in a tad, one more breath here, inhale, exhale, lowering down, nice work, hands under your shoulders, we're going to push back to child's pose, so come onto your knees, you can have your knees together or knees apart, arms out in front, taking a couple of breaths to the back of your heart, and again return to your rhythm, the rhythm of your inhale, your unique inner rhythm, and we're going to take our child's pose for a walk, so it's called wandering child, you're going to walk your hands towards the right, one o'clock on the clock, if you can you'll place the left hand on top of the right, keeping the hips tacking towards the earth, stretching through the left side of the body, trying not to have the armpit coming up and out, but instead rolling that tricep down, a couple of breaths, energetically rooting the left hip, even if it's not to the floor or hips, and then walk through center, so maybe like 11 o'clock, and then the right hands on top, and again we're spinning that tricep down and folding in, couple of breaths, keep the rhythm of your breath going, and then inhale to center, and then walk yourself up to sit on your shins, beautiful, and from here it's downward facing dog, hands can plant, you'll tuck your toes, downward facing dog, on your next inhale you'll simply step your right foot forward, so stepping the right foot between your hands for low lunge, your back knee will release, and you can untuck the toes, and then as you inhale the arms reach to the sky, as you exhale you'll take the left arm under the right for eagle arms, again option is to hold shoulders, inhale curling back, exhale releasing, beautiful, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee, downward facing dog, next breath in left foot, big lunging step forward, back knee to the mat, untuck your toes, find the rhythm of your breath, inhale arms reach to the sky, right arm underneath left eagle arms, inhaling so finding that stability in the hands, hands together sinking hips, lifting up through the heart to your degree, right, allowing the heart to curl back, take a breath in, exhale slowly release, hands to the floor, downward facing dog, step back, nice work, and then the knees will land on the mat, and go ahead and grab your block, so we're going to use our block between the ankles, and so you have the block between the ankles and heels, and then you'll sit down on your block, and just taking a moment to arrive, so just all the side body length that we have done in our practice today, really focusing on the sides of the body and the rhythm of your breath as we move our way through camel pose together, so on your next inhale go ahead make your way onto your shins, you'll take your hands to your hips, and you can even look back at your feet making sure the tops of the feet are down, you're hugging the block firmly with the ankles, and as you take a breath in, take the elbows back, lift up through the sides of your waist, if it's helpful you can even use your hands on the sides of your ribs, so you can lift up on your breath in, get long in the sides of the waist, as you exhale you can curl back, and we're going to gaze to our sternum, you don't even have to go very far, just to get that sense of spaciousness, find your rhythm, your unique inner rhythm, and then as you exhale, tone your belly, inhale come up, and we'll sit down, and just pause seated, if you like gaze forward, come back to your breath, we're going to come into two more camels like that, and so align the sides of the waist to carry the breath, to move the prana, inhale go ahead, come onto your shins, hands can go to the waist, elbows point back, inhale you'll lift through the heart, again sides of the body long, as you exhale you'll curl back, so we'll stage it in together, inhale lift your heart, exhale curl, squeeze your block, now this might be as far as you go, if you feel like you can release one hand to a heel, or a shin, or the block, you're welcome to, and then maybe just gazing up for two, three, and slowly allow the arms to dangle, as you inhale and rise, and you'll sit down, and pause, yes, find your inner rhythm of your breath, just come back to that center, let's do one more, you got it, hands to hips, elbows back, again the breath gets carried through the space that we create, right, so inhale, exhale, inhale lift the heart, exhale curling back, and then as you squeeze the ankles into the block, take your shins into the mat, lift the sternum up, maybe even shift the thighs slightly more forward, maybe from there the hands find the heels, curling through, maybe gaze up too, maybe it's soul to soul, hand and seat meet, and slowly rising up, nice work, and then you'll sit on your block, and take a deep breath, inhale, exhale, shoulder blades are down the back, next breath in, you'll lengthen through the heart, simple twist, you'll just twist towards your left right hand to left thigh, maybe gazing towards left shoulder, very gentle, but still in the rhythm of your breath, inhale through center, exhale twisting towards the right, so keeping your unique rhythm going with your breath, take one more breath here, inhale to center, and we'll come on to our shins, you can remove your block, set that to the side, and we'll set up for a wide-legged forward fold, and so you'll bring your legs wide like a V, and if you find you need support on your hips here, you're welcome to find that, as you inhale, you'll reach the left arm up and we'll lean towards the right leg as you exhale, a couple of breaths, you can use your forearm on the floor for support, if it feels available to you, you can take that right hand to the left thigh, exhale belly to spine, arm to sky, inhale slowly coming up, stay with the rhythm of your breath, inhale right arm up, exhale lean towards the left, again you can even have the forearm on the thigh or forearm to the floor if it feels available, again you can take that left hand towards the right leg, breathe, getting into the side of the waist, as you exhale draw the belly back, arm to sky, inhale rise, and so we'll walk forward to our degree, so this might be your edge right now and it's a beautiful place to stay, so you'll just find your way in to your edge today, your whatever that looks like, right, so staying with the breath and so allowing our inner rhythm to guide us in, soft eyes, soft jaw, length through the spine, stay committed to your breath, right, so that's our our commitment here is our our inner rhythm, our unique rhythm, that commitment to staying with the inhale and the exhale, and then as you breathe here stay with a sense of length in the spine, and then we'll slowly together walk our way up, and you'll take your hands underneath your knees and bring your legs together, and you'll grab your bolster, so this is a pose where we lie on our backs with the bolster under the heart, it's called supta vada kanasana, so you want your bolster lengthwise, and you're going to sit with your hips right against it, you'll bring your feet together, your knees apart, and then as you're ready begin to lie down on your back, your head can release down, your arms can be by your sides, and adjust yourself as you need to adjust yourself, so making sure you're comfortable, this is a letting go, so staying with your breath and allowing yourself to let go into the support beneath you, can you let go of one more layer and then cover more of your unique you, and see if you can drop any tension in the belly or the shoulders, see if you can keep that sense of space in the sides of your waist, and you're welcome to stay here with the knees bent in the supta vada kanasana for shavasana, or you're welcome to extend the legs, and so you might extend your legs out, and allow yourself to let go here for shavasana, closing the eyes, letting everything go, and the next few breaths, bringing your awareness from the center towards the surface of your being, maybe stretching out the arms and the legs, and maybe pull the hands in a bit closer and bend the knees and walk the feet in, and you can roll to one side as you push your way and join me in a seat, you're welcome to use that same bolster to sit on, and once you find your seat, well return to that same mudra, so jupiter or viramudra, interlacing the hands together, point your fingers together, right thumb on top, you'll hold the mudra in front of the heart, and you can gaze down the mudra for a moment, and it's focused in tension, so focusing the energy of the body, mind, spirit, and then taking a moment, maybe closing the eyes and coming back home to your heart, and then the hands can return to anjali mudra, thank you so much for sharing your practice today, namaste.