Surrender Flow

Hi and welcome back. I'm so excited to share today's flow with you. We're going to be opening our hips and our heart and working on surrendering. So letting go of attachment to outcome and just resting in our essential nature. It's an effortless thing. You'll get it as we go along. Let's get started. So you'll go ahead and come onto your back. We'll move through some bridge lifts here. The palms will face up for this variation. So as you exhale, flatten your back into the mat, squeeze your glutes and lift the hips into a shallow bridge. Inhale to lower down. Exhale, press, squeeze, lift. Inhale to lower down. Exhale, press, squeeze, lift. Pause. Not your breath though. Keep breathing. If you'd like to, you could lift your hips a little bit higher and begin to move the shoulders together underneath you. Still keeping the palms face up. Really feeling this action of your upper arms rolling out. Upper arms rolling out. From here, keeping the upper arms out, you might turn your lower arms in and interlace your fingers. Then lifting the tailbone towards the backs of the knees, keeping the front and the back of the neck long. Take a breath, drive down into your heels. Let's open the arms up and slowly roll on out. Drying the knees into the chest. Get a little rock up and down. And in this next rock, we're going to roll, rock and roll all the way up to standing fold or Uttanasana. Let's take a few big breaths here. Here's an opportunity to let go of any effort that you're making. Resting in that essential effortless nature. Release any attachment to how the pose looks like and feel the pose from the inside out. And on this next breath in, you'll come all the way up into Uttanasana or chair pose. You can bring your big toes a little closer together. Knees bend. Inhale, arms up. And as you exhale, press through those heels and straighten the legs. Inhale, reaching the hands high. Exhaling, hands back and down. Bring the heels of the hands to the sacrum. So here, we'll practice this. Upper arm turning out, lower arm turning in shape. Come into a comfortable Tadasana where you feel stable in your feet. You can press the heels of the hands into the sacrum. Begin to lift the heart up and back. Upper arms turning out, lower arms turning in. Nice inhale. Big exhale. Inhale into the middle. Integrating into Tadasana. And let's take a Vinyasa. Inhale, raise the arms. Exhale to fold.

Halfway up, breathe in. Hands to the mat, step back. We'll take Ashtang Pranam or knees, chest, chin. So knees to the mat. Bending the elbows, slide the chest and chin. Along the mat, you'll straighten out your legs like a little insworm. And inhale, press yourself up into a big cobra. Exhale all the way back and into Downward Facing Dog. Take a moment to come into Down Dog, this first one of your practice. And as you next inhale, lift your right leg up, rolling the right thigh in and up for a single-legged Down Dog. Stay there as you exhale. And then we'll inhale all the way into Lunge. Dropping the knee on the mat and raising the arms overhead. Exhale, take the hands back and down. Interlace them behind you. So it's like your knuckles and your tailbone are in anchor and they're anchoring you down. And as you breathe in, your heart's lifting up. You'll exhale back a bit. I like to keep the back toes tucked and pull my front knee forward and my left knee forward and my right foot back. It's to feel really structured in the hips. Inhale up and out. Connecting with your core, you'll straighten the right leg. Exhale into Arda. Honeymanasana, our half splits here. The arms overhead. Stay low to the ground. Inhale both hands to the mat. Come back to Lunge. And then you'll reach for your left foot with your right hand. Catching a hold of that foot. Pull out of it a little bit. Square your hips off. Lift your heart. Inhale. Exhale, come forward. Let's take one more big breath and release. Back toes stuck. We're going to inhale all the way up into Warrior II. So you'll flatten that left foot. Inhale, left arm, arms up and around. Exhale into the posture. Inhale, straighten the front leg. Arms up. Exhale back to Virat II. Warrior II. One more. And exhale. And on this breath in, you'll straighten your leg. Turn your toes this away so the feet are parallel. And then spin your heels in. On your breath out, you'll bring your hands back and down and onto your hips. Coming back into the same shape we've been practicing. Upper arms spinning out. Lower arms turning in. Really squeeze the backs of your legs and the outer edges of your feet. Push the tailbone in. Lift the heart up. Lean back. One more breath in and out. Inhaling center. Spin your left heel back. Turn your right toes forward. Come into Triangle Pose. So right arm will reach forward. You can rest your right hand on your shin or foot it off the leg. Left arm comes up. Really splitting the mat apart with the feet. Try lifting your toes off the mat to really connect with the strength, the structure of the legs. Release any grip. Let the pose come from the inside out. Hmm. One more big breath here. And as you exhale, bring the left hand to the mat.

Spin into Lunge. Tuck the back toes. Inhale. Look up and forward. Right foot meets the left. Exhale. Chaturanga. Up dog on the breath in and down dog on the breath out. Left leg comes up. Let's keep it up for a moment. Really working that internal rotation. So you're rolling your inner left thigh up and back. And on this breath in, come into Lunge. Drop the right knee to the mat. Next inhale. Arms lifted. Exhale. Press the hands back and down. Interlace the fingers. Other thumb on top. Anchoring through the knuckles and the tailbone like it's like it's really heavy and grounding. Your heart lifting up and exhaling back. And keep pulling your right knee forward and your left foot back. Let's inhale up. Exhale. Straighten the left leg. Drawing the knuckles overhead. You have to connect with your core for stability. One more breath. On this inhale, both hands to the mat. Slide into Lunge. And exhale to reach for your right foot with your left hand. Pulling out of it slightly. Square off the hips. Align the spine. Breathe in. And exhale. Come forward. Just another big breath. Let's release that right foot.

We're going to come all the way into warrior two. So you'll tuck your back toes. Spin the right foot flat. And as you inhale, arc your right arm up. Exhale. Warrior two. Two breaths. Straighten the front leg. Arms lifted. Inhale. Back to warrior two. Inhale. Straighten the leg. Arms up. Exhale. Warrior two. Inhale. Straighten the leg. Turn your left toes. Bring the hands back and down as you exhale. Heels of the hands on the hips. Fingers wrapping around like little wings here. Heels turn in. Press into the outer edges of the feet. Tailbone down. Skin in the pubic plate up. Heart lifting up and back. Bringing your forearms together like a palm tree. Like a really nice, strong, stable foundation. And your fingers opening up like palm fronds. Inhale. Center. Turn the right toes forward. The left toes forward. Begin to come into triangle. Left hand can float or rest. Right arm coming up. A few breaths here. Try lifting the toes off the mat on the front and back foot. Eyes can be up or down. This is your last one. And let's exhale. Bring the hand to the mat.

Spinning into lunge. Tuck those back toes. Inhale. Look up and forward. Exhale. Vinyasa. Left foot meets the right. Chaturanga. Up dog. Inhale. And down dog. Exhale. Drop to your knees. Take a big breath in. And exhale into child's pose. From this child's pose, on your next inhale, you'll roll yourself up so you're standing on your knees. That's nice to tuck the toes here. Bring your hands to your heart and then one hand to the tailbone to the sacrum. And see that you elongate the tailbone. That you bring it down towards the backs of the knees. And as you do that, you begin to lift your heart up. So this action that we're looking for in our camel pose and some other bigger poses we're working into. Keeping the low back long. You can bring your other hand to meet this hand here on the hips. Squeezing the elbows and the shoulders together. Remember the upper arms are turning out and possibly you curl your fingers around the sides of your hips. Keep drawing the shoulders and elbows together, elongating the tailbone.

Lifting the heart up. And as you exhale begin to come back. And you're welcome to stay right here. Or you can come out of it and reach one hand for your heel. Setting the posture up. And then the other one. And now it's on you to use those actions. So the tailbone towards the backs of the knees, the heart lifting. Squeezing the ribs and the hips together. Upper arms turn out and lower arms turn in. And keep the front and the back of the neck long. Ustrasana, camel. Let's breathe into it. For three breaths here. Release the effort. Let the pose come from the inside out. Heart opening posture is the energetic alignment of them is this surrender, the softening. And as you breathe in next, draw the middle glute in, lifting up nice and strong. Integrate for a moment on the knees.

Let's come all the way into down dog. So we'll bring the hands to the mat. A nice warm down from back bending is a wide legged, wide-handed bent knee down dog. You can take a few breaths right here. Maybe an open mouth exhale. Connecting with that muscular effort, the outer layers of the body, squeezing onto the bones. And then allowing the inner alignment, the softening in the heart that's surrender, the pose coming from the inside out. This will be your last breath. Stepping your feet back into a regular down dog alignment. And as you breathe in, lifting your right leg up and stepping right into a lunge. Keep your hands on the mat and drop your left knee. You'll take a nice breath here. And then we're gonna set up for our Triang Mukha, Ekupada Pachimottanasana. Possibly the longest Sanskrit pose name. I invite you to grab your block. You may want to use it. So your left hand is gonna reach back for that place right at the back of the knee. And you'll scrub, untuck your toes, and begin to scrub the calf flesh to the side and back as you sit your hips on the inside of your left heel. Now you may realize this is not for me today. In which case, you have a block and it's got three heights. So you could have it on that medium or even tall or low height and come right back into the pose. For me today, I'm going to take the block out. So just remember to really choke the back of the knee, making lots of space, scrubbing the calf flesh to the side and back and setting on down. It may be enough to stay upright, like so. Or on or off the block, you can begin to walk your hands back. Now remember this action of the tailbone lifting up towards the backs of the knees. So we want to create that shape here. Otherwise, the low back, it's a little, a little traffic jam in it. Tailbone lifting up to the backs of the knees, settling into this reclined triangmukha three-face single-legged forward fold. The faces are one, two, and three. Possibly coming all the way down. So if you're not on a block, you can come all the way down. All right. Let's begin our return journey, coming up to your hands. Fingers can turn in towards the hips for this one. And as you next breathe in, you'll lift your hips up, really bringing the tailbone towards the foot, heart opening. Exhale, come down, and then roll all the way up and out. Really tuck the left toes and straighten that left leg. I know it feels like the last thing that you want to do in this moment. It's actually what your knee's asking for. Nice breath. And then we'll step that right foot back to the left, coming into down dog. If you'd like to join me in a vinyasa, you're welcome to. Chaturanga, inhaling into up dog, and back. Big exhale, down dog. Let's bring that left leg up, taking a breath in, and step the left foot between the hands. Drop your right knee, inhale, and then we'll begin to come back into our triangmukha, our reclined triangmukha. So the right hand reaches back, really get into the back of the knee, untuck your toes, and starting to choke, that's what my teacher says, choke the back of the knee, and scrub the calf flesh to the side and back as you settle on down. Remember you can sit on a block, and that that right heel is on the outside of your hip. It may be enough to stay upright, or you can begin to bring your hands back, continuing to lift the tailbone and elongate it so the low back stays really long, possibly coming to the forearms, possibly laying all the way down. Any arm variation, it's nice to clasp the elbows, if that feels good for you.

These kinds of poses are a good place to practice that idea of surrender. You have to surrender to the needs of the body on any given day. Today may not be like yesterday, and that's okay. Let's go ahead and begin to come up, pressing yourself up, coming up to the hands, fingers turning into the hips. As you inhale, lift your hips up, really work the tailbone towards the heel, lift the heart, upper arms out, lower arms in, and release, and then we'll roll all the way into lunge, tuck the right toes, really work the back of the right knee. One more big breath in, you can step right back into down dog, or you can join me in a vinyasa. Inhaling into up dog, exhaling back into down dog, and from here slowly walk your hands to your feet. So any time we're moving our hands or feet around on the mat, we're working the core, really engaging the abdominals, lifting them up into the heart, coming all the way into uttanasana, or standing fold at the back of the mat. On your breath in, bend your knees and do a nice slow roll all the way up to standing, like sailing into tadasana. As you inhale, you'll reach your arms up over your head, bring the palms down to your heart. For pranamudra, on your breath widen your palms as big as your inhale, exhaling bringing the palms together. Close your eyes for the next few, inhaling to open the hands, exhaling to bring the hands together. It's an opportunity for you to let breath lead movement, not movement leading breath, and connect with that softness, that surrender, that is your breath. Maybe you feel like a little sticky pull in between the palms of your hands, that's what we call prana or chi, your own complex life force. Just one more. Breathe in, exhale your hands together and open your eyes, press your palms down, inhaling up, and as you exhale fold forward. And we'll slowly walk those hands back out, so here's a little bit more core going on, nice and slow. Try to keep your hips and legs still. Go ahead and drop to your knees, take a nice breath in, and as you exhale we'll sit our hips back on our heels and set up for full virasana or hero pose. So it's like the other one, except you do both sides at the same time. Fingers going into the backs of the knees, I think it's helpful to bring the head down, really choking the backs of the knees and scrubbing the calf flesh to the side and out. So you'll end up with your hips on the inside of your heels. Again you might say, no this is not happening today, in which case the block is your friend. You would place it underneath you and come right back into the pose and you're so welcome to just skip this if it's not working for you today, of course. So here we are, perhaps it's enough to sit like so, ribs in, nice long spine, feeling this big internal rotation in the hips, big flexion in the knee. If you feel like your body can take a little bit more, you're interested in exploring a little more, you would bring your hands back and lift the hips up and elongate the tailbone. So if you're on your block, I would go just about this far. If you're not on the block, then you may explore a supta virasana. So then we'll lower it down just like we did on the single legged variation and possibly coming all the way down, really feeling that as is the top of the hips and the bottom of the rib cage closing, tailbone elongating. It's nice to take an arm variation here, also spreading the toes on the mat, reaching through the inner and outer knee. Let's take two big breaths. It's a very powerful hip opener, as you're probably experiencing in this moment. So soften into sensation, try to connect with it rather than resist or reject what you're experiencing. All right, beginning our return journey, I find it helpful to use the elbows to come up and then the hands and we'll roll all the way into down dog and actually really bring the back of the legs into a straight position. For a big breath, pressing the backs of the knees to the back wall. Last one. From here, go ahead and come all the way onto your tush. You can step or hop or crawl to get there and roll onto your back. Next breath brings your hips up into satubhandha, bridge pose. Remember the upper arms are out, the lower arms turn in and the fingers interlace and it may be good enough, right? So we're thinking about what's the kindness, the most soft thing we can do for the body today to stay here. Sometimes the kind thing is to give the body a little bit more. So then you might lift your left leg up and really recross your fingers and you might lift your right leg up, the knee comes into the chest, you reach up, really reaching through the inner heel skin, drawing the outer edge of the foot down and back and release. Opening the arms down, open, roll on down and take a moment to rest. Our next pose is called Viparita Karani. You can practice it on a block or without a block and I'll show you both versions. So we'll do the block one first, let's grab it. I think the medium height is a good one. It's gonna go under the sacrum but a little bit closer to the lumbar than the tailbone side. Really lifting the heart up here, so elbows draw down, the shoulders rolling down, the upper arms turning out, then the knees come in one at a time, the legs lift. Maintain, preserve this openness in the chest and bring your arms into a box angle. In this variation you're drawing the outer edges of the feet down into the hips and lifting up through the inner arches. Keep reaching the pubic bone forward, lifting the chest up, bringing the chin in but the front and the back of the neck are long. It might be nice just to stay here or we can try our full variation. So you'd bring your feet down if you're coming with me and you would take the block out and then this one requires a little bit more abdominal strength. So it starts very similar, the shoulders begin to walk in, my upper arms are already out, but then there's a big bridge, a big satubanda and the hands come on to the sacrum. So the heels of the hands are on the sacrum with the fingers reaching around the sides, the shape that we've been doing in a couple different ways today. Maybe you stop right here or you can try bringing a leg in, you could do a single legged version, you might feel adventurous and connect with your abdominals, bring the right leg in or whichever one you don't have yet and straighten the legs.

And breathe. For three, and two. And slowly release, one leg at a time, slowly rolling down. If you're on the block, remove the block, come on to your back. We'll all take the feet about mat's width, toe in, let the knees roll into touch, then bring the backs of the hands together and make a couple circles through the back of the hand and then across the front of the wrist, releasing any congestion in the wrist and circling the other way. Let's take a moment in final relaxation or Shavasana, you can rest one hand on the belly, one hand on the heart, possibly straightening your legs if that feels good or keeping your knees bent. Let your breath be soft and easy. From here, take a big breath, reaching your arms over your head just like you're waking up, reach through the whole body, pulling the knees in and rolling yourself up to seated. For a couple moments of seated meditation, sit comfortably. I'm going to choose my block today and I'm going to sit in some internal rotation like we practiced, but I invite you to sit whatever is the most comfortable way for you. Close your eyes. You can notice the effects of the practice on your body, how it was to bump up against your edges.

Becoming aware of the presence, the spaciousness that maybe you catch a glimpse of when you settle down on the mat. We can find that spaciousness in the space between the thoughts and the silence between the sounds and our center point, the point from which all thinking begins and ends. I invite you to release all the effort that you're making. There's an interesting balance in meditation. It's effortless effort, too much effort. We become hardened, gripped, and attached to the outcome. Not enough effort and we feel sleepy and perhaps fall asleep. So releasing the effort and resting in your effortless presence. It takes effort to be something we're not and that's okay. We need that to transact society, but it's absolutely effortless. It takes no effort at all to be you, to be your essential nature. Surrender into that. You can notice where your mind is headed, how the physical body is present, and where's the mind. Bringing your mind back to the center point and releasing all effort. It's like the feeling of a whole body exhale. I used to get frustrated when I was meditating because I was always getting lost in thought and then I realized that every time I caught myself, I often thought it was an opportunity to come back to that which I am and you are that too. That spaciousness, the point from which all thinking takes place. So coming back to your center without any judgment or frustration, release all effort and begin again. I'm gonna let you be quiet for a few moments and look into the black screen of your mind. Looking into the space between the thoughts, resting in that which you are. Not that what you do or wish to be, but that which you are. Your essential, thoughtless awareness and pure being. You for our last few moments together, bring one hand to the belly and one to your heart. Breathing into the belly first, crawling the rest up the ribs into the chest, exhaling completely. Just like you practiced on the mat, allow yourself to come from the inside out. We spend so much time worrying about our self from the outside in, but can you actually be you with a capital Y from the inside out that self? Remember it takes no effort at all. You already are it.

Bringing your palms to touch at your heart, lifting the heart, lowering the tension, honoring that self, the presence that you meet on the mat. Slowly opening your eyes, hold your gaze in one spot, cultivating the pause between our inner world and how we react and our outer world and how we react. And when you feel ready and moving into the rest of your day from this place, thank you for sharing your practice. Such an honor.