Heat it Up

Hi everybody, happy Thursday. Welcome to my little abode in Chicago. We're having a perfect day out here. I hope wherever you're watching this and whenever you're watching this, you're enjoying the last bit of your summer. Welcome to Joyful Flow.

I'm excited to be here with you today. Today we are heating it up. So if you happen to be in a heatwave somewhere, you'll have options to cool it down as well. Just be mindful of the temperature that you're experiencing right now. We're going to start today lying on the back.

So that's the good news. When you're ready, you can get comfortable, roll out your mat, swing the legs around, lie on your back. You can keep the knees bent just for a moment as you melt into the floor, let the palms turn up, ground your feet into the floor. Enjoy the rise and fall of your breath. It's going to be a fun flow today.

I'm even wearing my little kind of army camo gear so I can be the boot camp director today. All right, so go ahead and bring your attention to the rise and the fall of your breath. Allow the inhalations to help bring you very present, make you, to bring yourself really present in this moment that unfolds before you. Enjoy the pauses after the inhale, the stillness, the exhales, helping you to move tension out of the body through the breath. And then that short pause before you start all over again, four-part breath, lengthen it out, stretch it out like you're going to stretch the body.

Cleansing and purifying your mind with the next inhale as you breathe in through the nose and passes the mind's eye. Enjoying the stillness in the heart center, letting go of tension with the exhale, move it out of the body through the breath. Short pause, one more round, just like that, really getting centered and grounded for your practice today. And carve out this time for yourself on the mat. Good.

On your next inhale, extend the arms over the head, straighten the legs one at a time, point the toes and you'll feel a little lift of the lower back off the floor, a little slight curvature of the lumbar spine. And then as you exhale, draw the knees into the chest, slowly lift the head and shoulders off the floor. Give yourself a nice big hug, it's almost the weekend. Inhale, extend the arms over the head, point the toes, feel the curvature of the lower back, lifting the ribs to the sky, exhale. Once again, draw the knees into the chest, lift the head and shoulders off the floor.

Two more rounds, just like that. Pulse with your breath, the breath will be your guide today. These are just movements and shapes created by breath, exhale, hug it in, perfect. One more round, inhale the arms over the head, lengthen, extend, and then exhale, hug the knees into the chest. You can keep your head on the floor for this one, just let yourself rock from side to side, a little massage, draw the muscles along the spine.

Go ahead and keep the right knee hugging into the chest. Keep the left leg bent, lower the left foot to the floor and give yourself a couple of circles at the right ankle, the right shin. Working with some standing balances today, so we'll get really ready from the ground up, circle the ankle of the foot the other way. Place your right ankle on top of your left thigh, easy figure four. Take a little journey with your left foot off your mat to the left, so slowly walk it off the mat to your left.

Home is facing up, see the arms or practice feel the arms. Let the knees drop to the right and bring it back to center. Let the knees drop to the right and bring it back to center, you'll feel a nice massaging action on your outer glute on the right side and a nice release for the lower back on the left side. Give yourself two more rounds just like that, I know we're going to heat it up, we're starting nice and slow but the heat's coming. The next time you drop your knees to the right, go ahead and stay right here.

If this is too intense for you, just slide your right foot under the knee, keep the knees pointing in the same direction, we're going to add a little core pulse to this, heating up some of the major muscle groups today, quads, glutes, core, fingertips slightly placed behind the head, elbows wide, keep the elbows drawing towards the floor as you lift the head and shoulders off the floor. So don't bring the elbows together, keep them nice and wide and then lower back down. Exhale lift, inhale lower back down. Keep pulsing with the breath, focusing on the obliques, the muscles, the side muscles of your core, the muscles where you eat a couple of cookies, they always show up right there. Well after you do this, you can eat a couple of cookies.

Let's take a couple more pulses, five, four, looking straight up, three, last two, finale. Release the arms by the side, heel to your left foot to the center of the mat, cross the right knee on top of the left. Before you drop the knees to the left, shift your hips to the right so that your hips and shoulders are aligned and then let the knees drop to the left for a nice spinal twist. Your feet can be straight up or you can start to turn the head to the right a little bit more, rotation of the spine, maybe even cactus feel go, the arms open up the front of your chest. Exhales, the exhales are a nice softening, releasing breath.

Inhales are the full power breath right here, exhales just softening into new space, great. Inhale back to center, unwind, extend the arms over the head, legs nice and long, exhale, draw the knees back into the chest, one more round, inhale, lengthen, extend, point the toes, arms over the head, exhale, hug it back in, little rock from side to side, enjoy the little massage, there it is, and then keep the left knee hugging into the chest, place the right foot to the floor, a couple of circles at the left ankle, choose a direction, and then go ahead and circle it the other way, circling the foot, feeling those little spaces the rotation of the ankle, helping us for our future balances. Place the left ankle on top of the right knee, easy figure four, walk your right foot off the mat to the right, either see the arms or cactus feel go, the arms, and then just let the knees drop to the left and back to center. So we're getting a little bit of an IQ band stretch, nice internal rotation for the right leg. I haven't told you yet, but our peak pose, one of our peak poses is eagle pose.

So these are going to really help us get into eagle pose, take one more pulse, stay right here, if you look down your right knee and right hip should be lined up. This is a great spot to start our core for the right side, or you can place the left foot underneath the right knee, gently place the hands behind the head, fingertips behind the head, elbows out, take an inhale, exhale, lift the shoulders off the floor, head off the floor, inhale, lower back down, pulse with your breath, you're going to feel this isolating some of the muscles of the right side of your core, the obliques. Keep breathing, keep pulsing, we're also heating up one of our centers of the body money put a chakra turning on the little fire center here, creating a little heat for the body. Four, three, two, excellent. Last one, release the arms of the cactus field or T them again, walk the right foot back to the center of your mat, slide the left knee on top of the right, lift your hips and slide them to the left a little bit so that your pelvis and your shoulders are lined up, let the knees drop to the right, the drishti can be straight ahead or to the left depending on how the neck is feeling with the cervical rotation.

So as we are rotating through the thoracic spine, the neck can take a little twist as well. Remember that the exhale breath is really softening and releasing. Good. As you come back to center, slowly unwind, straighten the legs, arms over the head, exhale, hug the knees into the chest, cross the legs at the shins, give yourself a nice big hug and we'll play with a little rock and roll forward and backward, massaging the muscles along the spine. So take your time here, good.

Next time you rock up to your seat, just touch your toe pads to the floor, walk your heels in as close to the hamstrings as possible, wrap your arms around your knees, lift and lengthen your spine, really compact into a little ball. This is how we're going to explore our rock and rolls now. You notice that the knees are just behind the pit of the elbow. See if you can keep them there while you extend your arms forward, get your rock and roll on. So if we keep a nice tight ball as we rock and roll, this will help us with our rock and roll vinyasas.

Knees in, heels in, how's it working guys? You'll start to feel you're creating a little heat. We've got two more, maybe cross the legs the other way, this could be your good side. Couple pulses, good. The next time you rock up to your seat, choose whether you're swinging the legs around for table pose or drawing your shins in, palms forward, pressing to the tops of the feet and floating back to your table.

I'm going to turn the other way and table pose, we'll all meet on table with the palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips, guide the heart, chin and chest forward for the cow tilt of the spine, move the ribs forward, nice big inhale, press forward and down, round the spine, pull the navel up and back, tuck the chin to the chest, three more pulses with the breath. Enjoy the inhales and the exhales, enjoy the movement of the spine, inflection and extension in the space that it creates. Last one. Great. Tuck your hands of palm print forward, tuck your toes under, keep your knees bent as you press back to a bent leg down dog.

Look towards your thumbs, press the chest towards the thighs and then look straight down, let the neck be really relaxed, slowly straighten one leg at a time. So this is the slow paced variation. For those of you that like to pick up the pace, create a little bit more heat, pedal it out a little bit more or start to run into place, draw the knees into the chest, look straight down, keep the hips high. This is the boot camp part, I should have a whistle, shouldn't I? Take it for ten, walking it out or running, nine, eight, this will heat it up, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Pull out, slow down, straighten the legs, move to your plank pose, find yourself in plank pose, lift your left leg off the floor, lift the right palm off the floor, come up to your right fingertips, we're going to do alternating leg and alternating arm, lower the right palm, lower the left leg, lift the right leg off the floor, come up to your left fingertips, lower the left palm, lower the right leg. Same thing, lift the left leg, come up to right fingertips or reach forward with the right hand like you're shaking someone's hand, lower the right hand, lower the left leg, last one, right hand, right leg off the floor, left fingertips or reach forward like you're shaking somebody's hand, lower the left hand, lower the right leg, knees come to the floor, lengthen the spine forward, bend the elbows, lower all the way down. Replace your palms with your elbows, Sphinx pose, press to the tops of the feet, guide the heart, chin and chest forward and bite the shoulder blades down. Relax the muscles of the face, it's our first little back bend, enjoy really drawing the ribs and the heart forward towards your thumbs, create space for the lower back. Great everybody.

All right, let's replace our elbows with our palms, press up to your table pose and then back up those hands so the palms are right underneath the shoulders. We're going to start with the left leg, extending the left leg back, lifting the knee off the floor, bending the left leg, looking forward, extending the right arm. Really great for core stabilization. Left knee, right tricep, pull into the midline, extend the right arm, bend the left leg, send the left heel to the sky, look forward and up. Exhale draw it in, you've got three more, exhale pull it into the midline, inhale extend, heel lifts, knee lifts.

Last two, great everybody. Last one, the next time you extend the left leg, pause here, reach back with your right hand, if the foot's available, grab the pinky or big toe side of the foot and lift the heel and knee away from the floor, left ear towards the left shoulder, nice stretch for the tricep. Great guys, replace the right hand to the floor, extend the left leg, touch the toe pads to the floor and slide your left foot as far to the right as it'll go. As far as it'll go, squeeze to the midline, inner thighs. If you can pivot to the pinky toe side of your left foot, big toe side of the left foot to the sky and look over your right shoulder, you're going to feel this deep abduction of the inner thigh, a nice IT band stretch.

So really helpless for our ego postures later. Great, keep the leg there, bend your left leg so that the knee comes to the floor, relax the toes down, back up your seat, feel that little side stretch, walk your hands to the right, back up the seat so you feel big side stretch on the left side body, great. Walk your palms back to center, just like you had them in table, extend the left leg, release it, touch the left toe pads to the floor and this time pivot your left foot to the right for easy side plank on the right hand. Right toes swing around for you, option one. Option two, slide the right foot on top of the left, cross the legs, squeeze to the midline, inhale the left palm to the sky or up and over the ear.

Push forward and down into the right hand with whichever variation you're working with. All right, hopefully you're starting to warm things up a little bit. Come back to your table pose, flip the right hand, the right wrist was taking a lot of weight, wrist forward, thumb out, back up your seat just a little bit. Excellent, everybody. Come back to your table pose, don't worry, we'll do the other wrist on the other side after we're done.

Flip the palm, come up to your fingertips, fingertips, cow and cat tilts, guide the heart chin and chest forward and then round the spine, push forward and down into your fingers. One more round, just like this and around the spine, beautiful. Lower the palms back to the floor, let's play with that same flow on the other side. Right leg to the sky, bend the knee, look forward, cow tilt the spine, shift your weight into your right hand, extend the left arm. This is the inhale, exhale, elbow knee to the midline, inhale, extend the left arm, right leg bent, toes to the sky, look forward and up, pulse with your breath, round the spine as you exhale, hug to the midline, inhale, lengthen, right leg to the sky, knee bent.

You've got three more, you should start feeling a little heat generated right where you're contracting pulling the navel up and back. Last one, the next time you extend and lift your right leg, pause here, reach back with your left hand, grabbing the foot, great, not grabbing it, still great, just keep lifting the knee off the floor, if you do have the foot, lift the knee off the floor, kick the heel away, let the right ear drop towards your right shoulder. Soften and relax the muscles of your face, pushing forward and down strongly into the right hand so you don't sink into your wrists. Release the right leg, straighten it, bring the left hand back to the floor, toe pads of the right foot touch the floor, slide them behind the left leg over to your left. Slide them as far as you can go to your left and then pivot your foot so you're on the pinky toe side of the foot, looking over your left shoulder.

This will give you a little side stretch when you feel this outer IT band adduction of the thighs. Great everybody, bend your right leg until the knee comes to the floor, start to back up your seat a little bit, stay here or walk your palms to the left, back up your seat right between the heels and you'll feel the side stretch. So in the direction between the heels, we're not coming all the way to the seat, just feeling the side stretch on the right side body. Great. Walk your palms back to table, extend the right leg, straighten it, touch the toe pads to the floor, pivot your right heel, easy side point, push forward and down into your left hand.

Stay here or slide the left ankle on top of the right, cross at the shins, squeeze to the midline, lift the left hip away from the floor, right palm to the sky or up and over the ear. Yay. Come to your plank pose, good, lower the knees to the floor, flip the left palm, take your wrist stretch, wrist facing forward, thumb turning out, back up the seat as much as you need to, to feel that forearm stretch. Two more rounds of breath, one more, go ahead and shake out the left wrist, excellent. Walk your hands a palm print forward, push forward and down into the fingers, tuck the toes under, down dog, lift your hips to the sky.

Inhale the legs out one at a time. All right, so we're going back to some strengthening, some variations in our side plank, move forward to plank pose, bend your left leg, lift your heel to the sky, pivot your right foot, step the left foot behind, kick stand, side plank, inhale the left palm to the sky. Option one, stay here for your five breaths, pushing forward and down. Option two, generating a little bit more heat, lower the hips, left hand reaches for the right big toe, push forward into the right hand, lift the hips to the sky. You've got three more, pulsing with the breath, you're going to feel the muscles in the arms starting to really start to feel this, keep pushing forward and down.

Last one, left arm to the sky, place the left palm to the floor. One legged dog, left leg to the sky, push forward with your left hand, left heel to the sky, walk your right arm halfway to your right foot. So one legged dog, giving that right wrist a break, the one that we were balancing on. Perfect, come to plank pose. Make sure the hips are below the shoulders, squeeze to the midline and then lengthen forward, bend the elbows lower all the way down.

Take your time, fire up the muscles and the triceps. Either replace your palms with your elbows, second back band, same as the first, sphinx pose or palms by the ribs, press to the tops of the feet, if you're feeling a little bit more space, cobra pose, bent arms or start to straighten the arms for up dog. Little hug to the midline with the inner thighs, heart moving forward, shoulder blades moving down the spine. Keep chewing down dog, press the hips back to the sky, push actively forward with both palms, lengthen forward to plank pose, lift the right leg off the floor, bend it, pivot your left foot to the left, step the right foot behind, keep the right leg bent, kick stand side plank, push forward and down with your left hand, inhale the right palm to the sky. Press heat, stay here for your five breaths, more heat, right hand reaches for the left big toe, lower the left hip, hover it above the floor and then push into the right foot, right arm over the head, nice little side bend, pulse with the breath, reach for the big toe and back over the head.

You've got two more, whichever variation you're in, push strongly forward and down with your left hand so you don't feel any wrist issues. Last one, next time you send the right palm to the sky, pause, place the right palm to the floor, one legged dog, right leg to the sky, press the chest towards the left thigh, right heel high, push actively forward with both hands. Now start to walk your left hand towards the left foot, a little bit or a lot. Happy Thursday, move to your plank pose, left hand forward, right foot to the floor, take your time lowering down, bend into the elbows, lengthen forward, lower all the way down, little pec stretch, left arm, left hand, left arm bent, left palm to your sacrum, roll to your left elbow, opening up the front of the chest. You can bend one leg or both legs.

This is too much on your shoulder. You can always straighten the left arm out to the left. This one's really nice to help us move deeper into our cobra poses. Come on back to center, free the left arm, place the left palm by your chest, right hand to the sacrum, fingertips facing down, palm on the sacrum, roll to your right. Stay here or bend the left leg and bend the right leg.

Relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw, good. Straighten one leg at a time, roll back to your core, back bend of your choice, guide your heart, chin and chest forward, whether the elbows are on the floor or the palms are on the floor. Push into index and thumb, exhale, press back to your down dog, take a little walk or float to the front of the mat on your next exhale, bend the knees, look forward and then start your journey forward, walking or floating to the hands. Open the spine, palms to the shins, flat back, exhale, bend the knees, soft fold, just grab onto the elbows, give yourself a little hang time connecting with the breath. Maybe a little rock from side to side.

My little friend behind us loves when I do elephant trunk rocks from side to side and then release the elbows, bend the knees, palms on top of the quads, supported chair, cat and cow tilts, guide the heart, chin and chest forward and then round the spine, pull the navel up and back, guide forward for your chair, little back bend in the chair as you lift the heart, look up and then round the spine. Last one, the next time you round the spine, coordinate the movement with the breath, roll all the way up to your stand, inhale the palms to the sky, exhale your palms right into prayer, close the eyes for a moment, connect with your breath, if you have an offering, a dedication for your practice now is a great time to send it out as you create a little bit of heat for your flow today. All right, feet hip distance, cactus field, all the arms, elbows the height of your shoulders, lift the sternum, lift the chest, look forward and up and then as you exhale, bend the knees, straighten the arms, chair pose. I'm going to show you this from the side so you get the idea from both ankles, cactus field, all the arms, lift the heart, chin and chest, elbows, deep breath, bend the knees, reach your core, reach the palms to the sky. Three more rounds, pulsing with the breath, inhaling to cactus, exhaling to chair, firing up the muscles and the quads, last round, chair pose, place the left hand on top of the left thigh, hook the right elbow outside of the left knee, bring the left palm on top of the right, lengthen the spine and then press the left palm on the right to rotate.

Lengthen with the inhale, rotate with the exhale, perfect. Then both knees, reach your palms forward, flat back chair, lift the shoulders, chair, rise all the way up, cactus field, all the arms, good. Now back to your chair pose, bend the knees, right hand on top of the right thigh, hook the left elbow outside of the right knee, lengthen the spine, place the right palm on top of the left, get long before you twist. Lengthen from the seat to the crown and then press the right palm into the left. One more round of breath, good, bend the knees deeply, reach forward with your hands, flat back chair pose, plant your palms to the floor, rise to the tops of your toes, a little lean forward and we'll walk or float back to plank pose.

Engage the core, slowly bend the elbows, take your time coming all the way down. Guide yourself into your back bend, press to the tops of the feet, lift the heart, chin and chest. Exhale, press back to your down dog, push actively forward with both hands, shift your weight to your right leg, bend the left leg and as you extend the left leg, lift it off the floor, straighten the left leg, toes pointing down, heel lifting up, feel that little calf stretch on the right side. Exhale, draw the left knee to your forehead, round the spine, pull the knee up, pull your heel up to your seat, inhale the left leg to the sky, you'll feel the heat right here. Exhale, draw it forward, if you want to take a little bend into your knee, into your elbows, bend the elbows, keep the knee off the floor, inhale the left leg to the sky, one legged dog, last round, exhale, draw the knee to the forehead plank or bend the elbows.

Exhale the left leg to the sky, exhale, look forward, step the left foot to the front of your mat. Right hand stays on the floor, left palm to the sky, soft twist, bring your left hand on top of the left quad, push the quad slightly forward and in, so the knee is right over the ankle, press your right heel back and then lift the left ribcage over the left thigh, inhale the left palm to the sky, exhale, lower the left palm, lower the right knee, straighten the left leg, walk your hands back, so feel where your hamstring stretch is, if your hamstring stretch is here, great, if it's back here, great, if it's all the way forward, great, we are going to take a little turn to the left, so if you're able to use your hands and take them over to the left for a soft twist, go for it, otherwise bring your right hand to the outer left IT band for that little hamstring twist, squeeze to the midline with your inner thighs, great everybody, this is also going to help us with our eagle pose, bend the left leg, low lunge, left hand on top of the left thigh, right hand to the sacrum, lengthen the tailbone down, invite the hip forward, you'll know when to stop, maybe it's right over the knee, maybe you're able to slide a little bit deeper in, see where your foundation is for this posture, inhale the palms to the sky, a little sweep, left hand around the left knee, torso inside of the left leg, reach your fingertips back, inhale the palms to the sky, exhale, arms around the left leg, inhale the palms to the sky, so we're going to do the same thing but with eagle arms, wrap the left arm on top of the right, line up the elbows, reach for your wrists or the base of the palm, lift your elbows up and then just take a little soft test pose, bowing inside, humble warrior with eagle arms and rising up, we're going to do four more, choose whether you're going to stay where you're at or you're going to bring your hands to the floor, tuck the right toes under and do this in your high lunge, options are always good, you're going to feel more heat if you need to for this variation, left arm on top, right arm on the bottom, whether the knees on or off the floor, you choose, lift the elbows to the sky, look up, hug the inner thighs to the midline, bow inside, three more rounds, pulsing with your breath, you're firing up one of the biggest muscle groups, the quads, right next to the glute, there's a big muscle group too, we heat that up, we feel, one more round, rise up, cactus feel, go the arms, yay, if you're down on your knees right now, come up to your high lunge and join us, keep the elbows drawing back, straighten the left leg, straighten the arms and the palms to the sky, bend into your left leg, reach as far forward as you can with the right fingertips, bring the left hand to the left quad, launch the right leg off the floor, half moon twist, guide the heart, chin and chest forward, try to straighten the left leg or keep a micro bend in it, hips the same height, lengthen the spine, turn to your left, inhale the left palm to the sky as your finale option here, great, lower the left hand to the floor, step your right foot next to the left, feet at distance, palms to the shims, lengthen the spine, exhale soft fold, put a little bit of weight into your toe pads as you move into your forward fold, reverse the dive, rise all the way up with your flat back, so that was a lot of work on the left leg, we're going to take a quad stretch and then we're coming back to the left leg for our finale, so shift your weight to your right leg, focus, drishti, bend your left leg, reach down with your left hand, grab onto the left ankle, pull the heel in with one or both hands, a little release for all the work that we did on that quad because we're going to do a little bit more, lower the left leg, shake out both legs, so we're going to do a little pulse back and forth starting with our palms in prayer, shift your weight to your left leg, lift the right heel off the floor, drishti, focus forward, step your right leg back to a short high lunge, and then step your right leg forward, cross the right foot in front of the left and start to bend your left leg, so you're crossing the right knee on top of the left, bending the left leg, good, lift your right leg up, straighten the left leg, step your right foot back, the lower you keep the right foot to the floor the easier, a little bit more challenging, drawing the right knee high up into the chest, lean into the left foot, step forward with the right leg, lift that right leg a little higher, keep it up high, bend into your left leg, squeeze to the midline, and hug everything together, step it back, good, straighten your left leg for a second, one more time, bend the left leg, draw the right knee into the chest, bend your left leg, hug your inner thighs to the midline, cross the right leg on top of the left, toes can touch the floor, or they can hug to the midline, and step it back, alright, great opportunity to use a wall if you need to, we're going to add the eagle arms with it, left arm on top, right arm on the bottom, bend your left leg, by the prize, look forward first, step into the left foot, draw the right knee up into the chest, cross the right leg on top of the left, bend your left knee deeply, squeeze both to the midline, you can keep the right toes on the floor outside, or you can hug them around, maybe wrapping, two more rounds of breath wherever you're at, one more, the eagle has landed, release the arms, shake out the legs, give it a little dance, sing a little song, sit down tonight, alright, side one is done, I'll meet you guys in down dog for side two, feet are hip distance, find the breath, find the focal point, bring your palms into prayer, take an inhale, let something go with your exhale, join me for an om as you bow to the floor, inhale the palms to the sky, lift the heart, chin and chest, hinge at the hips, palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, exhale, bend both knees, walk or float your feet back to plank, cycle through your vinyasa, guide yourself forward to cobra, up dog, send it back to your down dog, push actively forward in both hands, bend the right leg, shift your weight to your left leg, inhale the right heel to the sky, straighten the right leg, one leg of dog, exhale, draw the right knee to the forehead, in plank pose, puff the spine up, draw the knee and heel up, inhale the right leg to the sky, one leg of dog, same thing with the option of bending your elbows, draw the right knee to the forehead in a plank pose, that option of bending the elbows without touching the knee to the floor, inhale the right leg to the sky, last one, right knee to the floor, head, bend the elbows, send it up, you feeling the arms yet, inhale, exhale, step the right foot to the front of the mat, left hand stays, right hand on top of the right thigh, guide the right knee forward over the ankle, squeeze to the midline, lift your right ribcage up and over the right thigh, push into your left hand, send the right palm to the sky, push back into your left heel, nice little spinal twist lunge, lower the right hand to the floor on the outside of the right foot, lower the left knee to the floor, straighten the right leg nice and slow, walk your hands back, good, you'll know how far forward to walk your hands for the hamstring stretch, whether it's forward or back or on top of the hips, squeeze to the midline, take a little twist to your right, if your hands are on the floor, take the left hand outside of the right, have a little walk over to the right, squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs, nice little hamstring stretch, prepping our hips, nice little hug for our darudasana, eagle pose, walk the hands back, bend the right leg, right hand on top of the right quad, left hand to the sacrum, so we'll just take a little test bend here, feeling the left hip opening, lengthening the tailbone down, inhaling the palms up, right hand outside of the right leg, chest and inside, squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs, reach back with the palms, inhale the palms to the sky, high torso, lift the palms to the sky, so we got one more round, this sets us up really nicely for our eagle arms, right arm on top, left arm on the bottom, we've got five of these, if you already know you're going into your high lunge, set yourself up for your high lunge, we're bowing inside, feet are hip distance, whether the knee is on or off the floor, right arm on top, if your knees down, keep hugging to the midline as well, inhale the elbows up, drishti forward, possibly looking up, exhale, hug inside, humble warrior with the eagle arms, squeeze to the midline, lift the elbows, pulse with your breath, if you don't feel this quad and glute stretch then you're obviously a badass because this one's hard, a badass in a good way, last two, that means you really work those outer glutes and the quad muscles, last one, whether the knee is on the floor, off the floor, free the arms, cactus field goal, the arms, squeeze the shoulder blades back, straighten the arms, slowly straighten the right leg, if you are kneeling come up to your high lunge, straightening the right leg, giving that right leg a little bit of a break, looking forward bend the right leg, bring the right hand to the top of your right hip, reach forward with the left fingertips, reach beyond the left toes, slide the left foot forward, squeeze to the midline, half moon pose, left leg lifts off the floor, lengthen the spine and start to squeeze to the midline, turn the torso to the right, right hand can come to the sacrum, make sure the hips are even or send the right palm to the sky, great everybody, lower the right hand to the floor, slide the left foot forward, palms to the shins, flat back and soft forward fold, if your forward fold is getting a little deeper you can always grab onto the big toes and pull the crown of the head to the floor, relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw, go back to your breath, good, lengthen the spine, bring your palms to the shins, engage your core muscles, pull the navel up and back, comes out to the side, reverse the dive, come all the way up, yay, I'm going to face you guys, we're going to do our quad stretch for that right leg, a lot of work on the right quad so let's give it a little break, shift your weight to the left foot, find your focal point, right hand grabs the right ankle, draw the heel towards the outer right glute, one or both hands, squeeze into the midline, squeeze to the midline is really what that garudasana is all about, so you're going to hear me say it a lot until we actually get in the pose, shake out, release, shake out the right leg, shake out the left, so we've got our little stance, walking forward and walking back, playing with that step into garudasana, bring your palms into prayer, shift your weight to your right foot, lift the left heel off of the floor, lift the left knee up and then step the left foot back for a short version of your high lunge, transfer your weight to the left leg, re-bend your right leg, draw the left knee up and then cross the left leg on top of the right, touch the toes to the floor, squeeze to the midline, lift the left knee up, step it back, so each time you can come a little higher with that left leg, you'll get a little bit deeper of an opportunity to not only really feel the muscles but that left leg can wrap deeper around, so bend your right leg, squeeze to the midline, keep bending the right leg, left knee outside, touch it or wrap it around and then step it back. We got one more before we go into that eagle arm variation, draw the left knee forward, squeeze, bend the right leg, there's some big adduction of the inner thighs, a wrap and then step it back. Remember you can always use the wall here, back up your seat about six inches away from the wall and do a supported eagle, all right. So right arm's on top, left arm's on the bottom, look forward, get your eagle wrapped, move the thumbs away from the ears, from the face, bend into your right leg, shift your weight to your right leg, look forward, lift the left knee up, height of your hip, bend your right leg as you're crossing the left.

Choose whether you're touching the left toes to the floor or squeezing to the midline and wrapping the left foot around. Two more rounds of breath, keep squeezing, maybe lift the elbows a little higher, squeeze, one more, release, shake it out, move it around. This little joyful flows, always has a little dance information, you never have enough dancing. Okay, so we've got both legs really fired up, we're gonna come down to a nice low squat. So back up, so you're about two feet from the front of your mat.

If you have any knee issues, stay in your chair pose, inhale the palms to the sky, bend the knees for your chair, start to lift your heels off of the floor. Now remember, if you have knee issues here, just play right here and you can meet us down on your seat. If you don't have any issues, keep lowering the seat, lower slowly, keep lifting the heels, the slower you roll, the slower you lower, the more you'll feel. Good. Lift the knees, bring your palms or fingertips to the floor, draw the heels together and slowly back up, we've got built-in cushions for a reason, lower onto them.

Squeeze back to the midline, bring your palms behind you, fingertips facing forward, squeeze your shoulder blades together, lift the heart, navasana with the legs bent, navasana without your hands, navasana with the legs straight, sternum lifting to the sky, lengthen the spine in whichever version you're choosing, you'll be here for five more breaths and remember that rock and roll vinyasa that we were practicing in the very beginning, now's your chance to see what it feels like. Bend your legs, cross them, hug them into the chest, get a tall, tall spine, reach forward with your hands, roll back, and roll forward, cross the legs, remember you can always swing the legs around into table, float, vinyasa, go back to your breath, three more rounds of breath in the back bend of your choice, good, pause here, come into your table pose, alright, from your table pose, tuck your toes under, lean back on your heels, we're going to move into a nice little spinal twist here, I'd like you guys to choose the variation that works best for you, my right knee is going to stay, my left foot is going to step forward, I'm going to keep sitting on my right heel, so bring your fingertips forward, step your left foot forward, good, right elbow, outside of the left knee, and then from here I'm going to back up, well actually I'm going to give you guys choices, stay here if you're not doing the arm balance, this is perfect for you, if you are doing the arm balance, bring your right heel the same height as where your left knee is and sit back on your right heel, so heel and right knee lined up, take the same twist, palms into prayer, if you're able to keep the tricep outside of your left knee, find your left hip, two points of connection, training wheels with a left elbow, if you normally do this without the elbow, feel free, training wheels today, left hand reaches out about a foot, fingertips facing away from the front of your mat, hug your left elbow in and then reach with your right hand, bend the left elbow, lean forward, the lean forward helps you move and get that left foot off the floor, you can keep the right leg down the whole time or you can lean forward and lift the right foot off the floor for your version of side curl, straightening the legs or bent legs, good, how did it work? That one's a great one to practice, grab some pillows, crash pads, work at it that way, okay? So let's see what the other side feels like, I'm going to turn the other way for you, good, so that right leg's forward, a deeper lunge, just moving into a nice twist, option one, perfect for today, option two, slide your right heel back towards the knee, grab a seat on your left heel, hook the left elbow outside of the right knee, great, the elbow has to be below the middle of the thigh or you're going to slide off, right hand finds the right hip, go out about a foot, foot and a half, touch with the right hand, reach with the left, bend both, two points of connection, you can lower onto your right elbow, it's the training wheel version, traditionally we do it without the elbow, yay! So after a lot of heat building, nice opportunity to get a little bit deeper into your twist. Okay, let's come on down to our seat, really nice work today everybody, we're going to cool things down, we did a lot of adduction, so we're going to open the hips a little bit, seated, figure four, place your right ankle on top of your left thigh and draw your left heel in towards your seat, this might be perfect right here, just a soft release or you might want to rock the hips from side to side, just like we did in the beginning, this will start to soften the glutes on the right side, we did a lot of lunging, a lot of powerful quad and glute stuff today, so make sure you get a little release there, great, go a little bit deeper into your hip, walk the hands forward, a little bit more stretch on the outer glute, the outer piriformis, little spinal twist, hip opener, left hand stays behind you, fingertips facing back, right hand wraps around the left knee, turn to your left or hook the back of your forearm, elbow or tricep to open up a little bit deeper, wonderful, okay, so your right leg is basically going to stay here, your right foot is going to come to the floor and your left leg is going to swing around for half rasana, we did some nice work stretching the quad so hopefully this feels okay for your body, if you want to go a little bit deeper you can always walk the hands back a little bit, maybe to the elbows, maybe reclining all the way down, if you need a little bit of resistance place the right ankle on top of the left thigh, we're slowing the practice down, encourage yourself to go back to the breath, I know you were with the breath the whole time but now you can really go deep into it and enjoy all four parts, good, if your right ankle is on top of the left knee lower back inside, prop yourself back up to your palms, opening the front of the left hip, right fingertips behind you, left arm crosses the body, push down into your right hand, lift your hips to the sky, reach up and back with your left hand, left hip moving forward, lift your right ribcage, we're going to try that one more time, lower the seat down, if that was easy for you slide your right hand closer to your seat around two, all those chair poses contracting this muscle we got to release it, so take that left arm across push down into your right hand, lift, celebrate, push forward and down into your right hand, lift the right ribcage, breathe into all sides of the body, the front body, the back body, the side body, two more breaths, one more and go ahead and lower down, excellent, swing the left leg around, this time the left ankle is going on top of the right knee for your figure four, so place the left ankle on top, slide the right heel in a little bit, this is the kind of softer version, so we'll just let the hips rock from side to side with a little focus on dropping the left knee to the left, a little massage for that outer left glute that was probably firing up pretty much, pretty powerfully when you're in your lunging variations, good and then once we release walk the hands forward, keep the left foot flexed, the taller the spine, the closer you are towards the right thigh, the more you feel, a little hip opening twist, fingertips on the right hand facing back, left hand grabs the knee, turning to the right, the farther your heel is away the easier this pose is, if you're taking the back of the form, elbow or tricep in, you get a nice hip opening twist and this sets us up really beautifully for our last posture, we're almost there, gold stars for everyone, lower that left foot inside, good, keep the left hip opening, slide the right knee around, hapharosana, drawing the heel in, remember you can always put a pillow under your seat if you want to lean back a little bit more, if this is feeling intense, pillow under the seat, if you're feeling like going a little bit deeper, start to walk the hands back, I like to move really slowly into this one, knees are very special things in our lives, we need them, we need to move slowly with them, that we don't get any of those knee injuries, they can be so subtle, so move very carefully when you're moving into deeper knee movements, squats, barasana, you can place the left ankle on top of the right thigh and I only say this from past injuries, I want you guys to be happy and healthy in all of your joints, especially those sensitive ones like the knees and the wrists, relax the muscles of the face and jaw and then we'll come on back up to our seat, the left foot can slide back inside, come back up to your seat, the legs are going to stay the same, give you a little side angle so that you can see and we'll open up the front of the right hip, left hand behind you, fingertips facing back, be generous with reaching the back, first one a little softer, right hand across the body, push down into the right knee, lift the hips, lift the left hip, reach back with the right palm, enjoy the breath here, inflate through the ribs, lift the sternum, lift the ribs, good, lower down nice and slow, okay, that was round one, you've got one more round, if you'd like to bring that left hand in a little bit tighter, it just increases the back bend a little bit, lift the hips, reach up and back, keep lifting your left ribcage, it's not going to want to lift as much as the right but you should feel a nice deep hip flexor and so I stretch, awesome and then slowly lower down vertebrae, all the way to your seat, release the right leg, thank you right leg, bend it, release the left leg, bend it, lower all the way down, engage the core a little bit as you roll and massage your back into the floor, let your palms roll out, squeeze the shoulder blades in, step one leg out at a time, if there's any last little finishing pose you need, a little hug of the knees into the chest, a little happy baby, a little shimmy, a little rock, whatever feels right, really just letting our body go in Shavasana, so find those movements but let your body go, let go of the doing, let go of the effort, feel that tingla of energy from the crown of the head, through the torso, the arms, the hips, legs, all the way out to the toes, let the breath rise and fall on its own without you guiding it, give your mind the gift of nothing to do, nowhere to be but right here in this perfect moment arising, giving yourself the gift of your presence, when we're really present for ourselves and we're listening, our attention is inward, we're able to tap into our own personal GPS system that guides us through life, higher self the intuition is able to make its voice heard, we just have to soften and listen.

If you would like to stay in your Shavasana a little bit longer, tune me out, stay in stay connected, if you're starting to move a little bit intuitively bring the energy back to your body, as you explore the movements that help you roll into fetal pose, see if you can stay grounded into that connection with that higher self that we were experiencing earlier, you don't want to let that go, you want to keep cultivating it, helping yourself up to your seat, giving yourself a moment to receive, absorb and reflect on the practice, knowing that we can always come back here, the safe harbor in our mind and in our heart and always recharge our battery and keep that connection to source alive even outside of the practice, thank you so much for joining me today for sharing your practice with me for going on this crazy little ride today, I hope you join me next Thursday, have a great week, namaste.