Cool It Down

Happy Thursday everybody. That music just makes me so happy. Welcome to the last episode of Joyful Flow. How did this happen so fast? Thank you for joining me today. Some of you have been joining me through the whole season. Some of you have been joining me from Amsterdam, from England, from Australia, from Chicago, from Singapore, all of these cool places and it's been so cool to share this journey with you and I've really enjoyed holding the space and inviting joy into my heart so that I can share it because it's helping me through these challenging times and I really hope that it's helping you through the same. So let's take it really easy today. Today's flow is a nice chill flow and I think you deserve it. I think I deserve it. The hard part is giving ourself permission to let go of some of the doing. So what I'd like you to do is close your eyes just for a moment and imagine those little permission slips that you got and you signed or your parents signed for you. Imagine written on there, I give myself permission to slow things down. I give myself permission to check in. I give myself permission to just find ease in this flow today because I deserve it and then sign your name, check the box and open your eyes. Super simple. Let's take a little moment to check in with the breath, keep your elbows bent, bring your palms into prayer in front of you, right in front of your power center, your Maniputta chakra and then as you slowly take an inhale, separate your palms, open up through the front of the chest, squeeze your shoulder blades together, lift the sternum, lift the chest and as you exhale slowly draw the palms back but don't let them touch. Feel that little pulse of energy between your hands. Inhale, separate the palms, externally rotate at the shoulders, lift the heart, lift the chin, feel the little back bend and then exhale just enough so that the palms feel like they're going to touch. Play with a couple of little pulses like that, feel the energy separating, expanding as you move the palms away and then feel it like silly putty string drawing back towards the center of self, the center of you, helping you become really connected and present for your little journey today. Let's try one more round just like that, connecting to the energy of the body, connecting to the breath. Good and then the next time your palms touch you can bring the palms into prayer. If you have an intention, a dedication for your practice today, go ahead and set it now. Such a great opportunity to make the practice about something bigger than self and then we're going to have a little treat, we're going to start lying down today. So go ahead and swing the legs around, lie on your back and get comfortable. Flip your palms up, rest them by the side, squeeze your shoulder blades together, extend the legs, close the eyes, connect with the rise and fall of your breath. Use the inhales once again to purify and cleanse your mind. Hold the breath a little longer than you normally would and take your time with the exhales, start the exhales, move any tension out of the body, out of the mind through the breath. Couple of clearing breaths just like that before we start feeling the movements of the body. Nice, slow, deep inhale, lengthen it, enjoy the pause. Take your time with your exhale. One more round, just like that. Expanding the breath, holding it and then letting it go with your exhale. On your next inhale, go ahead and reach the arms above the head. Take a nice big stretch and as you exhale, slowly draw the knees into the chest. Take the knees just a little wider than the rib cage and give yourself a little rock from side to side, feeling the muscles at the top of the glutes, the connection between the lower back, the sacral area, lower back and a little bit of the muscles along the spine.

Give yourself a nice little rock from side to side. Let the movements be nice and slow and mindful today and every time you catch yourself rushing with the body or the breath, see if you can remember your permission slip and try to slow it down a little bit. Great. Keep the right leg hugged into the chest, let the left leg fall to the floor, extend the left leg. Give yourself a couple of circles at the right ankle and the right shin and then circle it the other way. Preparing us for some nice easy standing poses later. Place your right ankle on top of your left thigh, draw the left knee back towards the chest but lower the foot to the floor. Really simple rock from side to side. We get a glute massage today, nothing wrong with releasing those glutes. Always feels so nice. That connection between the upper body and the lower body when we are having more of a stagnant lifestyle can be a little intense so this is a nice way to release. The next time you drop your knees over to your left, pause right there and notice how the right knee is moving towards the chest. Move the right knee away from the chest as if you're drawing the right knee towards your left heel. For most of you, you're going to feel this in the front of your right hip flexor. Don't try to force anything, just find that space where you're feeling and then go back to the side stretch, take the arms over the head. This time the left hand grabs the right wrist, pulls it over to the left and go back to breathing, breathing like you're happy to be alive. Extending each breath, enjoying each part of the breath, enjoying the moments after the inhale when you're holding, enjoy the release of the exhale and that soft pause before you start it all over again. Great. Release the arms slowly, draw the left knee back towards the midline, keep the right ankle on top, walk your left foot off the mat to the left and then let your knees drop to the right. If this is too much, you can place the right foot to the floor, both knees turning to the right or keep the right ankle on top of the left. As you look down, left hip, left knee, right ankle all lining up. We got one more variation with the arms, grab onto your elbows over the chest and exhale those arms across the chest to the left to get a nice little deltoid stretch and a nice final twist here while you find the breath. It's gonna be a good day. We're gonna make it a good day in our mind. Excellent. And then slowly unwind, feet hip distance. Good. Give yourself just a little windshield wiper of the legs to massage the glutes again with your feet hip distance and when you come back to center the next time, keep the right foot on the floor, right leg bent, hug the left knee into the chest. Give yourself a couple of circles at the left ankle, left shin, circling the foot in one direction and then switch it up and circle it in the other direction. Great. From here you can place that left ankle on top of the right knee. Let the left inner thigh move away from the body, take the arms out of the way so cactus field all of them and just let the knees rock from side to side back to the glute massage. You must have done a lot of good things in your life to deserve this glute massage. It's nice and we can play with massaging movements in our yoga practice.

The next time you drop your knees over to the right, stay there. The left inner thigh we're moving away from the chest, keeping the left foot flexed. Feeling this in the front of your hip flexor. It's almost like you're moving into a double pigeon but you've got this nice side stretch that you have the opportunity to feel. Taking the arms over the head and maybe over to your right. You can give yourself a little pull over to the right. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. You can grab onto the elbows like you did last time. Whatever feels like the right stretch for you to experience this breath through the left side body. And then release the arms either out to the side of the T cactus field. Go keep the left leg where it is. Walk your right foot off the mat to the right and a little drop of the knees to your left. If this is too much on your IT band, your hip, you can always bring the left foot to the floor or you can keep it right there and we'll go back to that side stretch after you look at your alignment. Right hip, right knee, left heel. Inhale the arms over the head. Maybe a little deeper side stretch. Pulling the left wrist over to the right. Turning your head to the right. And most importantly, increasing the depth, the volume of your inhalations. That stretches the muscles that are right around the lungs, that contract around the lungs, creating more space for fuller breath. It actually feels good to breathe into a little resistance. Great. And then slowly, slowly, come on back to center. Good. Heel to your right foot back to the center of your mat and hug the knees into the chest. Give yourself a little rock from side to side. Feeling that massaging on either side of the glutes. And cross your shins. We'll give yourself a little bit of rock and roll forward and backward. Nice and slow as you rock. Feel the muscles along the spine. Rock and roll all the way up to your seat. And we'll take a moment right here in our cross-legged seat. Moving our little built-in pillows out of the way. Pulling them back in space. Sliding your hands right down to your shins. Lifting the heart, chin and chest with the inhale. Stern them to the sky. And rounding as you exhale, drawing the navel up and back. Guiding the heart, chin and chest forward. With your inhale, pressing the knees to the floor. Chin away from the chest. Exhale, rounding the spine. As you come back up to your neutral spine, your right leg's gonna stay in a nice cross-legged position. Swing the left leg around. A little straddle pose here. Half-harasan with the left leg. Putting most of the weight into the right leg. So don't sink into the left leg. A lot of pressure on the knee. But you can pull the heel in a little bit. Walking the right fingertips out to the right. Lowering the right forearm to the floor. Inviting that left hip down a little bit if you want to feel resistance. And then enjoying the soft side stretch. Left fingertips to the top of the left shoulder. And just explore circling that left elbow in space. Letting the right ear drop towards the right shoulder. Take your time enjoying the movements of that left shoulder. Your range of motion. Time to explore a little bit. The next time you draw that left elbow back in space. Keep it there. Soft bend to the elbow. Cactus feel. Go to the arms. Invite the left hip to draw a little closer to the floor for resistance. And slowly send the left arm over the head. Palm facing towards the floor. Invite the breath to really feel your left side body. The ribs, the lats and your costals. Take your time and enjoy the stretch today. Where did the breath go? Can you bring it all the way back to the left side body and inflate? And appreciate that life giving force. That breath that fuels us on our journey. Lift up halfway. Reach your left fingertips towards your left shin. And then once you grab onto the shin, hold onto the shin with your left hand. Let your right ear drop towards your right shoulder and you should feel a nice trapezius stretch right there on the left side. If you don't feel anything, just go back into bending that right arm. Relax the muscles of the face.

Relax the jaw. Maybe drop the chin towards the chest and away from the chest. Exploring little spots that you may feel a little of resistance and then maybe pausing right there. Kind of like when someone massages you and you're like, wait, stop right there. Pause right there and breathe into that space a little bit. Great. Slowly walk the right palm back. Take the right fingertips behind you. Fingertips facing back. Left arm across the body. Push into your right hand. Lift the hips to the sky. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Place it right behind the base of the head. Bend the elbow. Lift the right ribcage. Lean the left elbow back and then press the head back into your left palm. You should feel this on the front of the hips. Push strongly forward and down into your right hand so you're not sinking into the wrist. Enjoy the front of the hip releasing and opening. Give it one more big inhale and then exhale slowly, slowly lower down. Soft twist to your left. Maybe fingertips on either side of the right leg or you can place the right hand on top of the right thigh. Left hand behind you. Lift the sternum and chest. Nice hip opening twist. Just be careful that you're not feeling anything on this knee. You're feeling anything on the knee. Just reach back with the right hand and take a softer, softer twist. Remember, this is our little chill flow today. We're cooling things down. Great. Come on back to center. Left leg slides back. Good. Cross your legs the non-habitual way. Palms underneath the shins. Lift the heart, chin and chest, sternum to the sky. Looking on up and then rounding the spine, pulling the navel up and back with your core. Pulse with your breath. Enjoy each of these movements as you explore how the spine is responding to each of these movements. Nice fluid motion in between the cow and cat tilts following the breath. The next time you come to your neutral spine, pause. Keep the left leg where it is. Nice and bent. Swing the right leg around. Half rosin. The ankle can be flexed or I like to pull the heel in a little bit. Get that nice ankle shin stretch. Depends how your knees experiencing this posture. Walk your left fingertips out. We're taking weight off of the right knee and taking the side stretch the soft way. Right fingertips come to the right shoulder. Let that left ear drop towards the left shoulder and start to explore your range of motion through the right shoulder. As you drop the left ear to the left shoulder, you're giving yourself a little bit more space to explore a wider range of motion through the muscles of the rotator cups. That's it. And it feels good to give yourself that little relax without working so much. As you draw the right elbow back in space, stay right here. Cactus field goal, the right arm. And then as you're reaching the right arm over the head simultaneously, press the right hip towards the floor if you want to feel a little bit more resistance. Notice when you go into resistance, if you lost the breath, where did it go? Invite it back. Invite the inhales back to be slower, fuller and deeper. Take your time holding the breath, celebrate it, and then exhale, soften into a new space.

Try that one more time. When I teach slow classes, I always close my eyes. I don't know why. It just feels good to move a little deeper inward. So if you're moving deeper inward, Pratya Hada withdrawing the senses, feel it. It helps you feel a little bit with more depth. Reach the right fingertips back to the right, press into your left hand, lift up high enough so that you can slide your right hand right under your right shin, and then send that left ear back to the left shoulder. And you should feel a nice trapezius stretch right side of the body, top of the shoulder to the base of the neck. Dropping the chin towards the chest and away from the chest helps you feel a little bit more resistance. You may find a spot left to right or forward and backward that help you feel like you're releasing some tension here. It's an area that we hold a lot of tension. It's not ironic that they call them the trap muscles. The tension gets trapped here. If you want to bend the left elbow to feel a little bit more resistance, feel free. Good. And then slowly, slowly come on up. Great, everybody. Take your left hand behind you, fingertips facing back, draw the right arm across the body, push into the left palm, slowly lift the hips, lift the seat off the floor, place your right hand behind the base of the head, keep the elbow bent, and then push your head back into the palm. Invite your left ribs to lift a little bit and move the right elbows back in space, push forward and down into your left hand. You're going to feel that opening in the front of your right hip, even the left hip, but that right hip all the way up to the elbow. Enjoy that side stretch and be in this posture. Really feel the posture. Great. Slowly lower down, unwind, right leg comes back, last round, sit cross legged, last round of our cat and cow tilts, lift the heart, chin, and chest and round the spine. You should feel a little bit more space, a little bit more freedom of movement as you explore the extension and the flexion of the spine. Great, everybody. It's going to feel like a big move as we go into table pose. So either swing the legs around or pull your heels in, walk your hands forward, press to the tops of the shins and slide those knees right under the hips, palms under the shoulders. We're just going to take our cat tilts from the lumbar spine down. So don't engage from the rib cage up, slowly draw the navel up, tilt the tailbone down just from the lumbar spine, and then lift the hips. Try not to move the mid back, upper back, or the neck. We're really slowing things down but when we slow things down, you can feel areas that need to be isolated that really benefit from this isolation, from focusing on this one little spot. And it does feel like that massage that we were talking about. All right, now start to engage the middle of the spine, push into the palms, keep the head neutral, don't tuck the chin to the chest as you round the spine. Don't look forward or up as you let the belly drop towards the floor and invite the heart to move forward towards the front of your mat. Two more rounds, just inviting that mid spine into the practice. Take your time moving slowly, be curious about how the muscles are moving, feel your way through it, allow the breath to guide you. Okay, now the next time you exhale, draw the chin to the chest last. So lower back, mid back, push upper back, finally chin to the chest, same thing in reverse. Head moves last, lift the tail, belly drops, heart moves forward, chin moves away from the chest last. Two more rounds really slowly, initiating at the sacrum, feeling this wave of energy all the way to the crown of the head. Sometimes when we take our time, we feel a little guilty, like we should be doing multitasking. But remember, give yourself yourself this time, this space to really slow things down. The whole point of this is to give you some space so that you can connect a little bit deeper, not so involved in all these distracting movements and then arriving in your shalasana. We're arriving right now. Good. Come on back to your table pose, setting up for our first down dog. Walk your hands forward, a palm print, tuck your toes under, lift your hips to the sky, press the chest towards the thighs, pedal out the legs one at a time, one leg bends at a time. We're actively pushing forward with each of our fingertips. The ears are kind of by the biceps, the navel slightly drawing up and back, keeping that core pulling up and back and engaged. Hell it out like you're taking a slow walk and your favorite spot by the beach, by the lake, whatever it is, invite that idea of finding ease in the mind, stillness and peace in the mind to be present through your whole practice today. Good. And then we're going to slowly guide our shoulders forward for plank pose. Feel free to bring your knees to the floor as you slowly lower down, bend the elbows, replace your palms with your elbows, untuck the toes, press to the tops of the feet. So the knees slightly lift off the floor, dry your ribs forward towards your thumbs. And then from here, just the mid and upper back rounding with the exhale, guiding the heart, chin and chest forward, lifting the chin away from the chest with your inhale. So we're keeping the lower back quite neutral, the mid back quite neutral. We're just focusing on the upper back and shoulders, giving ourselves a little bit of freedom in this area. Excellent, everybody. Happy Thursday. Last round. Good.

Lower down, replace the elbows with your palms, press back up to your down dog, knees always the option. Hips to the sky, chest towards the thighs, pedal the heels back to the floor and then start to lower the heels and just hang out and breathe in your dog. Feel the breath three dimensionally, feel the front body, the side body and the back body. Feel it all the way up into the lats, all the way up to the armpits. Last two breaths. Pushing actively forward, keeping the wrist nice and safe. Last one breath. Walk your feet halfway to your hands, just about halfway. Come up to your fingertips and then lean the hips back. Take a little walk to your left with your hands. So you're getting a little side stretch on your right side body and then bend the right leg. If you need to bring the left hand closer or the hands closer, feel free, be kind to your hamstrings. Bending the right leg will help you feel more of the side stretch and the isolation of just that left hamstring should feel okay on the lower back, but modify if it doesn't. Walk your hands back to center, straightening the right, bending the left, walking your hands over to the right, a nice little side stretch. You can even lean your hips to the left if you want to feel a little bit more resistance on this left side body. Lengthen it up, slow it down. Great. Walk back to your mini dog and then walk your feet slowly behind the hands. Take a soft forward fold with your knees bent. Grab onto the elbows and let the body sway from side to side. Take your time. Let gravity do the work. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. Keep the knees bent and enjoy this soft inversion head below the heart. Good. Bend your knees, bring your hands on top of the quads, supported chair pose, hands on top of the quads, last round of our cow and cat tilts. You can move a little bit quicker, but feel each area of the spine and initiate from the sacrum, lifting the heart, chin and chest as you look forward and possibly up and then rounding, drawing the tailbone down as you pull the navel up and back. Last round. The next time you round the spine, roll all the way up. As you roll up, go ahead and inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale the palms right into prayer. Give yourself a moment to check in. Maybe remember the dedication, the offering for your practice today. Feel the breath in all sides of the body, front side and back body. Give yourself permission to move at a slow pace today. Good. As we swan dive and bow to the floor, I invite you to own with me. Inhale the palms to the sky, engine of the hips as we fold. Slide your palms up to the shins, flat back, lengthen the spine, crown of the head forward. As you exhale, bend both knees, fingertips, plant them to the floor, step the right foot back, lower the right knee to the floor, bring the left hand inside of the left thigh and release your back toes and just let your hips softly rock from side to side in lizard pose. Feel that release in the outer hip, right side. Feel the right side body as you explore these side bends in your lizard pose. And then from here, if you're coming a little farther down, you can bring your forearms to the floor or just bending your elbows. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. Take your left arm and wrap it around your left knee and invite the left knee to hug into the chest just a little bit more. And then from your right knee to the crown of the head, get long with the spine and softly turn your torso to the left. You can keep the hand on the knee hugging it in or send the left palm to the sky or option of sending it up and over the ear, sliding that left shoulder slightly down the spine, giving yourself a little bit more space. Get long and rotate and then go back to your breath. Feel your way through the posture as you hold the posture for another three breaths. See if you can find ease here. Take a little holiday in your posture. One more round of breath. Good. Lower the left hand back to the floor, right hand back to the floor. Heel to your left foot back to the center of your mat. And then you may have to walk your hands back to straighten the left leg. Once you straighten the left leg, point and flex so you feel that ankle foot connection. The hands can be farther back or you can guide them farther forward. Listen to your hamstring. Listen to your calf. The next time you flex the foot, pause, guide the heart forward, guide the crown of the head forward. Enjoy this nice hamstring stretch while you're squeezing to the midline with your inner thighs. A little bend in that left leg. Move nice and slow if you need to double up under your right knee. Take that option. Left hand on top of the left quad, right hand to the sacrum. Use that right hand to feel the sacrum lengthening down, the tailbone lengthening down and use the left hand to help you really lift your sternum, lift your ribs, lift your chest. We're going to float the arms up on the inhale and down the midline on the exhale. Inhaling the palms to the sky. Make it feel like a moving meditation. Exhale down the midline. Inhale the palms to the sky. Lifting heart, chin and chest. Exhaling it down the midline. I like to imagine the arms as the antennas connecting us to source whatever that means to you and then drawing the energy down right through the crown chakra all the way down to the heart. Play with two more rounds of this little moving meditation. You're getting a nice stretch through the right hip, the right psoas. Great. Last round. Exhales when you reach your palms to the sky. Invite the shoulder blades down just a little bit. Looking forward or up. And then as you exhale, lower the palms on either side of the left foot. Tuck your right toes under, release the right knee from the floor so you're in a lunge. And this is going to feel a little weird. So feel your way through it. Bend your back leg, your right leg and straighten your front leg. Yeah. Bend your front leg and straighten your back leg. So we're feeling our way through a nice hamstring stretch on the front leg. Bending the right leg, bowing over the left thigh. Bending the left leg, guiding heart, chin and chest forward. Bending the back leg to access that hamstring and calf deeper and a little bit more safely. Bending the front leg, guiding the heart, chin and chest forward, pressing back into the right heel. Last one, bend into your right leg, bow. And then bend into your left leg, right hand stays to the floor, left hand to the sky, soft twist. Get along with the spine and rotate your torso to the left. Excellent, everybody. Lower the left hand to the floor. Make sure your feet are hip distance. Bring your hands to the hips and you rise up for your high lunge. Straighten your left leg. Find your focal point. Find your drishti. Inhale the palms to the sky. Take five breaths to bend your left leg. So on that next exhale, bend your left leg maybe an inch or two. Put a little bit more weight into your back right heel, pressing it towards the floor. Inhale, reach the sternum chest up, reach up with your fingertips. Exhale, sink a little bit deeper into the left leg. A nice, slow, long, high lunge. Try two more breaths. Slow it down. Find your way through the pose by being really steady in the posture. Warm more round breath. Shoulders drop a little bit as you lift the heart. Maybe take the drishti up. Left knee slightly behind the left heel. Yay. Lower the palms to the floor. Did you guys feel that one? That's about as tense as it's going to get today. Slide your right foot forward. Heel toe forward about six inches. Turn the toes in for pyramid pose. We've been in this posture before with a back leg bent. Hopefully you'll feel a little bit more space here with the front leg straight. You can always take a little bend in the front leg. If you're guiding yourself forward here, hug to the midline with the inner thighs. Maybe take a walk forward with your fingertips lengthening the spine. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. Try not to lock your left knee. Try not to push it back too far. Keep a little micro bend in it if you are hyper flexible in your joints here. Great. Rebend your left leg. Look forward. Step the right foot forward. Feet are hip distance. Palms into prayer. Lengthen the spine. Flat back. Exhale, soft fold. Reverse the dive or roll up your choice. Be kind to your lower back. Inhale it all the way up. So that was a little bit of weight on that left leg. Let's take a quad stretch for the left leg. Switch your weight to the right leg. Feel free to use your wall. Grab the front of your left shin with your left hand. Draw the heel in towards your seat and squeeze. Hug to the midline with the inner thighs. A little bit of adduction helps with the balance. If you want to grab the left foot with both hands.

Yeah, the Drishti is important here for our balancing postures. Excellent. Shake out the left leg. Maybe do a little dance. You've been following me through these series. We just keep dancing and each one of them. I don't know why. I'm trying to pick it up from you guys. So you guys are helping me channel this little dancing action. Let's come to the front of our mat. Feet hip distance. You have a second opportunity to own with me as you bow to the floor. Inhale your palms to the sky. Lift the heart, chin and chest. Into the hips with your own. Palms to the shins. Lengthen the spine. Flat back. Exhale, bend both knees. Fingertips in front of the toes. Shift your weight to your right foot. Step the left leg all the way back. Lower the left knee to the floor. Hands inside of the right leg. Untuck your left toes. Once you bring the hands inside of the right leg, give your hips a little rock to the left. Turning the torso to the left and a little rock to the right. Turning the torso. So pulse with your breath. Enjoy this little freestyle of your lizard pose here. Bringing a little bit of movement to the spine. Not keeping it so static. And choose whether you're keeping the palms on the floor as you hug the right knee into the chest. Wrapping that right arm around. Or bringing that left elbow to the floor. As you hug towards the midline, lengthen the spine and then turn your torso to the right. Lengthen and rotate. Right knee hugging in towards the midline. For this one, it's going to want to splay out. You can keep the right palm there. Take it to the sky or bring it up and over the ear. Just like with any of our rotations, we need to find length to create more space to turn and rotate to the right. One more round. Breath. Really relax into the breath. Reconnect with the breath. The full four parts of your breath. Excellent. Lower the right hand back down. Straighten the arms if they were bent. Straighten your right leg. Pull the toes back. You might have to walk your hands back here. Yeah. And then we're going to put on the gas or the brake and then take it off. So point and flex as you lengthen the spine. Good. Enjoying that little squeeze to the midline. Waking up the calf and hamstring. Taking our time. Excellent. The next time you flex the right foot, stay here. Invite the crown of the head to lengthen forward and go ahead and bend into your right leg. Right hand on top of the right thigh. Left hand to your sacrum. Lengthen the tailbone down. Lift your ribcage up. Lengthen. Get long from the pubis all the way to the sternum.

Creating space for the lower back. And we'll go back into our connection again. Inhaling the palms to the sky. Whatever the divine is to you, whatever the source is to you, bring the energy down. Exhaling it down. Inhale, reaching up. Nice little mudra, intention, meditative experience that connects us with the reason that we're doing yoga. So recharge, respect, not be so trapped in our name, our character, our role. The next time you send the palms to the sky, go ahead and pause here. Invite the shoulders to drop a little bit away from the chest. Lift the sternum and chest and feel the front of your left hip getting that nice, juicy stretch. Great, guys. Lower the palms around the right foot. Tuck your left toes under. Lift the left knee off the floor. Take a little bend in your back leg as you straighten the front leg. Bend the back leg to straighten the front and then bend the front leg to straighten the back. Pulse with the breath. We're feeling that nice hamstring stretch, guiding the crown of the head forward as we bend into our back leg. Give yourself one more round. The next time you bend your front leg, pause here. Left palm to the floor. Right palm to the sky. Ring it out. Enjoy the breath. As you push your left heel back, lengthen the crown of the head forward. Softly rotate to your right. Keep turning your bicep on the left hand forward so it doesn't turn all the way to the right. Great. Lower the palms to the floor. Good. And then start to make sure your feet are hip distance. Bring your hands to the hips as you rise up with the torso, straighten your right leg. Your right leg is going to be happy for that. Lengthen the tailbone down. Lift the sternum. Lift the heart up. Focus on your drishti, your focal point. Inhale the palms to the sky. Remember we've got our five count high lunge. Take a big inhale first. Lift the sternum and chest and then bend softly into that right leg. Maybe just a couple of inches. Keep that new spot. Take another inhale. Press the left heel back a little bit. Sink a little deeper into the right knee. Take three more rounds of breath just like that, moving a little bit deeper into the posture with each exhale. Moving with less effort, but this is still a powerful pose. We're just not rushing into it today. Two more rounds of breath. Maybe take the drishti up. One more. Excellent. Lower the palms to the floor. Heel toe your left foot forward about six inches or so. Turn the toes in about 45, 60 degrees and start to straighten your right leg. Remember we don't want to lock it. You're hyper flexible. Keep a gentle bend into it. Guide the heart, chin, and chest forward.

You can always walk your hands back or bring your hands to the shins or for those of you moving a little deeper, walk the fingertips forward. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. Keep drawing the inner thighs towards each other to help you feel the foundation of the posture. And then see if you can go back to that ease in the posture. Great. Rebend your right leg. Look forward. Step your left foot forward to meet the right palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, soft hold. Either round up or reverse the dive as you come up to a stand. Inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale them right into prayer. Even though we didn't do a lot, it was a lot of work on that right leg. So let's take the quad stretch with the right leg. Shift your weight to your left hand and reach down. Grab onto the front of the shin. I've got my focal point, keeping my attention on it. Squeeze towards the midline with the inner thighs. Pull the heel towards the seat with one or both hands. Great guys. One more round of breath. Excellent. We did a lot of closing postures. We're going to take some opening postures. So face me, feet out towards the long side of your mat. Turn your hips towards the long side of your mat. A nice wide stance and then turn your toes out to ten and two o'clock. Let the knees bend out towards ten and two o'clock. Bring your hands right on top of the thighs. Give yourself a little rock from side to side. Great, everybody. Bend into your right leg a little deeper. Place the right forearm on top of the right thigh. Use the left hand to guide the left inner thigh away from you and let the tailbone drop to the floor as you lift your sternum and you lift your chest, opening up the front of the hips. The right foot is going to stay and turn slightly to the right and at the same time turn the left heel in. Line up your heels, right heel, left heel. Slightly turn the left toes in a little bit closer than parallel to the back of your mat. Guide your right ribcage forward, left ribcage back.

Inhale the left palm to the sky. Place the hand behind the base of the head. Lean the head back and then just tuck your chin towards the chest. Lean the elbow towards the midline of the spine. Lift the left elbow. Lean the head back. Draw your right ribcage forward. One more time. Elbow in. Tuck the chin to the chest. Nice stretch in the back and then slowly free the left arm to the sky. Rise all the way up to peaceful warrior, straightening your right leg, left hand, left IT band, right hand to the sky. And the same thing that we did with our high lunge pose, five count bend into the right leg. So each time you exhale, a little bend into the right leg. Each time you inhale, lift both side bodies and stretch up and a little farther back. Each time you exhale, sink a little deeper into your foundation. Each time you inhale, lengthen and extend. Two more rounds of breath. You got it. One more. Awesome. Straighten the right leg. Squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs. Drop the front right hip as you reach forward with the right fingertips. Come up just above or below the right shin where it feels really easy for you. Draw your right ribcage forward and left ribcage back. Lengthen the spine and rotate to your left. Extend the left palm to the sky. You've got three more breaths. If you want to slide the hand down a little bit, do it really slowly without losing the orientation of the torso. So the torso is not dropping on the left side towards the floor. You're keeping lengthening the spine and drawing the inner thighs towards each other. One more round of breath. Good. Bend your right leg. Bring the left hand to the hip. Rise all the way up with the right hand. Turn the right toes to join the left. Bring the hands back to the hips. Great. Shift your way over to your left leg. Take a little bend in your left leg and slide the right foot over to the left. We did a lot of hip opening on the right. So we're going to do our tree pose on the right. And we're going to add a little lotus mudra. So as you bring the pinkies and thumbs together, move the fingertips away from you. You may want to do this after you establish your tree pose. So focus on a drishti point in front of you. Right foot can stay on the floor at the ankle, come up to the calf or somewhere above the knee. Bring your pinkies and thumbs together. Separate your fingers. Let the pads of your palms touch and move the fingers away from each other. My tree, my little tree is wobbly today. Good. If your tree is wobbly, come back and join me. It's almost as if we're gazing down into the lotus that's right in front of us. The lotus represents the heart space. That moving from those three lower chakras to anahatta chakra, the lotus moves out from the ground through the water. It sees the sunshine and passes right through and finally starts to shine at the heart space. It's the metaphor for us trying not to get stuck in our empowerment and moving up into our heart space. When you step out of it, take the feet nice and wide.

How was your lotus? You get a second chance to try it again. Turn your toes out. 10 and two o'clock. Bend the knees. Nice wide stance. Give yourself a little rock from side to side. Keep the right hand where it is. Bring the left form on top of your left thigh. Guide the right inner thigh away and let the hips drop towards the floor. Sometimes inviting a little rock here helps us feel some space releasing the adductors that we were working so hard to squeeze to the midline. Now we're taking a little counterbalancing posture. Left form stays. Right heel moves to the back of your head. Turn the toes in. Left toes perpendicular to the back of your mat. Line up your heels. Invite the left ribcage forward. Easy side angle. Right palm to the sky. Bring the hand right behind your head. Lean the head back. Lean the elbow back. Keep the spine turning softly to your right but just draw the right elbow towards your left ribcage as you tuck the chin to the chest. When you inhale, move the elbow back in space. Lean the head back. Lean that left ribcage forward right ribcage back. Try that two more times. Nice little stretch for the back of the neck. One more. Excellent. The next time you move that right elbow to the sky, go ahead and pause. Inhale the right palm up over the ear. Lengthen through the right side body with the next inhale and then straighten the left leg. Rise all the way up. Right hand right IT bend. Left hand to the sky. Flip the palm. Just like we did on the other side. Keep the right ribcage lifted. Keep lengthening through the spine. Five breath lunge. So slowly bend into the left leg and pause. Inhale, get a little longer through the spine. Reach a little farther back. Exhale, sink a little deeper. Push into the pinky toe side of your right foot. Lift and lengthen. Exhale a little deeper. One more round of breath. You're almost there.

Yes, peaceful warrior. Straighten the left leg nice and slow. Reach forward with the left fingertips. Hinge at the left hip. Drop the left hip. Lift the back hip. Reach forward and come to a spot that's really easy for you, either above or below the knee. And before you go any deeper, turn your torso to the right. I like to grab the rib on the right side and really just invite it back. And then from here, you can send the right hand to the sky. Line it up with the left, sinking a little deeper into the posture if that feels right for your body without losing the foundation of the legs and the rotation of the torso. Making these postures feel like we're easing into them instead of using force. Great guys. Rebend your left leg. Bring your right hand to the hip. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Bring the left toes to join the right. Step the left foot to the center of your mat. The left leg was the one that we were externally rotating. So that's the leg we're bringing into tree pose. You get one more time for your lotus. Drishti focal point. Focusing on that spot, helping us connect with our breath. Touching the pinky, sides of the pinkies and thumbs, pads of the palm. Spreading the fingertips, moving the fingers away. Inviting kindness, compassion, love and patience to self and others. To our practice, to the activity in our mind. Good. Release the left leg. Shake out the legs one more time. Shorten your stance and turn the toes out. Bring your hands to the hips. Bend the knees out to ten and two o'clock and come all the way down into your malasana. If this is challenging on your knees, keep the hips the height of the knees. If not, slowly lower down. Squeeze triceps towards the elbows. Lift the heart. Feel free to bring your palms into prayer. Great. From your malasana, bring your fingertips behind you. Lower onto your built-in cushions and then come all the way down. Let's wrap the right knee on top of the left. Sliding the left foot under and across. Drop right towards your outer glute. Right foot outside of the left knee. Once again hugging, but this time we're closing the hip. Lift the sternum. Lift the chest. Bring your hand behind you. Use the inhales to find the length, the extension of the spine and then softly turn to your right. Think of your exhales and turning to the right as more of a experience where you're releasing, you're surrendering after the inhales being the power breath. So use the inhales to grow and the exhales to softly turn. Wonderful. All right.

So you can re-cross your legs the normal way or I always like to walk my hands to the left. Lift, keep the knees bent and then set up the twist. This brings a little fun to it. Draw the left heel in. Right heel in. Left heel outside. Wrap your right arm around the knee. Left fingertips behind you. Lift and lengthen the spine. Softly turn. Left sip one might come off the floor. The idea is to keep it moving towards the floor as you lift and rotate. Remember the inhales, the breath where we really focus on extending the spine and the exhales. Ah, I'm softening to some space that I just created. Wonderful everybody. Good. As you unwind, swing your legs around. Come to a nice comfortable straight leg seat. Bring your fingertips behind your hips a little bit wider than your hips and lower the elbows for a variation of fishpipes. The elbows will be in line right underneath the shoulders. Squeeze to the midline. Lift the heart. Lift the sternum. Either look up or let the head drop back. Feeling that throat opening and releasing. Let's take a nice lion's breath. Inhale through the nose. As you exhale, stick the tongue out. Try to touch your chin. Inhale release. If you try this opening the eyes, look towards your nose like you're crossing the eyes. Stick your tongue out. Touch it towards the chin. Let's try one more time. Nice. Begin to inhale through the nose. Good. Slowly melt into the floor. Lower down vertebrae by vertebrae. Release the elbows. Flip your palms up. Maybe a little bend in the knees.

Any last little movements, a little rock of the hips. I like to finish with a nice little twist, but if there's something that's calling you in your practice, maybe it's a happy baby pose, feel free. Soft little twist if you're feeling it to the right. Line up your hips with a midline. If you're in a happy baby, feel free to straighten one leg at a time. Think of this last posture as your opportunity to let go of the doing in the body. Withdrawing the senses once again, you can already start to close your eyes. If you're doing the twist, start to switch sides. If you're doing the happy baby and there's anything else that feels like it might be a nice way to slide you into shavasana, go for it. Or straighten the legs and I'll meet you there. What I was saying is these last postures really help us to prepare for this important post, shavasana, where we let go of the doing. Hopefully this nice slower practice helped you settle into the present moment so that you can be a little bit more present for yourself. As you release the legs into shavasana, flip the palms up. Relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw and send that wave of relaxation from the crown of the head down through the arms, through the torso, through the hips, the legs, all the way to the toes so you feel that tingle of energy, that lightness of being, that connection to our energy body. Now you get to let go of the breath. Let your body breathe organically without any guidance from your mind. But any thought patterns that aren't serving you dissolve into peace. You can see the thoughts and just let them dissolve into peace. Remembering the lotus, our standing posture, dropping back to your heart space, being kind to yourself and your thoughts and your words towards self, being loving towards self, feeling that in self first and then sharing it with others, being the yoga messenger. Feel free to stay in your shavasana a little bit longer or start to bring some movements back to your fingers and toes. Organically move the way that feels right for you. Make sure before you roll to the right side and fetal pose that you give yourself a much deserved hug. When you find yourself in fetal pose, give yourself a moment to remember this connection that you made during your practice and your shavasana. Remember to keep cultivating it.

Help yourself up slowly to your seat. With your eyes closed, return to the lotus. Through the darkness, through all the challenges, the lotus still finds its way to the surface, finds its way to bloom, to connect to a source. We do the same with our yoga practice. So as you bring your palms into prayer, thank yourself for creating this time and space for your practice and I thank you for joining me on this journey through the Joyful Flow Series. It's been so nice to be able to do this and I hope that we stay connected and you keep coming back to your practice and like always share it with everyone that you meet. Namaste.