Gentle Flow

Welcome back. This is a gentle yet active practice for days when you want to move slowly and mindfully while increasing energy and boosting your mood. So we'll start standing a little bit of neck and shoulder work and then flow into some slow lunge salutations and some standing shapes and come back down. So join me in standing about a little wider than hips width apart and let's just start with our shoulders, letting the shoulders come up to the ears, feel a breath in, exhale, let it go. And again, inhale, roll the shoulders up, gentle squeeze, exhale, drop. One more time, inhale, let the shoulders roll up, exhale, let them drop and let's roll the shoulders back one at a time. This is just one of my favorite ways to kind of ease into the body, especially those areas that feel kind of tight and sticky, rolling them back and let's reverse that. Rolling the shoulders back up and forward, feeling into the back of the shoulder blades, the back of the heart. Notice the quality of the breath moving through the body. Nice. And then from here again, roll the shoulders up, exhale, release them down. Let's rub the hands together, feeling the energy between the hands and then reach the arms out and roll the shoulders forward, flossing the shoulders, press through the feet, feel that external rotation as the arms open. Again, rolling the shoulders forward, you might find that kind of cat-cow movement through your spine, opening up, reaching from the heart into the hands. One more, rolling the shoulders forward, press through the feet, feel that beautiful opening. Come back and press from the heart out through the arms and draw the fingers towards the ears. Feel how you can kind of reach and extend from the heart into the heels of your hands and then draw the fingers under, stretch the top of the forearms, the wrists here, soften through the knees, the jaw, maybe release the chin towards the chest for a moment, breathing in and then exhale, release the arms. Again, roll the shoulders up, exhale, release, we'll interlace the fingers, reach the arms forward and then let your back round and stretch for a moment. A little bit of a cat-cow here and then press through the feet, soft bend through the elbows as you reach the arms up towards the sky and just feel that beautiful length for your spine, your ability to ground through your feet, find a little bit more space here, inhale to lengthen, let's take it over to the right, pressing through your left foot, opening up through the ribs here, find a place where your neck feels good, on your inhale, press through the feet, arms reach up and over to the other side to the left, ground through your right foot, breathing into the right lung, ribs easy in the neck, ground through the feet, inhale up and exhale, release the arms, again draw the shoulders up, exhale, release, let's inhale, reach the arms up, this time clasp right hand to left wrist, inhale, lengthen, exhale, take it over to your right, pressing through the left foot, opening up through the ribs, press through the feet, inhale up, clasp left hand around the right wrist, press through the feet and take it up out and over to the left, opening up through the right side body and press through the feet, inhale, come up, exhale, release, draw the shoulders up, exhale, drop them down, nice, exhale, from here let's reach the right arm out, roll the shoulder forward, bend the elbow and bring the back of the hand, just around the low back, say crumb or maybe up between your shoulder blades, whatever feels good, we'll soften the chin down towards the chest and just roll the left ear towards the left shoulder, this is one of my favorite ways to begin to feel into and create a little bit more space through the shoulder and the neck, you might stay right where you are, you might slowly bring the head and the gaze down towards your left foot, easy through the back of the eyes and then maybe slowly bringing the head and the gaze up towards the left, the feeling into the scalenes, top of the shoulder, saw through the jaw, maybe a few times here, up and down, still allowing for this easy oscillation or you might find a spot where you want to pause and hang out and breathe into the sensation and still allow yourself to be super tender and gentle in this area of the neck, when you feel ready to release, again no rush, take your time, chin into the chest and then releasing through that right arm, press through the feet, slow, lift the chest, lift the head, relax the effort for a moment and pause, yeah, clearing breath, exhale, release, let's feel into the left arm, reaching the left arm out, roll the shoulder forward, bend the elbow, again you might bring the back of the hand to your sacrum or maybe somewhere up between the shoulder blade, they'll totally depend on this shoulder, soften the chin down and slowly roll the right ear towards the right shoulder, so away from that left arm, pause when you first begin to feel something, it doesn't take much, you might stay where you are, you might slowly bring the head and the gaze down towards your right foot, you'll be feeling that connection through the feet slowly, bring the head and the gaze up towards the right, really allowing this to be a slow kind of listening practice rather than trying to get something done or fix something in your neck, with this quality of tender curiosity and listening, there's a little oscillation happening up and down or maybe you find a sweet curious spot where you want to pause and breathe into it, I find each side feels totally different, you might stay with it a bit longer, you might slowly when you feel ready, just roll the chin back down towards the chest, free your left arm, press through the feet and then slowly let the head lift, take a moment to pause and notice, let's draw the shoulders up again, exhale drop them down again, beautiful, join me at the top of your mat as we ease our way into some lunge salutations, it might be helpful to have two blocks if you'd like to kind of bring the floor up for your lunges and even set up a blanket for your knee, then as you land your knee down towards the floor, just having some extra padding can feel really nice and then let's go ahead and walk our feet in between our blocks, eat about hips width apart, standing at the top of your mat and take a few moments, look down at the toes, spread the toes wide, we'll drop into our Tadasana Mountain Pose together, just inviting a quality of length up through you, up through the spine, feeling the presence of the back body and this has been a theme in our season and that feeling of the the skull drawing back and slightly lifting up, so there's a slight softening of the chin down, ease through the jaw, beautiful, let's bring the hands together at the heart, begin by drawing your attention towards the breath, feeling the natural wave of the breath moving through you, without doing anything specific, without strain or force or pushing, nice, using our way in with some Half Sun Salutations, allowing the breath to inspire the movement and the pace, as you are ready on an inhale, begin to reach your arms up towards the sky, press through the feet, feel that beautiful length in your spine, with an exhale, soft bend through your knees, bring your hands onto your legs this first round, like you're coming into a bit of a chair pose or a squat, let your back round here and then move into your forward fold, hands might find the blocks or the floor as you release the head, hands find the legs again and inhale half arch, let your spine lengthen and then round your back, tailbone draws under like you're coming into your cat, press through your feet and inhale arms reach up, exhale hands together at the heart, few more times together, inhale arms reach up, gather the energy and lengthen, exhale bend the knees, bit of a chair pose, hands find the legs, pause, round your back, curl the tailbone under, bend your knees, maybe release the hands down or to your blocks, hands find the legs again, bend the knees, squat, feel some extension through your spine as you lengthen and then curl the tailbone under, round the back as you slowly roll up, press through the feet, inhale circle the arms up and exhale hands together at the heart and pause and notice, adding on inhale arms to reach up, this time exhale soft bend through the knees forward fold, hinge at the hips, releasing the hands maybe to the blocks or the floor, let the head release, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend the knees, let's step our right foot back into a runner's lunge, left knee bends, kind of wiggle back through the ball of your right foot, feel how you can find a little bit more length forward through your spine, your heart, the crown of your head, kind of feel a fullness in your back ribs, the energy through your back legs, so this is very strengthening and energizing and then just slow lower your right knee down, here's where the blanket comes in, inhale draw your hips back, extend through your left leg, I feel the hamstrings singing exhale left knee bends, deepening into your lunge, back thigh and hip flexors, inhale draw your hips back, find some length and space and exhale sink in, find one more inhale draw the hips back, lengthen through the left leg, exhale front knee bends, you might stay low in your lunge with the hands on the blocks or the floor, you might rise up hands onto that front leg, feeling the length in the spine, you want to challenge inhale you might reach the arms up towards the sky, turning the palms forward bending the elbows and finding cactus or goal post arms, opening out through the chest and feeling the shoulder blades hug in towards the spine, good reaching the arms up again, exhale release the hands down to the blocks, draw your hips back, extend through that left leg nice and long through your spine and then go ahead and bend the knee, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, rock and roll on that back foot, step the right foot forward to meet the left, inhale half arch, let your spine lengthen, hands might even come up onto the legs, exhale bend the knee, step the other leg back, left leg back, right knee bends, wiggle back through the ball of your left foot and feel the energy and length through the spine, crown of the head, we'll pause here for a few moments, feel how you might be able to hug the right hip in a little bit, strengthen the back leg, again find that fullness in the back body, when you're ready lower the back knee down and then inhale draw your hips back, extend through that front right leg, feel the hamstrings, exhale right knee bends, lunge, two more times, inhale draw the hips back, exhale lunge, last round, inhale draw the hips back, extend through your right leg, exhale lunge, again you might stay right here, really honoring your body, your rhythm, hands might find the front leg, feel how you might be able to find a little bit more length and space through the spine, softening the shoulders, really tuning in into some ease within the intensity and the effort and if you want to challenge, arms might reach up, feel that lift through the back of your heart, palms facing forward, bend the elbows, if you want to explore cactus, opening up through the chest, feeling that gentle squeeze of the shoulder blades into your spine, space through the front body, inhale arms reach up, exhale hands release, draw the hips back and a free your front leg there, back hip, take your time, bend the front knee, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee and we're in the shape of the runner's lunge, rock and roll on the back foot and then step the left foot forward to meet the right, bend the knees forward fold, bring the hands onto the legs, bend the knees, little chair pose action as you lengthen the spine and then press through the feet, round the back as you roll your way back up, inhale arms reach up, exhale hands together at the heart, take a moment to pause, notice how you feel, you're feeling the blood, the energy through the body, second round of lunges will add on a twist, as you're ready inhale reach the arms up, exhale hinge at the hips, forward fold hands releasing the blocks or floor, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend the knees, let's step the left foot back again, right knee bends, pause for a moment here, lower the back knee and stay low in our second round of lunges, hands on the front leg or inhale arms reach up, exhale cactus opening the chest, take two rounds inhale arms reach, exhale cactus, last one inhale arms reach up, exhale cactus, let's bring the hands together at the heart this time, hands to the blocks, draw the hips back extend through the front leg again, hamstring action, take your time, bend the front knee we'll move into our twisting lunge, if you have a block underneath that left hand you might lower it down, maybe toe heel that right foot a little wider, tuck the back toes lift the back knee up, reach back through the left heel forward through the heart as you begin to twist and rotate the spine to the right, if it feels good you might reach that right arm up to the sky, reaching back through the right the left heel forward through the heart, find a place where the neck feels good, so you hug that right hip in, hmm beautiful rotation inhale here, exhale slow release the hand, de-rotate the spine, here's where we kind of reorganize the block so they're nice and even, rock and roll on that back foot and step the left foot forward to meet the right, inhale lift up halfway, exhale bend your knees step your right foot back, left knee bends, again wiggle on back there, when you're ready lower the back knee, second round of lunges, stay low, your hands might come on to the front leg, you want to challenge inhale arms reach up, low crescent lunge, feeling the lift through the back of the heart, maybe adding the cactus, bending the elbows, opening the chest, two more rounds, inhale arms reach exhale cactus, last one inhale arms reach, exhale cactus, and here bring the hands together at the heart, hands on the blocks through the floor, draw the hips back, extend through the front leg, easing into our twisting lunge, bend the front knee, again you might lower the block underneath your right hand, customize it for you and be toe heel your left foot a little wider, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, reach back through the right heel forward through the heart and then rotating to the left, and I like to even take my hand and kind of sweep the belly, the ribs, the lungs to the left, maybe reaching that top left arm up, find that ease in the neck, feeling the energy through the top hand, breathing here, so nice, inhale exhale slow, de-rotate the spine down, reorganize your blocks, shape of the lunge, rock and roll, step your right foot forward to meet the left, inhale half arch, exhale bend the knees, round and stretch the back, bend the knees, bring the hands onto the legs, little chair pose action as you lift up and lengthen and then curl the tailbone under, round the back, press through the feet and inhale sweep the arms up, gather the energy and exhale drawing it back to the heart, and taking a moment here to pause and notice how you feel and then take a moment relax the effort, from here let's reorganize and step our feet out wide for a warrior two and triangle pose, so you might if you have a blanket just and bring it off to the side, you might work with your two one or two blocks if you have them on either side of you in preparation for our triangle pose, Trikonasana, and step the feet wide, let's come into our warrior two to begin with, so internally rotate your left thigh and foot, externally rotate your right, bend your right knee, feel into your right hip today, feel in line with the inner arch and then lengthening through the inner thigh and you tracking over that second third toe, rooting through the outer edge of the foot and inhale lift the arms, feeling the abdominal muscles supporting your low back, the descent of the tailbone, lengthening through the side body, few moments here pausing, softening the jaw, let's take a few rounds of warrior dance inhale press through the ball of your right foot, arms reach, exhale right knee bend, let's find two more today, inhale press through the ball, the right foot, right leg straightens, arms reach, exhale warrior two, last one just easing into the hip and the knee, arms reach, exhale warrior two, pause here, nice, hands on the hips, press through the ball, the right foot will internally rotate right thigh and foot, externally rotate left, bend the left knee, check out your foundation of your feet, lengthening through inner thigh and you tracking over second third toe as you float the arms, notice if you're kind of reaching to one side and can you feel that sense of lengthening through the back arm, rooting through the outer edge, nice, let's open the palms for warrior dance, inhale press through the ball, the left foot, arms reach, exhale left knee, bend warrior two, inhale arms reach, gather, exhale ground, last one here, inhale arms reach, exhale pause warrior two, taking a moment to settle and hands on the hips, press through the ball of your left foot, internally rotate your left thigh and foot and let's just heel toe our feet back, I do this, I heel toe the feet back coming into mountain pose Tadasana for a moment, just feeling into the body, allowing for this moment of integration, feeling the pelvis, the legs, the feet, clearing it out, inhale exhale release, stepping the feet wide again, this time for our triangle pose Trikonasana and here's where the blocks might come in handy behind you, internal rotation through the left thigh and foot, external rotation through the right, strong through the legs, let's bring the hands onto the hips and inhale reach the right arm up, so right leg turned out, right arm reaching up, feel that laying through the underside and keep this length as you begin to reach across the room, feeling the hips draw back and you're reaching and reaching and reaching, keep lengthening, eventually might keep a soft bend through that front knees, you bring the hand onto the shin, bring the block outside of the ankle and then feel you can revolve your ribs towards the sky, your left hand might stay on the hip or you might reach that left arm out and up towards the sky, feeling that expansion through the lungs, through the torso, through the chest, find a place where your neck feels good, maybe it's looking down or straight ahead, again feeling the presence of the back body, few more moments here, really lengthening, opening, as you're ready strong through the legs inhale reach with that top arm and let it pull you back up, nice work, hands on the hips will internally rotate the right back input, externally rotate the left, take a moment to pause, check out your foundation and then as you're ready inhale lift the left arm up, that's the direction we're moving in, feel the whole left side of the body lengthen and creating space here, keep this space as you reach, because if you're reaching across the room for a dear beloved friend you haven't seen in a while, you're reaching, soft bend through the knee, hand might find the shin and you might pull your block in outside of the ankle and this opening up, this turning and revolving in the torso, ribs, lungs, right hand might stay where it is or reach up towards the sky, feeling the energy through that top arm, the ease in your neck, expanding here, really taking up space, spreading the effort evenly through the body, yeah, few more moments here, breathing, beautiful work, strong through your legs, inhale reach with your top right hand, reach, let that lift you and lift you, hands on the hips, turn that left foot and feet parallel, now as we come into a forward fold and a twist you might want to grab your two blocks if you're working with them and bring them just right out in front of you, sweet, hands on the hips feet parallel, you might totally heal your feet in just a little closer, hands on the hips, let's inhale and lengthen, feeling the strength in your legs, exhale hinge at the hips forward fold, hands are blocks right underneath the shoulders and feeling that extension through your spine, so maybe there's a soft bend in the knees as you lengthen and extend, if the blocks feel too high you might just lower the blocks down, feeling that extension and length from the sitting bones or the tailbone to the crown of the head, nice, breathing into the back ribs here, from here moving into a twist will ground, keep that left hand on the block, I like to rotate the fingers turning out to the left and then bring the right hand to the hip, can bend that left knee a little bit here and then kind of press through the foot as you open up through the chest, you might stay right where you are, you might reach that right arm up to the sky and maybe looking down or straight ahead or up towards the right hand, breathing, inhale, exhale slow, de-rotate the spine, right hand finds the block, reorganize the hands and then you might rotate the right fingers out to the right and then bring the left hand to the hip as you turn the chest to the left, might bend that right knee a little bit and then extend through the right leg as you reach the left arm up for a wide twist, breathing, finding that ease in the neck, inhale, slow as you're ready, exhale, release the left hand, de-rotate the spine, it might feel good to walk the hands or the blocks out a little further out in front of you, reaching the hips away from the hands and finding your hammock shape, softening the heart towards the earth, feel a nice opening through the shoulders, shoulder blades back of heart, that ease in the neck, nice work, take your time with this, bring the blocks or the hands back underneath you, we'll just heel toe, heel toe the feet a little closer together in preparation for a squat, a melasana, heels turn in, toes turn out, if you have the two blocks you might even stack them and use them for your seat, I really love this variation of melasana, can customize it for your your hips, your knees, your ankles, just feeling this opening through the pelvis and the length of the spine, you know sometimes here it can even feel nice to just let your back round and stretch, you can work that extension out of the low back, nice, take your time as you're ready, we'll meet an uttanasana standing forward fold, bringing the hands underneath you, just toe heel the feet back underneath your hips, let's bring the hands onto the hips, really press through your heels, press through your feet and inhale, come up to stand and then release the arms, take a moment here in mountain pose, tadasana and just let the energy, the blood move back down into the feet and the earth, making our way towards the floor through a sun salutation, you can bring your blocks off to the side, join me at the top of your mat and we'll ease our way forward and down towards downward dog, as you're ready hands together at the heart and inhale arms reach up towards the sky, exhale forward fold, soft bend through the knees, release the hands, let's inhale slide the hands up the legs, bend the knees, lengthen the spine and then as you bend the knees bring the hands to the floor and then just walk your feet back until you get into your downward dog, our first official downward dog of the practice, you might pedal the feet out a little bit here, pausing for a moment, so when you're ready from your downward dog lower the knees, let's lower ourselves on to the belly in a prone position setting up for a few rounds of cobra, forehead on the floor, for this variation let's slide the palms in line with the shoulders, draw the elbows in, roll the shoulders up the back, as you press through the hands inhale lift the chest, baby cobra here using the fingers to kind of drag and traction the heart forward and elbows drawing in, finding your edge as you lift up, exhale lower down, do more like this gently press through the hands and inhale rising up, lead with the heart lower down, last one press through the palms, inhale cobra lifting up, exhale lead with the heart lower down, tuck the toes under, press up onto the knees and let's round our way back, taking your time tucking the toes under, stretching the back or maybe easing your way back into a child's pose for a moment, elbows wide, forehead resting on the hands or the floor, breathing into the back body and feel or sense the inner waves crashing, take your time with this we'll meet on our back coming into a more of a restorative nourishing supported bridge so have a block nearby for our inversion, before we go into it though we'll find a few of our cat-cow sit-ups to warm the core, so bend the knees, feet about hips width apart, let's interlace our fingers behind the head, we've been exploring this the season, elbows wide, press the elbows down towards the floor, let your back arch, you're moving into the back bend again and then exhale curl the tailbone under, lift your head up off the floor, you're officially in the sit-up as you draw the tailbone under, elbows towards each other, nice and slow lower down, let the back arch and then exhale curl and lift and then continue maybe about one, two, three more rounds at your own pace with the breath, inhale to arch, exhale curl and lift, lowering down elbows wide, opening the lungs, arch the back, exploring the range of movement through your spine, exhale lift the head, curl the tailbone under, elbows towards each other, lowering down, eventually releasing the head, as you're ready, press through the feet, lift the pelvis up, go ahead and grab your block and then slide it underneath your sacrum, maybe at that lowest setting or whatever setting feels right for you today in this moment, I feel that settling of the block, settling of the sacrum on the block, usually around the lower two-thirds of the sacrum, you might stay right here and hang out, you might join me in drawing your knees towards your chest and stretching your legs up towards the sky for an inversion, feeling the space and opening through the chest and spacious through the throat, feeling the energy through the legs, you're reaching out through the balls of the feet, notice the quality of your breathing and your inner experience, you might stay with this a bit longer, when you feel ready to release go ahead and bend your knees, ground the feet, finding the blueprint of your bridge, press through the feet, lift your pelvis up and carefully, mindfully remove the block and lower your spine down nice and slow, hug your knees into your chest, rock and wobble a little bit from side to side, using our way into a gentle spinal twist to the right, rolling everything over to the right, mistacking the arms, we're stacking the knees and then letting that top arm open and circle you, you might have a blanket under your head for support if that feels good, and even bring that right hand on to the outer left knee, just allow for an inhale, exhale softening the belly, relaxing the organs and finding that ease through the neck, a few more breaths here, releasing the back, you're welcome to stay with this a bit longer, when you feel ready just slow unwind, lead with the top leg, let the bottom leg follow, you might ground the feet kind of shift the hips to the right a little bit, as you draw the knees into the chest, roll on to your left side, stack the arms and the knees, letting the top arm kind of circle and open, just notice what you prefer to do with your arms, maybe bringing that left hand on to the outer right knee, stabilizing, inhale to lengthen, exhale to soften and deepen into the twist, and ease up through the neck and the space between the eyes, the brow, the throat, if you ever feel pinching or irritation through that right shoulder or arm, you might just lower the arm down, or even bring a pillow or a bolster, blanket underneath that right arm, being a few breaths here, and as always you're welcome to stay longer, when you feel ready just slowly with your top leg unwind, and draw the knees into the chest and rock, we're easing our way into shavasana, relaxation, you might keep your knees bent, feet wide, knees resting together, or you might bring support underneath you, if you have your two blocks you might create a little bolster here, bringing the blocks together, bringing your blanket on top, feels really nice, and getting comfy, and eventually relaxing the effort through the body, the mind, feeling the weight of the bones, releasing, it's resting in the space you've created through your practice, you you in yourself permission to rest a bit longer here, and savoring the sweetness of the moment, and as you feel ready to transition, letting your awareness come back to the breath, if you have support under your knees, you might even take a moment to bend the knees, and bring the soles of the feet together, knees wide, and eventually drawing the knees towards each other, and rolling onto your side, resting in the pillow of your arm, mindfully easing your way up towards the seat, and taking just a few moments to sit together, you might sit up on your blanket, and finding your seat, still allowing for this moment of settling and integration, before moving up and out into your day or evening, gently drawing the hands together at heart, and gathering up the energy, the love, the light, the awareness of the practice, and together offering it up and out, for the benefit of all beings everywhere, breathing in, exhale soft, bow forward and in, namaste. Thank you so much for joining me.