Day 16: Fearless Flow

Happy day friends! Welcome to day 16. This online retreat is flying by. Gosh, it's been so much fun. This is my last day teaching, but please keep staying with us for the other four teachers who are joining me. I just already started to think back on the retreat and that first day we moved into this space of clearing the way and finding a sense of relief and this little visual of Suniti and her kelp bed and flowing back and forth and the sea of kelp. I can't get it out of my head. It's so cool. And then we had Arturo when we were connecting to the core of ourselves, brought us down to our power center, and helped us find all those beautiful anatomical positions for our joints. And then Alana always bringing us into that heart-opening feeling space of joy. And then Miles. Miles, oh, he just cracks me up. Hi, Miles. The little the little anecdotes for the dinosaur and all of his beautiful incantations to the divine. Everything has felt and given me a sense of deeper connection with my colleagues. Your connection online, whether you're watching this delayed or whether you've been watching this live and all of the ways that we've been connecting, helps me to really trust the connection. And that's what it's really all about. And that's the theme of our practice today. Where do we feel the connection, which we've already explored, and how do we trust that voice or that connection, or maybe the intention to connect? So as we connect today, I'm going to take you on a little journey, a little balancing journey, so we can play with how the heart opens but doesn't react to fear. So we're going to play with balance, and then we're going to do some beautiful heart openers to end day 16. So as you get comfortable, you may want two blocks towards the front of your mat. We're going to settle in today and connect with our breath in child's pose. So if you need to sit on a block or anything in child's pose, you can put one right between your legs under your bum, take your knees a little wider. Actually, let's do this for a second. Let's keep our knees on table. And let's just kind of do a little, that little snake side to side, that dropping your show, moving your shoulders and hips to the left, and then moving your shoulders and hips to the right. Just feel that side flexion of your spine before you settle into our child's pose. Then you can take your knees a little bit wider than your hips, big toes together. Feel free to sit on your block. And as you settle in, allow the brow to come down to the floor, a little bow forward, a little posturation, a little invitation for connection with whatever the source means to you. And we got to get out of our own way and kind of let go of the attachment that we have to our name, our character, and our role so that we can really be still and open up to connecting with source. And as you connect to the rise and fall of your breath, and as you enjoy the breath and feel the breath wherever it's moving in you, a little sense of gratitude and appreciation for this life giving source, this fuel that's taking us on our journey today. Wonderful. Let your hands walk over to the left a little bit. So walk your right hand over to the left corner of your mat. And you can either keep the left hand next to it or slide it like next to your left knee and softly push the floor away. So you feel a nice little side body stretch, and then invite the breath to be fuller and deeper into that right side body. Go big with you in the hills. Another way we can connect is we can listen at the heart center. What is your deepest wish for yourself? Good. And as you journey back to center with your palms, you can take your palms over to your right, left hand reaches across. So we feel the stretch, the lats and your costals, the muscles of the side body. And we breathe into those with fuller inhalations, feeling that nice stretch, giving ourselves more space for prana, for fuel, for breath. We can use our inhales to cleanse and purify the mind. And as we pause and hold the breath, we can just give ourselves a moment to listen, enjoy stillness before we exhale everything out.

Great. As you walk your palms back to center, let's pause for a moment in table pose, palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips, glide your heart, chin and chest forward for an easy cow tilt of the spine. And then as you round the spine, draw the navel to the spine, draw that core up and back, chin towards to the chest. One more round, just like that. Slowly feel your way up and down the spine, guiding the heart, chin and chest forward, looking up and then exhale slowly rounding the spine. As you come to a neutral table, we're going to play with a different variation of this. Replace your palms with your elbows. Keep your knees right where they are. We'll play with a little forearm version, forearm plank version of this cotton cow tilt with the knees on the floor. Exhale round the spine and lean forward just a little bit. Yeah. And as you inhale, look towards your thumbs, back up the seat towards the heels. Try to keep the elbows on that middle finger in line so the elbows and palms are shoulder distance. Exhale round the spine, tuck the chin towards the chest, pull the navel up to the spine. Feel that nice space in the back body. And then as you inhale and look forward, the more you back up, the more you'll feel in the upper back and the shoulder. Last round of breath, rounding with the exhale. Last inhale as you back up the seat, look towards the thumbs and then come to your neutral spine. So your elbows are right under the shoulders. Extend the left leg and then the right leg and see if you can press into your heels, lengthen the crown of head, the head forward, squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs and keep your seat either the height of your shoulders or lower than your shoulders just to kind of fire up the core for two more breaths. It's not as easy to breathe slowly in this posture, is it? One more breath. And then as you lower down, go ahead and slide your elbows forward a couple of inches, untuck your toes, draw your ribs towards your thumbs and invite the shoulder blades to soften down the spine as you stretch the front body. Nice little movement that helps us feel that natural curve of the lumbar spine.

And if this is really easy for you, you can always slide those elbows back or even lift the elbows off the floor as you draw the ribs forward. If you need a little bit more of a backbend. Great, everybody. As you exhale, lower down, replace your palms with your elbows one more time, tuck the toes under, walk your hands forward for that first down dog, toes tuck under, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs, and just take an easy pedal out of the legs. Check in with the hamstrings and calves while you actively push forward with all fingers. It's almost like we're trying to stretch the mat away from our feet. Enjoying the breath, melting into the hamstrings and calves. Good. And then as you move forward into plank pose, hover the knees a couple of inches off of the floor, pivot your heels to the right and lower your outer right knee and then the left knee to the floor. Yeah, so you're just lowering down onto your hips. Just a fancy way of doing it. Replace your palms with your elbows. And as you lengthen the spine forward, you'll feel that nice little twist here in the middle of the spine, the thoracic spine. If you want to feel more, replace your right elbow with your right palm, lengthen forward and give yourself a soft little press down and a rotate to the right. One more round of breath. You feel the side body stretch as well.

And then go ahead and release. Tuck those toes under so that you're back in forearm plank. Engage the core, lengthen the spine forward, press the heels back for two, for one, and then lower down. Remember we can stay in the sphinx pose as we guide the ribs and heart forward, or you can replace your elbows with your palms. A nice little low cobra pose as the shoulders shut down, elbows move back, draw the ribs and heart forward. Try to lift the belly off the floor, draw the ribs towards the front of your mat. As you exhale, lower down, tuck the toes under, press the hips to the sky, meet you in down dog, whatever way that feels good for your body. Good, rise to the tops of the toes for this down dog, pivot your heels to the right. For a little side bend in your down dog, push actively forward with your right hand and you can bend one leg at a time. You feel that side stretch on your left side body? Breathe into it and then rise to the tops of the toes, pivot your heels to the left, right heel in front of the left toes, push actively forward with your left hand and feel the stretch on the right side body. Good, come on back to center, meet you in plank pose, bend the knees but hover them above the floor, glide your knees over to your right and lower onto your outer left hip. Replace your left palm with your left elbow, your right palm with your right elbow. So we get a nice easy prone version of a twist, lengthen the spine and softly rotate the ribs towards your left. If you want to feel more, replace the left elbow with a left palm for a little bit more resistance, hug the elbow in, lengthen and then push softly into the left elbow for a little bit more rotation.

Great guys, left elbow joins the right, untuck the toes, pivot the feet here back in your forearm plank for two, for one. It's a nice tricky way to get you to stay in forearm plank a little longer and then lower all the way down. Walk your fingertips off of your mat about four to six inches so the wrists are right under the elbows, slide the ribs forward, a little shoulder roll. You can feel free to keep it kind of structured, shrug as you inhale and roll back down or you can play with each individual shoulder, exploring a little bit more creativity as you feel how that mid and upper back or reacting to your back bend. Great, lower down, palms by the ribs, tuck the toes under, we'll meet back and down dog. Lift the hips to the sky, press the chest to the thighs and pedal the legs out one more time. Good. The next time you shift your weight to your left leg, inhale the right leg to the sky, the right knee is tapping towards the left tricep, exhale it across, tap, send it back to the sky. We're creating a little heat here, inhale it up, exhale, tap away. Two more, one more. The next time you tap, slide your right foot across the mat, pinky toe side of the foot, pivot your left heel, inhale the left palm to the sky, push actively forward with your right hand. Excellent, everybody. Left hand to the floor, left heel lifts off the floor, draw the right knee into the chest, move forward to plank pose and pivot your left foot, step the right foot behind, kickstand side plank or wild thing. Inhale the right palm to the sky, stay here or push into the toe pads of the right foot and send the right arm up and over the ear. Nice big inhale and as you exhale, lower the right palm and come all the way down through plank to your version of cobra, up dog or sphinx pose with our third backbend. So start to feel your way around, maybe explore those little side bends looking over each shoulder, seeing how you're feeling in the waist and the side body in your backbends, whether your elbows are bent or straight. Great, lower down, we'll meet back in down dog. You can bend those knees and send it back to table or send the hips to the sky, chest to the thigh, setting up for your down dog. One more little pedal here, pushing actively forward with both hands. The next time you shift your way to your right leg, inhale the left leg to the sky, one leg a dog. Exhale, tap the left knee to the right tricep and then send it back up. Inhale it up, exhale, tap. Inhale it up, exhale, tap, right knee, a left knee, right tricep. Last one, inhale it up, you got it everybody. Exhale, tap, slide your left foot across the mat, pinky toe side of the foot to the floor, pivot your right heel to the floor, inhale the right palm to the sky, variation of ashi stas and side plank. As you exhale, bring the right hand to the floor, draw the left knee into the chest, pivot your right heel the other way, step the bent left foot, bent left knee behind you, push into the toe pads of the left foot, push forward with the right hand, inhale the left arm up and over the ear.

Nice big inhalation and then exhale to your plank pose and lower all the way down. Stay on your core, inhale that left arm out to the side like a wing, the height of your shoulder and then exhale, go ahead and roll over towards that straight left arm. You can bend the right leg, lower the foot behind you, kneecap to the sky or even do the same with the left leg. And go back to the feeling of the breath, close the eyes, listen for the breath, enjoy that space where you get to hold the breath for a second or two and let it go. Thank you breath, thank you for supporting us. As you unwind, setting up for a side two. All right, so we'll do the right arm out to the side this time. Take your right arm out to the side like a wing, right ear to the floor and we'll roll it on over. Put your way softly with your left hand, maybe bending that left leg, maybe bending the right leg. Give yourself a moment to reconnect with the breath once again. Enjoying the inhales, the pauses and the exhales. Wonderful everybody. As you unwind, palms by the ribs, slide the chin and chest forward. So really lengthen the spine. As you lower down, come up to your fingertips, strengthening the back muscles, draw the elbows back, lift the sternum and chin and chest up. A little shalambhasana or a little pulse, working the muscles of the back body. Inhaling it up, exhale lowering it. If you want to try the no arms version, you can bring the arms by the side as you inhale it up and exhale lower.

You won't get as high, but you'll feel some of the muscles on the back starting to fire up. Last one. Palms by the side, lift up to your version of the backbend and then we'll send it all the way back to our down dog. Push actively forward with the palms. Any last little movements in your down dog because any last little movements in your down dog before we journey forward, down dog should feel more like a resting pose now. As we start to open up the shoulders, the back, the hamstrings and the hips. As you take the drishti forward, your focus forward, you can walk or float your feet to the front of the mat. Bring your palms to the shins, lengthen the spine for your flat back and then exhale, take a nice soft forward fold. If you want to feel a little sway from side to side or some intuitive movements with the knees softly bent so you get to enjoy that first forward fold, go ahead and settle in. Supported chair pose, bend your knees, palms to the quads, glide the heart forward, lift the sternum chest and then as you exhale, round the spine and roll all the way up using your core muscles.

Inhale the palms to the sky, drishti up, tiny little back bend and then exhale the palms right to the center of your heart. Cover the palms over your heart, check back in. Enjoy the listening opportunity of your practice. Enjoy watching each moment unfold before you give in yourself the gift of your presence. As we bow to the floor, if you'd like to join me for an Aum, feel free to share your voice. Inhale the palms to the sky, hinging at the hips. Palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back. Exhale, bend both knees, bring your fingertips to the floor, step the right leg all the way back. Keep your right knee off the floor, and bring your left hand inside of the left leg. So we're in lizard pose. Pushing the right heel back, left knee hugs to the midline. You can bring the right knee to the floor now that you're all set up, or you can even bring your elbows to the floor or on top of your block, depending how much you want to fire up this muscle group, the quads and the glutes.

Great. Bring the right knee to the floor, hug the left knee towards the midline with your elbows on or off the floor. It's okay with me. Lift your left rib cage and turn your torso to the left for a little twist. Hug to the midline, lift, rotate the torso, turn it, and then celebrate and send that left palm to the sky. Nice big inhale, and then exhale, just softly feel maybe it's a little turn, maybe it's just being still and steady right here. Great. As you exhale, lower the left hand outside of the left foot and straighten the right leg. You might want your blocks here as you walk the fingertips back, straighten the right leg, Ardha Hanuman, and we're going to do some circles. Choose a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Nice little ankle mobility, and then circle the opposite way. Great. Bend the left leg. You might want to double up underneath your right knee with your mat. We're going to be here for a little bit. Right hand to your sacrum, left hand to the quad. We'll take a little pulse to feel that opening on the front, bright hip. We'll sew as hip flexor release. You'll feel the lengthening of the tailbone down as you lift the sternum, chin, and chest up. Feel the lengthening of the tailbone down as you lift the sternum, chin, and chest up. All right, y'all ready for a magic trick?

Let's play with it and see what happens. Straighten your left leg just halfway. Take your right wrist on top of your left. Cool. Now turn your palms towards each other and interlace your fingertips. Great. Bend your elbows and then slide your elbows up, maybe in front of the ears, maybe behind the ears. Sink into that left thigh just a little bit. Perfect. Now draw the wrist, the height of your shoulders. Bend the elbows, slide your wrist up, and then tilt the torso maybe a quarter of the way, and then reverse it. Wrist face down, elbows up, biceps by the ears, a little back bend, and then reverse it. Wrist up, lengthen forward, maybe go a little bit deeper. Remember this is a lengthening pose, not a rounding pose. Reverse it. You got two more. Enjoy the movements. Enjoy all the cool things our body can do. The next time you send the wrist up to the sky, biceps by the ears, in front or back, press the right palm into the left and take a side bend to your right.

The next time you come back to center, left palm presses into the right, side bend to your left. You got it. Inhale back to center, free the arms, cactus field all the arms, lift the heart, lift the sternum, lift the chest. Bring your palms inside of the left leg, tuck the right toes under, release the right knee, step the left foot back, step the right foot outside of the right hand forward, step the right foot back, step the left foot outside of the left hand forward. Go a little quicker. So we're creating a little heat here. Anybody who wants to do the hop switch, hop the hips to the sky, and then switch the legs in midair. Pushing forward and down with the palms, last three, last two, last one, left leg to the sky, shake it out, one leg a dog. Lengthen the plank, vinyasa, bend the elbows, lower all the way down, back bend of your choice, swings, cobra or up dog, heart forward, shoulder blades soften, we'll meet in down dog. Shift your weight to the left foot. We're reversing that experience, right leg to the sky. Don't worry, you don't have to do the hop switches.

Exhale, step the right foot between the hands. Bring your right hand inside of the right foot for lizard pose, right knee tracks over the ankle, left heel presses back. Remember, you can bring the left knee down, but we're trying to create a little bit of heat in that right leg. You can bring the elbows down too if you'd like to, use the blocks. You start to feel the muscles and the quads and the glutes talking to you a little bit. We'll take the twist here, right hand wraps around the outside of the right knee, hugging it towards the midline, lengthen the spine and turn the torso to the right, lengthen and rotate. One more as the right inner thigh hugs to the midline, you can send the right palm to the sky with your left elbows on or off the floor. If your left knee is off the floor, lower it down, straighten the right leg. Feel free to use your blocks here as you walk the fingertips back. Arda Hanuman, walk a couple of circles at that right ankle, feeling your way around that ankle joint, circling it the other way. Nice everybody. And as you come back to neutral, bend the right leg. Remember, you can double up the mat if you need to underneath that left knee, left hand to the sacrum, right hand to the quad, give yourself a little pulse here. Waking up the flexor. Such a nice feeling for those of us that have been sitting more than we normally do. This muscle tightens up a little bit. Good. Are you ready for your magic trick? So about halfway into your pulse, left wrist on top of the right, palms facing down. Now turn your palms towards each other. Give that interlace a go. Bend the elbows, squeeze the elbows behind the head, lift the sternum, lift the chest. Beautiful. As you exhale, lower the wrists, the height of the shoulders, bend the elbows, slide the wrists up and through, and then tilt at the torso. So lengthen the spine forward. Inhale, reverse it.

Wrist down, elbows up, biceps by the ears. Good. Exhale, thread it under and through. You might sink a little deeper each time. Just make sure you're not compromising the lower back. As you pulse, keep the spine extending and lengthening. Inhale it up. Pause in your low lunge. Left hand presses against the right. Side bend to your left. Inhale, back to center. Right hand presses against the left. Side bend to your right. Inhale, back to center. Cactus feel go the arms. Feel that release in the upper back and shoulder. Any little intuitive movements here as you open the heart. Excellent, everybody. Fingertips to the floor, around the right foot, tuck your left toes under. We're moving forward to this time, so step your left foot to the front of your mat. A little easy forward fold. Let the torso sway.

See if you can put a little bit more weight into the toe pads this time so you feel a little bit extra resistance in the hamstrings and calves. If you're straightening the legs, great, but don't feel like you need to. Drawing the navel up and back for a little increase in the forward fold. Great. Back to our supported chair pose. Palms on top of the quads. Giving yourself a little back bend here, enjoying the back bend, and then engaging the core, rounding the spine, rolling all the way up. Inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale it right into prayer. So remember that play with balance. It's happening right now. You might want two blocks in front of your feet. Let's get set up. You get to own with me again if you're feeling it. Inhale the palms to the sky. Heart, chin, and chest lift. Hinge at the hips. Palms to the shins. Lengthen the spine. Flat back. Bend both knees. Bring your fingers on top of your block. You can walk the block a little farther forward because we want to extend our body as we lift that right leg off the floor, the height of the hip. Good. From here, lengthen the spine and then bend the standing leg, the left leg, and start to straighten it.

You don't have to straighten it all the way. Don't want to lock at the joint. We just want to take a little bend and straighten to really feel the muscles in the standing leg. Keep lengthening the spine. You got two more. The right toes are pointing down. They're nice and straight. The left leg is doing the work. Last one. Let's play here. Just a micro bend in the standing leg. Keep your right hand on your block. Bring your left hand into prayer and look forward. Connect with your breath. If you want to bring the right palm to join it, have a little trust in that left leg and your balance and play with it if it's out of balance. One more round of breath. Great, everybody. Step that right leg back. Keep your right palm on the floor. Bring your left hand to the top of your left hip or your sacrum. We're tapping the right knee to the left calf with an exhale and then sending it straight back. Exhale, right knee, left calf. Maybe swing the right toes around to straighten the leg a little bit. Send it back. Two more pulses just like that. You're going to start to feel the outer glute. IT bend on the left leg. One more. Draw the knee in. Slide the foot across. Try to line up your toes. You can use your block underneath your right hand as you split the palms. Those of you that want to feel more, hook your right elbow above the left knee and bring your palms into prayer. Squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs. Lengthen the spine and rotate. Great. Bring your right hand back to the floor. Step your right leg all the way back. Lower your left hand. Lower your right knee. Straighten the left leg. Oh, that feels good. That part. Now we're going to take a little IT bend hamstring stretch to walk your blocks to the other side of your left foot. Yeah, you might feel it right here. If that's where you feel great, if you need to feel more, flex the toes on the left foot. If you still need to feel more, glide your hips over to the right a little bit. And if you can't get enough, bend your elbows. There's my enough. Have you found your enough yet? One more round of breath.

And then rebend your left leg. Great. Find your block. And we're going to place our block just in front. You can keep one block at the front of your mat. Slide your block right in front of your right knee. Give it about an inch of space, about three centimeters, two and a half centimeters. And you're going to catch the top of your quad with the block and untuck your back toes, the right toes. Now start to lean your hips forward until your right knee is hovering off the floor. Your kneecap is not on the block. It's just above the knee on the quad, about an inch above your kneecap. Okay, so we're getting a nice stretch from the ankle all the way up to the hip. This could be perfect for you. Or maybe you bring your left hand up, lifting, opening up so as on the right, or maybe your right hand up. Be kind to yourself. And if you can't get enough, palms to the sky. Any little movements that help you feel the front of the hip. Listen for the breath. Enjoy the space after the inhale. Hold it and exhale any resistance out. Lower the palms to the floor. Tuck your toes under. Lift your knee up. Move the block forward. Great. And then from here, standing split, slide your right foot forward, walk your hands forward, and send the right leg to the sky. A softer fold, hands moving forward, a deeper fold, hands moving closer to your left foot. When you step back, step back to a high lunge where your feet are hip distance. This is a long flow today. We're getting there, guys. Bring your hands to the hips. Great. Lengthen the tailbone down. Inhale the palms up straight in the left leg. Exhale the arms by the side. Bend the left leg. Keep the torso, sternum, chin, and chest lifting. Yeah, inhale it up. Two more pulses. Exhale. Sink into the quad. Last one. Inhale it up. This time, as you exhale, interlace your hands behind the back. Playing with that fear again. It's not fear. It's play. Our heart is open. When we're in our heart space, fear doesn't affect us, in theory. Step your right foot halfway forward. Lengthen the spine. Either hang out right here, or lift the right foot off the floor for a little back bend in your warrior three.

And we have the blocks underneath us from that standing split. So just lower the hands back to your block, and then step your right foot forward to meet the left. Yay. Bend the knees for your supported chair pose. Little back bend, and then round the spine. Roll it up. Good. Shake out that left leg. We're taking quite a bit of weight on that left leg. We'll take a quad stretch on the left leg, and finish with dancer pose on the right leg. The leg that got that juicy psoas stretch. So shift your weight to your right foot. You can use a wall if it's needed. Find a focal point. Reach down with your left hand. Bend the left leg. Pinky toe side of the foot as you hug the knee towards the midline. If you want to feel more, reach back with your right hand for the big toe side of the foot. And maybe I take a little bend in your right leg so you're not locking the knee. If you still want to feel more, move your left knee towards the back of your mat. Move your heel towards the outer glute. Good. Shake out that standing, that quad stretch leg. This is going to be the standing leg for our Natra and Jasana, our dancer pose. So step your right leg back just a little bit. Today we're going to play with a little bend in our right leg, and we'll keep the right hand on top of the right quad for right now.

Now, shift your weight to your left leg. Did I say right leg? Left hand on top of the left thigh. Shift your weight to your left leg. Take a little bend in the right leg. Reach down, grab the pinky toe side of the right foot, or for those of you deeper, big toe side by facing out. That little bend in the left leg, we're going to take a tilt forward, maybe just a quarter tilt forward as we start to kick the heel away. This gives us something to anchor onto a little bend and the leg helps us find the back bend. From here, you can extend the left arm. And if you want to lift the left palm, lift the left palm and the right heel at the same time. Two more rounds of breath. One more. Good. And shake it out. Dance it around. Dance like it's Friday. Whatever day it is for you. Dance like it's Friday. Okay. Coming towards the front of our mat, blocks on either side. Let's connect back in.

You might feel the heart rate a little bit, pulsing a little bit faster. Journey back into the heart. Establishing connection. Listening. And feel free to own with me as we bow to the floor. Inhale the palms to the sky. Lift heart, chin, and chest. Hinge at the hips. Palms to the shins. Lengthen the spine. Flat back. Bend both knees. Walk your fingertips forward on top of your block. Shift your weight to your right leg. Extend the left leg back, toes down. Left heel the height of your hip. Walk your fingertips or your block forward so you're starting to lengthen the spine. Bend your standing leg. And straighten it. Inhale. Bend it. Inhale, straighten it.

Two more. Firing up the muscles in that standing leg. You'll feel this right about now. Last one. Left hand stays on your block. A micro bend in the standing leg. Bring the right hand right to the center of the chest. And either stay here as you squeeze the inner thighs energetically towards the midline or shift your weight to your right foot a little bit more and lift that left palm into prayer. Two more rounds of breath. Don't be afraid to wobble a little bit. One more. Fingertips to the floor. Left leg steps all the way back. Left palm to the floor. Keep the right leg bent. Left knee taps the right calf. Right hand, bring it to the top of the hip or the sacrum. Tap with the exhale. Step it back with the inhale. Tap with the exhale. Swing the toes around. Step it back. Two more taps and you're there.

Last tap. When you tap, keep the left leg there. Slide the left foot across the mat. Line up the toes and then inhale the right palm to the sky. You can have a block underneath your left hand or you can take that left elbow outside of and above the right knee. Palms into prayer for a deep righty band twist. Great everybody. Bring your left hand back to the floor or back to the block. Step your left foot to the back of your mat and lower the left knee to the floor. Yay. Hands on either side of your right foot. We're straightening the right leg again so you might want your blocks. We're going to take our blocks over to the right side this time. So as you walk your hands over to the right, you're going to feel the outer right hip IT band connection here. Pulling the toes back will help you feel this a little bit more on the right foot. And then if you want to bend those elbows, you'll really feel. So find that spot where you're feeling a little bit of resistance and breathe into it. Enjoy that connection, that feeling of challenge, but the feeling where you're in control of the challenge, you're easing into it. You're shifting it. Great. Re-bend the right leg. Set your block up right in front of your back knee. Give it about maybe about an inch or a half inch away. When you lean the left hip forward, the top of that quad or the bottom of that quad before it connects to the knee is going to break right on top of your block. Toes untucked on your left leg. Okay. Stay right here as you guide the heart forward. You'll feel that hip flexion stretch even the top of the left ankle. If you want to feel more right hand on top of the right quad or just slowly lift the torso and you will feel. Find your spot so that you feel and then go back to the breath. Try to make it feel good. Even if it feels like a little bit of a challenge. Great. Lower the palms, tuck the toes under, lift the knee up, slide your block forward and out of the way. Lower the right knee. Give your saw that right leg a little bit of a stretch and we're going to move right into standing split on the right leg. So blocks are forward again. Left leg to the sky.

The farther the hands are forward, the easier the stretch. The more you walk towards the right foot and move the crown of the head towards the floor, the more you'll feel here. Feel your way through it. It's like a teeter totter as your head drops, your heels should lift. Step all the way back to your high lunge. Feet are hip distance. Bring your hands to the hips, lift the torso, lengthen the tailbone down. Good. From here, straighten the right leg and the left leg. Send your palms to the sky. As you exhale, arms by the side, reach back just a little bit as you puff up the chest. Lift the sternum. Take a little back bend here. Inhale, back up. Exhale. Two more. Inhale it up. Exhale. Last one. Go for that interlace. Maybe even the non-habitual interlace, the weird index finger on top. Move the wrists away from your sacrum. Shift your weight into your right foot. Slide that left foot forward. Maybe a foot, maybe a foot and a half. Keep just the left toes on the floor as you lengthen the spine or shift your weight to the right foot. Glide the heart forward to lift the left leg off the floor.

A little micro bend in that right leg might help find the balance. One more round of breath. Your blocks are there for your standing split. A little check-in and then lower the left foot next to the right. Bend one leg at a time. Just give yourself a little sway moment here. Great. Bend both knees. Supported chair.

Little back bend as you inhale. Up and then exhale. Round up. Back to tadasana. The palms into prayer. Great. Shake it out. Especially that standing leg, that right leg. We'll take a quad stretch for that leg before we balance on it again. Let's just be nice. Shift your weight to the left leg. Bend the right leg. Reach for the pinky toe side of the right foot. Hug the knees towards the midline. Maybe left hand reaches for the big toe if it's available. A little micro bend in that left leg as you draw the heel towards the outer right glute. Same opportunity on the other side. If you want to move your kneecap towards the back of your mat, lift the heart, sternum, chin, and chest as a little counterbalance so you feel where the psoas is plain as well. Good. Shake it out. All right. So the right leg becomes our standing leg for dancer pose. Remember we were playing with this different approach today. A little bend in the right leg. Hand at the very top of your quad. Shifting your weight. Keeping a little bend in that right leg. And then taking that left heel up into the grasp of the hand. Pinky toe or big toe side of the foot. Drishti. Establish that drishti point. That focal point before you move anymore. Keep the little bend in your right leg. And as you tilt the torso forward, maybe just some ever so slightly, start to kick your heel away. Guide your heart forward. Kick the heel away. Use your hand on the right quad until you feel the balance. You can stay here or extend the right palm forward. I like to do the right palm up because it opens up a little bit more. As you lift the left heel, lift the right palm. Two more rounds of breath. One more. Dancer! Shake it out.

All right. Beautiful guys. I hope you felt that in your legs. And I hope you had a little sense of playfulness with your dancer pose. Give yourself a little space to the front of the mat. If you're really tired, meet me in table pose. If you got a little bit more juice in you, we'll take a full sun salutation. A and meet in table pose. Inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale, hinge at the hips. Inhale, lengthen the spine. Flat back. Or just hang out on a table. Bend the knees, walk or flow back. Lower down. Untuck the toes. Cobra up dog. Enjoy the space at the hip flexors. And we'll meet in table pose. From your table pose, we're playing with a one arm dolphin today. So we'll do the right arm. Keep the left hand in table. Replace your right palm with your right elbow with your right forearm. Great. Hug your left elbow to the midline. Tuck your toes under. Lift your hips to the sky. Shift your weight to your left leg and bend your right leg as you push strongly forward with your right forearm. Hang out right here. Or lift the right heel to the sky to feel a little bit more. As you move the chest towards your left thigh, you'll feel this in the outer right shoulder, the upper back and shoulder. And if you want to feel more look towards your thumb, as long as that does and give you a little kink in the neck, or feel weird for your cervical spine.

One more round of breath. And go ahead and lower down. Good. Come back to your table pose. Take a little cow tilt to the spine. Great. And we'll set up for the other side. How'd that feel? I hope good. So nice to do these individually. Replace your left palm with your left forearm. Hug the right elbow to the midline. Line up your left elbow with a middle finger. Try not to let it splay out the elbow. Lift your hips to the sky, chest to the thigh, and then just start to bend into your left leg as you press your right heel to the floor. Push that forward actively with the left forearm, the left palm. Maybe send the left leg to the sky if you want to play with a little bit more resistance. Bow towards your right shin. Opportunity of feeling the back bend in the upper back. Looking forward, make sure you're not feeling any resistance in the upper back neck. Beautiful. Lower back down. Great. Come back up to your table.

We're going to grab our blocks. You can use one block or two blocks. If you're using two blocks, it'll look like this. One elbow on each block, and then moving our palm to the right side. Each block, and then moving our palms towards the midline. Cool. If you're using one block, one elbow, pop your head down and through, and then the second elbow. You have a wider block where you have to be able to get those shoulders nice and open. Your palms are starting to move towards the midline, whether you've got one elbow on each block or two elbows on one block. If you want to feel a little bit more resistance, move the pinky sides of your hands forward as you simultaneously back up your seat. And then breathe into a close the eyes. Enjoy the stretch. Enjoy the resistance. Find a way to feel like, oh, this resistance is helping me open up. I invite it in without force. And I start to listen. No, when there's too much, no, when there's not enough. Great. As you're ready, slide one off at a time. How are your shoulders feeling? Move them around a little bit. Great. Move your block off to the side. We're going to swing the legs around and set up for option and bridge pose. Or if those shoulders are really open, we can set up for our back, bend a deeper wheel posture. Let's feel our way through the first one. So as you lower down, heels underneath the knees, come on all the way down onto your back, your heels underneath your knees, press your triceps and elbows into the floor and lift the rib cage and then lift your hips. You might want to bring the palms to the floor as you slightly hug to the midline. Make sure you're still pressing into the big toe size of the feet. If this doesn't feel enough, you can bring your hands to the sacrum or slide a block, low, medium, or high under your sacrum. Breathe back into the heart center.

Push into all four corners of the feet and then slowly lower down. For this, try to resist drawing the knees into the chest because we just opened up the front of the hips. If you want to do something, just let the knees rock from side to side. Round number two, you can use your blocks, low, medium, or high under your sacrum, that little triangular space. Or if this feels like, gosh, I really want to do a little bit more, then set up for your wheel pose. Come to the crown of your head first, elbows to the sky, fingertips facing your shoulder blades. The farther the fingertips move towards the front of your mat, the easier the first backbend. Squeeze to the midline with the elbows, press with the hips, rise to the crown of the head first, and then you can hug the elbows in and lift on a nice, juicy inhale. Make sure to press into your feet if you're moving into your backbend. Press into your feet like you're trying to stand up.

Push into index and thumb as well. One more round of breath. Exhale, lower it down. Now, see the only thing we're going to do different on this one. Remember, you can let the knees rock from side to side. The only thing we're going to do different on this one is whatever you choose your last backbend to be, see if you can really expand your inhalation. All right. Whether you're setting up for bridge round two or full wheel, set yourself up mindfully. Maybe start at the crown of the head again, hugging the elbows in, or support the lower back in your bridge pose. Lift with your inhale. Now, see if you can find a little bit more of that inhalation.

Can you inhale for a little bit? One more try. Go ahead and lower down. Release. Thank you, body. You are so cool. Why don't I appreciate you more? That's what I say to myself every once in a while. Let your knees rock from side to side. A little release on the outer glutes, piriformis.

Did a lot of quad strengthening today, so we're releasing that. The next time the knees come back to center, place the right ankle on top of your left thigh. And give yourself a little rock from side to side. A nice focus on your right hip. We're lengthening the breath out, maybe even closing the eyes as we feel this rocking sensation back and forth. Good. When we straighten the left leg, you can keep your right ankle on top or bring it inside for your little reclining tree pose. Over the head. Take a little side bend to your left.

Maybe turn the left ear to the left. Keep the right foot flexed. Let the right knee just soften towards the floor. Great, everybody. And then as you release the arms, rebend the left leg, free the right leg. One or two windshield wipers. Before you. We're ending with a glute massage. Perfect. Let that knee drop to the left. Feel that release on the outer glute. Great. As you come back to center, keep the left ankle on top as you straighten the right leg or bring the left leg inside for tree arms over the head. A little side bend to your right. Last posture is totally up to you. Maybe hug the knees into the chest. Maybe rock from side to side before you extend the body for your shavasana. And when you melt into your shavasana, enjoy the breath. Enjoy the space after the end of the head. And then as you come back to center, keep the right foot flexed.

Into your shavasana. Enjoy the breath. Enjoy the space after the inhale, lengthening out the paws. And notice, ask yourself where you feel the connection. Are you able to listen? Do you feel deeper connection to the source aligning with the divine, aligning with your heart, remembering who you really are, beyond character, the role, the title you play. When we trust the connection, we can't help but share peace and love with everyone we meet.

And our final chant today is lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to may all beings everywhere be peaceful, happy, and free from suffering. If you know the chant, feel free to sing it in your shavasana. lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to What would he like to see in the world? lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to In our communities, in our friendships. lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to Our relationships, our family. lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to A relationship to our self and the source.

lokasamastah sukhino bhavan to Start to bring your awareness back. Move slowly, but keep the connection. The connection with source, whatever you're feeling, whatever feels like home, give yourself a movement or two and help your way yourself into fetal pose and then slowly up to your seat. If you're feeling it, join me for a finale om followed by a shanti. A nice big inhale, palms under prayer. What a treat to be on this journey with you, friends.

Namaste. Happy day.