High-Low Flow

Hey everybody, it's so good to be back, back to the joyful flow. We are on season two, thanks for being present today, thanks for coming on this journey with me as we are lucky enough to just explore opportunities to be joyful. We'll be doing that in many different ways, whether it's through the physical practice, whether it's through finding space in the body. We'll be introducing some mantra and some takeaways so that when you finish the practice, you have something to take home and use the rest of the week to remind you to come back to the space in this heart, the sense of wonder, the sense of joy. Remember this is a practice, cultivating joy.

So that's what we're going to be doing for eight weeks. I feel lucky to be here with you today. We're going to do a little high-low series and you'll need two blocks, maybe a strap. If you don't have a strap, you can always use the kitchen hand towel and get that set up. We'll start lying on the back and connecting with our breath.

Happy day everybody. Let's slide on down, legs bent, feet or hip distance. Let those palms turn out. So we're opening up the front of the chest, squeezing the shoulder blades together a little bit and then arrive on your mat. Allow your focus to be enjoying the rise and fall of your breath.

As you establish this connection with your breath, you'll notice you have four parts to the breath, the inhale, the pause, the exhale and the pause. Enjoy the lightness and the expansiveness of the inhale. Almost like the inhale is you smiling, you creating space in the front body for breath, for love, for your journey today. As you get more grounded into your breath, we'll start to invite some movements to connect us with our breath. So when you're ready to move, let the knees drop to the right and the head softly turn to the left as you exhale.

Really soft movements. And when you're ready for your inhale, draw the knees back to center and then the exhale knees drop to the left, head turns to the right. Let the breath be your guide today, enjoy these soft movements back to the midline with the inhale over to the right with the knees, turn your head to the left. Give yourself two more rounds and then we're going to add the arms into the equation. The next time the knees come back to center and the head comes back to center, press into your triceps and place your palms so that they're facing each other.

As the knees drop to the right and head turns to the left, separate your palms to open up through pec major and pec minor. As the knees and head come back to center, so do the palms, palms are facing each other. As you exhale the knees to the left, separate the palms, turn your head to the right. It might take a while to get the rhythm of this, but it feels so nice in the front body to open up through the thoracic spine. Bring the knees back to center, knees and head opposite direction, palms always separate as you drop the knees.

So we'll play with a couple more of these soft variations, releasing, creating space and opening up through the front of the body. Two more rounds. You got the rhythm yet? Yeah. One more, good.

And then go ahead and lower the, bring the knees back to the chest, plant the palms to the floor and draw the knees into the chest and we'll take a little side to side with the knees. So feeling that little rotation of the spine. If you don't need the hands on the floor, you can cactus feel, go the arms and open up the chest a little bit more. As you drop the knees to the left, exhale, turn your head to the right. As you come back to center, inhale, coordinate the movements with your breath.

Exhale to the right, turn the head to the left. Keep following the breath. Let the breath be your guide today as you pulse from side to side. Nice little spinal twists and we're starting to wake up the core muscles just a little bit. Great.

Finish off with one more round of these pulses. The next time the knees come back to center, hug just the right leg into the chest. Let the left foot fall to the floor. Draw the right knee in and give yourself a couple of circles at the right ankle and the shin. A little bit of range of motion here.

Circle it the other way. Slowly straighten the left leg. Extend the right leg to the sky, toes pointing towards the face. Bring your palms to the floor. We're going to switch the legs.

Inhale the left leg up and the right leg down. Exhale press into your palms, lift the head and shoulders off the floor to create a little core work. Inhale lower down. Switch the legs as you lower down and then exhale, engage the core and lift up. Look straight up as you engage the core.

Switch with the inhale, exhale lift. Pulse with your breath. Take two more rounds. Each time you exhale, you're lifting the torso. Each time you inhale, you're switching the legs as you lower down.

Got one more round. Last time you send the right leg to the sky. Lift up, grab the hamstring, maybe walk up the hamstring a little bit. We got some fun hamstrings and twists going on today. So this will give you a little precursor into our journey today.

Take the right leg all the way across the body. If you want to switch your hips over to the left a little bit, so your thoracic spine, your sternum is lining up with your pelvis easily, look up with the inhale or look slightly to your right with your next exhale and soften into the shoulder. Give me a nice big inhale and as you exhale, let something go. Try that one more time. Nice big inhale.

Let it go with your exhale. Come on back to center with the knees, shift the hips back to neutral, place your palms on the floor and lift the hips up for an easy bridge pose. Press into all four corners of the feet, ground into the floor. This releases the hip flexors from our little hip flexing workout that we just did earlier. And then as you exhale, lower down, right leg stays, left leg is turned, hug the left knee into the chest.

Give yourself a couple of circles at the ankle and the shin and then go ahead and switch the direction you're circling the foot. So start to straighten your right leg. We'll keep the right leg there, inhaling the left leg to the sky. Same thing, palms to the floor, exhale, lift up with your core, inhale, lower down and switch the legs, exhale, lift up, inhale, lower down. All right, we got another option here.

If you want to send one hand up opposite hand, opposite leg, right hand reaches the left foot, lower back down, switch the legs, left hand reaches the right foot, lower back down, switch the legs. Remember, you can keep your hands on the floor as you journey. We're waking up the obliques and the core muscles, exhales the reach or the head and shoulders lift off the floor. Inhale is the switch. Let's do four more.

Pulse with your breath, waking up the core, creating a little heat for our day. Switch the last one off with the left leg reaching to the sky and then you can grab onto the hamstring, calf or sides of the feet for that little hamstring stretch. Remember if you bend your right leg, it takes a little bit of that resistance off so you can make it a little bit softer by bending the right leg. Enjoy the inhale, pause and then when you're ready for the exhale, take your left leg across the mat. I'm going to slide over this way a little bit so you can get a nice spinal twist through the thoracic spine, looking straight up option one, option two, cactus field goal or extend your arm.

Take a nice big inhale, exhale it out. Any tension of the weekend of the week, nice big inhale, move it out through the breath. Great. When you're ready to unwind, hug the knees into the chest and just give yourself a nice soft rock forward and backward, massaging the muscles along the spine and take your time with these rock and rolls. Feel your way up and down the spine, making a little mental note of any areas that feel tight today.

Great. The next time you rock, give yourself a little momentum and we'll come up to our seat. As you connect with your breath, we're going to talk a little bit about our take home, which is the mantra today. Let there be joy. Bring your right hand to your heart, left hand on top of it.

As you close your eyes, invite the golden light of the divine to feel you with joy. The sense of feeling of joy clears the mind. It opens the heart and it strengthens our connection to spirit, our intuition. Let there be joy. Joy is medicine for the heart, especially in times when you're not feeling joy.

Take your little dose of medicine, let there be joy, send the palms out, celebrate. We'll revisit the mantra at the end so you can take it with you for the rest of the day. Come on into table pose, swing your legs around, palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips. Couple rounds of just traditional cat and cow tilts, palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips, guide the heart forward, start to look forward, maybe up. And then as you exhale, round the spine, push into index and thumb, pull the navel up to the spine, chin towards the chest, guide the heart, chin and chest forward, lengthen, create space for the front body and then push down, engage your core, creating space for the back body.

Come to your neutral table, same movements, but replace your palms with your forearms. Keep your knees on the floor. As you exhale and round the spine, lean forward. So puff the spine up in your cat to lean forward, press into palms and forearms. And as you inhale, look forward and back up your seat.

Keep squeezing your forearms and your triceps, your biceps together, rounding the spine as you exhale, looking forward, heart, chin and chest towards the thumbs. Look towards the thumbs as you're inhaling. Last round, start to feel the spine feeling a little freer, a little happier right now, hopefully. The next time you come to that neutral spine, hang out right there, stack the shoulders right over the elbows, step the legs back one at a time and try to drop your seat the height of your shoulders or a little bit higher as you engage the inner thighs, sink into the heels, lengthen the crown of the head forward. Easy side bend or easy side plank to the right.

So right hand slides over to the left forearm and then pivot both heels, stack the left foot on top of the right and that right hand is going to cross the mat to make it easier. You can keep the left palm there or send the left palm to the sky or up and over the ear, lifting the right side body away from the floor as you connect with your breath. One more nice big inhale and then exhale, turn the torso slightly to your left. We'll meet back and forearm plank. Lower the seat a little bit, press back into the heels, inner thighs, squeeze, engage the core.

One hand slides over to the right form, pivot your heels, stack if you want to. Right hand can stay on the floor for balance or you can send it to the sky or option two up and over the ear. As you inhale, lift the left hip away from the floor and as you exhale, softly turn the torso to the right. One more round of breath. Great.

Back to your forearm plank and then lower all the way down, untuck the toes, guide the heart, chin and chest forward for an easy sphinx pose. Ribs move towards the thumbs and then from here, just bend the legs, draw the toes towards each other, big toes touch, and then squeeze your ribs towards the thumbs so you feel a little bit of a nice opening in the front of the body, safe for the lower back. As you exhale, lower down, press up to table pose, tuck the toes under, first down dog, pull it out, maybe walk your hands up palm print forward if you're in traditional table, pushing actively forward with each finger, pedaling out the legs one at a time, wake up little calf muscles, time to work, wake up hamstrings, ears are by the biceps, give it two more rounds of breath here, lengthen forward to your plank pose once again, engage the core muscles, squeeze towards the midline, lower the knees, replace the palms with your forearms, tuck the toes under, we're going back to that forearm plank. You have the option of sliding the right hand towards the left forearm or keeping it where it is as you stack, side two, round two, maybe bring that arm across as you send the left arm to the sky and we'll play with a little pulse here, lift your right ribcage away from the floor as you send your left palm up and then lower it down, hug the right inner thigh up to the left as you push forward and lower it down, do you feel the obliques firing up? Last one, lower the left forearm, forearm plank, remember you can slide that left hand across, makes it more stable, stack, right hand can stay on the floor as you lower and lift or celebrate, right arm to the sky, up and over the ear, lift the hips with the inhale, lower with the exhale, lift with the inhale, lower with the exhale, hopefully you're feeling a little heat created for your practice, lower down to your forearm plank and then lower all the way down.

Replace the elbows with your palms, untuck the toes, guide the heart forward, easy cobra pulses, lift with the inhale, lower with the exhale, press to the tops of the feet so your knees are softly hovering off the floor, lift with the inhale, pulse with the exhale. Last one, great guys, I'll meet you back and down dog, tuck your toes under, hips to the sky, chest towards the thighs as you actively push forward with both hands, pedal the legs out one at a time. Great, one legged dog, let's see what it feels like. Shift your weight to your right foot, inhale the left leg to the sky, toes pointing down. As you press your chest towards the right thigh, feel free to keep the right hand there or walk your right hand closer to your right foot, bow towards your right shin.

Remember this is an option, just a strengthener for the left shoulder, helps you go deeper into the hamstring, slide your right hand forward plank, and then side plank on the right hand, pivot the feet, press forward with the right hand, inhale the left palm to the sky. So we did a lot of nice work for the side body in the forearm side plank, so we're pushing down and forward with the right palm so we don't feel anything in the wrists. Meet you back in plank pose, option of lowering the knees to the floor, bend the elbows, untuck the toes, guide the heart forward, low, medium, or high cobra, heart moves forward to create space for the lumbar spine in the back. Sending it back to the down dog, remember you can pass through table or just send the hips to the sky, extra credit if you want to do a little push up, and press back to your dog. Feet are hip distance, go back to the rise and fall of your breath, pedal the legs out one at a time, shift your weight to your left leg, inhale the right leg to the sky this time, stay here or walk your left hand closer to your left foot, hamstring stretching dog, shoulder strengthening dog for the right side, two more rounds of breath, remember this one's optional, one more round, I'll meet you in plank pose, left hand forward, side plank to the left, you can keep that knee lowering to the floor, or you can stack left shoulder right under, left wrist right under the shoulder, and then press actively forward with your left hand, one more big inhale, and then exhale, lower all the way down.

Stay down for the count on your core, left palm to your sacrum, elbow bent, keep the elbow moving towards the sky as you roll to your left, catch the elbow, soft pec stretch or deeper, the more you lower the right hip towards the floor, the more you'll feel, you can bend the right leg, you can bend the left leg, just make sure you're enjoying the breath again. Feeling that stretch at the heart center, the opening of the heart center, where we were connecting with joy earlier, really expand the breath, good, meet you on the other side, setting up, lowering on to the stomach, right hand to the sacrum, palms on the sacrum, fingertip down, and then roll over to that right elbow, maybe step back with your left foot, give yourself a couple of breaths here, opening up the front of that shoulder, enjoy that stretch, bring that smile back to the heart, we're creating space here, it feels so good on the front body, and it'll feel even better when we move into our back bend. So as you lower down, palms by the side, either low, medium, high, or maybe that up dog is calling you press into the tops of the feet, a little internal spiral of the thighs, shoulder blades soft and back, heart moves forward, pressing the index and thumb, great guys, when you press back to down dog, I want you to feel your way around your down dog, any movements that feel right for you, just keep pressing actively forward with each finger. Maybe you're pivoting the heels, maybe you're giving yourself a little shoulder stretch, a little shoulder shrug, whatever it is that you're exploring, try to make it feel good, give me more space in this really nice foundational posture, great, give yourself about two more rounds of breath, whatever you're exploring, and then we'll all take a nice slow walk forward to the front of the mat, as you get closer, you can bend the knees, give yourself a little hang time here, relaxing the muscles of the face. Remember if you've got your two blocks, you can bring them towards the front of the mat if you need them, let the crown of the head release down, shift your weight towards the toe pads so you're not sinking all the way into the heels.

One more soft round of breath, and then on your next exhale, open the mouth, let something go, let's do that again, that's so therapeutic, nice big inhale, exhale, let it go, it's like all that troubles are draining out of the top of your head into the earth, bend those knees, bring your palms to your thighs, cat and cow tilts, and your chair pose, supported chair rounding with the exhale, and then cow tilting, looking forward, squeezing the shoulder blade softly towards the midline and down with the inhale, last round, enjoy the movements of the front and back body, it's like a little massaging roll, the next time you roll up round the spine, roll all the way up to your stand, good, cross your right leg in front of the left, lining up the toes, right leg is a little bit bent, follow the left ankle all the way up, nice big side stretch to your left, to your right, right hand grabs the left wrist, if you want to feel more bend into that right leg a little bit more, or bring the left forearm behind the head and lean the head back to open up through lats, intercostals, muscles that connect us to the shoulder, great, and you've got two ways, you can just switch the legs or you can play with a circle, full 360, lift the heels off the floor, turn your torso to the left and take it all the way around, if it didn't work blame it on the sticky mat, right heel all the way up, left leg stays bent, right arm up and over the ear, left hand pulls the wrist and as you feel the side stretch go big with the inhales, breathe into that side stretch a little fuller, a little deeper, remember that arm variation, right forearm behind the head as you lean the elbow back or an arm variation of your choice, something that feels curious and interesting to you, great, step out those legs, feet hip distance, shake it out, come to the front of the mat, palms together in prayer, feet hip distance, close the eyes for a moment, I always love to use this opportunity to create a dedication and offering or an intention for the journey, think of a virtuous quality that you'd like to send to somebody, some person, some place, something, and then we share the connection to source with the sound that connects us to source om as we bow to the floor, inhale the palms to the sky, heart, chin and chest, exhale, hinge at the hips, almost to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, exhale, bend both knees, step the right foot all the way back, lower the right knee if you need to double up, double up underneath that right knee, left hand to the quad, right hand to the sacrum, a little psoas pulse to release those hip flexors, the ones we were engaging when we were doing our our legs to the sky on the back, the little core work that we were exploring, great. The next time you pulse into that left thigh, stay right there, inhale the right arm to the sky and drape the left hand around the waist, right hand reaches towards the left shoulder and then lean back, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, feel that stretch all the way from the top of your right hip all the way up to the armpit and all the way up to the elbow, nice big inhale here, great, and then switch arms, right hand drapes around the waist, left hand to the sky, left form behind the head, lean the head back and then lengthen the tailbone down if you want to sink a little deeper into the front of that right hip, go for it, enjoy the space, left hand, left knee, right hand to the floor, tuck the right toes under, release the right knee, straighten that right leg, lift and turn the torso to the left, inhale the left palm to the sky. If you want a little bit more work on that left quad, come up to your right fingertips, if you still need more work on that left quad, hover your right hand off the floor, squeeze to the midline with your inner thighs towards your right forearm, one more round of breath, lower the right hand, lower the right knee, straighten the left leg, lower the toes to the floor, plantar flexion and then draw the toes towards the shin, the ankle or the shin for dorsiflexion, so we'll feel the hamstring and the calf as we pulse back and forth, great everybody. The next time you plant the toes to the floor, bend the left leg, palms around the left foot, tuck the right toes under, left leg to the sky, one-legged dog, rise to the tops of the right toes, left leg higher, bow deeper towards your right shin, big inhale, slide forward to plank pose, lower the knees to the floor, back up the seat about three to six inches, bend the elbows, bring the chest towards the floor between the palms, looking straight down easier, chin to the floor, chest to the floor, a little bit more of a back bend, slide forward, cobra or up dog, toes untucked, shoulder blades sliding down, heart, chin and chest moving forward, expanding through the front of the body, tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs, down dog, right leg to the sky, step the right foot to the hands, look forward, lower that left knee, if you want to double up underneath the left knee, go for it, right hand to the right thigh, left hand to the sacrum, we'll go back to those little psoas pulses, the hip flexor releasers, opening up this area that gets really tight if we're sitting a lot, if we're bending over a lot or if we're working on the computer, all that fun stuff that we do in our regular lives, the next time you find that front of your hip opening and releasing, stay right here, drape the right hand around the waist, you might go up the spine a little bit the second time, inhale the left hand to the sky and reach for your shoulder blades, we're not going for the fingers yet, we'll get there, lean the head back, opening up the front of the hip, shrugging that right shoulder softly back and moving the left elbow back in space, wonderful everybody, let's switch sides, left hand around the waist, maybe slightly up the spine, right hand reaches for the space where you always can't put the sunblock on, you know the spot, press back with your forehead or the back of your head into the forearm and then open up through the front of the hip, close the eyes, it just feels good to breathe and feel the stretch here, one more, right hand to the right thigh, left palm to the floor, tuck the left toes under, release the left knee, hover that left knee off the floor, lengthen the spine and twist to your right, you can keep the right hand on the right knee or send it to the sky, if you're playing a little bit more with quad strengthening, come up to your left fingertips, squeeze to the midline with that right inner thigh or hover the left palm off the floor, you really have to squeeze to the midline with both thighs to keep the balance here, one more round of breath, lower the left hand, lower the right hand, hope you felt your quad if you did that, lower the left knee and straighten the right leg, same thing, pressing the toes to the floor, feeling that hamstring calf connection and then flexing the toes, really feeling the calf, dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, a little pulse back and forth, great, the next time you plant those toes to the floor, bend the right leg, send the right leg to the sky, one legged dog, rise up to the tops of your left toes, send the right leg a little higher, bow towards your left shin, keep the right leg high, lower that left heel as low as it will go, move to plank pose, knees to the floor, back up the seat an inch or two, chest and chin, slide forward to cobra to up dog, this is where you've got 10 breaths, you choose whether you're coming into child's pose for your 10 breaths to have a little breather, if you'd like to keep the energy up, plant the palms and forearms to the floor for dolphin pose, line up the elbow with the middle finger, if you're tighter in the shoulders, you can always interlace the hands as you press back towards the chest, for those of you that are dying for your inversion and you have safe space to invert, if you want to come into a headstand or even a handstand, you've got about eight more breaths, use this time to go back in, connect with the rise and fall of your breath, feel all four parts of your breath, whatever one of those three you decide to do, feeling and experiencing all four parts of the breath, that pause after the inhale, the slow exhale and that short pause after the exhale before you start it all over again, if you're in an inversion, start to work your way down, if you're in dolphin, start to work your way down to child's pose and before we continue our journey, we'll take a nice little child's pose twist, right arm threads underneath the left, left palm either presses to the floor or you can spider crawl the left fingertips forward, keeping a little bend in that left elbow and then spider crawl them over to the right as you keep moving that left elbow back in space, you'll feel that nice stretch the top of the shoulder while you're moving deeper into the twist with each exhale, great, lowering the palms back to the floor, either child's pose twist on the other side or optional sneaky up dog bend the elbow slide forward to cobra up dog, this just keeps the energy a little bit alive here and then press back to your child's pose, left arm threads under across and through, right palm can push the floor away for more rotation or you can spider crawl the right fingertips for keeping a little bend in the elbows and take it over to the left and keep moving that bent elbow back in space to open up the shoulder, the more you sit back towards the heels, the more you feel the space releasing, wonderful everybody, let's all meet back in child's pose, drift you forward, look towards the front of the mat, slide forward a little bend in the elbows, creep them out to 10 and 2, slide and then hug the elbows back to the midline, inhale for cobra up dog, exhale for your down dog, great, walk your hands all the way back to your feet, bring your palms on top of your knees for chair pose, easy chair twist, left hand stays, right palm to the sky, hook the right elbow in front of outside of that left knee, lengthen the spine before you move deeper into your twist, left palm on top of the right, get long and then rotate, each time you inhale lengthen to rotate, one more, good, come back to your supported chair pose, palms on top of the quads, we're coming all the way up, so engage your core, bring your arms by the side, rise up, straighten the legs, inhale the palms up, cactus feel, go the arms for a soft little back bend, little celebration, opening up through the front of the chest and then exhale back to your supported chair pose, bend both knees, right hand on top of the right thigh, left hand reaches to the sky, take a nice big inhale, hook the left elbow outside of the right knee, palms into prayer, lengthen to rotate, big inhales, make a sound through the mouth as you exhale and twist it out, one more, those nice big inhale, bring it out, great, from here bring your fingertips back to the floor and start to walk your way back to down dog, planting the heels down into the floor, the heels for most of us will come off, that's okay, just see where you are in space, feeling the heels grounding to the floor as you start to press actively forward with both hands, shift your weight to your right leg, inhale the left leg to the sky, bend your left leg, create a little scorpion tail, now bend your right leg, your standing leg, look softly forward towards your thumbs, you shouldn't feel any creaks in the neck here, send the left leg a little higher for your scorpion tail and then start to straighten your right leg until you feel, take a nice big inhale, exhale, step the left foot to the front of the mat, feet stay hip distance for the high lunge, bring your hands to your hips, lengthen the tailbone down and then interlace your hands behind the back, once you get the interlace squeezing to the midline straighten both legs just to give that left leg a little breather and then the next time you exhale bend both legs, don't let the right knee touch the floor, left knee right behind the ankle or on top of the ankle, keep the left leg where it is, straighten the right leg, good let's try it again, bend just the right leg, move the wrists a little farther away from the sacrum, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest and then straighten the right leg, you got one more and yeah let's try it, bend the right leg, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, wrists away, straighten the right leg, straighten the left leg, move your wrists over to the right waistband, inhale just the right arm to the sky, keep the left hand around the waist and then sink into that left thigh as you take the back bend, we've been playing with us, if you want to slide the left hand up the spine and bring the right hand behind the head, we'll just go deeper and deeper each time, good, reach forward with your right fingertips, if you're using a block grab your block, put it about six inches in front of your fingertips, step your right foot forward about a foot and then slide your right hand, your right block forward about a foot, half moon with the twist, right leg lifts, left hip stacked over the left thigh, lengthen the spine and then take that left palm to the sky, twist it out, two more rounds of breath, lengthen to rotate, nice, one more, lengthen to rotate, when you step back, step back to pyramid pose, shorten your stance by about four to five inches, plant that heel to the floor, turn the toes in, we've been on that straight leg for a while, so hamstring stretch should feel a little bit better, maybe use your blocks, if you are really enjoying that interlace, take a soft bend in the knees, interlace your hands behind the back, move the wrists away from the sacrum and then start to squeeze the left inner thigh towards the right, can you break the breath longer, slower, smoother and deeper, can you bring a little bit of joy to the challenge, that's really the challenge, right? Usually when I find that sense of joy, that sense of awe, that sense of wonder, the posture becomes a lot easier, great, fingertips around the left leg, so this is our standing split opportunity, use the blocks in front of you, bend the left leg, send the right leg to the sky, tap the right knee outside of the left calf as you bend the left leg, you've got three more of those, straighten the left leg, right leg to the sky, maybe the crown of the head drops a little closer to the floor and then tap once again, last one, send it to the sky, take a big inhale, as you exhale tap, right toes untucked, top of the foot starts to lower to the floor, both knees bent, right leg crosses the left and we lower all the way down for the twist, a little high low flow, right hand wrapped around the knee, left fingertips to the floor, lift, lengthen the spine and ring it out, we've done quite a few twists, so if you want to move deeper, right elbow outside or play with any other variations of Matsyandrasana, make sure you just keep finding length and space, wherever you find that twist, let your left ear softly drop towards your left shoulder, giving you a little bit of trapezius stretch, great and as you come back to center, flip your left palm so it's facing forward, right hand joins the left, free the legs, lift your knees the height of your heels, lift your sternum, lift your chest, stay here for your boat pose or straighten the legs or release those arms, celebrate it by sending the palms to the sky, makes it a little harder and then we'll take a soft rock and roll Vinyasa, touch your toes to the floor, lower all the way down, engage your core, massage your way down as you hug and knees into the chest, give yourself a soft rock and roll forward and backward, enjoy the feeling of being supported by the earth, the massaging movements of the spine, when you're ready, give yourself a little rock and roll forward, you can swing the legs around for your table pose and meet and down dog or you can slide your heels closer to the seat if this is okay for the front of the knees, plant your palms forward about six inches to a foot, lift and either step or float back, we'll meet and down dog, inhale for your cobra or up dog if you're taking the full Vinyasa, if not we'll meet you there and down dog, we'll all flow together, push actively forward with both hands, pedal the legs out, shift your weight to your left leg, when you send the right leg to the sky, bend the knee, draw the toes to the ceiling like a scorpion tail, keep the hip closed, now bend your left leg, draw the chest closer towards your left thigh, if you have no neck issues look straight down or softly forward as you kick that right heel to the sky, keep the right heel lifting as you straighten the left leg, melt the heel to the floor, feel your hamstring and calf, does that feel good? Step your right foot to the front of the mat, setting up for the high lunge, feet are hip distance, bring your hands to the hips, lengthen the tailbone down, good and then when we go into that interlace we'll take the non-habitual interlace, the opposite index finger on top, moving the wrists away from the sacrum, once you get set up straighten both legs, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, move the wrists away from the sacrum, bend both legs, don't let the left knee touch the floor, keep the right leg where it is, don't straighten the right leg, just straighten the left leg as you move the wrists away from your sacrum, you'll feel that, now bend the left leg again, lift the sternum, lift the chest, move the wrists farther away, straighten the left leg, we're going low, how low can we go? So, bending the left leg wrists away, last one, I know you're feeling this because I'm feeling it too, straighten both legs, move your wrists over to the left waistband, right hand stays, left palm to the sky, place the left hand either behind the head or reach for the shoulder blades, keep the right hand there or start to slide it up the spine, we're not going for the full grasp here yet, unless it's just so easy for you, you have to, bend the right leg, lean the head back in space and enjoy, enjoy that space of the shoulder on the left side, two more inhales and exhales, one more, reach forward with the left fingertips, this is where you might need the block, slide your left foot forward about a foot and then set your block up in front of you about a foot, lengthen forward, get the spine as long as it will go and then lift the left leg off the floor, the height of your hip, right hand freeze for the half, for the half moon with a twist, get long with the torso and then rotate to the right, two more rounds of breath, the twist should feel good about now, one more, shorten your stance as you step the left foot back, either feet hip distance or line up the heels as you turn the toes in about 45 to 60 degrees, you can keep a little bend in your right knee as you bow, feel free to use those blocks again, if you're deciding to take the interlace, keep a little bend in that right knee, lengthen the spine, go back to that non-habitual interlace, weird index finger on top, as you move the wrists over the head, lengthen the spine and fold and then the last part is squeezing the right inner thigh towards the left, squeeze to the midline to straight and then can you find joy in a compromising situation where you don't feel breath, where you don't feel ease, see if you can come back to the heart center, feel that smile, feel the breath expanding, wonderful guys, last one, a little bend in your right leg, bring your hands on either side of the right foot, set your blocks up for your standing split on the right leg, taking those little pulses, the curtsies, the left knee outside of the right calf, bending both legs, top of the left foot taps to the floor as you look forward and then straightening the right leg, sending it to this guy, you've got two more pulse with your breath, last one, the next time you tap the left knee outside of your right calf, lower down slowly by squeezing to the midline with the inner thighs, good to be on the ground again, isn't it? So your right ankle is on top of your left knee, a little space between your left heel and your glute, left hand wraps around the right knee, get as long as you can with the inhale, rotate and twist with the exhale, lift and lengthen and rotate. If you were taking any deeper versions of twist, feel free, you got about three more breaths at that finale, let your right ear drop towards your right shoulder, give yourself a little release here. Wonderful everybody, as you unwind we'll all meet in table pose, so you can choose your rock and roll vinyasa once again or you can just swing the legs around, you did enough core work, so you don't need to do that both pose again, a couple of rock and rolls for the spine, channel your inner seven-year-old and then either float the legs back or swing the legs around, palms in front of you, find your table pose, you may need one of your blocks towards the back of your mat on the right side or the left side as you explore these variations, table pose, replace your palms with the forearms once again, so we're setting up for a low version of dolphin, keep the right knee on the floor, right knee under the hip, lift the left leg to the sky for your scorpion tail, guide your heart forward towards your thumbs and lift the chest a little bit until you feel the back bend, this is great option one, option two if you're going for it, press your weight into your left hand, reach back with the right hand, going for the pinky toe side of the foot a little harder, big toe side a little easier, lengthen the spine first before you kick the heel away, keep playing with that, lengthen with the inhale and then keep the length as you lift, one more round lengthening and lifting, great, keep the left leg up as you lower the right form back to the floor, cross your left leg on top of across the right so you're crossing the legs, walking your hands back, this is where you might want to put the block as you walk back right underneath your seat for a little elevation in Gomakasana, I'm going to slide forward a little bit more so you guys can see me, block is underneath my seat, heels are outside of the glutes, this makes the experience of Gomakasana a little softer, stay here block or no block, the idea is trying to stack the knees on top of each other, your body will tell you whether it's working or not, all right right hand to the sky, this is where you might need the strap, if you're using the strap, strap in the right hand, drop it behind the head, left hand around the waist, we've been working up towards this throughout our flow today so see what it feels like, this is your finale here, draw the right elbow to the midline, left elbow to the midline and then lean the head back and lift the spine, this is a great spot to stay and breathe or you can lengthen the spine forward, give yourself a couple of breaths here as you lengthen and fold, if you get farther forward you've got a spot to relax your chin on your knee or just in front of your knee, give yourself a little ease here, great, release the arms, freedom, all right so the knees, we're going to walk our hands forward, press down into your left knee, lower the right knee to the floor and then free your left leg, good, lower the left knee next to the right, back to your table pose, palms underneath the shoulders, replace those palms with your forearms, good, lengthen the spine, shift your weight to your left leg, guide the heart, chin and chest forward, good, get that lengthening, that cow tilt of the spine, shift your weight to your left forearm, reach back with your right hand, pinky toe side of the left foot, do we do this side?

Do the other side, right leg to the sky, like I feel like I wasn't looking at you before, right leg to the sky, left hand, pinky toe side of the right foot, lengthen the spine, perfect, we want to make sure that we do the sides evenly, it's a little harder when we're online isn't it, you can't scream and yell at me, lengthen, extend, lift the right knee away from the floor, two more rounds of breath, one more, lower the right knee outside of the left calf and then start to back up your seat, remember you can use the block under your seat to give yourself a little bit more height here, easier to stack the knees, heels outside of the hips or if you don't need the block, set it up, right hand around the waist, up the spine, the strap goes into the left hand this time, squeeze to the midline with your elbows, maybe use the head to draw that left form back, feeling that opening of the upper back and the shoulder and enjoying the space that you worked up to, feeling the sense of accomplishment you got here, however you got here, you got here, maybe a little bow forward, two more rounds of breath, wonderful and then go ahead and slowly release those arms, celebrate it, give yourself a little shoulder roll, a little cactus feel go, a little star pose, whatever it is, enjoy that side being done, press into your right knee, walk the hands forward, left knee presses down into the earth, both knees line up hip distance, tuck the toes under, grab a seat on your heels, last little back bend, hands to the sacrum, squeeze those elbows to the midline, lift for camel pose, keeping the toes tucked is easier if you decide to reach for the heels, just send the sternum up as you lengthen the tailbone down, get as much space through the front body as you can if you decide to reach, if you're reaching one heel at a time, a little bit more challenging with your toes untucked, lift your sternum, lift your chest, big smile at the heart, maybe a big smile at the face too, wonderful everybody, come on down, grab a seat on your heels, let your hips swing over to your right and then swing the legs around in front of you, when you lower down, bring your palms next to your hips and lower the elbows to the floor for an easy version of reclining fish poles, lift the sternum, lift the chest, take a nice big inhale through the nose, stick out your tongue, touch your chin, try that one more time, nice big inhale, stick it out, great, lower all the way down, walk your feet in so they're about hip distance, heels are underneath the knees, place the right ankle on top of your left knee, opening the hip, easy figure four, choose your version of the arms and just let the knees windshield wiper from side to side, we did a lot of hip closing so we're just doing a little counter posture here, massaging the glutes from all of those high lunges that you did, enjoy a little massage on each side of the spine, each side of the sacrum and then as you come to neutral you can stay here, you can draw the knee into the chest or you can reach through for the hamstring or the left shin and close the eyes, relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw, wonderful, let's see what the other side has in store for us, right heel to the floor, left ankle on top of the right knee, opening the hip, get those arms out of the way, little windshield wipers from side to side massaging the glutes, everyone deserves a nice good butt massage after this class today, so we're massaging the top of the glutes, piriformis area, releasing everything, good, when you come on back to center, draw the right knee in, press the sacrum down to the floor to keep the lower back safe, you can reach for the hamstring or the front of your right shin, keeping that left foot flexed, relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw, great, supta bada kanasana, bottoms of the feet together, a nice little hip opener, cactus field goal of the arms and just go back to that windshield wipering idea as you settle in, if there's any last movements that intuitively are calling you right now, a happy baby grabbing the sides of your feet, something that you do for the finale of your practice, make sure to do that so that when we come into shavasana nothing feels like it's left undone, whenever you're ready you can settle in for your shavasana, a sense of letting go, enjoy the opening at the heart space and thank the breath for carrying you on this journey today, enjoy that tingle of energy, that lightness in the body, that feeling of the energy body expanding beyond the borders of our physicality, let go of any thought patterns, and give yourself the gift of your presence for the next minute or so, feel free to stay in your shavasana a little bit longer, tune me out as we bring some movement, intuitive movements back to our physical shape and form, whatever intuitively feels right for you, right now, make sure to give yourself a moment in fetal pose, returning to that sense of innocence, that sense of self that experiences wonder with ease, and then guide yourself up to your seat, give yourself a moment in your comfortable cross-legged seat to receive and absorb all of the effects of your practice, you can bring your hands back to the heart to either place them on the heart or bring them into prayer or mantra, let's revisit it, let there be joy, it clears the mind, it opens the heart and it strengthens our connection with spirit or intuition, let there be joy, joy is our medicine, especially when we're not feeling joy, so every time during the week when you're feeling that sense of separateness, take your dose, bring the mantra back in, let there be joy in silly small moments, bring joy to them, thank you for being on this journey with me today, thank you for helping me open up to joy myself, bring your palms together, I celebrate the light in you, peace, peace, peace, that's sending it out, have a great week everyone.