Vital Energy Flow

Hi everybody. Happy day, happy day. It's a good day to be alive. I hope your day is starting off well wherever you are and whatever time it is that you're practicing with me. Today we're going to be focusing on the energy body, how to harness and use that energy that's all around us, in us, and bring in a little playful moves for energy, play with some pranayama, breath techniques, and also a mudra today, the energetic seal that helps us channel and redirect energy. So we're going to have a fun day playing with energy. It'll have a couple of kicks, a couple of things that really get the body moving and awake. So let's start in a comfortable seat. If you are joining and you don't have two blocks, grab two blocks. You may need them. If you don't have them, we'll modify and a strap. Same thing with a strap. We can always modify if you don't have them. Find a nice comfortable seat, move your built-in cushions back just a little bit. And before we connect with the breath, I just want you to intuitively sway from side to side with your hands on top of your knees and you can close the eyes and just feel that kind of natural sway of the body. I'm kind of rocking from sit bone to sit bone, our energy center at the base of the spine, Muladhara chakra channels and brings that energy up through Spadhisthana chakra, our second chakra. So we can think of the spine as this little antenna, little antenna sending out energy and connecting with source to cultivate energy from source as well. The next time you rock to your right, lean forward and over your right thigh, lengthen the spine and as you rock back into your left engage your core, pull the navel up and back a little Kundalini exercise, Kundalini rising. Soft bend in the elbows. Traditionally, we keep that neck and head really neutral, but I like to break a little rule here and there and let the head roll the same direction as the torso. See if that feels interesting and good for you. Kind of wakes up the energy from the heart chakra to the throat chakra, cervical spine. Give yourself one more round in this direction and the next time you're bowing forward, go ahead and pause and exhale round and circle back over in the opposite direction. Notice how the body's feeling. Notice how these circular movements of the spine start to wake up the energy along the spine. All of our chakras, our energy centers are right in front of the spine. The next time you roll up to your seat, give yourself a moment to come to a nice comfortable seat. We're going to place our palms in prana mudras, also known as the happiness mudra. Keep your index and middle finger together and bring the tips of your ring and pinky to your thumb on both hands. Keep those two together, your pointer and your middle finger together and just kind of draw your elbows in towards the ribs. Lift the sternum, lift the chest and invite the breath to be nice and full as you inhale. Hold the breath, the sternum lifts and as you exhale, slightly draw the navel of the spine to release the breath but keep the spine high. The inhalation is that kind of upward expansion movement and the exhalation slightly drawing back to the midline, hugging back to the center of south. We can think of the inhale as a purifying breath, cleansing of the mind. Short pause and join the sensation of stillness and then exhale moving the tension out through the breath. Give yourself three more rounds just like that. We'll be revisiting this mudra quite a few times. Traditionally we hold a mudra much longer than a minute or two but to keep harnessing that energy we'll just be repeating the mudra quite often so you get the wonderful effects of the mudra.

This energy circuit, earth, water and fire element, finding balance with this energy circuit of the hands. Wonderful. Go ahead and release the hands. Slide into your child's pose. We're going to stretch the upper back and shoulders. If you have blocks as you swing the knees around, if you have blocks, put a block underneath each hand. Take your knees a little bit wider than your hips. Big toes together, palms on top of the blocks, back up the seat. Imagine that your breath is your personal soundtrack so as you inhale really bring the breath in. Audible breath. Hold the breath silence and as you exhale let it go. Slow deep inhales. Breathe loud enough so you can hear and experience your breath. Take a moment to pause and hold and slow deep exhales. Melting the chest towards the floor. Maybe the forehead starts to touch the floor. Be kind to the knees. Be kind to the ankles in your child's pose. We're going to take a little side stretch in child's pose. Feel where your left hand is. Replace your left hand with your right hand. Right hand on top of the block or on the floor over to your left. Left hand slides by the waist or around the waist if you're comfortable here. You can bring the right side of the head to the floor. Focusing on that right side body. Invite the breath to be longer, slower and fuller on those inhalations. So really go big with your inhales today. Breathing loud enough so you can hear and experience the breath. Enjoy the stretch around the lungs. The inhale will help you stretch that area out the last. The intercostal is a little bit fuller. Start to walk your palms back. Where your right hand originally was, slide that left arm across to the right side of your mat or place it on the block. Guide the ribs back a little bit. The hips back a little bit. Maybe bring the left side of the head to the floor. Right hand can stay or you can drape it around the waist behind the back. Enjoying a little bit more of a rotation of the spine as you softly turn your torso to the right. Breathe deeply into the left side body. Slow, full breaths. Enjoy them. Lengthen them out and then take your time with your exhalation. Last round. Wonderful. As you come back up to your seat, if you have your blocks, keep them with you. You can sit either on the heels if that's okay or sit on one or two of your blocks just to keep those ankles nice and happy. We're going to come back to our little prana mudra. The peace fingers touch. Going back to index, ring, pinky and thumb. Holding the elbows in. We're going to play with a little bit of shoulder work here as you inhale. Reach those arms out to ten and two. Lift the sternum chest. Maybe drishi up. Keep the spine tall as you exhale. Hug the elbows back in towards the ribs. Inhale. Lift it up. Exhale. Hug it back in. Five more pulses. Follow your breath. Two more. One more. Release the mudra. Place your right palm on top of your left palm.

The left palm up, right palm down. Flip those arms to the sky. We're going to take a side stretch to the right. Press your right palm into your left so you really feel the stretch all through the area around the lungs, the lats, the intercostals. Push up and to your right with your right palm. Feel that side body stretch. If you need a little bit more, shift your weight to the left just a little bit. Perfect. Breathe into the resistance. Great. Reach out with your right fingertip. Bring your left hand right to your left hip. Slide your right hand forward and then free your left leg for an easy side plank. Palm on the floor or if you're building a little strength, come up to your fingertips in this side plank variation. A little energy in the muscles of the hands. Take the left arm up and over the ear. Push into the pinky toe side of your left foot and then ground down into each of the fingers. Ribs draw slightly to the left. Soft turn to the left. Two more rounds of breath. Enjoy the side stretch. Breathe into the left side body. One more round. Bring the left hand to your left hip. If you have your pinkies on the floor, lower your palm to the floor so you can easily lift that left leg. Easy half moon pose. Bend your left leg. Draw it towards the glute and straighten the left leg. Two more times. Bend it. Lengthen it and straighten it. The next time you bend it, reach back. See if you're able to find the ankle. Draw the heel towards your glute. You can hold onto the ankle or the top of the foot. Guide your heart forward. So lengthen the spine. Extend the spine. And then if it feels okay, you can start to kick the heel softly away from you. Give yourself two more breaths right here. Maybe let the right ear drop towards the right shoulder for a little trapezius stretch. One more breath. Slide your left knee back next to the right. Grab a seat. Come back to your pranamudra. Index middle. Pinky ring. Exhale it in. Inhale it up. If you want to feel a little bit more work in the upper back and shoulders, you can increase the rapidness of those arms reaching up. I'm making up new words. Inhale. Exhale. Five, four, three, two, and one. Great. Release your hands. Right hand on the bottom. Palm facing up. Left palm on top of the right. Palm on top of the right. Flip the palms.

Lift and lengthen the spine. And then take your side bend to your left. The left palm pushes up into the right to really help you stretch through the right side body. Go big with the breath. Breathe into the right side body. The breath helps us really circulate the energy. It really wakes us up and sends that prana, that life force, and starts to direct it. One more round. Breath. Great. Bring your right hand to your hip. Walk your left fingertips forward and shift your weight to your left knee. Extend the right leg out. Remember, you can be on the fingertips. This is okay. Creating a little strength in the muscles of the hands. Or bring it to your palm if this is too much weight on your fingers. Press into the outer right foot. Right arm up and over the ear. Lengthen the spine before you take that soft turn to the right. And then really focus on inflating the breath through the right side body. We're thinking of creating more space for the lungs to expand by stretching these muscles that are right next to the lungs. Great. Bring the right hand to your right hip. If you're on your fingertips, lower the palm to the floor. Shift your weight into the palm and the left knee. Lift your right leg off the floor. Baby half moon pose. Reach back with your right hand. Draw the heel in first. Let's do that first. Extend the right leg. We'll reach back in a second. Bend it. Pull it in. Last one. Pull it in and then reach back. If you grab the foot, great. If not, just keep drawing it towards your heel. A slight roll of that right shoulder back in space. Lengthening the spine. Heel towards the seat. And then if it feels okay on the front of your hip, guide the heel away from you. So as stretch. Open the front of the hip. We've got lots of so as work coming today. One of my favorite areas to work in. Lower the right knee next to the left. This is where you may want your blocks on either side. We're going to create a little bit of heat for our core. Lolasana. Bring those elbows. Hug them in. Blocks right next to the knees or for some of you slightly in front of. I'm going to show you the side version. We'll lift both knees off the floor, but staying on the tops of the feet. On your next exhale, allow the right knee and foot up into the chest and then lower. Next exhale, left knee and lower pulse with your breath. Last three. Last two. Last one. Move your blocks to the side. Give yourself a little wrist stretch. Interlace your fingers. Couple of figure eights with the wrists. Switch which index finger is on top. And we'll send out some good energy to the people in the world that need it. The people in our neighborhood. We're channeling our superhero powers today. We'll be coming back to Pranamudra again in a second, but let's meet in table pose. Palms under the shoulders. Knees under the hips. Glide your heart forward as you inhale. Cow tilt. Round the spine. Press down strongly. Pull the navel up and back. Chin to the chest. Exhaling. Inhale. Lengthening the spine. Heart forward.

Tailbone lifts. Exhale. Rounding the spine. Massaging the muscles along the spine. Waking them up. Creating space. A little space in the front and back body. Last round. Neutral spine. Shift your weight to your right leg. Inhale that left leg the height of your hip. Point the toes here. Lengthen the spine. Instead of bending the leg, we're thinking of this as more of a back strengthener here. So keep the left foot the height of your knee. Lengthen the spine. Move the heart forward in that cow tilt. Pull the navel up and back. As you exhale, draw the left knee to the forehead. Round the spine. Pull the knee and heel up. As you inhale, extend the leg straight like this time. Heart moves forward. Reach back with your toes. Two more pulses with the right hand on the floor. And then we're going to see what it feels like to lift the right arm out to the side like a wing. Not forward. So extend your left leg back. Shift your weight to your left hand. Right arm out to the side like a wing. Hug the left knee into your chest with the right hand as you exhale. Inhale. Leg back. Extend the arm. Exhale pulse. Two more rounds. Pulse with the breath. Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen with the inhale. Draw to the midline. Just like you did in the low loss and the heel and knee up. Last round. Extend the left leg. Extend the right leg.

Place the toe pads of the left foot to the floor. Lengthen the spine and turn your torso to the right. Big inhale. Exhale. Thread the right arm under, crossing through. Pulse with your breath. Inhale. Lifting. A little bit more rotation if it's available. Exhale, pulsing and contracting. We've got three more if you want to hover that left leg off the floor the height of your hip. Really nice squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs. Stabilizers for the core. The midsection. Strengthening the back. Last two. Last one. Next time you send the right arm to the sky, lower the left foot to the floor. Big inhale. Lengthen. Exhale. Thread under and through for the twist of your choice. As the right hand threads under, give that left wrist a little break. We did a lot of work for that hand. A couple of circles with the left hand. You can keep it here. Drape it around the waist or place the left palm on top of the right. Bend the right elbow for a little elbow stand. If you want to free the left leg, feel free. One more round of breath. Wherever you find it, take an inhale. Lengthen and exhale. Twist and rotate. Lower the left leg to meet the right. Lower the left palm to the floor. Inhale the right arm to the sky and then bring your fingertips back right underneath your shoulders. Both fingers, no palms. Glide the heart, chin and chest forward. Cow tilt and cat tilt. Pulse with your breath. Enjoy that freedom up and down the spine as you close your eyes. Just imagine traveling the spine with your mind's eye and feel any areas that feel like they need a little wiggle or a little bit more of a breath or a little bit more of an extension. Beautiful. Let's see what the other side has in store for us. Palms to the floor. Shift your weight to your left knee. Extend your right leg the height of your hip. Point the toes for this variation. Lengthen the spine. Really guide your ribs and your heart forward. Exhale round the spine.

Draw the knee up. Draw the heel up. Inhale. Lengthen the spine. Extend your leg. Be kind to the muscles of the neck. If looking up doesn't feel good, just look straight forward. Give it one more pulse and we're going to add the left arm now. The next time you extend the right leg, left arm out to the side like a wing and then hug to the midline. Pull everything up into the center. Inhale. Lengthen. Extend. Exhale. Hug. Three more pulses. This is kind of like how the breath works too. The expansiveness of the inhale and the hugging back to the midline with the exhale. Last one. The next time you extend your right leg, keep the right leg extended. Touch the toes to the floor with the right leg. Inhale the left arm to the sky. Squeeze to the midline with your inner thighs. Inhale the left palm up. Exhale. Bend your cross and through. Pulse with your breath. Remember the breath directs the energy of the body. Make sure you're connecting with all four parts of the breath. If you're lifting that right leg, lift at the height of your hip as we take three more around. There's an inhale, a pause, an exhale, and a short pause before you do that last round. The next time you send your left arm to the sky, keep it there. Lower the right foot to the floor. Lengthen the spine and softly turn your torso to the left. Nice big inhale and then exhale thread under, across and through. Lowering the left shoulder. If it comes all the way down to the floor, free the right arm. Give yourself a couple of circles at the wrists. Perfect. Keep it there. Or drape the right hand around the waist or play with that elbow stand. Right palm on top of the left. Bend into the left elbow. Lengthen the spine and then press the right palm into the left. If you're going deeper, right leg off the floor for a little balance. Wonderful everybody. When you're ready, lower the right palm back to the floor. Slide that left knee forward. Left hand to the sky for a soft, easy twist.

And then bring your palms to the floor. Let's shake out one wrist at a time. Tuck your toes under. We'll take a little broken toe pose to stretch the arches. Pull the right fingertips back towards your forearm. Good. Give yourself a little stretch here or bring it to the top of your quad. Try to keep the right arm straight as you press softly down. Let's see what the other side has in store for us. Left fingertips towards the forearm. Try to keep that elbow straight. Adding more pressure if you need to. All right. Let's take our journey into our first down dog. Table pose. Hands of palm print forward. Tuck the toes under. Lift the hips to the sky. Press actively forward with each hand. And then bend the legs one at a time as you invite the chest towards the thighs. Push actively forward with each finger as you wake up one hamstring at a time, one calf muscle at a time. Pedal it out intuitively and feel your way around how the body's feeling in this first version. Lengthen the spine forward for your plank pose. Hips lower than your shoulders. Engage. Push down strongly with the muscles in your hands. A little squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs. And then as you lean forward, tops of the toes, bend the elbows to lower all the way down. Walk your hands forward and come up to your fingertips. Slide your sternum and your ribs as close to your thumbs as possible. So really stretch the front of the body. Once you've got that, place your palms on the floor. Draw your elbows energetically towards your ribcage or your shoulder girdle energetically towards the ribcage. And then just lift one foot off the floor at a time and do a little kick here. This little kick, kind of like if you remember being in a swim practice or something like that, holding on the wall. This helps us work some of those lower back muscles. You can bring the forearms to the floor or whatever you're doing, just keep guiding the heart forward so you're extending the spine. Alright, kicking's done. Lower the feet. Slide your hands back. Low cobra. Inhale. Give yourself a little shoulder roll here, waking up the mid and upper back area. Tuck the toes under. Press back to your down dog, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs. Each hand is pushing the mat away from your feet. Both hands are really actively pushing forward. Draw the navel to the spine, ears or by the biceps. Walk the hand slowly back to the feet. A little forward fold at the back of your mat. Give yourself a little sway intuitively from side to side if you want to grab onto the elbows. Feel free. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. With your knees bent, slowly roll up to a supported chair pose. Palms on top of the quads. Guide your heart forward for a soft cow and cat tilt in supported chair pose. Making sure that that spine feels really nice before we move into any deeper backbends, bringing a lot of movement to the mid and lower back. The next time you round the spine, go ahead and roll up, engaging your core. Inhale your palms to the sky. Lift the heart, sternum, chin and chest. Exhale your palms right into prayer. Give yourself a moment to reconnect with the expansiveness of the breath. Full inhales, expanding beyond the borders of your physicality. Exhales, hugging back into self. One more round of breath just like that. If you'd like to join me for an om as we bow to the floor, inhale the palms to the sky. Look up, hinging at the hip. Palms to the shins. Lengthen the spine flat back. Take a walk all the way to your down dog. Pedal the legs out one at a time. Wonderful. Change your left leg and cross your left foot in front of the right. You can straighten the left leg as you cross the leg. A little IT band stretch. Press the hips back. Great. Feel that hamstring calf stretch on the outer IT band. Look forward. Tap the left knee to your left tricep. Pull the heel up nice and high. And then slide your leg back in front of and across the right foot. Tap it again. If you want to feel more, slide that left leg across, but slightly forward in space for a deeper IT band stretch, outer hip. And then last time, tap the left knee, lean forward, slide it across, maybe a little farther forward so you feel the IT band stretch. Beautiful. Instead of tapping, we're going to step that left foot just outside of the left hand. Lower the right knee to the floor. Easy twist. With our left foot a little wider, it's going to be easier for us to straighten that left leg. So as you straighten the left leg, take your left arm over the head. Just kind of give yourself a little bend. See where it feels like that feels good. And then rebend the left leg. Reach your left hand back. Straighten the left leg. Arm over the head. Little spinal twist. Bend the left leg. So a little pulsing, a little waking up of the hamstring and that connection to the lower back. Last one. Good. Next time you bend your left leg, go ahead and slide your left hand inside of the left thigh. Maybe bring your forearms to the floor using the block if you need to. Guide the heart forward. Lengthen the spine. If you want to feel more, tuck the toes under on the right foot. Lift the heel off the floor. Fire up the right quad and squeeze the left thigh towards your left tricep. And then go ahead and lower the right knee. Walk your hands back. Walk your left foot slightly to your right for a deeper art of Hanuman. The deeper hamstring stretch. Straighten the left leg.

Pull the toes back. We'll do a little circle with the foot. Choose a direction just so we start to feel inner and outer hamstring and that ankle connection. Circle the foot the other way. Preparing this leg for a nice standing balance later. I'm excited for you. Re-bend your left leg. Left leg to the sky. Send it up. Shake it out. Move it around. Remember that little kick we did when we were lying on our stomach? Feel free to explore. And then plank pose. Lower all the way down. This time slide your elbows forward for Sphinx pose. Lengthen the spine. Really lift and lengthen the spine. Stretch the front of your body here. Untuck the toes. Fire up the muscles in your legs. And then bring your palms where your elbows were. Your body's going to want to collapse. Keep guiding it forward. Feeling the strength of the back muscles. Lift with the inhale. Lower with the exhale. Pull the navel up and back as you lower. Lift with the inhale. Heart forward. Lower. You've got three more if you want to try this on your fingertips. A little bit more use of the back muscles. Make sure this feels okay on your lower back. Last one. Palms to the floor. Lift up and we'll take a little break in child's pose. Good. While you're in your child's pose, walk your hands a little farther forward for puppy pose and bring your knees a little closer.

So we're going back to that nice shoulder stretch. Either forehead to the floor or look towards your thumbs. Wonderful everybody. Let's slide those hands back and meet back and down dog. Tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs. Actively press forward with both hands. The next time you bend your right leg, slide your right foot in front of and across the left leg until it's straight. Yeah. Press the chest towards the thighs. Feel the hamstring and IT band stretch. Exhale. Right knee is high up on the right tricep as it'll go and then slide it in front of and across once again. Remember if you want to feel more on that right IT band, slide the right foot forward and to your left. Exhale. Tap the right knee. High up on the right tricep. Slide it back. Maybe instead of six o'clock, seven o'clock, go to eight or nine o'clock with a foot. Last one. Tap the right knee. Slide it back. IT band stretching dog. Instead of tapping the knee, look forward. Step your right foot outside of your right hand. Lower the left knee to the floor and we'll play with that little variation of the soft twist. Right palm to the sky, reaching the right hand slightly back the height of your shoulders and then straightening the right leg, taking the arm over the head, spiraling the torso to the right. Remember we're slowly waking up that hamstring. So if it's not straight, don't worry about it. Just allow this pulse, this little pulse of energy to start to wake up that muscle, that hamstring muscle and the hip flexor. Two more rounds of breath. Two more pulses. Last one. Great. The next time the right leg is bent, slide your right hand inside of the right leg. Easy variation of lizard pose or bring your forearms to the floor and tuck the left toes under to make it a little bit more challenging. Lifting the left knee off the floor and firing up, pressing the left heel back and moving the crown of the head forward all at the same time. Wonderful. Lower the left knee to the floor. Walk your hands back. Guide your right foot back onto the mat, not to the center, just in line with your right hip and then start to straighten the right leg, pull the toes towards the shin. Feel free to use your blocks on either side and we'll go back to those circles at the ankle. Little rotation, feeling some space at the ankle for later as we move into our standing posture. It's a little bit more opportunity to tap into those muscles and the feet and then go ahead and pull the toes towards your shin, lengthen the spine. Beautiful flat back. Re-bend your right leg, send the right leg to the sky and shake it out. Remember as we were kind of shaking out the leg up and down or side to side, move it around just a little bit. Lengthen the spine for your flat back, plank pose and then lower all the way down. A little pectoral stretch. Left hand comes to your sacrum, fingertips facing down, palm on your sacrum and then roll over to your left. If you want to bend one or both legs to help you open up the front of the chest a little bit more, feel free to explore. Make sure you're going back to your breath. Expand the breath once again. So usually when we're opening our heart, we forget to breathe. We enjoy the exhales but go big with your inhales while you're doing any heart openers. You're breathing into resistance. Slowly unwind. Let's set up for the other side. Right hand to your sacrum, right elbow bends, roll over to your right. You can just find that spot where the chest starts to feel a little resistance or you can bring the left foot behind you, a little bend, a little kickstand. Right foot can join. The closer you get your left seat towards the floor, the more you feel so. Just kind of be the judge here and then listen for your breath. Expansive inhalations. Holds and exhales. Beautiful. Come on back to your core. Hopefully you're feeling a little bit more strength and openness in that back bend. Untuck the toes, glide your heart forward, press into indexing thumb. Maybe a low or medium cobra or if you're starting to open up a little bit more in the back, you can start to straighten the arms. Make sure you're feeling no compression in the lower back. Heart moves forward, drishti, straight forward. Great. Meet your back and down dog. Tuck the toes under. Any little intuitive movements in your dog before we walk or float the feet to the hands. Give yourself about three breaths. Maybe it's a little shoulder roll. Maybe it's a little pivot of the feet left or right. So we're working our way to the front of the mat on your next exhale. The finale of your next exit, walk or float your feet forward. Lengthen the spine, flat back, a lot of nice long extension and then soft forward fold. From here, if you'd like a little traction for the neck, interlace the hands behind the base of the head. Little pull elbows towards the floor. Shift your weight forward to your toe pads just a little bit more so you're leaning forward and feeling that hamstring stretch. Pull the navel up to the spine and then go ahead and bend both knees, hands to the quads, round the spine, roll up. Inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale them right into prayer. Just to play with a little bit more energy. Once again, we're going to do a little pulsing movement. If this isn't good for your lower back, go back to your cat and cow tilts in chair pose. Otherwise, let's see what happens. Inhale the palms to the sky. As you bend the knees, sweep the arms. As you inhale, rise up and cactus feel, go the arms, squeeze your shoulder blades back. Exhale, bend the knees, sweep the arms. Inhale, lift up, cactus feel, go look forward or up. Enjoy the back bend. Exhale, pulse. Inhale, rise. Two more. Enjoy the movements. Enjoy that wakening of the energy all the way up and down the spine.

Last one. From your cactus feel, go take a little bit of a back bend, lift the sternum and chest, bring your hands to your hips, thumbs behind the back, four fingers to the front of the back, a little back bend in your Tadasana. Lengthen forward, flat back. Forward fold, palms to the shins. Inhale, lengthen the spine. Exhale, bend both knees, step the right leg back, lower the right knee to the floor. Left hand on the left thigh, right hand to the sacrum, give yourself a nice little psoas pulse. Opening up the front of your right hip. Once you find the foundation, bring your fingertips up to the shoulders and we'll explore little single movements, little circular movements with the upper back and shoulders. This will help us find a little movement in the upper back and shoulders for a little bit of a back bend. Beautiful. The next time you circle those elbows back, interlace your hands, a little bend in those elbows and then lift your ribs, lift your heart. With the bend it's easier to kind of slide back, move a little deeper than with straight arms. So keep the arms bent until you find that sweet spot. Lift your sternum and chest and then start to straighten the arms if that's okay for your body. Melt into the front of your right hip. Two more rounds of breath. One more. Beautiful. Palms to the floor, around your left leg. Tuck the right toes under, left leg to the sky. Keep the left leg up. Squeeze your elbows towards the midline and lower them down into dolphin. Push actively forward with both hands. If you're feeling it, take a little bend in the left leg, look towards your thumbs, a little scorpion tail in your dolphin. Great. And then glide your shoulders right over the elbows, bring both knees to the floor, back up your seat just a little bit, and then lower chest and chin as you lift your elbows. So elbows by the side, chest and chin, slide forward to cobra up dog. Inhale, lift. Exhale, send it back to your down dog. Back to the left leg. Inhale the left leg to the sky. Exhale, step the left foot between the hands. Setting up for high lunge, so make sure your feet are hip distance. Bring your hands to the sacrum, anchor the tailbone down, lift the sternum and chin up. Bring your hands back into your prana mudra. Index middle, pinky ring. Great. Straighten the left leg, send your palms to the sky. Bend the left leg, elbows by the side. Straighten and bend with your breath. Really go big with the breath when you're in this mudra, especially circulating the prana. Last one. The next time you bend your elbows, lean forward and give your right leg a little kick forward. So bend the elbows, lean forward, give your right leg a little kick and then step it back. Palms to the sky. Inhale straighten your left leg. Play with a couple rounds. Have fun with it. Bend, elbows in, kick, send it back. Two more. Maybe 15 more, just three more. Let's do three more.

It feels good. Let's have fun with it. Last two. Last one. Step it back. We're going to bring that strap into the chair. If you have your strap next to you, grab onto your strap. When you send your right leg forward, touch your right toes to the floor. Keep the weight balancing in the left leg. Undo your strap. Slide the strap under the toe pads. Hold on to the strap. Try to get the strap even on both sides. You'll see why in a second. If you don't have a strap, don't worry. When you extend the right leg, you can hold the back of your hamstring with both hands. All right. Faulty strap. Here we go. Lift and lengthen the spine. Pull the toes towards you. You can keep the strap in one hand and send your left hand to the sky or you can hold the strap with both hands. If you're doing this traditionally, right hand, right big toe. Perfect. Lower your right foot to the floor. Make sure your strap is even. Cross your strap and then step your left leg through. This will help us with a nice quad stretch. Remember, if you don't have a strap, just pull the right heel up to your seat and grab the right foot with one or both hands. If you have the strap, bring it up to your shoulders. If you're going deeper, just move the strap up a little higher. Move the heel a little farther outside of your glute. Focusing on the quad stretch, lift the sternum, lift the heart. Two more rounds of breath. If you want to see what it feels like to send your palms, your wrist to the sky, see what it feels like you'll extend the spine a little bit more. Beautiful. Lower back. Keep the strap as it is. Just lower the arms by the side so that you can step your right leg all the way back. We made it. Lower your right knee to the floor. Untuck your right toes. You may have to slide your left foot forward a little bit to feel that psoas stretch once again. We're going to start really easy. Don't feel like you have to go anywhere. Pull the right heel up by pulling the strap. Hang out right here. If you want to feel more, resist. Push your right foot towards the floor. Two, one, and then soften, and then you can go a little bit deeper. Push your right foot to the floor. Soften, and you usually go a little bit deeper. So see what it feels like playing with the resistance and then your finale. If you want to play with the arms above the head, you can start to walk down the strap a little bit. This is where most of us compress in the lower spine. So exaggerate and really lift your ribs. Really lift your heart as you melt into it. Two more rounds. Breath.

Keep breathing. One more. Beautiful. Release the strap. Good. Free your foot. Keep the strap on either side of the mat, maybe the left side of the mat where we'll use it next. Tuck your right toes under, left leg to the sky. Shake it out. Plank pose. Lower it down. Glide to Cobra Up Dog. We'll come into Child's Pose. Walking the hands forward just like we did earlier in Dolphin Pose to open things up. All right, everybody. So we're in this variation of Child's Pose with our hips a little farther over the knees puppy pose to really extend the spine. Now we're going to explore side two. So slide forward to your elbows. Untuck. Palms by the side. Lift the sternum chin and chest. Exhale, press back to your Down Dog. Inhale the right leg to the sky. Exhale, step the right foot to the front of the mat. Lower the left knee to the floor. Bring the right hand right on top of your quad. Left hand to the sacrum and we'll give ourselves that little psoas pulse opening up the front of the hip. So we're starting to feel this muscle starting to soften a little bit. These hip flexors are how we bend forward and we get stuck in this position. So we want to find some ease here. Once you feel that ease, same thing we did last time. Inhale the palms to the sky. Give yourself that interlace of the fingers. And this is our second time here. So as you bend the elbows and sway from side to side with those elbows, you might find a little bit more space when you try to straighten the arms. And remember, keep breathing into the heart center for this one. Keep lifting the ribs. Keep lifting the chest. Beautiful. Lower the palms to the floor. Right leg to the sky. Look forward. Plank pose. Lower knees, back up the seat, chest and chin. Glide forward, Cobra Up Dog. Really getting the back open for our back bend coming up on the right side. Inhale the right leg to the sky. Look forward, step the right foot forward for your high lunge. Make sure your feet are hip distance. Light from the tailbone down. Lift the sternum, chin and chest up.

Back to your happiness mudra. Elbows in. Straightening the legs. Palms reaching to the sky. Elbows in for Prana mudra. Pulse with your breath. It's like your negative and positive recharge are getting recharged here. Your batteries on each side. Two more pulses. Last one. Alright, we're going to kick with the left leg this time. Straighten. Straighten and pulse. Pull the elbows in. Kick. Arms to the sky. Pull the elbows in. Kick. Hands to the sky. Pulse with your breath. Last three. Hope you're feeling that awakening energy of these little kicks. Last one. Beautiful. Reach down, grab onto your strap if you're using it. You can take a little slow kick forward and then lower those toes to the front of the mat. And we'll set up for the second side. Slide the strap under your toe pads. Try to keep the strap even on both sides. Shift your weight to the right foot. Establish your focal point, your drishti point and lift the left heel off the floor. Try to guide at the height of your hip or even higher if you can. If you're moving deeper, hands behind the hamstrings or toes without a strap or you can grab onto the big toe if you don't need the strap. Strengthening that right standing leg. Crown of the head rises as the left heel rises. Left shoulder rolls back. Beautiful. Lower the left foot. Cross the strap. Well, cross the strap and then step your right foot in front of. Making this more challenging. So we step the right foot in front of the cross strap. Good. And then pull the left heel up to the seat. Remember you can do this without your strap as well. If you're finding that you want to move a little bit deeper, just send the strap up a little bit as you pull the heel a little tighter to the glute and then lower the strap over your shoulders. It'll keep it at that new space. Still needing more. Send the palms to the sky and draw the heel in towards your seat, keeping that quad stretch. I know it's a fun balance or two. Great. Slowly lower the arms. Now we can step that left foot all the way back. All right. When you get set up and your left foot's far enough back, lower the left knee to the floor. Untuck your toes on the left foot. Maybe walk your right foot forward so that you can sink a little deeper into the lunge. If you need to and you don't have the strap, just reach back with your left hand and pull the heel in. You can bring the strap up to the shoulders just like you did before. Maybe a little resistance. Press the toe pads or the top of the foot to the floor. Three, two, one, and then release. Press it down. Three, two, one, and release. You'll start to feel that quad getting a little bit more of a stretch. Press. And then all you have to do is softly shift your left hip bone forward to feel that psoas stretch. If you're feeling more, tend the palms to the sky and start to walk your hands back. Kicking the heel away softly will help you open up the front of the hip flexor. Really nice posture to release some of that held tension that we're all experiencing in the front of the hip. Go ahead and release your strap. You are free. Move your strap to the side. Tuck your toes under, right leg to the sky, shake it out. Glide forward to your plank pose. You should feel a nice opening in your up dog, your cobra, and we'll finish those psoas off in our our bow pose. So lower down, bend the legs, slide your elbows right underneath your shoulders, glide your heart forward. For most of us, if you have lower back stuff, this is a great spot for your bow. If not, reach back, grab the outer ankle, and then just like we did earlier, glide your heart forward. Really stretch the front body before you kick the heels away. Big toes can draw towards the midline. Lengthen the spine.

Two more rounds of breath. Keep breathing. Great. Lower down, place your palms underneath the head. Give yourself a moment just to connect with the rise and fall of your breath. Feel the energy expanding with the inhale and hugging back to center with the exhale. Walk your hands slowly back as if you're coming to child's pose, but pause here and just swing your legs over to the right or the left so that you can swing the legs around. Setting up for easy Janu Shrashasana, a little hip opener after all the hip closing.

Straighten the left leg, bring your right leg just inside, move the flesh back once again, and as the right hip opens, you can bring the left hand behind you, a little lengthening, lifting, and soft rotation. Lengthen, lift, and rotate. Beautiful. After all those standing poses, we'll play with a little release, a little massage for the right glute, place your right ankle on top of the left knee, bend the left leg for an easy chair pose, and give yourself a little rock from side to side, focusing on rocking towards that right hip. This is okay for you and your knee. Keep the right hand where it is, wrap your left hand around the right foot, and then just start to roll your right hip, rolling to the right and then rolling back to center. So release that connection, that firing up of the glute, and that pull that it does on the lower back sometimes. If you don't feel anything, you can bring it into the hook of the elbow. The tighter or the deeper the stretch, when we roll, the more you'll feel. Wonderful everybody. I could stay here forever, but we will do the other side. Remember this one if you need more later, straighten your right leg, shake out the legs, and then pull that left heel in. A soft twist to your right, lift, lengthen, rotate. Big inhale, exhale, rotate. One more round, lift, lengthen, and rotate.

Preparing that hip for its little massage here, left ankle on top of the right knee, right leg bends. Remember, tighter in the hips, just play with the roll over to your left hip. A little bit more, hold on to the left foot with your right hand, left hand behind you. Get your hip roll on, your glute release on. Wonderful. And remember, if you need more time to do this one later, save this one and your memory banks is so good to release that outer hip and outer glute. Beautiful. Left leg joins the right, engage your core, pull the navel of the spine, lower all the way down.

You can free the legs letting them bend one at a time, straightening them, bending them, flip your palms to the sky, and soften into your shavasana. Notice what you're feeling here. Forget about what the head's saying, what are you feeling? When you feel that tingle of energy, do you feel that expansiveness of the energy body, the prana system? Maybe the chakras, red, orange, and yellow, the base three, turning on a little brighter. Maybe the green at the heart, the blue at the throat, and to go with the bra. All these beautiful qualities of our energy system. Bathe in it, feel the expansiveness of it in your shavasana. If you'd like to stay in your shavasana for a couple more minutes, I would suggest it just stay there and soak up all the good energy. If you'd like to come to your seat and join me one last time for prana mudra, you give yourself a little roll into fetal pose. With your eyes closed and neck relaxed, help yourself through your seat. Bring ring, pinky, and thumb together, index and middle extended for prana mudra. Feeling the prana surging all up and down the body, awakening the energy, the energy systems of the body, balancing the earth, fire, and water qualities, the elements that each of us have within us. Bring your palms together, release the mudra, create a little heat between your palms, rub it, rub it, rub it really hard, rub it really hard, and bring some of that energy right over your eyes on your chakra.

Take a little bow forward, thank yourself for being so present on the journey today, for making time and space. Beautiful. Let your eyes slowly open, give yourself a moment to come back. Put a little smile on your face. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you feel a little bit more expansive, a little bit more awake in the body, the energy system alert in the mind. And happy day. I hope to see you again. Joyful Flow season two.