Beautiful Balance

Welcome, everyone. Let's dive right in. We're going to have some fun with this one today. Grounding first, let the eyes close or just soften the gaze, hands wherever they're comfortable, feel foundation, feel center line, and start to land in the flow of your breath. Grounding as you breathe in and grounding as you breathe out. Hands to prayer, heart center. Take a really big inhale together through the nose. Ground of stillness, settle into your intention. Beautiful.

And then keep that soft gaze. Gently let the eyes open if they're closed. Hands to the knees. Start to move the ribcage over to the right, then pull belly back to spine, ribcage back. Move it over to the left and then come forward. Two more circles, right, back, and left, and then come forward, right, back, and left. Come forward and then shift it, moving over to the left, back, and right. Any breath pattern with this. Two more circles, just finding that supple spine, easing forward, and then once again, left, back, right, and come forward, back to that neutral spine. Big inhale, reaching the arms out and up, and as you exhale, rock it forward. Let's meet on the hands and the knees, pressing down through base of thumb and first finger. More warming through spine.

Inhale, lift, tailbone, heart, gaze, and exhale, round the back, belly to spine. Just that. Then we inhale to neutral, root the hands, tuck the toes, and exhale, take it up and back, downward facing dog, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Pedal it out for about three breaths, float the hips around, take whatever you need. See how that back body is doing in this moment? And then gradually settle into stillness, and let's warm it up a little bit as you inhale, ripple forward into your plank pose, and with your exhale, lower the knees, keep the elbows hugging in, come all the way to the earth. Inhale to cobra as high as you feel for, and then exhale, ease it up and back, returning to your down dog. Two more cycles. Inhale, we roll forward. Exhale, stay with knees or shift to chaturanga halfway, or all the way down. Inhale, stay with cobra or shift to up dog, up dog, and exhale all the way back, downward facing dog. Last cycle here, inhale, ripple forward.

Exhale, lower knees or chaturanga. Inhale, cobra or up dog, and exhale, take it back, downward facing dog, cleansing breath together here through the nose, inhale, and open the mouth. Exhale. All right, we're going to play with a little something here. Keep the hands rooted, really strong through upper body, and then lift that right foot, bending at the knee, cross right ankle over that left knee, and then deepen the bend in the left knee and kind of sink the hips back, breathing into that outer right hip area. Just kind of saying hello to the hips. See what's there. Big inhale, and then exhale to release, back to neutral, pick up the left foot, cross ankle over right knee, deepen in that right knee, sinking back and down. Three, play with a little two, and then just release. Come back to neutral in your down dog, again, a cleansing breath, inhaling, and open the mouth. Exhaling. Good. Let's keep rooting through the hands. Inhale, take right leg to the sky, exhale, open the hip, bending the knee. Inhale, we go right back up, and then with your exhale, draw the right knee outside of the right elbow. Inhale, take it back to the sky, and then with your exhale, step that right foot forward between the hands, release the back knee down to the earth, and with your inhale, rise up into a low lunge. Exhale, ease the hips forward. Take a big inhale, and then with your exhale, release hands to the earth, pull the hips back, Arda Hanamanasana. Inhale, heart shines out. Exhale, deepen into the fold, and then just be with this. You can keep it neutral or play with turning the right foot out a little bit, and see how that opens it into a slightly different sweet spot. Three, two. All right, let's play between the two. If you've opened the foot, draw it back to neutral. With your inhale, guiding the hips forward, rise into your low lunge. With your exhale, release hands to earth, pull the hips back. Again, inhale, we rise. Exhale, release, draw it back, deepening with repetition. Once again, we inhale, reach up. Exhale, release, draw the hips back. This time, inhale, come forward, find your low lunge, and with your exhale, just release hands to the earth, step straight back into your plank pose, and lower as you choose. Inhale, lift the heart.

Exhale, downward facing dog, second side. Inhale, reach left leg to the sky. Exhale, open the hip, bend the knee. Inhale, go right back up, and exhale, left knee outside, left elbow. Inhale, we rise again, and exhale, float, left foot forward, release the back knee. Inhaling to low lunge, second side. Exhale, deepen in. Good. Take a big inhale here, and with your exhale, release hands to the earth, draw the hips back, Arda Hanamanasana. Inhale, reach through your heart, and exhale, deepen into the fold. Good. And then just kind of explore this a little bit. As you turn the foot out, see if it moves it into a slightly different spot on the hamstring muscles. Finding your own happy place, and then breathing three. Good, two.

And let's flow between these. With your inhale, come forward, bend the front knee, rise up. Exhale, release, draw the hips straight back. Inhale, we rise, awareness and right hip flexors. Exhale, draw hips back. One more cycle, inhale to float up. Exhale to release, draw it back. This time, inhale, we rise, find that low lunge, keep the foundation, and then with your exhale, just release hands to the earth, step into plank, and lower knees are Chaturanga. Inhale to lift the heart. Exhale, take it back, downward facing dog. Big inhale through the nose, open the mouth. Exhale, let it go. Nice. Okay, with your next exhale, soft bend in the knees, hopper step to the front of your mat. Inhale, we lengthen halfway, and exhale, just release.

Keep the head heavy, and very slowly with a soft bend in the knees, inhale, roll yourself all the way to stand. And when you arrive, exhale, roll the shoulders down the back, shake it out a little bit, heel to the feet together, hands to prayer, heart center, Samastitihi. With your next inhale, sweep the arms out and up. With your exhale, bow out and down. Inhaling just halfway, root your hands, hop or step back, exhale, lower, Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha, heart open. Exhale, Adho Mukha, take it up and back. Ground through your hands with the next inhale, reach right leg to the sky. Exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale, go back up. And with your exhale, right knee outside, right elbow. Inhale, take it back up. And with your exhale, float the right foot forward, spin the back heel down to the earth, left arm opens you on your inhale, Warrior II, Virabhadrasana B. Settle in it, deep full breath, steady gaze, three, two. Slowly inhale, lengthen the right leg. And with the exhale, extend out and down, Trikonasana, Triangle Pose. Reaching up and out, extending energetically beyond the fingertips on that left side. Roll torso and heart open and breathe three, two. Ground through your feet, lift through your center. Inhale, returning to your Warrior II and just settle in again. Feel the strength and the energy of the Warrior III. Stay for a big inhale, expand a little. And then with the exhale, release hands to earth, step to plank and lower. Inhale, lift through the heart. Exhale, take it back, downward facing dog. Inhaling left leg to the sky. Exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale, go back up. Exhale, left knee outside, left elbow. Inhale, back up. Exhale, step left foot forward, spin back heel to the earth, right arm opens you. Inhale, Warrior II, second side, settle. Deep full breath, three, ground in it, land in it, two. Then inhale, just lengthen the left leg. Exhale, reach out and down, triangle, second side, expanding open through the heart, reaching beyond fingertips. Feel that expanse, three, two. And pressing through the feet, lifting through the center. Inhale, return to your Warrior II and settle. Can come right back into that strength, hold steady.

Big inhale, and with the exhale, release hands to the earth, step back into plank, lower as you choose. Inhale, lifting through the heart. Exhale, downward facing dog. Big inhale together. Exhale, let it all go. And then bottom of your next exhale, soft bend in the knees, hopper step to the front of your mat. Inhale, we lengthen halfway. Exhale, returning to your fold, strong center, flat back. Inhale, reach all the way up. And then exhale, draw the hands home to the heart, back to samastitihi. Okay, we're going to play with this a little bit. I'm going to turn towards you, grounding down through the feet, steady the gaze. Keep rooting through your left foot and draw the right knee in towards the chest, removing towards uttita hasta parangusthasana A to B. Just a little reminder, you can always modify with a simple tree pose, okay? Otherwise, knee hugs in, loop that right big toe with first two fingers and thumb of the right hand, left hand of the hip, and then keep that center line, keep the strength of the core, and start to extend the right leg straight out. If the upper body tilts forward a lot, then just bend the knee and take this variation. Otherwise, extend. You can also loop a strap around the ball of the foot and take the extension that way. Breathing three, two. Keep that center strength. Slowly on the inhale, open the leg out to the right, grounding through left foot, reaching it up. If you're steady, take your gaze over to the left. Feel free to fall. Just keep coming back. Three, two. Let's ease out of it mindfully. We're just inhaling back to the front, and with your exhale, let it go. Shake it all out and come home to samastitihi. Beautiful work. Big inhale, grounding. Exhale. Second side. Draw the left knee in towards the chest. Give it a little hug. Take your tree pose if that's your happy place for today, or loop that big toe first two fingers and thumb of left hand, right hand to hip. Use the core energy. Strong center line. Slowly, inhale, extend that left leg out. Draw a left shoulder blade back. Three, two. Play with this. As you inhale, open the leg out to the left. If you're steady, shift the gaze to the right. Again, feel free to fall. It's a practice. Three, two.

Slowly, we'll inhale, draw it back to center, and then exhale, just shake it out, release back to samastitihi. Beautiful work. Hands home to the heart. Gaze steady, breath steady. With the next inhale, sweep the arms out and up. And with the exhale, just a soft bow out and down. Okay, we're going to stay here. Open the feet a little wider than hips distance, turn toes out, heels in, and ease sit bones to the earth for malasana, yogi squat. It can be nice to kind of spin on the balls of the feet here and bring some fluidity into the hips, and then settle into stillness with support under heels or sit bones if you'd like. Hands at the heart, gaze steady. And even as the whole foundation of the body is sinking into the earth, let's see if we can keep that lift from deep belly up central channel. Okay, then just steady gaze, be in it. Three, three, two.

Okay, from here we have a few choices. You might stay right where you are. You might release hands to the earth, let the back round, let the head fall, which creates this incredible stretch from the back of the skull, occipital ridge, all the way down, down, length of spine, back muscles, connective tissue. Right? If you're loving that, stay with it. Otherwise, you might play with the arm balance here, bhakasana crow, rooting the hands, lifting a little through center and hips, and then making that shelf with the upper arms look forward, lift from deep belly, and breathe. Three, two. If you're in bhakasana, you can shoot back through chaturanga. Otherwise, just find your forward fold, hop or step back. Taking the vinyasa and whatever path you've chosen, find your down dog. We meet here here, and come back to breath and center. All right. So, with all the strengthening and warming through the upper body, with opening through the hips, we're going to play with a culminating balance pose here. The beauty of this is that you take it at your own edge, doesn't matter what expression of the posture you're in, it builds little by little. So, grounding through the hands, inhale, reach right leg to the sky, exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale, we reach it up, and with your exhale, draw that right elbow outside of the right, sorry, draw that right knee outside of the right elbow, and here's your options. You can pause here, which builds a ton of strength, and just go back to down dog and rest when you need to, or ekapada kundinyasana. We start by taking a nice deep bend in the elbows, making that shelf with the upper arms, tuck the left elbow kind of under the rib cage, and balance the right knee on the right elbow. Tilt forward, lift the left leg, and breathe.

Three, two, good. Left foot down, inhale, right leg goes back to the sky, and then exhale, just shake it out, let it go. Nice work. Let's meet in down dog and breathe. And then play with second side. Remember the building blocks, remember the stages. If we're really mindful for each step of the practice, it develops, it grows, it builds into the next. Inhale, left leg up, exhale, open the hip. Inhale to reach, exhale, left knee outside, left elbow, and again, you can stay here, work the strength, and go back to down dog when you're ready. Otherwise, bend the elbows, tuck right elbow under right rib cage, make that shelf with the left arm, and then pitch it forward, and float. Three, two, right foot down, inhale, left leg goes back up, and exhale, shake it out, release, downward facing dog. Excellent work. Let's take a cleansing breath. Inhale, open the mouth, exhale, and then with your next exhale, just release. Knees to the earth, hips to the heels, child's pose, lay it down. Let yourself rest, let yourself settle, back to the earth. Three, three, two, as always, if you have the space and time, you can remain in child's as long as you'd like.

As you are ready, inhale, float up onto hands and knees, tuck the toes, and exhale, go back into your down dog. Re-engage that deep full breath, and then at the bottom of your exhale, it's a soft bend in the knees, hopper step through to sit, dandasana, seated staff. Extending the legs straight out can help to move flesh out from under sit bones for firm foundation, and you can always slide support under sit bones if you're a little tight through the back body. Grounding hands, lengthen spine, soft gaze, tip of nose, top of thighs, or close your eyes, and feel into the vitality of your central channel, shishumna nadi. Cultivating that flow of energy. Three, two. Now, let's keep this, and with the inhale, reach the arms up, and then with the exhale, simply fold forward, take any grip, big toes, feet, ankles, shins, doesn't matter. Then inhale, extend again, shine out through the heart, and as you exhale, release into your fold. All right, so after all of that expansion and balancing, and playing with our edges, we ground, and we reconnect, and we're drawing the energy back in. So be with this, and let yourself sink into it. Five, and four, three, and two. Yeah, keep whatever grip you've chosen, and then inhale, lengthen, come halfway up, and exhale, just release. Good. Nice and easy. Gather the legs in, bending the knees, and then just roll yourself all the way down onto your back. As you land, hug your knees in towards your chest, and rock your body side to side. And continue to gently rock here, a little side to side, just releasing and grounding, and feeling the earth rise up to meet you.

And before we release all together, let's take a simple happy baby holding the feet or the ankles, rocking gently. You can even play with lengthening one leg, and then the other with those wide open hips. It's almost like Utitta Hasta on the back. A couple more breaths. As always, if there is anything else the body needs before you rest, take it, and then gently unravel. Let the legs extend, and roll open. Let the arms rest alongside the body, palms rolling open. You can wiggle a little, rock a little as you land, maybe support yourself, maybe cover your body or your eyes, be warm and nourished and comfortable, and then just lay it all down. Let the weight of the body sink into the earth, let mind and heart follow, and let your subtle body follow. Stay really soft, and then together, let's take a big inhale, one final cleanse.

A slight pause at the top, and open the mouth, exhale, and let it go. Resting, resting, resting, and allowing a practice to integrate. Resting, resting, resting. Resting. Never so gently begin to expand your breath, bring some movement into the body. You can extend arms up and over, you can bend knees, you can transition back to a comfortable seat in whatever way feels good to you, and then let's just settle and transition mindfully together. Support your seat if you'd like, rest your hands wherever they're comfortable, soften your gaze or close your eyes, and return to that awareness of center line.

We play within and around it, all in service of reconnecting and strengthening that connection. Hands to prayer, heart center, gathering the energy of the practice, offering it up and out for the benefit of all beings through the nose, inhaling. Gentle inhale, and a soft bow forward with the exhale. Namaste. Always a joy. Thank you so much. Be well. Namaste.