Fluid Spine Flow

Hey there. Welcome to yoga anytime. And thank you so much for joining me for this 20 minute Vinyasa class, which we will explore some standing poses, some backbends. We may even explore a plow pose in the shoulder stand. I have a block here to assist in a few things. If you have a block, bring it into play. If you don't want to block, don't use a block. It's all good. Um, we're going to start standing at the front of the mat. So let's begin. Alright. So feet about hip width, standing in mountain pose. Take a couple of breaths, start to center yourself and arrive in the here, in the now on your mat, in your body. Take the arms overhead with a generous breath in and exhale the hands to your heart. That commitment to be here now to move and listen. Okay. Inhale the arms straight up and back and exhale forward fold. Nice and slow to start off. Inhale half lift. Exhale, step the right foot back, bring the right knee down and explore low lunge here. Okay. Reach the arms overhead, drop the hips forward. Good. Maybe even reach that right arm up a little bit. Exaggerate the stretch on the right. Perfect. Okay. Hands to the mat, downward dog. From downward dog, walk it out a couple of moments, a couple of moments here, bending the legs, drawing your heels one at a time, down toward the mat, getting that nice stretch through the calves. Bring the knees down. Cat, cow, inhale, cow pose, exhale, cat. Inhale, cow pose, exhale, cat.

Back into a neutral spine for table. Walk the knees back just a little bit. It's a knee down lowering. So knees, chest, chin, inhale. As you exhale, keep your seat up, bend your arms, lower the chest and chin down. You might pause there and then inhale, slide through cobra, maybe up dog and downward facing dog. Step the right foot forward, bring the back knee down, low lunge on the other side. Draw the arms up, lift the left arm up, stretch out the left side, keep the core nice and tidy so that it supports the rest of the body. Okay, hands to the mat, step the left foot up to meet the right, forward, fold, exhale, inhale long spine, fold, exhale, rise up, inhale and exhale, hands back to heart. One more round, inhale, up and back, baby back, bend and exhale, forward and down. Inhale, long spine, half lift. On the exhale, plant the palms, left foot, back, knee down, low lunge, lift the arms nice and high, stretch your body. Breathe in. On the breath out, hands to the mat, downward dog. Inhale, plank pose, exhale, knees, chest and chin. Inhale, back bend of choice, cobra or up dog, downward facing dog, exhale. On your exhalation, step the left foot through, bring the back knee down, inhale, low lunge, left foot forward. Lengthen the body out, stretch it out, open the chest and the arms. Good. On the exhale, hands to the mat, step the right foot forward, forward, fold. Inhale, half lift, exhale, fold. Inhale, rise up, reach the arms overhead and exhale, hands to heart. The feet are hip width or slightly closer together. On the breath in, sit down into chair pose. Arms reach up overhead, sit the seat back, nice neutral spine and pelvis core engaged. Breathe in here. On the exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half lift, exhale, plank pose, lower yourself down. Inhale, up dog, exhale, down dog. Lift your right leg up, bend it, open the hip for a moment, stretch out that right side. Square the hip, step the right foot forward, warrior one. Inhale, rise, warrior one. Good. Starting to feel a little heat in the bod. Bend the arms and press the chest up a little bit, clasp the hands back behind you, open up the shoulders, chest, release the arms high. Inhale, exhale, warrior two. Opportunity to say hi here. How's it going? Press into the feet, tailbone extends down, strong core, long arms. Triangle pose, straighten the front leg, reach long through the right arm. Trikonasana, triangle, left arm rising. Bend back into the right leg, reverse your warrior, peaceful, graceful. Reach up and back, extended side angle, right forearm, gently on the right thigh, left arm reaching nice and high. Hug that right hip back a little bit and then extend the left arm overhead, palm facing down. Try not to collapse in the right shoulder. So push away.

So I'm going to grab my block, a little awkward moment there for a moment, and then I'm going to reach back into peaceful warrior with the block in the right hand. It doesn't have to be that. If you have your block around, grab it. Inhale, reach the right arm, nice and high, peaceful warrior. And on the exhale, half moon. So lift off of the back leg, find your balance and stability, the right leg there, and place the block down on the high if you'd like. Gracefully press the fingertips onto the block. So you're barely using it. Extend the left leg back. Perfect. Left arm rises high. Just open up the chest a bit. Okay. Keep the block up there where it is. Step back into warrior two. Nice and slow. Inhale, reverse warrior. Reach up and back. Exhale, plank pose. Lower yourself down. Chaturanga. Inhale, upwards, strong arms. Exhale, downward. Now bring the knees to the mat. Little intermission here. Sit up tall on the shins. Curl the toes under. Okay. Actually grab your block. If you don't have one, don't worry about it. You'll be fine. Tailbone draws down. Squeeze the block like you're trying to push the block through. This ensures real stability. And the legs, the butt, your low back is safe. Take the left arm, reach it up and reach the right hand back toward the right heel. Stretch a little kind of half camel reach here. And then switch it up. Left hand back. Right arm reaching. Keep squeezing that block for that stability. Safety in the back. Left arm up. Right hand grazing the right heel. One more.

Open the right arm up. Left hand back. Okay. Kind of open that space a little bit. We're going to try something here. Undo the back of your feet. So not curled. Strong. Squeeze that block like you really mean it. Okay. Tailbone down, glutes, legs, everything. Your low back feels safe. Now cross your arms across your body. If you go an inch, three inches, six inches, just see how far you can lower back. Keep squeezing the block. Squeeze the block, squeeze the block, and then we'll do five. This is amazing strength for your quads. Inhale, lower back. Exhale. Three more. Inhale, lower back. Exhale. Keep your core engaged. Keep squeezing that block. And you don't have to go back too far for it to be very effective. Last one. Place the block back up to the front of the mat. Downward facing dog. Good. I think the name of those is like Nordic such and such. Great quad strength. Lift your left leg up. Bend it. Open the hip. Squaring the hips. On the exhale, step forward. Ground the back foot. Finish your exhale to rise for warrior one. Right away, circle the arms back. Clasp your fingers. Open up the upper body. Nice. Release the arms. Warrior two. Sit heavy in the legs. Recruit the feet as much as you can. Straighten the front leg.

Open the stance if you desire. Triangle. Reach through the left side. Fingertips. Let's grab the block. Why not? Block on the inside of the foot. Left foot. Right arm rising. Open up. Find that balance between flexibility, the support, and stability. Keep the block up there toward the front of the mat. Reverse your warrior. Inhale. Extended side angle. Forum on the left thigh. Right arm just extends long overhead. Palm down. We're going to hit half moon straight from here. Fingertips up on the block. Shorten your stance a little bit. Find your target for your gaze. Right hand on the hip and lift. Nice. So that block is like a foot or 12 inches or so out in front of the left foot and over to the left slightly. Pause there. Right arm high. Good. I didn't do it on the other side, but I'll offer it now just so you know if you've never done it. Bend that right leg. Grab hold of the top of the right foot. Push the right foot into the right hand and open up. So you can always rewind and do it on the other side. Rewind. Is that even a thing anymore? Push the right foot back. You can keep the block down on the ground. Step back into warrior two. Inhale. Reach up and back. Exhale the hands all the way down to the mat. Plank pose. Lower down. Inhale. Exhale down. Word facing dog. Bring the knees down for a tabletop.

From table, let's explore that same option we just did before the camel reaches a little Nordic such and such is I don't know the full name. Let's start with the block. Curl the toes. Feel like that gets the heels a little bit higher. Now left arm reaching up. Right hand grazes the right heel. Stretch it out. You can just flow from side to side. Right arm up. Left hand back. Good. Left arm up. Right hand back. Right arm up. Left hand back. Now come to center. Reach both hands back to the heels. I'm gonna lean back just a tiny bit and then pull up on the heels as you thrust the hips forward, opening the shoulders, opening the chest, letting the neck breathe a little bit. Keep squeezing the block. Perfect. Back up to neutral block or no block tops of the feet, pressing down. Tailbone down this whole area again. Strong crossed your arms five times. Inhale lower. Exhale up. Inhale lower. Be super mindful of your knees and exhale. You notice how I don't go back too far, but I feel it quite a bit in those quadricep muscles. Is that three or four?

Okay, good. Inhale down. Let's go one more, one more, one more, one more, one more. And up. Perfect. Keep the block nearby. We might use it again. Push back just for one breath into child's pose. Stretch it out. Perfect. All the way onto the front of your body. Shoot the legs back. Similar concept with the pelvis and low back as we explore locus pose. So lift the chest, reach the arms back. Feel free to lift the legs. Keep the head in line with the spine or even the chin kind of like slightly tucked. Lower down. Same thing with the support and the low back, hips, pelvis, bow pose, reach back, take hold of the right foot or ankle, left foot or ankle. I like to grab hold of the ankle personally and flex my feet, my ankles. Okay. Now push the hips down, push the legs into the hands, lift the knees just a little bit, but lift that chest. Mindful of the neck pressure, neck extension. No need to look forward, right? Let the chin drop. Breathe. Let the breath be the guide, right? If you can't breathe, you're probably a little too far. And release, bring the hands, stack them forehead on the top hand, windshield wiper, the legs from side to side to loosen up in a potential low back tension. I feel like in that pose and some backbends as hard as we try to stay away from the low back. It is inevitable. It does go there. Okay. Back to center, extend the legs out, tabletop into child's pose. Again, that just gives that little reset in the back. I don't like if you're on your back, which is where we're going next. Okay. Let's do that. Let's come on to our back. Keep your block nearby. You may want it. You may need it. Lower down, hug those knees and see child's pose, but now we're on our back. So we're going to explore. I'm going to move up on the mat, little plow pose. So what I want you to do, bring the hands alongside your body, lift your legs up and reach your legs up and back behind you. If you know right away, it's not for you. Don't do it. What you can do while we're in plow and exploring shoulder stand is you can take your block, place it under your low back and extend your legs up for a supported shoulder stand. Good. You can see I'm not really that interested in touching the floor back behind me, just feeling the spine kind of in that flexed position. Now I'm going to explore walking the elbows a little closer and my hands up toward the middle of my back and kind of post up on my shoulders and arms as much as I can to send the legs up town. Be super mindful of your neck. This one isn't one to be super ambitious with if you're not accustomed to it or if you have any funky next stuff. Again, you can bring the block underneath your low back for a supported version. Stay here longer if you know this is for you. All right, I'm going to exit just for kind of time purposes. Knees down toward the ears, hands, palms to the floor, rolling. Use your arms as breaks, but more importantly, use your core to lower out. Bent legs, windshield wiper, arms out, chill. If you don't want a windshield wiper right away, just find some stillness. You can even explore fish pose on your own where you open up the front of the body. Give one more hug in of the legs once you've kind of released your low back. So as always, you have the option to stay and rest as long as you'd like. If you're done and you want to join me to sit, let's rock on up to sit. Cross your legs or sit kneeling. You can use your block if you'd like. I want to sit up on my block. Don't worry about it if you don't have it. Rest your hands on your thighs, sit up nice and tall and take a moment to kind of bask in the work you've done. That priority to show up, press the button and move. You've done it. Bask. Breathe and move into your day or into the rest of your evening. Hands to heart, exhale the forehead to the fingertips, always with gratitude. Thankful. Namaste.