Strong and Stable Flow

Hey there, welcome to yoga anytime and welcome to this Vinyasa yoga 20 minute practice. Nice to see you again if we've practiced together before and if we haven't really nice to meet you. We're going to get right at it. We're going to come to the front of the mat and start moving. All right, so come on up.

All right. So take your feet about hip width. You can close your eyes if you're comfortable closing your eyes, just to help facilitate that, that grounding and arriving for your practice. Move your neck around a little bit, roll your shoulders, lean forward and back, just kind of like feel it out, you know. Take a few deep breaths.

Let's take one breath together, breathe in and breathe out, settle in. Your next inhale, sweep the arms overhead, big stretch, exhale forward fold, soft bend in the knees, might feel nice right around now and inhale flat back. On the exhale, walk back into downward dog. We'll get a few downward dog adjustments, kind of bend the knees, send the sit bone nice and high or sit bones nice and high. Push the chest back towards your toes, your thighs and straighten out your right leg drawing your right heel down toward the mat, bend your left leg quite a bit and then send the hips over to the left.

That might wake up that right side a bit and then do the same, but on the other side, straighten the left leg, push the left heel down, lift the right heel, bend the right leg and hips over to the right, stretch that left side out, perfect. On your inhale, plank, exhale lower halfway or all the way, inhale your back bend of choice early on in the practice, take your time, downward facing dog, exhale, gonna try to take two big steps up to the front of the mat, so step your right foot all the way up and exhale the left foot all the way up, forward fold, flat back, inhale and exhale, fold, rise up, inhale, takes you up, arms reaching up nice and high, exhale hands to heart. Next inhale, bring the arms overhead and sit down into chair pose, pause, feet facing forward, seat back, knees kind of hovering over your toes, chest up, tailbone draws down, core engaged, breathe in here on the exhalation, fold forward and down, stretch it out, inhale half lift and exhale plank pose, lowering still exhaling, it's a one exhale, inhale upward, exhale downward, inhale here, exhale right foot forward, ground the back foot warrior one, on the breath in, now use one exhale to plant the palms move into plank and lower, breath in upward, breath out downward, inhale here, exhale, send the left foot forward, back foot down, inhale to rise warrior one, exhale hands to the floor, step back, lower with control, inhale upward again, exhale downward, good, again two giant steps, breathe in, exhale the first foot forward, right or left doesn't matter and finish forward fold, inhale chair pose, exhale to stand, inhale arms overhead, sit down into chair, inhale, exhale fold, inhale half lift, exhale plank pose, lowering, inhale upward, nice little vinyasa movements here, lift the right leg up, open the hip, one time with the hip square plank pose, knee to nose, nice and strong there, inhale the right leg up, step up high lunge, got a little sequence here so let's find low or high lunge first, okay feet hip width, left hip forward, right hip back and with the arms overhead rocket lunge so lean your body forward not rounding, keep the chest up, extend your left leg back and sit heavy in that right leg, nice and strong. Now keep the length of the spine, hands to heart, I like to take the right hand onto the right thigh, hook the left elbow across the right thigh, spinal twist in this lunge, separate the shoulders from the neck, breathe, nicely done, beautiful, come back out, stay nice and low for this and see if you can just work right into warrior three, right leg maybe burning by now, nice so bent, slightly subtly bent right leg or fully straight and extended warrior three, point your left toes down, left hip down, hands resting at the heart or arms out wide like an airplane, now bend the right leg a little bit, step back, straighten the front leg, find your triangle position, okay so right leg straight with a micro bend, reach the right arm, stretch that whole right side, pull the belly in, right fingertips to the shin, left arm high, triangle so a couple straight leg poses coming up right this triangle pose, they all require your breath, okay back up, square the hips, oops square the hips, left foot kind of points forward, that'll help encourage that left hip forward, now again micro bend the front knee, pull the right hip back as you stretch long through the left arm, revolve triangle, left fingertips down to your desired level and then start to twist and turn open to the right, right arm can rise or stay at your hip, sweet, this is a strength pose no doubt, come back out, lengthen your spine, the trunk of your body inhale and exhale pyramid pose, folding over that front foot, front leg, now step the left foot back, so you're gonna come into a good powerful low lunge, really long we were here and that right leg is getting cooked but you can use your hands on that right thigh for this one, okay, prop your chest up, now allow your left knee to safely or your right knee, I'm sorry to come forward so you work a little bit of that right ankle bring your left knee down, low lunge, bring the arms, point your left toes back, bring your arms up overhead stretch it out, left hand down to the floor, reach back with the right grab hold of the left foot, that little low lunge foot grab might feel nice right around now, release that, now if you take your left foot spin it over toward the right side of the mat and then drop into that right knee, so you got a big kind of hip opener here, in and out, super nice, okay, now back into the lunge position, post up on that left arm, lift the left knee and sweep the right foot around for side plank, right arm reaching up, so off the legs and into some upper body strength for five, four, three, two, plank pose, vinyasa chaturanga, inhale upward, exhale downward, let's explore the other side, lift the left leg up high, bend it, open up that hip of yours, explore that space, square off the hips, plank pose need a nose, core love, push the ground away, inhale back up with the left leg, exhale step it forward, wiggle around in there, find your high lunge, rise up, nice and powerful and strong, steady, rocket lunge, hinging at the hips, your upper body stays upright but it just hinges at the hips forward, keep your core engaged, reach your arms overhead, you can extend strong through the right leg, push the right heel back, hands to heart, on the exhale hook the right elbow across your left thigh, pull the navel in, create some space in the belly area, okay, then you press the palms together if you can, rotate the left shoulder open, steady and full in the breath, nice, okay, let's come back out, left leg working here, walk the right foot forward just a little bit, always rest at the heart, lean into your warrior three, left leg burning possibly, point your right toes down, soft bend in the left leg, make sure you stay in the muscle of your legs, steady the gaze, almost fell out there, okay, step back, triangle pose, so straighten out the left leg which might feel like a nice release, open the arms, reach long through the left side, triangle, big expansive open spacious, not twist but pose, keep your feet grounded, support through the legs, revolve triangle coming up next, so bend that left leg with your core, come back up, shorten your stance a bit, turn your right toes forward, so again a little micro bend in the left knee I think is nice, you can see better on this side, push the left hip or pull the left hip back, right hip forward, okay, and then drive through the left heel to get stability, reach through that right arm, right fingertips to the shin, let's say, right, you can reach to the floor, I like the shin, chest opens now, I'm going to open up toward you, left arm high, like I said on the other side, this is a strength pose, big time, a lot of flexibility but a lot of strength and stability here, balance, get back over, you can come up if you'd like or with hip square, exhale, fold, pyramid pose, loosen up the back of the neck, moderation wins, step the right foot back a ways, hands up on your left thigh, knee area, like I said before on the other side, just a nice deep strong lunge, you can bounce in and out, let that left knee travel forward and back a little bit, and then eventually bring the right knee to the mat, point the right toes back if you'd like, lift up for low crescent lunge, hands down to the mat, right hand specifically, walk the left foot over a bit, lean into that right hip, grab hold of the right foot with the left hand, one of my faves, pull the right heel toward your seat gently, mindful of your knee, release that right foot, slide the right foot over to the left side of the mat, just a different stretch, like you feel it maybe more in the inner right groin or in this hamstring area, okay, now back into your lunge, curl the back toes, lift the right knee and sweep that left foot back into side plank for five, good work today, four, three, two, and one, plank pose, lower yourself down, halfway all the way, always your choice, upward inhale, exhale, walk or step or jump to the front of the mat, forward fold, inhale half lift, fold, exhale, inhale chair pose, exhale to stand, inhale arms up, one more chair just because we can, forward fold, straighten the right leg bend the left turn and twist open to the right, inhale there, come back down, bend the right straighten the left, rotate and twist open to the left, really nice, bring it on down, come down to your knees, take a child's pose, stretch out the back, your arms and shoulders, okay, from child just come up onto our seat, stretch the right leg out, left foot draws into your inner right thigh, prop yourself up on your sit bones, reach the arms up, inhale right foot active, reach forward toward your shin, ankle, right foot, whatever is most available, you can bend your right knee a little bit if you'd like, stay here, add the side stretch, you bring your right foot over to the right a bit, turn the torso open to the left, reach the right fingertips or the index finger in middle around the right big toe, again turn the left shoulder open, reach the left arm high, stay here or explore just a little side bend, I like to drop the shoulder down, left shoulder down so I can get a little bit more stretch, a little more length, good, come back up, now you have to make a little adjustment in the seat but we're going to come into that Lord of the fishes spinal twist, so bring the right foot across the left thigh, left heel draws underneath the right seat, but make sure you get the right sit bone down, okay, both sit bones grounded, take the left arm around the right knee and shin, wiggle in, lengthen the spine, reach the right arm up and back behind you, get a good generous spinal twist, okay, back to center, shoot the left leg out, right foot inner left thigh, inhale the arms high and exhale fold, stay here at the side bend, come up, let that left foot or draw the left foot over, right foot stays in the inner left thigh, turn the torso open to the right, reach to the big toe, right arm high, reach and side bend, you can take the right hand behind the head and just trace up with the elbow or drop that right shoulder a bit, pull in the left kind of oblique belly area and stretch and reach, that one requires a little more time on my end, good, spinal twist, so sit up, maybe lean back a little bit, draw that right foot underneath the left hip, left foot across the right thigh, see how my left sit bone sits up, settle it down, right arm hooks around that left knee and shin, left hand behind you, you can lead it up to lengthen the spine, back behind you and rotate and twist, take good care of that leg, you can gaze over the left shoulder, undo, take a little counter twist, good, undo and you know it's your call at this point, time flies when you're having fun, right, so if you'd like to take a seated meditation or relaxation by all means do that, otherwise we will close together as a team, you and I, I want to say thank you, thank you, namaste, let's take one breath together, like a really nice deep breath, bring the arms out and up, exhale, and exhale, hands to that beautiful heart, good, exhale, exhale, and exhale, hands