Bright and Balanced

Welcome to our practice on yoga anytime. So glad you're here. We're just going to ease right in with one of my favorite ways to on a ground by tucking the toes under. So, bend your way onto your knees. Again, you might bring a blanket underneath your knees for some padding and support. We're going to tuck the toes under and just begin to wake up the bottoms of the feet. And you can kind of feel into this. If your toes to your feet are feeling really tight, you might walk the hands forward or even bring your hands up on a block. If and as you want to feel more sensation, you can begin to sit up and bring the hands onto the legs and softening the face and the jaw. And let's take a few shoulder rolls. Rolling the shoulders up back and down. Bring your attention towards the breath as we ease into our practice. Very grounding here. And then let's inhale, reach the arms up and just feel your ability to ground and lengthen and then exhale, turn the palms away. Let's find that two more times. Inhale, reach the arms up. Lengthening and then exhale, palms turn away. Last one. Inhale, reach the arms up. Exhale, palms turn away. And then let's reach the arms out to the sides. Draw the fingers towards the ears. Find some ease in your neck. Whoo! A lot of sensation in the feet, the toes. And then draw the fingers under. Stretch the top of the wrists here. One more inhale. Exhale, release the arms. Roll the shoulders up back and down. Whoo! And then let's begin to ease our way off the feet. And as you make your way into tabletop, you might begin to spin your fingers towards your knees for a few breaths. And then feeling into your wrists, feeling into your hands. Nice. Breathing. And then flipping the palms forward, we'll ease into cat cow here. Dropping the belly, lifting the heart, sitting bones as you inhale. And then as you exhale, curl around and stretch your back, releasing the neck. And you might draw your hips back towards your heels, finding a nice and a groovy stretch in the back body. And then shoulders over the wrists as you inhale. Lift the heart, spread the collar bones, sitting bones, feeling your ability to extend. And then exhale, round, stretch, curl, maybe draw the hips back. And again, you might tuck your toes under. And I'm waking up that plantar fascia toes. A few more rounds, finding your your pace, your rhythm. Wear of the breath. Inhale as you arch. Exhale as you curl. And let's ease our way back into downward dog. Nice and easy. Tuck the toes under. Spread your fingers.

Let's walk it off, bending the right knee. Then begin to stretch your left calf and heel towards the earth. Nice and long through your neck. And then bend your left knee and stretch your right calf and heel to the earth. And then a few more times. Can you get a sense of kind of breathing into the back of your legs, creating space and length. Nice and settle evenly on both feet. Ground through your hands. And as you're ready, inhale, stretch your right leg up to the sky. Bend your knee and open your hip and let your spine naturally revolve here. Let it feel really good as you press and connect through your hands. Breathing. And then stretch your right leg up to the sky and let it lower. As you're ready, inhale, stretch your left leg up. Open the hip, bend the knee, and maybe revolve your spine. Breathing. Find that kind of feel-good stretch. Nice and then lower that left leg down. As you're ready, go ahead and walk your feet towards your hands. Toe heel to feet nice and wide for a molassana. Toes out, heels in. Sink down. Feeling into your hips. And ground through your right hand as you inhale. Circle the left arm up towards the sky. You circle out through your wrists. Find that ease in the neck. Breathing. Nice. Ground through your left hand. Inhale the right arm up to the sky. You can let that kind of right hip and knee open as you circle out through the wrist. And then lower that right hand down. Toe heel your feet underneath your hips for uttanasana. Soft bend through your knees. Forward fold. Hands might even find the elbows here as you dangle. Breathing. Release the hands. Bend the knees. As you're ready, we'll roll up slow. Bend the knees. Curl the tailbone under. Chin into the chest. Round and roll up as you stretch the back. Feeling the heart. Feeling the shoulders. Feeling the head. And take a moment to pause. Feeling the blood. Feeling the energy. Then move back down into the feet and the legs. Let's do a little bit of neck release here. Softening the chin towards the chest. And then roll the right ear towards the right shoulder. Nice. Softening the chin back to the chest. And roll the left ear towards the left shoulder. Again roll the chin to the chest. Right ear towards the right shoulder. This time reach out and open up through the left palm. And you might soften the gaze down towards the right foot. You might slowly roll the head up towards the right. And a breathing into the left side of the neck. Take your time. Roll the chin back to the chest. Left ear towards the left shoulder. Pause. Opening up through the right palm. Breathing into where you feel it. You might stay right where you are. You might slowly bring the head and the gaze down towards your left foot. Easing in the back of the eyes. And then maybe slowly bring the head and the gaze up towards the left. Breathing. A few more moments. Allow yourself to explore. Investigate. Take your time as you're ready. Roll the chin back towards the chest. Press through the feet. Lift the heart. And lift the head. Let's take a few shoulder rolls here. As we ease our way into sun salutations. Bringing the hands together at the heart. Moving into Surya Namaskara A. Spreading the toes. Feeling the length in the spine. The ease at the base of your skull. On your inhale, circle your arms up. Ground through the feet. Reach the arms up. And as you exhale, soft bend through your knees. Forward fold. Release your head. As you inhale, half arch. You might draw the hands up the shins as you lengthen. Exhale, bend the knees. Step back, downward facing dog.

Take a few breaths here. And a pedal the feet. Walk it off. As you're ready, inhale into your plank. You might shift back through the feet. Reach back through the heels. Forward through the heart. We'll lower down for cobra. As you're ready, inhale, roll the shoulders up back and down. Press through the palms. Inhale, lift the heart. Find your edge. Exhale, lead with your heart. Lower. Tuck your toes. Press up. Let's meet in downward dog for a few breaths. Breathing, lengthening. Walking it off. Take your time. Bend your knees. Walk your feet towards your hands. Inhale, half arch to lengthen. Exhale, bend the knees to fold. Inhale, sweep the arms up to the sky. Lengthen. Exhale, hands together at the heart. Taking a moment to pause. Feeling your heart. Feeling the energy. Feeling your breath. We'll move into some lunges. As you're ready, inhale, sweep your arms up. Exhale, forward fold. Releasing the head. Inhale, half arch. Find your length. Exhale, bend the knees.

Let's step the right foot back. Left knee bends. Runner's lunge. Wiggle back through the ball of your right foot. Lengthen forward through the heart. Ground your right hand for twisting lunge. You might toe heel your left foot wide. Bring your left hand onto your left leg and begin to lengthen and rotate. Lengthen and rotate. And you might stay right here. You might lift that left arm up to the sky. Again, ease in the neck. You might look down. You might look up. Breathing. Lift that back right thigh. Beautiful. Inhale, exhale, slow. De-rotate the spine. Shape with a lunge. Lower the back right knee. And as you're ready, inhale, sweep the arms up and let's play with hooking the thumbs. So as you hook your thumbs, feel how you can kind of wiggle and lift and lengthen. Maybe pull the thumbs apart as you feel the scapula. The shoulder blades drawing down. The heart lifting. Breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep the hands down and draw the hips back. Half split here. Ardha Hanumanasana. Lengthening that left leg. Big breath into the back of the left leg. As you're ready, bend the knee. Ground the hands. Lift the back knee. Step back into your down dog. From your down dog, inhale into your plank. Shoulders over the wrist. Exhale. Lower as you choose. Inhale. Let's find cobra. Lift the heart. Draw the elbows in. Find that spaciousness. Exhale. Lead with the heart. Lower. Tuck the toes. Press up. Let's meet in down dog. As you're ready, inhale. Lift the right leg up to the sky and exhale. Step the right foot through between the hands. Wiggle back through the ball. The left foot. And on this side, we're just gonna lower the knee down. As you're ready, hook the thumbs. Inhale. Rise up into your low crescent. Again, feel your ability to lift all the way up the spine.

Maybe pull the thumbs apart as you feel your shoulder blades draw down. The lift and the heart. The breath. Beautiful. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep the hands down and draw the hips back. Extend through your right leg. Little half split here. Ooh. Feeling into the right hamstring muscles. Bend the knee. Tuck the back toes. Lift the back leg. And let's step the left foot forward to meet the right. As you arrive, inhale. Half arch lift. Exhale. Bend the knees to fold. Bend the knees. Inhale. Sweep your arms up. Lengthen. And exhale. Hands together at the heart. Taking a few moments again to feel the blood, the energy moving back down into the feet. Nice. Second side. Inhale. Arms sweep up. Exhale to fold. Soft bend in the knees. Release your head. As you inhale, half arch and lengthen. As you exhale, bend the knees. Step the left foot back. Right knee bends. Wiggle back through the ball of that left foot. Lengthen forward. Preparing for our twisting lunge on this side. Ground the left hand. Maybe toe heel that right foot a little wider as you bring the right hand on the leg. Feel how you can reach back through the left heel. Lengthen forward through the spine, the heart. And then begin to revolve. Revolve towards the right. Feeling the belly, the lungs spinning. You might stay here. You might free that right arm up to the sky. Maybe look down. Maybe look up. Lift that back left thigh. Reach from the heart into the hands. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep your right hand down. Lower the back left knee. Inhale. Sweep your arms up. This time we'll find a side stretch to the right. So lift that right arm. Bring the right fingertips down. And it might feel really nice to reach up out and over to your right. Finding a bit more space and breathing room through the left side body. Hip flexors. So as. Ease on the neck. As you're ready, inhale. Reach up and exhale again. Draw the hips back. Extend through that front leg. Bend the front knee. Tuck the back toe. Step back. Downward dog. Moving through your vinyasa. As you inhale, shift forward into plank. Lower down as you choose. Inhale. Cobra. Lift the heart. Roll the shoulders down the back. Feel that space and length. Exhale. Lower.

Tuck the toes. Press up. Downward dog. As you're ready, inhale. Left leg reaches. Exhale. Step it through. We go back through the ball of your right foot. Lower the right knee. As you're ready, inhale. Sweep your arms up. Low crescent lunge. Side stretch to your left. So left fingertips down. Right arm reaches up out and over. You can even bring a block underneath the left hand. Breathing. Opening. Feels so nice. So much sensation. As you're ready, inhale. Come back up and let's draw the hips back. One last time. Half split. Lengthen. Breathing into the back of the left leg. As you're ready, bend the knee. Lift the back knee up and then step the right foot forward to meet the left. Inhale. Half arch. Lift. Exhale. Bend the knees to fold. Bend the knees. Inhale. Sweep your arms up. Lengthen. And exhale. Hands together at the heart. Pause. That completes our lunge salutations. Noticing the space through the body. The warmth. And we'll take this into a variation of Surya Namaskar B. As you're ready, we'll find Utkatasana Chair Pose. Feet about hips-width apart. And let's inhale. Circle the arms up. Exhale. Bend the knees and begin to sit back into your chair. Nice and wide through the back ribs. Draw the front ribs in. Feel the support of the legs, the glutes. Inhale in your chair. And exhale to fold. Release. Inhale to arch. Lengthen. And exhale. Bend the knees. Find plank pose. Walk your feet back and pause in your strong, beautiful plank. Feel you can reach back through the heels. Forward through the heart and draw the deep low belly in. Now you might lower onto the knees or lower Chaturanga and inhale to cobra. Or maybe your body's feeling for an upward dog. Lifting the thighs. And then exhale. Navel to spine. Downward dog. Okay. Adding on. As you're ready, inhale, lift the right leg up. Exhale, knee to nose. Step it through for high crescent lunge. Find your legs. Really firm that right hip in. You might stay low and just lift the arms back. Open the chest. Or maybe play with stretching your arms up as you lift up into your high crescent. Soft bend through the knee. Feel the tailbone curl under. Feel the front ribs draw in. And the spine lift and lengthen. Breathing. You might stay right here. You might play with drawing your hands to the heart. Stepping the back foot in. And playing towards a warrior three variation. Lifting the back leg. And then stepping back. As you're ready, gracefully arms reach. Exhale, hands release. Nice long pyramid stretch. Press into the ball of that right foot. Straighten the right leg a little bit. Feel you can draw that right hip back. Nice. And then find the shape of the lunge. Toe heel that right foot nice and wide for a lizard stretch.

You might lower the back knee. Spin the right toes out. And kind of open up and lean from side to side. Breathing. You might, as you want to feel more sensation, begin to lower the forearms onto the floor blocks. You might play with grounding the left hand. Bringing the right hand onto the thigh. And again finding that rotation through the spine. That ease in the neck. You might stay with this. You might lift the back knee and foot. Or rather the foot as you reach back and lift the heart. Take your time with this. When you're ready, slow release. Draw the hips back as you toe heel that front foot back into the mid line. And let's meet in down dog. Tuck the back toes. As you're ready, free that right leg up to the sky. One-legged dog. Lower the right foot. As you're ready, inhale forward into plank. Might stay in plank or lower. Inhale cobra or up dog. Exhale down dog. One more side here as you're ready. Inhale left leg reaches. Exhale knee to nose. Step it through. Setting up for your high crescent lunge. Strong in the legs. Hug your left hip in. And as you're ready, you might begin to find that lift through the chest. Reaching back through the arms. And maybe reach your arms up into your high crescent. Soft bend through the back knee. Tailbone curling under. Again front ribs drawing in. As you feel that lift through the spine. A beautiful extension. You might stay here. You might bring the hands to the heart and begin to walk that back foot in in preparation for warrior three. Lifting the back leg. Finding that internal rotation. Strong through the standing leg. Soft steady gaze. Take your time. Bend the standing leg back into your high crescent. Reach the arms up and exhale. Release the hands. Press into the ball of that left foot. Find your nice long and a groovy pyramid stretch. Breathing into the hamstrings. And take your time here to heal that left foot a little wider. Maybe lower the back knee for lizard. I love this one. Hands on the inside of that front left foot. And you might oscillate and lean a little bit side to side. Again you might lower the forearms down to blocks or the earth. You might ground that right hand and maybe find that rotation through the spine. Left hand on the left leg. You might play with lifting the back foot. And maybe reaching back as you open the chest. The heart.

Breathing. And then slow as you're ready. Unwind. Take your time with this as you draw the hips back to heal that front foot back into the midline. Find the shape of the lunge. We'll step back three-legged dog. Lift that left leg. Lower it down. One more vinyasa here. Inhale forward into plank. And exhale lower as you choose. Inhale to cobra or up dog. And exhale downward dog. Beautiful work. Few breaths here and down dog. As you're ready, bend the knees. You might walk or hop your feet towards your hands. Inhale half arch lift and lengthen. Exhale bend your knees to fold. Setting up for chair pose. Utkatasana. Bend the knees. Inhale stretch your arms forward and up. Sit back into the heels. Inhale exhale press through the feet. Arms reach. Lengthen. And exhale hands release. Pause and notice. Few moments here. Feeling warmth, the heart, the energy through the body. Beautiful. Easing our way down to the earth. Hands together. One last sun salutation. Arms reach. Exhale fold. Inhale to lengthen. And let's step back into downward dog. From down dog lower the knees. Use your way into cat-cow here. Inhale to arch. Exhale to curl and round. Feeling this on a momentum and ripple through the spine. Nice. And setting up for a shoulder thread here. So shoulders over the wrists. Feet about hips knees out hips width apart. Inhale reach your right arm up to the sky and exhale thread your right arm through all the way. Lowering your head down. Now you might stay right here. You might play with extending your left leg right out from your hip. So that left foot is in line with the hip. You're on the side of the right head on a pressing through the left palm gently as you twist. Your left hand might stay where it is. You might stretch your left arm overhead towards the top of the mat as you begin to rotate. If and as you want to feel more sensation you might play with pressing into the top of the left arm and hand as you breathe into the back of your right shoulder blade. Make sure your neck feels good. Nice. You might stay here a bit longer. When you're ready slide your left hand underneath here right where your shoulder is and then use that left hand press into the floor and inhale come back into your tabletop as you draw that left knee in. A bit of a pretzel move and then a little cat cow to kind of wash that through the body. Inhale to arch exhale to curl and round. As you're ready second side left arm up to the sky and exhale thread it through. Nice. You might stay right here pressing through the right palm and twisting. You might stretch out through that right leg so that right foot is right in line with the hip. Finding what feels right for you and maybe begin to walk your right hand forward towards the top of the mat. Me pressing the back of the left hand and arm into the floor as you breathe into the back of the left shoulder blade. Lengthening and twisting. Nice. You might stay with this a bit longer. Bring the right hand underneath you. Press into the floor. Unwind back into your table. Draw that right leg in and let's cat cow through the spine again. You might sit all the way back into a child's pose for a few beats. Drawing the hips back towards the heels. Maybe knees wide and allowing yourself to rock a little bit from side to side. Feeling this grounding cooling energy now. Beautiful. And as you're ready let's meet on our back. Finding your way there.

Let's set up for a few rounds of bridge. Set to Bandhasana. So as you come under your back bring your feet about hips width apart in parallel. Heels in line with your sitting bones. Feel the essence of your cat cow in the spine and together we'll inhale and on an exhale curl the tailbone under. Press through the feet and lift your pelvis up. Feeling the front body lengthen. Feeling the inner thighs spin towards each other. Fingers might reach towards the heels or you might roll and tuck the shoulders under the back. Maybe finding that interlace or interlock right around the sacrum. And feeling that buoyancy out through the heart. Spaciousness through the throat and the face. Feeling your strength here. And then slow as you're ready. Stretch your arms up to the sky. Lift your heels and we'll roll the spine down one vertebrae at a time. Upper back, mid back, low back and pause. Last round of bridge. Curl the tailbone. Press through the feet. Lift up. Again you might roll and tuck the shoulders under the back. This time you might play with bending the elbows and bringing your hands right underneath your low back, your kidneys. Finding what feels right for you. Bringing your elbows towards each other. You might stay with this if you feel really stable. You might play with drawing one knee into the chest and stretching one leg up towards the sky. Finding that stability in the shoulders, the pelvis. Lowering that knee and play with drawing the other knee and it's stretching the leg up. Bending and lowering. When you feel ready, lift the heels. Come high up onto the balls of the feet. Free your arms up to the sky and round your back down. Upper back, mid back, low back and we'll pause. Feel that clearing breath. Inhale. Exhale. Let's bring the right ankle across the left and then draw that left knee in towards the chest. Let yourself rock a little bit from side to side and then weave your right arm through the window. Find the back of the left leg. Flexing the right ankle. Figure four. Rocking a bit from side to side. You might even bring a blanket underneath your or a pillow underneath your head if there's any strain in the neck. Breathing into where you feel it. Giving your right hip lots of space for whatever is present and arising. Nice. Allow for another inhale. Exhale. Slow release. Free the right leg. Free the left leg. Last side. Left ankle across. Opening the hip. Draw the right leg in towards the chest. Rock a little bit and then weave the left arm through the window. The pretzel. Finding the back of your right leg. Little rock from side to side. Breathing and softening. Easy in the eyes and the jaw, the fingers. And creating space and room for whatever your experience is in this moment. Last few moments of allowing that hip to release in its own way and in its own timing. Beautiful. Take your time. Inhale when you're ready. Exhale. Free the right leg. Free the left leg. Toe heel the feet nice and wide. Stretch your arms up overhead for windshield wipers. Feet wide. Cruising onto the inner outer edges of the feet. Letting your head rock away from your knees and letting the body stretch and unwind. You might let the knees pause on the right and stretch up through the left arm to lengthen. Then let the knees rock back at the center over to the left and stretch up through your right arm and lengthen. And then rocking the knees up. Few more easy windshield wipers. Side to side to release the back. And it might feel nice to hug your knees into your chest. Take a moment to curl up. Bring your forehead towards your knees. Drawing in to the abdominals. Lowering back down and then maybe reaching up for happy baby or any variation of happy baby. Opening the hips. Rocking on the spine. You might hold on to the outer edges of the feet or the inner edges or the back of your legs. Beautiful. You might stay with this a bit longer or slowly release into your shavasana. Or take your time to roll to your side and ease your way up. We'll take a few moments to close together. You might be resting in shavasana. Easing towards the seat. Whatever feels right for you. Joining the hands together if you're seated. Gathering up the energy of the practice and offering it up and out for the benefit of all beings everywhere. Breathing in with soft bow forward and in. Thank you so much for joining me. Have a beautiful day. Namaste.