Slow Flow for the Hips

Welcome, friends. Nice to be together. Thank you for joining. This is a hip-focused practice just to find a bit more relief in our hips, a bit more space and ease. So we're going to start seated. You might sit on a blanket. We're going to get cozy in a sukhasana and just take a few moments to kind of wiggle into your seat, taking this time to arrive and just allow for this kind of intentional transition into your practice, feeling this grounding quality through your sitting bones and length up through your spine, letting your attention rest on the breath, really connecting to this life force within, feeling your inner tides of the breath. And then as you feel ready from a simple sukhasana position, you might begin to ease your way forward nice and easy, walking the fingertips forward. It might feel good to lean a little bit from side to side, feeling into your body, feeling into your hips. Stay up onto your fingertips and with your inhale, feel your ability to extend so you're grounding through your sitting bones, you're drawing the chest forward, softening the shoulder blades down the back, allow for an exhale. You might stay in this extension. You might begin to round your back, releasing the weight of your head, maybe palms down or up. Breathing into the back of your body might feel achy, might feel like a warm dull egg through the hips and the spine. From here, let's begin to walk our hands over to the right, over that right knee. Come up onto your fingertips again and with your inhale, feel how you can draw the heart forward. And then as you exhale, softening, releasing the head and you get a sense of breathing into your left outer hip. And then continue to walk the right hand over to the right. And as you inhale, sweep your left arm up towards the sky for a side bend. It might feel good to ground through your left sitting bone as you lengthen up through that left arm. Find that ease in your neck. You might stay right where you are, you might walk your fingertips out a bit and stretch your top arm up out and over. Again, ease in the neck, breathe wide into the side body. You might keep your arm extended, you might bend your elbow and let the back of your head rest on your hand. Opening up through the lung, the shoulder, breathing. When you feel ready to release, release the arm, look down and with your inhale, stretch your top arm up and as you exhale, let it release, pause and notice the miracle. A bit more space and ease and we'll lean back and just switch the cross of the legs. Find the opposite shin in front, kind of wiggle into the sitting bones and as you're ready, walking the fingers forward. Leaning from side to side, come up onto the fingertips with the inhale, draw the heart forward, broad through your collar bones, feel that space and length and as you exhale, soften forward and in, surrender the weight of your head. Palms might be facing down or maybe up, which has a different quality. Breathing into the back body, softening the front body. You might stay here a bit longer, you might continue to walk the fingers over to the left towards that left knee. As you come up onto your fingertips, feel how you can draw the heart forward and then with your exhale, soften over that left knee, releasing the head and breathing into the outer right hip. Easy in your jaw. As you're ready, continue to walk that left arm over and sweep the right arm up for a side bend here. Feel how you can ground through your right hip a bit, reach up through the right arm, you might lean a little bit forward and back, kind of mapping the sensation through the body. Maybe walking those left fingertips out as you stretch your right arm up, out and over, you might stay right where you are, you might bend the elbow and let the back of the head rest on the hand, opening up through the right lung and shoulder, breathe wide into where you feel the sensation. Take your time with this, when you're ready to come up, look down, inhale, reach with that top arm, let it carry you up and then exhale, release, pause and notice. Let's take just a few shoulder rolls, up, back and down, up, back and down and then as you're ready, meet me and your tabletop will transition onto the hands and knees. You might have that blanket under your knees for support as we ease our way into Cat-Cow, spreading the fingers, tucking the toes under and let your back round and stretch here, you might draw your hips towards your heels and then shoulders over the wrist, moving into your extension, dropping the belly, lifting the heart, the sitting bones, extend and then exhale, curl, round, stretch and inhale, lead with the heart, moving into your extension and continue finding your own pace, your own rhythm, you might soften your gaze inward and it might feel good to lean a little bit from side to side, maybe exploring some barrel rolls through your rib cage, spiraling up through the shoulders and the neck, fingers might point forward, you might spin the fingers towards the knees, feeling a lot more sensation through the hands and the wrists, have a nice wrist therapy here, nice full exhale and then pointing the fingers back forward as you're ready, extend back through the left leg, tuck the toes under and just rock a little bit forward and back, waking up the back of the leg, the toes, let's do that on the other side, extend back through your right leg and just wake up the foot, the back of the leg, releasing into our practice, from here moving into our plank pose, as you're ready, tuck the toes under, draw the tailbone under, reach back through your heels, forward through your heart, inhale here, press the floor away and as you exhale, ease back up into your downward facing dog, in our first down dog together it might feel really good to just walk it off, feel into the back of your legs, breathe, release the weight of your head, from your down dog, inhale back into your plank pose, shoulders over the wrists and then lowering down as you choose, as you inhale roll the shoulders up back and down for cobra, lift the heart, find your inhale, exhale, lead with the heart lower, tuck the toes, draw the elbows in, press up and back into your downward facing dog, few breaths here, from your down dog, let's walk the hands towards the feet, toe heel the feet wide, coming into a malasana, squat pose, your version, heels and toes out, sink down, feeling into the hips, I love this one, let's ground through the right hand and inhale stretch the left arm up to the sky for an open twist and it might feel good to circle out through your wrist here, maybe looking down, maybe looking up, ground through the left hand, inhale sweep your right arm up, opening up through the right hip, maybe circling out through your right wrist, notice what you prefer to do with your gaze, maybe it's up or down and then grounding that right hand, toe heel the feet a little closer, coming into your standing forward fold, soft bend in your knees, release your head, as you're ready curl the tailbone under and slowly begin to round and roll your spine up towards stand, nice and slow, press through the feet, feeling your heart, feeling your shoulders, feeling your head and take a moment to pause as you arrive standing, just letting the blood, the energy move back down into the feet towards the earth, from here let's make our way towards the top of the mat, so standing walking meditation and as you arrive towards the top of the mat bring the hands together at the heart, again arriving and connecting with the breath, feeling your internal rhythm, the tides of the breath, this ocean breath, letting the breath inspire the movement here, as you inhale circle your arms up to the sky, feel your ability to ground and reach and as you exhale forward fold, soft bend through the knees, release your head, as you inhale half arch, lift the chest, slide the hands up the shins and as you exhale bend the knees, ground the hands, step back into your down dog again, feel moments here to feel your down dog and as you inhale shift forward into plank, shoulders over the wrist, strong through the legs and as you exhale lower as you choose setting up for cobra on an inhale begin to lift the heart, feel that space, beautiful back bend here, exhale lead with the heart lower, tuck the toes, press up, let's find our down dog, ground through your hands as you inhale stretch your right leg up towards the sky, bend the knee open the hip and take a few moments here to just feel this wonderful rotation through the spine, big breath in the back of that left leg, releasing the head, releasing the neck, now stretch that right leg up towards the sky, square the hips, take an inhale and then exhale draw the knee forward, step it through setting up for warrior two, ground through the outer edge of the back foot and as you inhale kind of windmill that top left arm up, set up for your warrior two, right heel in line with the left ankle and pause, nice let's open the palms towards the sky, inhale press through the ball of your right foot, straighten the right leg arms reach, exhale right knee bends warrior two, on an inhale arms reach up, gather and lengthen, exhale bend warrior two, let's find one more like this, inhale exhale warrior two, pause, we'll reverse, slide the left hand down, inhale the right arm up, reverse warrior and exhale side angle, right forearm on to the right leg, left arm overhead, pause here, gonna revolve the rib cage, inhale reverse, exhale side angle, we'll do that two more times, inhale reverse, right arm reaches, exhale side angle, last one inhale reverse, exhale side angle, ground through the feet, inhale reverse and then press through the ball of that right foot, straighten the right leg, you might toe heel that left foot in a little closer for triangle pose, pause here on your reverse triangle, keep all this length and space as you reach about and over towards the right, lengthening the underside, the right hand might find the shin, the ankle, maybe a block, as you reach that left arm up, find that ease in the neck, the left arm might reach, you might sweep it down, overhead and lengthen, and then again down, overhead and lengthen, maybe one more like this, top arm reaches, ground through the feet, inhale reach with that top arm to come up, turn that right foot in, toe heel the feet are just a little closer together, sweep your arms out, roll the shoulders forward, find that interlace behind the back, inhale lift the heart and exhale forward fold, strong through the legs, releasing into your wide forward fold, arms stretch up out and over, breathing, take your time, release the hands down by the sacrum and out in front of you, turn the heels in, toes out, bend the left knee for skandhasana, come on to that right heel, you might draw the right toes towards the face, taking a big breath into the inner leg line, and then let's cruise on over to the right, lift the left toes, come on to the left heel, and a few times side to side, hands might stay on the floor, you might even play with letting the hands get light, really feeling the strength of your legs, nice, eventually find your way over to the back of the mat, left foot forward, right foot back, so we're in the shape of the lunge, and then step back downward facing dog, take a moment in your down dog, and as you're ready inhale into your plank, shoulders over the wrists, exhale lower as you choose, and inhale cobra, roll the shoulders up, lift the heart, feel that space, and exhale lower, tuck the toes, press up, find your down dog, from down dog inhale lift the left leg up to the sky, bend the knee open the hip, finding that rotation through the spine, breathing into the back of the right leg, really making this your own, as you're ready stretch the left leg up to the sky square the hip, inhale, exhale step your left foot through for warrior two, ground through the outer edge of the right foot, sweep that right arm up, here we are, warrior two on the left, left heel in line with the right, inner arch, and let's pause and settle in, palms up, as you're ready inhale press through the ball of your left foot, arms reach, exhale left knee bends warrior two, inhale gather and reach, exhale bend warrior two, last one, inhale and exhale warrior two, right hand comes down the back leg, inhale left arm reaches, finding your reverse warrior, peaceful warrior, exhale side angle, left forearm onto the left leg, right arm sweeps over the ear, pause here in your side angle and feel that beautiful extension, your ability to rotate and find a little bit more space through the lungs, ground through the feet, inhale reverse, exhale side angle, couple more times together, ground through the feet, inhale reverse, left arm sweeps up, exhale side angle, inhale reverse, exhale side angle, inhale reverse and we'll pause together, press through the ball of the left foot, my left leg is burning there, toe heel that back foot in a little bit if you'd like for triangle, pause here in your reverse triangle to feel that opening, keep this opening in length as you begin to reach, reach, reach, reach coming into your triangle pose, left hand on the shin, ankle, right arm reaches, opening the chest, breathing, you might stay here, you might sweep your right arm down, overhead and lengthen, down, overhead and lengthen, maybe one more like this, circling through the shoulder, feels so nice, from your triangle pose, ground through the feet on the inhale, reach with your top right arm, let it lift you, toe heel the feet a little closer, inhale sweep your arms out, roll the shoulders forward, maybe opposite knuckle on top, feels a little weird, inhale lift the heart, exhale forward fold, about and over, releasing the head, maybe a soft bend through the back of your knees, take your time releasing your hands down by the sacrum and bringing the hands underneath the shoulders, let's walk the hands out actually a little forward for hammock pose, hips reach away from the hands, heart softens towards the earth, find that kind of seaweed watery quality through your spine, as you're ready walk your hands back underneath the shoulders, look round for our left hand, inhale reach the right arm up to the sky for a twist, again you might look down, you might look up, breathing as you open, ah inhale, exhale release the right hand down, ground for your right hand, inhale sweep your left arm up towards the sky for a twist, find that ease in your neck, breathing, inhale exhale release, let's cruise on over to the top of the mat, so walk the hands, spin onto the ball of the back foot, right foot forward, left foot backward back into our lunge, we'll step back downward facing dog, feeling into your down dog, inhale forward into a plank, shoulders over the wrist, strong through the legs, reach back through the heels forward through the heart and lower as you choose, elbows in, inhale cobra lifting the heart, feeling that upper back bend and exhale lower, tuck the toes and let's round our way back into a wide child's pose, drawing the hips back, softening the forehead towards the earth, maybe there's a gentle, I want to sway or wobble through the body, releasing the jaw, releasing the hips, you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like or as you're ready, find your way back into your down dog and join me in a pigeon, so we'll inhale reach the right leg up towards the sky and exhale draw it through as you'd like, setting up for your version of pigeon, you might toe heel that foot so it's parallel, the shins parallel or heel might draw in, internal rotation through the back thigh, kind of feeling into your right outer hip, you might bring a blanket or support underneath it, as you wobble in you might stay right where you are, you might come up onto the fingertips and join me for three rounds of rolling cobra, oh my goodness, as you're ready and now lift the heart exhale, bend the elbows, find your cobra as you come down and then press and lift and lead with the heart kind of diving forward and lift, maybe one more, drawing the heart forward and lifting, you might stay lifted, if and as you want to feel more sensation you might begin to walk your way forward in, just surrendering the weight of your head or supporting it, breathing into sensation, exhale to soften, you might stay here for a bit longer, again honoring your timing and rhythm, you might shift your weight as you come up over to the right, swing your left leg around for a twist, Ardhamatsyandrasana, grounding through the the left foot there, grounding evenly through the left and right sitting bones and we'll inhale, sweep our right arm up towards the sky to lengthen and exhale, twist towards the left, and you might hook the elbow, you might wrap the arm, left fingertips behind you, inhale to lengthen and exhale to twist, breathing, inhale to lengthen and exhale, gentle twist, you feel that kind of that spiral up through the spine from the tailbone up through the neck, stay in the twist, slowly rotate your head forward, you might stay here if this is enough in your hips, you might play towards Gomukhasana, stacking the knees carefully, mindfully on top of each other, going to reorganize the sitting bones, oh you might stay upright, you might begin to fold forward and in, one variation I love here is to come into a side stretch away from the bottom leg, so you might round through your left fingers, inhale the right arm up towards the sky, just begin to stretch up out and over towards your left, feeling a lot of sensation through outer right hip, again find that ease in your neck, you might keep the arm reaching, you might bring the back of the head to the hand here in this variation as you bend the elbow, as you're ready inhale come back up to center, lean back free the legs and find your way into a down dog, you might cross your ankles, roll forward into table, find your own creative way back into down dog, feel into the other side, lift the left leg up towards the sky and exhale draw it through for pigeon, organize, you might toe heel that left foot a little further away from the right hip, so the shin is a little bit parallel but feel into your hips and the rotation and what makes sense, you might bring a blanket or support under that left hip, breathing, you might stay right where you are, you might join me again in three on a rolling cobras on the fingertips, inhale if the heart exhale let the heart dive forward, bend the elbows, release the head, press through the hands, inhale lift up and rolling the spine down lead with the heart, press through the palms lift up, inhale and exhale last one diving forward, releasing and rolling up, you might stay upright, you might ease your way forward, maybe finding the forearms, maybe releasing the head or supporting the head with your hands and as you know there's a good chance this side feels different, for me there's a lot more stickiness and sensation in this tip, and breathing into where you feel it exhale to soften release let go, easy in the jaw, just creating space for whatever sensations may be present or rising in the left tip, and you might stay where you are a bit longer, you might slowly ease your way up and then shifting the weight onto that left tip, swing the right leg across for a twist, grounding through that right foot, grounding through the sitting bones, inhale left arm sweeps up and exhale twisting to the right hooking or wrapping the left arm, right fingertips behind you, inhale ground through your sitting bones brighten up through the heart and exhale gentle twist to the right, finding your twist, feeling this rotation of the ribs, the lungs, the heart, you might stay on the twist a bit longer, slowly begin to rotate your head forward to unwind and let the upper body unwind, if it makes sense for your hips you might use your way into Gomukhasana, stacking the knees and it can be helpful to sit up on a blanket, you might stay where you are, you might prefer to come into a fold or a side stretch away from that bottom leg, grounding through the right hands, inhale left arm sweeps to the sky, feel that length that space out of the left hip, bend the elbow if you'd like to, back the head rests on the hands, breathing wide into the left side body, take your time, inhale reach up and exhale, let's just simply free the legs out in front of us or Paschimottanasana, stretching the legs out and pull the flesh out from underneath you, you might stay upright, you might begin to ease your way forward, hands might find the knees, the shins, the feet, inhale to lengthen and exhale it might feel good again to round and stretch your back, just a few moments here in this symmetrical shape, and drawing the gaze, the awareness, sit back in and you might stay with this a bit longer, when you feel ready roll onto your back, I'll join you there, we'll set up for one round of bridge just to kind of balance the hips, heels in line with the sitting bones, feet about hips width apart, spread the toes, ground through the feet, curl the tailbone under, inhale exhale press and lift coming into your bridge, lengthening the front body and it might feel good in your shoulders to roll and tuck the shoulders under as you find that familiar interlace, spacious through the throat, a little buoyancy in your lungs, strength in your legs, breathing, stay with this as long as you'd like, slow as you're ready, free the arms, lift the heels, roll the spine down, upper back, mid back, low back and pause, let's toe heel the feet wide, stretch the arms overhead, windshield wiper the legs side to side, as we kind of wind down and close our practice, feel into what would be really nourishing for your body, you might stretch out in shavasana, you might bring the soles of the feet together, knees wide and rest here, you might take your time and roll to your side and join me, and coming up to a seat, if you're seated taking just a few moments to sit together, enjoy the hands together at the heart and gathering up the energy of the practice and offering it up and out for the benefit of all beings everywhere, breathing in, and a soft bow forward and in towards the self, namaste, thank you so much for joining me and have a beautiful day, thank you.