Wake Up the Hips

Good morning. Welcome to our yoga practice. So in this practice, we'll focus mostly on opening the hips, stretching the hamstrings as well. So I hope that you leave the practice just feeling in general, more open, more mobile. So let's get started sitting in Sukhasana in easy, comfortable positions across your legs, midway on your shins. If your hips are a bit tight, you know, sit on a blanket or two. Okay, just bring your hands together in front of your chest for a moment and lift your chest, broaden across your collarbones. So take your shoulders back and just draw the chin in slightly and bow your head with your eyes closed. Just take this moment with a couple of centering breaths to arrive into your body onto your mat into this moment. And then please open your eyes and stretch your arms out to the side and turn the palms of your hands to face the ceiling. Inhale, raise your arms overhead and just take a moment here to press your sitting bones, little toes out of each foot into the floor and elongate your spine. Firm your triceps in, just take one more full breath in here. And as you exhale, lower your arms. Now go ahead and walk your left hand out to the side and turn the palm of the right hand to face the ceiling. Inhale, stretch your arm over your cheek and press your right sitting bone firmly into the floor. And then maybe turn your chest a little bit up towards the ceiling and if it's okay on your neck, look up. Let's take two more breaths here, see if you can breathe into the right side ribs. It's an area that can feel a bit sticky, especially in the morning. And then inhale, bring your right arm up and then walk your right hand out to the side and extend the left arm out to the side, turn the palm of the hand to face the ceiling and then inhale, circle your arm over your cheek. Press your left sitting bone firmly into the floor and then open your chest a little bit up towards the ceiling and maybe turn your gaze up. So a few more breaths here, breathing into your side ribs. One more full deep breath and then inhale, come up. And then just take a moment, walk your hands as far forward as you can. If there's any discomfort in your knees, choose to walk your hands back again. Continue pressing your sitting bones and little toes out of each foot into the floor as you walk your hands forward. So just another two breaths here and just keep in mind that it's morning time likely and your hips will feel a little bit tighter than if you did this practice in the afternoon. And then walk your hands back, go ahead and stretch out your legs and then change the crossing of your legs so the other leg is in front. Bring your arms out to the side, turn the palms of your hands to face the ceiling, inhale, stretch your arms overhead. So just notice that with your arms you can find a little bit more space, more height, more length. Maintain that as you lower your hands and then once again walk your hands forward. So as you're feeling maybe a little bit more tightness in your hips, the idea in our practice is to kind of accept where we are at any given time. Allow that to be an experience of the present moment. Just take one more full breath, kind of meeting yourself in this moment exactly as you are. And then walk your hands back and stretch out your legs. Let's come on to our hands and knees. And then when you're on your hands and knees with your wrist underneath your shoulders, just choose to walk your hands forward about two, three inches and bring your hands as wide apart as the width of your mat and turn your hands out a bit. And then as you move into your first down dog, Adho Mukoshvanasana, bring your feet as wide apart as the width of your mat. Align the outer edges of the feet with the side lines of your mat. And then lift your heels, come up onto the ball of each foot, lift your hips, put a little bend in your knees to more easily lengthen your spine. And then you're welcome to pedal your feet for a few rounds here, just getting into the calf muscles. And just notice what's going on in your body this morning. You can also turn both feet to your right. And then turn both feet to your left, you can do that for one more round. It's kind of waking up your hips. And then eventually, just go ahead and walk your hands back to your feet. And bring your feet in about hips width, bend your knees, and grab hold of your elbows for a moment, just let your head dangle here. And if your hamstrings are really tight, think about bending your knees until your head is below your knees. A couple of breaths here. Now go ahead and place your hands on the floor, you can bend your knees a little bit more, bring your hands to your hips, and then leading with your chest, lift all the way up. So you're going to step at the center of your mat with your feet together or maybe just a few inches apart, and bring your hands onto your hips. Coming up onto the ball of your left foot, and then pin your right hip in. And then from deep within the hip socket, turn your left foot and left leg out without turning your pelvis. We're coming into tree pose, rickshaw sana. You can either stay here or place the foot to the inner ankle, inner shin, or you could take the foot up to your inner leg, maybe the heel to the root of the right leg. You can keep your hands on your hips from better stability, easier stability. You can also bring your hands together in anjali mudra. As you press your left foot against the right inner leg, press the inner leg against the foot. Draw the left sitting bone down. You can also reach your arms overhead and using your arms to find a little bit more length in your torso. Two more breaths here. And every day is a little different. There are some days where balancing is really challenging and other days where it's much easier. Take one more deep full breath in. And then as you exhale, bring your hands back to your hips, knee back to center, and lower the foot standing on both feet. Now coming up onto the ball of your right foot, pin your left hip in and from deep within the hip socket, turn your right foot and right leg out without turning your pelvis. And then either stay here or find a perfect spot for your foot. Again, hands can go to your hips for easier stability or hands together in anjali mudra. Then as you're pressing the right foot against the inner leg, press the inner leg against the foot and draw the right sitting bone down. You can also reach your arms overhead and use your arms again to create more height, more length, more space. So rikshasana, tree pose. Take one more deep full breath in. And as you exhale, hands back to your heart, hands to your hips, knee back to center, and lower the foot. Okay, so we're going to set the feet about four to five feet apart and I'm choosing to use two blocks in today's practice. If you just have one, place the block by the right heel in a moment. Bring your hands together, fingertips touching, bend your knees and step your feet wide apart, about four to five feet apart. So check the distance by measuring that your ankles are directly below your wrists. Bring your hands to your hips, turn your left foot in slightly and turn your right foot and right leg out 90 degrees. Take a moment to level your pelvis lift your right hip up and then inhale, spread your arms out to the side. And as you exhale, bend your right knee. Now once you're at your maximum, check that your right knee is above your right angles of the weights in the heel. Firm the outer right hip in so that your knee is tracking in line with your second toe. Turn the palms of your hands to face the ceiling and then inhale, straighten your right leg, reach your arms overhead, use your arms to create height. And then as you exhale, squeeze the arms out to the side, come back to warrior two. Two more times, inhale, deep full breath in and exhale. Inhale, straighten your right leg and extend your arms overhead. Keep that height as you exhale back to warrior two. Now from warrior two, start to reach out through the right arm, lengthening the right side of the torso. And as you're lengthening the right side of the torso, lift your left inner leg, a little bit more weight to the back heel. Now you welcome to place your right form on top of your right thigh, left hand to your left hip, or you can use a block by the outer ankle, place your hand on the block, maybe not using the block, you can cup the flow with your fingertips. Squeeze the right knee against the right arm, keep firming the outer right hip in, and then turn the palm of the left hand to face the ceiling and sweep the left arm over your cheek. So, Parsvakonasana, three more breaths here, maybe open your chest a little bit more up towards the ceiling. You can look up in front of the arm, one more breath, press your feet into the floor, inhale back to warrior two, exhale, straighten your right leg. You can shorten the stance a little bit for the next pose, maybe an inch or so, or two, and then turn the palm of the right hand to face the ceiling. Inhale, stretch your right arm up, and as you exhale, now hinging from your right hip, or at your right hip moving into triangle pose, use a block or grab the ankle or cup the floor with your fingertips, and then reach your left hand up. So, Trikonasana, triangle pose. So, press a bit more strongly through the ball of the right big toe, as you firm the outer right hip in. Turn your belly and chest up a bit, it's mostly the ribcage, the chest, so there's a slight twist here in triangle pose, and if it's okay on your neck, look up towards your left thumb. Now, two more breaths here, breathing smoothly in and out through your nose, kind of connecting with a line of energy from the bottom hand and up through the top hand. Press your feet into the floor, inhale, come up, parallel your feet, and bring your hands to your hips. Take a deep full breath in, lift and open your chest, roll your shoulders back, tuck your chin and maybe look up, and as you exhale, hinging from your hips, come forward, you can always bend your knees, place your hands on the floor, come up onto your fingertips, inhale, lengthen your spine, and as you exhale, just for now, walk your hands forward, staying up onto your fingertips, and you can line up your ears with the inner arms, so think down dog in your torso here. Two more breaths, press evenly through the four corners of each foot and lift the arches of your feet, and then please walk your hands back, bring your hands to your hips, firm your belly in, inhale, come all the way up. So if you just work with one block, switch it behind the left foot. Now inhale, bring the arms out to the side, turn your right foot in slightly, turn your left foot and left leg out 90 degrees. Lift your left hip, level your pelvis, take a deep full breath in, lift your chest, exhale, bend your left knee coming into warrior two, Vir badrasana two. So check that your left knee is above your left ankle, firming the outer left hip in, lining up sitting bone to knee to second toe. Turn the palms of your hands to face the ceiling. Inhale, raise your arms overhead as you straighten the left leg. And as you exhale, squeeze the arms out to the side, come back to warrior two. Inhale again, reach your arms overhead, straighten your left leg, and exhale, bend. One more, inhale, lengthen, stay this tall in your torso, exhale back to warrior two. And then start to reach out through the left arm, keep lifting the right inner leg, plenty of weight to that back heel. Now you can either place the form on top of your thigh or hand to the block or to the floor. Squeeze the left knee against the left arm, turn your belly and chest up a bit, and then extend the right arm out to the side, turn the palm of the hand to face the ceiling, sweep the arm over your ear. Maybe look up, parshvakvanasana, two more breaths here. Press your feet into the floor when you're ready. Inhale, come back to warrior two, straighten your left leg. You can shorten this stance maybe an inch or so. Turn the palm of the left hand to face the ceiling. Inhale, stretch your arm up, and as you exhale, hinging at your hip crease, lengthening the left side of the torso. Place your hand on the block or grab your ankle and reach your right hand up. Press more strongly through the mound of the left big toe as you firm the outer left hip in. See if you can lengthen the left side of the torso and maybe sensing a lot of energy from the tailbone out through the crown of your head. One more breath here. Press your feet into the floor. Inhale, rise up, and then straighten the left leg. Parallel your feet, interlace your fingers behind your back.

You're welcome to grab a strap between your hands. Inhale, lift and open your chest. Tuck your chin and maybe look up, and as you exhale, fold, take the arms with you. You can always bend your knees. So pressing evenly through the four corners of each foot. And as you lift your inner arches, see if you can get a sense of firming the sides of the shins in, almost as if you're pulling the mat together with your feet. One more breath here. Let your head dangle. Press your feet into the floor, leading with your chest, pulling with your arms. Inhale, rise up, and exhale, hands to your hips, and step your feet together or hips with. Bring your hands together. Pausing here just for a moment. Allow your gaze to be soft and receptive. Okay, let's step to the top of our mat. You may want to use your blocks, especially if you have tight hamstrings. You can stand between the blocks if you like. And have your feet about hips width apart. And let's have our hands to our hips. Put a little bend in your knees. And then step your left foot back about three and a half feet. And turn the back foot in generously. Press the left thighbone back and see if you can drive the left hip forward. If you find that this rotation is hard to square your pelvis, move the right foot a little bit more to the right. Give yourself a little bit more space. Now your hands can either be on your hips and you take your shoulders and elbows back or maybe knuckles together. But the emphasis is on taking the shoulder heads back. Inhale, lift and open your chest. Tuck your chin in. Maybe look up. And then as you exhale, come forward into more of a tabletop position. Keep lifting your shoulders. Pressing a bit more strongly through the mound of the right big toe as you draw the outer right hip back. And if this is too much, by all means, place your hands on the blocks and everyone work on lengthening your sternum away from your navel. Some of you may be, you might be very, very flexible and you can fold over your right leg. It's not for everyone, right? But even if you're folding, you continue reaching your sternum forward. One more breath. This is Parsvottanasana, Pyramid Pose. Press your feet into the floor. Inhale, rise up. Hands to your hips and step your left foot forward. Feet about hips-width apart. Now bend your knees a little bit. Step your right foot back about three and a half feet. Turn the back foot in generously, driving the right hip forward a little bit more, okay? So that your pelvis is facing straight ahead. Now hands can stay on your hips and you take your elbow shoulders back or knuckles together. So these are variations. Lift your sternum. Inhale, maybe look up. So a little bit of a back bend in the upper back and then exhale. Come forward into that tabletop position. Press more strongly through the mound of the left big toe, the ball of the big toe, and draw the outer left hip back and in. Lengthen your spine. Sternum away from your navel. And again, some of you might choose to place your hands on the blocks. It's normal to have tight hamstrings, okay? Some of you are very flexible and maybe you fold over your left leg, but continue reaching your sternum forward, lifting your shoulders. One more breath. And then inhale, leading with your chest. Come up and exhale. Step your right foot forward, feet hips width, and lower your arms. Tadasana. Inhale, circle your arms overhead. Again, use your arms to in a sense lift your abdomen up and out of your pelvis. Maybe arching back just a little bit. And then exhale, hands to your heart and fold. You can bend your knees. Now, take your middle finger, index finger, reach around your big toes. Inhale, reach your sternum away from your navel. Find to bend your knees here. Press your big toes into your fingers. And then as you exhale, fold, splay the inner elbows apart. And as you draw the crown of your head down, lift your shoulders. Parangusthasana. Para means foot. Agusta means big toe. One more breath. Inhale, open your chest, lengthen your spine. And as you exhale, bring your hands onto the mat. Step into down dog, which might feel a bit more spacious right now.

Worked on opening your hips, hamstrings. We'll be here just for three more breaths. And just notice how this pose feels. One more breath. Please come onto your knees. Come into child's pose. Press your hands into the floor and go ahead and sit up. Go into transition to a seat, sitting in dandasana. Stretch your legs out in front of you. Now, if you have tight hamstrings, you will be more to the back of the sitting bones. So then it's better if you sit on a blanket or two, so that you can hinge from your hips in a moment as we're folding forward. So place your hands by your outer hips, pressing the back of your legs into the floor. And just take a moment to lift and open your chest. Inhale, stretch your arms overhead, just like we've done many times in today's practice, using your arms to find height and length. And again, if you find yourself kind of stuck, you might be more to the back of the sitting bones. You can sit on a blanket or maybe just briefly bend your knees to draw the lower back in, kind of pull the mat back with your heels. And then keep this height, go ahead and lower your arms. And then bend your left knee and just gently drag the foot back and let the knee move out to the side. If you can, bring the heel to the root of the right thigh or in that direction. If the left knee is not all the way down, you can support the knee with a blanket, pillow or block. And then keep the right hand on the floor. You can cup the foot with your fingertips. Inhale, stretch your left arm overhead. And then as you exhale, there's a gentle twist, twisting to your right, and then start to lean forward. Now, I like to grab the top of my foot like this, okay? Some people like the outer edges of the foot. Now, if your hamstrings are tight, you can use a strap around your right foot, okay? Or you can just simply bend your right knee. So inhale, lengthen your spine, find that nice elongated spine. Maybe you choose to stay like so. Or you grab the strap or foot with both hands and then you fold over your right leg. If you work with really tight hamstrings, again, find to bend your right knee. You can even roll up a blanket in place underneath the right knee. Soften your shoulders away from your ears. And you can splay the elbows out to the side a little bit to widen the shoulder blades apart. Let's take two more breaths here. Janu shirshasana.

Janu means knee. But we're really not asking you to bring your forehead, your head to the knees more extending towards the foot. And shirsha means head. Inhale, reach your sternum away from your navel so you kind of come halfway up. And then exhale, come all the way up. Okay, and then manually bring the knee back to center and straighten the left leg forward. So back to dandasana. Inhale, raise your arms overhead. Stay this tall. Exhale, lower your arms. And then bend your right knee and just gently drag the foot back. Let the right knee move out to the side. And you can gently press the right foot against the left inner leg. Inhale, once again, raise your right arm up. Exhale, gently twist to the left. A lot of gently this morning, but it's good to do that in the morning. Then as you exhale, come forward. You can grab the foot or maybe you work with a strap where you're bending the knee. Inhale, lengthen your spine. And you may want to stay right here. Or you can exhale, grab the foot with both hands and fold over your left leg. About another two or three breaths here. Soften your shoulders away from your ears. One more breath. Inhale, open your chest coming halfway up. Exhale, come all the way up. And then manually bring the knee back to center and straighten out the leg back in dandasana. Spread your toes, flex your ankles. Inhale, raise your arms overhead. Intillate your thumbs for a moment and lift up and out of the pelvis. And then as you exhale, hinging from your hip start to fold. Grabbing hold of the sides of the feet or maybe using a strap. Okay. Again, if you have tight hamstrings, you can bend your knees. You can separate your feet about hips width. Put a roll blanket underneath the knees. And then it's much easier to get more of an even rounding as you're folding. And this is seated forward fold, pastimottanasana. So two or three more breaths here. And I'm yielding the back of the legs into the floor. Soften your shoulders away from your ears.

Inhale, come halfway up. Exhale, come all the way up. And go ahead and bend your knees. Bring your buttocks closer to your heels and just slowly as you bring your forearms down, you're going to lay down. I'm going to turn around, facing the other way. Okay. Now bring the soles of your feet together. Vasupta bada konasana. If this is uncomfortable for your lower back or your knees, especially your lower back, you can manually slide the buttocks towards the heels. In a groin knee, maybe place support underneath your legs. So we're going to be here for about another four or five breaths. You can rest your arms alongside your body or place your hands on your belly. Sometimes it feels good to reach your fingertips up towards the ceiling, grab hold of your elbows, maybe change the crossing to the non-habitual crossing and bring your arms overhead towards the floor. Let's take one or two more breaths here, waking up our bodies gently.

One more breath, maybe. Bring your arms up, manually bring your knees together. Hug your knees into your chest. You can cross one foot on top of the other, separate your knees apart a little bit, rock a bit side to side. Now you are welcome to find your way into shavasana if you have time or you can join me in a comfortable seats. I'm going to roll over onto my right side and sit up back in sukhasana. Thank you so much for joining me in this practice this morning and I wish you a wonderful day, maybe feeling a bit more open in your hips. Namaste.