Stability, Strength, and Balance

Good morning. Welcome to our practice. So in today's sequence, we are going to work towards a fun balancing pose. Maybe not so much fun for some of you, so I encourage you to have a playful attitude and just do the best you can. That's a good mantra. But this sequence is focusing on strength, stability, and balance. So we're going to start with some core work so that I can prep you for what's coming up. So please have a block nearby. We're going to start on our backs. So once you're on your back, go ahead and bend your knees and then grab your block and place it the narrow way between your thighs. Then walk your feet forward so that your feet are in front of your knees and come up onto your heels. Then interlace your fingers to the back of your head or cup the back of your head with your fingertips, whatever feels comfortable for you. Take a deep full breath in and as you exhale, start to gently press your lower back into the floor. Curl your tailbone forward and slightly above the floor and lift your head and upper back. You don't have to lift super high and keep your neck in neutral. Keep your elbows out to the side and think more about your hands supporting the back of your head. So not pulling your head. Now with your heels, you're going to get a sense of dragging the mat towards your buttocks and that will activate your hamstrings. Then as you inhale, lower back down. Again as you exhale, lift back up and as you finish the exhale, think about drawing your belly in, not puffing it out and then inhale, lower back down. Exhale, lift back up and when you pull back with your heels, it gives you leverage to maybe lift your shoulders up a bit higher and then inhale, lower back down. Exhale, lift back up and really punctuate the end of the exhalation by firming your belly in. Inhale, lower back down. Exhale, lift back up and if you feel a little shaking in your abdominal muscles, that's good. I'm feeling it a little bit and inhale, lower back down. Let's do three more. Exhale, lift back up. Slowly, inhale, lower back down. Exhale, lift back up and inhale, lower down. Just one more. Exhale, back up, pausing at the end of the exhale, press your lower back into the floor and then inhale, lower back down. Very good. Now take your block, hold the block between your hands the long way and then slide your legs straight onto the floor and have your feet about hips width and bring your legs to neutral so your toes and knees point straight up, flexing your ankles. Pressing the back of the legs and heels into the floor, firm your belly, lower ribs in. Inhale, stretch your arms overhead towards the floor behind you and especially press the little fingers out of the hand against the block and keeping your back ribs onto the floor. Inhale, bring your arms back up and you can either inhale or exhale, bring your arms behind you and let's exhale this time, bring the arms up. Inhale, reach your arms overhead just one last time here in this position. Stabilize your trunk, again firm your belly, lower ribs in and then as you exhale, as you bring your arms back up, you're going to bring your right knee into your chest and then lift your head and upper back. If it's awkward to hold the block between your hands, you can simply put the block aside and just have your hands shoulder-width apart. Now inhale, straighten your right leg out onto the floor, reach your arms overhead through your back into that starting position. Exhale, bring your arms up, bring your left knee into your chest and lift up again, punctuate the end of the exhale. Inhale, lower back down into the starting position. Exhale, right knee to your chest, lift up, reach your fingertips straight ahead. Inhale, arms behind you, we meet in the starting position. Exhale, left knee to your chest, lift up, keep the right thigh heavy. Imagine that there's a heavy sandbag on top of the right thigh. Inhale, arms overhead starting position.

We do one more round. Exhale, right knee to your chest, top of your left thigh heavy as if there is a sandbag on top of that thigh. Inhale, starting position, last side. Exhale, left knee to your chest and lift up and inhale, stretch your arms overhead, both legs stretched out on the floor. So as you're stretching out through your arms, pressing the back of the legs into the floor, draw your belly lower ribs in to stabilize your trunk. Just one more breath here, stretching yourself a little bit longer from your heels to your fingertips and then inhale, bring your arms up and just move the block onto the floor, bend your knees, bring your knees into your chest. Now you can either rock back and forth to get enough momentum to sit up or you can just simply roll over onto one side. And let's meet onto our hands and knees for Cat and Cow. So coming into a quadruped position, wrist beneath your shoulders, knees beneath your hips. Inhale, lift and open your chest. So lift your sitting bones, reach your chest through the upper arms and then as you exhale, round your back. We're going to do two more rounds. Inhale, Cow Pose, open up your chest. Not important to look up. Exhale, curl your tailbone under, round your back, kind of like a Halloween cat. Inhale, Cow Pose, open your chest, lift your sitting bones and last time exhale, round your back. Cat Pose. Now find your way into a neutral position so your back looks rather flat and same thing like you did on your back earlier. Stabilize your trunk, firm your belly, front ribs in and then tuck the toes onto the left foot and slide the left foot back until the left leg is straight. Lift your left foot off the floor until your left leg is about parallel to the floor. Notice it's easy to hinge into your low back at this point so firm your belly, front ribs up. Then reach your right arm forward. Imagine you're shaking someone's hand. Tuck your chin in. Two more breaths here. So make yourself diagonally longer from the right hand to the left foot. Push the floor away from you with the left hand and then please come on to all fours. Let's do the second side. Tuck the toes onto the right foot, slide the right foot back. Firm your belly, front ribs in. Stabilize your trunk and then raise your right leg until it's about parallel to the floor and then reach your left arm forward as if you're shaking someone's hand. Align your left ear with the left inner upper arm and with the right hand push the floor away from you. Just take one more deep full breath in.

Make yourself longer from the left hand to the right heel and then exhale back to all fours. Walk your hands forward a little bit, two to three inches and then exhale our first down dog. So feel free to pedal your feet, maybe sway your hips a little bit from side to side. Kind of say good morning to your calf muscles and hamstrings. And then from downward facing dog inhale plank pose. So this is the same work of stabilizing your trunk, affirming your belly, front ribs towards your back body. As you're pressing your heels back, as you're reaching your the crown of your head forward. Three more breaths here to draw your belly strongly towards your back body, front ribs in. So having to work a little bit harder here because of gravity. And then next time you exhale lift your hips move into downward facing dog. Now inhale stretch your right leg behind you and as you exhale bring the right knee to your chest. I'm gonna hold here for a few breaths. Look in front of your hands, broaden across your collarbones. Now can you bring the right knee in a little bit closer to your chest? Good. Inhale three legged down dog and exhale step the right foot up between your hands. Okay so again check that your right shin bone is perpendicular to the floor. Pin the right hip in and then stretch your arms out to the side like giant wings. Okay keep firming your belly, front ribs in. Tuck your chin in a little bit. So again working on stabilizing your trunk. Lengthen from the back heel out through the crown of your head. Take one more deep full breath in and as you exhale bring your hands down. Step back into down dog. Inhale raise your left leg behind you. Exhale bring the left knee to your chest. Come forward until your shoulders are above your wrists. Broaden across your collarbones. Look in front of your hands. Just take one more breath. Can you bring the knee in a little closer to your chest? Inhale three legged down dog. Exhale step the foot through. Left knee above the left ankle. Spread your toes. Pin the left hip in. Stretch your arms out to the side like giant wings. Firm your belly. Lower ribs in. Tuck your chin in a little bit. Couple more breaths here. Press the right heel back as you reach out through the crown of your head. And the next time you exhale bring your hands down. Step into down dog. Stretch it out. Now please go ahead and just simply walk your feet up to your hands. Utanasana. Just take a few breaths here. You can bend your knees. Let your head dangle. Lift your shoulders. Bring your hands to your hips. Leading with your chest. Inhale come all the way up. Okay so we're going to do one balancing pose before we do a little bit more of a flow. So half your feet a few inches apart and then come up on to the ball of your left foot. Take your right hand to your right hip and let the right hip jut out to the side. Kind of comes with an attitude when you do this. Now pin the outer right hip in. Working gluteus medius. The muscles in the outer hip. Gluteus minimus as well. Now you're going to lift your left foot until your thigh is about parallel to the floor. And as you're lifting that left foot continue firming the outer right hip in and also pressing the right thigh bone back. You can think of that leg as tadasana leg. The same work that you did lying on your back as well. Draw the left sitting bone down. Move your belly lower ribs in and then inhale stretch your arms overhead without changing your trunk. See if you can grow a little bit taller. One more breath and then stay this tall. Lower your left foot and lower your arms. Bring your hands to your hips. Spread your toes as much as you can. That's really helpful for balance. And then come up onto the ball of the right foot. Take the left hand to the outer left hip. Let the hip jut out to the side. I almost feel like you have to chew on gum here back in high school. Now pin the outer left hip in and then start to lift your right foot until the thigh is about parallel to the floor. So as you're lifting that right foot continue pinning the left hip in drawing the right sitting bone down and also pressing the left thigh bone back. Maybe keeping your hands on your hips that's a little bit easier as far as balance or you can extend your arms overhead. Firm your belly lower ribs in. Now just take one more deep full breath in. Stay this tall. Exhale. Lower the foot and lower your arms. Very good. Please step to the top of your mat. Standing in tadasana. And as you inhale circle your arms overhead. Look up and as you exhale hinging from your hips fold and you can always bend your knees. Inhale arda uttanasana. Lengthen your spine. Open your chest and as you exhale step your right foot back. Step into plank pose. Take a deep full breath in here. Firm your belly front ribs up. Exhale. Come forward with your chest either. Well no actually let's lower all the way down. So our first one here. Inhale low cobra. Lift your chest. Belly is on the floor. For some of you high cobra. But keep your elbows bent. Keep pressing your pubic bone into the floor. Drag your shoulders back and down. And for some of you udvamukrishvanasana. Upward-facing dog. Exhale. Downward-facing dog. Inhale.

Raise your right leg behind you and as you exhale step your right foot up between your hands. Inhale here and as you exhale step your left foot forward. You can work with the feet apart especially if you've tight hamstrings. Simply balance better with the feet apart. Otherwise feet together. Inhale arda uttanasana. Lengthen. Exhale bow. Inhale spread the arms out to the side. Rise up and exhale hands to your heart. One more. Like this. Inhale circle your arms overhead and exhale fold. Inhale open your chest. Look forward. Exhale this time step the left foot back. Step into plank pose. Again you can lower all the way down or maybe chaturanga this time. Inhale cobra or up dog. Take your time. Exhale downward-facing dog. Inhale raise your left leg behind you. Exhale step it through. Step your right foot forward. Inhale lengthen your spine. Exhale fold. Inhale press your feet into the floor spread your arms out to the side. Take up space. Rise up. Exhale back to center. Now we're going to have a little bit of fun. Lower your arms. Inhale circle your arms overhead. I encourage you to have fun. Exhale fold. Inhale open your chest and the mantra is I'm doing the best I can. Exhale step into plank pose. Slowly lower. Again maybe chaturanga. Inhale cobra or up dog. Exhale down dog. Now inhale raise your right leg behind you. So leading with the inseam of the leg. Exhale step your right foot up between your hands. Now I'm going to give you options for what's coming up. Easier to keep your hands on your hips as far as balance. Okay you're also welcome to bring the arms out to the side like we did earlier. So get a sense of standing on that right foot. Pin the right hip in to find those muscles in the outer hip.

Engage them. Firm your belly in. Now you're going to simply maybe not so simple step the left foot through coming into the balancing position that you were in earlier. And your hands can stay on your hips or you bring your arms overhead. The right thigh tends to push forward to press the top of the right thigh bone back. Keep pinning the outer right hip in. Now from this position let's all bring our hands together in Anjali Mudra. Hands in front of your chest in prayer. Coming into a one-legged chair pose. Parallel your thighs. Lean forward a little bit and then find cat position in your spine. So round your back. Draw your belly in so you find the abdominal muscles. They're going to help you out. And then kick the left foot back coming into warrior three. If this is too much by the way you can find your blocks highest level and place the blocks underneath your hands. You don't have to raise the left leg until it's parallel to the floor. You don't have to straighten the right leg completely. We'll be here for three more breaths. You can also bring the arms out to the side. You can also reach your arms out in front of you. Keep pinning the outer right hip in. Firm your belly in. And then from this position bend the right knee. Step into warrior one. Okay so it's not that easy with these transitions. Do the best you can. So that is the mantra. Okay so warrior one just for a few breaths here. Maybe bending the front knee a little bit more. You can also look up and then as you exhale bring your hands down. Okay so now just slide the right foot back about half of a foot. Straighten the right leg and stretch over the right leg. If you need to keep the right knee a little bit bent so that you have a more even rounding off your back that's fine. So just a few breaths here. Maybe walk your hands forward. Nice with a little bit of a hamstring stretch. And then please let's meet in downward-facing dog. You're welcome to stay right here. Or for some of you going through a vinyasa. So moving mindfully. Inhale plank. Exhale lower down. Maybe chaturanga. Inhale cobra up dog. Exhale down dog. Okay second side but now you know what's coming up. Inhale raise your left leg behind you. So leading with the inseam of the leg. Exhale step the foot through. Spread the toes as much as you can on that left foot. Easier to balance. Now you can either take your hands to your hips or bring the arms out to the side. Move your belly in. Front ribs in. Pin that left hip in. Really get a sense of standing on that left foot. Step the right foot through. Balancing on the left foot. Some of you will circle your arms overhead. Some of you will take your hands to your hips or keep your hands on your hips. So press the top of the left thigh bone back. Pin the outer left hip in. Find a point that you can softly gaze at. Really really helpful with balance. Now from here bring your hands to your heart and then bend your left knee coming into a one-legged chair pose. Parallel your thighs and then start to round your back here. You can also take your hands to your hips either way. You're going to kick the right foot back into warrior three. So this side is challenging for me. So I typically use blocks underneath my hands. So feel free to go for that option. Okay so pin the left hip in. Lengthen your spine. And some of you might want to bring the arms out to the side or stretch your arms out in front of you. Let's take one more deep full breath in here. And as you exhale bend your left knee deeply. Reach your right foot back coming into warrior one. Make sure you have a long enough stance here so that your left knee is not moving ahead of the ankle. Take one more deep full breath and reach up and out through the fingertips. And then exhale bring your hands down. Slide the left foot back about half a foot. Straighten the left leg any amount and then stretch over the left leg. So if your hamstrings are really tight you could place blocks underneath your hands. Keep that in mind. Okay or bending the left knee or both. Okay let's meet back in down dog and let's all do one slow kind of a vinyasa with a little bit of a with options. Inhale plank. Exhale lower all the way down and then point your toes. Intillate your fingers behind your back. Lift and open your chest. Just a few breaths here but keeping the tops of the feet pressing into the floor. If your pec muscles, if your chest muscles are tight, you can always keep your hands apart or use a strap between your hands. Take one more deep full breath in. Exhale place your hands by your lower ribs. You can stay here or come into a high cobra or upward facing dog. So if you do up dog, check that your wrists are beneath your shoulders. Dynamically stretch out through your legs. Lift your sternum.

Maybe look up. Exhale down dog. Take a few more breaths here and let's meet in child's pose. Go ahead and press your hands into the floor and sit up and move your hips to one side and stretch your legs out in front of you. You're gonna cross your legs eventually with the right leg in front. So sitting in Sukhasana. Bring your knees in fairly tight so you cross midway on your shins and walk your feet forward a bit so you have an open triangle between your legs. If your hips are a bit tight and you can't be right onto the center of the sitting bone, sit on a blanket or two. And I like to use a block for my forehead in a moment. You might like that too. You might need two. Now cup the floor with your fingertips. Press your sitting bones into the floor and press the little toes out of each foot into the floor. Inhale, lengthen your sternum away from your navel. And exhale, walk your hands as far forward as you can and then maybe rest your forehead on a block or two. If you feel this as discomfort in your right knee, try to put a blanket between the right knee and the left foot. And if that doesn't take care of it, you can lie down on your back and do threat the needle pose instead. So at any time if you feel need is comfort, please choose another variation. We'll be here just for another three breaths. So we're stretching our hips a bit, the muscles in the hip region because they worked quite a lot today. Just one more breath please. And then walk your hands back. Stretch out your legs for a moment and then change sides. Bring the left leg in front. Snuggle your sitting bones into the floor or into the blanket. Cup the floor with your fingertips. Press your sitting bones, little toes out of each foot into the floor. Inhale, lengthen your sternum away from your navel. Exhale, walk your hands as far forward as you can, perhaps resting your forehead on a block or two. And once again, if you feel this is need discomfort, you can put a blanket between the left knee and the left foot or choose to do threat the needle on your back. So notice where you feel sensations and see if you can breathe into where you feel sensations, where you feel the stretch. Just a few more breaths. Soften as much as you can on the exhale. When you're ready, walk your hands back. Stretch out your legs and then bend your knees and then fold your left leg in and bring the right leg across. And you're moving in the direction of stacking the right knee above the bottom knee. Whether you get there or not is not important.

Have both sitting bones on the floor if not sit on a blanket or a block. And maybe this is plenty right here. Sitting up tall or you can walk your hands forward. Again, the option to place a block or two underneath your forehead. If you feel this in your knee, it's likely the left knee. All you need to do is to straighten out the left leg and working right here. Maybe even being able to fold forward. So this pose is called Happy Cow. It's a variation of a pose called Gumukasana Cow Face Pose. And it really gets into deeper external hip rotators like the piriformis, which is many times a little bit of a troublemaker. So a couple more breaths here. And walk your hands back. Stretch out your legs. Bend your knees and then fold your right leg in and bring your left leg over. Snuggle your sitting bones into the floor. And again, you know you have the option to straighten out the right leg. You can stay up tall or you can walk your hands forward. Maybe even a block underneath your forehead. So press your sitting bones into the floor. Press the little toes out of each foot into the floor. Breathing smoothly in and out through your nose. A couple more breaths. This can feel very intense. Do it more often and you might feel the need to do it more often. Okay, walk your hands back and stretch out your legs. And then sit in any comfortable position that you can. And just for a moment, and if you would like to lie down instead, you're welcome to do that and take a Shavasana. You can join me here just for a moment to center yourself with some deep centering breaths. Sometimes I like to end my practice with my hands onto the top of my chest. You can draw the chin down, draw your mind's eye to the center of your chest. But just taking a moment here in gratitude, perhaps appreciating your breath, this moment, your practice, or appreciating someone or something in your life. Bring your hands together and Anjali Mudra. As you're lifting your chest and bowing your head, bowing to your innermost self and appreciating, respecting, and honoring that same place in others. I thank you so much for joining me in this practice this morning. Namaste.