Prenatal Flow for Energy

Welcome, so glad you're here. This is a prenatal flow designed to increase energy, and it's appropriate for all trimesters, first, second, and third trimester. I know there were days throughout my pregnancy where I was just on the couch and in bed. So as you feel into your body, this practice might be to help build energy or for those days where you feel energy and you want to move. So together we'll move at a very slow and mindful pace, looking at sun salutations, exploring modifications to make space for your growing body and your growing baby. So for this practice, it'll be helpful to have two blocks in our sun salutations, a blanket for your knees, and maybe a bolster towards the end of our practice. So take a moment to set your mat up, having your two blocks in front, the top of your mat, and then a folded blanket for your knees. And let's meet at the back of the mat. And finding a nice wide stance for your pelvis, your hips, spreading the toes, and just taking a moment together to arrive and center. Hands might rest on the belly and feeling and sensing the energy of the life within your baby. Notice where you can soften a bit through the face, the shoulders, really feeling yourself arrive and land. And I know for me with the extra weight, I do feel a bit grounded, even though there's lots of anticipation and worries and thoughts swirling around in the mind. So let's see if we can connect into really the wisdom of the body and of allowing that extra weight to help ground us here in our practice. Let's bring the hands together at the heart, drawing your awareness inward towards the breath, allowing the breath to inspire the movement, guiding us from within. Just feel the rise of the inhale and the fall, or softening with the exhale. Just exploring half sun salutations. So as you're ready, on your inhale, circle the arms up towards the sky. And as you exhale, generous bend in your knees, make space for your belly, hands onto your legs, half arch. Inhale here and exhale, you might stay here, come into a forward fold, releasing the head and the arms. As you inhale, bring the hands onto the legs again, half arch and lift. Exhale, press through the feet, circle the arms up on your inhale, and then exhale, hands together at the heart. Let's explore that again together. On your inhale, arms circle up, ground through the feet, reach up, exhale, forward fold, bend the knees, fold at the hips, hands on the legs. You might stay here if you're feeling some heartburn or dizziness. You might exhale, come into your forward fold, releasing your head. As you inhale, hands come back up onto the legs or shins, half arch. And then exhale, press through the feet, reach the arms up. Exhale, hands together at the heart. One more. Inhale, arms circle up, gathering the energy. Exhale, soften through the knees, fold forward, releasing, hands to the legs or floor. Inhale, half arch to lengthen. Exhale, bend the knees, press through the feet, circle the arms up.

Exhale, hands together at the heart. Just taking a moment to pause, maybe feeling the warmth, the heartbeat. And then we'll add on together. As you're ready, inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, this time forward fold, hands stay on the legs or releasing down. Inhale, half arch, lift and lengthen. And as you exhale, begin to crawl and walk the hands into your downward dog. Taking a moment to pause and down dog. Bend the knees and kind of wiggle and lift up through your sitting bones, releasing the weight of your head. And then lower your knees down into a tabletop position. Now if you have tenderness or sensitivity in your wrists, you might bring your forearms onto your blocks or onto the floor. And let's take Cat-Cow here. So as you exhale, round and stretch your back. And then inhale, lead with the heart, find your extension. Exhale, curl and round, stretch the back, hug baby in towards you. And then dropping the belly, lifting out through the sitting bones, the collar bones. And continue a few rounds at your own pace. You can really modify, customize it for your hands and wrists. And then come into a neutral spine. You might bring your hands onto your blocks and bring one block into the middle of your mat and one block to the far kind of left edge of your mat. And let's extend back through our right leg. Lift your right leg, bend the knee and step the right foot nice and wide. So the blocks are on the inside of your right foot for a lunge. You might tuck the back toes under and readjust that back knee. As you settle into sensation through the back thigh and hip flexor, you might have your hands low on the blocks. You might bring your blocks up a little higher to make space for your belly. And in fact, I'm going to do that in the third trimester. Okay. And let's inhale, draw the hips back, extend through the front leg and exhale, sink into your lunge. Two more times. Inhale, hips draw back and exhale lunge. Nice and easy. Maybe one more. Inhale, hips draw back. Exhale, lunge. You might stay low on your lunge. You might climb up onto that front thigh. Coming into that sensation, inhale the action of hugging baby in towards you, letting the tailbone lengthen. You might stay right here. You might choose to inhale, reach your arms up towards the sky and then maybe bend your elbows, cactus the arms, open the chest. Inhale, arms reach up. Exhale, hands release to your blocks and draw your hips back again. Extend through that front leg. Beautiful. And then just mindfully draw that right leg back to meet the left. Bring your blocks over towards the right. We'll extend back through the left leg, lift the back left leg, bend the knee and then step it wide. And you can even have your hand around the ankle, help the foot along, readjust your back right knee and settle in. Again, find what feels right for you with the blocks, leaning a little bit from side to side, softening the jaw and the face. As you're ready, inhale, draw your hips back, extend through your left leg and exhale lunge, lifting through the heart as you drop the hips. Two more, inhale, draw your hips back, extend and exhale lunge. Last one, inhale, hips draw back, extend, exhale lunge. Now as you feel into your situation in your body, you might stay right here. You might climb up onto that front leg, settling in. If you are inspired, you might inhale, reach your arms up towards the sky. Again, hug baby in towards you, let the tailbone lengthen, find that ease in the neck, bending the elbows, cactus and open the chest. Inhale, arms sweep up, exhale, hands release, draw the hips back, extend through your front left leg and then as you're ready, just bring that left leg back to meet the right. We'll meet in downward facing dog, spreading the fingers, tucking the toes, feet nice and wide to make space for belly, to make space for baby, add a wiggle up through the sitting bones, let the head release and if downward dog feels like not the right thing today, you might lower into a wide child's pose and together walk the hands back towards the feet, nice and easy, coming into a squat, bend the knees, bring the forearms onto your thighs and sit down for a moment. Inhale here, that's a lot of work, exhale, press through the feet, reach the arms up on the inhale, exhale, hands together at the heart and pause and notice and be quite common to feel dizzy or have nausea or heartburn as we start to move up and down, so finding your unique rhythm and pace, beautiful, nice. From here, let's find a chair pose, so spread the toes, inhale, reach your arms up towards the sky, exhale, bend your knees, hinge at your hips and feel how you can kind of stick your tush out a bit as you shift the weight back into the heels, hug baby in towards you, lengthen through the low back, you might stay here, you might choose to bring your hands onto your legs today, as you feel the support broadening through the chest, softening the shoulders, let's inhale, that's a lot of work in the legs, exhale, bend the knees, walk the hands forward, downward dog, take a few moments here to pause, from your down dog, lower your knees, cat cow, hands on the floor, forearms on the blocks, find what feels right for you, inhale to lengthen, exhale to curl and round, couple rounds at your own pace, nice. Finding our second round of lunges and maybe adding on here, so bringing the blocks over to your left, extend back through your right leg, maybe lift your right leg up, inhale, exhale, step the right foot nice and wide, blocks on the inside of that right foot and again readjust your block so it feels right for you, giving yourself time and space to feel into your back left hip and hip flexor, so as, breathing, you might stay low, you might climb up onto that front leg, you might inhale, sweep the arms up and exhale, cactus the arms open the chest, inhale, arms sweep up, exhale, hands release, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, runners lunge, pause here and feel that you can reach back through that left heel, forward through the heart, make sure there's space for your belly here, feel the energy in the back leg and then press through the ball of the right foot, so we're moving towards a little pyramid play here, maybe that left heel gets heavy as the head releases, here I have the blocks up on the highest setting, beautiful, bend the knee again, you might stay here, you might lower the back knee, you might join me in a warrior one, as you ground through the outer edge of your back foot, so that back foot is parallel, you can stay low or climb up onto that front leg, hands on the hips or inhale, sweep your arms up towards the sky, you can feel action of hugging baby in towards you, tailbone lengthens, reaching and lifting, grounding through the outer edge of that back foot, maybe even cactus the arms here, inhale, arms reach up, exhale, sweep the hands down to the blocks, spin onto the ball of your back foot, lower the back knee and draw your hips back, extend through that front leg, awesome work, feels so nice to tap into our strength, still got it, shift over, draw that right leg back, nice work, let's feel into the other side, so bring the blocks over to your right, extend back through your left leg, lift your left leg, inhale, exhale, sweep it, step it nice and wide and just feel into your hips, breathing, it's amazing how the body changes moment to moment day to day, really the primary practice is tuning in, listening and trusting that clear information and guidance coming in, nice, okay, from here you might stay low, you might choose to climb up onto that front leg, finding the low crescent lunge, you might sweep the arms up towards the sky, if that feels really good, exhale, cactus the arms, open the chest, inhale, arms reach up, exhale, sweep the hands down, tuck the back toes, lift your back right leg, come into your runner's lunge here and feel like you can reach back through that right heel and lengthen forward through the heart, lots of energy through the legs and then press into the ball of your left foot, straighten your left leg, draw that left hip back, coming into your pyramid, maybe that right heel gets heavy, maybe the head gets heavy, breathing into the hamstrings, you might stay here, you might bend the front knee, you might join me in grounding through the outer edge of that right foot, bending the front knee, climbing up and transitioning into a warrior one, maybe sweeping the arms up towards the sky, again drawing the navel, the belly in towards you, tailbone curls under, you might cactus the arms here, bending, inhale, reaching, one more breath, inhale, exhale, release the hands, spin onto the ball of your back foot, lower the back right knee, draw the hips back, little relief for that front leg, hamstring stretch and take your time to slowly release that left leg back, downward dog or maybe a wide child's pose would feel really nice, knees wide, legs wide, make space for belly and baby, releasing the weight of your head, breathing, from downward dog, find a way to walk your hands back nice and slow towards the feet, bend your knees a lot, bring your forearms onto your legs, little half squat chair pose action, inhale, exhale, ground through the feet, sweep the arms up on your inhale, gather the energy, exhale, hands at the heart, take a moment to pause, notice, and be feeling the warmth, the energy through the body, might even bring the hands onto your belly, checking in, beautiful, from here go ahead and clear your mat, we're gonna find some standing shapes, some standing poses, we will use our blocks eventually so you might have them nearby, and go ahead and step your feet wide, we're gonna find a warrior too, so feet wide and then rotate your left thigh and foot in and then externally rotate your right thigh and foot, so that right heel is more or less in line with the left inner arch but of course things change as the pelvis changes, as our weight changes, and then bending the right knee, if you're looking for something a bit more stable, you might find a shorter stance, again so find what works for your hips, your legs, and get that sense of really grounding through the outer edge of your right foot, as you stretch your arms out to the sides, beautiful, feeling your strength here, and then let the palms open towards the sky, and as you inhale press through the ball of your right foot, straighten your right leg, reach your arms up, exhale right knee bends, warrior two, inhale arms reach up, straighten the right leg, exhale warrior two, let's do three more, inhale arms reach, exhale warrior two, inhale press through the ball of the right foot, straighten the right leg, arms reach, exhale warrior two, last one, inhale arms reach, exhale warrior two, from here we'll find reverse or peaceful warrior, slide your left hand down the left leg, inhale the right arm up, and as you exhale side angle, bring your right forearm onto your right thigh, left hand might stay on the hip as you begin to spin your belly, your chest towards the sky, if it feels good you might reach your arm up and over, softening that right shoulder blade down the back, breathing here, yeah you can really root through the outer edge of your left foot to your fingers and of course find a place where your neck feels good, ground through the feet, inhale back into warrior two, it's a ton of work, hands on the hips, let's try the other side, turn that right foot in, left foot out, beautiful job and then check out your alignment with your feet, bending your left knee and feeling that external rotation through your hip, sweep your arms, settling in, palms open, warrior two dance, inhale, press through the ball of the left foot, arms reach, exhale warrior two, inhale gather, exhale ground, three more, inhale arms reach up, exhale, inhale arms reach, exhale warrior two, let's do two more actually, inhale arms reach, exhale bend warrior two, inhale left leg straightens, arms reach, exhale warrior two, pause, right hand comes down, inhale left arm reaches up, beautiful stretch in the left side, exhale side angle, left forearm onto the leg, right hand on the hip, again it feels like you can spin the belly towards the sky, heart, left shoulder softens, maybe reach that top arm up and over the ear for side angle, ground through the outer edge of your right foot to your fingers, again check in with your neck, maybe looking down, breathing, spilled strength and stamina for child birth and labor, strong through the feet, inhale back into your warrior two, hands on the hip, straighten the left leg, turn that foot in and let's just heel toe the feet back into a comfortable stance, take a few moments to pause and notice how you feel, it was a lot of work in the legs, a lot of work in the hips, you might take a clearing breath, inhale and let everything go with the exhale, nice, let's grab our blocks for triangle pose, so we'll step our feet wide again, again find a stance that feels right for you, maybe shorter if you're looking for more stability, bring the blocks roughly behind your ankles, we'll start with the right side, turn the left foot in, right foot out, check out the alignment with the feet, now as you're ready sweep the arms out to the side, inhale to lift, lifting the legs, pulling them into the pelvis and with your exhale reach across the room, feel how you can lift your belly up over your hip, nice, from here you might bring the right hand onto your shin or a block, left hand might stay on the hip or you might reach that left arm up towards the sky, triangle pose, feel how you can lengthen the bottom ribs, reaching up through the top arm, you might even sweep that top arm over your ear, find a place where your neck feels good, lengthening, so this shape is all about creating length and space, strength, ground through the feet as you're ready, inhale reach with your top arm, come up, bring the hands onto the hips as you turn that right foot and thigh in, left foot and thigh out, sweep your arms out, inhale to lift, exhale to reach, reach, reach, reach, enjoy this process of reaching, right hand might stay on the hip, left hand on the shin or pull your block in for support, lengthening the bottom ribs, rotating the belly, the lungs, the heart, maybe reaching your top right arm up to the sky for triangle pose, breathing here, and this side might feel totally different, it does for me, and maybe even sweeping that top right arm over the ear, lengthening, rooting from the outer right edge to the fingers, and appreciating just the strength, the amazing strength of your body, awesome, as you're ready, ground through the feet, inhale reach with that top right arm, come back up, turn the left foot in, hands on the hips, we're gonna move into goddess, of course, turn the heels in, toes out, and sink into goddess, right, you might even bring your hands onto your belly as you do like a little side to side with the hips, and a feeling into the landscape of your pelvis, your legs, and we're looking for that external rotation in the hips, so that sense of grounding through the outer edges of your feet, sinking in, and then with the inhale, sweep the arms up, and then exhale, release, and inhale, arms reach up straight in the legs, and then exhale, sink in, inhale, gather and reach, exhale, inhale, exhale, let's do five more together, inhale, arms reach, exhale, press through the feet, inhale, exhale, inhale, straighten the legs, arms reach, exhale, two more, inhale, feeling that warmth, that energy, exhale, last one, inhale, exhale, sink down, keep the knees bent as you reach the arms up, nice, you might cactus the arms, maybe even stick the tongue out with a, straighten the legs, bring the hands to your hips, turn the toes in, we're coming into a wide forward fold, you might reach down, grab your blocks, and bring them out in front of you, till the blocks are right in line with the shoulders, hands on the hips, inhale, lift up through the heart, exhale, fold the hips, engage the legs, as you bring your hands to your blocks, this feels nice, inhale, lift the chest, lengthen the spine, and then exhale, settling in, find a place where your neck feels good, and especially if you're experiencing heartburn, or dizziness, or feeling nauseous, keeping your head above the heart can be useful here, this can be a really nice shape to stretch and open the back of the legs, the hamstrings, the hips, you might choose to bring your forearms down, and release the weight of your head, that can feel really nice as well, maybe even bending your knees here, you might find a little side to side for your hips, your pelvis, these little micro seaweed like movements can feel really good for the joints, as the body changes, nice, if you're on your forearms, climb back up onto your hands, we'll find a gentle twist, left hand stays on the block, right hand on the hip, begin to turn and rotate towards the right, this might be enough, you might reach the right arm up, reaching from the heart into the hands, inhale, exhale, right hand comes down, lengthening the spine, stay here, or bring the left hand to the hip as you revolve to your left, if it feels good, stretch your left arm up, reaching from the heart into the hands, and you might play with sending the gaze down, and up, and then exhale, release, strong through the legs, hands onto the hips, press through the feet, we'll come up with a strong flat back, flat-ish, and then just heel-toe your feet back, beautiful, we can bring the blocks off to the side again, and before we transition down, let's find some hip circles, so we've done a lot of work for the legs and the hips, we're just gonna move the body here, so there's no right way to do this, you're just gonna feel into the movement of your pelvis, kind of like you're hula-hooping, but you're exaggerating the movement, so you're letting your whole pelvis and your torso, even up through your rib cage move, so we're stretching the hip flexors, the psoas, your hands might stay on the hips or on your belly, you might reach your arms out to your sides, and feel like you can really move your weight around, move your weight around, like stick your bottom back, forward, and then let's circle in the other direction, and this direction might feel a little counterintuitive, circling the pelvis, moving, shifting your weight around, hmm, you might keep your eyes open or softly closed, whatever feels right for you, nice, it's really, you might even feel and sense your baby and then moving around with you, although I find the moments I become still and quiet is when the baby starts to move and do yoga, okay, and then just come into what feels like the center, take a moment to pause, nice full inhale, exhale everything, from here let's find our way towards the back of our mat, we're gonna find a sun salutation downward, so you might set your blanket up again for your knees, standing in Tadasana with the legs, the feet wide, bring the hands together at the heart, coming back to the breath, as you inhale, arms sweep up, reach, as you exhale, hands on the legs forward fold, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend your knees, bring your hands down and kind of crawl your way into a downward dog, our last downward dog of the practice, generous bend in the knees, wiggle and lift up through your sitting bones, release the weight of your head, from down dog lower your knees, we're gonna come into a nice wide child's pose, bring the big toes together knees nice and wide to make space for your belly and letting your head release down, maybe on your hands, you might release the head down to a block or a pillow or a bolster, maybe allow for this gentle swaying or rocking, feeling the weight of the pelvis sinking, from your child's pose, when you feel ready, slowly find your way up, we're gonna close with a seated twist, so you might sit on your blanket, you might sit on your bolster, I'm gonna sit on the bolster, it just gives me a little bit more height and from here, you're gonna find a way to do this, you're gonna come into a seat and stretch the legs out, so we're gonna come into an open twist and you might have your blocks handy for this, behind you, and then kind of fluff your feathers, pull the flesh out from underneath you, extend your legs, the legs can be wide-ish, nice and then from here, lean back and bend your left knee, okay, and so you can have that foot just a little wider than your hips, so we're finding a variation of Marichyasana C, twist, but it's an open twist, so feel how you can lengthen your spine here, you might even bring your left hand onto your shin just to feel that support as you lengthen, and then let's stretch the left arm up on the inhale, exhale, reach it forward and bring it on the inside of that left arm, that left leg, inhale to lengthen and exhale, begin to twist towards your right, you might bring that right hand onto your block behind you or the bolster or floor, you can even kind of press that left arm into the left knee, left knee into the arm, inhale to lengthen and exhale, gentle twist, again, it's all about how we approach twists and abdominal work, at least slowly and mindfully listening to the body, this can feel like a nice relief for the mid-back, upper back and the thoracic spine, and then just stay on the twist, slowly let your head rotate forward, inhale and exhale, release, lean back for your left leg and then bend your right knee, you might place that right foot just wider than the right hip, might have that block handy behind you, inhale your right arm up towards the sky and then exhale, flip that right arm forward, inside of that right knee, inhale to lengthen and exhale to twist, again if it's useful you might press that right arm into the right knee, right knee into arm, feeling that gentle rotation through the ribs, the lungs, maybe even up through the neck and feel that energy through the right fingers, maybe even the left toes as you engage a little bit, notice if there's any hardening in your low back and see if you can find a little bit more fullness in the back ribs, a little softening in the back body as you breathe, beautiful, stay in the twist and just slowly rotate your head forward, when you're ready lean back and for your right leg, and let's find a baddha konasana before we transition down, just bring the soles of the feet together knees wide, hands might rest on the shins, you might lean a little bit from side to side, you might stay upright in extension, softening, you might begin to fold forward, make sure there's space for baby, space for your belly, maybe even releasing the weight of your head, softening the jaw and the mouth. Here I noticed a tendency to start examining my feet and if you find yourself doing that you might just let your eyes close and keep your awareness, just resting inward, beautiful, and then when you're ready just slowly roll your way out, we're going to come into a sideline rest pose for shavasana, so you can bring your blocks off to the side, we'll use a blanket and a bolster for this, the bolster will be between the legs for support and your blanket will be supporting your upper body, so you can take your blanket and bring it right up against your hip and you can lie on either side, whatever feels right for you, I'm going to rest on the left side today and then you're going to lengthen your belly over the blanket, you might even have a pillow between your head and your arm for support, it's worth taking the time to get comfortable and you might even let your top arm and hand rest on your belly, taking just a minute or so here together to relax and let go of all that strength work and engagement, feel how the weight of the bones, the weight of the body can release towards the support, relaxing any effort around the breath, be softening the eyes, giving yourself permission to rest here.

There we go. And you are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, just allowing yourself to linger and rest, so important. You feel like it's time to transition. You might join me in keeping the head heavy, grounding through my hands and just gently pressing yourself up, taking a moment to come into a comfortable, supported seat, and feeling yourself arrive and settle, kind of reorienting to space and light and sound, connected to the inner, most space, feeling the rise of the inhale and the fall or softening of the exhale coming in like waves. Thank you so much for joining us and have a beautiful day.