Floor to Flight

Greetings, let's begin at the top of our mat. So for this practice, we're going to ground ourselves and we'll take a little flight. Bring your hands to your heart center in prayer. I always like to begin the practice with an intention, purpose, mantra. So whatever brings you to your mat right now, plant that seed and let's get moving.

Inhale your arms up, reach up, exhale, fold forward and down, soften in the knees. Inhale lift the chest, take that right leg back and lower the right knee down the top of the right foot. Got each leg in their own lane, I let my pelvis descend as I rise, the arms inhale. Exhale take your hands to the floor, spread your fingers, step that left foot back into downward facing dog and start to pedal your feet. So when the practice begins and we just go immediately into down dog, we use the foot ankle bending and the knees kind of stepping in place, feeling that sensation of lifting us.

Go ahead and glide your body forward into the plank. Let's take ashtanga namaskar, so lower your knees, lower your chest, lower your chin as you glide forward a bit, then roll your thigh bones in, pin your elbows in and inhale lift for low cobra. Exhale gently release, push back to child's pose, uttita balasan, you know you have this at any time in the practice, you can come here. Downward facing dog, here we are again, just letting this body be breathed and feeling how we'll be shape shifting in this practice. Inhale rise the right leg, stay curious with that rise, take the right knee to the right elbow, exhale and then inhale rise, right knee left elbow and up and then knee to the nose.

Step the right foot forward, gaze forward and gently launch the left foot forward, left hand right hand, shins inhale, exhale left hand right hand, calves exhale, inhale come all the way up, little or big back bend, I'm just going to take a smidge of one and then bring the hands to the heart center in prayer. One more round, inhale arms up, maybe you add back bend, exhale fold if you want the hands to go wide, that's up to you, inhale arda uttanaasan, that means halfway lift, this time left leg back, lower knee, top of foot, sweeping arms up, magnetizing inner thighs here, hands come down directly into downward facing dog, right foot joins left at the back of the mat and here we are, right back in our place of moving this beautiful, wonderful space of breath. Inhale to the plank, one more ashtanga namaskar, knees chest chin, sliding forward, this time conscious awareness of shoulders rolling up, back and down, inhale lift chest, little add on lift legs, more breath here, take one more round to luxuriate, inhale lift and then exhale release. You want a little more vigor, plank in reverse, you want a little less vigor, child's pose and then down dog. Start to feel the length in your arms and your spine, the lift just below the navel toward the spine and then inhale rise the left leg, exhale tap knee, left knee left elbow and up, left knee right elbow and up and then knee to the nose or thigh to the chest.

As you step the left foot forward you'll look forward, launch the right foot forward, both hands on your shins, inhale, both hands to your calves, exhale and then root those feet as you reach up, inhale, urvastasana. Just fold forward and down, exhale, classic surya namaskar A, join me, inhale lift your chest, you want to step, float or fly, chaturanga, inhale, urvamukha, upward facing dog, remember you always have low cobra, downward facing dog. So probably you can start to feel when we play with cadence, we stay in the flow of the breath and as we shape shift in this body we breathe in and we breathe out, so enjoy that. Upon the completion of your next exhale bend your knees, turn your gaze to your thumbs, step or hop feet to hands, inhale lift, just exhale fold, bend your knees and come into utkatasana, chair pose some call this fierce and awkward pose, so just notice why you notice about this, feel your breath here and then inhale spring up, exhale fold. Again you lengthen with an inhale you feel the chin tip away from the nape of the neck, you can jump back or step, chaturanga, up dog, downward facing dog, lift your right leg toward the sky, step your right foot forward, keep your left knee off the mat, inhale those arms up, so in this moment swivel your left ribs forward, let's take that left wrist and side bend over to the right, just a little dip into that right thigh, beautiful, inhale come up, take the left arm forward and the right arm back, sit a smidge more into that right thigh, you can look toward the right arm, the side or forward and then take the left hand to the floor, right hand can keep reaching up, feel that rotation in the trunk of the body or the right hand could be on the hip.

Take the right hand to the floor, vinyasa or skip it and go to down dog, it just depends how spicy you want it, you take that chaturanga, up dog, downward facing dog and come into the rhythm of the breath, the so and the hum. May that make this a meditative practice for you, inhale left leg, step the left foot forward, sit deeply so the left knee tracks above the ankle, reach the arms up, swivel right ribs, grab right wrist, I like to navigate my arms back a smidge and then over, over to the left yes soften your toes, inhale spring of the spine up to center, right arm forward, left arm back and in this moment feel like there's a laser out your right heel pushing it back, more breath twist, twist, take that right hand to the floor, if you need to rise the floor block is always helpful, left hand to the sky or hand to the hip, relax the shoulders, I just noticed mine were creeping up, it didn't feel great. And then take the left hand down, vinyasa, chaturanga, could be urdvamukha, upward facing could be bhujangasa, bhujangasana and then downward facing, so you always have that choice, do I want a low cobra, do I want an up dog, where do I allow my heart to expand in space and time. Let's walk our hands to the back of our mat, that means our feet do not move, I take two fists in between my big toes and then my index and middle finger slice first and second toe, inhale lift the chest as you lean, exhale fold, padangusthasan, here's what I want to remind you of because I know you know this, you can have a micro bend in the knees, you let the skin on the back of your neck be supple, you hike your shoulders up and your elbows bend wide, now all of those instructions are not too intimidating, they're to help you be skillful, refined and aligned here, so take what you feel allows that brightening and then slowly release, bring the gaze forward, take the dog for a walk, if you want to sneak in a vinyasa go ahead, if you're fine with just hanging out and downward facing dog, boy hanging out in downward facing dog with the so and the hum of the inhale and the exhale and then lift the right leg, nothing fancy just a step of the right foot forward, we go into warrior two here, track that knee above the ankle on the right, like your right thigh is doing its best effort at being a bench, shoulders over pelvis, look over the right shoulder and then there is this moment where the toes ungrip and you sit deeper and then you reverse the warrior, you can look down to the side or up, the drishti is here so that you have that refinement so that you can feel what you feel, pick it up and back, up and back and then inhale, come up friends through warrior two, straighten that front leg if your stance feels too wide, like mine does right now, just shimmy that back foot in a little, slurp the right thigh in and then lengthen that right arm down, spin the left ribs toward the back body, smooth your breath out, take a deep breath in and a deep breath out, so you are the connoisseur of your breath, how does the breath feel? Go ahead and bend the right knee and come into the plank pose, and speaking of plank, let's go into side plank, so you can have your right forearm on the mat, your right knee on the mat or you just roll on over to that right hand, vashisthasan, if the left foot needs to go in front, go ahead if you want to lift it, hips up, breathe, then slowly reach over with the left arm and down, yes you can do down dog, yes child's pose, yes chaturanga to upward facing dog, downward facing dog, how does it feel to breathe right now, right here, inhale lift your left leg, step that left foot forward, come into vira two, heel to heel, heel to arch and in this warrior two, again from the ground, can you feel the lifting and in the lifting can you really just bring your awareness and your attention to alignment, I just checked out my back arm and then sit deeper into the left thigh as you reverse the warrior, in breath, out breath, in breath, out breath, inhale come up, almost straighten your left leg, yeah you slurp that thigh bone in, you can do this and then lengthen triangle, here you are, I am here, that becomes my mantra because my mind can be quite enticing with a story that is other than yoga, so this is where I tap in to recruiting muscular energy in the legs and the arms and then bend that left knee, come into the plank and yes you guessed it, we'll roll on over to the left hand forearm knee, whatever support you need, the yoga practice says, gather that energy, use your support and I reach up as if I'm lending someone a hand and they're supporting me as well and then slowly as the right leg comes down, reach the right arm over again, your moment vinyasa, that wonderful rinse, I love to be in that place, now right here let's pedal our feet again, just tune in and a tune, right now you'll walk your feet halfway up yeah and your hands halfway back, so now I'm in the middle of my mat, two fists distance in between your big toes, slide the palms, the hands underneath the soles of the feet, now if in your mind you think oh no no I am blessed with stiffness, I cannot get my hands there, bend your knees, whatever you're blessed with, just feel that blessing and then breathe, lean a smidge into your toes and squeeze your inner thighs ever so gently and then very slowly bring your hands to your shins, inhale lift your chest, exhale your hands to your hips, inhale come all the way up, so in this moment we root ourselves down maybe you reclaim your intention, your breath in your body, your body in your breath, let's go into tree pose okay so we ground down through the right leg, turn the left foot out heel to ankle, if you want the heel below the knee you put it on the inner calf that midline seam or all the way up, then ever so slowly if it feels right aligned for you the arms come up, now in this moment you gaze forward, you streamline your energy and then very very slowly you'll pull those hands right back to the heart, you'll bring your left knee forward, soften your right knee, hinge at the hips, now this could be airplane or warrior three, remember here that all that you need to do is just show up for you, I like to flex my left leg and turn my left thigh in and then maybe my arms will reach back or forward in this case and then slowly both hands come to the floor, in that moment I exhale and lift my left leg and then gently land the left foot down on the mat, place both hands on your shins, inhale lift your chest, exhale fold, inhale come all the way up, once you get all the way up my friends, ground down, reclaim yes yet again that prayer that intention and as you go into the other side turn the right foot out, take the right heel on the ankle, yes it can be below the knee or all the way up and I remind you if you have a wall close and you want to use it, there you go you can, inhale your arms up steady, we always remember as one of my favorite teacher says tree sway so you let your body remember we're on a moving planet here and then you pull your hands to your heart center in prayer, softness in the left knee as you transition the right thigh forward, hands can stay in prayer as the right leg goes back and then you decide arms forward, back if the hands already need to hit the floor for you that's fine, there I threw myself off and you know what I do I say okay there's a learning moment, there's a learning moment and then both hands come down, lift the right leg a little higher and then land the right foot on the mat, a soft smile really supports you, inhale lift the chest, exhale walk the hands forward the legs back if you want one good rinse of a vinyasa take it, inhale plank, chaturanga, up dog, downward facing dog and then let's come to our seat here, I just jumped halfway and sit, breathing in and breathing out, fold your right knee, bend it the thigh in come into jhanushir sasana and you might in your mind's eye go hey I just did this pose standing you did we'll be here briefly inhale reach the arms up, exhale come forward and across please note that the left hip knee and ankle are aligned and you fold fold and then you lengthen if you want to grab that right wrist go for it if it's a mile away from the head to the knee great there's a journey ahead you can soften that left knee and then slowly inhale come all the way up and we transition immediately into the other side so fold the right thigh and slide the right leg out and then bend that left knee and fold inhale lift your arms up, flex the right foot, swivel left ribs toward the right thigh and come forward and down, I actually really enjoy doing seated jhanushir sasana right after standing tree because they sort of reflect each other in a different way where you activate and feel that great fullness of now the back of the leg on the floor as opposed to just one foot rooting you inhale slowly coming up fold that left thigh up toward the sky let the leg go out in front you can roll back for total restoration in shavasana or you can join me by folding your legs in bringing your hands to your heart and closing this practice with gratefulness thank you so much namaste