Slow and Slinky Flow

Welcome. In this practice we are going to stay low and go a little slower as we find some soft undulation in the spine and really feel into that earth energy as we find some fluidity and open up the entire body. So we'll start here sitting back on the heels. If you'd like to take a block between your ankles you're welcome to do that. If this just does not feel good in the knees any seat is great.

And then we'll let our hands rest gently palms face up on top of the thighs. Let your shoulders soften and then just take a moment here to start by stopping to arrive. If it feels safe for you to close your eyes just take a moment to let your eyes soften and close. Let your gaze shift to the internal space. Just taking a moment to recognize what it is that you're showing up to your practice with today physically, emotionally, energetically and just meeting yourself exactly where you are in this moment starting from that place.

Start to notice the natural rhythm of your breath, the rise of your inhale and that letting go quality of your exhale. We'll start to breathe together as we link our movement with the breath. So on an inhale start to sweep your arms all the way up over your ears and then as you exhale draw a prayer to your third eye gently pressing your thumbs into your third eye that seat of our intuition and then continue to exhale to bring hands to heart center. So we'll put some mantra to that movement. So as you inhale maybe call in the word allow and then as you exhale maybe calling in the word surrender, thumbs to third eye to heart space.

Let's do that a couple more times as we move with the breath, inhale, allow, exhale, surrender. Beautiful one more inhale, arms sweep up, allow, exhale, surrender, hands to heart. Exhale and then let's begin to move together as we inhale start to stand up onto your knees, sweep your arms all the way up maybe gaze up towards your fingertips and then as you exhale sweep the arms back behind you and then in front of you as you come into child's pose let your hips sink back to the heels and reach your arms forward. Good and then on your next breath in start to lift the hips up and gaze forward. Stay low to the ground, hug the elbows in and then kind of slither forward into a low cobra pose so feel the length in the back of the neck as you lift up.

Good and then your exhale will bring you back through all fours and right back into child's pose. Good and then roll up to sit back onto your knees so we're right where we started and we'll start to pick up the pace with that a bit as we move with the breath. So inhale stand up tall on the knees, arms sweep up, lift the gaze. As you exhale sweep the arms behind you and then forward into child's pose. Good inhale gaze forward stay low to the ground, hug the elbows in coming into cobra, bhujandasana.

Exhale press it all the way back to child's pose hips to heels and then roll up around your spine and land back on your heels. Some more like that inhale stand up tall on the knees, arms sweep up, gaze lifts. Exhale circle the arms behind you and forward child's pose. Inhale stay low to the ground coming into cobra, hug the elbows in, lift the heart and then exhale press back child's pose hips to heels, gently roll up take a moment to pause. Every pause to just notice, notice how you feel in this moment the energy that's circulating.

Good and then meet me in all fours we'll come to tabletop as we come to our tabletop let your shoulders land over the wrists, hips over knees and then we'll start to create some circles here barrel roll. So letting the hip come over towards your right foot and the left foot and then circle your weight forward weight comes over the shoulders so you can take this in either direction clockwise counterclockwise let's find that intuitive movement what do you need here to start to wake up the body to feel into the wrists the hips and it might feel good to linger somewhere pause wherever it feels good to linger to get into that space a little bit more otherwise just starting to move the energy to warm the joints to open the body you might stay with that mantra as you breathe in allow as you exhale surrender good meet me back in tabletop we'll tuck our toes and lift the hips up and back into our first downward facing dog good as you come into your down dog start to pedal it out through your feet a little bit move around however it feels good to move around so just the invitation here in this practice today to move like you to move in a way that it feels good to move checking in with your body the sensations good and then start to find stillness in your downward facing dog on an inhale lift high up onto your toes round through the spine as you come toward plank pose top of a push-up and then as you get to your plank bend your knees deeply and as you exhale bring it back into down dog so we're undulating through the spine on an inhale come high up onto the toes round forward into plank and then exhale reach the heart forward bend your knees lift your hips up and back down dog one more like that inhale rise high up onto the toes almost like cat pose as you come forward into plank and then bend the knees almost like cow pose as you move back into your down dog lift the hips all the way up and back beautiful and then take your time and just start to slowly walk your feet to the front of the mat come into a forward fold but take your feet about hips distance or maybe even a little wider and then just let everything melt down maybe bring the back of your hands to the earth stretch the wrists a little feel free to put a soft bend in your knees maybe sway a little side to side what might you release just a little bit more here as you surrender and let go of anything that's not serving you and then keeping that soft bend in your knees will slowly roll up one vertebra at a time good as you get to the top take a moment maybe roll out your shoulders in one direction and then you could take them in the other direction beautiful and then just take a moment to arrive to find stillness finding tadasana soften your knees a little bit let your tailbone melt down really feel that grounded connection beneath the soles of your feet as the heart lifts beautiful and then from here draw your hands to your heart center turn your toes out slightly in your heels in feet are about hips distance or a little bit wider on an inhale sweep your arms all the way up as you exhale draw prayer to third eye and then to heart space as you bend your knees coming into yogi squat malasana and then as you inhale sweep the arms all the way up lengthen straighten the legs stand up tall and then exhale hands to third eye to heart bend your knees come back down into yogi squat go one more inhale straighten the legs arms sweep up gaze up lengthen through the spine as you exhale bend the knees deeply hands to third eye to heart space malasana beautiful from here let your hands find the earth parallel your feet let everything just melt down over your legs good come halfway up on your inhale lengthen through your spine and then big step with the left foot all the way to the back of the mat bring your hands on the inside of your right foot so you're in this wider lunge lizard lunge and then let your left knee come down toward the earth come on to your fingertips lengthen through your spine as you exhale start to shift your weight back so we're in this wider hanumanasana good and start to breathe into the back of your right leg as you lift the toes up off the earth notice where you feel this good and then let's move in and out of those two shapes a couple times as you inhale rebend through your right knee lift the heart and the gaze as you exhale shift back wide arda hanumanasana good one more inhale rebend through your right knee lift the heart lift the gaze and then as you exhale shift it back hamstring stretch beautiful and then rebend through your right knee tuck your back toes lift the back knee up plant your left hand down so it's right under your left shoulder sweep the right arm up and just take a nice easy twist a little wider stance to the right side of your mat good big full breath in here as you exhale lower your right hand down and then step back downward facing dog right foot steps back to meet the left beautiful on an inhale come forward into plank pose top of a push up we'll hug the elbows in lower all the way down to the belly good as you get down untuck your toes take your hands on either side of your yoga mat and then tent your fingertips and let the elbows point up toward the ceiling and as you press into the tops of the feet just start to peel your chest up so you're in this wider arm cobra good and then as you exhale slowly release and lower back down to the earth then we'll do that two more times inhale peel the chest up exhale release and lower go one more inhale peel the chest up and exhale to release good place your hands next to the side ribs we'll press back to downward facing dog lift your hips up and back beautiful from here let's sweep the left leg up and back take a moment to bend your left knee and open up through that left hip then you might roll out your ankle a few times maybe take some circles with that left knee feeling into the left side beautiful and then start to straighten your left leg square off your hips and then draw your left knee towards your left elbow or tricep and hover top of a push up then we'll take a big step to the outside of the left wrist so the hands are on the inside of the front foot and then step your right foot to the outside of your right wrist and come back into melasana yogi squat bend your knees deeply maybe draw your hands to your heart good so letting the tailbone melt down let your spine be nice and long big full breath in here good as you exhale hands to the earth parallel your feet tuck your chin roll up slow one vertebrae at a time good and then just take a moment to find stand at the front of the mat breathing in breathing out we'll just take that to the other side so as you're ready sweep the arms up turn the toes out heels turn in slightly and draw hands through center as you come into melasana good bring your hands to the earth parallel your feet letting everything melt down over your legs forward fold on an inhale arda come halfway up lengthen through your spine good this time we'll step the right foot all the way to the back of the mat letting your hands come to the inside of that left foot so lizard lunge good let your right knee come down to the earth come up onto your fingertips as you inhale lift the heart lift the gaze so we're feeling into that left hip crease that right so as good and then as you exhale shift back half split wide arda hana manasana fold over that front leg good and then just stay low as you inhale rebend through that left knee and as you exhale shift back half split letting the breath guide us with your entire length of the inhale rebend stay low heart lifts exhale entire length of the exhale shift back so nice and then rebend through your left knee we'll plant the palms tuck the back toes step back downward facing dog left foot meets the right good inhale glide forward to plank pose lower all the way to the belly hug your elbows in welcome to lower your knees as you lower down and then taking hands on either side of the mat tent your fingertips start to peel your chest up through the center of your mat big breath in this time start to draw your right shoulder toward the center of the mat and gaze over your left shoulder little shoulder stretch good as you inhale come back through center and then as you exhale left shoulder toward the center of your mat gaze to the right good let it feel good inhale center move like you exhale lower down good press back to downward facing dog we'll meet there good as you arrive this time float your right leg up to the sky bend your knee open up through that right side and then maybe matching any movement you did on that first side as we feel into the right hip the right side body noticing how this side feels good and then straightening out through the right leg start to draw your right knee to the right tricep big step to the outside of your right hand good and then step your left foot to the outside of your left hand melasana bend your knees let your hips sink down maybe draw your hands to your heart and hang out here for a few breaths really good posture for low back tension or you might bring your hands down to the earth fingertips on the earth and you might just start to move a little bit from side to side just kind of feeling into your hips just notice what would feel good for you in this moment is it stillness is it movement and as we know there's so much movement in stillness take a moment to go inward notice how you feel inhaling allow exhale surrender beautiful hands to the earth just step back to downward facing dog we'll meet there taking a moment maybe gliding forward plank pose feel that rounding in the spine bend your knees undulate through the spine lift up and back down dog two more like that inhale round forward cat in the spine as you exhale moving toward cow as you come into down down one more inhale brings us forward the exhale brings us back beautiful from here float your right leg up and back put a bend in that right knee open the hip now you could stay right here or maybe flip your dog start to shift your shoulders over the wrists we'll step the right toes behind us bring the weight into your left hand sweeping the right arm up and over your ear feel the lift through the heart space through the back body good and then as you unravel bring your right hand down float your right leg back up to the sky and then cross your right knee to your left tricep and hover for a moment you can stay here or start to thread your right leg all the way through good bringing the weight into your right hand reaching the left arm up for fallen triangle beautiful and then again just feel that lift in the heart space maybe gaze up nice and as you come out of here left hand comes to the earth we're going to slide the right knee across the mat coming toward single pigeon so if there's any props that you may want under that right hip feel free if there's another hip opener that you prefer you might be taking that here if you're in single pigeon let's just take a moment up at the top so setting up bringing hands a little wider on either side of the hips slightly in front of you as you inhale find some length in the spine lift up through the heart as you exhale bend the elbows and just start to bow forward good and then inhale roll up coming back all the way up lift the heart and then as you exhale soften and fold good we'll do that one more time just again feeling that movement in our spine like a wave as you exhale maybe walk your hands in front of you and we'll come into whatever variation of single pigeon feels good in your body today just checking in with what you need here and just noticing what happens when we go for movement towards stillness not only in the body and the sensations what happens with your breath where do the thoughts take you of course it's the nature of our mind to think can we allow ourselves to become the observer of the thoughts to anchor back to the breath and if that mantra is something that resonated with you maybe it's breathing in I allow breathing out I surrender allowing just a couple more breaths here on this side beautiful and then take your time start to walk your hands back in towards you we'll meet in down dog so tucking the back toes step your right foot back to meet the left and then whatever you need to let go of that first side maybe pedal it out sway your hips if you want to move through a vinyasa roll forward to plank pose hug your elbows in lower to the belly maybe take the hands wide as you come up into cobra wide arm cobra big breath in good and then exhale let's meet back in downward facing dog pressing it up and back and we'll move into the second side so floating your left leg up we'll start by bending through the left knee open up through that left hip welcome to stay here if you're flipping your dog start to shift your shoulders over the wrist step your left toes behind you bring the weight into your right hand and then reach that left arm up good feel the lift in the heart space maybe lift up a little higher beautiful and then unravel as you come back through center left hand down left leg lifts and I think I'm confusing left and rights today draw your left knee across the body to the right tricep and then maybe thread that left leg through for fallen triangle will spin on to the right heel bring the weight into your left hand reach your right arm up again feel that lift in the heart space beautiful and then as you unravel bring the right hand down and just start to slide that left shin across the front of the mat for single pigeon if you took a different hip opener feel free to transition to that on this side and again if you're in single pigeon you might take something under that left hip for support let's take a moment up at the top bring hands on either side of the hip and forward a little bit tent your fingertips as you inhale lengthen through the spine lift your heart as you exhale soften the elbows bow forward good two more like that inhale peel the chest up exhale soften and fold go one more inhale like a wave in the spine a wave in the breath and then slowly surrender into your single pigeon walking hands in front of you and maybe just waiting for that invitation to go a little deeper and then anchor back to the present moment by tapping into your breath just this inhale just this exhale observe your thoughts as they enter come back to the breath relaxing back into presence and then taking your time no rush slowly start to walk your hands back in let's come back to down dog know whatever you need to let go of that second side maybe pedal it out you can shake that left leg into the air maybe moving through one last vinyasa as you round forward into plank lowering down to the belly inhale maybe take your hands wide peel the chest up for a wide cobra beautiful as you exhale bring hands next to side ribs come to child's pose let your hips sink back to your heels maybe wrap your hands back behind you let the third eye seat of your intuition rest on the earth beautiful and then slowly roll up as we come back to Vajrasana sit back on your heels rest your hands on top of your thighs for a moment just observe notice beautiful and then bringing your weight off to one side meet me seated so we'll find a comfortable cross leg seated position finding your seat resting your hands on your knees palms facing down and then just start to take some circles with your spine so as you inhale reaching forward as you exhale unable to spine and round so Sufi rolls so we get into the low back a little bit for me this is just such a nice way to open up the spine the hips the lower back I also notice right away we're holding tension notice if that's true for you taking it in one direction and then maybe taking it to the other direction letting these circles be as big or as small as it feels good in your body lingering anywhere it feels good to linger good start to let your circles become a little bit smaller as you come back through center take a moment to pause here tracking your breath beautiful and then finally we'll reach the arms all the way up lengthen through your spine just take a nice easy twist to the right let your right fingertips fall behind let your left hand fall to the outside of your right knee root down through your sitting bones to lengthen as you exhale gently twist to the right maybe gazing over that right shoulder and then gently take your gaze back through center release that twist as you come through center inhale sweep your arms up lengthen through the spine and we'll take an easy twist to the other side right hand to the outside of the left knee left fingertips fall behind root down through your sitting bones to lengthen through the spine so feel those sitting bones rooting into the support of the earth breathing in good as you exhale gazing forward take a moment to release stretch both legs out in front of you gently crawl your hands forward just a nice easy forward fold you can relax your feet maybe even soften your knees feel free to round through the spine good and then slowly come all the way up and roll onto your back you might take a moment to hug your knees in rock it out massage the back and then just that nice easy transition into shavasana legs long palms face up spine supported letting go of effort in your body your mind coming back to the natural rhythm of your breath allow and surrender feel free to stay here as long as you like otherwise start to deepen your breath invite any movement back in and just taking your time as you make your way back to seated gather our hands together in front of our heart bowing in toward the internal space thanking yourself for showing up for you for this practice thank you so much for sharing this practice with me namaste