Yoga Barre Legs and Seat

Hello, and welcome. My name is Sean Tani, and we are here for yoga mix. For today's class, will be fusing yoga with bar inspired movements. As far as equipment goes, if you have a mat at home or something to lay down on, that would be helpful. And if you have a block. Yeah. We're gonna be using this quite a bit during class.

I'm so excited to share this with you. It really is gonna give us an opportunity to dive in a little deeper, build a little heat, and have some fun. So let's go ahead and get started. Bring your block with you. I bring it to the center of your mat, and we're gonna come on to our backs to start.

Always a good place to start. So as you lay down, hug your knees in towards your heart You can wrap your hands around your shins or your knees, whatever feels good, and just take a moment. Maybe rock side to side. I'm just bringing awareness to where you're at today on the mat. And then we'll find some stillness.

You can shut down your eyes if you haven't already. Just notice. The aesthetic of your breath. And as you start to draw your awareness into this practice, acknowledging the invitation to explore new ways of moving, and a practice that we love so much. Take one more deep breath in.

As we exhale, it sends our legs out to happy baby. So bring your feet flexed. You can hook your forearm behind your knees. If you just need something a little bit more spacious, if you like to grab your ankles or the bottoms of your feet, you're welcome to do that as well. We'll just rock side to side inviting the spirit of play, inviting the spirit of discovery, maybe stretching one leg and then the other. And as we physically prepare for the practice, We also mentally prepare, right, asking the question, what am I open to today?

What am I available for? We'll just take one more deep breath in through the nose, big sigh of the mouth, And then you'll close your thighs like a book. Curling into a ball. You can wrap your forearms around your shins. And then I want you to just create just a little bit of tension here.

We're starting with a little bit of core so we can feel really centered. So I'm gently kicking my shins in towards my arms as I'm drawing my abs down and pulling my knees closer. So this is kind of like a metaphor. This is what's coming through right now. Yoga bar, fusion, yoga mix, kind of feels like this. Right, where we're creating a little bit of tension, but there's also, like, the sense of connection to the body. Right? So there's the fire and then the feeling of being really intimate with ourselves.

So just take a moment to feel that heat because we will be creating some through class. Take a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Holding that here. You'll bring your hands behind your head. Elibles will start wide.

Flex your feet so that they're out to a tabletop to start. Now, when we're doing this work, try your best to let your head be cradled in your hands so that your neck isn't hurting during this work. From here, it'll curl tight into that ball. We were just in top the elbows towards the thighs. If they can't touch today, that's okay. Just come back tomorrow.

You exhale curl, inhale, and we extend the legs as long as they can go. Exhale curl, inhale lengthen. So this is familiar territory. Keep this going. As we work through class today, I may ask you, to breathe and move at a certain pace.

Just to kinda get a little bit more of that fun rhythmic feel. So let's try it here. You exhale 2. 1 inhale lengthen. Good. Exhale 2 counts. Inhale lengthen.

Good. 2 more. Last one like this. Good. And now just hold right here for 4. For 3, for 2, and 1, bend the knees rest your head. So it's just a little taste.

If I ever ask you to breathe with me or breathe on the beat, just a fun way to change things up. Take a deep breath in, Excel, curl yourself to tabletop. Hands come behind the head. Flex your feet. Extend your left leg long.

And then draw the left elbow in the direction of your right fight. It does not need to touch this time. This is gonna pull on the neck. We don't need that. Just keep it nice and wide. Pull it back center, switch it out other side, exhale, inhale center, exhale twist, Let's find a fun beat.

XL twist. In health center. XL twist. One more in health center. Excel twist.

Inhale center. You've been here before. Extend the legs out for 4. For 3, deep breath in. 2. And one, run the knees, rest the head. Nice job.

Alright. So you have that block with you. Your feet are hip width, gonna take that block high between your inner thighs. Hey, your feet are gonna go flat on the floor to start. Walk your feet in, see if you can get your fingertips to dust your heel. Opening up through the chest here, we inhale before you even move, squeeze that block.

It says, I want you to feel that connection of the inner thighs. Take a deep breath in, exhale slowly so to tip the pelvis lifting the hips up and slowly lower down. You may need to adjust the block as needed. Inhale. Exhale.

Tuck. And lift. We'll take one more like that. Just doing your best here. Exhale holding at the top here. So sometimes in bar, we play with the positions of the feet. So we're gonna start to bring that in to our yoga mix. Okay.

So I want you to lift your right heel up, exhale lower. Left heel up. Excel lower. So you're breathing inhale lift, exhale lower. Inhale lift. Excel lower. Go ahead.

One more like this. Lift. And lower hips a little higher if you can lift. Now let's try both feet. So we go tiptoe, flat foot. Your breath goes exhale, inhale. Good. Now do your best.

Once you have this, try to keep your gaze up towards the ceiling. Not much is changing here in the position. Just listen to my voice. Flat feet, heels lift, heels lower, adding on. You're gonna tap your hips down to the mat, exhale, hips back up, then heels lift, heels lower. So it's four parts.

Let's try again in hill hips down. Exale hips up. Inhale. Heels up. Exhale feet down. Good. So just finding this on your own. Tap.

Lift, heels up, heels down, tap, lift, heels up, heels down. Let's go tap, lift, Heels up, heels down, good, inhale, exhale. Hold the heels up. Listen for a little change. Squeeze on to that block. As you squeeze, you're gonna squeeze on your own internal metronome, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, Breathe. This is gonna help you in chair pose.

This is gonna help you feel stronger through the inner thighs. You're getting the glutes working. But you're breathing as well. So we're gonna use what we know about the breath from our yoga practices to support this heat. Exhale. Exhale.

Good. Breathe for 10, 9, 8. You've got this 7, 6, 5, 4 breathe, 3, 2, and 1 carefully lowered down, set the block to the side. Soles of the feet together, knees go out wide. And now we find the softness. Take a deep breath into the hips.

Hand side out. Just keep your breath full. So this is the dance that we're doing on the mat. We're playing with the fire, with the heat, and then landing back into the body, finding that release, practicing the art of rest to take to one more deep breath in. And exhale.

Release. Alright. Close the thighs like a book. Have some fun. We'll rock and roll. We're rock and roll and crisscross your ankles. We'll come on back.

Let's take a plank pose. So step your feet out back behind you. You're in a plank and then find your downward facing dog. Just pedal out your feet. If your hamstrings got a little, heated on that last one. Good.

So, again, with this mix, with this remix, We're gonna start to play with the positions of these traditional poses. Right? So inhale your right leg up towards the sky. And then I want you to turn the leg out. Point your toes and just see what that feels like, right, with the hip is open. Now see if you can still square off your shoulder, your shoulders, and chest towards the mat. Now it doesn't have to be all the way up, but I do want you to feel that outer hip working.

Now inhale lower, you're gonna keep it turned out. I'm tapping the my right ankle to the back of my left heel. At least in that direction. And then we inhale it. XL lower. One more in Hill.

Exhale. Let's find it'll be you lift up or 2. Lower down for 2. Lift and lower. Now, this is actually your last one. You're gonna hold at the top. Let's have some fun.

Let's draw some circles circle. Now a lot of times when you keep going, a lot of times when people do this, they start to do this big circle and they get all thrown off and discouraged. Okay. So I just want you to make a tiny circle with the breath. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Good. Now reverse it for 4. For 3.

For 2 and one coming down onto all fours. Let's take some cat cow inhale, open up the heart. Exhale round spine. Inhale. Opening up the heart. Exhale round spine.

Cut it. Just taking your own cadence first. And then we'll go together. Let's try for 2 counts of each. So exhale round for 2, open up for 2 exhale release. Inhale open.

Keep this going. And as you find this breath to movement pattern with a little subtle, like, intrinsic beat. This is where we can kinda get lost in it. How does it feel? So the body knows now.

And then this is where the mind starts to wander. So we come back. Inhale. Open. Exhale. Close. One more inhale. Open.

Excel close. Back to neutral. Tuck your toes. Send your legs back to plank. So find your the center of your mat, and then hips can go high downward facing dog.

So we'll go for the second side. You lift your left leg up. Okay. So point the toes When you do three limb dog, usually it's in parallel, but I want you to go turned out, point the toes, opening up the chest, squaring it off the best you can. Then from here, you're gonna top your left ankle towards your right heel and then opening it up. Find this on your own breath.

I actually like to go inhale as I lower and exhale as I lift. That feels like a little bit more supportive for me, but you, you choose. So just find your own, and then we'll start to find a little beat. So we go inhale for 2, exhale lift for 2. Good. And if your toes start to cramp, you can flex your foot.

Okay. So you choose. Sometimes that happens when we do this. Exale. Exale. Good. Feeling out her hip.

Here's your last one. You hold at the top little circles here. You go circle. Circle. You'll notice that I'm grabbing the sides of your mat.

This work gets me a little sweaty or sometimes when my hands get a little sweaty. Sometimes I like to hold the sides of the mat, and you can do that too. How those circles going reverse other way? Go circle. Circle. Notice how your breath is getting tight. So don't lose that connection to your breath. Exhale.

Exhale 4 more for 4. For 3. For 2. And 1. Good job coming back to all fours, and then we'll take it back to the child's post for a moment. And then we begin again. Right? So every time we come back to a moment of settling, we cherish the wisdom of this pose. Yeah. Child's pose.

A place to reset to be born again. To allow the breath to be as sweet as it was when we took our very first breath. Starting to watch all of that heat buzzing through the body will take 1 more and exhale. Slowly sit to roll yourself up. Head is the last to lift.

Nice job. Okay. So we have a block. We're gonna bring it to the top of the mat. Okay. So You can set it out over there, tuck your toes, walk your hands back towards your feet. Oh, that feels nice. Pause.

This feels really good. Bend your right knee Bend your left. Good. And then we'll really start to get into this flow. Just walk it out. Shake your head. Yes.

And no. And then finding some stillness. Let's find a little ragdoll pose. Grab the elbows. Shake your head. Yes.

Shake your head. No. And then slowly set to roll yourself up. Head is the last to lift. Okay. So now as you walk towards the top of your map, if you have a block at home, you're gonna go ahead and grab it and we're gonna play a little bit. Okay? So you're gonna take that block.

Place it high up between your inner thighs just like you did before, okay? In bridge. Now, we're still feeling that connection towards the center. So I really want you to feel like everything's pulling towards the midline. Okay? Now, We'll start to find a chair pose, inhale, reach your arms up. Keep squeezing onto that block. Exhale.

Come on up to stand. Inhale, sit low, exhale. Just feeling that intention pulling towards the center. And so first, just do me a favor. Tune in, let the block be the focal point, right? The center through which all of this heat, all of this movement is moving and passing through.

So now that you've synced your breath to your movement, remember it's inhale sit, exhale stand. We'll put a little jiggy in it. Here we go. 2 counts. Here we go. You take it down to exhale stand. To take it down to exhale.

Find that breath. Good. Inhale, feel the fire, release it, right? So we're having a little push and pull. Good. 4 more. 3 more. Listen up. On your next one, you're gonna hold at the bottom.

Lift your right heel. Lift your left heel. And put my right foot in. No, I won't do that to you. A few more. Here we go. Right heel up.

Then left. So now we're gonna start to feel all of that transformative heat that this yoga mix is here to bring you. You can bring your hands to prayer. 4 more. Are you breathing? 2 more? Here we go. And then both heal slow. 2 counts to lift.

Lift the heels up. Lower them down. Good. Lift the heels up. If you want more, You find that breath first, right? Inhale, exhale.

Inhale. Exhale option at the arms we reach as the heels lift. So it's like the hands are connected to your heels, right? It's almost like little puppet strings. You pull the heels up and then you pull them down. Inhale. Exhale.

Last part, I promise. Hold the heels up. Hold the arms up. You've got this. Best part, little pulses.

Only ten times a promise. 10. 9, breed, exhale. XL. That's your anchor that brings you home for 5. For 4. For 3. For 2, had one full set that beautiful block to the side.

Oh, take a deep breath in. And a deep breath out. Okay. So you can set that block to the side for a good soft bend in the knees, rolling yourself up, head is the last to lift. So now we're gonna just start to play.

We're gonna go into a small, like, vinyasa kind of series. But we're gonna play in the postures with bar elements. So just go with me. Here we go. Without the block, your feet can go hip width, or if you like your chair pose big toes to touch, you can take that there.

We inhale sit low to you counts. Exhale to stand. Inhale to sit. Exhale to stand. You've done this before.

Even though you don't have the block, you're imagining like everything's pulling center. One more inhale sit. Exhale stand. Now inhale sit, hold it there, lift the heels up for 2. Exhale down for 2. 3 more. Inhale. Excel. Hands come down.

Just like you did before. Inhale. Exhale. Listen up. Inhale. Exhale fold. Nice job. Inhale halfway lift.

Exhale plant your pump. Step your left leg back only. Nope. I like to use. Step your right foot back. Let's take a little flow to down dog.

You inhale shift forward. Option to come down to the knees, lower halfway or all the way. Untuck your toes. Arms can go straight. The eyes will lift off the ground.

Exhale downward facing dog. Good. So that's familiar. Right? Now, speaking of mixing things up, we're gonna go left side first. So inhale, I want you to lift your left leg up through limb dog, but turn it out. Like you did earlier in class.

So you inhale lift, exhale tap, inhale lift, exhale tap inhale lift. I'm tapping the back of my right heel. One more inhale. Excel tap, inhale lift, turn it back parallel, pull it all the way through, land your foot in between your hips. You've been here before. I'm sure of it.

Spend your back heel down. Find your version of warrior 2. So good. Just take a moment to land into this pose. Soften your shoulders. Feel the heat buzzing in the body.

Just dance with it. Okay. So from here, we're gonna play with this standing heel. So you've got that front heel. It's gonna go lift for two then lower for 2.

We'll just start there. Lift, then lower. Good. 2 more. Lift. Then lower, you lift, hold it here, now start to pulse it right here, go pulse. Pulse takes it to another level. You've got it. Where's your breath?

Right? You breathe, you exhale Excel, let's get 3, 2, 1, flat foot, straighten the legs, arms left. Good. Take a moment. Excel back to warrior 2. One more deep breath in. Excel back to warrior 2.

Let's try it again. Inhale lift the heel. I know. Exhale lower. We gotta do it though. Inhale lift.

Excel lower, adding the arms just like in chair pose. Arms go up when the heel lifts. Exhale as it comes down. We'll go slow first. Inhale. Lift the arms with the heel up. Exhale.

Lower it down. Then once you have it, you find your little metronome and your breath. Inhale too. XL lower. Inhale lift. XL lower. 2 more inhale lift.

Excelower, last one inhale lift, exhale lower. And now, lift the heel. Arms can go up. We pulse. And pulse. 10 times.

There's 8. Breathe. Use your breath. You know, that's your anchor. Last five, four, three. To straighten your legs. Whoo.

Less the yoga bar gods. Take a moment. All ten toes face me. Arms go up. Deep breathe in. Hand flow down to the ground, excuse me, rather into a wide legged forward bend, shake your head. Yes. Shake your head. No.

Good. And then soft, bending the knees. Slowly start to roll yourself up. Open up those arms. Find yourself back in that warrior too.

We won't do it again though. Not on this side. Inhail Rivers, your warrior. You've been here before. Excel, windmill your arms down, spin your back heel up.

Step it back to plank pose. You can take a flow with me or skip it. We inhale shift forward, exhale lower halfway or all the way. Untuck the toes. Arms go straight.

Guys lift. Exhale downward facing done. Good. So just take a moment here. Notice what might be coming up for you. Just notice.

The objective of this practice today is not to perfect it, right? It's just to try something new. And if that feels like an edge, acknowledge, like, how much tolerance you have for that that opportunity. Right? And maybe just ask, can I just can I just hold a little bit longer in the challenge? Don't make a story about it. Or if you do, just just read it and then put that book down because we gotta go to the second side.

Alright. Here we go. So you're gonna inhale your right leg up. Turn it out. Point the toes. Square off the shoulders if you can. From here, you tap the angle down to lift it up. Find that breath.

Good. Bree. So the body is going through that deep transformative heat and the breath is just carrying that heat out of the body. Inhale too. Ex02one more. Here we go. Inhale.

Exhale. Now turn it back to parallel. Draw that knee in. Step it through, spin your back heel down, find your version of warrior 2. You got it? Okay. Is our last part. I want you to stay right where you are. I want you to open up your collar bones. Okay?

Really feel that stretch Now from here, here we go. You go heal lift and lower. We go lift and lower. Good. So we're still on that side. Our final side.

Right foot is forward in that warrior too. Good. Inhale. And exhale. You lift and lower. 2 more, up And down. Last one.

Good. Now hold the heel up. We post for 10. 9. Breathe. It's just like breath work, just like anything else. 6 more.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, add one flat in your feet, straighten your legs. Just take a moment. You're okay. Exale back to warrior 2. Let's just take 1 more. Reset.

Arms straight. Thies go straight. Okay. Last big challenge. You with me? Here we go. You lift the heel too.

Exale lower flat too. Inhale. Exhale. We add the arms we lift up for 2. Lower it down for 2.

Left it up. XL. So you know what this is. You keep going. Excel, acknowledge that sometimes on the mat and off the mat, there are things that we don't want to do. We got 4 more, right?

But this is practice for life, And when it gets hard, 2 more, we always have the breath. One more. Hold the arms up. Side out the mouth and pulse ten times. That's it.

9, breathe, 8. You can do this. You do hard things all the time. You can do this. You got 5, breathe, 4, 3, 2, and one straight in your legs. Oh, turn all ten toes towards long side of your mat. Generous fold.

Oh, we've earned it. You can just shake your head. Yes and no. Really good job. Alright. Let's heel toe your feet all the way in.

We're gonna take a seat. And then from here, stretch things out. So scoot yourself forward. Your feet can go flat on the floor. Take a light grip on the back of your thighs.

Carefully roll all the way down. And let's just take our feet flat. Right leg goes up. Let's take a figure 4, opening up those legs. So you can stay here and just press the hips down and away.

Or if you're looking for a little bit more stretch to the outer hip, you can lace your finger behind your thigh. Your fingers behind your thigh. I like to place my right elbow to the inner thigh. You can shut down the eyes and just notice, what does your body feel like when it's this activated? Inhale. Exhale.

When you feel complete on this side, you release carefully and you switch. So I place the right foot down. Left leg goes up. The foot's flexed figure 4, opening up through the hips, and we down for a moment and then pull the bottom thigh. Good.

Deepening the breath before we finish one more deep breath in. Exale releasing the attachment to this pose, you can bring your feet flat. You can either just go knock kneed as we take a moment, a mindful moment for meditation, or final Shavasana. So as you rest here, let all of that energy, all of that glitter, like a snow globe in your body just settle to the bottom and enjoy. Now you're welcome to stay here if you just need a little more time for all that glitter, all that activation to settle.

And if you're ready to press on, you can start to bring some intuitive movement back into your body, maybe walking those feet flat, and rolling over to one side. From there, you come up to a comfortable seat sitting tall, sitting well. Just taking a moment here. I invite you to bring your hands to prayer. Thumbs, come to your heart bowing to your heart space.

May you always know that you have everything you need right underneath your hands? In the good parts, in the hard parts, in the messy parts of life on and off the mat may meet yourself with compassion, knowing that you can do. Hard things, and thrive because of it, setting you peace in, and peace out. My name is Shantanu. Thank you so much for joining us for Yoga mix.

We'll see you back here next time.