Yoga Barre Core

Hello, and welcome. My name is Shantani, and we are here for yoga mix. For today's class, we will be using yoga and bar inspired movements. You don't need much, just me, and your mat, or something that you have at home to lay down on. For today's class, I'm so excited to share this practice with you.

It's an opportunity for us to feel stronger on the mat and to try something new. So let's go ahead and get started in child's post. Gonna bring your knees wide on the map, toes to touch in the back. Arms go long overhead. And we just take this moment to really arrive here.

And to allow whatever wants to come through to come through. Start to deepen your breath. Acknowledging that throughout today's practice, there will be moments of rest and moments of activation, of exploration. And with every inhale, just calling in more receptivity, more curiosity, more playfulness, being open to the opportunity and the gift that is trying new things on the mat. From here, I want you to tend to your fingers on the mat. So imagine like you're holding 2 oranges or lemons in your palms, and bring your hands just a little bit wider.

You can start to like rock, side to side, just do whatever feels intuitively sound just for this moment. Before the activation just to see how open is your chest today? How open is your core? And creating more space for the breath. Take one more deep breath in. And on your next exhale, you can start to walk your hands over to the right, flatten your palms.

Your left hand can go on top of your right if that feels good for you. Just stretching into the sides of the waist, breathing into the left side of the ribs, When you feel complete on this side, you'll switch it out to the other side. So your hands walk to the left side of your mat, your right hand can stack on top really stretching into the right side body. Taking one more deep breath in on this side. And then on your exhale, coming back to center, practicing this breath, to my count. Okay.

So you're gonna inhale for 4 32 exhale for 4 3, 2. Again, inhale for 4, 3, reading into the hips, exhale for 4, 3. 2. Inhale. 1 more for 4. 3. 2. Exhale for 4.

3, 2, and 1. Carefully stream to roll yourself up. We're coming up to all fours. Hands underneath your shoulders, knees underneath your hips, and we'll take cat cow, but this time with 4 count breaths. So inhale for 4 as you arch the back 3, 2, exhale round spine for 4, 3, 2, inhale, open up for 4, 3, 2, exhale for 4, 3, 2. Again, deep breath for 4, 3, 2, exhale, press into the tops of the feet, press into the palms, And one more for 4, 32, exhale for 4, 3, 2, And when coming to neutral spine, extend your right leg out back behind you. You can flex your foot, see if you can keep those hips nice and square.

Keeping the steam of 4 count breaths. You're gonna inhale for 4, 3, 2, exhale. Need a heart for 4. 3. 2. Inhale. Kick it back for 4. Length and lengthen.

Big breath in. Good. Excel pull. 3. 2. Inhale. Last one for 4, 3, 2, exhale. Pull it in. We're gonna move to 2 count breaths.

Here we go. A little quicker. Extend to accel pull. To extend to exhale pull. Keep this going. You might start to feel a little bit of heat build. Getting a little bit more of that bar infusion that bar love.

Let's get 4 more inhale and exhale. Feeling that heat welcoming it 2 Moore. XL. 1 Moore. Exhale pull.

Good job coming back onto your knees. Take a seat. Take a moment. If you need to roll out your wrists or anything, So, that's just a little taste, a little appetizer, okay, for what we're gonna do today. So, when I cue that breath to movement on the beat just a way for us to find a new flow on the mat. So let's try the other side. Hands come underneath your shoulders and knees are still underneath those hips.

Extend your left leg back behind you. 6 straight and flex your foot. Draw the abs up. Take a deep breath in for 4, 3, 2 exhale knee to nose for 4, 3, 2 inhale kick it back. Opening up lengthening through the spine.

Do your best exhale round 3, 2, good job, inhale, expanding and lengthening out through the crown of the head. Exhale for 4, 3 to 1 more this speed inhale lengthen lengthen lengthen lengthen Good. Exhale for 4. Let's try those twos. You've got it. Here we go. Extend for 2. Exhale.

Pump the breath, inhale, exhale. 2 more inhale. Exhale. Plus one inhale, exhale. Release.

Beautiful. Coming off those wrists coming onto your forearms now. You can stay on your knees if you need, or you can tuck the toes and find a full forearm plank. So just imagine like you had a yoga block in between your elbows and you're squeezing everything in. And then from here, you're gonna let your feet roll onto the sides finding a forearm side plank. Right arm can go up towards the sky. Left arm is down.

Just take a moment deep breath in. Exhale. We'll switch it out other side. So you bring the right hand down. Let those feet fall all the way to the side Left arm goes up, big breath in, exhale, switch it out, opening up, Excel switch. Keep this going on your own.

Good. One Moore. Opening and close. And now just hold here. My hands are stacked almost like it's kind of like this, like, I dream of genie kind of position, right? So the forearms are parallel. To the top of the mat.

We'll pedal out the feet. 1 and 2. Inhale. Exhale. 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, and one knees down hips back.

Child's post. Take a moment. The lume at heat and that fire in the belly, deep breath in, and exhale. Beautiful. You're gonna roll yourself up. Head is the last to lift.

It's hug. It your those toes and send your hips up nice and high, finding a downward facing dog. So to tip toe your feet towards the top of your mat, you can grab your elbows, feeling the stretch in the sides of the waist, In the back of the arm, take a deep breath in. Exhale. Release the arms. Roll yourself up. Head is the last to lift.

Okay. So now the core is red hot, ready to go. I want you to step your feet out wide. If you've ever done goddess pose, this is such a great entry way. Into the world of bar in this yoga mix. Right? Goddess pose is very similar to what we call second position in bar.

It's basically the same same, but with a different name. So bring your feet nice and wide, toes are turned out. Take a big star post for me. Inhale. Take up space, exhale hands. I'm gonna prayer right down the middle.

Inhale. Reach up. And now cactus the arms, keep your shoulders over your hip over your heels, cactus and just pull straight down. Good. Inhale reach up. Exhale. Pull center. Inhale reach.

Excel. So it's 2 counts, inhale, up, 2 exhale down, 2 inhale reach, and expand. Excel. Feel the power in the upper back reach and pull. Good. Exhale.

Let's get 2 more of this speed. Good. And now let's play with just a little bit more heat. We'll go just a hair. Just a hair quicker. Here we go. You go reach.

Open. Pull. Go reach. Pull. Inhale, exhale. I know this feels quick. What does it feel like to really activate god's pose?

In this way, let's get 4 Moore. 4. You can. 3. You will. 2. And one hold at the bottom. Just breathe.

If you need those hands to prayer, that's good to take a moment. Good. And now inhale lifting your right heel up, lower it down, left heel up, I know it burns lower it down, and then straighten the legs. Good. Take a deep breath in. Exhale back into this goddess pose. We'll try that again, inhale your right heel up, exhale lower.

Left heel up. Lower straighten the legs. Come back. Here we go. So it's four parts. It goes to the right heel.

Lower down. Left heel. Lower down. Straighten that's part 3, and then you reset that's part 4. So right left. Straighten and Ben.

Good. 2 Moore. Right. Left. Straighten, and then the last one like this, right, left, straighten and bed. And so we just take a moment here for 4, 3, 2, and straighten your legs, turn your toes towards me, take a moment. Just fold. We're gonna come back into this goddess pose, but I just wanted to give you a second to feel into the back of the legs, the back body, to remember why you showed up today, right, to reset your intention of, hey, I showed up to class today, to try something new. And that is something to celebrate.

Take a deep breath in. Softbend of the knees, roll yourself up. Head is the last to lift. Turn your toes out. Heels are in.

Arms are gonna go out to a tee. Okay? From here, flip your palms to face me, and then just make a big o right in front of you, like you're hugging a big oak tree, okay? So when you open and close, good. Open and close. So just take this. Inhale, right? Exhale. We have this metronome. Inhale too.

And exhale. Good. One more like this. Now, when the arms close the next time, find that goddess pose. Good. Inhale. Open. Exo close. Now, keep this going.

Let me give you some tips. A lot of times when people do this, they get so obsessed with making the the o shape that they close it off too much. Okay. So it kinda closes in short. I want you to see the biggest tree on reach all the way around it. Yeah. There you go.

Good. 2 more like this. Here comes my favorite part of class. Here we go. Moore gonna close the arms here. Now, reach your arms up overhead and send your left arm out to the side. From here, I want you to reach all the way in that direction, and then just come back center. Okay. Now reach Come back center.

Good job. So this is part 1. Excel center. Boom. Good. Now, we just switch it out other side. Reach. Come back center.

Now inhale, when you come back center, you go exhale. Inhale, exhale, inhale, reach both arms up, straighten your legs. Take a moment. Good. We'll add on here. So the arms go up.

You open up. You side bend. You come center. Arms come up. Switch sides.

Side bend, recover. Try again. Arms high. To the side, side bend, to the center. Good. Inhale. Exhale. Reach to lengthen inhale. Reset.

One more set. You've got it. I know it burns 1 more inhale. Excel. You're doing great. Reach. And center. Reach your arms up and stretch. How you doing? You're doing a really good job.

That's the answer. Okay. Last part of this This is where we really start to get get the blood moving and coursing through your veins in a way that feels really exciting. So the next part to this is we're gonna just smooth out the edges. Arms are gonna go out to a tee. Okay? Your right arm comes up overhead. You've been here before and you're just gonna come around into, like, this o shape and then come back up. Okay? So arms go out to a tee.

Let's just do the right side. Ride arm reaches up. Make a big circle all the way around and come back up. Same side again. Inhale. Exhale. Big circle.

Inhale lengthen. Exhale to it. T. 1 more. Arms out to a tee, other side. So your left arm goes up, side bend, obliques are working, make the o shape, and reset. Good job. You go. Inhale. Contract.

Exhale. Shantani. Exhale 2 Moore, then we'll come out of this. Lift. And here's the last one.

Big reach. Take it over. Extend and out. Release that. Really, really good job. So I don't know about you, but my shoulders are burning, and you can feel when you go all the way around in that that your obliques are getting some work. Yeah. So that's where we bring that bar element into this goddess squat. Proud of you. Let's keep going.

So from here, we're gonna make a warrior 2. So bring your left toes to face the short side of your mat, spin your right heel back Come back home. Just take a moment. Land into this pose. Feeling the shoulders.

The shoulders feel a little tired right now. You can bring your hands to prayer. You can bring your palms up. Yeah. Palms up is a really great option for you. Good.

Now, just make 2 fist. Okay? This is where it's gonna get a little bit different. So just imagining like you were holding some weights, but we're not doing that today. And as you straighten your legs, you're gonna bend your arms. Look at that. You're gonna bend your arms to a goal post and then extend.

Good. So you curl and extend. So straightening the legs. The legs are finding that warrior 2 pose that we love. Right? But the arms are doing something a little bit more activating, and I feel like I'm kind of like moving through like honey, right? So I'm moving slow, and I'm contracting as much as I can to really get that strength in the arms. What's the breath? We go. Inhale.

Exhale. Good. Inhale. Exhale. Yes. You can. Inhale. Exhale. Good. Inhale and release. Open up your palms.

Straighten your legs. Other side. Right toes are gonna face the short side of your mat. You spin your left heel back, getting that strong stance, and you might need to wiggle and adjust a little bit. We still wanna get that power through the legs. Right?

This foundation, right? It's like a metaphor, right? The yoga is the foundation for the work that's happening up top. Okay? So, your palms are gonna go facing up. You make 2 fist. Okay? Straighten your legs bicep curl just to 90 and squeeze as much as you can, and then release back to palms up warrior 2. Inhale to straighten, exhale to land.

Take a moment. Maybe it's just on your own cadence to start. And so what you'll find is a lot of times I know that when I approach a more strength based practice, Sometimes it can feel like I don't have what I need. Right? Like, do I need more equipment? No. You have everything you need. You just squeeze your bice Here we go. On the beat, we go inhale to exhale.

It's the intention right, of moving through something and really activating those muscles as much as you can. And that's what helps them get stronger. Inhale. Exhale. 3 more inhale.

Exhale. 2 more inhale. Exhale. Last one, inhale, and exhale. Hold.

Flip the palms down. Straighten your legs. Turn your toes to face me and we'll just take another wide legged forward bend. Here now, if you find that your shoulders are needing a little bit more love, You can reach back, lace your fingers behind you. If this feels, like, restorative for you, if it feels really good, you can draw your knuckle tips up.

Opening up the chest. Try to keep your palms together. If they come apart, they it starts to bring some aggravation into your wrist. So even if you need to bend your elbows, but your palms are together, just focus on opening up your chest. It's a lot healthier for your wrists.

Take a deep breath in and exhale. Release the hands down. Softmen in the knees, rolling yourself up, heads the last to lift. Just wanna find one more core activator So with me, it's gonna be so much fun. Trust. Here we go. Your left toes are gonna go back to that warrior 2 position. Okay? So you turn your left toes to the short side of your mat. You spin your right heel back.

Okay? Arms can go out to a tee. We found our side angle. Bring your right form to the thigh, bring your left, excuse me, your left form to your thigh, your right bicep to your ear. Take a moment. From here, you're gonna take this bottom arm, are you with me, we're still friends, right? You're gonna swipe your arm down. You lift it up. Take a moment to hold that.

Woah. Reach out to the fingertips. Take a deep breath in as you exhale, bring that forearm back to your thigh. Now, when you come back, you're gonna be tempted to just kinda like hang out here, press this is the foundation, right? This is the foundation for what we're doing here. So swipe the arm up. Inhale. 2, 3, 4 counts. Bring it back.

For 4 counts. Let's go together. Inhale. 3, 2, 1, bring it back. 3, 2. I know 2 more. Inhale. Exhale. Do your best reach and then release one more big breath. Exale pull it back.

Let's go straight to the other side. So we come passing through the center right toes face the short side, left heel spins back. I'm back in my favorite warrior too. Let's keep you even. Bring that right form to your thigh.

Moore left by 6 to your ear. Just hold it here for a moment. Just take a second. Feel the foundation on this side. Pressing into the ground, drawing the abs up to the best of your ability and pushing your forearm into that leg.

So this this feeling of lift stays. Okay? We're slowly gonna reach the arm down. Reach it up. You feel that? That's the money.

That's what we want. Take a deep breath in and exhale. Pull it on back. Okay. So now you know what that feels like. We'll go 4 count breaths.

We've got this. Feeling that strength, feeling power in the legs. We've got this. Here we go. Inhale 4. 3, 2, 1, bring it back.

Take control. Yes. You can. Use your breath. Inhale. 3, 2, Excel. Let it shake. Let it quiver. You're okay. 2 more.

Let's go. Inhale. Beautiful. Excel. Bring it back. Last one. Inhale. Exhale. Pull it back.

3, 2, and 1 come on up. And our last wide legged forward, Ben, take a deep breath in. Let's go for a star. And full down. Nice job. We made it. So just take a second.

Start to tap into the feeling, the art, It's an art of rest. What does your body need? Do you need to shake out those hips a little? Especially when you're you're coming in for a yoga mix class, like, give yourself permission to just have fun and to do what you need Yeah. Sometimes we take our practice and ourselves so serious that we forget that we should be enjoying it. So just take a second, shake your head. Yes. Take your head. No.

And then finding that stillness now, walk your fingertips forward. Maybe they come off the mat. Shift your weight forward. Opening up the chest. Take a deep breath here. And exhale.

Release. He'll toe your feet in. Carefully do what you need to do. And then draw your seat down all the way to the ground and take a seat. Alright. So we'll finish this practice today with a couple stretches.

The first one, you're gonna extend your right leg out Okay? Arms can go out to a tee, bring your right arm down. Your left arm can go four side bend to start. Then I want you to flip your palm towards the ceiling. So watch it go from here. My palm is facing my toes, and then I flip it open. Now I want you to think about pressing your chest open and then circling that arm back in the direction of your toes. Okay.

So now my palm is down. Let's try it again. Open. Open up through the chest deep breath in. Ex. I'll pull it through. Good. 2 more. How expansive can you be inhale?

Exhale. One more deep breath in. Do your best. Exhale. Beautiful. And then recover, and we'll try it on the other side. So you pull your right foot in, you pull your left leg out impoint those toes or flex your feet, whichever you did on the other side, then arms go out to a tee.

Left arm comes down, so I'm using it as, like, leverage to roll the thigh open and then finding that side bend. And just do your best here because I think a lot of the times we get so focused on the shape that we're just like, I should try to touch my toes, which actually, this isn't more just about expanding through the chest. So press into your thigh. Open up here, lengthen. Now flip your palm to the ceiling. Open up, draw a big circle.

And then draw that circle back palm face down. Good inhale. Open. Good exhale. Just take a few of these on your own breath. Notice if this is an edge for you that is a 100% fair.

If it feels a little sticky, it's right in here for me. It's this part right here. Whoo. That's okay. So it's just like with this practice with yoga bar, there are moments of tension that we hit our edge and then we come back home. Oh, and it's nice.

Good job. Alright. Release this. I'm gonna invite you to bring the soles of your feet together just because it feels good. Hands come to the ankles, sit nice and tall, and then just fold over. I like to bring my elbows to my inner thighs.

So here's an option. If you'd like to stay here, you can. If you'd like to extend your legs out, you can do that. You don't have to go like full split, but you can just explore what it feels like to maybe flex and point the toes. And even if you're up here, like I actually, if I'm being really honest with you. I do feel a little bit of stretch right here, even though I can come down here. Right?

So, practicing really asking what do I need right now, whether it's up or down? Good. And then from here, wherever you're at, you'll roll yourself up. You can find a cross legged seat sitting tall, sitting well, inhale, reach your arms up. We'll take a gentle twist over to your left. So I'm going over to my left.

My right hand comes on the out side, and it is take a little gentle twist. And now notice if there's a part of you, so somebody might be feeling this where you feel like you have to really crank yourself around. We're winding down. Take a deep breath in. Find the softness, right?

For those of you especially who sometimes come to the mat to, like, burn off extra stress or, like, really get activated, can we just settle in here? Trusting that you've done enough. Good. One more deep breath in. Sit taller. Exhale. Breach your arms up towards the sky.

Inhale lengthen, exhale twist. Good. And if you'd like to take your gaze over your shoulder, you can, but you don't have to. Just let it be easy. Right? We don't need to make it harder Right? It's just about giving the body exactly what it needs. Like, how can we make this twist just feel as expansive and delicious as possible.

Maybe we just do a little less and let it be what it is. Good. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. Coming back through center. Bring your hands to prayer. Thumb tips come to your heart bound to your heart space.

I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of us. Thank you so much for showing up today, being open to empowering yourself in new ways of being, new ways of moving, here on the mat. May the light in you, see the light in everyone you meet, and may you treat them as though the light is all you see. The light in you is all I will ever see.

Sending you peace in and peace out. Thank you so much. My name is Shantani. Thanks for coming to Yoga mix. We'll see you back here next time.