Yoga Barre Balance

Hello, and welcome. This is Yoga Mix. My name is Chantani, and I'm so excited to have you here today. For today's class, we'll be fusing yoga with bar inspired movements. All you'll need is a mat and some company clothes and me. So let's get into our practice today. You're gonna start in mountain pose.

Just bring your feet right underneath your hips. Arms can go long. And we just arrive here. Arms can go along by your sides facing forward, or you can place your hands on your person and just start to deepen your breath. As we open our practice today, we just invite the spirit of adventure and exploration and curiosity as we meet ourselves again on the mat.

If you have any specific intentions, I invite you to bring your hands to prayer and set them now. Throughout our journey may everything that you intend both known and unknown unfold here. You can flutter your eyes open, we'll begin our practice. So I want you to reach your arms up overhead, and we're just gonna play a little bit with balance today. And spread your toes nice and wide stretch and shift your weight forward. Keep shifting it forward forward forward forward and you're gonna find yourself lifting your heels off of the ground, and then carefully lowering them back down. Good. So you inhale lift off, pressing into those feet. There we go and lower down.

The hands overhead are too much. Some people like to bring them back to prayer, are bringing them down to the hips, and we'll just take a moment to explore the feet. As we fuse yoga and bar, I wanna invite you to let your yoga practice, even if you're just getting started, be the anchor. Let it be the foundation. We've got 5 more like this. So that means the breath, the softness, the intentionality, all meeting right here as we build the heat.

You're probably feeling that now. So this is your last one. Let's find a little balance. I like to bring my hands to my hips here, and you wanna feel yourself pulling your quads up. You might get a little wiggle, a little wobble.

That's okay. Doesn't have to be perfect. Use your arms up overhead. Good. Maybe make a little o at the top. Good. Give it that bar finish for 4.

For 3, for 2, and flatten your feet. 1, find yourself in chair pose. Arms can reach back behind you, really ground into your legs, opening up your chest. Now inhale, you'll come up Exhale. You'll take a seat into that chair pose. Good. Inhale. Reach up. Exhale, taking a moment to really land into your legs.

So just start to find this breath pattern here. I actually want you to exhale when you sit and inhale when you stand for this. Just mixing it up a little bit in the spirit of yoga mix. Yeah. Now from here, you're gonna hold down at the bottom throughout class. I might ask you to to breathe with me, to move with me in, like, this internal metronome.

And I'll be counting, and we're gonna try it now. So you inhale. Stand up for 4 3, 2, exhale, sit for 3, 2, inhale, reach tall, 3, 2 exhale, sit low, 3, 2, inhale for 4, 3, to exhale. So low. Let's get one more like this. Inhale. Lift up. 3. To exhale.

Stay low. From here, there's one. Inhale. Lift your right heel off of the ground. Exhale. Lower it down. Other side, inhale the left heel off the ground, exhale lower down.

Let's find a little rhythm, inhale lift, exhale lower, inhale. Exhale. Good. Stanglow filling that burn, that fire, and the legs working through the feet. Now both heels lift off. Lower it down. Good.

You can bring your hands to prayer if you need. Got 2 more. Inhale. Exhale. Exhale. Last part, you hold your heels up.

I promise we'll take a little break after this. Deep breathe in. Start to find some pulses down and down. Meet me here for 8. You can do this. 7. Don't give up. We just started.

Last 6, you've got this 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Okay. Shake that out, shake it, don't break it, and then just shut down your eyes. Start to feel the pitter patter of your heart, start to feel the heat in the body. So this is the invitation today. Can we explore what it feels like to activate in a new way? Take a deep breath in?

And release it. Go to the eyes open. Beautiful job. Alright. So let's turn to the top of our mat. Just come back home here just for a moment.

A few little flows. You're gonna inhale. Reach your arms up. Exhale, bend the knees just melt over the thighs off. It feels so good. Inhale, think halfway lift, long spine, Exhale, release, bend the knees, roll yourself up.

Head is the last to lift. Inhale, arms rise. Exhale fold all the way over. You can bend those knees straighten the legs, inhale halfway lift. Exhale, fold and bend, slowly rolling yourself up. Heads the last lift.

Now on my count, we inhale for 3, 2, exhale, melt 4, 3. To stretch, tall, 4 halfway lift to exhale release, bend the knees, roll it up try again, inhale reach. 3, to exhale, fold. 3, 2. Inhale. Half lift.

3, 2, exhale. Fold roll it up. One more. Here we go. Big breath. 3, 2, exhale. Melt down.

3, to halfway lift for 4, 3, to listen for the change, 4, 3, 2, one more. We're gonna move getting ourselves into plank now. Exhill for 4, 3, 2 inhale half lift 3, 2, release the count. Plant your hands down. Find your plank. And pause.

Now if this is too much without the knees on the ground, you can drop the knees down. Just keep the core tight. Do what's best for you. So when we find that pulsing, when we find that rhythm, it's an opportunity for us to create more structure right, a little more structure, even more structure around our practice, and to start to find this moving meditation where the breath and the body and the beat that we create all come together. If those knees are off the ground, I know you're probably shaking right here for 4 for 3 for 2.

Take your hips high downward facing dog. Just pedal it out. Shake your head. Yes. Take your head no. You can figure 8 the hips.

So if you missed that, because you were focused on your plank, Anytime that we start to do those count, those counting breaths, it's an opportunity for you to really drop in, right, to trust the rhythm of the breath and the beat. Okay. So finding ourselves, now in downward facing dog, let's establish the strong base spread your fingers wide, If you're needing a little more room today, you can bring your feet a little bit wider for just a moment. Finding your breath. Now from here, You're gonna bring your feet together. Inhale. Lift your right leg up.

Open it up. Bring your heel towards your seat. Okay? So for the rest of class, we'll be calling this Attitude, okay, for all my bar lovers or people who are just trying it, that's what we'll call it today because it's turned out in this called attitude position. Now from here, you're gonna turn in, bending your standing leg. Over cross squeezing the inner thighs together, draw your toes towards your seat. Okay. We'll call this like a Shiva squat position.

It's kind of a modified version, obviously. So we'll inhale. Open up. Attitude. Exhale.

Shiva cross. Good. Open up. Exale twist. Let's find that beat for 2 and 1. Exhale pull it in. 2 and one. Open up.

Good. Exhale. Almost done. 2 more. Open up. Good. Working through the hips. One more. Listen up.

Exhale. Cross. Now extend your leg up, flex your foot. Bring it back to parallel so you've got that three limb dot. Exhale, knee to nose.

Step your foot through. Drop your back knee down. Hands can come to the top of the thigh. Just take a moment. Just feel that out.

Good. And, Hal, reach your arms up. You can untuck your toes in the back. We're just cactus, pull the arms right towards the waistline, exhale. Inhale reach.

Exhale pull, inhale reach, to count exhale pull for 2 inhale reach. Excel pull. Upper back is working. Breath is the anchor. Could one more like this. Little quicker.

One count, we go. Big fiery breath. You've got it. 4 more for 4. Good. For 3. For 2.

And one inhale. Reach up. Exhale. Bring your left hand down to the ground, right arm up. Nice big twist. You have the option to tuck the back toes with the back thigh off. And breathe. Beautiful.

Then from here, that right hand is gonna circle back behind you and then circle towards the front of the mat. Okay. So you remember that sheva position that we had before. You're gonna shift your weight forward. You can tiptoe if you need, or if you have it, the goal is draw your left heel in over cross Tap the ankle. We're working balance kids.

Are you ready? You inhale, shift it back. Ex. I'll pull it forward. Inhale, shift it back. Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. So it's 2 counts. Boom. Pull it in. Let that heat in the leg. Build 4 more.

4 You got it. 3. Good. 2. Here's one. And hold it back.

Plant your palms. Step it back. Downward facing dog. The job. Take a moment. If you need a second, you can bring your knees wide toes content to touch in the back.

Arms can come long overhead. If child's post feels more restorative for you. And now just notice you can feel the heat a little more in the right thigh than the left. Notice if there's a little bit of an aversion, right? If there's a part of you that doesn't want to feel that that's okay.

Just breathe with it. Tumor rounds of breath, coming back to your intention, coming back to the invitation. And from here, we'll slowly roll ourselves up, and we'll meet again in downward facing dog if you weren't there already. Here we go. We'll play again on the other side.

So you inhale. Your left leg goes up, turn it out, heel to seat. We find this attitude position. Okay. So this is turned out position, keeping the chest as square to the mat as possible. Then you bend your standing leg as you draw your inner thighs to touch. And I'm really trying to get my knees, like my left knee behind my right. So I open up, inhale, exhale, pull it in, inhale, open up, Exhale. Pull it in.

2 counts. Lift. To exhale. Pull it in. Good. And can you use the breath? To fuel the strength and the legs. Good. 4 more.

3 more. Yes. You can. Let the heat change you. 2 more. Last one. Now inhale threelimdog find your parallel once again.

So turn that hip down the best you can. Exhale. Need a nose. Step your foot through. Drop your back knee down. Hands come to the top of the thigh.

How are you doing? Take a moment and just a little freestyle here. You can kinda shift it forward and back. And as we go into this next portion, once again, like, feeling that, like, split, right? Feeling the balance between the 2, between the heat, between the hard stuff, and also finding the breath. Finding the ease.

So untuck your toes in the back if you haven't already. Inhale. Reach your arms up. Cactus, pull the arms. Feel the upper back. Palms gonna stay open.

Inhale. Reach up. Excel pull. So we've been here before. Exhill. Here we go. Inhale too.

Excel pull. Inhale reach. Xcel pull. Big expansive breath Exhale. Good.

We're building the foundation for this work. 1 count. So you can feel the upper back, the shoulders, your abs, maybe, as you pump this breath, 4 more, 4, 3, 2, one arms up. Exhale right hand comes down. Tuck the back toes of the back thigh off nice big twist. Really reaching out to the fingertips, keeping that alignment, hear the best that you can, firming up the back leg, take a deep breath in, and exhale.

Bring that left arm through. Here we go. Part 2, I didn't forget. Here we go. You're gonna shift your weight forward. From here, you over cross. Take it slow first.

Find your balance tap the ankle if you can, if not just reach for it. Notice how my standing leg is bent. Inhale. Kick it back. Ax help pull it through. Inhale lengthen.

Axhale strengthen. Inhale. Exhale. 2 counts inhale for 2. Exhale.

Finding that balance. Allowing it to be hard and challenging, right? You of all people know that the stuff in life that we love the most, that we cherish the most is usually the stuff we have to work for. This is nothing different. Right?

2 more. XL. 1 more. XL. Inhale lengthen, exhale hands frame the foot.

Step it back. Either downward facing dog, if that feels really good for you, or child's pose once again. So it's taking a moment once again. So now both those legs are nice and hot, and we can feel it. Notice if one side felt stronger than the other.

No judgment. Just breath. Recalling the invitation to activate, to learn something new, and resetting your intention if you forgot it. One more deep breath in. XEL.

Alright. Coming back up. Okay. So we've been building a foundation here. You're gonna plant your palms, find your plank, found your downward facing dot. From here, you take your right leg up, attitude, open it up, bend heel to seat. Exhale.

Bend the standing leg. Cross. Kick it up four times. Inhale. Exhale. 2 more.

Now hold at the top, listen for the change, you're gonna hold that attitude position. Little pulse and pulse. Here's where it starts to feel. This is the mix of the yoga mix. Okay. So breathe.

Little squeezes through the outer hip. 5 more. 5, breathe, 4, 3, 2, one straight in your leg. Flex your foot. 3 limbed. Exhale. Need a nose.

Step your foot through, land lightly between the hands. Inhale. Full crescent lunge. That was all prep. Are you ready for the next part? Take a deep breath in. Exhale cactus pull. Bend both knees.

Inhale to exhale, inhale, lengthen, exhale, inhale, Good. Last one like this. Little quicker. Here we go. We won't be here long. The invitation is to meet a new side of yourself. 2 more.

Now hold at the bottom. Breathe. Little pulses here. We go pulse.ulse. Pulse, good exhale. You're here for 5, 4, 3, to inhale straight straighten both legs.

You can keep your back heel off. And let's just take a little bend. Right on over. Squaring off the hips. If you can ground that back heel, great.

If not, you can just keep it parallel for today. Inhale shift forward, exhale plant your pump, step it back plank pose, hips go high downward facing dog. We begin again before we can think ourselves out of a good time. Here we go. Inhale. Your left leg up to the sky. Attitude.

Open it up. Deep breath in. Exhale. Sheave across to open up. To inhale. Exhale. Yes. You can. Let the heat change you.

One more like this? That hold at the top little pulses. Go lift. Lift. You should be feeling a little burn in that outer hip, you're gonna be fine. You're okay. 5 more.

5, 4, 3, 2, hold it up straighten the leg parallel. Deep breath in, exhale pull your knee to your heart. Step it through. Big powerful crescent lunge. The best you have today. Inhale.

Exhale. Bend both knees. Inhale stretch. Good. Excel pull 2 inhale stretch. Good. Good.

That's our 2 count. 1 count. You're ready. Go. Good. So these little pulses here. This is that inspiration. This is the mix.

Get into the mix. Here we go. Few more. You've got 4. You got 3. You got 2. Hold at the bottom.

Our favorite part. We pulse. Go pulse. Pulse quiet the mind. Let the body work. You've got 87, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and one inhale and straighten the legs.

You can spill over that front thigh. You can step the back forward if you need as well. If you can spin your back heel down, that's great. If not, we won't be here long. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. Listen for the change.

Shift your weight forward. Low lunge and just step that back foot forward ragdoll. Good. Shaker head yes as you grab the outer arms and now we just find the softness. Like, let it get a little messy. Right? You know, a yoga practice is good when it gets a little messy.

It keeps it fun. Good. Now slowly release the arms, rolling yourself up. Head is the last to lift. Okay. We're gonna finish with a really fun finale.

We have a balancing series for you. So I'm gonna face you. You stand wherever you feel best. Zip your legs together. Hands can come to your hips.

From here, in a shift your weight over to your left side. Okay? So start to feel the weight shift and so to peel your right heel off of the ground. I like to place my my hand on my lower belly because it just helps me, like, feel really contained and really solid, but you do what's best for you. You can start to draw your knee up and take your arms out to a tee. Flex your foot.

Good. Now from here, just taking a little pulse here, lift it up. What's pulling right now? Think about it. Most people feel all the work in the crease of the hip, all in the quad. Can you start to pull from right in here? That's why I like to place my hand here. So I'm pulling back through the abs. Lift. Lift.

Lift. You're here for 4, 3. 2. Hold the lift, but don't hold your breath. Start to squeeze the outer hip. And let's just start with tree pose, but just bring your foot to the calf to start. Okay? Arms can go out to a tee. Then from here, I want you to point your toes, the best you can, and start to lift that toe up towards your knee. So this is called.

Okay? Now from here, you're gonna close everything into parallel. And you can make a little o shape with the arms. If you need a little bit more support, you can bring your hands to prayer. Now turn it out.

Pase and then take it down to tree. Oh, breathe. We got this. We're in this together. We've come too far. Here we go. Inhail lift.

Hold your core. Pull it close. Good. Open. Lower down. Let's just go 2 more. Lift. Close, open, lower down one more.

You've got it. Lift. Close. Open. Tree and release. Good job.

Kinda shake that out. Okay. So that standing ankle is probably so warm. Thank you for staying strong. We gotta do it on the other side. Now, if you were doing this and you were falling over, don't get frustrated. Okay? And if you do get frustrated, just acknowledge it. This is just about practice the more that you can push your edge and find the places where you have opportunity for strength, the better you'll feel. Okay.

So let's try it on the other side. Zip the legs together. Hands can go to the hips to start, take a deep breath in, release the story. Let's play. So you can place one hand on the lower belly, if that helps. You can draw your left heel up, maybe flex that foot.

Arms can go out to a tee. Good. Start to take those little pulses up and up. Find the breath. So we exhale every time so the abs feel stronger every time. Good 4, more. 4, 3, to hold. Good job. Now you're gonna open it up, squeeze that outer hip, do your best, do your best, and then find a tree, a baby tree, okay, a little shrubbling.

I don't even think that's a word. Okay. Take your arms out to your tee. Now from here, point your toes, ground down through that standing leg. Case a root down to rise. It still applies here.

We close. Make it out. Or prayer, if you like that better, open up, lower down, land into your roots. 3 more inhale. Oops. Pull the core. Pull it in.

Take it out. Lower down. 2 more. You've got it lift. Just do your best. Breathe.

Good. Lower down. One more. I know it's hot. Here we go. Close. Open, pause in your tree, root down, and release.

Shake that out. Alright. Inhale. Reach your arms up. Exhale. Fold all the way down. And let's come on to all fours.

So we're gonna do something fun, even more fun. I know crazy. I like to just call it foot yoga. Okay. So We're gonna explore the bottoms of your feet after all that balance. Hands under shoulders, knees under hips. You're gonna draw your toes towards your seat.

Reach back if you need to with your right hand. Feel the high bony part of your right foot and nestle it into the arch of your left foot. Okay? So this one, you're gonna have to play around. You start to roll yourself back, maybe to adjust as needed. And you're gonna find that you probably have a pressure point. I'm telling you now, this one is deep. Okay? It's not going to be comfortable, I'm gonna be really honest with you, if you're doing it in integrity.

Okay. So find a spot on your foot that needs a little love. And then bring your hands to the top of your thighs. You can close your eyes. I know it's uncomfortable. Just stick with me.

Trust the process. Trust the process. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. So as you start to settle into that, so much is gonna start to come up.

We have what's called connective tissue or fascia that lines our whole body. And to keep it brief, there's a connection point in the bottom of your foot that it's connected to your stress response. So if you're feeling a lot of activation right now, this is feedback. Your body's telling you we need more of this. We need to relax.

So we're just taking a moment to do a little acupressure and to just witness. Take one more deep breath in, exhale, release, come forward. And just pitter patter your feet. Okay. I'll explain why this is good for you in just a moment.

Draw your toes to your seat. Second side, high bony part of your left foot goes into the arch of your right and you sit back. Now, this is something that you can do often. Right? This is such a great way to get in your body and to get feedback. Where's my stress response at?

Now close your eyes. If you need a little bit more grounding, you can bring your hands to your heart or to the lower belly. This is just this great way to notice, to address the challenge, right, to see, to feel, to witness all the stuff that comes up for you here. And then to really ask, like, who are you? Who are you really when you're head to head with challenge?

Are you the one that's gonna avoid it? Or can we just be here for 2 more rounds of breath? Just notice. Let it be uncomfortable. One more deep breath in and exhale. Proud of you. Come on forward.

Take a little round of applause for yourself. Shake it out. And now, criss cross your ankles. Take a seat. And we'll just finish here seated today.

Okay? So sitting tall, sitting well. Hands come to the top of the thighs. Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Hands coming to prayer, our thumb tips come to your heart. Now I'm leaving you with this. There might have been parts of this practice that we're so confronting, so uncomfortable, so challenging, and also you made it. So maybe you take that strength and that wisdom that lives within your body throughout your day and know that no matter what, you have everything you need right underneath your hand.

Sending you peace in and peace out. Beautiful work today. Thank you so much. My name is Chantani, and we'll see you back here next time.