Espresso Doppio

Greetings, friends. Welcome back to good morning yoga. What's in your kappa? And today is is espresso, double shot, doobio. Whoo. So we'll be near a wall. A couple of blocks will be handy, and we'll start seated.

I like to set a block right underneath my hips between my heels to ease up the knees. And, we'll start with a little breath of fire this morning to get things moving. So find comfortable seat, bring one hand to the navel center, and inhale to about halfway, begin to pump the breath out through the nose only. Keep this rhythm going, and I'm gonna just switch hands and keep a little snapping rhythm going for you. So as you exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, you draw the abdominal wall in, in, in, to move the breath out, out out out out and then pause for a moment. Let that be our rehearsal.

Take a deep breath in. Excel completely. And right out the gate with breath of fire, it can feel a little messy, and that's normal. Pranayama is messy. If you're feeling some sinus congestion coming out.

Just keep your Kleenex nearby. We'll do another round or 2, and this is a great way to cleanse the sinuses, to warm the interbody, and to create focus. It's also really toning for the abdominal wall. So let's take another round, take a deep breath in about halfway to the heart. Pause at the top, short, quick, succinct exhales through the nose.

Stay with my rhythm if you can. Continue this rhythm. If you need to go a little slower, go for it. If you need to go a little faster, go for it. Keep the abdominal wall pumping in and in force the breath out, out, out. The inhale will happen naturally. Let's go for about 10 more breaths.

Inhale. Pause at the top. Exhale. Take a deep breath in. Release the breath out.

Deep breath in. Release the breath out. Let's take one more round just like that. I'm gonna give you a little less instruction this time to try to stay with the rhythm inhale halfway. Pause.

Let's begin. Continue. 10 more. Take a deep breath in. Pause at the top.

Deep breath out. Release your hands. Open your eyes. Are you seeing stars? I Let's go ahead and come on to our back, and we'll continue with a little core cultivation to warm the center of the body and prepare for a little arm balancing. So as you roll down, just moving in a very direct path, hug the knees to the chest, separate your knees wide like we do in happy baby, but keep the big toes touching. Let's lace the fingers behind the head.

And as you exhale, just curl up, bring in the elbows up to meet the inner knees, just like we do in crow pose. In fact, if you extend your hands towards the ceiling for a moment and curl that. This is the same shape as Bacasana's crow pose, but we'll keep the head supported. And as you inhale, flare the elbows, extend the legs on a high diagonal, exhale pull into that coiled baccasana crochet. Inhale expand and release the head, exhale coil is. We just work with a simple rhythm here.

Inhale. And exhale. And it's a very direct double shot right to the core of the body. And I went to Italy for the first time this last summer. Let's keep moving through this. And I noticed that it's very common for the Italians to just stroll up to the espresso to the bar, to order their shot or double shot of espresso, to literally shoot it, and then to move on to the next part of their day.

And I thought that was so interesting. It's like, wow. That was very succinct and direct inhale to open, exhale to coil, inhale open, exhale, coil, and pause. Now let's take the right ankle over the left knee, thread the needle, and release for a moment. So that morning shot, that double shot of espresso has a very different quality than the afternoon appetitivo. We'll enjoy that on another practice. So to speak. It'll be in the form of Mate, though.

So pull this shape and we'll continue with that coiling with thread the needle. And as you lace your fingers behind your head, just coil up and try to bring your shinbone towards the upper arms. This is the same point of contact that we work with in flying pigeon and gallopassana. So we're just kinda mirroring these shapes on our back, inhale, open, and create a figure 4 with the legs, and XO coil. In how to open, exhale coil, moving in this kind of cree of fashion where we find a steady rhythm not only to open up the core, but to open or to engage the core, but to open up the hips.

So it'll take about 4 more on this side. Stay with the breath, exhale to coil in, inhale to expand, coiling in 1 more deep breath in, Exhale, pause as you coil in, take a hold of the right foot. And as your left leg comes down onto the earth, extend right leg to the sky, nice little sweet release here and then open it out to the side. And you might be holding your ankle or your calf or take a strap to your foot, but opening it into this wide suptapatagustassana bee, which sounds like a pasta dish, but it's not. Open it up wide. Maybe in the left arm towards the wall and then side bending up and over. And then left hand eventually needing right foot or strap, or else can simply hang out behind the head.

So feel this opening shape here. Let's release and take the second side. Moving directly, left ankle on top of right knee, and coming back into that expanding and contracting, coiling, and opening up exhale and inhale. It's almost like a slow motion pumping breath of fire now as we exhale, really pull in using that bottom leg to help assist the hip opening here. Warming up the large joints of the body, warming up your focus, your willingness, which is connected to your 3rd chakra. Right at the naval center.

Let's bring it in and pause. And then, again, take that left leg, left foot, ankle, calf, and we open up towards Supda, which means reclined, Pada Gustasana B. Top arm can reach towards the wall behind you. Side bending up and over, kind of waving to that left foot, maybe grabbing it, but for many of us, we're kinda saying hello from afar, which is fine. And just coming into the shape that suits you.

From here, let's release hug the knees into the chest. We'll rock on it. Come right up to standing, right up to the espresso bar. We're ready to go. Moving into Suriana Musgar c.

Some of these patterns are hopefully becoming familiar to you now. So let's circle the arms out and up, inhale, reach through the roof to the sky. Exhale swandive into your forward fold. Step the right foot back into a high lunge, keeping the fingertips on the mat. Focuses direct, exhale to downward dog, inhale shift forward to plank with strength, Excel lower halfway, Chaturanga, you can always set knees down. Inhale, either COBRA or updog, I'm demonstrating up dog.

Exhale down dog. Step the right foot forward and inhale look forward. It's a big step. Exhale forward fold. Inhaled arise, exhale hands to heart.

That's half a cycle. Inhale circle out and up. Excel sweep. Forward fold. Left foot steps back. Inhale. Find that high runner's lunge.

Exhale downward facing dog. Inhale shift forward. Exhale lower halfway. Inhale open. Exhale fold.

Lefa takes a big step forward. Inhale. Exale forward fold top of the mat. Inhale rise. Exhale. Hands to heart.

2 more rounds. Inhale. Reach, exhale fold, right foot steps back, inhale. Exhale downward dog. Inhale shift forward. Exhale lower and hover.

Inhale open to the day. Exhale fold empty out. Right foot steps forward. Inhale. Excel forward fold, inhaled rise with purpose, exhale hands to heart. Last half of the round, inhale reach, exhale release forward fold, step back to a strong lunge, left foot leads, Exhale downward dog, inhale shift forward, hover, exhale halfway down Chaturanga, Inhale. Open.

Exhale. Downward dog. Left foot steps forward. Inhale. Exhale forward fold. Inhale rise.

Exhale. Hands to heart. Take a moment here and breathe and just savor the flavor of this opening. Will turn and take our facing towards the wall. And if you'd like to move your mat a little bit closer, you can.

I'm gonna just kinda inch mine a little bit closer to the wall and keep my blocks handy. This next pattern that we're moving into will have the option of a freestyle kick up towards Handstand. We practice this in our coffee medium practice. But it's just an option. You don't have to take it.

So let's actually come into our forward fold and meet up from downward facing dot. And it's kinda nice when you're first starting to bring in the freestyle kick to handstand into your standing flow to be near a wall for a little moral support. So we'll step the left toes forward to touch and shift the shoulders forward a little bit over the wrists. Eyes are forward. Right leg lifts and lowers. This might be where you hang out three times, or you might take 3 kicks coming up progressively a little more a little more energetically towards your handstand.

The walls there if you need it, but try to find that balance point and then step the right foot forward and set up for warrior 1. Notice I've got my blocks handy in how verabradrasana 1, exhale, lace the fingers behind the back and open the chest. Big inhale here. Exhale. Humble warrior, go right into the hip opening, dropping the torso inside the front thigh. Come back up to warrior 1, and then exhale a little deeper hip opening to exit.

We'll snuggle our right shoulder behind right knee Take the hands wide on your blocks. Bring them in just a touch. We spin on the ball of the back foot and press into the block to float right leg. Shifting forward. And maybe the back leg floats.

And then stepping back. Woah. Double espresso shot. I'm coming off the blocks and skipping the vinyasa. Because it's plenty with what we're doing here. So let's take the second side, shift the right foot forward, shift the shoulders forward, keep the gaze steady.

And then lifting and lower left leg three times option to get a little air to that free style kick stacking your shoulders over your wrists, stacking your hips over your shoulders, finding the float, and then stepping left foot forward for wire 1. Super energizing. Inhale. Exhale lace the fingers. Inhale. Open the heart.

Exhale. Melt into the hips. And just empty out here. There's something to be said for just trying, trying it on, just a little taste of it. Does it matter if you fully come up to handstand or not?

In how to rise warrior 1. Exhale. Snuggle the left shoulder inside left knee. And same thing here. It doesn't matter if you come into that arm balance or not. Even just coming low into this shape is super hip opening.

We spin on the ball, the back foot, press into the blocks, maybe extend that leg forward. Maybe shift and float, finding that count in yes and a balance and then back to downward dog. Now because yoga is a practice of listening and also a practice of finding balance, you might be feeling like child's post is calling your name to ground it down a bit, or you might be raring to go for another round. So feel free to rest in child's pose for a beat or several or to come back through this pattern one more time. We go back to our downward dog. We shift the left foot forward, removing, succinctly and energetically, right leg lifts and lowers.

Maybe it's a kick or 2. This is your entry. Into your warrior 1, we inhale to rise, exhale, lace the fingers behind the back, inhale, open the chest, exhale humble warrior, dropping into hip opening, coming back up, finding that golden crema, And then lowering down, shoulder inside the knee, elbows spread a little wide, spin on the ball, the back foot. We press lift and shift forward to stretch into that balance. It's nice. Let's take the second side coming off the blocks.

Moving with purpose. Step the right toes forward. The shoulders forward. And lift and lower left leg option to get a little air just to try it. And then stepping left foot forward, inhale warrior 1, exhale, place the fingers, open the chest, receive this energy, exhale. It's a super invigorating practice in how to rise.

Excel shoulder inside the knee. Elba's wide. Spin on the ball of the back foot, press, lift, shift, and expand. And then let it go. Oh, coming off the blocks and then walking your hands back to your feet feet to hands. We give the wrist a little love with Pada hastasana.

So slip your hands right underneath the soles of the feet. Look forward on an inhale. And as you exhale, I like to bend the knees a touch, bend the elbows a lot. And draw yourself in. If it feels good to straighten the legs, go for it and just notice the beat of your heart, the rhythm of your breath.

And the flavor of this particular practice. It might be different. It might be a little quicker than you normally flow or it might be going into complex posture sooner, but just notice how it feels. And what's your response to it? One more breath here.

Spinning the elbows to point back towards the shins to give the wrist a little extra stretch. And then let's release and heel toe the feet together. Sliding the blocks forward a little bit, open up the knees wide like a diamond and sink down into Malasana yogic squat. Couple of options. I always love to have a lot of options because every day is different. And what makes us an advanced yogi is not how complex the posture is, but really knowing what we need from day to day.

So today might be a relaxed down into a rooted melasana. Or rolling onto your back for happy baby. You might decide that you wanna coil up pressing through the palms, lift, squeeze the knees to the triceps and shift forward coming into crow pose, bakasana. One foot can lift followed by the other foot and holding for 3 for 2. For 1 and then relaxing back down into your melasana.

Straightening the legs coming into a forward fold and slowly rolling up, bending the knees, coming all the way up out of that deep folded compression, hands to the hips, lift through the heart, counterposing. And then exhale taking a moment in Tedasana. From here, we have one more opportunity for an arm balance for a coiled arm balance. So circle the arms out in a exhale hands come back to the heart, step the feet close together. And let's bend our knees and come into utkatasana chair pose.

Hands come to your heart finding that focus at the center. And then shift your weight into left foot, right ankle on left knee, sitting the hips back into temple dancer. This is a beautiful hip opener. I love to stay in this shape. If you're feeling like you wanna drop in a little deeper torso towards your shin, And your blocks are right there.

You can turn them tall for support or a little lower if you'd like to play around with flying pigeon. Which is a beautiful arm balance. I'll take it all the way down to lowest height. And the key with this one is wrapping your foot like a monkey paw. Around your shoulder.

Shifting your weight forward. So we have that same pattern in all these arm balances. Press lift up through the core and shift forward to find our float. And then you might stay there or extend through your leg, working with steadiness, And coming back down, embracing the shake and the speed wobble, and then coming out through your forward fold, rolling up, circling the arms out, and exhale. Now I'm gonna be honest with you.

I'm more of a coffee medium warm water tea kind of girl in the morning. I don't always go for the double shot of espresso. So it's it's definitely a little confrontational to drop into this kind of practice this quickly with this many arm balances, but it's good try on for a moment. So let's lift the heart and embrace it. And then exhale.

Bend the knees. We've got a second side. We got the double shot. So we bring the hands to the heart, and now we take left ankle coming into our Ukatasana. Hip opener.

Again, making your choice. Hands can be on the on the wall, on the blocks. And if you're shifting into that arm balance, wrapping your foot around the shoulder, coiling up, find that lift and shift We always take our gaze forward. We lift up through our tail feather, and then we start to extend. And then we bring it back in.

And release. Ah, forward full. Relax the backs of the hands anywhere on the feet, on your blocks. On the mat and release your head, neck, and shoulders, and just receive What you created here, that focused coiling, very direct energy that's required for armed balances, concentration on a single task for a sustained period of time. It's a good skill to cultivate.

So from here to start to bend your knee, sink down, We'll set our blocks to one side and make your way onto hands and knees. Oh, thank goodness. Walk your hands forward coming into Anahatanasana, which is where our heart gets to have a seat. On the earth. It can be the forehead touching or chest and chin. A Nahata means heart, asana means seat. So letting your heart have a seat upon the earth.

Beautiful shoulder opener here. And it feels like a resting pose after all the arm balancing. Gliding through, start to shift your torso forward and come into sphinx pose, beautiful foundational backbend. And some of us are gonna hang out right here and enjoy a little release through the head and neck. Enjoying this lift through the heart, an extension through the spine, always giving lots of options in all of these practices. Please don't do them all.

Just do the one that works for you. Option 2 would be to cultivate that core stability in forearm plank. Hanging out here, maybe floating one leg than the other. For a breath or 2, option 3 would be to come into dolphin pose. Just like down dog, but on your forms, maximizing shoulder opening and hamstring opening option 4 would be to work with that same handstand prep in the lower body, but now we have our pinch of myarasana royal peacock in the upper body.

And you have the walls right there. So if you feel the call to kick up and find your balance, switching sides, then you might find yourself working in your forearm stand. And all of these options are related. Right? All of these steps along the way. From sphinx to forearm plank to Dolphin to pinch my rossoner all related.

It's coming back to the foundation. If you're already there, wonderful. And then we exhale to release the elbows wide. Slide the hands next to the chest and press back to child's pose. Couple breaths right here.

Feeling that surge of energy. And now we start to shift into grounding it down, rounding out the practice. So let's roll up and just turn so that we can come into An easy low runner's lunge. We'll step the right foot forward and slide the left knee back. No fancy transitions there.

Bringing your hands to the front knee and lifting up through the chest. And just start to feel that rising of the heart of the gaze, gentle backbend, and let the front of the left hip breathe. Reaching your arms to the skies. You inhale. It's a feeling of victory.

An exhale release your hands and heel toe your left foot all the way across the mat coming into pigeon, lowering down. Mhmm. And then coming down forms lowering the chest. What to whatever degree works for you as you melt into this posture for a few moments. Last breath here. On your next exhale, Slowly come on up.

Lean into your right hip and swing the back leg around coming into seated twist. The bottom knee can stay bent or you can extend it long. Whatever allows you to keep both hip bones planted. I'm gonna keep my bottom knee bent. And then reaching right arm up and over, bring the elbow outside the knee or the hand to the knee and turn your spine.

Lyft and slightly rotate until you can look over the back shoulder, wringing out, releasing, Sitting tall as you inhale, twisting a little deeper as you exhale. And then slowly release. Making your way into runner's lunge on the second side. I like to come up through hands and knees, shifting back a little bit, giving myself a little runway, and then bringing that left foot forward, finding that low lunge, pressing through the front knee, lifting through the heart. I'm going right into the juice of this shape.

Sometimes we take a long time to get into a yoga pose. I find that I do that do that on a poses that I avoid or maybe that are not that don't come as easy, but finding that direct path so that it has a little more of a pure quality. Not a lot of extra, and that's what I think the beautiful thing about espresso is. It's just That extraction. Highly concentrated.

Let's come out of this into pigeon. So move that foot over and lower the knee down coming into your undiluted version of pigeon dropping in. To any degree. Notice the depth of your breath. And where your mind is resting, just bring it back to the sound of the breath.

And inhale start to come on up, leaning into your left hips, swing the back leg around, finding your seated twist, once again, with either bottom legs straight so you can ground the hips or bottomy bent, reaching up through the left arm, cross it over, or hand to knee, turn the spine. Sitting tall as you inhale and exhale. And one thing about these coiled arm balances that we visited and the inversions that a beautiful way to open up the hips and shoulders. Right? The hips and shoulders are the gateways to the spine. So we find these different ways to open up these large joints and allow a little more freedom of movement, a little more freedom of energetic flow of nerve messaging, through our spine, through the central channel.

So just enjoy a few breaths here and just sensitively tiling yourself a little deeper into the twist as you exhale and growing taller on the inhale. Last breath here. And then slowly release. Let's extend our legs forward. Congratulations.

We're making our way to Shivasana, rolling down, slow, hug the knees into chest, bring the forehead to your knees, fill that press of the body into itself. And then as you exhale, release, surrender, extending the legs long, arms wide, palms face up. Shavasana. Take a deep breath into the center of your heart. Exhale. Letting go completely through the body, through the breath, send a little movement through your fingers and your toes, to your ankles and your wrists, elbows in your knees, draw the whole shape into a little hug embrace and then rock off to one side and press yourself up to seated.

Woah. You did it. Coming up to our final moment. This was not an easy practice. I hope you feel energized and in encouraged and supercharged and ready to.

Let's go to the rest of the day. Thank you so much for being here. Wonderful to practice with you always. Namaste.