Celebration Flow

(waves rushing in) Hello. Welcome to this practice. I'm very happy to be here with you today and I'm happy you're here. This is a practice that is a fairly strong practice. I didn't start these asanas until I was about three months after my birth and I know that every birth experience is very unique.

So if you feel like there's been enough healing that has occurred, then please join me in this practice. It's intended to bring energy into your body, to celebrate everything that you've just experienced, the joy of creating life, and honor and acknowledge all that way do as mamas throughout the day. So it involves sun salutations and we'll be standing for the practice. So let's just start standing, our feet about hip widths apart. Let's just bring our hands to our heart.

We just close our eyes and drop into our bodies just for a few breaths. Inhaling through the nose. (inhales) Exhaling through the nose. (exhales) Good. And a few more times, just making that breath nice and loud.

That we try breathing the big ocean wave. Inhaling. (inhales) Deepening the inhale. Exhale. (exhales) Lengthening the exhale. A couple of more times.

(breathing) Great. So feeling good and strong. We'll just bring our attention to our feet. Feeling very grounded, connected to the Earth. And we'll add a little movement with the breath.

So inhale drawing the arms up. (inhales) Expanding those lungs. Exhale. Expanding through the fingers, bringing the hands back to the heart. (breathing) A couple of more times.

Inhale lengthening the spine (inhales) as we ground through the feet. Exhale, hands to the heart. (exhales) Two more. Big deep breaths. (inhales) And exhale.

(exhales) Last one. (inhales) And exhale, palms to the heart. (exhales) And then now we'll just step to the front of our mats. So we'll just start moving through some sun salutations. Big inhale reaching to the sun, and exhale just reaching to the Earth.

(exhales) And a big inhale with a half arch. Just drawing the fingertips up the legs, (inhales) and exhale fold. (exhales) We'll do that one more time. So pressing into the feet, expanding through the arms. (inhales) Big deep breath taking you up to the sun.

Exhale. Hands open and bring your palms together in front of the heart. And let's do that again. Inhale reaching, (inhales) lengthening. Exhale folding forward, (exhales) releasing.

Inhale half arch, (inhales) exhale fold. So just warming up the spine. Inhale reaching to the sun, (inhales) just celebrating the warmth that we feel in our bodies. Exhale, hands back to the heart. (exhales) So well no we'll just start moving through Chaturanga.

So we'll inhale here, (inhales) exhale fold. (exhales) Inhale half arch, (inhales) and exhale stepping back into plank or supported plank with your knees. And we'll just lower down slowly to the Earth. Inhale. Scoop the heart forward and come into a Baby Cobra.

Exhale. Roll over those toes. Use the knees if you need to and come into Downward-Facing Dog. So let's just hang out here for a few breaths. (inhales) Just enjoying the sensations in the body, warming it up still.

Connecting through the hands. Connecting through the feet. (inhales) Maybe feeling like the collaboration of all the different body parts, the feet to the hands, the crown of the head to the tailbone, the spine to the internal organs, and just breathing. Feel free to move around. Good.

Just getting nice and comfortable in Down Dog for a few breaths. (inhales) Mm, exhale. (exhales) We'll do one more cycle of breath breathing deep into that belly. Just feeling the joy of the breath entering the body. Exhale. Bend our knees.

(exhales) When the lungs are empty, find a spot between the hands and just step to it. Good. Inhale, half arch. Opening the shoulders, opening that heart. Exhale fold. (exhales) And inhale, sweep those arms back up to the sun.

(inhales) Exhale. Draw the hands to the heart. (exhales) Let's move through it again. So a big joyful breath. Inhale like you're celebrating. (inhales) Exhale.

Just release and fold to the Earth. Inhale. Open that heart half arch. Exhale. Step back. Use your knees if you'd like, lowering down slowly to the Earth. Inhale. Scoop that heart forward.

Open it up. Let it bloom right here. Exhale. (exhales) Take yourself into Downward-Facing Dog. (breathing) Okay, let's pause in Down Dog for a few breaths again.

And just for fun, I just want you to feel really good. So make it feel good. Just lift one leg up. See if you can open your hips a little. Good.

Let's some good luscious juicy breath come in, (exhales) exhaling as you need. Ah, taking the weight off of that foot, and then just float it down. And we'll give the other side some love. So just inhale floating it up, (inhales) exhale opening the hip. Maybe bending the knee.

Enjoying the feeling of not having weight on that foot. Just letting it reach up to the sun. Feeling that warmth of the sun penetrate the toes. Let them float back down to the Earth. Good.

And inhale deep into the belly here. Exhale. Look between the hands. When the lungs are empty, you can step or jump to that spot right between them. And then we'll inhale, (inhales) half arch, drawing up that energy from the Earth. Exhale.

Release fold. Ah. And inhale. Expand your wings. Reach to the sun.

(inhales) Exhale. Palms come to the heart. Flowing through inhale. Celebrating. (inhales) Exhale, folding.

Bowing down. Inhale, half arch. (inhales) Exhale. Step or jump back and lower down to the Earth using your knees if you'd like. Inhale.

Scoop it forward coming to Up Dog if you're ready. And exhale. Roll over those toes, Downward-Facing Dog. Inhale. Float that right leg up. Exhale. Step it through the hands.

And our first Warrior One. So just float those arms up. Ground through the legs, lengthen through the spine. Soften through the shoulders. Good.

Take a big yummy breath, inhale, and then exhale. Warrior Two. So let's just flow through this. Just allowing it to feel really good all through your body, all through your bones. Inhale, lengthening.

(inhales) Exhale, opening. So it's like really good with a little bit of an edge. So we're feeling our strength in our legs and just this big yummy feeling of flowing through the air with our arms and our torso. Good. Getting a little length in our spine.

Last time. We'll pause in Warrior Two. (exhales) Good. Feeling that expansion between the fingertips. Opening through the heart, grounding through the legs. Feeling your strength.

Celebrating, honoring it. Finding your focus over that front fingertip. Take a big yummy breath into the belly, (inhales) and then windmill those arms down and around. Step that front leg back. Let's lower down to the Earth with the heart, scoop it forward into Up Dog if it feels good or stay in Baby Cobra if that's better.

(exhales) Exhale, Downward-Facing Dog. Ah. (sighs) And then float the other leg up (inhales) with the breath. And see if you can just follow the breath as you bring your leg through the hands, grounding through those feet. Good.

Sweeping those arms up, Warrior One. Pausing here, getting nice and grounded through those legs. Feeling the life just surging through your body. Appreciating the fact that you can be here and do this practice right now. Open it up into Warrior Two.

Good. And let's move through it, flowing Warrior One, reaching. (inhales) And opening, expanding Warrior Two into another breath. (inhales) Length through the arms, grounding through the legs, opening through the heart right here. Let's pause. Let's expand.

Good. Let's celebrate. (exhaling) Let's focus. Let's feel our breath. And a big long inhale as we lengthen the spine, and then just windmill those arms. Flow through that.

Step that left leg back, lowering down slowly to the Earth scooping the heart forward, and then rolling those toes, engaging the belly, Downward-Facing Dog. (breathing) Hey let's just pause here for a few breaths again. Noticing any differences in the body now. Staying with the breath. (inhales) Good.

If you want to you can come in Child's Pose here. (breathing) Or if you want to, come up on those toes. Just play around. Just be in your body. (breathing) Indulge in the experience of being in your body, being really intimate with your breath.

(breathing) Having this time for yourself. (sighs) It's not easy to come here and practice, but you are. (breathing) If maybe you can just smile internally right here, or even just soft your face and feel how good that feels in your nervous system. Ah, good. Inhale deep into the belly, exhale, look between the hands.

When the lungs are empty, step or jump to that little spot right between your hands. (breathing) Good. Inhale. Half arch opening through the heart and shoulders even more now. Exhale, fold. Let's just pause right here.

So we can hold our elbows if that feels good. You can play around with the weight, shifting into balls of the feet coming back. Just giving ourselves an opportunity to be inward a little bit (breathing) to let our spines expand. To feel the energy of the Earth, and just to release the tension that accumulates every day. Just let it go, let it drip off you.

Maybe it gets recycled in the Earth, does something more beautiful. Good. And then we'll start to press into those feet, open those arms like big wings. Expand back up to the sun. Hello.

And open, hands coming to the heart. Good. And we'll just step the feet open now. Big wide stance. So toes come open. We're going to celebrate a little bit more.

So we're just going to start to lower our pelvis down towards the Earth as we lift our spine towards the sky. We're going to expand through the arms, and we're going to float over to one side. (sighs) So it's like, yes, I'm happy to be alive. I'm happy to be here. Ooh, inhale back through the center, exhale over to the other side.

So we'll do that two more times like we really mean it. Just that big joyful breath right here. Good. And a big release right here as we rotate the ribs up to the sun. It's the last time.

Inhale and exhale. Good. Inhale back up. (inhales) And now we straighten our legs with a lot of attention and awareness. And let's do a little bit of a shoulder opener.

So toes now come forward, heels go out just a tad. And we'll just find your sacrum. Give it a little massage. A little break. And then just sort of lengthen it out as you lift your heart.

And as you're ready, you'll just take hold of your elbows if that's what feels right for you. Or you interlace the fingers and just really open those shoulders. Ah, pause here. We're hunched over so much throughout the day just carrying baby, carrying car seats, whatever else, feeding. Let's just open through the shoulders and just really relish in that opening.

Good. And if it feels right for you, you can add a little forward fold. So just coming halfway down, keeping that opening happening in the shoulders. And then when you get to the bottom, allow the crown of the head to reach towards the Earth, good, and open a little bit more. Maybe take a big inhale through the nose here, (inhales) and then exhale through the mouth.

(exhales) Ah. Good, and we'll just come right back up the same way we came, (inhales) lengthening through the spine, opening through the shoulders all the way back up to standing. Good. And release the arms. Just pause.

Let them just feel nice and soft for a breath. And then we'll just come, will bring our feet right under our hips. Do a little stretch in the quad taking the ankle. Requires a little bit of balance. Let's just circle this arm if you want to.

Around and open. Again, getting another sense of opening as you stretch. Grounding through the supporting leg. (sighs) Yes. (exhales) Again, just feeling the collaboration happening in all of the different body parts, between the movement and the breath, behind your navel and your spine, and then float that foot down.

Hands to the heart. Big deep breath. (inhales) Reestablish your balance. (exhales) Exhale, and we'll take the other side. Good.

Just pause here if that feels good. Otherwise add the arm, just floating around. Opening the shoulder. Ah, think of the heart opening with the breath. You should ground into your strength through that supporting leg.

You stretch out that big beautiful muscle. (sighs) It supports us all day long, and then just did all those amazing Warrior poses for you. Inhale, and then just lengthen it open. And let's bring our hands back to our hearts. Good.

And let's close our eyes for a breath with our hands at our heart. Just give yourself a little gratitude for creating life, for being here. It's not easy but so important to take this time for yourself, for the strength of your body. For it's magic. Good.

And then open the palms. Let's keep our eyes close just for another breath, relaxing our palms down by our hips. (inhales) Just standing. (exhales) Feeling the mountain below us. I'm feeling that strength.

And gently open your eyes as you're ready. Good. And Namaste. Thank you for sharing this practice with me.