Goddess Warrior Mama

(water rushing) Hi there I'm so happy you're here for this strong practice that we have today that I call Goddess Warrior Mamma. And it is all gonna be standing on our feet but we can at the end move into shavasana if you have time. Because it's a nice way to finish. But we will do our entire practice on our feet. Just honoring the Goddess Warrior Mamma that you are.

So much if your life is like mine, happens before you even get a chance to eat or brush your hair. And so, let's just really be honor that and also celebrate the Goddess energy through movement, through breath together. So, we'll start with our feet about hip distance apart and let's just come to the front of our mats and we'll move through a little bit of a warm up. Just taking some big deep breaths, inhaling. And we'll move right into a fold, so for this fold if you need to bend your knees feel free, just 'cause we're just warming up.

Good. And then we'll inhale again reaching, lengthening and exhale folding. Good, sweeping those arms up and around all the way to the sun. Exhale, leading with the heart. Opening through the shoulders.

One last time. Inhaling up to the sun maybe a little upper back bend if that feels good and then just dive forward. Into a forward fold. Just enjoying it for a couple breaths. So maybe your hands are here and your knees are bent.

Perfectly fine. Maybe you're reaching towards the earth where ever you are just let your head dangle. Let your shoulders be soft. Let your feet be grounded. Good, and then we're gonna inhale.

Do a half arch, so opening through the shoulders. Opening through the heart. Exhale fold and soften a little bit. Lengthening the belly. And we'll do that again inhale.

Exhale, lengthening the belly a little bit more. Letting that head just reach towards the earth. Two more, big deep inhale. Opening the heart, opening the shoulders. Exhale.

And last time inhale. And exhale start to bend the knees and connect the hands and step back into supported planks. Our knees are down, hands are under the shoulders. Good, hopefully your wrists are feeling good. Just be really mindful of how they're feeling.

And we'll just pause here engaging the navel towards the spine. We're gonna move down to the earth and our elbows are gonna graze our rib cage as we go down through chaturanga. And we'll just pause right here. Kind of get a sense of hovering, like you're buoyant. Here weights distributed.

And then just rest your belly on the earth, roll your shoulders back. And come into a cobra. So inhale. And let's move through this a few times with the breath. Just warming up that Goddess Warrior body Mamma body of yours.

Inhale, exhale. And one more time. Exhale feeling the strength of your arms, length of your spine. And then we'll tuck our toes, just use the support of your knees in the beginning here. And we'll just sink back to the downward facing dog.

Full pause here for a few breaths. So, mammas who have possible had a c section, or had surgery you're gonna wanna tend to your abdomen maybe a little bit differently. Especially as we move through the practice into some of the twists, you may skip certain things. Just depending on where you are in your journey of healing. And just listen, really tune in to the body.

Allow this practice to feel really good. To feel strong. Allow yourself to feel beautiful. Good, and inhale deep into the belly, press through the hands and back on the heels. Bend with the feet, I mean bend the knees a lot.

Look between the hands when the lungs are empty. Stepper jump to the hands. Good inhale half arch. And exhale fold. Good, inhale sweep those arms up to the sun.

Scoop up that energy of the sun, breathe into the heart, bring it into your body. Good, pause at the hands at the heart. Good, we'll move through the flow with adding some warriors now. So again just listening to what's happening in your body. Just going to your edge with what you're comfortable with.

And here we go, big inhale reaching. Exhale folding, opening leading with the heart. All the way down to the earth. Inhale half arch. Exhale stepping back.

Lowering down, let's still use our knees. Let's really draw our navel towards the spins as we lower down to the earth. Inhale, scoop that heart forward, open the shoulders, cobra. Good, great lengthen the neck. Tuck the toes, downward facing dog.

Just sinking on those heels. Take a breath or two here. As you're ready you're gonna inhale that right leg or one leg up to the sun. So, inhale it up with a big breath. And then exhale bring it all the way, the knee all the way up to the heart.

Just feeling the strength in your core, it's there. Inhale and exhale, float the toes down this time right next to the other foot. Let's do the same thing with the other foot. We'll inhale it up to the sun, drawing in that energy through the toes all the way to the core. Knee comes towards the heart.

Feeling the strength of your core. Inhale, extend it back up. Float those toes down. Good, this time we'll draw the toes back up to the sun and then exhale bring the knee towards the heart and then bring the foot right between the hands. Ground through the outer edge of the back foot, prepare for your first warrior.

Inhale, reach those arms up to the sun. Now, the suns coming up through your finger tips entering into your heart, your spine, your belly, your pelvis. Good, grounding through the legs feeling the energy of the earth entering up through your feet, your toes, your knees, your legs, your hips. Into the belly. Through the crown of the head.

Open it up into warrior two. Good, expanding so feeling that groundedness with the legs, that open heart, that compassion, that love that we feel just for our babies, bringing it in towards ourselves. Into all relations now as we expand and open through the heart. Ground through the legs. Focus.

Good, on the next exhalation we'll windmill our arms down and around that front leg comes back. If you want to, you go through chaturanga otherwise just find your way to downward facing dog. Full strength, with control. And here we are in up dog if you wanna, if it feels good on your spine. Exhale navel towards the spine.

Come into downward facing dog. Inhale float the other leg up, exhale with the strength of your core just bring it through the hands. Ground through the other to the back foot. And sweep those arms up to the sun. So, one side might feel a little bit different, and that's OK it's totally natural.

We'll just give it the same amount of love and care though. Staying here with good intentional breaths. All the way into the belly, drawing in the energy. Feeling yourself as the warrior mamma that you are. Inhaling, lengthening the spine, the shoulders down away from the ears.

Good, exhale warrior two. Good, and see if you can just lift that torso off of pelvis a little bit more with a breath. Lengthening through the spine, expanding through the heart. Focusing with soft loving eyes over that front hand. Couple more breaths.

Then you feel the strength and power of your legs. Good, inhale expand a little bit more. Exhale big windmill. And take that leg back if you want to go through a nice slow controlled chaturanga you can always use your knees if you'd like. Inhale scoop that heart forward.

Give yourself a nice back bend. Exhale downward facing dog. And feeling a little warmed up now. Let's just enjoy our down dog for a breath or two more. Breathing, lengthening through the spine, feeling that energy circulate through the body.

So your next exhalation, you're gonna look between hands, bend the knees a lot. And stepper jump to the hands. And then a big yummy inhale floating your heart open, shoulders open, exhale fold. And sweep those arms all the way up to the sun, pressing through the feet. And exhale hands to the heart.

So we'll do the same thing but we'll add, a chair pose, a powerful pose sinking into our heels, and expanding through the arms, reaching up by the ears. Let's hang out here for a couple breaths, of feeling the strength and power of your legs. The strength and power of your heart. The connection between both. Play around with your gaze if you like to, can just bring it right in front.

If it feels like this is too much, can always rest your hands right here. Keeping those shoulders open, lengthen the spine. Good, inhale lengthen and ground a little bit more, feeling your strength, exhale dive fold. Inhale half arch. Exhale stepping back.

And lowering down again slowly kissing the rib cage with the elbows. Inhale scooping it forward, exhale downward facing dog. Using the strength of your core to get you there. And inhale, you're gonna float one leg up, exhale step it through the hands. Ground through the feet as you inhale your way into warrior one.

Good, nice strong legs, nice long spine, long arms. Exhale, warrior two. And pause here for a breath, feeling the quality of this pose, whatever it means to you in your life right now, just embody it. Good, and let's just play around with the warrior poses. So, let's inhale warrior one, rotating the shoulders square to the front.

Maybe add a little upper back bend. Exhale float forward, so lengthen the spine, reach those arms. You might recognize this if you did the prenatal classes with me and we came into this bird of paradise and there's a little engagement in the triceps. And we're just floating through water, like honey really slow. Reaching, you're gonna come back into warrior one.

And we're gonna exhale open it nice and wide and expansive through warrior two. Good, sinking into the strength of the legs a little more, I know they might be getting a little bit heated in there. Exhale windmill the arms down. Step it back. You can either meet in down dog with me or you can go through chaturanga if you're feeling cobra or up dog you can either one just careful with the spine.

Distributing it, the arch through the entire spine, downward facing dog. I'm getting warm. Good, float this one up. Other leg, using the strength of the core. You're gonna bring it through step it through the hands.

Ground through the outer edge of the back foot. And then reach those arms up to the sun, warrior one. Let's pause, feel that warrior. Length through the spine. And then big open arms into warrior two.

Good again, just noticing not just the alignment of the pose, but the quality. Just adapting the pose to what you're feeling right now, not forcing yourself into anything. Just feeling the quality of the warrior. And then we're gonna bring ourselves in back into warrior one, floating those arms back to the sun. Little arch if you want to while you ground through the legs and then reach the spine nice and long, long, long float those arms down by the hips.

Lift the sternum a little bit, as you engage your triceps, bird of paradise. And then float those finger tips through that yummy salty buoyant water, or honey. And come back to warrior two. The strength of the warrior. Inhale lengthen the spine, ground through the legs exhale big huge windmill.

Stepping that front leg back. And then if you'd like to, chaturanga. Lowering down to the earth. If you want to up dog or cobra. Opening through the shoulders.

Good, and downward facing dog. So let's pause in down dog, you might be feeling kinda warmed up, might get a little sweaty. Hope you like that like I do. And if you wanna rest, you could just rest those knees down and chill out in child's pose or whatever feels, whatever resting pose feels right for your body today. If you're in down dog maybe just really, conjure up that energy of a dog.

Waking up from a nap. Stretching it out, getting excited. Wagging it's tail a little bit. And we're gonna come back into standing, by inhaling and exhaling our knees looking to that spot between our hands as you're ready jump to it. Inhale half arch.

Exhale fold. Inhale pressing into those feet, reaching towards the sun. Scooping up that energy. And then radiating through the finger tips, radiating your beauty of feeling your love. As you bring your hands to your heart.

Let's just pause for a breath. Back in standing. Feeling the warmth of our body, of our muscles. The strength, our feminine power. Beautiful here we go, another sun salutation.

If it feels right for you, inhale lengthen through the spine. Exhale folding forward. Inhale half arch. Opening through those shoulders. Good, and stepping back into plank.

Lowering down with control and strength. Inhale scooping the heart open, up dog. Remembering you can use your knees if you like to, to take you into downward facing dog. Good, inhale float one leg up. Exhale with your core strength.

You're gonna step it through the hands, ground through the outer edge of that back foot. Sink into the strength of your legs, as you float the arms up to the sun. Good, this time just open it right up into warrior two. Pause for a breath. Good, feel that opening happening in your body.

Start to straighten that front leg. Good, and if you have a block near by or something to rest your hand on, you might grab a block right now, for triangle or you can use your shin. Or you can reach it down to the ankle. All the way down to the earth, if that's right for you. We'll just be here for a few breath.

At this point in my practice I like to create a lot of opening in my shoulders, so the block really helps support me to do that. So I stock the hips and the shoulders, I ground the legs, I drop energy through the earth as I breathe. If it feels right on my neck I look up to the sun. Sometimes it feels good to kind of play around with angle the head and lift it a little higher than the chin. Or you can look down at your hand.

Good, and at this point you can just if you have a block, set it aside, start to bend that front knee. Come back into warrior two. And then find your back leg with your back finger tips. Just give it a little caress, but not weight on it. Just saying hello with those finger tips.

Front palm comes open. And we'll just go into reverse warrior. So spiraling the rib cage and the heart up to the sun. Good, getting a little bit a length in the sacrum. So you keep it out of your lumbar spine.

Breathing that heart space into the belly, into the pelvis, in the legs. Offering that breath back out to the sun, back out to the earth. And inhale warrior two. And big windmill of the arms, bringing them around stepping it back. If you'd like you can go straight into the downward dog, or lower down to the earth, scoop it forward.

Opening the heart and shoulders. Roll over those toes, into down dog. And float that leg up, and exhale it through. So, following the breath still. It's easy to lose that sometimes if you do, just bring it back.

Awareness to the inhales, you reach up into warrior one. Expand into warrior two. Good, we'll just pause for a bit. Again feeling that quality of the pose. Of the strength of your focus.

And then start to straighten that front leg. Reach those finger tips out and way as far as they can go. Let them float down. Shin, ankle, the earth down here. I'm gonna use my block, so I can stock my shoulders and really get that opening happening.

Stocking my hips. Good, the knees are kind of drawing in. Connecting the muscle to the bone on my legs. And my heart is opening, my side waist is getting a nice stretch. My eyes are looking up.

Or down, in one place. And then we'll just start to bend that front knee, and take ourselves back into warrior two. Just for a breath. A big invigorating inhale, and then a huge movement with the exhale when down. You're feeling the strength in our arms as we lower down.

And scooping it forward. Exhale rolling over the toes. Good, pausing here. Maybe we'll just rest our knees down for a breath or two and sink into child's pose. Just for couple of breaths.

Just acknowledging all of the work that we've done in this practice so far. Allowing ourselves the ability to just indulge, in the capacity of the body. And into the sensations and magic of the breath. In your next inhale come on to all fours. Tuck the toes.

Bring the pelvis and booty up to the sky, sink back on those heels. Press through the hands. Good, lengthen through the belly. And then bend your knees, look to your spot. And jump to it.

Inhale half arch, opening the shoulders. Opening the heart. Exhale fold. Let's pause here, one more time. So maybe it feels a little different than the first one, sure does to me.

And I'm just feeling a little gratitude for that. It's a little softer and my spine is a little more supple. My attention is more focused. Hopefully that's happening a little bit for you, if not it's OK too, just being with what is. If you need to bend your knees to feel length in the spine that's fine.

Good, lengthen the belly. We press into our feet and reach our hands open to the sun. And exhale hands to the heart. Good, we're gonna inhale reach again, exhale fold. Inhale half arch.

Exhale bend the knees step back into plank and pause here. Just feel your weight distributed throughout the body, just noticing the strength of your plank. Supporting all your internal organs with the strength of your abdomen. Long spine, crown is finding the tailbone. An integrated piece there.

And we'll just bring one leg into, between our hands into a lunge this time. And we'll feel free to drop that back knee, if necessary. Good, lengthening the spine. Just getting that stretch in the hip flexer. You can be here or here.

And you're gonna take a little twist if that's right for you. And depending on what's going on with your body today. So, you're gonna take that same arm of the leg that's bent, peel it up in a little twist, just reaching, lengthening through the spine. Good, just a little massage of those internal organs. With the breath with the movement.

Little detoxification. Good, and start to relax that top down back to the earth. Set that front leg back into plank. Good, we're gonna go into side planks. So you're gonna bring one arm under your shoulder.

You can bring the knee down in the side plank. And peel the top arm up or you can stock the feet and go straight into it. So, it look like this. Whatever feels right for you today. Pausing for a breath.

Good, if you want bring that arm up by the ear, expanding through the rib cage of the side body. Bring it all the way around. Back under the shoulder. And then let's just come back, into downward facing dog. Beautiful, you're doing beautifully.

I wasn't lying when I said it was a strong practice. I can feel myself getting a little sweaty here. Here we go, so the other leg's gonna step between the hands. And we're gonna release that knee down if we want to, otherwise keep it up. Pressing that hand, take the same arm of the bent leg and just twist yourself up to the sky.

Good. So expanding through the heart again. Reaching those shoulders far and wide apart so you can make room for the breath. Good. Getting a nice little massage of the spine in the internal organs.

And then just scoop that arm back down. Stepping back into plank, going into side plank. So other side just rotating yourself around again you can use your knee. And you can reach it up or you can stock the feet, and the side plank, engaging your lower obliques. Expanding through the rib cage.

If it feels good you might take the arm up by the ear. And just open it. And bring I right back under the shoulder. Rotating back into plank. If you're feeling inclined you can go through, chaturanga again or you can just meet me in downward facing dog.

We go through up dog opening, navel towards the spine. Sinking back onto those heels. And downward facing dog. Pausing for breath just regrouping. Feeling the expansion of this happen, the strength and on your exhale you'll bend the knees.

You'll find that spot that you wanna focus on, and you'll just jump to it or step to it. Inhale half arch. Exhale fold. And inhale arms are spread like big wings taking you up to the sun. Little upper back bend if you like.

Exhale, those hands to the heart. Good, and we'll just step those feet nice and wide. You may need a block for this. As you do some forward folds. I'll just keep it here just in case.

So the feet are gonna open, I'm gonna start moving into a little bit more of that soothing lunar goddess energy now. So we're just gonna sink a little bit bending the knees. Gonna reach through the hands, and it's the gesture of receptivity. Again expanding through those finger tips. And as we inhale we're gonna bring the elbows towards the rib cage, drawing that energy up from the earth.

Exhale expand through the heart a little bit more. Sink into it more if you'd like. Inhale, feel your goddess energy. Exhale. Good, one last time.

Inhale. Exhale expanding, radiating. Good. And we'll straighten the legs this time, just float the arms down. Pigeon toe those feet.

Open arms come up. We'll do a little shoulder opener 'cause we just did a million chaturangas or maybe you didn't, maybe you skipped them but either way it'll feel really good to get those shoulders open. You might do that by taking hold of your elbows. Interlacing your fingers or just resting your palms on your sakrum. So opening, getting a little bit of a lift in the upper body.

And a little bit of a lengthening through the sakrum tailbone. Good, and here's where you may or may not use a block. But you're gonna come all the way down and then just release the shoulder opener. And bring your hands to the earth, your head to a block if you'd like. Hand cut back like you're making a tripod, so they're helping stretch and deepen your stretch forward.

Maybe open your stance a bit more. Good, and just allow yourself to be lengthened by gravity. And grounded, lengthened and grounded simultaneously. Maybe play around with the shoulders, drawing them up by the ears and then down the back as you fold forward. Good, and on your next inhalation you're gonna float those arms open like wings and just take yourself back into standing.

Good, and open, you're gonna rotate your toes out. You're just gonna come up onto the ball of your back foot and you're gonna come into a crescent just for a couple of breaths. So you're bending as much as you need to in the back, the front knee's right over that ankle. And you're feeling that really sensual warm energy of the moon now. Little soothing, a little more soothing.

You'll straighten that back like as much as you need to. Good, clasp your hands if that feels right for you. Another breath, good start to peel open those arms. And then just bring yourself back around, by straightening that front leg grounding through the other leg and rotating it. So the back toes are about 45 degree angle, your feet might be about hip distance apart.

Then you're gonna sink into warrior one come on to the back toes and find your way into crescent. And see if you can get your hips, kind of that sensation of squaring to the earth, if they feel like that's what they're doing and you're getting a little stretch in the hip flexor and you can lift the spine up and straighten leg. Lengthening the spine. Good looking up at the moon. Feeling it's connection to you.

Start the peel the palms open. And then just ground that foot. Toes coming forward, straightening the legs. Let's just heel toe the feet together. Coming into the standing position.

And we will inhale get a nice stretch in the upper back. Exhale one more fold, bending our knees this time, just really softening to the earth. Bowing down to your belly, bowing down to mother earth. Pause here keeping your knees really bent. We're gonna come out of it by rolling up.

You might separate your feet. If you feel like you want a little support in the balance. And you just roll it up join the navel towards the spine. Tailbone towards the earth. Letting your head dangle and rest and soften.

Coming back into standing. Like a blossoming flower. Roll those shoulders again. Open down and back, feel your heart space expand. Hands to the heart.

And close your eyes. And if you have time please by all means, take some resting, shavasana or the more stretching on the earth. Otherwise for this practice we'll finish here. Namaste.