Nourishing Flow

Welcome and happy fall equinox. So fall is a time that we start to see nature slow down a little bit. We start to see the leaves change color, flowers turn to seed. There's a strength and stability in the season but also much more inward. There's a maturity, a wisdom to the season. So in our practice today we're going to see this reflected a slow nurturing flow with strength and stability but also the opportunity to dive in to that quietness, to that inwardness. So let's meet at the top of the mat. So having the feet spread about hip distance apart just nice and easy through the knees, hands at the heart and just closing the eyes and taking a moment to settle in as we begin our practice. And if it's part of your practice taking a moment to set an intention it can be little, it can be big, it can be representative of this entry into the fall. Exhale, pressing the palms down towards the earth. Inhale, sweep the arms up, urdhva hastasana. Exhale, folding forward, uttanasana. Legs are long, maybe a light bend to the knees or straight. Inhale, come halfway up. Exhale, fold in. Moving with breath, inhale, rising up again. You can keep the legs a little soft, elbow soft. Exhale, folding in. Inhale, lengthen, create a little bit more room. Exhale, fold. Root to rise, inhale, coming all the way up. And just three more times like this, exhaling all the way in. Using your full breath to move. Inhale, rising halfway, let the hands slide up the shins or keeping the hands on the floor. Exhale, fold it in. Root to rise, coming all the way up. Exhale, right back in. Inhale. Exhale, fold. Strong base, inhale, rise up long through the torso. It's time to exhale, the hands right to the heart. To heal the feet a little bit wider. Inhale, sweep the arms up. On an exhale, either folding forward or start to bend the knees coming down into your variation of malasana. So it might hold right here into a high malasana. For some, you can go all the way down. With the palms pressed, lift the hips on an inhale, lengthening through the heart. Exhale, fold in. Keeping the feet wide, inhale, rise up. Exhale, lowering again into your variation of malasana. Again, if that doesn't flow for you, you can also take a forward fold.

Exhale, hands to the floor. Lift the hips, take the heart forward. Exhale, fold. Strong base through the feet. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, back into malasana. Hands to the earth, hips lift, heart comes forward. Exhale, fold in. One more time through. Inhale, rise up.

Exhale, all the way in. Hands to the earth, hips lift on an inhale. Exhale, fold in. Inhale, come halfway up. Toe heel the feet in slightly so they're right under your hips. Take the right leg back into a runner's lunge. Take a moment to pause to draw the left hip back, heart forward. Good. On your next inhale, draw the heart forward. And then exhale, round tuck the chin and lift the spine towards the sky. Inhale, lift the chest.

Good. Exhale, round. Inhale, left hip still drawing back. Exhale, round. Inhale, draw the heart forward. Bring the palms of your stepping back into plank pose. And choosing how you want to lower to the floor, either straight down, knees, and then chest. With your breath, rise up, bhujangasana. On the inhale, tops of the feet, press, heart comes forward. And then exhale, wave it down slowly. Four more, letting your breath initiate the movement.

Good. Exhale, wave it down. Inhale, rise. And exhale. Inhale. Last one on an inhale. Try to stay really soft through the heart, drawing the shoulders back. Exhale, traveling back into downward facing, either pressing up knees or right into plank, back into downward facing. For this first one, let's just take five breaths.

Checking in, wrist creases parallel, soft spread of the fingers. It's starting to spin, inner upper arms forward, outer arms back, creating this light scoop of the armpits. Again, finding that softness again through the eyes, through the cheeks, through the throat. In your next inhale, bring the right foot forward, back into a runner's lunge. And it might be one step forward, might be 20. On an inhale, draw the heart forward. Draw the right hip back at the same time.

Exhale, round tuck, draw it in. So we might just be moving a few centimeters, a few inches. Inhale, just creating a little bit of movement through the spine. Exhale. And in. Exhale, round. On your next inhale, draw the chest forward. Step the left foot to meet the right. Continue to lengthen through the chest. Toe heal the feet hip distance and mat distance apart, and then fold forward.

Root through the feet. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, either moving through malasana, deep squat, or a forward fold. Again, your choice. Exhale, hands down, lift the hips. Chest comes forward. Exhale, fold. Inhale, come halfway up. It's time left foot steps back. Runner's lunge, draw the chest forward. On an exhale, lengthen through the right leg. Draw the right hip back. Maybe fold in.

Inhale, come forward. Sweep the heart forward. Exhale, press the right hip back, folding forward. In. Just nice and slow with your breath. Exhale. Inhale, bring the palms down. Step back. Bring top of the right foot down, top of the left foot down, and start to roll forward. Thighs, belly, chest, right into upward facing. If this doesn't work for you, you can also bring knees down, and you can also lower down into low cobra.

From here, draw the hips up. Choice of curling the toes under one at a time right here. Or for some, you can start to lift the hips back into downward facing, getting a light stretch, and then curl it over. And three breaths here. On your next inhale, bring the left foot forward. Draw the left hip back. Heart lifts on an inhale. Exhale, take the left hip back, start to straighten the left leg.

Inhale, come forward. Exhale, back. Last one. Inhale. Exhale. From your next inhale, bring right foot to meet left.

Heart reaches forward. Exhale, fold. Root through the feet. Inhale, rise up. Take the feet a little bit wider. Exhale, coming back into malasana or forward fold. Hands of the earth, lift the hips. Exhale, fold. On your inhale, come halfway up. Toe heel the feet in.

Step back into downward facing dog. From here, slide forward into plank pose. Again, top of the right foot down, top of the left foot, and then start to wave its thighs, pubic bone, belly, heart, and maybe start to open up through the throat. Right, but long through the back of the neck. Lift the hips, curl the toes under, bend the knees, come all the way down onto your belly. Taking the right arm out to the side, you can bring the right ear to the floor, bend the left elbow, bend the left knee, start to roll on to your right side.

Right, so as we start to get a little deeper into the shoulder joint, be light, be soft. If there's any mischief, come out. You can fast forward past this part. Let's see if you can just soften through the eyes. And so they come back onto the belly, lengthen out through the back leg, bring the right hand in, line up by the mid ribs, inhale, lift up low cobra, and then exhale, wave it down, coming on to the left side, left arm reaches out, left ear down, right knee bends, and then slowly roll on to the left side. Right, maybe this right knee starts to lift up towards the ceiling, and the right bottom of the foot comes to the floor.

And just slowly soften around any resistance. If you find yourself pressing into the tension, see if you can soften, back up, be willing to take two steps back. And slowly unpacking the pose, coming out the way we came in, rising up low cobra when you arrive onto your belly, inhale, and exhale, release. Coming up into downward facing dog, again, you choose either knees up to plank or straight up, hips lift. For a transition, just bringing the right foot forward into a runner's lunge, and then take the hands in front, turning toes in, heels out, so outer edges of the feet are parallel. Then on an exhale, walk the hands out, take the ears in line with the arms, and see if you can keep the sit bone in line with the heel.

And just lengthen, lengthen through the torso creating space, and slowly walking the hands back. And with our breath, we're going to slowly begin to explore through skandhasana on an exhale. Let the right sit bone start to dip towards the right heel, and let the hands travel a bit towards the right. So keeping the heart lifted, you can also bring the hands up onto blocks, the heel can also lift. On your inhale, come back across center, let the left sit bone drop towards the left heel. If you feel any stickiness, any resistance, you can kind of move a little bit. So instead of just press, press, press into that place where we feel tension, be willing to back up. All right, inhale, come across center, and your exhale, dip to the side. Trying to create a little softness through the left knee.

Back across center, dip towards the left. And it's time through center. On an exhale, let your left side, your right sit bone, come all the way to the floor, let the left toes lift up. From here, take the left hand across the shin, right arm reaches up and over. Right, so if this is not available, you can also bring the foot down, turn the chest coming into jhanyusyarsasana. If this is available, reach across, right arm comes up to frame the ear, and you can let the right sit bone lift up. So see if you can spin, lower left ribs under, gaze up towards the ceiling. Inhale. Just slowly lifting the torso up. Bring the hands in front. We're just going to switch sides, so letting the left sit bone dip down towards the left heel, right toes lift. Slowly bring the right hand across to the left shin, and then dipping down, so we're bringing the lower right ribs under, left arm reaches up and over. And if you want, you can reach for the foot, we can just reach in space.

If it's a lot on the neck, you can also let the right ear start to drop towards the right shoulder to get that yummy neck stretch. You can play with the different energy of really reaching through the arm and then letting the elbow bend just to feel that softness. Going to inhale slowly rising up. Turn the torso towards the front of your mat, crawl forward as we return back to downward facing dog. Nice and slowly walking the feet up to the hands. Soften through the knees, interlace the hands behind the back, start to take the fist maybe up towards the ceiling, maybe a little in front.

Just trying to snuggle the chest down towards the thighs and then maybe start to play with lengthening through the legs. So bring your awareness to your feet, see if you can play with the weight a little bit more forward. So we're looking for an equal balance on the feet for the tendencies to kind of rock back in the heels. Soften through the elbows, still keep a little softness in the knees. Exhale, release the hands. Toe heel to feet again, hip distance to mat distance apart and then root through the feet, inhale, rise up. On an exhale, your choice forward fold or right down into malasana.

Exhale, hips lift, chest comes forward, fold forward on the exhale. Inhale, rise up halfway, toe heel the left foot in slightly, take the right foot back, runner's lunge. Good, setting up warrior one, drop the back heel, inhale, rise up warrior one. On an exhale, let the hands come down by the side, lift onto the ball of the back foot as you bend the back knee. Interlace the hands, inhale, lengthen, explore a slight back bend and then exhale, release. Stepping back plank pose this time, top of the left foot down first, then right, lift the hips so there's a little bit of strength stability here and then wave it down, thighs, pubic bone, belly, chest. Lift the hips, choosing either flip the toes here or take it all the way up, downward facing.

On an inhale, bring the right foot forward, runner's lunge, draw the right hip back, setting up, drop the back heel, inhale, rise up warrior one. Right, exhale, press the palms down, lift on the ball of the back foot as you bend the knee. Interlace the hands, lift the heart. Exhale, release. Bring the gaze forward on an inhale, step left foot meets right. Exhale, fold. Root to rise, inhale. Good, feet a little bit wider, exhale, coming into my last note or a forward fold.

Hands down, hips lift, heart comes forward. Exhale, left foot back, runner's lunge, take a pause in the setup, drop the back heel, inhale, rise up warrior one, strong, steady. Exhale, press the palms down, lift the back heel. Inhale, explore. Exhale, hands down, stepping back, plank pose.

Top of the right foot, top of the left foot, hips lift and really seal up the palms. Wave forward, thighs, pubic bone, belly, heart, shoulders back. Exhale, back, downward facing. On an inhale, left foot comes forward. Take a pause, draw the left hip back, drop the back heel, warrior one, feet and then inhale, rise up vyadabhadrasana A. Exhale, hands come down, lift on the ball of the back foot. Find an interlace of the hands, light through the elbows, press the back leg, lift the heart. Exhale, hands down. Inhale, bring the right foot to meet the left.

Exhale, fold. Inhale, rising up. Toe, heal the feet, hip distance and mat distance apart and then come back down into malasana and pause. Right, this one we hold. Right, so you can choose hands at heart, hands down, just tuning in knees in the same direction of the toes. Right, so really tune into where you feel this is this one of those poses that the moment you get in the moment you want to come out. And if it is, can you find a way to back up?

You know maybe it's using a block to sit on, maybe it's shifting side to side. Right, so playing with the energies of being soul-grounded, grounded through the feet and this a light lift through the heart. It's all the way up through the neck, through the eyes, through the crown of the head. And exhale, taking the hands, the earth, lift the hips. Inhale, heart forward, toe, heel, the feet slightly in.

On an exhale, take the right leg back, runner's lunge. And slowly drop the back heel, inhale, rise up, warrior one. Keep the feet and legs as they are, exhale, take the palms down. Interlace behind you again, slight back bend. On an exhale, fold forward, this time humble warrior.

Left hip draws back, left shoulder comes inside the left thigh. Right, so tune in, see if you can kind of move through the elbow joint. And you can play with the depth of your lunge, taking the left sit bone down a little bit. But the tendency to what happens is the left hip wants to come way forward. See if you can create a relationship and just simply encourage it to draw back. Exhale, release the arms down inside the left thigh. Come on to the ball of the back foot, lower the back knee and shin. So playing a little bit here with lizard pose, just getting real quiet with ourselves. And it might be right here, this might be plenty. You might want to lift up onto a block or a phone book, something available, or for some coming down onto the forearms.

And just let the head go, even with the head letting go, there's still the lightness of bringing the heart forward. The tendency is to rock more onto the right side and stay light through the left elbow. See if you can impress weight into the left side. Just lightly drilling the knee in towards the shoulder. And see if you can ride your breath. Really just staying with each each moment.

Right, sometimes I can feel when I get into my hips a little bit here my breath gets a little bumpy. So just playing with smoothing out the breath. And for some whose hips are more open, it's more about the stability here of drawing left, hip back, right leg forward and creating a strength. And slowly on an inhale coming back up onto the palms. Toe heel the foot in a little slightly and frame the front foot, shift the hips back, Ardhana Manasana. Just a sweet counter, flex the toes, lift the heart and then start to fold forward lightly. And so again playing with the heart moving in the direction the toes just finding space through the spine.

And slowly crawling forward through a runner's lunge, stepping back into plank. Moving through our transition, top of the right foot down, top of the left foot, wave it forward, knees, thighs, belly, heart, shoulders back and if it feels all right on the neck, take the neck long and then maybe the gaze up. Good, hips lift strong, either curling toes under here or lifting up. A little stretch through the front of the foot, curl the toes under, downward facing. On an inhale, right foot forward, runner's lunge, right hip back. Exhale, drop the left foot, inhale, rise up, warrior one. Keeping the legs as they are, exhale, hands down by the side.

Interlays take a little exploration of a back bend and then exhale, come forward, right shoulder and side, right thigh, humble warrior. Let's see if you can draw the right hip back. So you engage the back leg all the way down through the outer edge of the left foot. And then exhale, bringing the hands down inside the right thigh. Come on the ball of the back foot, lower the back knee, come into lizard pose. So it might be right here, might be up on a block or phone books. For some, you can start to lower down onto the forearms. And again, remember it's the outer edge that we tend to lean in towards. See if you can bring the right forearm down a little heavier.

And then maybe you can draw the right knee a little closer than mine wants to today. And again, just riding the breath. And see the breath that we can learn so much about ourselves. And if you feel that tension, see if you can soften up around the resistance. Maybe it's moving out a little bit and moving back in.

And so like coming back up onto the palms. Toe heel the right foot in slightly, shift the hips back, take the right toes up and exhale, fold forward. Arda hanumanasana. So seeing if you can keep the hips in line and the heart still coming forward. And bringing the gaze forward, crawling through a runner's lunge. On an inhale, left foot meets right. Exhale, fold. Root through the feet, inhale, rise up. Toe heel the feet, hip distance and mat distance apart, and come right back into malasana. And this one we hold again. So again, you can play fingertips down, hands to heart. And see if you can lift the upper back, almost like you're trying to lift up and over a bar across your shoulder blades.

As if someone's just pressing really lightly to the back of your heart. And there's just a little extra support. So exhale, bring the hands down. Inhale, lift the hips. Toe heel the feet back in slightly. Exhale, fold in. Inhale, come up and then step back slowly, downward facing dog. Your next inhale, slowly traveling forward into plank pose. Just lower softly to the knees, coming all the way onto your belly.

And this time starting, taking the left arm out to the side. Bend the right knee, rolling on to the left side. So again, diving into the shoulder opener. So going in easy, easy, easy. Any of these poses, it's like we simply knock on the door waiting for the invitation to go a little deeper. When we press against the resistance, we create more of an inflammation, more of aggression that we almost block ourselves from going deeper. So option to stay right here. If your body's craving a little deeper twist and it's available, you can bend the left knee, taking the left palm of the foot to the floor.

Again, see if you can just soften your left ear down. As your body's in a twist, see if you can still play with the breath, filling up the lungs fully. And play with that feeling of expansion through the ribs. And then roll it back onto your belly. You have hands by the mid ribs, finding low cobra just to neutralize.

And then exhale, waving it down. Right side, right arm out. Bend the left knee and slowly roll it over to the right side. And just let the eyes close. So maybe choosing to stay right here, for some it might be available to bend the right knee, bringing the right palm of the foot onto the floor. Again, see if you can just let the right ear soften towards the floor. So in our bodies, we all have a little different places where we feel tension, resistance, sometimes laxity.

And so tune into those places for you. Where do you start to feel resistance? Where do you feel ease? And then slowly unpacking the pose, coming back onto the belly, coming out the same way you came in. Arriving bhujangasana, back on the mat. Exhale, and press all the way back into child's pose, big toes touch.

Thighs can be shoulder distance apart, or you can go a little bit wider if you want to go a little deeper. And since we were just in the shoulders, maybe taking the arms back and then simply let the shoulders get heavy. And you can either let them rest on your thighs, or for some, the torso is a little longer, you can let the arms drape down. And slowly peeling up the torso. I'm going to have you slide towards the top of your mat, bring your right shin parallel to the top of the mat, and then just kind of let your back leg hang out. Take your right hand out to the side, like you're leaning away from your right leg, kind of like you're just chit chatting with friends on the beach here.

You're going to take your left hand underneath your right thigh, and grab a hold, like grab a hold of the flesh, spin it up towards the ceiling, and then press down as if you're now pulling away from yourself. So I'm going to start to walk away, I can feel my tights and my skin on my mat, and I'm going to start to walk my back leg and travel forward. So you may think we're going towards pigeon, but a little different. So I'm going to ask that again, we're rewinding, we're going for something completely different, and if this leg, if it feels in the knee too much, let it travel back. You can start to let the left hip soften down, right hip forward, and then stay high here. You can soften through the back top of the foot.

For some, you might start to lower the chest, but I'm going to ask that you find something a little different that we just don't flop down into that place we always go to. I'm going to be willing to try something new, because if we do what we always do, we're going to get what we always get. As you start to ease in, maybe coming down onto the forearms. And just breathing, breathing into that outer right hip. Okay, so I like to think of this pose as we move into the fall season that there is a maturity, a wisdom, so instead of just going right in to our deepest place, that we explore along the path.

Sometimes when we just get to where we're going, we miss the whole journey. And slowly lifting up the torso. Keep the front leg as it is, bring the left leg all the way around, setting up for double pigeon, flexing the feet. You're going to stack the feet on top, your left foot on top of the outer right knee, right foot lined up with the left knee, and then if available again, it might look like this, and you might need blocks underneath to support any knee pain, knee mischief at all. Skip it. Fingertips come behind you, lift the chest, and then option to stay right here, finding this extension and this rooting, or if available, you can start to walk the hands forward. And again, instead of just going right over, if you know that that's the place that you can get to, find something else a little different. Maybe it's really feeling the sit bones touch the earth.

And for some, you can lower down onto the forearms. Okay, so we're lifting up the torso, starting to take the left leg long. Actually, let's switch that up, bring the left leg in, right leg long, setting up for jhanu shirshasana. So left foot comes inside the right thigh, and then find a slight twist here, taking the torso long over the right thigh. Start with fingertips behind so you feel the sit bones rooting down, torso, heart turning towards the toes, and then just draw yourself in. We're still finding a twist. So the hands can go maybe shins, floor. For some, you might like to grab hold of the foot. Sometimes I like to grab the outer edge of my pinky side of my foot just to draw it back lightly.

Wherever you choose, just see if you can soften again through the eyes, jaw, through the shoulders. And again, matching the season, there's the stability and strength, but also a real sweetness, a real ease, a real maturity. And inhale, slowly rising up. Just slide forward bringing the left shin parallel to the top of the mat. Take the right leg behind. Scoot off to the side like you're just hanging out, chit-chatting with friends on the beach. Right hand underneath, hook on to the flesh, draw it up towards the ceiling, and then draw yourself away. Start to peel your torso forward as you walk the back leg back. So you should feel this a little differently than just sliding right into pigeon pose. So maybe staying up right here.

Maybe just the softness of the right hip down. Maybe for some coming on the forearms, but stopping yourself from just simply dropping in to where you usually go to. Pick something a little new. Notice as we start to play out a little deeper in the hips, if your jaw tends to tense a little bit. You can also bring in jiva bondar, which is a really sweet touch right behind the two front teeth. Try not to touch the enamel, just with your tongue, just so very lightly. Almost like you're just trying to pick up one grain of sugar. Once you find that little sweet spot, you can start to feel the ears maybe just open a little bit more. Maybe.

Your next inhale coming up onto your palms. Slowly bring the right leg all the way forward, setting up again for double pigeon right leg on top, and taking a moment to line up the feet with the knees. And again, you might get into this. It might be way up here. Any knee pain, skip it, not worth it. You can stick blocks, pillows, any kind of support under here. And as we start, take the finger pads behind, lift the chest. And again, just feeling the sit bones root. And maybe starting to fold forward. Again, along the way, pick something new on the journey.

And so inhale, rising up, taking the right leg long. Actually, left leg long this time. Right foot on the inside. John, your sheer shyness, start to lift up through the torso, spin the torso over the left thigh, and then slowly coming forward. And again, you can reach hands towards foot or on the floor, not getting caught up of anywhere to go to get to. And see if you can play with a little rooting of the sit bones, lengthening through the spine. And still maintaining that light twist. Inhale, slowly coming up. Take both legs out long, Paschimottanasana.

Again, starting finger pads facing behind you, lift up through the chest. So this might be plenty. As you start to fold forward, you can flip the hand, starting to draw your chest forward. The moment you find your spine, shoulders rounding in, back up a bit. Right, so still maintaining the heart coming forward. Crown reaching forward to the back of the next lung. I liken this pose really to play and connect with my breath, really taking full, complete inhales and exhales to really expand through the rib cage, feeling those places in between right in the intercostal muscles. And slowly on inhale, rising up. Bend the knees, lowering all the way down to your back.

And just let the bottoms of your feet come together. Let the knees play out wide. So from here, you can also create blocks, blankets, create a little support system underneath the thighs. And then bring your pointer finger and middle finger right between your eyebrows. I'm just going to finish here before we move into Shavasana with a little Nadi Chodna breath, more a balancing breath. So as we're playing on the cusp of the seasons here, moving into fall, sometimes we leave summer with a lot of solar energy, a lot of high energy, and then we start to move into more grounding energy or more of our moon energy. So playing with that balance, this is a really great breath. So pointer finger and middle finger right between the eyebrows, just a light touch. Thumb and ring finger very lightly to the crest of the nose. And just breathe lightly without pressing. And then when you're ready, taking an inhale, closing off the left nostril very slowly through the right, breathing in. At the top, holding a slight retention.

I'm pressing right nostril and opening up left, slowly breathing out the left. A light retention at the bottom. And slowly breathing in through the left. Slight retention at the top. Slowly breathing out the right.

We just continue with that pattern. Breathing in the right, retention, breathing out the left, retention, breathing in the left, retention, breathing out the right. So just a few times on your own. And playing with the length, finding a soft, just on the edge of comfort in the length of your breath. Breathing in through the left nostril. Breathing in through the left nostril. Breathing in through the left nostril.

Breathing in through the left nostril. And the next time you finish up breathing out the left side. Slowly taking the hands down. And then slowly using the hands to lift the thighs up. Take one leg long at a time, coming into our final pose, shavasana.

And just allow your body to get heavy against the floor, feeling the support of the floor. So you can let go even more. And so the whole play with shavasana is it's not dropping out, it's being even more present. So as thoughts come up, just allowing them to go by. And simply staying with your breath. Breathing.

Breathing. Breathing. And slowly taking a little deeper inhale. If it feels good, beginning to wiggle the fingers, the toes. And just choosing one side to roll to.

As you roll to one side, sitting up without disturbing yourself very much. Maybe keeping the eyes closed down for a few moments. Bring your hands to your heart. Thank you for joining me. Have a great fall equinox. And please join Kira and Alana for their class offerings.