Dragon Flow Practice For Happy Hips And Mobility

The Dragon Flow is a simple and powerful dynamic stretch sequence that is especially beneficial for people who spend a lot of time sitting each day.

It activates the whole body, improving balance and stability while stretching the areas that accumulate tension as a result of sitting in front of a computer or driving.

The entire sequence (both sides of the body) can be done in 2 minutes or slowed right down as a way to go deeper into the stretches.

It brings a lot of awareness to significant imbalances in the body (between the left and right side).

Transcript

So. . . Dynamic stretching We do this before we engage in any sort of physical activity to kind of prime the body, The mind, Warm up the muscles, Warm up the nervous system. This particular routine I've developed over the last several years. Of drain flow. And it could be used as a. Newstress routine, Which would suggest, Like, At least the whole sequence can be done on one side in one minute. But it can also be used as a slow yoga practice as well. So it really hits all the right places, Especially those that tend to be really tight as a result. Seeing chairs and that's not so We'll break it down and then. . . Actually will be too cold forward. So when you do this, Just making sure you're using really stay connected with the breath into your nose, Out to your mouth. I really used an audible Excel that will. . . Yeah, It's really focused on for I think it's really focusing on the alignment. So. We'll break it down. The first part is the standing part of it. So I want you to just need your posture. And let's begin by Inhaling the knee up, You're going to let your one hand come to the other side of your knee, One hand on your ankle, And then exhale as you push your knee towards the center line. And then let's just switch this up, Actually. Other knee up, Exhale. Yeah, Yep. Excellent push. So you should get my stretch to your own side again. Keep the chest open. I'll meet him soon. I have point of focus so you have that balance. Wherever you're brought. Where the posture, Minimal tension. Okay, So that's the first one. The next part of the sequence is you're gonna do like a standing position. So I'm gonna do facing from here, What I would do is I would come in this position, I flex the foot. I soften the knee and then I would just sit my hips back like I've seen a chair as I reach my arms forward. So let's just practice that moment itself. Yeah, Make sure you flex the foot to protect the knee, Sit the hips back, Reach forward. Seeing you come up staying with your arms relaxed, Beautiful. Really use that exhale to get sticky. We're going to catch the next part. Yeah, Quite a stretch. They're just going to grab the top thing, The ankle and foot. He needs to get hips forward, Just like before. Still squeezes you, Since you break knees together, Hips forward and reach your knee down. Bring it to your butt. Do the heel to your butt. Knees back. Next part and the next part with the you graph from here you do low quad stretch and then you re hinge and you would get a nice hamstring stretch. You keep your shoulders and hips level so they don't open up. Right. I like to use my thumb in my center line and we come back up center once again coming into that quad stretch. OK, So. It's working. Yeah. Standing. Yep, When you bounce you. So, Thumb in seven line, I hinge. In the hips, Feel the stretch of my standing leg. And they come back up, Questions. Are you walking through breathing? Yeah, So Ideally, I like to use the exhale during the most difficult phase, Right? So in this case, For that phase, It would literally be like. . . Squat stretch. I mean, Squat stretch. I could take an inhale here and then exhale a hinge. Inhale tall. Yeah. The most important thing is, Especially at this point, Because we're really breaking down, Is just continuous breathing. So you could even breathe like this. Remember this shorter, Continuous breath, Like. . . By continuously breathing, It ensures that I'm less likely to tense up. We're going to now bring that whole standing part of the sequence together so we don't exhaust those stabilizers too much. So just watch me from home. This was a beautiful first half the sequence. Inhale in the up. Go. 4. That would be the first half of the sequence. So we do it again on the other side. So it'll help you out. Push towards it like who? Crossing, Plug me, Hips back, Reach forward, Hold. I stomp around the top of the foot. Cross stretch. Hamstring stretch. Nice. Okay, Other side. Let's take a moment and just think about the moments. I do for you and that you're already upon your system. I didn't so bad. But yeah, This was my fault. What's in the pickle? That's it. Come out with any moments. This week we're back. Okay. So. Excuse me, The second part of the sequence. Thank you. I can see this gear come back up. Here, I just step my foot forward for it. Not too much, Right? So just enough that I'm very balanced stable. And from here, I will just merely place my hands underneath my shoulders as I step out of my other foot. Come eat you a dragon lunch. Okay, So from here, This is where I'll spend the most time. Just make sure I'm properly set up. I want to make sure that my hands are into my shoulders. This leg, The front leg is beside my. . . Arm and if I look straight back my foot is would be like in this lie here, Just like on the inside of this hand. So this is where I spend most time and it's quite a deep stretch. So what I'll do is I'll just breathe in here and I'll just do some hip circles. Who? You know, Out for the other way, Home. Yeah, Nice and slow Take fingers spread wide. Like increasing the elbows. From here Come still us. I'm going to bring my forearm between my arm and leg. In your gaze and heart shine forward, Exhale lower down, Cool. You hit forward and that's it. My hands back on these shoulders. Outside hand reaches forward, So I shift my fling to my left, And then from here you have breathe, Brace your core strong as you reach forward and push back your heel. That's all like this. God, You should get that max engaged. From here, Inside hand reaches forward, Push back the heel, Brace your core. And from here, Inhale, Float the head up, Stop the shoulders, Flip your thumb. And then I like to do a little pulse here. I like this one, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six at least. And it comes straight down to the ground. So I lower down my back knee. And set myself up for lunch. So I allow my front foot to come to the inside of my hand. So I had this. Set up so my front knee is above the ankle and I would have both two-fifths distance between my foot and my back knee. Okay, A space of tweaking. Once I have that set up, I commit to my merge. So from here, Handsome hips, Hawaii tune. Right, You draw your right hand forward, That's it back. Tuck your tailbone into and you should feel pretty strong stretch in front of that hip, Yeah? That's great, Yeah? Okay, Breathe that area. Sometimes I will give myself a little percussion massage here. Help encourage those muscles to kind of relax a bit more as I breathe into it. But you are really sure you maintain that structure you do so. Unpack the tail of screenworms. Okay, From here. Keep that alignment. I'm going to inhale. My arms reach high to sky. And then I'm going to grab my right wrist from my left hand. As I inhale, Tall is it? And then exhale, Side bend to my third left. Ooh, Getting into the ribs all the way down to the hip. He and he will come back to center. As I exhale from here, I'm going to come into my front knee, Trapping my toes, My shoulders come down, Holding the beach ball above my head. This is going to get deep into that great hip. And from here, I shift my hip spot, I mean to this intensive hamstring stretch. So, Flex the front foot, Bend the knee as much as you need to so your fingers are connected with the ground. And then from here, I inhale nice and tall, Gaze heart shine forward. Exhale, Bow deeply into my left hand leg. Let your chin tuck again. Oh, There's some sound here, Dude. It's quite intense. Inhale, Gaze heart shine forward. Excel. Ah. Flossing all the back side. Ah, Good after three times. Reset yourself up for your lunch. Sit nice and tall. And then with an exhale, Come up standing. Let's just set ourselves up for the second half sequence for the other side. So after I would actually complete this moment, Paste any sequence. You know, I then just step the foot over, Forth, Enough that I feel balanced, Stable. And then from here, Hands are going to come straight and shoulders as I step my back. Coming to a Dragon Lodge. I'm so happy to get some sunrape. OK, From this position. It was take a moment to really make sure we're really well set up here and he can just do some gentle hip circles just to We didn't stand. What you do you want? Allow you to laugh. But do you hear some stillness? Bring your right horn between your arm and your leg. He's in hard shining forward. And then exhale, Lower down. Hands underneath the shoulders. Shift your way into your right hand, Right leg as you reach your left hand forward. Breathe, Brace, And strong and push and reach. Head comes down on your shoulders. Shift your weight to your left hand. Inside hand reaches forward. Reach and push. Reach your core. Inhale, Float the head up, Stack the shoulders, Look at your right thumb, Then pulse the head back, Engage in the back of the shoulder and the back of the shoulder blade for six times. Slow pulse. So reach up to the side first and then pulse back. I cheer, Oh. Pulsing like you're opening up. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six. Go ahead and streak down. Once you have a hand underneath shoulder, Or back me down? With control. Bring the right foot and take inside your right hand. Sample your lunge. If I need about the ankle, Will you ready? Come to your lunch? Hands on hips. Make sure you feel stable here. Left hip forward, Right hip back and then tuck the tail. Get that nice, Big stretch in front of the hip. And let's just take this time since it's our first one just to. . . Do a gentle percussion massage. Relax it. Use a green into this area. Encourage you to relax softened. Like the nut. Actively tucking the tailbone underneath us to the gym without a stretch. Good. Here, Inhale, Hands reach high in the sky. Now you're going to grab your left wrist with your right hand. Inhale, Lengthen, Exhale, Side bend. Oh, Get into that. Side ribs down to the hip. Breathe into that just for a moment. So we can do this as a kind of a Yossi sequence where you can just. . . You may hang out in these postures for as long as you feel That's very great. So it's balancing both sides. They're coming back same with the inhale We can exhale. Now you come into that front knee, Knees track with the toes, You kind of. . . Tilt the house forward. Let the shoulders come down like a whole beach pop off your head. And then shift the hips back, Setting yourself up for your intense hamstring stretch. So make those adjustments. Flexing the front foot, The big toe in the center line. Bend the front knee as much as you need to so your hands can connect to the ground so there's some support there. And then with an inhale, Gaze and heart shine forward. Come right up on your fingertips. Exhale, Bow deep into the leg. Make some sound, Ah, Tuggy-chipy. And okay, So how's showing forward? Exhale. Ah. In the case of a sharp board. I hope so. Um three times we We set ourselves up for lunch. And then you'd also explore breathing, Embrace the core, And come up standing just for that extra engagement here. And you'll find that it will help you feel more stable. And that would essentially just lead right into the next sequence, Right? So we're not going to do it from the top. Bringing it all together. And we'll take your time going through it before and eventually speed up a little more. Okay? Do you have any questions?