30 Minute Slow Flow

This practice is a mini version of the regular hour-long Michigan-style slow-flow practice. We begin in standing forward folds, connect to the breath and focus on awareness, then start moving toward Sun Salutation A right away. There is a little bit of holding in bigger postures, some simple stretching to cool down and then we finish up on the back for savasana. "All of the growth that we’re hoping for, all of the healing that we might need... it begins with awareness."

Transcript

Good morning or good evening or maybe afternoon where you are when you're starting this practice,

Yogis.

We're gonna start in a standing forward fold top of the mat.

And so you're just gonna hinge at the hips and let your head and hands follow your heart,

Fall closer to your thighs.

You might put a little bend in the knee.

We're gonna get right into it this morning.

Right away,

Connect with your breath.

There's a quote that I love and it says that we don't walk away from people to teach them a lesson.

We actually walk away from people because we've learned ours.

And it doesn't just apply to people.

It applies to things and habits and beliefs and anything that we're willing or ready to let go of.

It's because we've learned our own lessons and those lessons that we learn begin with awareness.

So full awareness of the breath,

Full awareness of your body and this structure and this position,

Awareness of the back and the toes and the feet pressing into the floor.

I want you to take a halfway lift and breathe in and then fold right back in and exhale.

A few more breaths here in this forward fold.

Maybe feet about hip distance apart.

If they're too wide or they're too close together,

Give them a little wiggle,

Give them a little space.

And take another inhale,

Halfway lift.

Let's step it into a pushup position or plank pose.

So palms come down and feet go back.

And just feel that lengthening,

That strengthening of back and belly,

The full body engagement here.

Toes tucked under,

Maybe knees drop onto the floor.

Five steady breaths and then begin to lower down through that pushup.

Pull your heart through softly and that might mean coming up into a sphinx pose instead of a cobra.

Lift your heart,

Soften the lower back,

Point your toes.

Then we're gonna sink on back child's pose,

So hips toward your heels.

We don't walk away from people to teach them a lesson.

We walk away because we've learned ours and yoga is a really beautiful practice to learn about ourselves.

All of the growth that we're hoping for,

All of the healing that we might need,

All of the wisdom that we might seek,

It begins with awareness.

Become aware of the breath.

And then let's pull up yogi's hands and knees,

Tabletop pose and I just want you to take a few breaths here and maybe more than a few breaths to get some movement.

Let it be intuitive.

So I just want you to tune into your body as you're here on the hands and knees.

Try to keep your hands and knees on the ground and just shift a little,

Sway a little.

You might pull forward into what would be a little bit of a cobra.

You might press back into child's pose.

Maybe it's just arcing,

Rounding,

Swinging and swaying through the spine.

Maybe the head gets involved here.

And then come back to a neutral spine.

So there's not much movement in any direction.

In tabletop pose,

I want you to tuck your toes under,

Pull the knees up off of the ground but just a little bit hover and then send it into downward facing dog real slow.

Hips are high and head drops low and maybe some adjustments in the body or the breath.

And then rise up onto tippy toes from this down dog.

Walk forward,

Feet up toward your fingertips,

Right back into that fold that we started class with.

So feet coming up,

Head dropping down,

Take a halfway lift,

Peek out in front of you,

Lengthen through the spine and then fold back in,

Chest toward thighs.

Let's roll up to standing on this first one.

So press through the feet and just roll your way up to standing,

Sweeping the arms wide and tall and I want you to connect the palms above the head.

Bend the elbows and slowly bring those hands in front of your heart,

Thumbs pressing in to your skin or maybe it's your shirt but thumbs pressing in so that you can actually feel the next inhale come.

Feel it underneath of those thumbs.

And then exhale,

Drop your arms by your side.

Let's reach up,

Yogis.

So fingertips toward the ceiling,

Lengthen the arms.

Grab a hold,

Right hand to left wrist and we're gonna tug it on over to the right side.

Back up through center we go,

Switch hands,

Left hand,

Right wrist,

Lean to the left side.

Come back through center,

Reach up,

Maybe gaze up and then forward fold fingertips come down toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Come into that plank pose,

So palms down and feet back but instead of taking a vinyasa,

I just want you to sink hips back toward your heels,

Child's pose.

Find your breath,

Full awareness here.

And then we're gonna pull forward into a back bend.

So we're gonna pull forward into cobra or if you need to keep it low,

Sphinx pose.

Glue your forearms to the ground.

Maybe it's up dog if you're feeling really flexy today.

And then move into that downward dog.

It might require you to back up onto hands and knees first.

Lift the hips,

Drop the head,

Upside down V.

And then rise up onto tippy toes.

Let's get up to the top.

So a step,

A walk,

A hop,

Yogi's choice here to get the feet up toward the fingers,

Halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Fold and exhale.

This time let's go up to tree pose,

Not tree pose.

Let's go up to chair pose from here.

So wiggle step or hop the feet together.

Bend the knees,

Sink the hips and reach the arms.

Get some length there,

Take up space.

Soften through your jaw.

Sink the weight more into your heels than into your toes.

And come to standing,

Drop the arms by your side.

Separate the feet if they're really close together.

Get that sweep of the arms out and up.

And right away when the hands go up,

Grab a hold,

Right hand,

Left wrist,

Lean to the right.

Come back through center,

Left hand,

Right wrist,

Lean to the left,

Come back through center,

Reach up.

And then forward fold,

Fingertips drop toward the floor.

Halfway lift,

Breath in.

Plank pose,

Palms down,

Feet back.

Now if you wanna slide it into child's pose,

You could absolutely do that.

But maybe you take an extra push up here.

Lowering down,

Pressing to the top,

And then child's pose.

Give it a couple breaths.

And then again,

We're pulling forward into a back bend.

So heart opener,

Cobra,

You might slide through.

Or sphinx pose,

You might slither through a little closer to the ground.

There's up dog.

And then downward facing dog.

Feel free to back it up on hands and knees first.

Tuck toes,

Lift hips.

Let's go one more time through,

Yogi.

So rising up onto tiptoes,

Make your way up to the top of the mat.

Keep the head and hands low as you arrive.

So it's a forward fold.

And then halfway lift to get a little more length out of the spine.

Breathe in,

Fold in,

Exhale.

Chair pose here from the bottom.

So maybe feet coming a little closer.

You might even touch the big toes together.

Bend the knees,

Sink the hips.

Extend the arms,

Biceps by your ears.

And then drop the arms by the side.

Come to standing,

Separate the feet.

Go ahead and sweep the arms out and up.

Grab a hold,

Right hand to left wrist.

Extend up first and then lean to the right.

Come back through center,

Left hand to right wrist.

Extend and lean left.

Come back through center,

Reach up.

Exhale,

Forward fold,

Fingertips toward your toes.

Take a half lift,

Breathe in.

Plank pose,

Palms down and feet back.

Steady here,

Moving into child's pose or taking that extra pushup.

Maybe you need four extra pushups.

Eventually meeting in that child's pose.

Good,

Yogis,

Pull forward,

Heart opener,

Back bend,

Cobra,

Up dog,

Sphinx.

You know.

Maybe lifting the chin a teeny tiny bit and then downward facing dog.

From this down dog,

Let's lift the right leg this time.

So right leg lifts up into the air,

Big stretch.

And pull and awakening.

That right thigh and right hip and maybe calf and ankle and foot.

You're gonna take this right foot and step it all the way up between the palms,

Warrior A.

So as the right foot steps up,

The back foot turns and plants flat.

Big bend into your front knee,

Straight leg behind you.

Lift the chest,

Hips and chest squared to the front of the room.

Arms reaching upward,

Shoulders rolling down the back.

Nice and stable,

Keep pressing the feet into the floor.

And then just like we did in those sun A's,

I want you to grab here,

Right hand to left wrist and get a little tug to the right.

So keeping the structure of warrior A on the bottom half of your body and getting a little side bend here at the top half.

Bring the arms back through center,

The hands back through center,

Release the wrist.

And we're gonna turn open for warrior B.

So chest to the left,

Arms open front to back.

And I like it a little edgy in that right thigh and that right leg.

And then bring it into sky archer,

Straighten the right leg,

Take the right arm up and over top of the ear.

Both legs are lengthened,

Both feet are pressing.

And just like our side bends earlier,

You go for length and then the lean.

And then I want you to keep this right leg straight,

Just open the arms like a warrior B and we're gonna tilt down for triangle pose.

So legs stay straight,

Arms stay straight,

Right hand toward your right foot,

Left hand toward the ceiling.

Nice yogis.

So we're gonna twist our triangle,

Revolve triangle.

I want you to bring your left hand down,

Maybe even both hands to step in with that back foot.

We're working on straight legs.

So keeping them straight,

Left hand stays down,

Right arm goes high now.

So we have that similar structure as triangle,

We're just twisting open in the other direction.

And if it feels impossible right now in your practice to keep the legs straight,

Try a little low twisted lunge,

Bend deep into the right knee,

You might have to wiggle the left foot back to do that.

And then we're gonna go standing splits.

So right hand comes down,

Shift the weight into that right foot,

Left leg lifts,

So left toes reaching up toward the ceiling.

And then from here,

Come on down to a curtsy tuck,

Think knee behind knee,

Sinking the hips a bit,

Feel the weight shift a lot into your right heel.

You might feel it into your right glutes,

A little bit into your right thigh.

Squeeze low and tell yourself,

You're gonna straighten this right leg in a moment,

But stay here,

Be here,

Feel it here.

And hold it for five,

Four,

Three,

Two.

I want you to take your left foot,

Step it all the way to the back of the mat.

Unwind the right leg,

Guys,

Up into three limb down dog.

So press through the palms and just revisit right leg lifting,

Maybe bending a little,

Rolling a little,

Kicking out to the side,

Stretching open through your hip,

Anything that feels good.

And after you've had a little bit of stretch,

Go ahead and set right foot down next to left.

Let's change sides,

Left leg lifts high,

Three limb down dog.

And the left foot is gonna step all the way up for that warrior A.

So as the left foot steps up between the palms,

Back foot turns flat.

You're gonna put a big bend into the left knee,

Lengthen through the right leg and rise.

Hips and chest stay squared to the front of the room or the front of your mat.

Arms reach up into the air.

Shoulders pull away from the ears or they maybe fall away from the ears.

Find your Drishti,

Find your focus,

Full awareness of the breath.

And then as you're here in this warrior A,

Want you to grab a hold,

Left hand to right wrist.

Give it a little tug to the left.

So again,

The bottom half of your warrior A stays the same.

You just get a little lean to the top half.

Come back through center,

Reach both arms up,

Fingertips up,

And then turn it open for warrior B.

Chest to the right,

Arms open front to back.

Maybe some slight modifications with that front foot because as we turn our hips open,

Sometimes we need to readjust the stance.

Sink down into it,

Be present.

Follow your breath in the body,

Out of the body,

In the body,

Out of the body.

And sky archer.

Allow the left leg to straighten.

Left arm goes up and over.

And keeping the left leg straight,

Just open your arms back up like a warrior B,

So front to back.

Left hand comes down,

Down,

Down toward your left foot.

Right arm reaches high,

Chest is open.

You might gaze toward those left toes or take your gaze upward toward the ceiling or toward that right hand.

And then we're just gonna work to twist our triangle,

Revolved triangle.

Right hand or maybe both hands come down to help adjust the feet,

Guys.

You'll step in with the back foot.

Right hand stays low,

Left arm goes high.

So you're turning your chest open to the left side.

And again,

If it feels just quite impossible to keep the legs straight,

Even without a block or even with taking the feet a little wider,

Then take a low twisted lunge,

No big deal.

Breathe into the body.

And then as the left hand comes down,

We'll go standing splits.

The weight shifts completely into that left foot.

Right toes rise.

From there,

Get a little curtsy tuck.

Go ahead and squeeze nice and low.

So knee behind knee,

Sinking the hips.

Again,

Feel the weight shift more into your left heel.

Sink,

Sink,

Sink.

Again,

Let it get a little edgy and hold it for five,

Four,

Three,

Two.

Step the right foot all the way to the back of the mat.

Seal the hands down,

Three limb down dog as the left leg unwinds up into the air right where it was before.

Give it a little bend,

A sway,

A swing,

A kick.

Whatever you need,

A stretch,

A circular motion.

And then when you're ready,

Left toes drop next to right.

One time,

Yogis,

Let's pull forward,

Top of the pushup plank pose.

Lower down through that pushup.

Pull your heart through into cobra or maybe it's up dog or if you have to stay low,

Sphinx.

And then we're gonna meet back up into downward facing dog and we're just using it as a transition.

So downward dog.

You might take your feet a little wider.

Let it be a little more restorative.

And then rise up onto tippy toes and either step or maybe walk or you could hop into a low yoga squat front of the mat.

So think feet going wider than your hands and sinking hips down toward your heels.

Lots of variations for this posture.

Let's see if we can bring the palms together in front of the heart as you balance on toes or flat foot or maybe you're up a little higher and you have to bring your forearms to thighs.

Find a version that suits you.

And listen,

Yogis,

We're gonna bring the sit bones down to the ground.

So you might use your hands or maybe not use the hands.

Rolling back,

Sit bones come down.

Keep the knees bent.

Slide the soles of the feet together as the knees go out.

Bound angle forward fold.

You're just gonna drop or kind of curl in nose toward your toes.

Keep the knees wide.

Let them drop open.

Connect the bottoms of the feet together.

And then slowly start to roll yourself upward and we're gonna go reverse table.

So both hands plant behind you.

Turn both feet into the floor.

Knees point up,

But give them about hip distance apart.

You're gonna press through your palms.

Root down through your feet.

Lift your belly.

Lift your thighs.

Lift your chest.

Make a table with the front side of your body.

Maybe dropping the head back.

And then slowly start to lower the sit bones back down.

Keep the hands behind you as you come down and try a little supported boat pose.

So as the weight shifts into hands and sit bones,

Feet pick up off of the floor.

And you might come into that boat pose and feel like,

Yep,

I can take my hands off of the floor as well.

And if so,

Come into regular boat pose.

Gaze right up over top of those tip toes and I want you to hold it for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Come halfway back into canoe.

Lengthen the legs.

Stretch fingertips in the direction of your toes.

Hollow body.

Lower back pressing into the floor.

Unclench the jaw.

Hold it for five,

Four,

Three,

Two.

Splat all the way down onto your mat.

Take a big breath in.

Big exhale.

Gather those knees in toward your chest.

Give them a squeeze.

Let's get this final twist,

Yogis.

Go ahead and drop your knees to the right and maybe peel open your arms and then bring the knees through center and tip them over to the left side.

And draw the knees back through center and give them a little squeeze.

Hands to the shins or the backsides of the legs or into the knees.

And then set yourself up for Shavasana.

It might be right here on your mat,

Legs extended,

Arms by your side.

You might take Shavasana seated on your belly or on your side,

Maybe even legs up the wall,

Especially if you're at home listening to this.

Prop yourself up,

Settle in.

Invite stillness into the body.

Because as we say,

Stillness is necessity.

When you have,

Yogis,

Take a big breath in through the nose and a big sigh out.

Take rest,

Take rest,

Take rest.

A quote from the beginning of class states that we don't walk away from people to teach them a lesson.

We walk away from people when we've learned ours.

That applies to things and beliefs and habits and patterns.

But the learning of lessons,

The growth in our heart,

The wisdom that we gain,

The healing,

It all begins with awareness.

Without any movement,

Just be aware,

Become aware of your breath.

I want you to lay here as long as you need,

Or maybe sit if you're seated,

Or maybe sleep if you're sleeping.

Be where you are as long as you need.

And soak it up,

Take it in.

And let this awareness come with you throughout your day,

Your week,

Your month,

Your year,

Your life.

We will see you soon from my heart directly to yours.

Namaste.

Reviews

That was really great. I enjoyed the length and the flow. I am going to bookmark it to do again.