Hand-To-Heart + Belly : Michigan Slow Flow

This is an hour-long Michigan-style slow flow. The practice begins lying on the floor with one hand to the heart and one hand to the belly. After allowing a few moments for stillness and connection with the breath, the asana portion of class begins. We start low and slow with some stretching and then build up to a Sun Salutation A variation. Next comes longer-held postures linked together in an intuitive sequence. The energy comes down in some sweet stretching that leads us onto the back for a 5-minute savasana.

This is a live recorded class so there may be little bits of unexpected noise in the room. The movements are slow but there is always an invitation to come to your own edge.

Transcript

Alright,

Okay,

So we're gonna start all the way down onto the back and then as you settle in just familiarize yourself with the room using the breath.

It's like that one trigger that says you are here,

You have arrived.

Go ahead and take a big breath all the way in and then all the way out.

Let your body be in whatever position,

Whatever kind of placement feels best here on the back.

Just let these next few breaths pass without trying to control them,

Without having anything particular to do.

And then as you're here on the back,

I just want you to take one palm to your heart and one palm to your belly and you can use this just to connect with the breath.

We can start to feel the breath underneath of the palms and maybe it's just that you feel the breath in your chest and you haven't quite gotten into deeper breathing where you maybe you don't feel it so much underneath of the palms.

So that can be one reason that we connect our palms here to physically connect with the breath.

But these are also really powerful places in the body.

The heart and the belly or sometimes kind of that solar plexus area,

The stomach where we digest everything.

And so these become really tender places,

Sometimes places that we hold and carry a lot of weight and stuff.

And so as we bring our attention here to the heart and the stomach,

To the belly,

To the chest,

You might notice some things.

Again,

It might just be the breath.

But you might begin to notice specific sensations,

Tightness.

You might notice emotions rising up.

You might notice a resistance to touching a specific area on the chest or belly.

Again,

There might be tenderness,

Pain.

Tune in as deeply as you'd like to go because we know in this practice of yoga,

You are the driver.

You get to say how deeply you turn inward.

A teacher of mine used to say,

You get out of this what you put in.

Give it a few more breaths.

And then do another reset breath with me.

So a breath that draws in really deep.

And then just let it go.

And take those hands,

Yogis,

Those arms,

And start to stretch them up over top of the head.

And then lengthen the legs.

So if the knees are bent,

Go ahead and straighten the legs.

Point the toes toward the front of the mat.

Reach the hands toward the back of the mat,

Toward the back of the room.

And then as you're here nice and long,

Let's just get a side bend.

So you can walk the heels over to the right side and let the upper body kind of bend in that direction as well.

You want to keep your back flat on the floor here.

So the hips stay flat or that lower back stays flat as well as the shoulders.

The legs can stay long.

And it's just the heels walking over to the right side.

Give it a few breaths.

It's like a crescent shape with your body.

And then we'll come right back through center over to the other side.

Take your time to pass through the middle.

Lengthen out the body.

Then walk the heels over to the left side.

Maybe reach the arms a little over to that left side.

So if someone was looking at you from the very,

Very tippy top,

You might look like a banana.

The shape of your body might be banana asana.

And then come back through center,

A nice and long stretch.

Reach,

Lengthen.

Beautiful.

And then draw the knees deeply in toward your chest and belly.

Just give them a big old squeeze.

And when you get there,

I want you to get a little bit of movement here,

Yogi.

So you might just rock side to side.

You could absolutely do that,

Just kind of rocking your back against the floor.

You could also get some movement in the toes and the ankles.

You could pull the knees apart and create a little bit of circular movement in the knees,

Kind of getting into the hip area,

The thighs.

Just take a few breaths to catch a few movements.

Let it feel good to your body.

Let it feel good to your back and those knees and the ankles and the toes.

Nice.

Get a little movement here on the back,

And then we're not going to take twists here.

Instead,

We're going to take it in a seated position.

So after you've found some movement with those legs,

With the hips,

With the toes,

The ankles,

Go ahead and take a rock that's forward and back,

Forward and back,

Forward and back,

All the way up to a seat.

When you get there,

You can just crisscross ankles,

Keep the knees bent,

And sit really tall.

Nice.

And without reaching the arms up into the air,

I just want you to find length in the spine.

Take your right hand,

Set it behind you onto the floor,

Left hand onto your right knee.

Turn toward that right shoulder,

Take a little twist.

It might be that you don't have a deep rhythm to the breath quite yet because we haven't really exerted the body.

So just notice the simplicity of breath here.

And then come back through center.

Again,

Without reaching the arms up,

Just change directions.

Left hand goes behind,

Right hand onto your left knee.

Take a twist here.

Come back through center,

And this time go ahead and reach both hands,

Both arms straight up into the air.

And then without using the hands or without trying to not use the hands,

Go ahead and take your legs straight out in front of you against the floor so we're not holding them up like a boat pose.

Instead,

Just lengthen them out,

Heels to the floor,

Toes can point up.

Hold your body as straight up as you can.

So let it be just a little bit exhausting,

Just a little bit exerting in the body.

Belly can pull in,

Maybe pelvic floor pulling up.

Find one more breath in here.

And then on an exhale,

You're just going to forward fold,

Reaching fingertips toward your toes.

And tune into the simplicity of your breath.

Even without hands to chest or belly,

See if you can kind of trace it as it moves in and out of the body.

And slowly,

Yogis,

Go ahead and bring yourself up to seated.

Draw your right knee in with you or up with you.

So draw the right knee in toward your chest,

Give it a little squeeze.

Good.

And then let the right knee tip outward,

Right foot to inner left thigh.

We're going to move from here into a supported side plank.

So I want you to take your right hand behind you again,

Just like we did when you twisted,

But this time use it as a support system to come into supported side plank.

So you're going to move your right knee underneath of your right hip,

Press through that left foot.

You're going to turn and plant.

And then left arm goes reaching up toward the ceiling.

Now as you're here,

Get some movement with this left arm the same way that you did with the knees and the legs when you were on your back.

Just get some movement that feels good.

Might be fingers,

Wrists,

Elbow.

Maybe the movement comes from the shoulders,

So you take the arm in a big circle.

Find something that works.

And then go ahead and take the left fingertips straight up toward the ceiling,

Just so we're all in the same place.

Nice.

And then slowly lower yourself back down to that seated position.

Facing forward,

Both legs extend so that right knee unbends.

Lengthen it out.

Once you get to that seated place,

Yogis,

Go ahead and take your arms,

Both of them,

Straight up in to the air again.

It's almost like you have kind of a 90 degree between belly and thigh.

So we're sitting really tall.

And sometimes when we do our half lift in our Sun Salutation A,

This is kind of what we're looking for,

Right?

Flat back,

Strong belly,

Strong belly,

Strong back.

Nice.

Give it two more breaths here,

Just holding yourself upright.

And then on the next exhale,

Go ahead and forward fold.

Fingertips down toward your toes.

Awareness of your breath.

And so let's try this other side.

I want you to slowly roll up to a seated position.

Draw your left knee in toward your chest now.

Give it a little squeeze.

And then let the left knee fall out to the left,

Left foot to inner right thigh.

Here we go for a supported side plank.

You're going to move the left hand behind you onto your yoga mat and then prop yourself up.

Left knee goes underneath of the left hip,

Right foot kind of turns down into the floor,

Right arm reaches up into the air.

And then once you've found that structure,

Get some movement with the right arm,

The fingers,

The wrists,

The elbow.

Anything goes as you're up here or as you're turned open,

Supported on that left side.

And then go ahead and everyone meet right hand,

Right fingertips stretching up toward the ceiling,

Big open heart.

And let's bring it back into that seated position facing forward.

So slowly lower your sit bones,

Lengthen out that left leg once you're there.

One more time because we usually do it in threes.

Take your arms straight up into the air.

So fingertips stretching upward toward the ceiling,

Sit tall.

If we were to do just this today,

Right,

Over and over or even just holding it for the remainder of class,

It would be super challenging.

This is a challenging posture.

It requires a lot of muscle,

Requires a lot of muscular contraction,

A little bit of energy,

A lot of breath.

Take one more inhale at the top and then exhale forward fold,

Fingertips toward your toes.

Beautiful work yogis.

So starting to roll yourself up from this forward fold,

We're going to go right into reverse table.

So I'm going to have you place both hands behind you this time.

Bend the knees but instead of pulling them into the chest,

Go ahead and set your feet down into the floor about hip distance.

Let's lift.

So getting your glutes up off of the floor,

Lifting your hips up toward the ceiling,

Belly lifts,

Maybe head dropping back.

Press through the palms,

Strong through the arms.

Beautiful work.

Lift just a teeny tiny bit higher if it's available so we get that full engagement and then slowly start to bring yourself back down to the floor.

We're going to meet in plank pose.

So from here you might crisscross ankles and roll over.

The knees are bent or you can sweep them out to the side,

Make some space to do that,

To kind of crawl around and then up and over.

Palms press,

Feet to the back of the mat and you might lower the knees so it becomes kneeling plank.

Otherwise on tiptoes,

Hold yourself strong away from the floor.

Let's take our first vinyasa guys.

Slowly lower down all the way.

Let your belly and chest touch,

Thighs touch.

And then go ahead and press up for cobra if that works and if not,

If you need to come down further,

Sphinx pose.

Now when we go downward dog,

Go ahead and press it back through hands and knees first.

So pass through a tabletop and then tuck the toes,

Lift the hips,

Dangle the head,

Let the head drop right in between the arms.

I know from my own practice that typically that first downward dog requires a little bit of movement,

Especially when it's early in practice.

So feel free to bend,

Wiggle,

Sway.

And then from this down dog,

Rise onto tippy toes.

Let the knees come down guys,

Tabletop to child's pose.

So you're gonna sink the hips back toward the heels.

This child's pose will be part of our sun salutation A today.

So a moment of rest,

A moment of pause.

And then from this child's pose,

I'm gonna have you pull forward to plank pose,

But this time as you go into plank pose,

I want you to bring your feet really close together.

So think about kind of closing the gap between your feet and your legs.

And then from here,

We're gonna try to backward walk guys into a squat,

Back of the mat with legs together.

So you're gonna start to walk your hands backward toward your feet,

Bend the knees as you go,

And then sink hips toward your heels.

Instead of having those wide legs or knees out to the side,

The knees are close together.

You might find a block or fingertips.

If that's too much,

You'll just meet us in a forward fold.

From here,

Let's see if we can lift right up into a chair pose.

So heels drop if they're lifted,

Press through the feet,

Lift the hips a bit away from the floor,

Away from those heels,

But not all the way up.

Instead,

Keep the knees bent and then lift the arms.

Nice,

Beautiful focus.

And then go ahead and come to standing.

Drop the arms alongside the body.

Separate the feet about hip distance,

Just so we have a strong foundation.

And then take your arms out and up.

So circle them around the body.

Let's try for a side bend here.

Right hand grabs your left wrist.

Go ahead and lean over to the right side.

Nice,

And then come back through center.

Left hand grabs right wrist.

Lean to that left side.

Come back through center,

Yogis.

Take an inhale and then exhale,

Forward fold,

Fingertips toward your toes.

Here's our half lift.

Peek out,

Strong back,

Breathe in,

And then fold back in and exhale.

Beautiful.

Let's take a walk forward to regular plank pose,

So the feet can keep that gap between them.

Walk forward and take a vinyasa.

You're gonna slowly lower down like we did before.

Maybe you don't touch,

But go halfway.

It can be a cobra,

Sphinx,

Or an up dog,

Or something else that works,

And then downward dog.

Feel free to pass through that tabletop if that makes sense for your practice and your body.

We come into this downward facing dog first,

And then I want you to rise up onto tibby toes.

Go tabletop to child's pose,

So the knees gently touch down,

And then you sink hips back toward your heels.

Let's go through this Sun A again together.

Yogis,

Pull forward,

Plank pose.

This time when you do plank,

It's your second plank of that Sun A,

Or kind of your first.

You're gonna rock the feet closer together.

You want to close that gap as much as possible,

And then do a backward walk to a squat at the back of the mat,

Legs close together.

So it's a closed leg low yoga squat.

You might just spend a moment here.

Pause,

Breathe,

And then we'll go up to chair pose.

So let the heels drop,

Lift the hips,

The chest and arms lift as well.

Feel free to hold this longer later on.

For now,

Come to standing.

Drop the arms alongside the body.

Separate the feet.

Get a strong stance.

Arms are gonna go out and up,

So reach for the ceiling,

And then reach right hand for left wrist.

Take a side bend to the right side.

Come back through center.

Left hand grabs your right wrist.

Lean on over to the left side.

Good.

Come through center.

Big,

Deep inhale,

And exhale.

Forward fold.

Drop fingertips toward your toes.

Good.

Halfway lift.

Peek out.

Breathe in,

And then fold in.

Exhale.

Strong walk to plank pose,

Your regular vinyasa from here.

So once you get to plank,

You could always drop your knees,

But you're lowering down elbows close to your ribs.

Bring your heart through into your own kind of back bend,

And then make it all the way to downward facing dog.

Follow the rhythm of your breath.

I'll make some small calls this third time through,

But if you have it,

Feel free to start to take it at your own pace.

You're gonna rise up onto tippy toes,

Bring the knees down,

Child's pose.

So we sink it back.

That's your restorative posture.

Feel free to linger here as well.

Sometimes we just need a break.

If and when you're ready,

You're gonna pull forward to plank,

But you're gonna close the gap between your feet and your legs as much as possible.

So get them really close together.

Walk the hands backward as you bend the knees.

It's a low yoga squat,

Back of the mat,

But legs close.

You might go right into that chair pose on your inhale.

So you'll lift the chest,

Lift the hands,

Drop the heels,

And then exhale.

Come to standing.

Drop the arms,

Lengthen the legs.

Separate your feet.

Then on the inhale,

Reach out and up.

Circle around the body.

Stretch.

Right hand to left wrist.

Lean to the right side.

You'll get the same thing on the other side.

So you come through center,

A little lean to the left side.

Come back through center and forward.

Fold.

Drop it down.

Chest over top of the thighs.

Half lift.

Peek out.

Fold in.

Exhale.

Strong walk to plank pose.

So we walked backward.

Now you walk forward with those fingers,

The palms,

The hands lowering down.

Heart comes through and then that downward facing dog.

Listening for your own breath.

Tuning in.

Finding that rhythm that makes sense.

When you're ready,

Begin again.

Let the knees drop.

Child's pose.

And start to cycle through.

Start to warm up the body.

Gain a deeper connection to your breath.

A few more times through.

Find your own rhythm.

Beautiful breath work,

Yogis.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

So I want to invite you to finish the sun salutation A that you're working on.

And we're gonna meet in a forward fold at the back side of your mat.

So it might be that you stay there as you forward fold out of your side bends.

It might be that when you walk backward to your low yoga squat,

You'll just forward fold from there.

Either way,

As you finish things up and you find a good stopping point,

We'll walk fingertips back toward the toes,

But this time just to hang over top of the thighs.

And then once you find that forward fold,

Go ahead and take that familiar halfway lift.

So peek out and breathe in.

Strong back.

And then fold in and exhale.

Go ahead and wiggle the feet closer together.

Let's go chair pose here from the bottom.

We're gonna do a little bit of balancing here and we know balancing can be pretty triggering.

Balancing,

You know,

Just falling over and not being able to hold a posture because we tilt one way or the other,

It can be triggering to our ego.

It can be triggering in different ways.

So I want you to keep breathing,

Most important piece.

So from this chair pose,

Yogis,

We're gonna go Marion that right knee lifted,

But go ahead and press your palms downward.

So lengthen the arms beside you and then press your palms like you could press them all the way down into the floor.

Not happening,

But just the direction.

So as the palms press down,

That right knee lifts up.

A little balance here as the weight goes completely into that left foot.

Beautiful.

And then from here,

Let's try a little warrior C.

So you're gonna start to lean forward and extend that right leg back behind you.

Maybe the right foot does not touch.

And as you do that,

As you lean forward,

See if you can get both arms reaching out in front of you,

Even if it's just for a moment.

Sometimes it's really challenging on our shoulders and our balance.

So maybe it just happens for a moment and then arms go beside or along,

Kind of out to the side like a jet airplane.

Nice.

Beautiful focus.

And try this,

Yogis.

Come right back up into that Marionette.

Right knee lifting.

Again,

Maybe the right foot doesn't touch down.

Palms pressing down instead of arms lifting up.

So sometimes we do a version where fingers are in the air,

But palms pressing down this time.

Good.

And then come right back into that cheer pose.

Right foot comes down,

Knees bend,

Arms lift.

Find that solid structure right here in the center.

Now I know part of our minds go,

Oh my gosh,

We have a left side.

I know.

But part of us is calm,

So tune into that calm.

We can always kind of choose calm.

It's like the sunshine behind the clouds.

It's always there.

We just sometimes can't recognize it and see it.

Let's go Marionette.

Left side.

So as you come to standing,

Lift the left knee and press both palms down.

Arms lengthen alongside the body.

Find your focus.

Drishti,

Drishti.

One place to gaze.

Beautiful.

And then Warrior C.

So you're leaning forward,

Extending that left leg back behind.

Maybe arms go out in front,

Even if it's just for a moment.

Hands can absolutely come down to the floor if you need a little extra support or to a wall.

And then we're trying to reverse that process,

Yogis.

Go ahead and lift up to standing.

Marionette,

Left knee out in front,

Palms pressing down.

So as the arms lengthen alongside the body,

Palms are actively kind of pressing toward the floor.

Left knee is actively lifting up.

Beautiful.

And then right back to chair pose.

Left foot next to right,

Arms kind of float out and up or out in front of you and upward.

Tune into the breath.

We're gonna take one more inhale here.

And on an exhale,

Forward fold.

Just drop the fingers toward the toes.

Stay here.

Take a halfway lift.

Peek out and breathe in.

And then fold back in and exhale.

And just give it two to three extra breaths here.

Just kind of hanging out over top of the legs.

And then we're gonna take a walk forward.

We're gonna meet in downward facing dog.

So you might walk forward to plank pose and go down dog.

You might walk forward and actually take a vinyasa and then go down dog.

Or you might just walk forward until you find yourself in downward facing dog.

So know that you have some options.

You could even come down to child's pose and take a few breaths before we move on.

If you're in that down dog,

Palms pressing,

Fingertips spread.

Let's get some strong contact with the mat here.

And then stretch your right leg up into the air,

That familiar three limb downward facing dog.

So right leg goes up as that left heel presses down.

Get some space in between those legs,

In between the feet.

And then we're gonna take a strong step up between the palms,

Warrior A.

So right foot steps up between the hands.

Turn and plant the back foot.

Arms are gonna reach straight up into the air.

Big bend into that front knee.

Lots of space between the feet.

I know you know.

Keep breathing.

A mindfulness practice the entire way through,

Drawing your attention back into the room.

Maybe potentially a million times because of how often our attention wanders away.

So from here,

Yogis,

I want you to bind your hands behind the lower back.

Interlace your fingers.

Pull the knuckles down.

Open up your heart.

Pull the shoulders back.

Maybe look up.

And then fold inside of that right thigh.

So keep the right knee bent and try to bring right head or your head down toward your inner right ankle.

Just in that direction.

And then drop the hands down to the floor.

Wide leg forward fold or wide leg standing forward fold.

So you're just gonna walk to the left a bit,

Guys.

Lengthen the right leg and turn your right toes in.

Pause for a moment.

And then for those of you who know ninja,

We're going ninja toward your left foot.

Otherwise we're gonna call it a side lunge.

I want you to shift your weight into the left foot.

Put a little bend into your left knee.

You can walk your fingertips in that direction or you can even bring your hands to your left thigh.

Okay,

So you might be really high up into the air.

You might be low,

Like left hip toward your left heel.

Right leg lengthens.

We're gonna keep it nice and long because it's our little stretch for this right leg.

Now sometimes we move from here to a warrior B front of the mat,

But a little different today,

Yogis.

We're gonna move from here,

Almost like we're passing through a warrior B,

All the way to extended side angle toward that right foot.

So when you're ready,

Kind of power up through the legs.

Shift the weight.

Right toes turn toward the front of the mat.

Big bend into your right knee and then use that thigh as a platform if it works.

Forearm or elbow to the thigh.

Left fingertips are gonna reach up and over toward the front of the room.

Nice.

So find a version that works,

Maybe with a block or the floor or a bind.

Your breath is there and sometimes we don't take the opportunity to find it or pay attention,

Especially when we're outside of these walls.

So find it here,

Pay attention.

From here,

Low twisted lunge.

Keep this right knee bent a little bit longer.

Turn into your back toes.

Left hand comes down and right arm goes up,

So that left hand inside of your right foot.

Yeah,

Twisting that lunge open.

Sometimes we call it dragonfly twist.

Beautiful breath work.

And then listen,

Yogis,

We're gonna try to keep this right arm up into the air.

If it doesn't work,

Abandon ship and bring it down.

But we're gonna try to go from here into a curtsy twist.

So that means that we're gonna draw left knee in behind right knee.

It means we have to shift the weight into that right foot and then try to balance enough to draw the knee behind the knee,

Almost like you're bowing in.

But then this right arm,

This right hand,

Stays reaching up toward the ceiling.

And if you have to come out of it a bit to come back into it,

Try that.

Good,

And then standing split.

So bring the right hand down and just lift that left leg all the way up into the air.

You're bowing over that right leg,

So we're lengthening both legs as much as possible.

Give me one more curtsy tuck here.

Without a twist,

Just drawing knee behind knee.

Hips sink a bit.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

Good,

And then listen,

We're gonna head right into three limb down dog where we started,

Guys.

So step the left foot all the way to the back of the mat,

Press through the palms.

Right leg goes all the way up into the air.

Give it a stretch,

Maybe a bend,

Maybe a wiggle.

You might pull your hip open if that feels good.

And then you're welcome to keep this right leg lifted.

We're gonna take a vinyasa.

So if you want to try from this three limb down dog to pull forward,

Feel free.

Otherwise,

Setting your right foot down next to left,

We go plank pose.

Lowering down,

Heart comes through.

Good,

And then that downward facing dog.

Beautiful focus.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

Left leg goes lifting.

Three limb down dog on that left side.

That's where we start.

We get a little stretch and a lot of space between both feet,

Both legs.

And we'll step it up,

Left foot up in between the palms,

Warrior A.

Planting the back foot flat,

Arms reach up,

Extending,

Maybe palms turned in.

See if you can bend just a little bit deeper into that left knee.

Again,

It's a place of curiosity.

And then go ahead and bind hands behind the lower back,

So interlacing the fingers,

Maybe palms together,

Arms lengthen,

Chest opens.

Go ahead and forward fold inside of that left thigh.

Left knee stays bent as much as possible.

You drop your head,

Keep the hands bound as long as that works.

Requires a little bit of balance,

So if you feel too off kilter,

Go ahead and drop the hands.

Otherwise,

Just stay here,

Two more breaths,

You've got it.

Beautiful,

Yogis.

Hands come down to the floor,

Standing wide leg forward,

Fold so the hands walk a little bit to the right,

Left toes turn in,

Left leg lengthens,

So you find your chest kind of falling right in between the legs.

Good,

And then from here we take a little side lunge or maybe a ninja pose toward your right foot so it's toward the back of the mat.

Right knee bends,

Weight shifts over to that right side,

Left leg lengthens or it stays long.

You're welcome to bring right hip kind of down toward your right heel.

If that's too far,

Stay upright.

You might bring forearms to your right thigh or hands to the floor and just shifting in that direction.

A few breaths here.

And then here's that little bit of a challenge,

A little bit of a bigger transition all the way to extended side angle,

Front of the mat.

It's almost like passing through a warrior B.

So we press up,

Left toes turn to the front,

Left knee bends,

Arms can kind of open but we're really looking for left forearm resting on left thigh,

Right fingertips toward the front of the room.

In that familiar way or finding a version that works for you,

Finding a version that brings you to your own edge,

That challenges you,

But keep breathing.

I think sometimes our world outside of these doors and walls,

They call to us to step over the edge where we lose our breath,

Where we lose connection.

But in yoga we ask you to step right up to that edge where it's challenging but the breath is there,

The connection is there.

Stay,

Stay,

Stay.

And then from here,

Yogi's low twisted lunge,

Right hand comes down inside of that left foot,

Turn onto your back toes,

Stretch the left arm up into the air,

A little dragonfly twist.

And then our second kind of challenging transition,

Keeping this left arm lifted.

If you can,

We're going to pull into a twisted curtsy tuck.

So we're going to shift the weight into that left foot,

Kind of bounce off of the back toes to draw right knee in behind left knee,

Sink the hips,

Chest still stays open.

If it's too much of a challenge,

Left hand can come down and just regular curtsy.

And then all together we go standing splits.

So if that left hand is lifted,

Bring it to the floor,

Toward the floor,

Right leg lengthens.

You can certainly do standing splits without hands on the floor.

You can work on your balance or grab for your left ankle,

That's an option as well.

Keep breathing,

Keep breathing,

Keep bowing and over top of that left leg.

Nice.

And then one more time,

Curtsy tuck,

Just in the regular way.

So bring it down,

Hips low,

Knee behind knee,

Or it's kind of knee behind calf or ankle,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And then re-entering three limb downward dog.

So right foot steps all the way to the back of the mat,

Press through the palms.

Lift the left leg up,

Up,

Up and away.

So up into the air.

As you get there,

You might need to bend the left knee and pull the left hip open or just kind of get a big circle or a stretch that feels good.

And then you're welcome to try and keep this left leg lifted as you pull forward for a vinyasa.

Otherwise,

Left toes come down next to right,

Plank pose,

Lowering the heart.

Then the heart comes up and through,

Cobra or up dog,

Maybe sphinx,

And then downward facing dog.

Don't worry,

We'll get a break in a moment.

I just want you to stretch out the whole entire backside.

Beautiful yogis.

Go ahead and rise up onto tippy toes,

Knees come down underneath,

And then a child's pose just for three to five breaths.

And then pulling up tabletop pose,

Hands and knees.

We're going to get a threaded needle here.

So I want you to press down through the left palm,

Reach your right fingertips,

Right arm right up into the air,

Get a stretch.

And then take that right arm underneath of the body behind your left wrist,

Lower the right shoulder to the floor.

And then before we come out of this posture,

I want you to extend your left leg back behind you.

Toes tuck against the floor so it's a stable extension of that leg instead of any kind of balance.

We're not lifting the toes.

And then go ahead and press through the left palm.

Let's unwind into a twist.

So with that left leg back,

You're going to press through the left palm,

Unwind your right arm right up to where it began,

Straight up there.

So we get this kind of twisting through the body.

And then as you bring your right hand down,

Go ahead and revisit supported side plank.

You're going to roll the weight onto that right side,

Right hip stacks underneath of your right or right knee stacks underneath of your right hip.

Left arm goes up into the air so the chest pulls open to that left side.

Now this time as you're here,

See if you can lift your left foot up off of the floor.

If you can and you feel balanced,

Yogis bend the left knee and reach left hand toward left foot or ankle.

You might kick into it or you might pull your heel against your glute for a little quad stretch.

And then if you have that bind,

Go ahead and open back up.

Set the left foot down onto the floor again if it's lifted and let's go gate pose.

So left hand to left thigh,

Right arm goes up and over as you come to standing on that right knee and left foot.

It's like a kneeling sky archer here.

Breathe deep.

And then give it one more big inhale.

On the exhale,

Tabletop pose.

Go ahead and cartwheel the hands down,

Left knee next to right.

Sink the hips back toward the heels,

Child's pose.

Let's try the other side,

Yogis.

So pulling up tabletop here,

Left arm goes up into the air.

We get a big stretch as the right palm presses down and we take that left arm underneath of the body.

Go ahead and weave it behind that right wrist.

Shoulder to or toward the floor.

And just like the other side,

Before we come out of this,

I want you to extend your right leg back behind you.

Tuck the toes against the floor and then press through the right palm.

So when you unwind this left arm out from underneath,

You come out into a twist.

Left arm reaches,

That right leg extends back.

And then as the left hand comes down,

Supported side plank,

You're going to roll the weight onto that left side,

Turn and plant the back foot,

Reach the right arm up into the air,

Big open heart.

As you're here,

If it works,

Go ahead and pick your right foot up off of the ground.

Bend the right knee,

Maybe reaching back right hand to right foot,

Ankle,

Shin,

Toes.

You can kick against it,

You can pull against or maybe tug the heel in toward your glute.

And then if you have the bind,

Go ahead and release.

Right foot comes down to the floor.

We want stability there as we go into gate pose.

So right hand to right thigh,

Left arm goes reaching up and over toward the back of the room.

And it's like that Sky Archer sensation,

Just kneeling closer to the floor.

One more big inhale here at the top.

And then exhale,

Hands cartwheel down,

Child's pose.

So as you go knee to knee,

Right knee next to left,

You'll sink hips back toward your heels.

One last little pause here in child's pose.

And then go ahead and pull up hands and knees,

Tabletop,

And just use it as a transition,

Yogis,

To get to a seated position.

So rolling over or around those legs.

We're going to take the legs straight,

Just like the beginning of class,

But instead of reaching up,

Instead of getting nice and long through the spine,

I just want you to bring hands to thighs and then slowly slide them forward like you're easing your way into that forward fold.

You might even tuck forearms underneath of the knees as you put a little bend into your knees.

And slowly,

Slowly,

Yogis,

Roll yourself up to a seat.

Untangle the arms out from underneath of the knees if they're tucked.

As you come up to the top,

I want you to come into a regular seated position.

So we're going to bend the knees outward and crisscross ankles.

Both hands go behind you,

Just like we do in reverse table,

And just lean into them to create a soft backbend here.

So think about chest and ribs lifting up and forward,

Maybe head dipping back,

Bowing through the back side of the body as much as you can,

Using those hands as support to create that backbend.

And then bringing yourself upright so the weight shifts back into the sit bones.

Keep the knees bent.

I just want you to slide the soles of the feet together so the legs or the knees go a little bit wider.

Second and final forward fold here.

So when you're ready,

Go ahead and bring nose down toward your toes.

Dive right into that version of a bounding goal.

And then slowly rolling upward from here.

Hands go behind.

Go ahead and crisscross ankles again.

Get that second backbend of hands behind,

And you're leaning into them.

Some of you might want to lift your glutes up off of the ground and sort of roll your knees to the floor so you create space underneath of you.

It's just a little bit bigger lift there.

And then if the glutes are lifted,

Go ahead and slowly bring them down your body to the upright position.

Untangle the legs by stretching the legs straight out in front of you.

So give them a little stretch.

Point flex the toes.

And then we're going to scoot the hips toward the heels.

Guys,

Lower all the way down onto your back.

So you do almost a little inchworm scoot to make space to lower onto the spine.

Draw the knees in toward your chest.

Give them a squeeze.

We didn't get our twist here at the beginning of class,

But we'll get it now.

I want you to open up the arms and then let those knees drop over to that right side.

And then go ahead and bring the knees back through center all the way over to that left side.

Bring it back through center,

Yogis.

And then invite yourself into Shavasana.

And that might look like hugging the knees in toward your heart.

It might look like stretching your legs up into the air,

Turning onto a side or the belly,

Or just taking that traditional way on the back,

Arms and legs extended.

Find your place.

And as you begin to slip into that place of stillness and of rest,

Let's do our little reset here together.

Take a big,

Big breath in and then let it go.

Shavasana.

These last few moments that you're here in Shavasana,

Yogis,

I want you to just replace one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.

And again,

It might be just a way to connect deeper with the sensation of your breath.

But it might be an act or an action of healing,

Of noticing what you're holding in those places of the body,

The sensations,

The emotions that arise.

Sometimes just the noticing creates wellness.

And just like we did in the beginning of class,

Go ahead and take these hands that are on your heart and belly and stretch them up over top of the head.

Lengthen out the legs and point the toes and take up as much space as you can.

Instead of side bending from here,

Go ahead and draw the knees right in toward your chest,

Right in toward your heart.

Give them a squeeze.

Maybe a little rock side to side,

A little movement.

Then go ahead and tip or tilt onto your right side,

Right hip,

Right shoulder catching you.

And then pressing all the way up to a seated position.

And we can just stay turned toward this long edge of the mat.

And draw the palms together in front of the heart.

Take an intentional pause.

And then a deep breath in and out.

From my heart directly to yours.

Namaste.