Simplicity : Michigan Slow Flow

This is an hour-long Michigan-style slow flow that begins seated on the floor with awareness of breath and subtle stretching. The practice of Sun Salutation A follows with some small modifications. Longer held postures in a smooth and seamless sequence comes next until we meet up on the back for a 5 minute savasana.

This is a live recorded class so there may be little bits of unexpected noise. There were only women present in the room so the term "ladies" is used a few times, although this practice is meant and created for everyone. The movements are slow but there is always an invitation to come to your own edge.

Transcript

All right,

Yogis,

We are going to start in a seated position this morning.

We take our time to adjust the body so it feels like a sustainable place to be.

You might need to adjust where the feet are and the knees and the shoulders,

The back and the belly.

Sometimes we have to make an adjustment in the mind,

Right?

Sometimes we have to remember and remind ourselves that we've shifted from out there,

From driving,

From dealing with all of the things that we deal with,

To stepping into this yoga space.

And then once you've made those adjustments,

Again,

You feel like your body's in that sustainable place,

Go ahead and take a big breath in.

There's a sort of remedy in Ayurveda that talks about the more chaotic the disease or the discomfort,

The more chaotic the mind or the body,

The simpler the solution,

Or the solution becomes simple.

The more chaotic the disease,

The more chaotic it is in the mind and the body,

The more simple we practice,

The more simple we eat.

We bring simplicity into our lives.

And so something as simple as this,

As being seated and using your breath to draw your experience or draw your awareness,

Rather,

Into this experience,

Helps to balance out all of the things that we do outside of these doors.

It could be as simple as this,

A breath and a seated position.

I've had a student sit in the back of the room in this very position for an entire class,

Not because they were injured,

Not because they were emotionally unstable,

Not because they were too fatigued,

But because they knew they needed to simplify their practice,

And this is part of your practice.

Be here just a few more moments with the breath.

And when we start moving into postures and poses,

When we start to move the body,

When we start to move the body in different ways,

Yogis,

I want you to remember this simplicity.

I want you to remember,

Number one,

That at any time you can come back to the seated position and just breathe,

But also I want you to remember the simplicity of just bringing your awareness to the breath,

Even in a challenging or maybe complicated posture.

And let's do our deep breath again.

So draw in a deep breath through the nose and then sigh it out of the mouth.

Good.

From this position,

I just want you to tug your shoulders up toward your ears,

Give them a squeeze,

And then let them roll down your back.

And repeat that a few times,

Like we're doing some shoulder rolls backward,

Shoulders pull up and roll down and back,

Shoulders pull up and roll down,

Shoulders pull up and roll down and back.

And do that a few times backward,

But then do that also a few times forward,

Shoulders pull up and roll forward and down.

They pull up,

Forward and down.

Bringing a little bit of warmth to the shoulder area,

To the chest,

To the upper back.

Good.

And then one more time,

Just shoulders straight up toward the ears,

Give it a squeeze,

Tense and tighten,

And then completely relax.

Beautiful.

Drop the arms alongside the body,

Maybe even letting the fingertips kind of graze the floor.

And then we're gonna stretch the arms out and up.

And as the hands and arms go up,

I just want you to take a moment to roll the wrists around and open and close the fingers.

We use the hands so very much in our practice.

Give them a little stretch,

A little movement.

As we get into this fall and winter weather,

You might notice a little more cracking and popping.

Our joints tend to get a little drier.

We wanna lubricate the joints,

Keep moving.

And then once you've had a stretch in the fingers and the wrists,

Yogis bring the palms together,

Bend the elbows,

And then direct those hands right to your heart center.

Good.

And then let the arms fall alongside the body.

And let's just do a couple of sun breaths like that.

So out and up on the inhale,

Bring the palms together,

Down,

Pass through your heart center,

And then drop them alongside the body.

Few more times,

Rhythm of your own breath.

Out and up becomes the inhale.

Through the center and by your side is the exhale.

And again,

Just building a little bit of warmth,

A little bit of heat in the shoulders and the upper back,

Maybe into the chest.

And then the next time that the arms go reaching up,

Go ahead and keep them there.

We're gonna interlace the fingers this time and flip the palms straight up toward the ceiling.

And we're not gonna take a side bend,

Although sometimes we do.

We'll do that during our sun salutation,

Eh?

But just think about pressing the palms straight up and finding a little more length.

Good.

And then go ahead and let the arms drop alongside the body again.

This time,

Interlace your fingers behind your lower back.

Give the fingers or the knuckles a tug down toward the floor.

Again,

We're not forward folding.

We'll do that in our sun salutation,

Eh?

Today,

But pull the hands down and then do this,

Yogis.

Tip your right ear toward your right shoulder.

Bring it back through center.

Tip it on over to the left shoulder,

Left ear,

Left shoulder.

And bring your head back through center and just release the hands from the back.

We're gonna lengthen the legs now straight out in front of you.

And then go ahead and fold right from there.

No need to stretch the arms up,

But instead slide the hands down along those legs until you find a good stopping point.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

Start to slowly roll your body up from this forward fold.

As we get to the top,

I'm gonna have you bend the right knee and just set your right foot down into the floor.

Simple twist here.

Right hand goes behind and just use your arm instead of your elbow to turn and twist over that right shoulder.

So right shoulder pulling back and chin might turn.

We don't wanna hook the elbow.

We just wanna stay soft right there in that twist instead of forcing anything.

And then coming back through center,

Let that right leg go long and just change sides.

Left knee bends,

Left foot down into the floor.

Left hand goes behind onto your mat,

Right arm,

Kind of hooking,

Creating that twist and turn there.

Sitting really tall.

Nice work,

Yogis.

And then coming back through center and just coming back to both legs lengthening there out in front of you for a moment.

You might point flex the toes to get some length through the legs.

And then we're gonna use the seated position to come to hands and knees position.

So coming into that tabletop pose.

You can bend the knees and crisscross ankles if that works,

Roll over top,

Or shift the weight enough that you can roll out to the side.

Meet me in that tabletop pose,

Guys.

Nice flat back,

Shoulders over wrists and hips over top of knees.

We're gonna go into our practice of cat-cows but in a little bit different way here.

So try this.

Do a little cow posture.

So chin and tailbone lifting,

Belly dropping a bit.

And then go right into the cat pose.

Round through the spine,

Tuck chin and tailbone under.

Beautiful,

But then come back to a nice flat back.

So flat spine there.

Then we're gonna take a little side bend.

I want you to take your right hip and kind of push it out to the right side.

Pull your right shoulder toward your right hip and peek over your right shoulder.

So it kind of gets a little crunch on the right side but lengthening along the left.

And then come back through center,

Same thing,

Other side.

Left hip goes left,

Left shoulder pulls back.

Peek over that left shoulder.

Nice,

Come back through center and try that sequence again.

So it goes cow posture,

Belly drops,

Chin and tailbone lift.

And then an exhale to round through the spine,

Cat pose,

Chin and tailbone tuck under.

Come back to neutral,

Find that flat back and then two side bends.

We do a little crunch on the right side and on the left side.

And if it makes more sense to do left and then right,

That's okay,

As long as you get both sides.

Come back through center and begin.

Again,

We make a little space to lift chin and tailbone up.

And then we round through the spine,

Curl and tuck under.

Two side bends to make a little extra space.

And try that a few times,

Following the rhythm of your breath like we do.

Inhale to lift,

Exhale to curl.

We move through this motion nice and slow.

Warming up the body,

Noticing what's there to notice.

Nice work,

Yogis.

So as you're moving through this sequence,

Maybe one or two more times.

The lifting,

The rounding,

The side bending.

After you do one or two more times,

I want you to create more of a circular motion in the hips and the shoulders and the head,

Almost like you're combining all of those movements together.

A little lifting,

A little tucking,

A little side to side.

And the hips can kind of circle and the shoulders and the head.

And it might be that you stay somewhat central.

It might be that you keep on hands and knees and you don't move much forward back,

But maybe you take up a little extra space.

Maybe as you make these circles in the hips and the shoulders and the head,

Your hips start to go back toward your heels,

Or maybe your chest pulls a little forward toward the front of the mat.

Let it make sense for your body.

Sometimes we hear the directions,

Right?

Circular motion,

And we want an example.

We want someone to say,

Do it just like this.

But I want you to make your yoga practice a little more intuitive.

Let it just feel good.

So circular motion in your own way.

Nice work,

Yogis.

And then once you've had a couple of times each direction,

Because we can make those circles clockwise and counterclockwise,

I want you to meet me in that first downward facing dog.

We're gonna tuck the toes and lift the hips.

Lower the head on down,

Press through the palms,

And get that strong upside down V.

It's an active place to be,

Right?

This is an active posture.

Listen for your breath.

And as long as it makes sense,

Try breathing in and out of the nose.

And if it makes even more sense to make a little bit of sound,

Right?

A Ujjayi Pranayama,

You might put a constriction in the backside of your throat,

The back of the throat.

Let's try to build a sun salutation A together,

Yogis.

I want you to rise up onto your tiptoes and just look up toward your hands.

Then follow that gaze with your feet.

So take a little walk up to the top of your mat.

Halfway lift,

Go ahead and peek out,

Breathe in.

And then fold back in,

Exhale.

Good,

We're gonna roll all the way up to standing.

Circle the arms,

Touch the palms together above the head.

And this time,

Just bring them to your heart center.

So stop right there with thumbs to your sternum,

Thumbs to your breastbone,

Elbows bent.

And then I want you to interlace the fingers together,

Lengthen the arms and flip the palms up like we did when you were seated.

This time,

Guys,

As the palms press up,

We're taking two side bends.

So I want you to lean a little bit to your right side.

Come back through center and lean a little bit to your left side.

Nice,

Come back through center,

Take an inhale.

And as you exhale,

Drop the arms alongside the body,

Interlace the fingers behind the back.

Again,

Just like you did when you were seated,

We sort of prepped for it.

Fingertips pull down,

Chest opens.

Maybe chin lifts,

And then try a forward fold from here.

Hinge at the hips,

Bring the chest down.

Hands stay locked together as much as possible.

Now,

As you're flowing on your own,

You might just stay for an inhale.

The dive forwards and exhale,

You might stay for an inhale longer if you need.

For now,

Go ahead and bring your fingertips down to the floor,

Just let the arms hang.

Instead of a halfway lift here,

We're gonna take two twists.

I'm gonna have you bend your left knee.

Left hand stays low to the floor,

And right arm,

Right hand goes straight up toward the ceiling,

Big opening here.

Let's change sides together,

Guys.

Right hand comes down,

Right knee bends.

Left arm goes lengthening straight up toward the ceiling.

Beautiful,

Left hand comes down.

Now take a steady halfway lift,

Peak out,

Breathe in.

Top of your pushup,

Plank pose.

So palms go down,

Feet go back.

Let's lower through that pushup slow,

Elbows close to ribs.

Bring it through for a cobra or maybe an up dog,

And this first time yogis,

Take it into child's pose.

And sometimes we do that just for the restorativeness of the posture,

But sometimes it's necessary to remind ourselves that this posture is always available,

Right?

Maybe the most simplistic way to settle the heart,

To settle the breath,

Maybe to settle the mind.

Let's go again,

Let's begin again.

Hands and knees,

Tabletop pose.

This first time,

Guys,

Let's do that sequence once.

So a little cow posture,

Dropping belly,

Lifting chin and tailbone,

And then rounding through the spine,

Press,

Press,

Press.

Come to a neutral spine and just take two little wiggles,

Two side bends from that position,

And then go ahead and meet me in that downward-facing dog.

We'll tuck toes,

Lift hips,

Drop head.

Then from this down dog,

Rise up onto tippy toes.

Gaze forward,

Follow that gaze with a step,

A walk,

Or maybe a hop to the top of your mat.

Halfway lift to peak out and breathe in,

And then fold back in,

Exhale.

Come on up to standing,

Circle the arms out around the body.

Connect the palms above the head and then slide those palms to your heart center.

Bend the elbows,

But stay there.

Interlace the fingers and then lengthen the arms to press the palms up toward the ceiling.

Two side bends from there.

Lean a little right side,

And then lean a little left side.

And if you go left first as you flow on your own,

No big deal,

Catch both sides.

Inhale through center,

Exhale,

Arms drop alongside the body.

Hands interlace behind your lower back,

Maybe palms together.

Tug the heart open and then forward fold.

Let the head come down.

Let the hands stay bound as much as they can.

Again,

Maybe just for an inhale.

And then exhale,

Hands drop down toward the floor.

Take a twist instead of a half lift here.

So left hand stays down,

Left knee bends,

And right arm goes up.

And then right hand comes down,

Right knee bends,

Left arm lifts.

Beautiful,

Come back down with the left hand and then take a halfway lift here.

Peak out,

Breathe in.

We go vinyasa,

So palms down,

Feet back.

Lowering down through that pushup position,

Pull the heart through,

Lengthen the legs,

Point the toes,

And then downward dog.

You're gonna roll right up over top of those toes to lift the hips,

Drop the head.

You give yourself a couple of breaths here,

And maybe it's more than a couple if you need a little extra time,

But when you're ready,

This is where it begins again.

Tippy toes,

Top of your mat,

A half lift and a fold in.

Arms go out around the body,

Connecting above the head,

Sliding to your heart center.

That's where you interlace the fingers,

Flip the palms as you lengthen the arms,

And take two side bends there.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

When you come back through center,

Arms drop alongside the body,

Hands interlace behind the lower back,

Pull the chest open,

Maybe lift the chin,

And then forward fold from there.

Hands eventually release toward the floor.

Two twists before you take that half lift,

So as the hands come down,

Left hand stays,

Left knee bends,

Right arm lifts.

Right hand comes down,

Left arm goes up.

Beautiful,

Left hand comes down,

Half lift and vinyasa.

You find your way back to downward facing dog,

And that might be with a little break.

You might take a child's pose or hands or knees.

Know that you have options as you're moving through,

But I want you to take it through a few more times.

Rhythm of the breath.

So once you've taken a few breaths in that down dog,

Begin again,

Tippy toes,

Top of the mat,

Taking your time,

Half lift,

Fold in.

I see you using the breath to cue the movements,

Using the simplicity of breath to draw you back to this experience of being in the room together.

Few more times.

Beautiful breath work,

Yogis.

Way to slow it down,

Slowing it down.

Also,

That piece of simplicity that helps to balance out the chaos when it starts to build.

Nice work.

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

And our meet-up point,

Yogis,

Will be child's pose.

So you can take that child's pose as you come out of cobra.

You can just go directly back,

Or you may take a downward facing dog first,

Peddle out the feet,

Sway the hips,

And then sink the knees to the floor as your glutes go back toward your heels.

Take your time to get there.

There is no hurry.

Kind of entering into this place of a little bit of restorativeness and definitely some simplicity here,

Right?

Not too much to register as far as sensation goes in the body,

Or not too much effort,

Right,

That we need to expand,

Not a lot of balancing,

Right?

So we allow ourselves to be here and soak up the simplicity of this posture.

Yogis,

As deeply as you can,

I want you to draw a big breath into the lungs,

Maybe through the nose,

And then just a big sigh out.

Let it go.

Beautiful.

Now from this child's pose,

I want you to walk your fingertips over to the left side.

I know oftentimes we start with the right side,

But intentionally,

I want you to walk your fingertips over to the left side and just create a little bit of a side bending effect.

Here,

We've had a lot of side bending to your body,

Should be prepped for this,

Or maybe is prepped for this.

Nice work.

And then we're gonna turn this side bending action into a half camel on this left side.

So I want you to take your left hand and reach it back toward your left heel,

Or maybe your lower hip on that left side.

Pop up onto the knees,

Draw your glutes away from your heels and reach your right arm up and over.

And what you can practice on,

And we've talked about it,

Especially this last week or two,

Is keeping your hips in line with your knees.

So pressing forward a bit and then bowing open your back or bowing open the chest here.

Nice.

Super strong back and belly.

And then come to a neutral place standing on those knees.

So arms can just drop alongside the body,

Shoulders stack over hips,

Hips over top of knees.

Nice.

And I want you to shift your body weight a little more into your left knee than your right,

Because I want you to try to just take your right foot and step it up in front of you.

So foot to the floor and knee kind of pointing up.

Yeah,

Just like a little lunge.

And we're taking this and turning it into a low twisted lunge.

So once the right foot is there,

Guys,

Bring your hands down,

Tuck your back toes.

As the left knee pulls up,

So does the right hand.

Right fingertips go stretching up toward the ceiling.

Nice.

Keep your breath with you.

And then I want you to drop the right hand down.

We're gonna walk to a standing wide leg forward,

Fold to the left.

So start walking the hands to the left.

Turn your right toes in as you lengthen out that right leg.

And once you're between that V,

Halfway lift,

Peak out and breathe in.

And then fold back in and exhale.

Just give it a few breaths here.

So hanging once again in between those wide legs.

And then without a half lift,

I just want you to get really strong through the legs.

Maybe a baby bend into the knees.

You're gonna roll yourself up to standing.

And we're gonna take the arms into a wide V just like the legs are.

So they kind of together make an X.

Just give a big stretch open.

Stretch the palms,

Stretch the fingers.

And then maybe in that familiar way,

Warrior B,

Front of the mat.

So right toes turn and turn toward the front.

Right knee bends and those arms that were maybe up go out.

They extend straight out from the shoulders.

Settle into this posture.

Lots of space between the feet.

Nice tailbone tucking,

Maybe a little bit so strong and strengthening through the belly.

Gaze might be over top of those right fingertips or maybe if the eyes are closed,

Yogis,

We turn our chin in that direction.

And then I want you to bring it into extended side angle.

So you might drop your head a little bit.

And then we're gonna extend into extended side angle.

So you might drop forearm to your right thigh or hand to the floor.

Left fingertips,

Left arm goes stretching up and over top of the head.

Let's stretch them toward the front of the room or the front of your mat.

And then listen,

Yogis,

From this extended side angle,

I want you to come right back up to that warrior B.

So not too far.

Just kind of lift up,

Arms extend once again.

Keep the warrior B in the lower half of your body.

Bend the elbows and bring the palms together in front of your heart.

Good,

Lengthen out your right leg and then turn the right toes in.

So we're facing this long edge of our yoga mat.

Go ahead and interlace the fingers here.

Lengthen the arms and press the palms upward just like you did in your sun A and then take a side bend to the left.

So we're just opening up through the side ribs on the right.

As we lean left,

We create more space in the right side.

Beautiful,

And then come back to your center.

Let the arms drop alongside the body and interlace your fingers once again behind the lower back.

Pull the knuckles down,

Open up your chest,

And then I want you to take your right toes toward the front of the room.

Bend into the right knee like our warrior B and this time let's try folding inside of that right thigh,

Bringing the head downward toward your right ankle.

Hands can stay bound as long as that feels okay.

If it feels too unstable,

Then release the hands to the floor and breathe inside of that right thigh.

Nice work,

Yogis.

We get really strong through the legs here to press up to sky archer.

So lengthen out the legs once again,

Take your right arm up and over so it's like that side bending,

Side opening again.

And as you come into this posture,

Notice that the energy is pulling us toward the back of the mat and we're gonna let it do that.

So from this sky archer,

We're gonna go to a lunge of the back of the mat.

Hands are gonna come down around your left foot.

All 10 toes turn to the back as you bend into that left knee.

Just pause there.

Because from here,

I want you to roll to a one arm balance on the right side or we call it side plank.

We roll to the outer edge of the right foot and step the left foot back.

If that doesn't work,

Supported side plank.

We bring the right knee down underneath of the right hip.

Left arm can go reaching up.

Maybe up and over.

If you have a different version of bending the left knee or staggering the feet,

Take it.

And then do this yogi's supported side plank left side.

So we're rolling through a plank pose over to that left side.

Drop the left knee underneath of the left hip.

Good,

Right leg goes back,

Right arm lifts up.

Nice work.

And then I want you to meet me in three limb table.

So right hand comes down,

Square the toes,

Left hand comes down,

Square the chest and hips.

Right leg is already back there,

But pick up the toes.

So we're balancing,

Balancing.

Belly and back strong here.

As one time we draw the right knee in toward the nose,

Give it a squeeze.

Beautiful,

Extend that right leg back behind you.

And then we're gonna step the right foot up between the palms,

Warrior A.

We're still working with this right leg,

The right side.

We rise up nice and strong.

Hips and chest stay squared.

Arms go straight up into the air.

Yeah,

Just like that.

Pressing through the feet,

The legs become really strong and stable.

Tune in to the rhythm of your own breath.

And whether it's super audible,

Whether it has that nice sound of the ocean,

Or whether it's simple and subtle,

Tune in,

Tune in,

Tune in.

Nice work,

Yogis.

I want you to take a big breath in here at the top.

And then as you exhale,

We're gonna come into a vinyasa.

So hands come down.

You might step to Down Dog first,

Or step right into Plank Pose.

But eventually it will go Plank,

Lowering down,

Heart lifts,

Down Dog.

And that's where we meet,

Hips high,

Head low,

Maybe a pedaling out of the feet.

Sometimes we just need to sway the hips and kind of stretch out the calf muscles and even the bottoms of our feet as we pop up onto the toes and then drop the heels.

And we stay here a couple of breaths to stretch out the backside of the body.

And then yogis,

Once again,

We meet in Child's Pose.

So when you're ready,

Knees come down,

Hips sink toward heels or those glutes toward your heels.

Give it just a few breaths in this restorative,

Simplistic posture.

All the work that we do,

Right?

All the work that we do and the rest that we may not take,

Let this be the rest that you need.

And you're welcome to stay here.

Always,

Always,

Always,

You're welcome to stay here.

If you're ready to move on,

Yogis,

We get a little walk of those fingertips over to the right side.

So creating a little bit of that side bending aspect in the body.

And we pause there,

We stay,

We breathe.

Good.

And then we turn the side bend into a half camel on the right side.

Right hand goes backward toward the right heel or hip or lower back.

You're gonna pop up onto the knees,

Draw glutes away from your heels and lift your left arm up and over.

Again,

Trying to stack a bit,

Hips over top of those knees.

So there's this little push forward and strengthening through thighs and back and belly.

And then lift to neutral.

So we're stacking shoulders over top of hips,

Hips over knees,

Arms can drop alongside the body.

In this next transition,

Guys,

If you need to use your hands,

You're always welcome,

But maybe try without.

We're just shifting the weight a bit into the right knee,

A little more than the left.

And then left foot is gonna step forward.

You're gonna step the left foot forward to create a little bit of a lunge.

From there,

We go low twisted lunge.

So hands can come down,

Back toes tuck.

As your right knee lifts,

So does that left arm,

Left hand reaching up toward the ceiling so we get that twisting aspect in the other direction.

Feel your breath.

Keep it simple.

And then here's where we walk into that wide leg,

Standing forward,

Fold.

Left hand comes down,

Walk to the right a bit until you're in between the left leg and the right leg.

Left leg goes straight,

Left toes turn in.

And when you get there,

Halfway lift,

Peak out,

Breathe in.

And then fold back in and exhale.

And give it just a few breaths here.

Then without a half lift,

Yogis,

Maybe a bend in the knee,

Roll your body up to standing.

We're trying to match those arms to the legs so the arms go into a wide V as well as the legs and it kind of creates this X pose with the body.

Stretch up and open.

And then we go warrior B,

Back of the mat.

So left toes turn to the left,

Left knee bends,

Arms go in line with the shoulders.

We open the chest and the hips.

It's that strong holding position.

All the things that you could be practicing aside from your asana right here.

Practice that simplicity,

Practice just breath,

Just breath,

Just breath.

Take this warrior B and make it extended side angle coming down a little bit.

Either forearm or elbow to thigh or maybe hand sneaking to the floor or a block.

Right arm goes up and over.

Press through that right foot so you get some strong lengthening through that right side.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

And then right back up to warrior B,

Right back to where we started.

Lift the chest,

Open the arms.

Pause there for a moment.

And then keep warrior B in the bottom half of the body.

So keep your legs the same but just bend your elbows and bring your palms together in front of your heart.

And then go ahead and lengthen the left leg.

Turn the left toes in.

Interlace your fingers,

Lengthen the arms and press the palms straight up toward the ceiling.

We're gonna lean to the right side so we lean toward that right foot first.

Open up the left side.

Kind of counters that extended side angle,

Right?

We're opening the left side.

Beautiful.

And then go ahead and come back through center.

Let the arms drop alongside the body.

Interlace your fingers behind your lower back like we practiced.

Pull the hands down.

Then left toes turn toward the back of the mat again.

Left knee bends like a warrior B and take that fold inside of your left thigh.

Try to bring the head as far down as you can toward that inner left ankle.

Takes a lot of strength here.

A lot of breath,

Keep breathing.

Beautiful work,

Yogi.

Strong legs as you lift sky archer.

So we're pressing,

Lengthening the legs,

Taking left arm up and over.

So we feel again that opening through the left side of the body.

The energetics of this pulls us,

Right?

Pulls us toward the front of the room.

So let's follow that.

We're taking a lunge to the front.

We're gonna bring hands down around your right foot.

All 10 toes turn as you bend into that right knee.

Turn into your back toes.

Beautiful.

And then we roll to that left side,

Beautiful.

And then we roll to that left side for side plank or one arm balance.

You'll roll to the outer edge of that left foot and try stepping your right foot back.

If that doesn't work,

Drop your left knee underneath of that left hip for supported side plank.

Right hand can go reaching up or maybe it's up and over,

But let's keep chest and hips open.

We'll pause for a moment.

Pause in the body,

But don't pause in the breath.

Let it be fluent,

Let it be fluent.

Beautiful.

And then we roll to supported side plank,

Right side.

So as the right hand comes down,

It's almost like we're passing through plank.

Right knee drops underneath of that right hip.

Left leg goes back,

Left arm up.

Nice work,

Yogis.

Meet me in three limb tabletop.

So as your left hand comes down in this hip chest and hips square,

Left leg is already back.

We just lift up the left toes.

Find that strength to hold yourself there.

And then one time,

Draw the left knee in toward your nose.

Give it a little squeeze.

Kick it back behind you.

Extend,

Extend.

In other words,

Taking the left foot and stepping it up for warrior A.

So left foot all the way up between those palms.

Pivot and plant the back foot and rise.

Lift the arms up.

Again,

Lots of space between the feet,

Just like our warrior B.

And then big bend into that front knee.

Tune in to the rhythm of your breath.

Again,

Simple,

Simple,

Simple.

And the best remedy for the chaotic mind.

And then I want you to stay here,

Yogis,

For the inhale.

So feel the breath come in.

And then as you exhale,

Vinyasa,

Hands can come down around that left foot.

You might step back to down dog first.

If you just want to stay here,

Step back to down dog first.

If you just want to meet me in down dog,

You can do that as well.

You can skip that pushup position and heart coming through.

So maybe wiggling the hips or pedaling the feet like we did before,

Stretching out the bottoms of the feet,

The ankles,

The calf muscles.

The shoulders,

We feel the chest open a bit here.

Palms stretch.

Maybe jaw stretching,

Opening and closing the mouth a few times.

Head can turn side to side.

And then once again,

Yogis,

We're going to meet in child's pose.

So eventually,

Gently,

The knees come down and the hips sink back and we lower the chest.

Now we did a little half camel one side and a little half camel the other.

And so here's our opportunity to get a full camel.

We're going to pull up to hands and knees for that tabletop pose.

Good,

And then walking the hands backward toward your knees,

We're going to come to standing on the knees.

So again,

That stacking,

Shoulders over hips,

Hips over top of knees.

Hands go into your lower back or if you're reaching toward your heels,

You can take it there.

We try to get that full and balanced back bend where we're pulling the chest open and creating that stretch on the backside of the body.

Nice hips pressing forward a bit.

Find that line.

Beautiful variations,

Yogis.

And then think about lifting yourself up to neutral first.

We'll come to hands and knees.

We'll gently set the hands down and then move into a seated position,

Yogis,

Over top or around those legs.

As you come to a seat,

I want you to take the legs straight out in front of you like we did at the beginning of class.

Arms can reach up this time.

So go ahead and reach fingertips toward the ceiling and then fingertips toward your toes.

Take a little forward fold.

And we're gonna slowly roll up from this forward fold.

And as you get to the top,

I want you to bend both knees outward,

Slide the soles of the feet together,

And this is going to be our entryway onto the back.

We're not gonna hold it very long,

But before you move on to your back,

Yogis,

I just want you to make sure that your block is close.

So if your block is at the front of the mat,

Go ahead and just move it beside you because we're gonna be moving it Go ahead and just move it beside you because we're eventually gonna go into a supported backbend.

Once your block is close and out to the side,

Go ahead and lower all the way down onto your back.

So you might have to scoot the feet forward,

Hips forward,

And then spine coming down.

And I just want you to take a few breaths here with knees open and the soles of the feet together,

Arms relaxing,

Jaw relaxing,

Eyes relaxing.

Sometimes the most healing of postures for our bodies aren't the really big and challenging,

And maybe we can call them chaotic ones.

It's not necessarily eagle or handstanding or crescent warrior,

But sometimes just this,

Just allowing our bodies to be held by the room and the floor and the posture.

And from here,

We're just gonna turn the feet down and knees up like we often do.

Let those knees tip together and then wiggle,

Walk the feet really wide apart.

So just taking that moment to counter pose those knees being wide.

And then just a couple times,

Yogis,

I want you to windshield wiper those knees right,

Left,

Right,

Left,

Right,

Left.

And then just a couple of times,

Right,

Left,

Right,

Left.

Once you've gone maybe two,

Three times,

Really simply,

I want you to bring your feet about hip distance apart.

So you'll keep your feet down into the floor and the knees become hip distance apart as well,

Like we're setting up for bridge pose.

We're gonna actually take a supported bridge pose.

So we're gonna press through the feet and lift the back up off of the floor,

Grab a hold of the block,

And we're gonna wedge this block underneath of the body.

And we wanna do it at the bottom,

Bottom,

Bottom part of the back.

It's the flattest part of the back,

Really close to where our glutes come in.

We wanna be off of the spine and find that really solid support system and remembering that that block has a couple of different heights or a few.

And so finding the height that works for you,

You're gonna lower your back down onto that block and make sure everything is sustainable.

You don't wanna be in a place of pain.

You don't wanna be in a place of complete instability.

We wanna be nice and stable because we're gonna hold this longer than we would just a natural bridge pose.

Once you're here and set up,

Relax the arms or find a comfortable position for the hands and arms.

The knees might stay bent.

You might tip them together or you might lengthen out the legs and just allow the heels to be on the floor.

Settle in,

Yogis,

Just by tuning into the breath.

And as much as I would love to hold this in a deep yin-like fashion,

We're just gonna be here for a few breaths more.

And then to come out of this posture,

It takes a little bit of effort.

So if your legs are straight,

Let's put a bend into the knee and come back to feet flat on the floor.

And then we have to press through the feet enough that we can lift the hips,

Lift that back off of that block and slide the block out from underneath,

Then lowering the back all the way down to the ground.

Go ahead and tug the knees in toward your chest,

Yogis,

And get a little rock here so that we're rocking against the place that the block just was.

Let there be a little bit of release there,

A little rhythm,

Right,

Left,

Right,

Left,

Right,

Left.

And we're gonna rock ourselves right into a twist.

So once you've rocked a few times both ways,

Go ahead and let those knees rock to the right and just draw open and apart those arms,

Open up the chest.

And the knees come back through center all the way over to that other side,

Just finalizing that twisting action.

And then bringing the knees back through center,

I want you to give yourself a hug,

Go ahead and squeeze those legs inward.

And then we're gonna take the legs upward.

So we're gonna take the legs straight up into the air and we take them straight up to lower them straight down.

So when you're ready,

And it might be in a breath or two or maybe even three,

Yogis,

We're gonna bring the legs all the way down for that Shavasana.

And when you land,

When legs are against the floor and your back and your arms,

Or you make those adjustments and you find that restorative space or that space of stillness,

I want you to do as we often do together here to welcome in that place of Shavasana.

I want you to take a deep breath all the way in.

Shavasana.

Sometimes when we feel unbalanced and balanced in the body and sometimes when the mind is anxious and there's so much going on,

Our tendency is to do more,

To do more to restore our health,

To practice more,

To do,

Do,

Do,

And bring in more,

More,

More.

But as we talked about before,

Sometimes the medicine of subtraction is so much stronger than the medicine of addition.

And when the dis-ease in the body is chaos,

The remedy becomes simplicity.

Keep it simple here on the back.

Yogis,

Just tune in to the rhythm of your breath.

And feel the very next inhale and the very next exhale.

And then repeat that.

Very next inhale,

Very next exhale.

And then from this position that you're in,

Because I know we all end up in a little bit different position,

I want you to subtly,

Simply stretch your body awake.

And it might begin with those fingers and toes.

It might begin with the head and the subtle movements of shoulders or even just shifting your body weight a little side to side.

It might happen that as you begin to wake up slowly,

You might need that full body stretch that we often take,

Either arms up and down or creating once again that somewhat X pose through the body.

And once the movements feel full enough or wakeful enough,

I want you to meet me up into a seated position.

And you can do that nice and slow.

You might turn into the side or you certainly can rock yourself up if that feels good for the body.

And then we're just going to meet once again with palms together in front of the heart,

Just like our sun salutation A today.

And sometimes that simplicity of slowing down,

Just taking a pause,

A child's pose,

A seated position helps us to connect so intimately with the breath and what's going on inside of ourselves.

I want you to take a full nourishing breath all the way in and out.

From my heart directly to yours.

Namaste.