Smooth Yoga Flow

Yoga Flow is a dynamic style of yoga that links movement with breath in a continuous sequence of poses. Often inspired by Vinyasa yoga, Yoga Flow emphasizes smooth transitions, helping practitioners build strength, flexibility, balance, and mindfulness.

Transcript

Hi everybody, Welcome to another flow. My name's Nicole. I'm going to be taking you through. . . Hopefully challenging. We all need a bit of challenge in our life. Maybe a fluid flow, Let's call it that. In terms of props, You'll only need a block, If that, Maybe two if you have some. And as you can see, I'm using one just to sit my hips a little bit higher than my knees, Which is where we're gonna start. So once you're ready and you have your props, Please pause the video if you need to. Bring your palms flat down onto your thighs and then just close your eyes as we make our spine a little bit taller. Releasing the shoulders down and just balancing the head on top of the shoulders. And as we find our breath, Bring your focus to it. Can we see if we can elongate it, Moving the breath all the way down to the belly? And allowing him to move through the body up to the crown of the head. And you'll find as it moves back down, Maybe the shoulders release a little bit more. Allowing yourself to be a little bit calmer. I like to think of it as a calm before the storm. Or that little circle in between a tornado. So we're just starting at the circle and we move further and further out to the edges as we become uh. . . Stronger and stronger and eventually calm down once again back to the center So using that analogy, Or thinking of that analogy, As we take another three breaths. Let's see if we can keep them in and out through the nose, Unless you're dealing with some sort of congestion. And as you complete the last breath keep the eyes closed or blink them open we're just going to create circles with the shoulders so just moving the shoulders around and little circles moving them backwards. See if you can get the shoulders all the way up towards the ears if you can. And then changing direction, Go the other way. And eventually getting them towards the ears holding there. So really scrunching them in. Take a deep breath in. And with your exhale just release everything. Let's do that once more. Take them all the way into the ears. Scrunch them all the way up, Take a deep breath in, But this time can you also scrunch up the facial muscles, Scrunching everything up? And release with your exhale. And then taking the right ear to right shoulder, Just tilt up the head. Opening up the left side of the neck. Bring the chin down towards the chest, Finding space in the back part of the neck. And then over to the left hand side, So left ear to left shoulder. Opening up the right side of the neck. Come back to center and then just turn your gaze towards the left. So keep your head neutral. And just turning over your left shoulder. Come back to center and then over to the right hand side. Back to center, And then we're just going to tilt the head back, So opening up the throat. Come back to center and then finally chin into chest. And coming back to center. Bring your palms together and then interlace the fingers. We're just going to create little figure eights. And if you've been practicing with me a while, You'll note that the wrists become a really integral component with my practice. Change direction, Go the other way. And so I'd like to spend. . . Bit of time just warming them up and making sure that they're ready to take our weight. And release and give the fingers a shake. Bring the palms together and we're just going to keep rotate them around so bringing the backs of the hands together drawing fingers down and then up towards you just creating a couple of circles as you move around seeing if we can keep the backs of the hands touching as you come through there and then change direction, Go the other way. And finishing up the last one and give the fingers a shake And we're going to remove any aids if you're using them or your props and come into a child's pose. So here we have our knees nice and wide on the edges of the mat, Tops of the feet down, Big toes together. And then just stretch your arms forward, Maybe keeping yourself with little tense on the palms, So keeping the palms off the mat. And coming onto the pads of the fingers. And then seeing if we can draw the chest even lower down and the hips back towards the heels So just pause here, You can even release the forehead down to the floor if it's close enough. For another two breaths and another one and then slowly making your way up to a tabletop palms flat down onto the floor index fingers parallel And imagine the analogy of a basketball. So you're trying to grip a basketball. So you're drawing the tips of the fingers in towards you and the heels of the hands forwards. And once you're there, Push through the mat, Tuck the toes, And can you hover the knees just off the floor? And when you're here, See if you can push the spine up towards the ceiling or the top of the sky. If you're practicing outside. Tucking maybe the chin in a little bit, Looking straight down and hold just for two. One, And then we're gonna slowly swing the knees from side to side. Just a slow movement side to side making this movement a little bit bigger as you go eventually dropping the heels down to the floor on each side and then slowly lifting the hips up eventually finding a downward dog. Where the hips are reaching up towards the ceiling, You're in an upside down V shape. And then pedal through the feet. Bending one knee. And other. And just continue this movement for another 2 or 3 breaths. So we're just stretching through the hamstrings. And the ankles. Eventually coming to stillness, Make sure your feet are about hip width apart, Looking towards the top of the mat at your hands. We're going to take the shoulders forward. Reaching them above the wrists and then drop down the knees and slowly lower down bending through the elbows bring the chest all the way down to the floor Move any props that you have in the way out of the way. And then have your hands underneath your shoulders. Tops of the feet down, Glue the legs together and we're just going to take a breath in as we peel the chest off the floor. And then once you're there, Bring your forearms one at a time. And then the other palms face down, Coming to a Sphinx pose. Take another breath in here, Open through the chest. And with your exhale can you bring your hands back underneath your shoulders. Tuck your toes, Inhale come to your knees, Tabletop, And with your exhale lift the hips downward dog. Use your breath in to move the shoulders back to that plank position where we're creating a straight line between the crown of the head and the heels, And then exhale to drop the knees and you're just bending the elbows this time, Keeping them tucked in remember. Straighten the arms at the breath-in tabletop. And an exhale lift the hips downward dog one more flow like that but this time a full-fledged one so shoulders over wrists with your breath in plank Maybe no knees, Let's bend the elbows. Flip of feet. Find that upward dog. And downward dog. Breath out. And once you're in your dug just spend spending a few moments once again to pedal through the feet and we're going to lift the heels as high as we can with your next breath in and releasing them with your breath out Twice more like that, Breath in, Lift. And release breath out And for the last one, As we lift, Keep the legs straight and then can you tippy toe your feet all the way towards the top of your mat. Once you're there toe heel them out to about hip width apart. And then finding a forward fold, Maybe grabbing your elbows, Keeping a slight bend in your knees and either staying in stillness or a slight sway from left to right. That might feel really nice on the spine. A little bit of movement. Eventually coming back to stillness release the hands walk them up the shins and we're going to uncurl the spine so continue walking the hands all the way up the legs eventually taking the torso up. Relaxing the arms at your side and then creating little circles as we take them backwards. And then forwards. Taking your right arm, Take it across the body, Bring your left arm and use that to draw that right arm in towards you. So just a little bit of a stretch of the shoulder. And release. Take that right arm up to the ceiling and then bend the elbow, Bring the hand behind the back. Use your left hand to draw the elbow further back and maybe a slight lift of the chin so you're looking forward. And hold and release taking the left arm across the body using your right hand to draw it in finding a stretch on the other side and eventually taking that arm to the ceiling, Bend the elbow, Bring the hand behind the back and draw the elbow in. And release and give your arms a big wave in little circles around moving them forwards or backwards. And then the other way, So making sure we're getting a little bit of balance. Come back to the top of your mat and take the arms back up to the ceiling, Breath in. Bring the palms together and draw them to the heart as you exhale. Taking them back up to the ceiling breath in As the palms meet, Bend the knees and then take the arms down the center of the body, Reaching all the way down to the floor. Find a halfway lift as the hands come to the shins, Straighten the legs, Spine, Look forward, Breath in, And then exhale as you release. Then the feet step back, One foot followed by the other, Moving to your downward dog. And a breath in to move through a flow. Come to plank with your breath in. Come halfway down, Chaturanga. Flip the feet, Upward dog. And downward dog with your breath out. The right foot is going to lift up to the ceiling with your breath in, And stepping it forward to the top of the mat with your exhale. Now, We're going to move around quite a bit, So make sure you listen to the instructions. We're in a low lunge here with the hands on the floor. Walk the hands to the left hand side all the way around frame that left foot at the back of the mat. Then drop the right knee down, Anjani Asana, Lift both hands to the ceiling. Once you're there, Making sure the palms are facing each other, Little fingers are drawing in. Hold. See if you can relax the shoulders a bit more, Maybe even turn. The gaze up towards the hands. And then draw them back down to the floor. Now, Excuse my back. Tuck the back toes, Lift the back knee, And we're going to walk the hands over to the right hand side, Coming into a wide-legged forward fold. And just pause here. Use a breath in to find a baby halfway lift. And an exhale as you release. Then walk the hands continuing to the right hand side to frame the right foot. We're back at the top of our mat. Sweep that right foot back to a plank with your breath in or a downward dog with your breath in. Plank with your breath out and lower down halfway. Flip the feet, Upward dog. And downward dog with your breath out. Moving on to the other side taking a lift of the left foot to the ceiling or to the sky and stepping it forward, Top of the mat. Walking the hands to the right hand side all the way to frame the right foot at the back of the mat and drop the left knee Inhale as you take the hands to the ceiling. And pause, Relax the shoulders, Maybe gaze up. Bring the hands back down to the floor, Tuck the back toes, Lift the back knee, Walk the hands to the left, Wide-legged forward fold, Breath in here. And exhale as you release. Then continue walking to the left to frame the left foot. Step that left foot back to a downward dog. Use an inhale to come forward to plank, Halfway down Chaturanga. Flip the feet. And downward dog. Let's increase or build on to that by moving up. Let's take the right foot to the sky or ceiling. As you exhale, Step it forward. Walking the hands to the left hand side all the way around this time keeping the back knee lifted let's find crescent lunge lifting the hands and straight back down to frame that left foot back of the mat. Walk the hands to the right to find a wide-legged forward fold. Breath in halfway. And exhale, Release. And then walking the hands to the right frame the right foot. Step the right foot back to a plank with your breath in halfway down Chaturanga. Flip the feet. And done with Doug. Moving straight on to the other side, Left leg reaches, Breath in. And step it forward breath out walking the hands to the right to frame the right foot at the back of the mat. Push through the right foot, Crescent lunge with your breath in. And hands come down to the floor, Breath out. Walk the hands to the left halfway lift in and breath out forward fold and then walking the hands to the left to frame the left foot so we're back at the top of the mat sweep the left foot back to a plank breath in Halfway down Tadaranga. Flip the feet. Let's have a little bit of an intermission let's take the knees wide taking the hips back child's pose Pausing here in your child's pose, Allowing the energy to flow. Now continuing to let it flow, Continuing on with that motion, Can you keep the elbows off the floor and maybe stay on the pads of the fingers? This keeps it a little bit more active. Hold here, Just for another two. And one and slowly moving back to your downward dog hope you're enjoying it so far We're going to add to that, Make it a little bit more complex, And please excuse my back as we turn around in these little circles. Or half circles. Let's take the right foot up to the ceiling. Bend your knee and open the hip. Keep your right knee lifted and can you take that left foot a little bit higher, Breath in, And take the right knee to the right elbow with your breath out. Touch. Take it back to the ceiling, Breath in. And as you exhale, We're going to kick it out to a fallen triangle. So taking it out to the left hand side, Placing it down, Pushing the hips up, Taking the left hand to the ceiling. We're not going to stay here long look down towards the right hand sweep that right foot back up as you take the left hand down side plank taking the right foot on top of the left taking the right hand to the ceiling Remember to keep the hips nice and high. Hold. And then can you take that right foot and take it all the way to the top of the mat all the way to the top walk the hands to the left all the way around to frame the left foot at the back of the mat Crescent lunge, Push through the left foot, Reach the arms to the ceiling. And now scan DASNA. We're going to take the bend of the right knee. Taking ourselves back to the front of the mat. Now, Your hands can be down as support or you can bring the palms in in prayer. Flex through the left toes pointing to the ceiling and if you don't want to get as low to start off with you can stay a little bit higher Bring your hands back into the chest. And taking the hands back down if you lifted. Turn to the front of your mat framing that right foot. So it's really important to remember front of the mat, Back of the mat. I'll try and use those phrases. Take your right hand up to the ceiling, Open twist. Hold here, Maybe looking up towards your hand. And then that right hand goes behind the left glute push through the top hand top foot to find a reverse twist taking the left arm to the ceiling looking over your right shoulder I'm going to give you a second just to have a look where I'm going, Where I am. To make sure you're in the right place. And then the arms windmill down and to the left. To a wide-legged forward fold. Take a halfway lift here and an exhale as you release and then walk the hands back to the back of the mat to frame that left foot we're going to take the left foot to the ceiling with your breath in And then a one-legged flow, Bringing the shoulders forward, Bending the elbows, Coming down. Open up, I'll put Doug and downward dog. Note that we are facing the back of the mat. And I'm going to refer to that as we flow on the other side. Keeping yourself in downward dog, Just take a deep breath in here. And a long exhale. And then taking that left foot to the ceiling. I'm going to bend that knee, Open the hips. High onto that right foot, Breath in, And left knee goes to left elbow touch. Take it back to the ceiling with your breath in. And step it forward, Top of the mat. No, We're not doing that, We're kicking it out, Fallen triangle. Sorry about that. Take the right hand to the ceiling. Push the hips up. And then the right hand comes down side plank taking the left foot on top of the right hips lift as you take the left hand to the ceiling. Hold here for two. One left foot goes in steps to the top of the mat so to the back of the mat and then walking the hands to the right we're going to frame the right foot at the front of the mat Once you're there, Take your right hand to the ceiling. And I feel like we've been here before, So let's not do that. Let's walk the hands back. Crescent lunge. So we're here at the top of the mat. Push to the right foot, Crescent lunge. Let's take the hands to the ceiling. Scandasana to the left side, So bend of the left knee. And again, Choice of keeping it low or staying high. Stay just for another two seconds. Another one turn to the back right hand plants down take the left hand to the ceiling staying here for two. For one, Making sure that we're not on rail tracks with the feet, So take that right foot a little bit out if you need to. Left hand comes behind the right glute, Push through both top hands and foot, And take the right hand up, Looking over your left shoulder. Now, I'll pause here for another breath to make sure you're in the right position. And then windmilling the arms down to the right wide-legged forward fold. Breath in here and breath out. And turning to the front of the mat to frame that right foot. Sweep it back up to the ceiling with your breath in. And then coming forward with the shoulders one-legged plank. Lower down halfway. And child's pose with your breath out. Keep the tops of the feet down and maybe keeping it active, Maintaining that energy flowing through the body. So the elbows are off the floor, Maybe coming onto the pads of the fingers, Holding here for two. Holding for one. And slowly making your way back up downward dog let us come high onto the tippy toes with your breath in and lower the heels with your breath out high on the tippy toes breath in and release with your breath out now on the next one come high under the tippy toes look up towards the top of the mat maybe bend through the knees and then exhale hop skipper jump yourself to the top Find a halfway lift to the top of your mountain. And release forward fold And then slowly unwinding the spine, Taking the hands all the way up to the ceiling. Bring the palms in. The heart as you exhale. Now we're going to come into a balancing posture. So at the top of your mat, You can have your heel connected to your bottom of your left ankle with the top of the right foot connected to the floor. We're going to come into tree pose. So other option is to have the foot just below the knee. And the last option is to have the foot above the knee. I'm going to choose second option. Just go for the averages, Bring the palms to meet and find them at the heart center. And then just pause in your balancing posture, Maybe looking at a point. Hopefully not moving in front of you. Moving on to the second part of the posture, Maybe releasing the hands, Bring them into a mudra. Thumb and first finger together. Opening out the palms. Hold. Imagine we are in a windy forest and we're going to just tilt the torso to the right hand side. So taking the right elbow towards that right knee and see if you can tilt over staying balanced. Hold. And slowly tilt back over. Now if you want to challenge yourself you can do that once again, Maybe closing down the eyes. So tilting over to the right. Maybe closing down the eyes as you do and then coming back to center. Make that as long and short as you need. Bring the palms back in and drop the knee down. Allow the foot to rest. Kick the feet out. Just preparing for the other side. Bring the left heel to left ankle, Big toes down and then as the palms come in choosing your position. Taking ourselves to the second part of that lifting the hands maybe finding a mudra and then finding that tilt over to the left this time, So left elbow, Left knee. Tilt tilt tilt And coming back to center. And maybe this time with your eyes closed, Tilting over to the left. And maybe closing down the eyes. Come back to center. Bring the palms together, Allow the foot to release and then kicking them out. Let's flush it out with one final flow. So at the top of your mat, Let's take the arms to the ceiling, Breath in. Palms meet, Bend through the knees, Release them all the way down to the floor. Halfway lift in, And if you have a jump back, Jumping back, Maybe even a handstand if you've got that in your practice. Up with Doug. And a child's pose with your exhale. Nice and slowly coming back up drawing the knees around or the feet around to come sit down in a cross-legged seat. It doesn't matter which shin you have in front. We're going to take the hands forward, Coming into a forward fold, Just bending over. Working into the hip flexors. And then walk the hands over to the left hand side take your left hand down and take your right hand up maybe turning the torso up looking up towards the right hand Bring the right hand onto the left knee. As you straighten the torso, Can you take the left hand behind you and find a twist behind. And come back to center. Lean back releasing the feet off the floor and change the cross so the other cross in front walking the hands forward coming back into that forward fold Walking the hands over to the right hand side, Right hand plants, Take the left hand up to the ceiling, Maybe turning to look up at the left hand. The left hand comes back onto the right thigh, Take the right hand behind you, Lift the torso, Straighten the spine, Look over your right shoulder. And then gently release, Coming back to centre. Bring the palms together and we're going to finish off just with a little bit of breath. So bring them hands into heart center, Invitation to close down the eyes, Keep your spine nice and straight. Allowing the breath to just flow out of you, Release it into the lungs and then taking a deep breath in through the nose for the count of 4 3 2 1 and let it out for 4 3 2 1 breath in for 4 3 2 1 and out for 4 3 one let's bring in a bit of a pause so breathe in for four and then pause at the top for 4, 3, 2, 1, Breathing out for 4. And pausing at the bottom for 4, 3, 2, 1, Breathing in for 4, Holding at the top four breathing out for four. Holding at the bottom for 4. And then just letting go of that tight breath schedule and just breathing as per normal. Bring the hands into the forehead, Maybe a slight bow in reverence to your practice. Let me see. . . It honors and respects. The very same lighted season each and every one of you. Namaste. Thank you for joining me today in your practice, Making yoga an important part of your day. Continue to practice every day if possible, Otherwise trying to maintain that practice throughout life itself. One of the modalities that we can practice throughout life whether it's a strong vinyasa integrating handstands or all sorts of other transitions. Or a gentle stretch in yin. As I get older, I think it's a very important part of life that we should keep. With that, Namaste and have a beautiful day. Merci.