Welcome to this energizing dragon flow.
In this dragon flow,
We'll spend a lot of time on your hands,
Activating the meridian energy channels of your lungs and your heart to get your heart pumping.
For this practice,
It will be helpful to lay out your yoga mat horizontally.
We'll start on the left side and then finish off on the right side before repeating the same mirror sequence,
Beginning on the right side and then concluding on the left.
So let's start facing towards the edge of your yoga mat on the left side,
Grounding down through the four corners of your feet.
Exhale to relax your shoulders down.
Inhale to grow the back of your head up to the sky.
Imagine there is an imaginary bolster between your thighs and you're squeezing gently this bolster to magnetize your legs towards the midline.
Slowly shift the weight towards your left foot and feel your right foot become light so that maybe you lift your right heel off the ground.
Perhaps you start to bend your right knee and bring your right knee towards your chest.
You might stay here.
You might also bring the palms together in front of the heart center in a gesture of prayer of gratitude.
Now finding your balance here,
Slowly and gently begin to shift that balance as you lean your heart forward and stretch your right heel back,
Coming into flying dragon or airplane pose.
You might spread your dragon wings here as you shine your heart forward and lengthen your leg back for three,
Two,
One.
Now as slowly as possible,
Bend your left knee and gracefully land your right ball of the foot down so you come into a variation of a lunge position with the back knee off the ground.
Let both palms come underneath your shoulders so you're in a runner's lunge.
From here,
Bend both knees,
Come low into a gecko pose so that your arms are almost into a chaturanga like position.
For this position,
You may want to bring your foot on the outside of your left palm if that feels better for you.
As you stay in this position,
Connect with the feeling of grounding through the earth.
Then push through the palms to rise back up and with the next breath,
Slowly raise your left leg up to the sky so you come into a three-legged dog or dragon raises its tail.
We'll stay here connecting through your palms,
Through the right ball of the foot with the earth and the left toes or your tail up to the sky for one more full breath in and long breath out.
Slowly let your foot,
Your dragon tail touch down once again on the outside of the left hand.
Slowly turn your right foot out and lift to come up into an extended side angle just briefly.
As we rise up and let your left foot turn in,
Right foot turn out so we come into the same position,
Gecko position with the palms underneath the shoulders and right foot right outside your right palm.
From here,
Bend both elbows,
Stay low in the gecko,
Connecting with the earth.
One more breath,
Push through the palms,
Find the lunge position and then from here,
Pressing down through the palms,
Breathe in to rise up into a high lunge position.
You can bring the palms into the heart center.
Notice the back knee is off the ground.
Draw your scapula back,
Cactus your arms and let your dragon wings begin to shine behind you as you spread your heart forward for three,
Two,
One.
As you exhale,
Let the palms settle back towards the earth.
Lengthen and swing your right leg,
Dragon tail up towards the sky for three,
Two,
One.
Bend the right knee,
Let the dragon tail thread through your left hand and your left foot and let it land so that you come into a fallen triangle position and shine your left hand up to the sky for three,
Two,
One.
Now softly let the left palm come down,
Just briefly coming back into a three-legged dragon,
Raising your tail,
Bend the right knee,
Step the right foot behind you,
Softly through side plank,
Then come into wild thing.
First time on this side,
See if you can feel the spaciousness in your heart for three,
Two,
One.
Let your right palm set down back onto the earth,
Raise your tail just one last time on this side and then set your foot close towards the front of the yoga mat.
Start to shift the weight forward towards the palms as you lean and lift your back foot off the ground,
Just briefly in standing splits,
Then slowly rise from standing splits into your flying dragon or your airplane pose for three deep breaths here and softly and gently in your own time,
Bending your left knee,
Bringing your left knee into the chest,
Bringing the palms back into the heart center and softly letting the left foot land back onto the ground,
Re-establishing your equilibrium.
Let's take three full breaths in and long breaths out,
Following your own rhythm,
Your own pace.
Now that we're acquainted with this sequence,
The second round will move a little bit faster,
Staying briefly in each of the poses.
Let's shift the weight towards your right foot,
Left knee bends and bring it into the chest.
From here,
Coming into flying dragon as you spread your wings and let your tail soar behind you.
From here,
We'll bend through your right knee and gracefully land briefly into the lunge position and then come into the gecko position as we place the palms on the ground under the shoulders,
Right foot outside your right palm,
Bend the elbows to come low,
Push through the palm,
Turn the back foot out as you slowly transition into extended side angle and from extended side angle,
Come back into gecko on the other side.
Bend the left knee,
Palms underneath the shoulders,
Left foot outside your left palm,
Elbows bend,
Staying low in the gecko,
Pushing through the palms and then coming back briefly into the lunge position.
When you inhale,
Draw your scapula back,
Shine your head up towards the sky,
Bend the front knee and lengthen the back leg.
When you exhale,
Bring the palms down onto the ground and then swing your dragon tail,
Your left leg all the way up towards the sky,
Three-legged dog.
From here,
We'll bend that knee and thread it through so you come into that fallen triangle position.
Feel the connection with your feet,
With your palms to the earth.
As you exhale,
Let the right palm set back down,
Coming back into your dragon raising its tail,
Then bend the left knee,
Step the left foot behind you through side plank,
Rainbow your hips,
Shine your heart to the sky,
Coming into a wild thing.
When you're ready to transition out of wild thing,
Place your left palm down,
We'll raise your tail one last time,
All the way up to the sky,
Then softly begin to set the foot forward and then shift the weight of your body towards that foot and your palms so your back heel,
Back foot floats off the ground into standing splits.
From here,
One of both palms into heart center,
You lengthen the spine,
You come back into a flying dragon,
Airplane pose and then softly with the next breath in,
Arms sweep up,
Right knee into chest,
Back web again and when you exhale at the foot,
Come back towards the ground.
We'll take once again three deep breaths in here,
Inhaling through the nose,
Long breath out,
Two more like these in your own time and then slowly and gently concluding your practice.
I hope you enjoyed this dragon flow as much as I did and you can repeat this as many times as you wish,
It's a really energizing yet efficient way to practice and it really takes the body through many of the degrees of freedom through the spine,
Through the hips,
Through the legs,
Through the shoulders as well.
So looking forward to seeing you in the next video.
