Slow Mobility Flow Yoga

This class is a fusion of classical yoga and contemporary mobility practices. The focus of the class is towards developing strength and control within the major joints of your body while engaged in a yoga practice — yielding the benefits of both styles of practice!

My practices are generally accessible for most bodies and can be readily modified to meet your particular needs. Please practice within your own limits, adapting poses and exercises to suit your needs or simply to pause when you need to rest.

Transcript

Hey there! Are you ready for some yoga? Well today we've got a slow mobility flow plan. The idea is to get on the mat and move slowly but with strength and with control to mobilize all the various joints of our body. This should be a lot of fun so let's get on our mat and get started. Come on! Let's go. So as you find your seat, Make sure you're sitting up nice and tall. I like to sit on a bolster. It just lets my hips be a little bit more spacious. Nestle in and we'll just spend a minute or two grounding and centering ourselves before we begin our movement practice. Begin by taking a nice big inhale. Hold your breath in. And then inhale just a bit more. And open your mouth and a long sigh. And one more time just like that. Nice big inhale. Hold your breath in. Another inhale. And alongside, Close your eyes, Settle in, Arrive, Land right here. Allow your breath pattern to be Nice and slow and spacious and full and easy. Sinking your attention, Your awareness down and into your body. Allowing the busyness of the mind to settle and your attention to be redirected towards your body, Your breath, This moment here. And as you settle in, Notice what you're noticing. It could be busyness in the mind. It could be aches and pains in the body. It could be an emotional state. Just notice what you're noticing. And agree to work with that, Not against it, Not to deny it, Simply to work with that as we go through our practice. So we're approaching ourselves with support with nourishment, With kindness. As we practice. And then from that place, Let's mark the start of the practice with a shared breath together. Nice big inhale. And a long delicious sigh. And welcome once again, My friends, To your yoga practice. Great to have you here. On your next inhale, Just open your eyes, Reach your arms up overhead, And just move a little bit intuitively, Sort of like a morning stretch, A cat-like pendiculation, Just dissipating any stuckness that might be present. And then slowly, Slowly, We'll settle back in. Take your hands and hold your shoulders down or hold your forearms down somehow. Find a bit of a tug of energy through the hands. And then from here, Moving through our neck to begin. Drop your chin to your chest. Keep the shoulders down. Swoop your chin over to the right. Look over your right shoulder and then begin to look up. Very slowly look over towards your left shoulder. Swoop your chin across your chest and then across and again up. And over Down to the center. And then we'll go two times the other way. So slowly begin to look. Around, Up, Over to the right, Swoop through center, And one more time, Around we go. And back down. Relax your arms. Give your shoulders a bit of a shake, Your head a bit of a shake. Now bring your hands into fists in front of you. Nice sense of engagement from fists to shoulders. Take your shoulders up. Down and forwards. Up. Down and forwards. Do it in the reverse direction. Back. Forwards, Down. Forwards and down and then just do a couple gentle movements forwards and backwards. Good. Getting into our wrists. Interlace your fingers quite strongly up to the wrists. And then rotate your wrists big circles, Keeping the base of your wrists closed. Might get a few snap crack pops in there. Go one way and then go exactly the other way. Waking up those wrists, And keeping your fingers interlaced, Press them away from you, Getting a bit of a stretch, Maybe stretch one side, Stretch the other side. Stretch it out nice and long and then shake your hands out. Good. Waken up the spine just a little bit. Inhale, Hands up. And exhale, Right hand down and reach up with the left over to the upper right. Inhale come up Press down with your left hand and reach up with the right hand, Extending the right side of the body. Inhale up. Exhale over, Reach, Stretch. Keep that left bum cheek down. Inhale up. Exhale, Right bum cheek down as you stretch. Nice inhale back through center and as you exhale just twist gently to the right Inhale to center. Exhale, Twist to the left. Just gently, Your spine's not warmed up yet, So just gently warming things. Inhale. Accelerate. Inhale. Exhale left. Nice. Bring your hands back onto your knees some more work for your shoulders Might need to go sideways so you can see what's going on here. Inhale your hands up. And as you exhale, Bring the backs of your hands to touch behind your head. Squeeze your elbows up. Inhale hands up. Exhale, Rotate your hands and let the backs of your hands touch your back. So swimmer's arms, This is called. Inhale up. Rotate. Exhale, Backs of hands touch, Elbows lift, And press your hands together. Nice. Inhale, Up. Exhale back. I'll do that one more time. Inhale, Up. Excel back. And inhale up. And exhale back. Oh yeah, That feels good. From this place, Inhale your hands overhead again. And as you exhale, Fold forwards, Bring your hands to the ground in front of you. Keep your spine nice and long. And Fold 4 is as much as is reasonable for you. We're offering now a compression into your hips. Just a gentle. . . Yielding into the hip sockets. Few breaths there. Nice and then from that place we'll come to our hands and knees next into a tabletop position And as you come onto your hands and knees, For me at least, I like to stretch my legs out a little bit. They've been crossed underneath me and they get a little bit cranky. So get rid of any kind of agitation in your legs. And then stabilize into a good old cat cow. We want your hands, Fingers spread nice and wide, And they're dialing into the mat, Sort of like your elbows are squeezing together and forwards. And we move in cat-cow from the base of our spine in both directions. So as you inhale, Lift your tail, Drop your abdomen, Send your heart forwards, And then look up. And as you exhale, First tuck your tailbone, Glutes active, Draw your belly in, Draw your ribs in, And then tuck your chin at the end as you press the mat. Inhaling, Tail, Belly, Heart. Chin, And exhaling, Tail, Belly, Heart, Chin. One more time, Inhale. Lengthening through the front side of your body. And exhale, Rounding through the back. Nice. Inhale back to a neutral position. And here we'll tuck your toes at the back. Trying to find your big toe mounds. And then Pressing with your hands, Keeping your fingers wide and sort of dialing away from you, Pop your knees off the mat. This is called bear pose. And a little bit of movement here just to notice the connection side, Side, Front, Back, Laterally. Whatever you're noticing. A little more challenging would be to tap one shoulder, Tap the other shoulder. But that's just a kind of a next level thing. Don't need to do that. And then from there, Once we've got a little bit of heat moving, Bum back and then up as you drop your head down. And we find that dreaded downward dog position So here, You're really trying to reach through your fingertips, Less pressure in your wrists. Really reach through those hands. Bend and straighten your legs quite a bit. Getting one heel to touch, Maybe, Maybe not. And then the other. Just paddling your legs. And then we walk up the mat, Tiny little steps to come to the top of the mat. Drape yourself over your thighs. Let your head Shake a little bit. Let your shoulders relax. And then inhale to a half lift. Exhale to fold to bend your knees I'm going to do that again. Inhale, Halfway up. And exhale fold and bend your knees From that place, As you inhale, We'll swoop your hands wide, Stand all the way up, Reach to the ceiling. Don't pass out. And exhale, Wash your hands down the front of your body. Let's do that again, Just to ground ourselves. Inhale, Hands up. And exhale, Wash those hands down. In front of your body. From here, Get your feet to touch. Heels touch, Toes touch. Hands can be on your hips and then. . . V those feet open so we got the heels touching and the toes are v'd out you know maybe 30 degrees, Not too much. Really feel your heels squeezing together and forwards. You'll feel your bum squeezing a little bit. Inhale your hands up overhead. And as you exhale, We'll interlace your fingers, Rock the weight force, Keep your heels together, Come up on your big toe mounds, Tippy toes, Wobbly wobbly, That's okay. And then stay lifted. Inhale your hands up to the ceiling. Stretch up nice and tall. And then as you exhale, Try to bring your hands down and your heels down at roughly the same pace and time. Again, Keep your feet flat initially on the inhale. As you exhale, Interlace, Rise up heels, Ankles, Forwards. Try to stay lifted. Wobbling is good actually. Inhale, Hands up. Means your body's learning something new. And exhale, Heels down. Hands come back down. Toes back together. Inhale your hands overhead. Interlace your fingers. Point your index fingers. Squeeze your biceps towards your ears. Reach up. And again, Movements of the spine, Exhale over to the right. Inhale, Up. Exhale, Pull a little bit the left hand. Pull yourself to the upper left. Inhale up. Exhale right. Inhale up. Exhale left. And let's find a bit of mobility now. Inhale up. Exhale to the right. Find that sense of extension. From your left foot all the way through your left ribcage, Your left hand. The top side of the body. And then you'll notice you're feeling a stretching sensation, Particularly through the hips and the ribs here. Fire up those muscles, Strongly engage those muscles, Keep the engagement and try to stretch into the engagement for five minutes. Four three two and one and then inhale come up Excel to settle. There's no rush. It's yoga. Inhale, Reach up. Exhale, Side bent to the left. Hips go a little bit to the right. And now we're extending the top side of the body. Feel that sense of stretching. So first is just noticing the stretch. But then to build mobility and control, We need to activate. Activate the outer hip. Activate the muscles that support the ribs. Keep that activation nice and strong as you stretch for five. Two and one inhale come up separate your feet. And exhale, Sit down, Palms face the floor. Stick your bum out. From here, Swimming bear. This is getting back into our shoulders and our hips a bit. As you inhale, Swoop your hands wide, Stand up. Your hands go way behind you still your palms are face up and then swoop them through the inside of your body as you sit down. Presenting those hands, Palms face up. Like you're making an offering here. This is called swimming bear. So inhale, Swoop, Stand up. Hands palms face up behind you keep them face up sit back down Rotating through the shoulder, Circumduction of the shoulder. One more time. Inhale, Swoop. And exhale, Sit back down, Palms face forwards. Breath nice and calm. Your gluteal muscles probably activated. Your bum nice and strongly supported. So meeting any stretch with some muscular activation. Is very supportive for learning how to control the joints of our body. Nice big inhale. Excel fold the rest of the way forwards. Inhale to lengthen away from yourself. And then as you exhale, Bend your knees enough that you can get your hands down to the ground and step one leg back. Other leg baths. Point pose. Top of the push-up. I like to bring my legs tight together. So we're squeezing our legs into one another. We're pushing away from the ground. You're not letting your bum sink down. Bum up. Bum up. Squeeze the bum. Send energy into your big toe mounds and then drop your knees down. Tops of your feet flat. Lie down, All the way down, But keep your hands where they are. From here, A few cobra, Unfurling of the cobra. Tuck your chin. Forehead towards the mat. And then inhale, Swoop forward. Let the belly extend, Heart forwards, And then gaze forwards as you squeeze your elbows in towards you. And then exhale unwind back down. What's going on there? Let's do that again. Forehead to the mat. And then inhale, Unfurl from belly button through the heart, Through the chin. Squeeze your elbows in. Exhale down. And one more time. Inhale, Unfurling like a snake. Cobra snake exhale all the way down Nice. As you inhale, Come to your hands and knees. Take your knees wide. Slide to child's pose, But keep your hands forward. It's getting a bit of spinal traction, A little bit of hip compression here. Let your elbows touch down. Let your forehead touch down. Take a breath or two. Letting our body find a sort of passive extension. A bit of traction from the hands through to the bum, Through the spine. Nice. And then come back up on your hands and knees and then we'll just swing that Right foot. Forwards between your hands And once you've got that position, One hand to the right knee. Other hand to the right knee. Tweak your clothing. Take some knee circles here, So moving. Knee in a circle as it's mobilizing not just the knee but your hip and your ankle as well. Go the other way. A few times. Just waking up that old. . . Leg and then let's lean a little bit more into that right ankle and bring your hands back down to the ground just really compress the ankle nice and strong even press your foot down actively you'll notice when you push your foot down that your right hip fires up a little bit Nice. And then slowly. . . Walk your hands back. Let your toes lift. And here. . . Once you get this extension through the back of the right leg, Drive your right heel down. So try to press your heel down. Again, You'll get an activation of the muscles on the back of the leg. Yum! And from here we'll step forwards. Right leg back, Right knee down. Finding our kneeling lunge again. Of course, If your back knee is kind of cranky, You can put something underneath there or fold your mat over or something like that. One hand, The other hand up onto your knee, Left knee this time. Adjust your clothing again. And. . . Twirl around a little bit so mobilizing hip knee An ankle in one direction. And the other direction. Waking up our joints here with a little bit of motion. Motion is the lotion is what they say. Bring your hands down to the ground. Walk your weight slightly more forwards, Offering more compression into that left ankle, The head of the ankle. Try to even press your foot down more strongly. You'll feel a bit of engagement through to the hip. Sustain that pressure for a few breaths. And then walk your hands back, Toes lift. Half monkey pose. Feel the engagement on the back of your left leg. Drive your left heel down, Left bum cheek down to get that good sense of engagement through the back of the leg. Nice. And then again, Step forwards, Both feet forwards, And step your left leg back, Left toes tucked. Left knee down to the ground. Come here, Swoop your hands up. Hope you like lunges, Because here comes some. Exhale, Lean forward, Lift your back knee. Flare your hands nice and wide. Now, Right hip is moving back and in. And left leg is Trying to stay more or less straight, At least in this position. And then from here, As you inhale, Swoop your hands up overhead and drop your back knee just about to the ground, Trying to keep your hips roughly square. From here, Keep that back knee nice and low and then turn your torso towards the right, Palms face up to the ceiling. Spine nice and tall, Rotate those thumbs up. There we go. Inhale hands over head. Exhale hands down. Back knee down. And from here, Let's try and switch, Lift the back knee. This is a little bit of fun. We call this a jump switch. Find a bit of pressure and then. . . Switch your legs. Back knee down. So we got the right leg back, Left leg forwards, However you did that. That was just a bit of fun. As you inhale, Hands up overhead. As you exhale, Lean forward, Lift your back knee. There's that leaning lunge. Right or left hip back. And in. Right leg moving towards straight right big toe mount Doing lots of work. As you inhale, Swoop your hands up. Drop your back knee just about to the ground. Really squeeze your hips nice and tight. And then twist to the left. Palms face up. Like you're holding two trays in your hands. Trying to be calm. And then inhale, Hands overhead. This time as you exhale, Step forwards, Swing your hands behind. Inhale, Stand up. And exhale. Integrate. How's your heart rate? It's probably up there a bit. Let's calm down. Inhale hands up. Exhale, Wash your hands down. I don't know about you, My heart rate is up. I'm going to do that one more time. Inhale, Inhale, Inhale. And exhale, Exhale, Exhale. I studied with a gentleman named Srivatsa Ramaswamy. He would say, If your heart rate's too high, Lay down. He didn't want us to get. . . He said it wasn't aerobics. Anyhow, Feet together at the top of the mat here. Balance on your left leg. Bring your right knee up. Hold your right knee, Bring it up nice and high, As high as you can. Flex your right toes back towards you and then take your right knee out to the side. Nice and high. And balance there for a few breaths. Notice where you've got to and then Try, Try to release your right hand without letting your right leg move. Or five One, Hold the knee, Bring it back through to center. And bring it back down. So this is moving into flexion and external rotation of your hips. Bring your left knee up. Pull it up nice and high, Find your end range. Draw your left toes back towards you and then bring your knee out to the side. Nice and high and wide, Challenging our balance as well. Notice where you can get to or don't compensate too much or want to stay nice and erect if possible if it's hard to balance hold on to something Find your position. Keep it as high and wide as you can. Release your hand. Strongly, Hold that for five. Three, Two and one, Knee forwards. Put down. Shake it out. From Your mat here Bend your knees. Jump off your map. Turn your toes out. Turn your heels in, Bend your knees, Sink down. This is, Uh. . . Called goddess squat, I guess, In yoga or horse stance in martial arts terms. I like to do this too. Settle the energies a bit before we get to the ground. Thumbs touch, First fingers touch, Make a little triangle. Palms face the floor. Feels like your heels are moving forwards your baby toes away from you really activate the inner leg line here Inhale to pull your hands up about face height. Exhale, Push your hands away from you. Turn your hands around, Inhale towards you. Exhale out to the sides with your wrist bent press out press out And then inhale back to center. And exhale, Press down as you straighten your legs. Yay. We're gonna do that two more times. Inhale sitting down, Palms lift. Excel pushing away. Inhale, Pulling it in. Excel expanding. Inhale, Condensing. And exhale, Integrating. One more time. Inhale. Strong in those hips. Heels drive forwards. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale, Straighten. Nicely done. Hands to hips. Square up the inner edges of your feet, Bend your knees, And as quietly as you can, Jump back on your mat and go side to side. A few times. Nice. Nicely done. Now from here, Let's get down to the mat. So first step to the back of your mat if you're not there already. Take a big inhale. And exhale fold all the way forwards walk up the mat. Come to a good old plank position again. And this time, Well, I'm going to face you so you can see what I'm up to. And then from here, Knees down, Tops of feet flat. Lie down and bring your arms into so-called cactus arms. So elbows bent 90 degrees. Out to the side and put your left cheek on the mat as you look to the right. Is called gecko and then we'll bring your right knee out to the side, Right knee on the floor, Right ankle on the floor. So your right leg is bent 90 degrees, Like cactus legs, I guess. Just the right side. And tweak things a bit so elbows could go wider, Inner right hip could go closer to the ground. Take a few breaths here. Nice. And now. . . Make sure you can hear me. So you can see your right forearm. Press your right hand and forearm right to the elbow as strongly down into the ground as you can for five. Press down, Four. Three, To And then one, And then soften. And then make a big fist with your right hand. Really strong fist. Keep your elbow, Right elbow on the ground. And lift your right hand up. Five. 4. Three. To One. And soften. Nicely done. From this place, Swing your right leg back behind you. Gaze to the left. Bring your left knee out to the side, Gecko pose to the left. Settle in here trying to get that Left inner hip closer to the ground, Arms nice and wide. Breath calm. Oh yeah. And then to build some strength in the arms here. See your entire left forearm from elbow to hand. Press that down strongly for five. For three, To And one, And then relax. Bring your left hand into a fist. And from elbow to fist stays one straight line. Lift just your forearm up, Elbow presses down, Might not move at all. Three. Two and one, Relax down. Send left leg back and swing your arms back beside your body. Palms face the floor. And right away, Keep your hands, Palms face down and on the ground. Lift your torso off the mat. Keep your gaze more towards just the head of your mat, So not compressing the back of your neck. A little bit of traction with the hands. And then slowly, Slowly come down. Hands come by your shoulders. Push up and over to child's pose, Knees wide, Head down. And take a few breaths there. Time to settle things down. So from here, Begin to sit up and then swing your legs out front. And we'll start with. . . Bound angle pose. Bottoms of your feet touching, They could be close or far away. Each has a different effect. Let's bring both hands into a big fist here. Bring them way out in front of you. Keep your arms nicely locked out. Inhale reach forwards and then exhale keep reaching forwards and fold in Inhale, Come up. Excel, Reach more forwards. Keep pressing your knees down, Feet together. Inhale, Come up. Excel fold. And then at some point, Relax your hands down. Let your elbows soften. Let your head relax. Sinking into your version of The bound angle pose, Cobbler's pose here. And if you like, This is kind of nice. You can use your thumbs. To press into the arch of your foot. And then you'll find this little gap just inside the big toe mound. It's called bubbling spring. You can massage into that point, Dissipating any kind of. . . Either there or anywhere along the arch as we remain. In this shape. A little foot massage, Not a bad thing. Why not? And then slowly, Slowly sit up. Hold your outer knees, Squeeze your knees in, Extend your legs nice and long and give them A bit of a shiggle, A bit of a shake. Bring your right foot in About by the hips there's a bit of a gap here so we're not bringing the foot right beside your left leg. Reach your arms up and then fold towards your left leg. As best you can. Keeping the right foot down, The right bum cheek down. If you like. Take that right hand, Turn your thumb down. And you can wrap. Your right forearm around your right shin. And if that's happened, Could sit up a bit. And wrap your left hand around behind your back reaching for that. Right hand. Marichyasana. Bit of a challenge this one. Not accessible in all bodies, Just find a shape that feels right for you. That's what we want to do. And then slowly, Slowly unwind, Do the other side. Right leg extends, Left foot comes in. Fold forwards. Maybe you hang out here, Keeping that left foot flat. Right heel away from you, Maybe. You rotate your left thumb under. Wrap your elbow around your left shin. Sit up a bit taller and then reach for your hand behind your back. Maybe not this lifetime, But just finding the shape again that feels right for you. Just trying to open things up a bit here. And then slowly, Slowly. Unwind. Walk your feet in towards you. Lean back. And then fingers spread out fairly wide, At least for me. Lift your bum up, Reverse table. Let your head be more or less neutral and move around a little bit. Pressing your hips up. Rolling your neck around, Just finding a bit of juiciness in this shape if you like. More advanced is to take both legs straight as a reverse plank. Or not advanced, Just different. I don't like that word, Advanced. They're all just flavors of the same thing. Bring your bum back down, Feet come in, And then we'll simply lie down on our backs. Letting your feet lift up. Off the mat. And take your knees for a bit of a spin. Big circle. One way And then. . . The other way. Nice. Both feet come down to the mat. How are we doing? Good. Bring your right ankle on top of your left knee. And flex your right toes back towards you. Right knee starts to move away from you keep it moving away from you and now without using your hands Lift your left foot from the ground and start to drive your left knee towards you as your right knee moves away from you. Active reclining figure four sustain this for five. Four, Nice and strong, Three, To And then one, Release both feet to the mat, Maybe flip-flop those legs a couple of times. And then go to the other side. So right foot stays down, Left ankle on top of right knee. Your left knee is trying to move away from you. So find that activation. Lift your right foot, Drive your right knee towards you. So the knees are trying to move in opposite directions and then find your end range, Fire up the muscles that are being stretched here and hold for five. For three two, And one. Release both feet to the mat. And flop those legs around a little bit more. Both feet nicely together. A twist here. Take your hips over to the right. Drop your knees to the left. And then extend your right hand, Palm face up and gaze to the right. You can hold your knees down with your left hand. You could hook your legs together somehow. There's many different ways to do that. Or you can wedge something between your knees. All these options. But mostly this is a spine twist, Your shoulders ideally flat on the floor and your hips. Slightly and rotation relative to your shoulders. That's a twist of the spine. That's what we're looking for. Really relax into this shape. Trying to let go of the resistances that might be arising in your body. Trying to find a place of ease and comfort in the shape. Relax your face, For example. Does your face need to be gritting? No. Relax your face. Nice. And then let's slowly unwind back onto our backs. Feel that settling quality that happens. Taking a few breaths there. And then your hips can go a little bit to the left, Knees go to the right. Extend your left hand Hold your knees down or whatever you need to do with the knees. Find your twist. Twisting the spine. And really use your exhale breaths to soften and dissipate any kind of stuckness anywhere along the spinal column. A long, Purposeful exhale can really facilitate that release, That sense of letting go of that resistance. And similarly, So can relaxing your face, So relaxing your forehead, Your jaw, Your eyes, Your ears. The sweeter the disposition you can present on your face, The sweeter the body responds in kind. Nice. Don't know about you, But this feels good in my body. And then let's unwind again. Settle. And both arms, Both legs up to the ceiling, Dangling kind of lazily there. And then rotating your wrists and ankles very, Very slowly in a big, Big circles one way. The other way. Spread your fingers and toes really wide. Squeeze into fists, Squeeze your toes. Spread, Squeeze, Spread, Squeeze. Keep the squeeze and twirl one way, The other way. And then shake and vocalize and do whatever you need to do. Shake off any stuff that's left. Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake. Nice big inhale. Exhale, Lie down. Savasana. Allow your breath rate. Come to something again, Slow. Natural. Rhythm Mac. And every exhale, Softening. Everywhere. Relaxing your face, Your shoulders, Your hips. Arms and legs nice and heavy. And as you feel the rise and fall of your breath, If you like, Bring one hand to your heart, One hand to your belly. Feeling the rise and fall of your breaths, Maybe even feeling your own heartbeats. And today putting a question from your head towards your heart, Towards your body. And listening to your body for the response. Listening to the mind for a response, Listening to the body for a response. The question is, And what do I need now? And what do I need now? And listening for whatever's arising and having the Courage the focus to act on that as you conclude your practice. Whatever is arising for you today, May you be peaceful and may you be at ease. Take a big inhale. And a long sigh And thank you once again for sharing this space, For sharing your practice with each other, For being so supportive towards each other. I hope you have a beautiful day out there. All the best. Namaste.