Hey,
It's Hannah,
And welcome to your hip-focused slow flow class.
All you're going to need for this is a yoga mat,
Maybe a folded blanket or a block to support you,
And maybe some music,
If you like music in your classes.
I hope you enjoy.
We're going to start our practice just lying down here.
You can lie down any way you want.
Sit,
Close your eyes,
And start to notice your breath.
Feel the rise and fall,
And set down anything else you need to set down.
Right now,
All that matters is that steady,
Slow rise and fall of your chest and belly as you breathe.
The next time you breathe out,
Pull your knees in,
Give your legs a little hug,
Place your palms on your knees,
And use your next inhale to send your knees forward,
Exhale to pull your knees in towards your chest.
Inhale knees forward,
Exhale knees in.
The next time you breathe in,
Set your left foot down,
Hug your right leg in a little closer.
Stay here for a couple breaths,
Some nice compression through the front of your right hip,
And go ahead and place your right ankle over your left thigh.
Think about sending this right knee forward,
Away from your face.
If that bugs your knee,
Flex your foot,
You don't have to.
Extend your arms wide,
If you're running out of space,
You can do cactus arms too.
Breathe in.
As you breathe out,
Roll to the outer edge of your left foot,
Maybe your right foot touches the ground or hovers above it,
A twisty figure four.
Come back up with an inhale,
And exhale,
Let your legs fall over to the right with that same figure four configuration.
Stay here for another breath or two,
And then we'll flow a bit with this.
So inhale to come to center,
Exhale,
Legs fall to the left.
Inhale center,
Exhale,
Legs fall to the right.
Keep that going.
I'm on the creaky floor today,
Hopefully the mic doesn't pick all of that up,
But it probably will.
Go for one more either direction.
Come back to center,
You can use your right palm to push your right thigh away,
Or pull your left leg in.
Wherever you are,
You're still thinking about that right knee moving forward.
That's going to give you a way deeper stretch through that right hip.
Set your left foot down if it was lifted,
And pull your right leg in one more time.
And we're going to turn this into half happy baby.
So you can send your right knee towards your right armpit,
And then your right foot up to the ceiling.
That is probably going to be really intense.
If you want more,
You can straighten out your left leg,
You could even reach for your right calf,
Or maybe even your right foot.
Just take a few breaths here.
This sounds like it's going to be a really gentle stretch,
It's only half of a happy baby.
All very like kind words,
But it's actually a very deep stretch,
So don't let the name of the posture sway you.
If you want to flow even more,
You can inhale to straighten your leg,
Hamstring stretch,
Exhale to bend.
If you're feeling really stretchy,
You can keep a hold of your foot as you do that.
Just go for three more.
And then finally,
You get to plant your right foot on the floor.
Hug your left leg in,
Left ankle over right thigh.
Just stay here,
Think of pushing that left knee away.
I know it's like a yoga rule that you have to flex your foot here,
You don't.
The only reason we do that is to kind of strengthen up the knee joint,
But if you're just feeling this in your hip and not your knee,
Who cares,
You can break that yoga rule if you have permission.
Eventually,
You can reach your arms wide,
Let your legs fall to the right.
Take a few breaths here,
Twisty figure four.
And really,
You can break the yoga rules whenever you want.
The most important thing in any practice is that you listen to your body.
That's really what yoga is about,
Right?
Being neutral and listening,
So you're not judging anything as good or bad,
Just noticing,
Feeling,
Adapting.
Inhale to bring your legs to center.
Exhale to drop your legs to the left.
Move your coffee table over.
And you know,
This is real life,
Right?
This is how we practice from home.
We move coffee tables,
I've got my dog lying belly up here.
There's always going to be distractions,
But just come back to your breath when you can.
Inhale to bring your legs to center.
Exhale to drop them to the right.
High-fiving the dog.
Inhale,
Center.
Two more,
Each direction.
Come back to center.
Either push your left knee away or pull your right thigh in.
Set your right foot down.
Pull your left leg in.
Maybe you turn this into half happy baby.
Knee towards shoulder or armpit.
Foot towards the ceiling.
Option to extend your right leg long.
Maybe reach a little higher up for your left shin or foot.
Soften your jaw.
And remember,
These are all options,
Just things to play with.
Inhale to straighten your leg.
That's not going to happen on that side.
Exhale to bend.
Inhale,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Bend.
And just three more like that.
Eventually lower your left foot onto the floor.
Bend your right knee if it was straight.
Just bring your feet together and your knees wide for a couple of chill breaths in butterfly.
Bring your knees together,
Hug them in one more time.
Then we'll roll over so we are in hands and knees.
Once you're in hands and knees here,
Just go for a few classic cat-cows.
So inhale to arch your back.
And exhale to round.
As you breathe in,
Really think about spreading your sit bones wide.
And as you breathe out,
Think about pulling your sit bones in towards each other.
Eventually,
Land in centre and send your right leg way out to the right side like a little kickstand.
Now we'll just continue our cat-cows here.
Again,
You're really focusing on your lower body as you do this.
So inhale,
Arch your back,
Tip your tailbone up.
Exhale,
Round your back like you're tucking your tail under.
From here,
Just bring your left foot in a little.
So you can start to pull your hips back towards a child's pose.
Your toes might come up,
They might stay pointed forward.
You can rock in and out of this.
Or you can just hang out in this child's pose with your leg extended.
Inhale to come up.
Exhale,
Bring your leg in.
And we'll switch into the second side.
So send your left leg way out.
Inhale,
Arch your back.
Exhale,
Round.
Keep that going.
When you've had enough,
Bring your right toes in a little so you can pull your hips back towards that child's pose.
Again,
You can rock in and out of this.
Or you can just hang out here in your child's pose with your leg extended.
The next time you inhale,
Come on up.
Exhale,
Bring your leg in.
And then we'll come back to hands and knees.
Go for one normal cat-cow.
Tuck your toes under.
Find your downward dog,
Let it be stretchy and nice.
Maybe you move through your hips,
Bend a knee,
Then the other.
And from here,
Inhale to lift your right leg up high.
You can bend your knee,
Even open your hips up.
Square your hips to center and step your right foot up somewhere near your right hand.
You can always use a hand to bring it there.
Set your left knee down.
Crawl your hands up onto that right thigh.
You can have your back toes tucked or untucked.
Inhale.
As you exhale,
Tuck your tailbone under and start to sink your hips low.
Keep breathing here,
Slow and steady.
It's okay if your knee passes your ankle.
Another yoga rule,
You are welcome to break.
Soften your shoulders.
Then start to straighten your front leg.
You can lift your toes up.
And bring your hands down onto the ground.
You can always put a block or something under your hands if you want.
Toes can be pointed up or forward.
Aiming for a stretch through the back of your leg.
And then we'll flow.
Inhale to bend your knee,
Step into your front foot.
You can put your hands on your legs or maybe reach them up.
Exhale,
Straighten your front leg,
Tip forward.
Maybe you go hands free.
Inhale,
Reach up,
Sink your hips low.
Exhale,
Tip forward,
Straighten that front leg.
Keep going.
Last one up.
Last one down.
Plant your hands somewhere near that front foot.
Step into it,
Tuck your back toes under.
Step back to your down dog.
Move around through your feet,
Your hips.
Lift your left leg up with an inhale.
Feel free to bend your knee,
Open your hips.
Square your hips to the mat.
Step your left foot up.
Lower your right knee down.
Hands on that left leg to start.
And you'll feel this nice stretch through the front of your right hip flexors.
Can really help to think about tucking that tail under.
Almost squeezing that glute a little.
After you've met the pose,
Start to find your hamstring stretch.
Lower your hands down.
Feel the stretch through the back of your left leg.
And then we flow.
Step into your front foot,
Inhale.
Hands can be on your leg or up.
Exhale,
Tip forward.
Your hands can meet the ground or they can fly back behind you.
Inhale,
Low lunge.
Exhale,
Half Hanumanasana.
Last one down.
Plant your hands.
Step into that front foot just so you can tuck your back toes under.
And come on back to Down Dog.
Lift your right foot up.
Bend your knee,
Option to open your hips.
And then square your hips.
Slide your right knee towards your right wrist.
Pigeon Pose.
You can always tuck a block or something under that right hip.
You can bring your shin so it's kind of parallel to the short edge of your mat.
If you're quite stretchy through your hips.
I'm not,
So I'm not doing that.
My right heel is pretty close to my left hip.
If your knees don't love this,
You can bend that back knee.
You can stay up.
Maybe even fold down.
And we're not going to flow now that we've met Pigeon Pose.
We're just going to hang out here and let our bodies settle.
You can lower down onto your forearms.
If you want to go wild,
Bend your back knee.
Pull your heel in towards your glute.
Maybe reach back for your foot with one hand.
You can try it with either hand,
See how it feels.
Just play.
Try three more slow breaths.
Plant your palms.
Come up.
Tuck your back toes under.
Find Downward Dog.
Pedal out your feet,
Move your hips.
And take a big breath in.
Open your mouth,
Stick out your tongue,
Let it go.
Lift your left leg up.
Bend your knee,
Open your hips.
Square your hips and send left knee towards left wrist.
Again,
You can stay here,
You can bend that back knee.
If after a bit of this you want to lower down onto your forearms,
Go for it.
You can play around with bending your back knee.
Pull your heel in towards your glute to maybe catch hold of your foot with your hand.
And try three more breaths.
Plant your palms.
Come up.
And this time we're just going to swing that back leg forward.
Bend your knees,
Give your legs a hug.
Release.
And make your way down onto your back.
Bring the soles of your feet together and your knees wide.
If you're like me and your knees are up pretty high,
If you didn't grab props,
You can make fists and just tuck them under your thighs.
And just a couple more breaths here.
Straighten out your legs.
And just rest in Shavasana.
Hip work can be a lot.
It can bring up a lot of feelings,
Not just physically but sometimes emotionally too.
So it's really nice to just take a little bit of time to rest and let it settle.
If you did have a lot come up,
Or sometimes it happens a little later too after the practice,
Trust that it's just a feeling.
It's your body processing.
It's not your job to make sense of it all or act on it.
Just notice.
Let it come and go,
Just like every breath,
Every thought,
Every posture.
It's not permanent.
It comes and goes.
It's just a release.
Stay and rest as long as you'd like to,
As long as you're able to.
Otherwise,
You can place your hands someplace meaningful for you.
And send a heartfelt thank you to your body and to our yoga practices.
And to you for carving out this time in your day to do something really sweet for your body.
Thank you so much for being here with me.
Peace.
And that was our slow flow practice.
I hope you enjoyed.
I have tons of other video practices and audio practices on my Insight Timer page.
