15 Minute Knee Friendly Flow (No Kneeling)

In this 15 minute practice Kelly leads you through a short and sweet mobility flow that is knee friendly, has zero kneeling and offerings knee modification as you move your body, and work on lengthen your muscles. You will want a block or a pillow for this practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this knee-friendly no-kneeling mobility flow. You will need a block or a pillow for this one today and we are going to get right into it by finding a mountain pose. So standing on both feet, Picking up the toes, Setting them back down, Little tiny tuck of the tailbone and make sure you have a little bend to the knees here. Throughout our entire practice we want to avoid locking out the knees, Taking one hand to your belly, One to your heart. Just take a few big deep easy breaths, Bringing yourself into this moment, Into the space, Maybe setting your intention for our next few minutes together. When it feels right, You can start rocking your head from side to side, Massaging out any tension in the neck. Pausing, Chin to chest, Taking your hands to your low back like you stick them in your back pockets. Draw the elbows behind you, Gaze up, Opening up the chest and exhale, Tuck chin to chest. Once again, Relax the elbows. Inhaling, Elbows come together, Open the heart. Exhale, Release, Chin to chest. Just one more time. Inhale, Opening the heart, Elbows draw together and exhale, Release. Moving into some standing cat cows, We'll take our hands to our thighs. Inhale, Open the heart, Gaze up to the sky. Exhale, Curl the spine, Round it out like a cat pose. Inhaling, Standing cow. Exhaling, Cat. Inhaling, Cow. Exhaling, Cat. Just doing a few more of these, Really waking up the spine. Usually we would do these kneeling, But this is a really knee-friendly option to do them standing instead. One more cat and returning to a neutral spine, Rolling the shoulders a few times, Making sure to go both directions. And inhale, Sweeping hands overhead, Reaching for the sky. Exhale, Hinge and fold forward. Moving on to sun salutations. Inhale, Halfway lift, Hands to the shins. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up for the sky. Exhale, Hands to heart. Do that again. Inhale, Reach up. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up for the sky. Exhale, Hands to heart center. We're now going to sit into a chair pose. So sitting back, The key here to keeping these safe is a little bend to the knees and focus on bringing the hips back like you're going to sit into a couch. Weight is in the heels, Not in the toes. Keep a strong core here, So belly button hugs to the spine. Inhale, Reach up. We're going to add this to sun salutations. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. And inhale, Rise and reach up. This is where we add our chair. Hips go back, Little bend to the knees. Doing that again. Inhale, Reach up. And exhale, Fold. Inhale, Elongate the spine, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up. Exhale, Sitting into that little chair. And inhale up. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up. Exhale, Sit back into that invisible chair. We're going to hold here, Holding for about five breaths. Little tuck to the tailbone. Again, Little micro bend to the knee. Think about firing up the quads to help strengthen the muscles around the knees. Now inhale, Standing up. Reaching up for the sky, We'll side bend one way, Opening up the ribcage. Inhale, Move through center. Exhale, Switch, Reaching over the other way. Inhale, Moving through center. We'll step our feet out a little bit wider than hips distance, Hinging at the hips and folding forward into ragdoll. So crown of the head releases, Gently swaying from side to side. Making sure not to lock out our knees. This is really great to open up the back of the legs and soften through the muscles of the spine. Letting head bow down towards the earth. No tension in the neck. Beautiful. From here, We're transitioning, Taking our hands down to the mat, Finding a plank only for a moment. We'll inhale here. Exhale, Lower all the way down to the ground. Nice. Taking our hands, Stacking them, Let our forehead rest on top. We'll bend our knees if that feels okay. This is optional. We'll gently rock the feet from side to side, Alleviating some of that low back pressure. If this bothers the knees, Just keep the feet on the ground and take the legs about as wide as the mat and rest. And we'll all come to that position, Feet on the ground, Hands by the hips, And inhale, Lifting up the heart while grounding down through the tops of the feet, Strengthening the backside of the body here. Inhale here. Exhale, Release. Bring one ear to the mat. Doing this again, Gazing down at the mat. Inhale, Lifting up the heart, Hands towards the hips. This time, If you'd like, Lift up the feet as well, Zipping up the entire back line of the body. Inhaling here. Exhale, Release. In a moment, We'll transition to our seat. You have two options. You could just push back into a seated position, Or if that bothers the knees, Flip onto your back first and sit up that way. So coming to a seated position, Find your block or pillow. We're going to do a single leg seated stretch. So your left leg could bend in if that feels okay. You could also keep it straight. And then we'll take the block or the pillow, Put it underneath the right knee. So that'll help support the back of the knee. Once you get that block or pillow settled, We'll inhale here. Exhale, Hinge and fold forward. Let the spine round. Let the forehead rest towards the knee. No tension in the neck. Left leg could be bent and out to the side. It could be long. You could also put the foot on the mat and have the knee going up towards the sky. You choose what feels good to you here. Remember that block, It has different heights. You could adjust it or skip the block if you don't want it or need it. Taking a few deep breaths. Slowly coming up, We'll go into that other side. Just adjusting, Putting the block underneath the left knee now. Right leg, You could bend it. You could keep it straight. You could point it up to the sky, Foot on the mat, You choose. And once you're settled, Inhaling here, Exhale, Hinge and fold forward. Beautiful. Letting the spine round. Breathing into the belly, No tension in the neck, Let the head hang. Lots of different options here. And then slowly easing out of this position, Coming back up to seated. Take your block, Keep it close. And we're going to touch the soles of the feet and open the knees into a butterfly. Now keep those heels away from the rest of your body. It's going to de-intensify that bend at the knees. If you had two pillows or two blocks, You could put one underneath each knee to help support it. If this does not feel good to your body, That is okay. You could take the legs out wide and do more of like a straddle stretch. But we do want to work on opening up the hip flexors and the groin as well as the inside of the knee can actually help to support knee mobility and health. But of course, Take it at your pace and do what feels right. Now easing out of that position. We'll bring our knees and feet on the mat. We'll begin walking our toes back, Doing a tiny, Tiny bit of core strengthening work. A strong core does help to support our knees. We're going to work on floating our feet up off the mat or keep the toes down for a kickstand. Sliding the shoulder blades back and down, Opening the heart. And we're holding here for five, Four, Three, Two, And one. Release the feet. Keep the block close and we're going to roll down onto our backs. Once we're here, Take a moment to settle in. We're going to do a few bridge poses. So taking your heels, Walking them towards the knees. They do not have to be directly underneath the knees if that doesn't feel good. And then we'll engage the back side of the body, Lifting up through the front side of the body. Engaging the glutes and think about strengthening and slightly engaging the muscles around the knee. Releasing, Bringing the hips back down. Take a breath. We're going to repeat that again. Lifting up the hips, Engaging the glutes, The back side of the body. Slight little squeeze around the knees. We're going to do this one final time. This pose is so great for strengthening the knees. So engaging the back side of the body, Lifting the hips up one final time. And release. Taking our block or our pillow, We're going to take it, Slide it right underneath your sacrum. So you're very, Very low back. From here, You can take your legs up to the sky for legs up the wall, Supported legs up the wall. Point and flex the feet a few times. Now, This pose is great for any inflammation of the lower body. Also really good for the lymphatic system. So wiggle out those toes, Circle out the ankles. You can see the block is quite low on the back. You should be able to find a space where it's pretty effortless to hold the legs up. We're going to take a few big, Deep cleansing breaths. And gently floating the feet back down, Sliding the block out, Set it off to the side. We're done with it. We're going to move into a supine pigeon. So a knee friendly alternative to pigeon pose. You can cross your left ankle over your right thigh. If this is challenging enough, Please stay. If your body says more is wanted and needed, You can grab behind the right thigh, Gently pulling figure four legs in towards the chest. I do like to wiggle my right foot, Point and flex a few more times when I'm here. Just give the ankle a little bit of love. And gently releasing, We're going to switch sides. So we right ankle over the left knee, Figure four legs here. You can pull them into the chest if you'd like. Beautiful. We're going to gently release. Moving into a twist. Taking our legs down, Stepping the feet out about as wide as the mat, Just dropping the knees over to one side. You can goalpost the arms. This is our last pose before we take a moment to rest and reset. And then switching sides, Dropping the legs over towards the right, Breathing down into the belly, And then moving back through center. Straighten out the legs, Finding a quick moment of rest. Once again, Taking hands to heart and belly and taking three big deep breaths. In through the nose, Sigh it out through the mouth. We'll do this two more times. Last time. And then we'll roll over to one side, Press ourselves up to seated, Sitting however you would like. And that is our 15 minute knee friendly mobility flow. Thank you for being here and I hope to see you again soon.