20 Minute Morning Yoga Flow (Tapas Inspired)

In yoga philosophy, tapas is the practice of cultivating discipline, resilience, and the inner fire that helps us grow. This energizing morning flow invites you to awaken that fire through mindful movement, core activation, balancing postures, and breathwork, helping you build both physical strength and mental focus before your day begins.

We'll begin by grounding into the steadiness of Mountain Pose before flowing through sun salutations, standing balances, and strong standing postures designed to ignite your core, improve stability, and leave you feeling centered and empowered. The class winds down with deep hip openers, gentle backbends, and a calming savasana so you leave feeling balanced—not depleted. Perfect to start your morning.

Transcript

And welcome to this morning yoga flow. We're going to be focusing on Waking up the body, Building some heat, Getting everything moving. And this practice is inspired by the element of fire. So we're going to begin in a mountain pose at the top of the mat. So picking up the toes, Spreading them out. Setting them down. Rolling the shoulders back and down. And grounding down through the feet and lengthening through the crown of the head. Just taking a few deep, Easy breaths here. Allowing the breath to begin to move through the body. Bringing that fresh oxygen. Into your body. And we'll begin our movement just by inhaling, Sweeping our hands overhead, Touching the palms. Begin to draw small circles with the body. Rotating the spine. Imagining that if your hands are like a paintbrush, You're just painting a circle on the sky. Switching directions with your circles. And inhaling here, Exhale, Bending the elbows, Opening up the heart. Inhaling, Reaching up. Exhaling, Hands come to the low back. Clasping your hands, Lifting them up, Finding a chest expansion. Inhaling here and exhale, Hinging at the hips, Folding forward, Keeping the chest expansion. Releasing tension from the neck, Head hangs. Grabbing opposite elbows, Finding a ragdoll. If it feels good to you, You can gently sway from side to side. Releasing the hands down to the mat and making your way to all fours, Finding a tabletop. When we work with the fire element, We wake things up. There's gonna be a lot of focus on the abdomen and the trunk of the body. That's where our internal fire is. We'll begin by inhaling, Finding a cow, And exhaling, Cat. Inhaling cows. And exhaling, Catch. And moving with your breath. Weaving the spine between these two shapes. We'll do one more of each. Inhaling cow and exhaling cat. Inhale, Coming into a neutral spine. Taking the hands and turning them so thumbs are pointed towards the top of the mat, Middle fingers towards the wide edge of the mat, And drawing small circles with the body. Waking up the wrist. Moving them through this range of motion. Switching directions with your circle. And then bringing your hands back to neutral, Walking the hands, The top of the mat. Tucking the toes and lifting the hips, Finding a down dog. Taking a few moments here, Especially if it's early in the morning, The body may just be waking up. So maybe pedal the feet out a few times, Or perhaps just finding stillness in the body, Whatever feels good to you. And then melting both heels down towards the mat. Inhale, Coming forward to a plank. Pausing for a moment. Then on your next exhale, We're turning to a down dog. Do a few of these. Inhale, Shifting forward to a plank. You could be on toes or knees. Exhale, Back to down dog. Inhale, Coming forward to a plank, Pausing here. Holding just for five. For Two and one, Lowering all the way down to the belly, Onto the abdomen. Inhale, Curling up, Finding a baby cobra, No weight in the hands. Exhale, Lowering down. Then inhale, Pressing back through plank. And exhale, Down Dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands and exhale, Bend the knees, Walk to the top of the mat. Forward fold. Inhale, Halfway lift, Hands come to the shins, Elongating the spine. And exhale, Fold. And inhale, Rise and reach up. Exhale, Bend the elbows, Open the heart, Small little back bend. Inhaling up. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Planting the hands, Coming to a high plank. We'll inhale here, Exhale, Lowering all the way down to the belly, Keeping the elbows in tight. Inhale, A baby cobra, No weight in the hands. Exhale, Lower. Inhale, Pressing through plank, And exhale back to a down dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands. Exhale, Bend the knees. Step or hop to the top of the mat. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up. Exhale, Bend the elbows, Open the heart. Inhaling up. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Plant the hands, Come to a high plank. Inhaling here, Exhale, You can lower down to the belly or just halfway. Flipping the feet, Inhale to a baby cobra or an up dog. Exhale, Down dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands and exhale, Bend the knees, Step or hop top of the mat. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. And inhale, Rise and reach up. Exhale, Bend the elbows, Open the heart. Inhale, Reaching up once again, And exhale, Sitting back into a chair pose. So in chair, If it feels okay to the body, Big toes touch, A little bit of space between the heels. Hips are going back, Tiniest little tuck of the tailbone. Building up a little bit of heat in the legs. Then keeping the right foot where it is, Pressing through it, Lifting up the left foot like you're about to step on a step. A single leg balance. Find that it's okay if you wobble here a little bit. Inhaling here, Exhale with control, Floating the left foot back, Landing in a Crescent Lunge. So in our Crescent Lunge, Having our feet a little bit more on railroad tracks than a balance beam. If arms are becoming tired, You can always take hands to heart center. Inhaling here, Exhale, Airplane with the upper body extending through the fingertips and the crown of the head. Inhaling up. Exhale forward. Inhaling up. And exhale forward. Inhaling up. And exhale forward, Holding this one. Thinking about that nice, Strong front leg, But activating the back leg as well. Muscles hugging around the leg bones. And inhale, Reaching up. Exhale, Hands come down to the mat, Plant them, Stepping back to a down dog. Inhale, Coming forward, High plank. Exhale, Lower down. Inhale, Baby cobra, Up dog. And exhale, Down Dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands. Exhale, Bend the knees, Step or hop top of the mat. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise and reach up. And exhale back into that chair pose. Once again, Tiniest little tuck at the tailbone underneath you. Shoulders are soft. Keeping the left foot where it is, Pressing through that left foot, Right foot floats. I mean that single leg balance. Knowing that your balance might feel very different from one side to another. It's very normal. We'll inhale here, Exhale with control, Floating. The right foot back. Doesn't land in. In a crescent lunge. Finding the strength here in your body. Muscles hugging the bone. Inhaling here, Exhale, Airplane with the upper body, Weaving breath and movement together. Inhale, Reaching up. Exhale forward. Inhaling up. Exhale forward. Inhaling up. Exhale forward. Holding here. Extending through the back fingertips, Finding that energy, That fire. And inhale, Reaching up. Exhale, Hands go down to the mat, Planting them, Finding a high plank. Inhale here, Exhale lower down. And inhale, Baby Cobra or Up Dog. And exhale, Down dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands. Exhale, Bend the knees, Step or hop top of the mat. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise, Reach. Exhale, Sitting back into chair. If you want a little bit of a challenge here, You could always float the heels coming up to the balls of the feet as an option. Hands could also be at heart center. You'll be challenging yourself to drop the hips even one inch lower, Building up that heat, Working on that fire. The element of fire really. Encourages us. To burn away what no longer serves, To create something new, To transform. And pressing through the right foot, Lifting the left, Finding our foot balance. A little hug at the belly button towards the spine to help zip up through the midline. And inhaling here, Exhale this time floating the foot back. Finding a Warrior 3. Hands could be overhead or they could be at heart center. Thinking about the hips, Trying to rotate them slightly so that they're level with the ground. And continuing to float that back foot and landing lightly in a crescent lunge. Inhaling here, Exhale, Airplane with the upper body. Inhaling now. Exhale, Airplane. Inhaling up. Exhale, Airplane. Inhaling up. Exhale, Airplane arms. This time holding here, Extending through the crown of the head, Energetic through the fingers. Strong length. And inhale, Reaching up. Exhale, Hands come down to the mat, Planting them, Finding a high plank. Inhale here, Exhale, Lower down. Inhale, Baby cobra, Up dog. And exhale, Down Dog. Inhale, Gazing up at the hands. Exhale, Bend the knees. Step or hop top of the mat. We'll do that on the other side. Inhale, Lengthen. And exhale, Hold. Inhale, Rise and reach. Exhale, Sitting back into chair. Hands could be at heart center. They could be overhead or even behind you. If you'd like taking that challenge of lifting up the heels. Dropping the hips even an inch lower. And then pressing through the left foot, Floating the right foot. Finding that balance. Challenging your stability. And inhaling here, Exhale with control, Right foot still remains to float. If you make your way to a warrior three, Hands could be overhead, Hands could be at heart center. Talking about grounding the hips. And then with control, Landing on the back foot, Finding a Crescent Lunge. Inhaling here, Exhale, Airplane with the upper body. Inhaling out. Exhale forward. Inhaling up. Exhale forward. And inhaling up. Exhale forward, Holding this one here. Strong legs, Feeling that internal heat, Continuing to breathe. Fire needs oxygen and air to be able to burn. And inhaling, Reaching up. Exhale, Hands come down to the mat. Plant them high. Plank one more time. Inhale here. Exhale, Lower down. And help baby Cobra up dogs. And exhale, Down dog. Inhale, Dropping the knees to the mat, And hips come back for a child's pose. Inhale, Moving through a tabletop and dropping one hip, Coming to seated. Bringing the legs out long in front of you. Right leg extends, Left leg crosses over. Hugging the knee into the chest, Giving it a squeeze. And left hand reaches behind you, Gazing over that back shoulder to find the twist. Really breathing deeply, Creating that internal journey. And unwinding. Left leg will go long, Right leg will cross over. Hugging the knee into the chest, Giving it a squeeze. And right hand comes behind you, Gazing over the back shoulder for the twist. And then unwinding, Bringing the soles of the feet to touch. Heels come in towards the pelvis. We'll inhale here. Exhale, Hinge and fold forward. And slowly rolling back up. Finding a seated position. Ending your practice just by taking a moment, Placing a hand on your heart and one on your belly. Taking three deep breaths. Doing two more. And one more. And releasing the hands and opening the eyes. Thank you so much for joining me for this morning flow, And I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.