Morning Yoga Flow - 11 Minutes

Join me from a beautiful yoga shala in the Maldives for a morning yoga practice. Breathe with the ocean waves, listen to the exotic birds and relaxing music, and flow with me for this short seated and standing flow.

Transcript

Let's begin our practice sitting cross-legged in Sukhasana, Connecting to the breath, Allowing the ebb and flow of your breath to match and echo the waves of the sea, Breathing in and out through the nose, Sitting up tall and relaxing down through the sit bones. We'll begin our movement practice with some side stretches. So, Leaning into your left hand and sweeping the right arm up and over, Extending your energy through your fingertips and to the other side. We're going back to your left hand side, But this time we're coming into a simple twist, So your right hand comes behind and you're looking over your right shoulder and repeating to the other side. Gently transitioning into seated cat-cow, Surrounding the spine, Dropping the head forward on your exhale and on your inhale you are shining your heart forward, Rolling your shoulders down and back. Start to make that movement more circular as we transition into kundalini or torso circles, Bending your elbows, Moving your head, Making this movement a little bit more somatic and a little bit more your own. Let's change up the crossing of the legs and come back to some seated cat-cows here. We're moving into some mermaid positions with the legs and coming back into our side stretches, The only difference being the lower body is changed, Dropping the hand down into a twist and back to side stretch. Take that mermaid position to the other side so the foot and knee are touching and side body stretch. Drop that hand down into a twist and back to side body stretch and release it down. We're coming back into cross-legged sukhasana here. On your next inhale, Extend the arms up overhead, Bring the palms together really firmly now as we drop the hands down through the midline of the body with awareness of all the seven chakras. Inhale the arms up overhead, Shine your palms towards me and then drop forward, Forward, Into a forward fold. On your fingertips you get a lovely shoulder stretch and then walk your hands over to your left. Let your top arm sweep up towards the sky and back down. Walk the hands through the midpoint over to the other side. Top arm sweeps gracefully up towards the sky and back to centre, Straightening the spine one vertebrae at a time, Back to sitting. Let's come to a kneeling position now for some eagle arms. So bringing the arms into eagle arms and then rising up onto tall knees, Inhaling, Expanding upwards, Exhaling, Folding towards the earth. Inhale, Rise up, Lift the arms up, Towards the sky, Exhale, Sit back on your heels, Forward fold, Let your thumb touch the floor. Moving with your own breath, At your own pace, Inhaling, Expanding and exhaling, Folding. We'll change the crossing of the arms just to bring some balance to our practice. Squeezing tightly on those arms, Folding towards the earth. On your next inhale, Expand your arms out either side, Bring them behind your back and take a reverse prayer. Anjali mudra and forward fold to the earth. Let's balance out those forward folds now with a reverse plank, Rooting into the heels of your hands and your heels as you lift the hips up, Drop the head back and carefully place yourself back down onto your mat. Back into Ustrasana, Camel pose, Keeping the hips forward. Let's take that into one arm, Sweeping the right arm up and behind you and then transitioning to the other side. Your last option here is to release the toes and drop back into a deeper backbend. Always remembering to bring your hands to the base of your back to support yourself when you're coming out of this deep backbend. Let's make your way onto your belly, Onto your front, Hands in line with your chest, Roll the shoulders down and back, Rise up into a baby or a full cobra. Here, Option to take an up dog and send the hips back. Let's take a moment to reconnect with our breath here in Balasana, Letting the breath calmly ebb and flow. You can stay here in Balasana or you could take a second round of Ustrasana, Camel pose at your leisure. Breathing expansively in this backbend and dropping back to Balasana. Make your way back to cross-legged Sukhasana. Let's take a mudra, A hand gesture with your thumb and forefinger and reconnect to deep breath in and out through the nose or sighing it out. You can place your hands on your chest to connect to your heartbeats and allow your breath to settle. Make your way to standing in Tadasana, Mountain pose for a standing series. Step back with the right leg into warrior two, Reverse your warrior, Back to warrior two, Drop that left arm down into a side angle. Option to reach to the floor here or to take a bind, Interlacing the fingers, Coming back to the floor if you're in the bind and all the way back up to warrior two. Straighten that front leg, Drop down into Trikonasana, Triangle pose with legs straight, Back to warrior two, Swivel that back foot into a high lunge and we're stepping back to the top of the mat to repeat on the other side. Starting with warrior, Reverse your warrior, Back to warrior two, Side angle, Side angle to the floor or to a block. Option to take the bind on this side, Back to the floor or block, Back to a strong warrior two and then straighten that right leg for Trikonasana, Forward and down, Triangle pose. Back to warrior two, Swivel that back foot to transition into a high lunge, Sweep the arms and step back to Tadasana, Mountain pose. Sun salutation with wild thing, Inhale, Take your back bend, Exhale to the earth. Inhale, Halfway lift, Back straight, Legs straight, Exhale, Shift your weight forward, Step back to a plank, Make your way to your belly or cobra and then back to down dog. Let's sweep that right leg up and back into wild thing on the right and step that right leg forward, Followed by the left. Halfway lift, Exhale, Fold, Inhale, Sweep the arms up and over, Back bend, Exhale to the heart centre. Inhale, Sweeping up again, Exhale to the earth. Inhale, Halfway lift, Straight back, Exhale, Fold, Shift your weight, Step back, Leading with the left leg into plank, Make your way to your belly, Take your back bend. Send the hips back so that we can rise up into down dog. We're taking wild thing now on the other side, Rising up and carefully coming back to down dog, Stepping that left leg forward to the top of the mat, Followed by the right. Inhale, Halfway lift, Exhale, Fold, Inhale, Sweep, Exhale into chair pose, Hands to the chest, Exhale, Drop all the way down into molassena squat, Taking some gentle rocks from side to side or being completely still. Let yourself drop down and find your way back into sukhasana cross-legged, Rooting down through your sit bones, Expanding up through the crown of your head and reconnecting to your breath. Inhaling and exhaling, Letting it ebb and flow, Arise and fall as we come to the end of our practice. It's been my pleasure to practice with you and hold space for you today, All the way from the Maldives. Hope to see you at one of my classes again soon. Have a wonderful day. Namaste.