Welcome.
Thank you for joining me today.
We're going to challenge ourselves with our yoga practice a little bit today.
Not necessarily physically,
But some mental challenge.
When we step onto our mat,
It's always up to us to try to center ourselves so that we can listen to what our body needs.
That's our challenge today more than anything else.
So let's go ahead and close our eyes.
And just start to connect to the breath.
Deep inhale.
And exhale.
Just through your nose.
Slow and steady to help yourself center.
And if you've had some thoughts throughout your day,
Some concerns that you're dealing with,
For me,
At the beginning of a week,
It's Monday,
It's always challenging to try to get focused.
So finding our center on our yoga practice is essential.
Let's open our eyes,
Take our arms by our sides here.
Reach up,
Inhale,
Lift to the sky.
Exhale release it down Good.
Inhale lift it up connecting our breath with our movement is what gives us union exhale release it down and yoga means union inhale lift it up Exhale,
Release it down.
Good.
Move on to all fours.
Let's spread our fingers wide.
Take the tops of our feet on the mat and just do a couple rounds of cat and cow.
So inhale,
Drop our belly down,
Send our gaze up to the sky.
Exhale,
Round through the spine.
Not a challenging pose necessarily.
Inhale more just we're trying to get moving through our spine exhale And that can be challenging if we're really tight and stressed.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Let's do one more inhale.
Exhale.
Come back to neutral.
Lift onto your toes.
Reach your hips nice and high and press your heels down toward the mat.
Good.
Now they do not have to touch the floor.
This could be a challenge all in and of itself.
Downward facing dog.
If you want to release some of the challenge you can come back to your knees and just reach your arms forward.
This is a great option.
It stretches our torso but doesn't give us.
.
.
Quite the same sort of stimulation.
So you decide what works for you.
Now let's start to feel a little bit of power.
Right in our center.
So bring your right knee into your chest.
And squeeze.
Step it back.
If I was on my hands and knees,
It might look something like this.
Lifting.
That knee,
So now I'm on my left side.
And put it down Let's go back to our right one more time.
Squeeze into the chest,
Whatever option is best for you.
And put it down.
Feel a little warmth in our center.
And left side,
Squeeze it in.
And put it down Good.
Now walk up to your hands.
Take a couple steps,
Get yourself forward.
Let's let ourselves hang down To stretch our hamstrings,
We keep our knees straight.
To ease our back,
We bend our knees.
So find that perfect ground,
Middle ground.
And start to roll up through your spine Pull those arms back.
We're lifted.
We're tall.
We're ready to begin Sera Namaskara A,
Which is where we build our warmth.
To feel our power and feel our control.
So let's do it.
Inhale,
Reach your arms all the way up to the sky.
Exhale,
Swan dive forward.
Take it down as deeply as you can.
You can feel those backs of the legs.
You can feel your low back,
Whatever you need.
Inhale look up halfway lift Exhale,
Hands come back to the mat.
Step back to your plank.
Now from here you can stay lifted on the plank or you can drop to your knees.
Let's take a chaturanga.
Elbows bent.
See if you can hover.
Inhale urava mukha svanasana upward facing dog Exhale,
Press back to Adho Mukha Svanasana.
Downward facing dog.
Nice.
And here we are back again into this stretch.
Remember,
You can drop to your knees at any point.
Needed so like a child's pose or a puppy dog But we are trying to build a little warmth,
So let's do that again.
Bend your knees,
Look forward.
Inhale,
Step up or hop up to your hands.
Exhale fold into the legs Inhale,
Reverse one,
Dive,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Samasthiti.
Now doing that first one,
Did you lose your focus at any point?
Challenge yourself to stay focused.
Maybe center on your breath.
Inhale.
Feel that inhale.
Exhale feel the release Inhale,
Look up halfway lift.
Exhale,
Hands down.
Step back.
Stay lifted or drop to your knees.
Chaturanga.
Inhale,
Urva Mukha Svanasana,
Upward facing dog.
Exhale,
Atamakasvanasana,
Downward Facing Dog.
Very nice.
Long stretch through the ankles.
Through the legs pulling up and in.
The center of our bodies.
Bend your knees,
Look forward.
Inhale,
Step up or hop up to the hands.
Exhale fold down into your legs Inhale,
Reverse swan dive,
Reach all the way up.
Exhale,
Samasthiti.
Let's do Sura Namaskara B now.
So bend your knees.
Reach up to Utkatasana Chair Pose.
Exhale,
Fold forward,
Straighten out your legs.
Feel that length in the back of the knees again.
Inhale look up halfway lift Exhale,
Hands down.
Step back.
Drop to your knees as needed.
Chaturanga.
Inhale,
Urva Mukha Svanasana,
Upward facing dog.
Exhale,
Press through.
Adhamakasvanasana,
Downward facing dog.
Now we keep going.
Step your right foot forward.
Draw that left heel down.
Raise up.
Virabhadrasana A.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Hands down.
Step back.
If you want a challenge,
You can hover your foot.
Chaturanga.
You can certainly put it down.
That's enough challenge.
Inhale.
Uravamukha Svanasana.
Exhale,
Atamakasvanasana.
Inhale left foot forward right foot comes to the ground raise up virabhadrasana a keep that breath calm that's our challenge now exhale hands down step back hover it or put it down chaturanga Inhale,
Urva Mukha Svanasana.
Exhale.
Aramakasvanasana.
Good.
Now the challenge is to bring our breath back to calm.
I can't even say it.
That Sura Namaskara B,
It gets us warm.
It gets us going.
Nice job.
Let's move on.
Extend your right leg.
Inhale up and back behind you.
Exhale bring it through in between your hands and let's draw the left knee down to the floor Take your hands just to your knee for a moment.
So our hands on that right knee.
And start to press forward.
Now look down and notice that your knee is not pushing over your toe.
So if we're back here like this,
It's a lot of pressure on that knee.
It might hurt your knee.
So let's move it forward.
And then the pressure comes into our hips and not into the knee.
We want it here on this left hip flexor.
We want it here on this right hip.
Pressing down.
Now let's take our left hand to the floor and we'll reach our right arm up to the sky.
If that's too much,
You can just take your right hand to your hip.
Pull that shoulder back,
Open up the chest.
Perfectly fine.
Both options are good.
Inhale.
Exhale place your hand down shift back so that we're straightening out our right leg and we're folding into it Good.
Now some of us might be very.
Talented physically very bendy and you might feel good coming forward into a split not all of us are gonna go there so this is a great option That's where we decide how far we're going to challenge ourselves.
Are we going to stay where it feels nice and comfortable and we're getting a good stretch?
Or are we going to try to go deeper?
Only you can decide that.
Listen to your breath to determine the best course of action.
Good.
Now let's come back forward again.
Readjust,
Reach your arms up.
And feel that stretch that engagement through the hips.
Pull those shoulders down.
Lots of nice opening through the chest in this Anjanasana.
Inhale.
Exhale hands come back to the mat lift up onto that back toe and drop it down we're once again in warrior one verabhadrasana Good.
Inhale.
Exhale open up to Virabhadrasana B.
Deepen down into those hips.
Pulling open through that inner side to feel that deep stretch.
Good very nice now let's go even deeper into this right hip we're challenging it just a little bit drop your elbow to your thigh this is a good option if you have a block you can put it on the pinky toe side of your foot or you can put your hand directly on the floor whatever works best for you and let's pull that left arm overhead So lots of deep work into this right hip.
Feel the body strengthening.
Feel that pressure into the hip.
Good.
Very nice.
Now to challenge our abdominals.
Inhale,
Lift up.
One move if we can,
Straightening our leg.
Good job.
Let's go the other way.
Drop that left hand down,
Reach that right arm over,
And we get this nice deep stretch through the side body.
Kind of a reverse trikonasana,
Reverse triangle here.
Lots of stretching right for this.
Hip uh the rib cage area that feels lovely And now lift up and let's turn our toes to face each other.
A little wide so I'm just sliding in a tiny bit Take your hands to your waist.
Inhale,
Look up.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Bring it down.
Now if it's easy to reach the ground,
Great.
If you need to bring a block under you,
That's great too.
Let's challenge our legs.
Keep them as straight as we can.
Fold down as deeply as we can so I'm gonna walk my hands back between my feet right in line with my feet and then shift the weight toward your toes all of a sudden you'll feel your calves and feel the back of the legs you'll feel those hamstrings All of that will engage.
We get this long length through our neck.
Through our torso.
Prasarita Padottanasana A.
Good.
Nice deep hip stretch.
Now inhale,
Walk your hands forward so they're just about underneath the shoulders.
And let's reach the right arm back up to the sky.
Feel that length.
If this is too much with the hand in the air,
Bring your hand to your hips.
There's always a way to modify.
We do not challenge our body past its limits.
That can create injury,
Stress.
That's not what we're here for.
Inhale.
Exhale place it down Other side,
Inhale,
Lift that left arm up.
So maybe the real challenge becomes what we're going to encourage our body to do.
How deep we're gonna move.
Keep that breath flowing.
Modify as needed.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Place it down.
Hands to the waist inhale lift up nice job exhale let's step our feet back to the top of our mat now we're on our other side as you see we'll get ready to do side two let's do a sira namaskara a to bring us into that Inhale,
Lift up to the sky.
Exhale,
Swan dive all the way forward.
Inhale,
Look up halfway,
Lift.
Exhale,
Hands down.
Step back.
Remember,
You can drop to your knees.
Always an option.
Chaturanga.
Inhale,
Urva Mukha Svanasana.
Exhale,
Adha Mukha Svanasana,
Downward Facing Dog.
Good.
Now lift your left leg.
Inhale up and back behind you.
Exhale bring it forward in between your hands and draw that right knee down to the floor Let's lift up.
Just get our hand to our knee for a moment.
Make sure we have our alignment.
Remember,
The knee should not press over the toe.
Make sure you're wide enough so that you can feel the stretching in the hip flexor and in the hip.
But not the straining in the knee.
Good.
Now let's drop our right hand to the floor.
Left hand comes to your hip or.
.
.
Reach it up into the air.
Feel that spiral through our back.
Through our hip,
Through our torso.
Good.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Release your hands down and let's shift back.
Straightening out that left leg now remember if you are ready to challenge yourself into a deeper stretch you can come forward into a split if that's not for you today stay here.
Round over it.
Feel that stretching in the ankle and the calf.
We're going to get it either way.
Those of you in a split might just get a little deeper through the hip.
Nice.
Come back forward.
Reach your arms up.
And feel this stretch.
Opening up of our chest.
And our torso.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Hands come down.
Lift up onto that back toe.
Let's drop the heel.
Raise up.
To warrior one.
Good.
Nice and strong.
Nice and stable.
Inhale.
Exhale open to warrior two virabhadrasana b into that left leg left hip nicely done now ready to deepen you can drop your elbow You can grab a block,
Put it on that pinky toe side,
Or put your hand directly on the ground.
Reach up overhead.
Whatever challenge you choose.
Is yours to own.
How deep you're going to feel those hips that power running through our body.
As we hold and as we breathe deep Good.
Inhale lift up let's straighten both legs Drop that right arm down.
Reach the left arm up.
Oh,
It feels so nice to stretch through those ribs through that base of the hip there.
Good,
Just a little reverse triangle.
Very nice.
Lift up.
Turn our toes toward each other one more time.
Now this time,
Prasarita C,
We're going to take our hands behind us.
So you might benefit from using a strap.
You can bring the strap behind you.
Oops.
And then you can widen your hands along that strap so it brings a little bit more mobility into your shoulders.
Feel free to use the strap or you can clasp your hands behind you.
So let's just press into the strap or into the hands.
Look up,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Fold forward.
This is what I'm talking about.
If you have the strap,
Which I dropped,
But if you have the strap,
You can move your hands along the strap now as your arms fall over so that you can get a little bit more mobility through the shoulders.
It's like challenging our body,
But also giving our body support.
And,
You know,
Something just to help you out.
You're still giving yourself a challenge.
But we're not pushing beyond our limits.
Nicely done.
Let's lift up.
Inhale Good work.
Exhale,
Release our hands.
Nice work.
Let's step our feet back to the top of the mat,
Back where we started.
Good.
Just want to make sure my stuff's out of the way.
We'll take our last vinyasa.
Bring us down onto our stomach.
Let's do it.
Inhale reach our arms up to the sky Exhale swan dive forward.
Inhale,
Look up halfway,
Lift.
Exhale,
Hands come down to the mat,
Step back to your plank,
And this time we'll come all the way down onto our stomach.
Good.
Flip your hands back by your sides.
Two options for us today one is just to lift the chest and hover chest only two is to lift the chest and the legs at the same time so you decide what you want to do let's relax first take a deep breath Inhale,
Lift.
Chest only or chest and legs.
Now make sure your neck is nice and loose.
We are not straining.
We're not trying to look up,
Just looking down the bridge of our nose.
Good,
One more breath,
Inhale.
Exhale come on down turn your head rest on the cheek is relax our shoulders Let's take it again.
This time we can add an element.
We can clasp our hands behind us.
Now if that's too much,
Just keep your arms by your sides like we did the previous time.
Inhale lift up.
If you've got your hands clasped,
You might feel a little extra through the chest.
Through the upper back.
And through the shoulders.
Building up strength in our low back.
Our glutes too Chest,
Inhale.
Exhale come on down release your hands turn your head rest the opposite direction And we have one more variation.
If you want to challenge yourself even more,
You can reach back and grab your feet and lift from there.
If this is too much for you,
Arms by the side.
Hands clasped behind either of those two options are great let's try it again inhale lift Listen to your body.
Keep breathing through it.
Feel that strength.
Guiding you upward.
The challenge is what you make it.
Let's take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale come on down nice job press with your hands up and over into a child's pose it's gonna feel so nice To curve our spine,
Drop our forehead down,
Relax our arms.
Take a moment to rest.
Nicely done.
Good,
Inhale,
Lift up.
Exhale roll yourself around let's swing those legs forward Good.
And come to sit.
Now seated on the ground,
Our new challenge becomes keeping ourselves warm as we're stretching.
We don't want to lose our body heat too much.
So we do little things in the transitions to help us stay warm and to help our mind stay active on the pose.
So let's first take Janusir Sasana A.
We're going to bend our right knee and pull it up against our leg.
This strap can be useful around the left foot.
If you can't quite reach your toes.
Sit tall,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Walk our way forward,
Grabbing on,
Walking down that strap.
Now take a deep breath here,
Pull up through your middle,
Inhale.
Exhale,
Fold ourselves down.
It's our concentration on our breath that's going to keep our heat Warm.
And it's also gonna keep our focus here.
It's really easy to let the mind wander away to something else when we're just sitting on the ground.
But we are not simply sitting.
We are taking this deep.
Focused stretch.
Now inhale,
Lift up.
Beautiful.
Exhale,
Let's open this leg to the side.
Very nice so i'm going to ditch my strap because we're going to do some stuff to warm our bodies let's point this left toe we will lift onto our right leg and our right hand so take your right hand behind you Reach that left arm up,
Balancing on your foot and your knee and your hand,
And feel that stretch forward.
Now come back down.
Let's try it again.
Inhale lift up feel that reach exhale lower it back down let's do it one more time inhale lift up hip flexors and back feels nice exhale lower it down good job now flex your foot again Feel free to replace the strap.
And let's bend toward this left leg.
Easy for me to reach my foot so I'm not going to use my strap but you certainly can.
Anchor your right leg and then pull that right arm overhead See if you can feel how deep that is.
Right down deep into the edge of your hip into that low side body Feels so nice.
As we reach through our torso,
Feel the rib cage.
Expand a little bit of space there.
Nice job.
Lift up.
Take your legs both of them wide nice and wide on our strap I mean,
On our mat.
Now,
I like to use a block sometimes in front.
It just gives us something to reach for,
So maybe that will work for you.
Nice and wide here.
Toes point toward the sky.
Take a breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Walk your way forward.
Now,
If you're using the block,
It's like something just to hold on to.
You can move it as far forward as you need to for your flexibility.
You may not need it at all.
Fine too just keep that structure of the toes pointed to the sky or else we're going to lose the quality of the stretch Now let's just stay here and really focus on our breath.
Take an inhale.
And then exhale it out now if you feel your body relax Let's move on this next one.
Take an inhale.
If your body relaxes,
Exhale creep forward just a tiny bit.
Take an inhale.
Exhale creep forward just a tiny bit Good,
Slowly breathing.
And stretching.
Nice.
We're so deep.
Let's take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Gently walk it up oh our hips should feel renewed nice job let's bend the left knee now so we've got our right leg extended remember that fun movable stretch that we did we're going to do it again so we'll take our left hand behind us we're going to balance on our left knee right foot and left hand inhale reach it up Nice.
And exhale,
Come back down.
Two more times inhale lift it up Exhale,
Come back down.
Excellent.
Last one.
Inhale,
Lift it up.
Exhale come back down.
Nicely done.
Got our heat a little bit.
Reach for this right leg remember you can put your strap over your foot bend your body Anchor the left knee and reach that left arm up and over.
Nice and deep right here.
Down by that side of the body.
Challenge yourself to feel something.
Feel the stretch.
Feel the breath.
Feel the parts of the body that.
.
.
Love the stretch because they need it so much.
Hopefully you know what I'm talking about.
Good.
Now lift up.
This takes us back to where we started.
We're just going to slide that right leg forward and our left foot is still right by its side.
Remember to utilize the strap if it's hard for you to reach your foot.
Without bending the knee we want to keep it straight so sit tall inhale Exhale,
Walk our way forward.
Toward that foot now.
Let's take a deep breath pull up through the middle of the body And then exhale,
Guide it down.
Shoulders relax down.
We drop our chin.
We lengthen our neck.
And we focus on our breath just coming and going.
Slow and steady.
Deeper with every exhale.
Good.
Inhale,
Lift up.
Exhale release nicely done let's let go of that strap Bring ourselves down to the mat.
With our knees bent.
Feet on the floor.
Good.
Arms down by our sides.
Let's take some bridge poses.
From the base of the spine start to roll up one vertebrae at a time.
And you can press your hands to the mat here.
You can clasp them underneath.
That's just a little bit different sensation for the chest.
Whatever it is you do,
Just hold it,
But don't hold the breath.
Keep your breath coming.
Slow and steady.
Good.
One more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Release your hands.
Lower all the way down.
Nice job we're going to do it one more time you can go back to that very same lift Or you can move a little deeper with me if you feel like it.
We're going to try wheel pose.
So we just take our hands back behind our shoulders.
And then we press into the hands and the feet and lift ourselves up.
Now if this is too much for you,
Go back to that other bridge.
Setupanda Sarvangasana.
Please don't challenge yourself further than you're able.
Good.
Let's take one more breath here.
Inhale.
Exhale come on down tucking your chin On the way down,
Nicely done.
My hair's underneath me.
Just had to grab it.
Bring your knees into your chest.
That was beautiful.
Now,
As we move into our final twist,
Your challenge is going to become letting go.
We've been holding strong.
We've been stretching.
We've been energizing our body.
And now we want to relax.
And sometimes we have to tell ourselves that it's okay to let go.
So let's release.
Our left leg.
We've got our right knee here.
Pull it across your body with your left arm.
And then take that right arm back over.
And send your gaze.
With that right arm.
Now find the spots that are still holding on.
What can you do to let them go?
What can you do to let them relax?
How do you need to shift in your posture here?
Kind of adjusting your legs or your hips or your arms.
Then maybe do a little body scan.
What is still holding on?
Sometimes we don't even realize what's still holding on.
So we start to notice.
Challenge yourself to let go.
One more breath right here.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Come back to the center.
Let's put that right foot down.
Bring your left knee into your chest.
Guided across the body Shifting onto your right hip there and send your left arm out and your gaze.
And then do the same thing.
What's still holding on?
Let it go.
What can you allow to just get deeper and deeper?
And more and more relaxed.
Even the breath quality changes.
Some more of a relaxing resting breath.
Still deep though.
Especially as we breathe through this twist.
Feels so good to move the spine on a Monday.
Start of the week,
Right?
Good to reset.
Take one more breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Come back to the center.
And let's release one leg to each edge of your mat.
If you like having props around you,
Maybe it's a bolster underneath your knees,
Maybe it's a blanket on top of your body.
Whatever it is that makes you comfortable,
This is what you want to do now.
We want to be able to lay.
And be comfortable and take in the good deep work.
That we've done together today.
I will leave you to it for a few minutes of quiet and peace.
And I will wake you up with the sound of a bell when it's time.
Start to wake yourself up.
Rotate through your wrists and your ankles point and flex your feet.
Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your entire body.
And roll over to one side in fetal pose gently press up to a comfortable seated position on your mat let's take a final unified breath together bring your arms by your side Inhale,
Lift up.
Press your palms together at the top.
Exhale bring your hands to heart center Thank you so much for joining me today.
I hope that through this challenging yoga you were able to learn something new.
About your body.
About your mind.
About your spirit.
Namaste.
