Honor Your Heroes: Father's Day Yoga

In this 45-minute yoga session, we honor the role models who inspire us to keep going—those who believe in us and give us the strength to pursue our goals. Whether it's your father, a mentor, a teacher, or a friend, this practice is a moving tribute to their support and encouragement. We'll blend mindful movement, breathwork, and heart-opening poses to cultivate inner strength and gratitude.

Perfect for Father’s Day, special remembrance days, or anytime you want to reconnect with the motivation that fuels your journey.

Transcript

Welcome! We are going to do some Father's Day yoga in the United States. We celebrate Father's Day on the third Sunday of June and it's a day just to, For me anyway, To remember our role models. You can think of your father or you can think of somebody else who might have influenced you and if affected you during your life in a positive and a strong way. So that's what we're going to pay a little tribute to mentally. Physically, We'll move with strength. We'll stretch, We'll make ourselves feel great. And just keep in mind a person or an influence that will continue you on through the practice if things get rough. So let's just close our eyes, Roll our shoulders back, Tuck our chin just a little bit. And start to breathe in and out just through your nose. Slow and steady breath. To get you focused mentally so that we can participate physically in the experience. And with your eyes closed, You might imagine an image of that person who you'd like to pay tribute to today. It's a little bit of good karma, Right? We imagine someone that's brought us some strength. And then we can continue to give strength to others as well. With that in mind, Let's open our eyes and breathe together in unity. Take your arms by your sides. Deep breath, Inhale, Lift here. Exhale, Release. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale. Once more, Inhale. Exhale. Good. Then come to all fours. And we'll lift up onto our toes and extend the hips to the sky. Drop your heels downward. Now, It's Monday. It's the beginning of the week. It might be a little bit tight. We can pedal our feet. We can loosen up. We can start to feel where we are strong already in our body. And where we might need a little bit of focus, A little bit of attention. I can tell for me it's going to be my calves, My ankles are a little tight, But I know that we'll loosen up as we begin to move and flow and connect with our breath. So let's walk up toward the hands. Near that one side of the mat there. And just gently roll up through our spine. Good. As we come up, Yeah, Just keep rolling all the way up. Perfect. Beautiful. Come up and let's reach the arms up to the sky. I mean, Grab onto your right wrist and lean over to the right or the left. So you're pulling on that right side of the body, Just kind of waking up the rib cage through the torso. Come back up to the center, Grab onto the left wrist and pull. And we're feeling that whole. Right side of the body. Or I mean left side of the body, Because we're pulling to the right. Good. Back up to the center. And bring your hands behind. Clasp them together back there and just press into the fingers and look up. Feels so good to stretch through the chest, Guide those shoulder blades toward each other, And open the neck a little bit, Just the front of the body. And then we'll be ready to move. So I'll turn to face sideways like you are, And we'll reach up, Inhale, Lift our arms to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive all the way forward. Go down as far as you can. You do not have to touch the floor. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift, Which might be bringing the hands to the shins or keeping them on the ground, Whatever you can do. Exhale bring the hands to the mat step back to a plank Let's chaturanga. You can drop to your knees. I'll show that first. Chaturanga. You can stay lifted. I'll show that next time. Inhale, Lift up to upward facing dog, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Roll through your knees or your feet and come back to downward facing dog. Perfect. Good, Nice, Good. So again, If it feels tight anywhere, Feel free to move. You do not have to hold still. It's okay to honor our bodies and what we need each time we pause. Gives us a moment to kind of. . . Connect. And discover. Bend the knees, Look forward, Inhale, Step or you can hop to your hands, However you get there is fine. Nice, Exhale, Fold down into the legs. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Samasthiti, Arms by your side for reset. Good, Let's try it one more time for now at least. Inhale, Lift up to the sky. Exhale, Swan. Dive all the way forward. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Nice. Exhale, Hands down, Step back. You can drop to your knees again or you can stay lifted. Chaturanga, It's like hovering over the mat. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Exhale, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog. Beautiful. Keep the breath flowing, Even though we pause our motion, We don't stop breathing ever. It seems silly to have to mention it, But sometimes we feel that way. We think, I'm holding still, So I'm just going to hold everything. Keep that breath coming. Good. Now let's take our right foot. We're going to step the right foot forward. And drop that left heel down to the mat. And raise your arms up for warrior one. Virabhadrasana A. Good, Perfect. Really strong, Stable position here. Our hips are square, But sometimes it's hard to balance because the hips are square. So find that strength, Root it to the floor, But then lift it through the body. Take a breath, Inhale. Let's change it. Exhale, Open up to Warrior II, Virabhadrasana B. This one is sometimes easier to balance in, But we're putting more pressure on that right hip so you can feel that. Balance it out with some energy on the pinky toe of that left side of the foot. Perfect. Good. So this is Warrior II, Virabhadrasana B. Nice and strong. Let's deepen into this hip. We can take the right forearm to the thigh and reach that left hand over. If you've got a block handy, You can bring it to the pinky toe side of your foot. And reach over. So that's just a little bit deeper. You can even put your hand on the ground if you want. So play around with it where you want to go. We should feel an added intensity into that right hip. That's what we want. But it shouldn't feel like it's impossible to hold for about five breaths. There's a balance somewhere and a a middle ground, I guess. Good. Nice, Now let's lift up and we'll straighten out the right leg, Which will immediately give a little bit of relief to this hip. Take Trikonasana here. Inhale. Exhale, Come back down again and just shift the block to the big toe side. Then extend that left arm up to the sky. Nice, Beautiful. So with the legs straight, We might feel more of a length through this inner thigh here. And it's less intense on the hips. It's a little different because it's going to shift into this left side of the hip. You might feel it there. So many different sensations that could Be present. Very nice. Good. Now let's lift up. We're going to bring this block with us. Turn our feet. So they're facing each other, We're still wide, Perfect. Yeah, If you have to step in a little bit, It's okay, Because we were really wide. And just place it down. You may or may not need it, But it's there in case you do. Take your hands to your hips, Look up, Inhale, Lengthen. Exhale, Fold forward. Take your hands down. If you need the block, Fine. If not, You can come to the floor and just walk your hands so they're in line with your feet. So you're either moving the block or just moving your hands. Press into the floor or that block, Lengthen, Inhale. Exhale, Fold back down again and just relax your neck here. On the ground, You know, Hands on the ground. So what we're doing is getting the both of the legs together and the back of those hamstrings, Back of the hips. Feeling that strength. And length in the muscles. Good, This is also lovely for the spine. Very nice. Press into the floor. Inhale, Lengthen the back. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist Inhale, Lift up. Nicely done. Let's take our hands behind us. Now we might use a strap at this point. We haven't done a strap yet. So you can bring the strap behind your back. Yes. Press into that. Pull those shoulder blades together. Look up. Inhale. Exhale. Fold forward. And we can pull our hands wider on the strap to get more mobility. Or closer if we want more intensity. So do what you can. Utilizing that strap. Perfect. Good, So we can get our upper body and our lower body all at once here. Super powered stretch. Very nice. One more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Let's come all the way up. Inhale. Nice job. Exhale, Release that strap. It's all tangled on me. We're gonna step back to the top of our mat. At this point, Our legs are probably gonna wanna move a little bit because we've been holding static for so long. So let's do a vinyasa. Best way to move is to flow with the breath. We'll do a vinyasa into our left side. Here we go. Inhale, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Swan dive all the way forward. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down, Step back, Drop to your knees if you want. Totally your choice. Chaturanga. Nice. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Beautiful. Exhale, Roll back to Adho Mukha Svanasana. Good, Good, So that was a little bit of movement. Let's go on. Step your left foot forward in between your hands. Draw that right heel down. And raise up to warrior one. Good. Nice. Now mentally, We've done all of these on one side, So we kind of know what's coming. Remind yourself again of your father or of your role model that you're thinking of. So a role model or a father is neither an anchor to hold you back, Nor a sail to take you there. But is a guiding light whose love shows the way to succeed. So just think about it. Give yourself a little mental break. Motivational Boost. As we enter this left side. Inhale, Let's open. Exhale to Warrior II. Good, Yes, So left hip now, Left inner thigh is going to do more of the work. Remember to balance out the right pinky toe edge so you have that focus there. And you can feel that engagement of the leg. Now let's go to Parsvikonasana, Deepen. Left forearm to the thigh, That was step A. Grabbing the block on the pinky toe side, Step B. Maybe the hand on the ground, Step C. Choose your place and then go ahead and take that right arm overhead. Nice. So we're pressing deeply into that left hip. We can really feel the energy building up and building strength. In that left side of the body there. Very nice. Good, Now a little change. Lift up, Straighten both legs. This time it's going to stretch the inner thigh. Inhale. Exhale, Go back down again, Trikonasana. Move your block to the big toe side. And extend that right arm perfect. Perfect. So you can feel it all through there. On that inner thigh there plus maybe that right hip on that um the other opposite side. Awesome. Good. Now lift up, Take our block with us to the middle one more time. Turning our toes together and maybe going a little bit in if we're really wide. Yes, I'm always too wide when I come to the middle. So take it down. And just leave it right under your shoulders this time. You'll see why in just a moment. Bring your hands to your hips once more. Look up, Inhale. Exhale, Fold forward. We're going to go down for that block. Now if it's comfortable to touch the floor, Then that's totally fine. Yeah, You don't have to go to the block. Absolutely not. Good. So here we are. We're not going to pull our hands back toward our feet this time. Let's twist. Take your right hand and reach up to the sky. Now it's pretty intense in the shoulder and the chest. If it's too much, Hand to the hip is totally fine. And you just rotate that right shoulder toward the sky. So either way, We can feel this through our upper back. Nice and tensely. Beautiful. Reach that right hand back down. Inhale, Lift the left arm up to the sky. And again, Adjust if you need to by just placing the hand on your hip. You'll still get the same benefits. It'll just be a little less intense. Nice. We can feel the stretch through the upper body. Waking it up. Inhale. Exhale, Bring your hand back down, Good. Now walk your hands back toward your feet once more. If you need the block, Bring it with you. Take a breath, Look up, Inhale, Lengthen, Shift your weight toward your toes. Exhale, Fold back down again. One more time into the backs of these legs. Into those hips, Hamstrings. All of it. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Nice job. Press into the floor. Inhale, Lengthen the spine. Exhale, Bring your hands to your waist. Inhale, Lift up. Nice job. Let's step together again. We need to move. That was strong work. This time we'll transition to the floor. So let's take a vinyasa down to the floor. Here we go. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale swan dive down Inhale look up halfway lift Exhale, Hands down. Step back to plank. Drop to your knees as needed. Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Good. Now bend your knees, Drop them down to the mat, A little wider than your hips. Perfect. And sit back into a child's pose. Good. Very nice. This is changing our focus from the strong standing poses to now getting into the deep stretching poses. Here's a quote by Mahatma Gandhi about heroes. Heroes are made in the hour of defeat. Success is, Therefore, Well described as a series. Of glorious defeat. So we don't give up when we think. We're gonna rise again, I think is a lot of what he was saying. Awesome. Go ahead and lift up and let's roll to seat. Featured. Sit. Perfect! We'll take our legs extended, How about, And utilize the strap again. So let's wrap it. Mine's all twisted. Let's wrap it around the right foot and then you'll just bend your left knee to open it up just a little bit. Good. Now that should take some pressure off of the hamstring just a little bit. If you need to put a blanket under you, You know, That's totally fine. If you still feel you need that. Let's take a breath. Inhale. Exhale, Go ahead and come forward. As far as you can. There's no limits. There's no expectation. It's just you and your breath and hopefully a straight right knee. Looks good. We can feel that right hamstring. You might feel your left hip. You might feel your low back right in between the hips. This is probably one of my favorite poses because it gets to so many of those tight spots. That we have to work on, Have to work with. Good. Beautiful. Now lift up and let's just set the strap close by off to the side and we'll bring this left knee upward and keep it kind of close to your foot. Just make sure there's enough room so that you can breathe because we are going to squeeze our center. So extend this right arm, Inhale. You can either hook it on, Exhale, Or hug. And then the left hand is on the floor, And we just pull that left shoulder back. So yeah, Like I said, We're squeezing our middle, Twisting right toward our center. So you want to think about lifting up through the middle. So pulling on an imaginary string at your belly button and you're squeezing right in the middle. We can feel that rotation. In our spine. Good. Now come back around and drop this left knee down and hurdle the right leg back. So we're going to tuck these toes, Just kind of hurdle it back and adjust this left leg. That looks perfect. Good. Reach your right hand across and your left hand back. You'll see that we're twisting the same direction but it's going to feel very different this time. First of all we're not squeezing our middle so there's lots of room for breath and you can lift your right hip just a little bit as you twist. It might feel like it's completely off the ground or lifting upward and forward just a bit. So that's a fun little twist in the front of the hip. And I love what this does to the sacrum in the low back. So same direction, Totally different outcome. Nice! Good. Come back around. Lovely. Unwind. We'll straighten out. And set our strap for the left side. Strap around the left foot. And our right leg is going to bend once more, Just in a different way. Yeah, Perfect. Okay, Sit nice and tall. Inhale. Exhale, Walk your way forward over that leg. Same pose, Different side. So it could feel, Again, Completely different. Because our different sides. They're not the same. They are going to respond differently because we hold ourselves as we stand, Where we hold like a purse on our shoulder or a bag on our hip or whatever, It changes things. That's why we always stretch both sides. Got to bring ourselves into balance. Good, Take one more breath right here. Inhale. Exhale. Lift up. Very nice. Remove your strap. Bring your right knee to the sky. Twisting toward our leg first. Extend the left arm. Inhale. Hook it on. Or hug. Whatever. Right hand to the floor sit nice and tall and pull in through your middle so that imaginary string This is that squeezy twist. Really good for digestion. Really good for spine health. Everything's very engaged in the middle. On purpose. We're doing it on purpose. Good. Come back around. Nicely done. Drop this knee down, Left knee down. I mean right knee. We're going to hurdle the left leg back. Perfect. Good. Same direction, Different outcome. Reach across again. And that right hand is on the floor, But we've got so much freedom in the front of this left hip here. So much more freedom for breath. We might be able to twist a little bit deeper because we're just so open in the front. So both are good. Both are great. And it's nice to feel the differences sometimes. Each pose might hit something that your body needs. Good. Very nice. Come back to the center. Before we leave this kind of seated area, Let's do one more. Put our feet together for Baddha Konasana. Options with this post. I cannot bring my knees to the ground, You can see. So sometimes putting blocks underneath can kind of help anchor yourself. You may or may not need them. Especially as we start to fold forward, You might notice that the legs get lower and you might move them. So just play around with that. Let's just breathe and see what happens. Inhale here. Exhale, Fold forward. I think it's not so much about the depth and how far we go, But more about what our sensation is. So for me, In the low back, Right between the hips is a wonderful place. And then that front of the hips as well, Hip flexor. Because we're pressing into it, We can feel it there as well. Some people do this very easily. It just depends on our hip structure. And how often we sit on the floor. Some genetic flexibility, Which we can't control, So we just do what we can. But either way, It's gonna feel good. Stretch it out, Twist it out. Take one more breath right here. Inhale. Exhale. Go ahead and lift up. Nicely done. We'll get our blocks out of the way. Keep them close, We might need them. And then let's just lay down on our back. Okay, Good. So we're going to bend our knees and put our feet on the floor and make sure that your back is connected to the ground. So you might have to tilt your pelvis to the sky and then drop it back down again so that that curve of the spine connects to the floor. I'm going to offer you some potential challenges and you can decide if you'd like to take them. Let's do one bridge pose with two feet on the floor just to start. So from the base of the spine, Roll up one vertebrae at a time. And your hands can just stay on the mat or you can clasp your hands underneath and pull the shoulder blades toward each other. So this is just a normal bridge. It doesn't mean it's easy. It could still feel challenging, But we're going to add an element if you choose. So maybe reach the right foot up to the sky. Without dropping that left hip. Little bit of strength challenge. If it feels like it's too much and if it's hurting your back at all, Please drop it down. Let's just take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale, Release your foot, Release your hands, Lower down. Take a break. Good nice so that wasn't so bad just a little bit of added emphasis maybe a little challenge we're going to do it one more time so we can get that left leg of course we have to be balanced So go ahead and lift it up. Pressing hands to the floor or clasping underneath. Get yourself weighted, Balanced between both feet, And then lift that left leg off. The two sides might feel different. Building strength in our glutes. Hamstrings and quadriceps. Nice job. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale, Release the foot, Release the hands and lower all the way down. Nice job, Nice job. Take your knees open, Put your feet together like a butterfly, Like we did seated. Then just place your hands on your thighs for just a moment. And let me read to you a quote as you rest for a moment by Christopher Reeve. So Christopher Reeve played Superman in the movies, And then he ended up paralyzed. He was in a horse riding accident. So he went from being this model of strength to someone with significant challenges. He said, I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Now obviously that bridge pose was not an overwhelming obstacle. But it just serves as an example of things that we might encounter in our life and how we can rely on our heroes, Our mentors, Maybe our father to give us strength. Now bring your knees into your chest and just give them a little hug. Pressing that curve of the spine to the floor, Maybe rock a little bit. Good. And then let the legs fall down to the right side and just take your arms out to a T. So we're opening up through our chest. And shoulders. And you can turn your head over the left side, So opposite of the legs. And as you breathe and hold the twist, You'll feel parts of your body that are still engaged. See if you can release them, Relax them, Let them go. So that we're no longer holding on to the tension. We're letting it kind of sink into the floor, Drift away. Bye! Good, Now come back to the center. And let the legs fall to the left. We're already halfway relaxed. But of course, We're going to be balancing things. Gaze to the right. Perfect. And even though we're halfway relaxed, There's probably still places that are holding on. You're going to breathe it out. You're going to mentally let go, Physically release. In yoga, We learn that the rest is just as important as the strength building. You Good, One more breath right here. Inhale. Exhale. Come back to the center. And let's extend our legs, One leg to each edge of the mat. You can just bring your arms by your sides, Roll those shoulder blades underneath. And it's time to rest mentally and physically. And as you. . . Ease into your rest. I'll just read you this one last quote about heroes and mentors by Vienna Perron. Sometimes being a hero means acknowledging the victories no one sees. Like getting out of bed. Taking a shower. Replacing an old story with a new one. Or practicing self-love. Many of our greatest victories aren't recognized by others. There's no medal or badge of honor. There's just you. So internally clap for yourself. I will let you rest, I'll wake you up with the sound of the bell. Start to wake yourself up. Rotate through your wrists and your ankles. Wiggle your fingers and your toes. Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your body. Waking up both physically and mentally. Preparing to rejoin the day. And just roll over to one side in beetle pose. Just symbolizes starting over, Having a reset. After doing a yoga practice. It's lovely when it's in the middle of the day especially. And then just gently press yourself up to a comfortable seat. We'll just close with a breath together in unity like we started. So arms by the sides. Inhale lift up This time, Press your palms together. Exhale, Bring your hands to heart center. Thank you very much for practicing with me today and happy Father's Day or just remember that mentor, That role model through your day. Namaste.