Head Over Heart Standing Yoga Flow

23:26

23:26

Head Over Heart Standing Yoga Flow

by Caroline Kinstle

Rated

4.8

Type

guided

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

147

This class takes place completely standing, with no kneeling or floor poses whatsoever. Therefore, this is a wrist friendly and knee friendly practice, in addition to no forward folding or inversions.. We will begin standing in mountain pose, connect to the breath, then move through a gentle standing sequence, connecting breath with movement. We will finish the practice with a balance and short standing meditation.

Standing Yoga Breathwork Body Scan Balance Meditation Goddess Pose Intention Setting Breathing Awareness Intentions Warrior Pose Yoga Poses

Meet your Teacher

Caroline Kinstle

Mannheim, BW, Germany

Meet your Teacher

Caroline Kinstle

Mannheim, BW, Germany

Transcript

Hi, And welcome back to your practice. Today's class will be a standing flow, Keeping head over heart with no pressure on the wrists or knees. So in this practice we won't have any forward folds, Any poses on the ground, And we'll remain standing the whole time. You can choose to roll a mat out if you like or just find a bit of open area where you can practice for the next few minutes. To begin, Go ahead and find a comfortable standing posture, Mountain pose. Bring your feet down, Slightly separated. Gently straighten through your legs without putting too much pressure on the knees. Keep a gentle bend. Send your shoulders over your hips and gently tuck your chin. Allow your hands to hang down. Arms facing forward or behind you, Whatever feels more comfortable. Take a deep breath here, In through your nose, Reach the top of your head up as high as you can, And breathe out through your mouth in a gentle sigh. Once more just like that. A deep breath in through your nose, Grow even taller, And then exhale through your mouth, Settle in all the way down to your heels and toes. Continue to breathe naturally in and out through your nose at your own gentle pace. If you feel comfortable doing so, Gently allow your eyes to close and take a few moments here breathing and checking in with your body. Take a quick scan, Noticing any areas that you want to focus on or soften or gently stretch, And notice any areas that already feel really good today. Reset an intention for your practice for the next few minutes. Gently inviting in space or curiosity or playfulness into your practice. And when you feel ready, Bring your hands behind your head, Allowing your elbows to bend out to the sides. Take a breath in until your chin up toward the ceiling, Reaching your elbows back opening and lifting through your chest. And on your exhale, Gently begin to bow your head tuck your chin. Try to bring your elbows forward to touch in front of your face. Moving with your breath in how lift your gaze back up toward the ceiling. Send your elbows out wide. Lift your elbows up toward the ceiling. And then as you exhale gently tuck your chin. Bring your elbows in forward. Try to bring your elbows to touch, Widening between your shoulder blades. And move three more times with your breath. As you inhale, Lift your gaze up, Send your elbows wide, You're even reaching behind you. Maybe even gaze all the way up toward the ceiling. And then as you exhale gently tuck your chin, Bring your elbows in front of you around in your upper back. Inhale to look up, Open wide through your elbows. Imagine lifting your heart up toward the ceiling. And exhale gently round forward. Bring your elbows as if they could touch. And last one, Inhale to look up, Lift even higher, As high as you can. And as you exhale round back forward. Bring your elbows forward and close to touch. On your next inhale come back to a neutral spine. Gently relax your hands down beside you. Take a full breath here, In and out through your nose. And we'll continue to move on. So bringing your feet together, If they're slightly apart that's also fine, Press down into your heels. As you breathe in, Inhale reach your arms up overhead and then bend your knees, Sink back into chair pose. So in chair pose, Look down at your knees, Gaze at your toes. If you cannot see your toes, Try to move your knees back just a little bit or lift a little bit out of your chair, Finding a gentle bend. Hands can reach gently forward and up, Maybe even out wide. Imagine you're holding a giant beach ball in front of you, Reaching it out as far as it can go. Sink your weight into your heels, Maybe even lift up your toes gently. Take another deep breath here, In through your nose and out through your nose. On your next inhale gently press into your heels, Reach your hands up overhead and then exhale, Take a gentle side bend over to the right. Grab onto your left wrist overhead and open up through that left side. Inhale come up to standing, Separate your hands and exhale bend over to the left. Grab your right wrist with your left hand, Opening on the right side. Inhale reach back up overhead, Look up at your hands and then exhale bend your knees, Come back to your chair pose and settle in. Really send your hips back, Imagine you were about to sit down in an actual chair. Press into your heels, Keep reaching and lifting through your chest, Breathe in and out through your nose. On your next inhale, Press down into your heels, Straighten your legs, Reach your hands all the way up overhead and then exhale, We'll side bend to the right, Grab that left wrist with your right hand and gently lean over. Inhale to straighten back out, Separate the hands and then exhale, Lean over to the left, Grab onto that right wrist and stretch the right side. Inhale come back straight up, Reach up, Look up at your hands and then exhale sink once more into your chair pose. Settle in here, Find something new in your chair, Maybe gently lift your toes and bring the weight even more into your heels. Maybe look up between your hands or spread your fingers as wide as they'll go. Take another full deep breath here, In and out through your nose. And on your next inhale, Straighten your legs, Come back up, Reach your arms overhead and then exhale, Side bend over to the right, Grab that left wrist as you move over. Inhale straighten out, Look up and then exhale, Side bend to the left. Inhale straighten out, Look up and separate your hands and on your exhale, Sink one last time into your chair pose. Keep reaching your hands forward and up, Imagine this giant beach ball is between your hands, Sink low into your knees, Maybe find a deeper version of chair pose. Press your weight into your heels and breathe in and out through your nose. Just full breath here, In and out. And on your next inhale, Bring your hands together at your heart, Gently straighten your legs and take a moment here. Try not to fidget or move much while standing, Just take a gentle scan through your body and check in with your breath, Check in with your intention and check in with how you feel in your body. We'll take one more gentle standing flow before we find a balance and then close our practice. Go ahead and step your feet out wide so that if your arms were apart, Your feet would be about where underneath your wrists, So take a wide stance. Keep your left foot pointing forward and turn your right toes to point out in front of you and gently bend your right knee coming to a warrior two pose. Arms are reaching out wide, Hips are facing forward in line with your chest. Then look forward or turn your head and look over that right hand. Take a deep breath here, In and out, Press down through both feet and keep this gentle bend in your right knee. We'll gently move in and out of this warrior two pose for a few breaths. On your next inhale, Start to gently straighten that right front leg and then on your exhale, Bend your knee, Come back to your warrior pose and move with your breath three more times. Inhale, Gently straighten that right leg, Keep your arms out wide, Keep your gaze fixed on a specific point and exhale, Bend that right knee, Sink into your warrior, Stretch through the hips. Twice more, Breathe in, Straighten that right leg and breathe out, Sink into your warrior. Next one, Inhale to straighten the right leg and exhale to bend the knee. Try to keep that knee tracking forward and out to the right, Don't let it sink inward. Take another couple deep breaths here in your warrior two pose. Take a last breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. On your next inhale, Straighten that right leg again, Turn your right toes to point forward and we're going to gently come into a goddess pose squat. So angling your toes off to the sides about 40 degree angles, Keep this wide stance and gently begin to bend your knees coming down into a squat position. Gently bend your elbows so that your arms look like a football goalpost or a cactus, Lift through your chest and gaze forward. Gently press your elbows back, Engaging a bit through your back muscles and press down into your heels. Can stay here in your goddess pose squat, Breathing gently in and out through your nose or alternate lifting and lowering the heels to get a little bit of work in the legs. On your next inhale, Press into the ball of your right foot and gently lift that right heel up coming onto your toes and then exhale to set your right heel back down. Inhale, Lift your left heel, Pressing into the ball of your left foot, Stretching the toes and then exhale, Set the left heel down. Moving with your breath, We'll take each side two more times. Lift the right heel as you breathe in and lower it as you breathe out. Remember to keep your upper body straight and still. Inhale to lift the left heel, Exhale to lower it down and each side one more time. Inhale the right heel, Exhale it down and breathe in. Lift the left heel, Exhale to drop it back down. Press evenly into both feet, Gently straighten through your legs. Turn your right toes back forward, Turn your left toes off to the left and we'll find the warrior two pose on the left side. Gently bend your left knee, Send your arms out wide, Straight, Reaching in front of you and behind you. You can look forward or turn and look towards your left hand outstretched. Press evenly into both feet and on your next inhale, We'll gently straighten that left leg coming out of your warrior pose. On your exhale, Gently bend the left leg, Sink into your hip stretch and move with your breath. Inhale, Straighten that left leg, Exhale, Bend the left knee, Soften through your shoulders, Inhale, Straighten the leg. Keep gazing forward, Exhale, Bend the knee. And last one, Breathe in, Straighten that left leg and breathe out, Gently bend the knee. Make sure your knee is tracking forward or wide and try not to let it fall inward. Maybe close your eyes while looking forward, Take another few deep breaths here, Press evenly from that back foot all the way to the front foot. Soften through your face and relax your shoulders. Take another deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Gently straighten that left leg, Turn your toes back forward and gently heel toe your feet back together. And we'll finish our practice here with a quick tree pose balance and then a closing meditation. So press down into your left foot, Bring your palms together at heart center and when you feel ready, Gently bring your right foot to that left ankle, Bending your knee out to the right. So you can keep your toes down on the ground here for some stability in your tree pose. Or if you're feeling stable, Maybe lift that right foot up to your left calf, Keep pointing that knee out to the right side, Stretching through your hips. Press your palms together at your heart center, Find stability, Keep growing tall through the crown of your head. And whatever version of tree pose is good for you today, Staying here or deepening your pose in any way. Find a point that you can look at and hold your balance or for a challenge, Try to close your eyes. Work down into that left foot, Imagining deep roots keeping you grounded in this very spot. One more breath in through your nose and gently out through your mouth. When you feel ready, Slowly lower your right foot down to the ground, Keep your palms in front of your heart, Take a full breath here before we switch sides. Start to ground down into that right foot, Press your palms together, Keep growing tall through your spine. And when you feel ready, Slide the bottom of your left foot over to the side of your right ankle, Keeping your left knee bent and pointing out to the left side. Can stay here with your toes gently grounded down. Or if you're feeling steady, Lift your left foot up to that inner side of your right calf, Keep pointing the left knee out wide, Stretching gently through the hips, Pressing your palms together, Engage everything to the center line of your body and breathe in and out through your nose. Feel free to deepen your tree pose in any way, Finding whatever feels good for you in your practice right now. Breathe steadily, Picture roots sprouting down from that right foot, Keeping you grounded and balanced. Take another deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Gently release your left foot down to the ground, Gently release your hands down to your side, Find your mountain pose one last time, Closing your eyes if you wish. Take another short scan through your body here, Checking in again with any areas that need attention. Breathe in and out through your nose, Sending exhales to anywhere in your body that could soften, Sending deep breaths in anywhere that could use some energy, Relaxing through any muscles that are feeling tense right now. Take another few deep breaths here, Maybe making the decision to take the intention from your practice, Curiosity, Openness from your practice into the rest of your day. Take a breath in, Reach your arms up overhead, Bring your palms together and as you exhale, Bring your thumbs down to the middle of your forehead. May you always see your inner courage, Touch your thumbs to your lips, May you always speak your strengths and touch your thumbs down to your heart center. May you always hold joy in your heart. Thank you so much for practicing with me. Have a nice day.