Move And Energize | Vinyasa Yoga | 20 Minutes

Welcome.

Today we are going to practice yoga.

This practice is designed to help you move some energy around,

Get you breathing,

Get you reconnected to your body.

If you have a mat,

That's great.

You're welcome to roll it out now.

If you don't have a mat,

That's perfectly fine.

You're welcome just to come onto the floor.

You can even use a towel or a blanket if you really want something.

But honestly,

You really don't need anything for yoga practice and that's what I love so much about it.

You can show up as you are with what you have and what you don't have.

Today we're going to begin in child's pose.

Come to hands and knees.

Separate your knees wide apart.

Bring your big toes together.

If that's not accessible,

That's okay.

They can stay apart.

Once you're set up in your lower body,

Walk your arms nice and long on your mat and bring your forehead to the earth to rest.

If the earth seems a little far away,

Feel free to grab a yoga block or a rolled blanket or even a pillow.

And once you're here,

Begin to settle in.

As we settle in,

I will invite you to turn on your breath.

Your breath is like a tether that helps connect you to the present moment.

So we're going to use breath as a way to keep us connected to the pose,

Keep us connected to the practice,

And help you get a little more connected to you.

So take a deep breath in here and a big empty breath out.

I want to do that a few more times.

Take a nice big inhale,

Almost like you're breathing air in through a straw.

And then exhale,

Give it a.

.

.

Almost like you're going to fog up a little piece of glass.

And then do that again through your mouth,

Breathe in.

Exhale,

Press the air away,

Give it a.

.

.

All right,

So the style of breath we're using today is called Ujjayi.

You can keep working with it there through your mouth and over time begin to create the breath through your nose.

Let's do a few rounds just through your nostrils.

So inhale and then exhale.

Beautiful job,

Do it one more time.

Nice big breath in.

Exhale to empty out.

Okay,

On your next inhale,

I want you to rise up to all fours.

Lock your hands underneath your shoulders,

Your knees underneath your hips.

And I want you to come to the tops of your feet.

You're going to unfold your feet and you're going to press the tops of your feet.

Like if you had tennis shoes on,

This would be where your laces are.

I'm going to press that part of your foot down towards the earth.

Now it's okay here if the whole top of your foot,

If it doesn't touch the ground,

That's okay.

We want that as a fold that we're starting to undo.

So think about that like we're unfolding your feet here.

Okay,

Now we're going to move into a few rounds of cat cow.

I want you to start here with your pelvis.

As you inhale,

Tilt your tailbone up so you're moving into cow.

And then exhale,

Tuck your tailbone.

Almost like you're,

I always think about this like I'm a dog or something and I have my tail between my legs.

That's what you want to think about,

Like really tuck in.

And then shift back,

Inhale,

Tilt your tailbone.

So move into your cow position.

You can start to melt through your belly here.

And then exhale,

Reverse.

Come into cat,

Tuck your tailbone,

Pull up through your belly now.

All right,

Now as you inhale,

Move into your cow pose.

So tilt your tailbone and then now if you want to lengthen out through your spine here and you can kind of take your gaze up,

You're welcome to do that.

And then exhale,

Reverse.

Arch through your spine,

Tuck your tailbone.

Couple more rounds just like that.

Deep breath in to cow,

Tilt your tailbone.

Deep breath out to tuck.

Awesome job.

Do one more.

Nice big breath in here.

Think about filling up your lungs,

Expanding your breath.

And then exhale,

Give me a ha.

Yeah,

Let me hear you.

All right,

So begin to shift back into a neutral spine here.

So we're not in cow,

We're not in cat,

We're right in the center.

And then just take your right leg long behind you.

Flex your toes and then just give a little gentle,

A lentil,

I was going to say a little and gentle,

A lentil.

Give a gentle rock forward and back.

So your right toes are flexed,

Hands are pressed on the earth right underneath your shoulders.

Or maybe you have a little wider and then shoulder width if you need more space.

And then just gently rock back and forth.

So here I want you,

As you're rocking,

I want you also kind of pressing and pulling with your foot.

Press and pull with your right foot and drawing through your core,

Your abdomen.

Good work.

Go ahead and switch sides.

So right knee to the earth,

Take your left leg long behind you,

Flex your toes.

All right,

Now I didn't say this on the other side,

But let's do this for here.

I want your gaze out and forward.

It can be down so that your neck's not all crunchy.

And if you need to look back to peek at your feet,

Go for it,

But then set your gaze forward.

We want our gaze forward,

Almost like we know where we're going,

Even if we don't.

And then heart forward,

Like we have the confidence that we know where we're going,

Even if we don't.

And then we're rocking forward and back.

So right ear,

Hands and knees,

Left leg is back,

Rocking forward.

Again now add on that press and pull with your foot.

So it's almost like you're pushing through your toes and then pulling through your toes.

As I say,

Almost like it is,

You are.

You're pressing through your toes and then pull through your toes.

All right,

Bring your left knee back to meet your right.

So you're back on hands and knees.

We're going to do a little spinal balance.

Take your right leg back,

Left arm goes forward long behind you.

Okay,

So right toes can stay connected to the earth if you need a little ease here.

Otherwise lift your right toes off of the earth.

So right leg is back,

Left arm is forward.

A little opposition happening.

And then begin to hug in.

So what that looks like here without moving your arm,

Without moving your leg,

Think about pulling them towards one another.

It's an isometric movement.

So you're creating this deep internal work.

Hug in,

There you go.

Lift up just a little bit more,

You got it.

And then release it down,

Switch sides.

Take your left leg long behind you.

Again,

Toes can be on the ground or you can elevate your leg.

And then reach your right arm forward.

Now when you reach your hand forward,

Reach your hand forward like you're going to shake someone's hand.

Like,

Hello,

Nice to meet you.

Yeah,

And then firm up your hand.

So if I were right in front of you,

I wouldn't be able to push your hand to the side,

Like firm it up.

And then do the same thing with your leg.

Imagine that I'm standing behind you and that I'm pushing your leg.

Don't let me move it.

Three.

Good.

And one.

Two.

Mm-hmm.

And one.

Release it down.

Nice work.

Curl your toes,

Lift your hips,

Downward facing dog.

So a little inversion action.

You're upside down.

Yeah,

Come back to your breath.

This is one of my favorite,

Favorite spaces to breathe because I always feel like as I take a deep breath in here and as I gather it up,

I inhale and fill up.

And when I exhale,

I just feel like I can release just a little bit more.

So here in down dog,

Hands are about shoulder width distance apart.

Feet can be hip width distance apart.

What I want most for you is a quality of ease,

But also balanced with strong effort.

So put a bit of effort in your legs.

Bring all 10 of your toes to face the same direction.

So they should all face the top of your mat.

Then put a slight bend in both knees.

There.

Now,

From the power of your legs,

As you inhale,

Take your hips up and back just a little bit more.

Pull from your legs.

And then exhale,

Just kind of land here,

Soften in your down dog.

Beautiful work.

Give yourself one more breath here.

Deep breath in.

Big big empty breath out.

Gaze forward.

Look to your hands.

Walk or step.

So bring your feet all the way forward.

And we're going to land in a ragdoll.

Forward fold.

Feet are hip width distance apart.

Toes are forward here.

Look down to your feet.

You can actually,

I want you to slide your heels out slightly so that your heels are in line with your pinky toes.

And then work up both of your legs.

Soften your knees.

And if you're unfamiliar with ragdoll,

That's just the bind here.

So you can bring opposite hand to opposite elbow.

If you're not sure what that is,

Just release your hands to the floor or to blocks or to your thighs.

Just do what works.

Sometimes just like in life,

I can get caught up in like,

I don't know.

And sometimes I don't know leads to I don't do.

And here instead of letting yourself get caught up in I don't know,

Just I can figure out what's closest.

Right?

Figure out what works best for you right now.

Take a full breath in.

Empty your breath out.

Release both hands.

Stand tall.

Mountain pose.

Mountain pose is also known as tadasana.

To me,

This is the blueprint for all the asanas,

All the poses.

So give yourself a moment here.

Take your gaze up with your hands.

As you draw your shoulders back,

Press up through your heart.

Get a little bit taller.

And then on your next exhale,

Forward fold.

Go through the center of your body.

Bend your knees.

And breathe in.

Take a halfway lift.

Exhale.

Plant your hands on the earth.

Walk your legs back,

High plank.

Lower your knees down.

As you inhale,

Tilt your tailbone.

Lift into cow pose.

Exhale,

Curl your toes.

Lift your hips.

Downward facing dog.

Full breath in.

Big breath out.

Take another breath in here.

As you breathe in,

Take your gaze forward.

As you exhale,

Take yourself forward.

Feet to hands.

Halfway lift.

Another breath in.

Exhale forward fold.

Rise.

On your inhale,

Stand tall.

Look up.

Exhale forward fold.

Halfway lift.

Full breath in.

Use your legs.

There you go.

And then take it back.

High plank.

Knees down.

Tilt your tailbone.

Lift into cow.

Big breath in.

Downward facing dog.

Nice big breath out.

And then we rinse.

Breathe in.

Breathe it all the way out.

Last one.

Look forward.

Walk or jump.

Feet to hands.

Half lift.

Inhale.

Exhale forward fold.

Stand tall.

Mountain pose.

Bow forward.

Empty your lungs.

Halfway lift.

Refill.

High plank.

Knees down.

Inhale lift cow.

Exhale land.

Downward facing dog.

Nice big breath in here.

Stay and let a big breath come out.

Give yourself one more breath just like that.

Nice big inhale.

Nice big exhale.

From here bring your knees down to the mat and then come onto your back.

Once you're on your back,

Hug your knees into your chest.

Give them a big big squeeze.

And we're going to take a gentle hip opener today called happy baby.

So my favorite way to get in this pose,

Okay,

You're on your back.

You have your knees into your chest.

I want you just to separate your knees and then bring the bottoms of your feet to face the sky.

Keep your knees bent.

And then from here you can just grab what you can reach.

So that might be the backside of your thighs,

The outer edges of your calves.

Maybe you find the blade edges of your feet.

But what's most important here is that your whole spine is nice and elongated on the floor,

On the earth.

So I don't want you straining here.

This isn't straining baby,

Forced baby pose.

This is happy baby pose.

So there's a level of ease,

Right?

The effort,

The effort has already happened.

The effort was you showing up to class.

Now it's time for ease.

So if you feel all effort here,

You're full of effort.

Your face is turning red.

You can't breathe.

I want you to back off a little.

And then see if you can let in a little ease.

So like I said,

You just grab what you can reach and then you can stay still here or rock a little side to side just like a happy baby would.

Gently rock your feet.

I like to pull one leg in and straighten out the other one a little and then kind of rock from side to side,

Pulling self just back and forth.

It's nice if you like a little free back massage.

All right.

And then bring your knees right back into chest.

Give them a good squeeze.

And then take your legs out nice and long.

We'll end with a short Shavasana.

Legs long.

So with traditional Shavasana,

You can lay nice and long.

But if this doesn't work for your body,

Feel free to take a position that works.

You can lay on your side.

Bring support under your knees or your back body,

Your head and neck.

Start getting into a practice of just doing what works best for you.

And then with that,

Let yourself be there.

So once you get into your position,

Let yourself be.

And then you can begin to let go of your Ujjayi breath,

Your yogic breathing.

Take a full breath in.

We'll do it together.

And exhale,

Empty out.

Shavasana.

Let your mind expand throughout your life.

You.

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Take a deep breath in,

Exhale,

Empty yourself out.

Very,

Very gently begin to bring movement right back into your body.

As you feel ready,

Hug your knees into your chest.

Carefully roll to one side.

Once you're on your side,

Give yourself another breath.

This is one of my favorite spots to remind myself to slow down.

Remind myself that I don't have to rush.

Everything that needs to happen will happen.

And then as you're ready from here,

Use your arms to press your way all the way up to a comfortable seat.

Once you're at your seat,

Sit nice and tall,

Bring your hands to meet right at heart center.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to spend this time with you today.

Thank you so much for pressing play.

Thank you so much for rolling out your mat.

I acknowledge you for showing up.

Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.