April 23rd, 2018
Welcome to this week’s flow. If you enjoyed the 15 minute practice last week, here is an extended 30 minute practice for you to try at home. Remember to stay connected to your breath and move intentionally as you begin your week.
Childs Pose
Bring your knees wide to your mat and your big toes to touch. Sink your hips down to your
heals as you melt your forehead into your mat and extend your arms to the front of your mat.
Start to deepen your breath, lengthening your inhales and exhales. Settle inward.
With an exhale walk your hands right, lifting your forehead off of your mat, feel a side body
stretch through the left side. Inhale back through center, Exhaling your hands left lifting your
forehead off of your mat, feel a side body stretch through your right side.
Table Top
Lift your hips and stack your shoulders over your wrists, knees over your hips.
Cat/Cow
With your breath in, cow pose, drop your belly, pull your heart through as the heals of your wrists pull back towards your knees.
With your exhale tuck your chin to your chest and arch through the back, hands press into the mat
Side Plank Variation
Plant your right left hand down, inhale to open up to the side of the room right arm reaches high , if you want a little stretch through the side body’s, reach the right arm toward the front of the mat
Gate Pose
Inhale to rise up, release the right foot to your mat, arms are at a T, exhale to gate pose, sliding the right hand down the right thigh. Make sure your left hip is stacked over your left knee, and your right toes can point forward, to the side, or to the sky. Breathe, feel a nice stretch through your side bodies. Exhale to table top.
Down Dog
From your neutral table top, tuck your toes and lift your hips up and back for downward facing dog. Hands are about shoulder distance apart or wider . Spread your fingertips and firm your arms bones in towards one another as you melt your heart to your thighs. Reach your heals to your mat.
Rag doll
Walk your feet to your hands. Feet are about hip distance apart or wider. Grab opposite elbows, feel a really nice stretch through the hamstrings. Head be below your heart. If your hamstrings are super tight, or you are feeling this in the low back, bend your knees.
Half Lift
Release hands to the mat, inhale halfway Lift. Looking up lengthening the spine, drawing the shoulder blades together and down, tone the belly. Exhale to fold forward.
Extended Mountain Pose
Keeping your feet hip distance apart, inhale to bend the knees, tone the belly and rise, stacking your shoulders over hips, hips over knees, knees over ankles. Arms will frame your face.
BackBend
Exhale to cactus the arms, lift the heart up towards the sky, thighs reach forward. Inhale extended mountain pose. Exhale to fold forward.
High Plank
After your third time through step back to high plank. Stacking shoulders over wrists an puffing up the space in between the shoulders. Feel a straight line of energy running from the crown all the way to the heels.
Cobra Pose
Lower all the way down to the belly nice and slow, elbows drawing in to ribs. Heals of the hands come to the tops of the ribs. Inhale to peal your heart away form your mat, pinning your toes and lifting through the knee caps. Gaze down at the top of your space. Exhale to lower chin to the mat. Inhale tuck your toes, exhale downward facing dog.
Chair Pose
Walk your feet to your hands. Inhale half way lift. Exhale to fold. Inhale chair pose, sit your hips back an down, arms will frame your face. Feel the weight come into the heals by lifting the toes, and placing them back down to the mat. Exhale to fold forward, inhale halfway lift. Exhale to low lunge.
Low Crescent Lunge
Step your left foot back, drop your back knee down. Inhale low crescent lunge, stack your shoulders over your hips, arms will frame your face. If you want more of a stretch through the left hip flexor, toe heel the right toes forward, then hinge the hips forward. Bring your left forearm to your left thigh, inhale to reach the right finger tips to the sky, exhale side stretch to your left. Hold here, inhaling back through center. Exhale hands to your mat, Downward Facing Dog.
Standing L
From downward facing dog, inhale your left leg high, exhale step your left foot next to your left thumb, Standing L. Right toes float off the mat, hold here, dial the right hip down in line with the left, draw your heart away from your thigh. With your exhale, fold forward, right foot meets left forward fold. Work into the other side.
Warrior 2
From low lunge, inhale to Warrior 2. Spin you back heal to the mat, front foot intersects your back arch. Work your right knee toward your right pink toe. Soften the shoulders, but actively reach in opposite directions with the finger tips.
Reverse Triangle
Straighten your front leg, reach your right finger tips up and back.
Triangle
Reach your right finger tips towards the front of the room. Drop your right hand down to a block to the outside of your front foot. Left arm reaches high. Focus on bringing your bottom ribs forward, and top ribs open.
Half Moon
Bring the weight into your right foot, float your back foot off of the mat. Reach your top arm to the sky. Keep opening your top hip behind you. Find a gentle concentration
Reverse Warrior
Soften your front to knee to land sweep your right finger tips up in back. Feel a nice side body stretch, little to no weight in the back hand.
Half Pigeon
Inhale your right leg high, exhale knee behind your right wrist, shin to your mat, untuck and lengthen your back toes, work your left hip forward right hip back. Slowly walk your hands forward and melt your forehead to your mat
Seated single leg forward fold
Press your hands into the mat, lift your torso up, swing your back leg forward. Your right sole of the foot rests on the inside of the left thigh, draw your left hip back in space to square your chest off to your toes. Hinge from the hips to fold forward. Hands can come to toes, ankles or shins
Sukasana
Come to a gentle seated position with the left shin in front of the right shin, fold forward and walk the hands from one side to the other
Supine Twist
Come to lying on your back, hug both knees in to your chest. Extend your left leg long, hug your right knee in to your right rib cage. Exhale knee across the body, bring your arms to a T and gaze in the opposite direction. Keep rooting shoulder blades into your mat. Find center, go into the other side.
Full Happy Baby
Hugging knees in to your chest, reach though the legs, grab the outside edges of the feet and work your knees down to your mat, imagine stamping foot prints to the sky with your feet. Keep rooting your tailbone down, head heavy on your mat. Feel this stretch through your adductors, your inner thighs.
Savasana
Let your legs go long, arms frame your low body. Slight tuck of the chin to your chest to lengthen through your spine. Soften through every part of your body. Stay here for several rounds of breath.
NAMASTE
Written by Meraki Teacher Chelsey Peacock
Join Chelsey on Mondays for Vinyasa 1 at 5.45pm, Vinyasa Flow 2 Hip-hop at 8.15pm and Wednesdays for Power Vinyasa Flow at 5.45pm