Balance & Focus: 59-Min Foundational Flow for BJJ

And once you've found your stretch, come back to the deep breaths. Gently releasing the left foot on the ground. the left foot, lifting the hips slightly, moving them towards the right, they're off center to the right. With the right hand, create a cactus arm.

Right hand, right arm is to the right side, creating a cactus. And slowly lower the legs over to the left. When they have rolled over to the left, left hand holds the ankle if that's accessible for you. To make the stretch less intense, you can release the ankle, or if you would like more, roll the ankle towards you a little closer.

And again, once you've found your posture, come to the deep breaths. Last deep breath. Slowly come to center, taking your time, both feet on the floor to re-center the spine. Take a moment, allow the spine to neutralize, and notice how this feels, the difference between the left and right side, and how it feels overall.

Gathering both knees into the chest, tuck the chin a little more, making the spine, the neck spine a little longer. Gently rock side to side. Drawing the right foot to the ground, leg is bent, interlock the fingers, place them on the left shin, and either pull the left knee into the left armpit right away, or create some movement with that left knee, shifting out left and right, opening up the hip. Just anovial fluid into the joint, preparing the hips for your practice.

When you're ready, pulling that left knee into the left armpit a little closer. Releasing the left ankle onto the right quad, making sure it's closer to the ankle foot side, not the shin, ankle foot. Again, you have the option to stay here, left hand pushing off the knee, or if you'd like more, reach the hands through the thighs, interlocking the fingers behind the leg, relax the head, not expecting the right or the left side to be the same, they'll always be different. Back to the deep breaths.

Inhale to find the tension, exhale to release. Gently release the right foot to the ground, left arm goes to the left side, bending the elbow to create a cactus arm, and slowly roll only the lower body to the right side. Right hand holds the right shin, and you have the option, if the stretch is too intense for you, release the ankle, or if you would like more in the stretch, hold the ankle pulling it a bit closer to you any amount. Once you've found the posture, find the breath.

Last deep breath. Use the inhale to slowly come to center, recenter the feet, recenter the spine. Take a moment, allow the spine to neutralize. Notice how the back feels.

From here, press firmly through the feet, lifting the hips into your bridge pose. And when you're in your bridge pose, lift the hands to the ceiling, then behind you. When they're on the ground behind you, stretch from the knees all the way to the fingertips, make the spine long. Exhale, slowly lower the hips, bringing the hands to your sides.

Inhale to lift, stretch at the top, exhale to lower. Moving through this a few more times at your own pace, at your own breath. No rush, finishing your last set. Meet me with the hips down, hands by your side.

Holding behind the legs, tuck the chin to round the spine, rock and roll two, three, four, five, six times, massaging out the spine. It's the cheapest massage you'll ever get. Eventually, coming onto your hands and knees for cat cow. Moving through the cat cow, arch the spine to the ground and round it towards the ceiling.

Making sure to use the entire spine, don't leave any of the spine out. And when you arch, arch from lower back, middle back, upper back, and round lower back, middle back, upper back. When you arch the spine towards the ground, this is called cow, remembering what cow feels like. So we will use this through class.

And same for cat, as you round the spine to the ceiling, remember what cat feels like. Coming to a neutral spine, look at your hands, turn them so the fingers face the knees. If this is really intense, bring the knees closer to your hands, or if it's not intense enough, bring the hands away from the knees. You have the option to stay still, you have the option to shift forward and back, or you have the option to move through your cat cow with the fingers facing the knees.

Whatever feels good. Resetting the fingers to where they should be, now face them towards each other, towards the midline, flip the palms up for your counter stretch. More of the weight will be on the knees so you don't wrist lock yourself. Make fists with the hands a few times, see how that changes the stretch.

To release, sitting on the hips, circles, a few circles one way, a few circles the other way, rinse out those rests. Wide legged child's pose, so knees wide, sitting on the hips, and either reach the hands forward if that feels good, or you can rest the head on the hands. Find your deep breaths. Deep inhale, exhale, sink into the ground lower.

Last one. So coming through tabletop, your hands and knees, moving through will be our back bend for class. Shift the weight forward, forward, forward to bring the entire body to the ground. Now hands beside the hips, palms down.

Lifting the legs, lifting the shoulders and the hands, pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. Strengthening through the entire spine. I call this skydiver. Exactly what you'd be doing if you were skydiving, or should be doing.

And release. Moving into cobra, so hands basically under the shoulders, see if you can ground the entire palms into the ground. Push all ten toenails into the ground. It's nice if your feet, legs can be zipped up.

Zip up the legs, all ten toenails into the ground. Strengthen through the quads, and use the hands to pull your torso up and forward, pulling your shoulder blades towards the spine and down. Cobra, release. And child's pose.

Child's pose to rinse that out. Moving through that again. Table top, everything lowers to the ground. Find your floating cobra.

It's actually called your locust. Strengthening through the entire spine. And release. Cobra.

Pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. And child's pose. So moving through this with breath. Inhale, table top.

Exhale, the lower. Inhale, lift, skydiver. Exhale, squeeze, shoulder blades together to lift higher. Release.

Preparing for cobra. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, release. Child's pose.

Rinse that out. One more time. Come to table top. Inhale, table top.

Exhale, lower. Inhale, locust. Exhale, squeeze. Release.

Inhale, cobra. Exhale, release. Child's pose. So throughout class, that's my suggested back bend for class.

But if you have something that feels better for you, then go ahead and take it. And I really want you to take your time in each vinyasa. That's called the vinyasa. In the back bends is one of the most important elements of class to strengthen the spine, to move that spine through that extension.

Table top, put your hands on knees. Tuck the toes. Lift the hips for your dog. Bring lots of movement into the dog.

Bend one leg, bend the other leg. Move the hips. Shake any tension out of the neck and head. Make the spine long.

Put more emphasis on having the hips high to make the spine long. And slowly tiptoeing your feet to your hands. Finding your way to your forward fold. In your forward fold, bend the knees a lot.

Bend the knees to bring the chest onto the thighs. More or less, that's what I want. And shift the knees into the ball of the feet, allowing the spine to hang long, the entire spine. From the lower back, mid back, all the way to the head.

Let the head hang long. From here, plant the hands to heel toe the feet out further than the hips. Lowering the legs between the hips for your deep squat. Palms together, using the elbows to push the knees out.

And even if the hands are on the ground, that's okay. As long as you're getting hip opener. If your palms are together, use those to push the knees out. Use that to make the spine long.

From here, plant the hands, lifting the hips forward fold again. Moving between these two postures, forward fold in your deep squat. At your own pace, at your own time. And if you find that you would like more time in either of those, go ahead and take it.

No rush, taking your time. Meet me in a while. I'll see you in the next video. Bye.

From the forward fold, slowly come to a stand, vertebrae by vertebrae. Hands on the hips, about three circles one way. And rinse that out. Three circles the other way.

Feet under the hips. Inhale, arms up, reach high, spine long. Exhale, forward fold, bend the knees, chest to the thighs. Inhale to half lift, make the spine long, the back spine long.

Exhale, plant the hands, step the right foot back, right knee down. Lift your low lunge, making sure the knee and hip are stacked for the front and the back. Pushing through that back foot. Hands on the hips.

Remember that cat motion we had in our cat cow of rounding the spine. That's what I want. Round only the lower spine. Upper spine stays neutral.

From here, plant the hands. Inhale, strong plank. Exhale, move through your vinyasa. If you choose to do mine, find your skydiver.

Inhale, exhale, squeeze everything together, everything a little higher. And release. Hands under the shoulders, cobra. Inhale.

Exhale, release. Tuck the toes, strengthen the core. Inhale to plank. Exhale, dog.

Step the right foot between the hands, left knee down, low lunge. Check both knees and hips, make sure they're stacked, back and front. From here, create the cat motion, the slight rounding of the lower spine. Upper spine stays neutral.

From here, plant the hands, stepping both feet to the front of the mat. Inhale to half lift, your back spine long. Exhale, forward fold. Bend the knees to inhale up.

Exhale to refold. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, plant the hands, step the left foot back, left knee down, low lunge again. Once you've found your posture, legs are stacked, slight rounding lower spine.

This time, lift the arms. Lift the arms high, make the spine long. And notice how this changes the posture. Inhale to lift higher.

Exhale, plant the hands. Inhale, plank. Exhale to the ground. Find your skydiver.

Inhale, skydiver. Exhale, squeeze. Release. Inhale, cobra.

Exhale, release. Now from here, you have options. So if your lower back needs a bit of a release, you can either go tabletop on the hands and knees to dog. Or you can tuck the toes and go to plank like we did before.

And from dog, step the left foot between the hands, back knee down, low lunge. Find the angle of the legs, slight rounding of the lower back. And this time, lift the arms. Notice how this changes the stretch, maybe slightly more intense through that right hip.

Inhale, lift a little higher. Exhale, plant the hands. Step both feet forward. Inhale, half lift.

Exhale, bend the knees forward fold. Inhale to stand all the way up. Exhale to stay. This time to stay either palms together or hands beside you.

Point the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. And take a quick moment to notice how the body feels after the work that we've done so far. Maybe it feels a lot better than when we started. For me, I know it does.

Inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward fold, bend the knees. Inhale to half lift. Exhale, plant the hands.

Step the right foot back, wiggling the left foot to the outside of the left hand, finding your lizard stretch. The ribs should be stacked under the shoulders, creating a frame. It's okay if your left foot is off the mat a little bit. And from here, strengthen through the back quad.

And you have the option to either stay on the hands or you can go down to the elbows. And for me, it really depends on the day. Some days I'm on the elbows, some days I'm on the hands. Today is a hands day.

Or if you have blocks, you want something in between, you can always rest the elbows on the blocks if you need an in-between day. Planting strong through the hands. Find your way to plank. Inhale, strong plank.

Exhale to the ground. Skydiver. Inhale, skydiver. Exhale to squeeze.

Release. Hands under the shoulders. Inhale to Cobra. Exhale, release.

Coming to tabletop first, then your dog. And then, of course, option to tuck your toes, moving to plank and then dog. Doesn't make you a better person if you do either variation. Stepping the right foot to the outside of the right hand.

Find your lizard lunge. So again, the right foot might be off the right mat, probably will be. Strengthening through the back leg. And find your posture.

Sometimes, actually almost all the time, it takes a second to settle in. Then you find your work in the posture. And again, you can stay in your hands. You can go down to your elbows, or if you want something in between, you can prop your elbows on your blocks.

Pressing through the hands to step both feet to the front of the mat. Center the feet under the hips. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, refold.

Bend the knees to inhale all the way up. Right away, refold. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, plant the hands.

Step the left foot back. Left knee down. This time, walking the hands back to straighten or almost straighten that front leg. You have options here.

Okay, so your options are, it may be nice to have the leg to the outside of the hands. That's a good option. Or, you can have the leg in between the hands. Or if you have blocks, that's a good $10 investment.

If you have blocks, then place a block on either side of the leg. This is really nice, too. And if you're here, if you have a block on either side of the leg, if you've managed to make the spine long, then you can create that cowl motion with the lower spine, that arching motion with the lower spine. And whatever variation you're in is totally fine.

All that I care about is you feel the stretch in the back of the leg. And it's also nice to see the different variations and the progression that can be made. When you do yoga every day or even a couple times a week, it is incredible the progress that's made. It's incredible how quickly the body advances.

The time is going to pass anyway. So might as well spend a little bit of it doing yoga. And all of a sudden you look back in three months and you go, wow, I'm doing stuff I couldn't do three months ago. So the point of that is whatever variation you're in, feel the stretch in the back of the leg.

Great. To come out of this, slowly bending the front knee. If you have blocks, put them to either side of the mat. Find your plank.

So plant the hands strong. Inhale, plank. Exhale to the ground. Skydiver strengthening through the entire back body.

Inhale, lift. Exhale, squeeze. Release. Cobra.

Inhale to lift. Exhale, release. Tabletop first. Tuck the toes.

Find your dog. And make the spine long. Stepping the left foot between the hands. And again, you have the option to place the foot outside of the hands or the foot between the hands.

Walk the hands towards the hips to straighten or almost straighten that front leg. And if you are using your blocks, if you are able to straighten more or less through that spine, then I want you to see if you can find that cow motion, that arching of the lower spine, while keeping the upper spine neutral. And from here, gently bend the front leg. If you have blocks, place them to the side of your mat.

Plant the hands to step both feet forward. Inhale, half lift. Exhale to refold. Bend the knees, inhaling all the way up.

This time, you can do the same thing. Bend the knees, inhaling all the way up. This time to stay. So hands beside you, beside the hips.

Pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. In the feet, put more weight through the outer edges of the feet. Six percent more weight through the outer edges of the feet. Closing the eyes if you like.

Just notice how this feels. These pockets of paws, they are really important. So you can notice throughout the class, the work that we're doing, how it feels, and allow the body to process it. Opening the eyes if they were closed.

Inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale to half lift. Exhale, plant the hands to step the right foot back, high lunge or crescent lunge.

Hands on the hips to start. And seeing if you can reach the back heel forward a bit more so it's over the toes. With your front knee, make sure you can see your second and third toe over the front knee. Lift the upper body and strengthen through the back quad.

Pressing the weight into the front leg, lifting the back leg only up enough so you can place the back leg flat on the floor, moving into our pyramid. Straighten the front leg. Make the spine long and slowly lower the torso forward. And you have options here.

So if you don't have blocks, hands on the ground, bend the front knee. If you do have blocks, make sure the blocks are under the hands that are under the shoulders so you've created a frame. From here, breathe. Feeling the stretch through the front, the back of the front leg.

Gently bending the front leg. Place the blocks outside the mats if you're using them. Plant the hands. Find your way to plank.

Inhale, strong plank. Exhale, lower down. And then we're going to do the same thing. Plant the hands.

Find your way to plank. Inhale, strong plank. Exhale, lower down. Inhale, skydiver.

Exhale to squeeze. Plant the hands. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, release.

Tabletop first. Tuck the toes. From dog. Step the right foot between the hands, lifting to high lunge.

Take a moment to find the posture. Heel over the toes. Bend the front knee, making sure you see your second and third toe. Center the torso.

We'll strengthen through the back leg. Engage through the back quad. From here, moving into our pyramid, weight through the front leg until you can place your back foot onto the ground. Straighten the front leg.

Make the spine long and slowly lower the torso towards the ground. And again, if you don't have blocks, that's okay. Hands on the ground. Bend the front knee.

If you do have blocks, it's nice to place them under the hands, which are under the shoulders, creating a frame. You can straighten or almost straighten that front leg. And breathe. And breathe.

Gently bending that front leg. Blocks, I was going to say block hands. Blocks to the side of the mat. Hands to the ground.

Step both feet forward. Inhale to half lift. Exhale to refold. Bend the knees to inhale all the way up.

Make the spine long. Exhale to refold. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, plant the hands.

Step the left foot back. High lunge again. Take a second. Find the posture.

Bring the back heel a bit more forward than you would like, almost there on top of the toes. Feeling the stretch through the back quad. Bending the front knee. Moving into our flying warrior.

So shift the weight, all of the weight, onto the front foot. Lifting the back leg. And hands can either stay on the hips or the same hands we had in the skydiver. Palms down.

Pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. And with the back foot, flex the back foot. Turn the back toes towards the ground and strengthen through the back quad, just like we did in our high lunge. For five, four, three, two, one.

With control, find your way to your high lunge. Plant the hands. Plant the hands to find your plank. Inhale, strong plank.

Exhale to lower down. Inhale to skydiver. Exhale to squeeze. Plant the hands.

Inhale, cobra. Exhale, release. Knees first. Then tuck the toes.

Find your dog. Stepping the left foot, the left foot between the hands. Find your high lunge. Back heel over the toes, bending that front knee.

Strengthening through that back quad. From here, placing all the weight into the front leg, lifting into your Warrior III or your Flying Warrior. Hands just like they are in your skydiver. Palms down.

Pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. Front knee can have a micro bend. Back leg. Back foot is flexed.

Toes facing the ground. Engage through the back quad and hold for five, four, three, two, one. With control, bend the front leg, finding your high lunge. And from here, plant the feet.

Plant the hands to step both feet to the front of the mat. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, refold. Bend the knees.

Inhaling up to stay. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, half lift. Inhale, half lift.

Inhaling up to stay. This time palms together in front of the heart. Placing the right ankle on the quad, just like the beginning of class, just like our Figure 4. And from here, either stay here or from here, bend the left leg.

And in balance again through that left leg and a stretch through the right outer hip. For five, four, three, two, one. Reset. Both feet to the ground.

Shake that out. Another side. Left ankle onto the right quad. And either stay here or bend the right leg.

Stabilizing through the right hip and stretching through the outer left leg. For five, four, three, two, one. Release both feet to the ground. Shake that out.

Inhaling arms up. Exhale to forward fold. Inhale, half lift. Exhale to plant the hands, but stay here.

Bend the knees, forward fold. Find your forward fold. Bend knees, chest to your thighs as much as you can. Planting the hands.

Heel toe your feet out further than the hands. Lowering the hips between the legs for your deep squat. And again in the deep squat, palms together. Use that as a frame to push the elbows out to push the knees out.

And moving between these two postures. So forward fold in your deep squat. Spending as much time in either posture as you feel you need to. As you do this, notice the difference between the beginning of class and now.

How amazing that difference is. Even one hour can do. Lowering the hips. Meet me in the deep squat.

When you're here, find your way onto your bum. So moving through one reverse bridge shoulder opener. So fingers are facing forward or almost forward. So you're going to be facing forward.

So you're going to be facing forward. So you're going to be facing forward. So you're going to be facing forward. Reverse bridge shoulder opener.

So fingers are facing forward or almost forward as much as is comfortable. Plant the feet to lift the hips. Pull the shoulder blades towards the spine and down. You can move the head left and right a bit.

Stretching through the front of the shoulders. And again, fingers can be facing forward or almost forward. So pull here, stretch the front of those shoulders. Release onto your back.

We have a bit more work before we take our last few postures. So our last bit of work here. A very bridge pose variation. Posing it through the feet.

Lift the hips, elbows beside the ribs in a 90 degree angle. So elbows beside the ribs create a frame to keep the chest high. So hips are high, chest is high. Now find strength through the right leg.

Extend the left leg to the ceiling. Only move the left leg. Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower.

Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower. Don't cheat yourself. Keep it strong.

Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower. Plant both feet. Find strength this time.

We'll reset your frame. Hips up, chest up. Find strength through the left leg. Inhale, right leg up.

Exhale to lower. Inhale to lift. Exhale to lower. Inhale to lift.

Exhale to lower. Plant both feet. Release. So take a moment.

Take a breather. This is hard because we need it. Moving through this again. So plant the feet.

Lift the hips. Find your frame through the hips. Find your frame through the chest. Strengthen through the right leg.

Extend the left leg to the ceiling. Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower. Inhale, lift.

Exhale, lower. Last one. Inhale, lift. Exhale, lower.

Plant the feet. Reset the hips. Find strength through your left leg. Inhale to reach the right leg up.

Exhale, lower. Inhale to lift. Exhale, lower. Inhale, lift.

Exhale, lower. Plant both feet. And release. And for our last one, a different variation this time.

Plant the feet. Lift the hips. Use the frame on the ribs to lift the chest, but this time, both feet stay on the ground because I could feel in our last repetitions everyone's hips are dropping more than I would like. Now with both feet on the ground, hands can just go beside the hips, making sure they're staying up.

And from here, strengthen through the heels to lift the hips. Then pull the heels towards the head. You'll feel an activation through the glutes, maybe through the hamstrings. Holding this for 10.

Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Release. So you can say that's a bit sadistic, but it would be sadistic if I wasn't doing it with you. But I am.

So it's not actually sadistic. It might still be sadistic. I don't know. Pull both knees into the chest.

Gently rock side to side. Deep breaths. If you didn't cheat, if you did all of those repetitions, really good work. It's hard because we need it, and it's so important to strengthen through the back body.

That's why we're doing it. Bringing the knees to center. Lower the knees to the right side. Right hand can be on the legs.

Left hand extended out to the left side in a T position. Close the eyes and breathe. Just enjoy how you feel after all that hard work. Use the inhale to slowly come to center.

Re-center the spine. Take a moment. From here, both knees into the chest. Gently rock side to side.

Lowering the legs to the left. Left hand can be on the legs. Right hand out to the right side in a T position. And breathe.

Deep breaths.伊佳 And when you're ready, no rush. Slowly find your way to center. Both feet on the floor. Under the spine.

Any last postures that you might like to do before Shavasana, I can walk you through what I'm going to do. Knees into the chest, gently rocking side to side. Then it's nice with feet on the floor. Feet together.

Feet together allow the knees to fall out. Elbows, well the whole arms above your head, holding your elbows. Whatever, elbows on top, switch arms. And from here, settle into your Shavasana.

So arms beside the hips, palms up. Two options for the legs. Feet can be on the ground, knees leaning into each other if that feels nice. Or you can extend the legs out.

So we're taking a few moments here knowing that this is a posture and this posture is just as important as all the other ones that we've done because it allows the body to integrate and process the work that we did. And it allows the busy mind to be quieter. Moving out of the thinking mind and into the feeling body. Even if it's just for one minute.

And you can stay here a bit longer. I really encourage you to do so. Or if you're working within that 60 minute time frame, here we are. Gently wiggling the fingers and toes.

Creating circles with the wrists and the ankles. Bend the knees, bringing the feet to the floor. To your favorite side. Using the hands to push yourself up into a sit.

Any comfortable sit will do. Close the eyes. Take one deep breath. Exhale release.

Just thank yourself for taking this one hour for such important self care of strengthening, that chain, balance, movement and breath. Okay everybody. Thank you for joining me today and I will see you next time.