Bird of Paradise: 73-Min Advanced Peak Flow

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bird of Paradise class so we'll get straight into it and we're gonna work up to Bird of Paradise with a few different variations. Hope you enjoy it. Let's start off laying down on our backs to begin with. Just nice and comfortable, arms out nice and straight, left hand on your belly, right hand on your chest and just start to let go of any tension.

Taking some deep breaths on the inhale, chest is filling up with air, the belly is filling up with air, everything's coming up towards the ceiling and on the exhale nice and slow everything's coming back down. Back in with the belly, lifting up and down. Keep those breaths going through the nose and if you've got anything else in your mind from today just let go of that. We've already committed to this class so whatever else happens there's nowhere else you need to be, there's nothing else you need to be doing, it's just spending time in this class.

At any point in the class if you feel yourself gasping or breathing out of your mouth just come back to these super slow breaths, take a break at any point, come down to child's pose and remember we're building up to a pose but it's not about the pose it's about the journey to the pose and wherever you're at that's okay just remember that. We might be chasing a pose for ages or you might find variation easy but just remember it's your own journey and it's how you get there that's important and looking after yourself on the way there is as important as when you get there so don't rush and enjoy it. Okay bring your knees towards your chest, hug your knees, hinging at the hips a little bit keeping the lower back on the floor and then lift the feet up and just circles with your feet, checking with the ankles, how the ankles feeling maybe clockwise for both and anti-clockwise maybe a bit crunchy maybe a bit clicky that's fine, point the toes towards the forehead, point the toes towards the ceiling, do that a couple of times, maybe different circles both feet other direction different circles just warming up the ankles a bit as well and drop the feet quickly same thing with the wrists just with no weight yet we're gonna spend some time on our hands obviously so checking in with the wrists warming them up spinning them around. Bring your knees back up now okay lift the feet and just bring your hands in either grab your ankles or the outsides of your feet for happy baby and again check in with your breath keep that nice and slow keep that same tempo if you can and now start to straighten the left leg out bend the right leg so heel towards your hips on the right leg straighten the left leg out and then switch sides notice the difference between sides we're tighter on one side than the other usually doesn't matter it's just worth noting super slow from side to side again if you've got the ankles here that's fine well done for not trying to push already for something that you're not ready for yet okay keep the left out this time now send the right out as well so you're opening out your legs bring the right back and now switch they bring the left in send the right away good open the left out a couple of breaths here how your hamstrings feeling how your hips feeling how your knees feeling shoulders everything just just check in see what's see what your body's saying today good Ben come back to happy baby quickly does that feel a bit different after some movement is that better maybe give your hips a little wiggle here just from side to side just natural movements always if we're in practice and you feel a way you want to move that feels good when you usually practice do it feel free it's your practice I'm just kind of guiding you through it on the way somewhere if you veer off slightly that's okay as long as you're again looking after yourself let's drop the feet now and they'll see how your feet are on the mat okay maybe just lift the hips a little bit just move your feet around lift them up move them out and just just see how your feet are with a little bit of weight on them and drop the hips okay let's come up to a cross legged position now and what we're gonna do from here is just work on our breath a little bit so we've got that that slow tempo of breath we're using the belly we're using the diaphragm sorry reason the diaphragm we're using the chest and everything and we're just gonna take a nice deep breath in a nice deep breath out back in and back out back in back out keep that going as we get to the end of our breath in a second we're just gonna take some nice fast breaths out out of our nose okay to really feel that diaphragm moving as we go okay so we're gonna get to the end of our breath and just push push push out with the breath and what's gonna happen there is we're gonna take a small breath in as we do that naturally I want you to think about the breath out but not so much the breath in okay obviously if at any point you panic or don't feel right doing it just come back to that normal breath bring bring yourself back to that breath maybe lay down and then start again okay so we'll do we'll do three rounds and I want you to start now so we're gonna take a breath in breath out then we'll take one more breath in then at the end of that breath out we're gonna start exhaling okay you can watch or follow on the on the following the second okay so we'll take a breath in take a breath out breath back in and this is the one so breath out and then push in good back in back out normally back in back out normally this time on the exhale so breathe in let's go for 20 this time so out back in and out back in one more fully out back in and at the end of the exhale here is when we'll go for 20 again so out all the way and go back in and nice and slow breaths again okay let's bring the legs out to a straddle just enough here again you can bend the knees if you want or straighten the legs and we'll just start off the little side stretch so left hand's gonna come down right hand's gonna come over we'll just open the sides out so now we'll go from side to side just seeing how the hamstrings feel here maybe you've got the knees bent that's fine but we're just opening out the sides seeing what's going on in whatever we're doing hopefully it looks a little bit like what I'm doing and we're coming back to those nice deep breaths and hopefully you should really feel your diaphragm breathing working with you nice okay let's come to all fours now and this is the first time you've got all your weight or a lot of your weight on your wrists so just to start with we'll just go and do some little wrist circles and as your wrists start to feel better you can start to do them wider so bigger circles maybe leaning further over your fingertips and then make sure you change direction as well nice okay put your fingertips away from each other and we'll just go from side to side now good as you do start walking your hands closer together so your wrists are nearly touching going side to side maybe some little circles here other direction and then start to walk the hands away from each other good bit wider we'll go side to side and now get them even wider and think about as you turn over to the right drop your left shoulder back up drop your right shoulder if this is feeling like press-ups move your knees a little closer towards your wrist and it won't feel as much weight good maybe drop the shoulder down on the mat look over the other shoulder and switch sides nice few of them just open in the chest open in the shoulders always feels great this one think about what the bent elbows doing now send it further away and you're gonna open out the forearm as well as that shoulder stretch so this time my left elbow is driving away good we do some catcalls now so looking up till in the hips away dropping everything between but bringing that belly up to your spine as well and then pushing the chest through the back looking down few of them then if you want to rock back and forwards as you do these natural movements are always welcome just see what catcall feels good for you today okay let's think about down dog now so send the hands forward a little bit fingers or index fingers parallel nearly and then tuck your toes and lift your hips think about getting that back nice and straight bent knees are always fine if you need to take a couple of breaths in down dog and then this role forwards to plank so start to straighten the legs and feel that role coming forwards into plank come to a nice strong plank bend the knees lift the hips back into dog roll forwards to plank again bend the knees lift the hips roll forwards to plank again bend the knees lift the hips walk on the spot in dog drop one heel drop the opposite heel and then start to take baby steps forward into your first forward fold keep your knees very bent in this forward fold I want you to think about keeping the front of your body on the tops of your legs and just letting that head hang everything hanging just feel your first forward fold of the day you can go from side to side just see what works okay hands on shins half lift inhale exhale fold half lift again this exhale hands all the way down to plank step back to plank and then we'll slowly lower our fronts down lift the chest up and down let's go up again and down this time push yourself all the way up and back into down dog how's that feel now after that first movement with your hands on the mat moving your weight good let's do that one more time so start to walk into that fold maybe that folds gonna get a bit straighter maybe those knees need to stay a little bent that's fine two breaths here let's do a half lift exhale down half lift exhale hands to plank step back down to plank good lower the front lift it up and down lift it up down it's time push yourself up or go to up dog and then lift up and back into down dog see how that feels hopefully even better than the first time that's the plan and then we've been walking the feet to the hands I want you to just now walk your feet a little wider and start to walk the hands to the feet start to bend these even more so we nearly get to a fold but we've had those knees nice and bent in our folds and now super slowly come down to a squat and then some free movements in this squat so check in with your knees check in with your heels check in with your calves and see how this squat feels if you need to move your feet even wider in a squat then do that just see how it is maybe today you need your hands on the mat in a squat or maybe you can bring your hands together and rock from side to side getting those heels nice and heavy good now from the squat I want you to send your left hand out with your thumb down the back of your hand pointing forwards and then I want you to bring that around your leg and just press that against your the outer part of your left hip and now your right elbow on top of your right knee and I want you just look over that right shoulder and open out so I'm not collapsing my chest opening up my chest feeling a stretch maybe left hip maybe right side and breathe into that and now the left hand so one that's on the hip I want you to see if you can move that a little deeper a little further around the back of the hips now opening out here good let's undo that so right elbow comes off the right knee the hand comes back into the middle now I want you to do the same with the right hand so the right hand is going to point away with the thumb down that's going to point around maybe to the outside of your right hip and then the left elbow is going to go on the left knee again we're not collapsing we're opening that chest out I can feel it in my right hip and my left side and I'm just opening here breathing not too intense it's just enough to feel maybe start to creep that right hand further around good let's ease off back to a normal squat see if you can sit up nice and straight here and then from your squat on the edge of the mat or end of the mat where you were before I want you to just stand up into a forward fold again keep the knees bent just check in with those knees because we just sat in a squat for a little while and then super slow start to stand yourself up on the last thing that comes up to be the top of your head so wilting forwards and coming up and then just walk towards the top of your mat once we're at the top of the mat hands together standing nice and straight and just close your eyes and set your intention for the class and it's okay if your intention today is just to practice just to learn just to have some playful fun maybe it's to open your hamstrings maybe it's to let go of that inner part of us that pushes and pushes and pushes and just see what we can do and then use the second round of this class as a test to maybe better ourselves a bit or maybe we just don't even want that test just find an intention and think about that for a few seconds okay now drop the hands by the side standing up nice and tall and then open up hands nice and wide opening up the chest we're gonna bring the hands up into the air into the sky driving them up taking it exhale bringing those hands out nice and wide around us taking a nice forward fold let's take a half lift exhale fold half lift again as we exhale we need to bring your hands down bend both knees so your hands can come down that right foot is gonna step back into a nice low lunge here take a breath nice and strong with that back leg step back into plank taking a breath in plank then we'll lower down then lift up and back into down dog breathing in down dog let's come forwards bring that right knee towards the chin step in the right foot in between our hands nice and strong with that back leg and then forwards into a fold half lift exhale fold and then all the way up nice and wide with the hands hands are gonna come up towards the ceiling exhale down into the middle let's take a breathe in and out as you drop the hands bring the back up and then exhale all the way down into a fold let's half lift and fold one more half lift this time exhale down hands to plank step the left foot back into a nice low lunge with that back leg nice and strong and then step back to plank feel that plank and then lower yourself down let's go Cobra or up dog and then back into down dog okay step that left knee towards the chin keep the left foot through strong with the right leg and then step forwards and we'll go half lift and fold and then back up hands down to your chest and take a couple of breaths here and we'll do the same thing again but we're gonna take five breaths with the back leg nice and strong so I want you to keep that nice and straight quads engaged and everything opening everything you can feel there okay so let's go hands up and down into a fold let's lift straight back down right leg goes back nice and strong here keep that leg strong taking five deep breaths drop in the hips and back into plank lower yourselves down let's go up dog back into down dog lovely good let's come forward with the right knee kick that into the middle five breaths here back leg nice and strong maybe lower in the hips and then we'll come forwards into a fold half lift fold and then all the way back up and hands down to the middle let's go again with that this time we'll drop the back knee and we'll hold for five breaths so lowering the hands lifting up fold dive half lift step in that back knee so right leg back opening into that lunge and this time we'll drop the back knee flatten out the back foot and feel that stretch opening the hips if you need a bit more you can tense the glutes and really feel that stretch five breaths good stepping back into plank lower yourself down Cobra Rock dog back into down dog lovely good work let's come forward with that right knee left side so find the stretch drop the back knee flat on the foot out and five breaths okay let's come forward into that fold half lift and fold bring yourself all the way up hands together great work let's go left side so hands up and then we'll go fold half lift step in that left leg back dropping the back knee five breaths again it's all about the journey looking after yourself on the way so don't push too much yet stepping back to plank lower yourself down Cobra Rock dog and then back into down dog come forward with the left foot drop in the back knee and into that stretch okay lifting that coming forward into a fold half lift exhale down let's come all the way back up and hands down into prayer in the front cases if the hands up all the way down to a fold let's go half lift and exhale step the right foot back into this low lunge position this time drop the heel on the inside and I want you to lift your right hand up towards the ceiling and think about opening the hips here you can come to your fingertips here and now we'll start to straighten that left leg opening out nice and strong here and we'll take a breath in and exhale bend that front knee exhale straighten bend the front knee keep opening to the right and straighten and bend and straighten one more bend one more straighten and now we'll bend again right hand's gonna come down let's step back to plank lower down Cobra Rock dog and then back into down dog breathe in here okay bring the right foot forward into the middle and drop that inside heel and now again you can either keep your palm flat or come up to your fingertips left hand's gonna point up towards the ceiling we're opening out here and we'll straighten and bend straighten and bend straighten bend and straight again and then we'll bend left hand's gonna come down let's come forwards into a fold half lift and fold and then we'll go all the way up and hands down to the chest okay let's come back up and fold let's go half lift and this time as we come down send the left leg back dropping that down good dropping that heel and then we'll open the left hand up towards the ceiling and then straighten and bend straighten and bend straighten bend let's do two more keep that movement keep that breath going last one and bend left hand comes down step back lower down push up back to down dog take a breath take a breath in down dog left foot's gonna come forwards turn the heel up to your fingertips or your fist or palm whatever you're happy right hand's gonna come up and let's go straighten and bend keep opening out to the right and bend straighten bend two more last one bend right hand comes down this time forwards into that fold half lift and down all the way up and two breaths here okay let's drop the hands all the way up and now fold half lift and this time just bring yourself down step back into plank lower yourself down push it up and then back into down dog good breathing here okay instead of stepping the foot in we're gonna step the foot on the outside of the left hand and now we'll think about that nice strong back leg again but this time I want you to lower that back knee just enough to touch the mat then straighten and we'll do four more of them so lower straighten lower and straighten two more straighten last one and straighten good step back into down dog and let's go right side so right foot outside the right hand and we'll bend and straighten bend and straighten bend straighten keep those breaths going two more last one and straighten good step back into down dog three breaths in down dog and then we'll just step or hop back to top of our mat let's do a fold then a half lift then a fold and then we'll come all the way up to the top of the mat standing up nice and strong with the hands in front of the chest okay this time let's sit back into chair so hands up nice and wide sitting back take a nice deep breath and exhale into a fold lift yourself halfway exhale hands down step yourself back into plank and lower down and then we'll come up back into down dog let's come forwards with the right foot on the inside step down the inside the back heels gonna drop down all the way up into warrior one here nice and strong feeling that position opening the hips and then lower your hands back down open that heel back up step back let's lie down back up and into down dog let's come forward with the left foot this time inside pivot the heel hands point up into the sky nice and strong here feeling warrior one for the first time then all the way back down low yourself down back up and then back into down dog three breaths in down dog lifting the hips up and then from down dog you can step or jump to the top of your mat take a half lift take a fold then come up into chair pose taking a breath another breath and stand yourself all the way back up just breathing here okay let's go again so sitting back hands go up into chair take a fold half lift step or jump back low yourself down lifting up and then back into down dog taking a breath yeah let's go left side coming up first pivot that heel bring yourself up into warrior one breathing in warrior one and now start to bow forwards in that warrior one you're folding inside that left knee in warrior one now hands are gonna come behind into those your fingers and drive them back and when you lift those hands up above your head just folding here breathing nicely that's come all the way back up keep your hands together sending them away let go hands all the way up and hands down stepping back lower down come up back into down dog feeling that down dog every time we get here lifting the hips keeping the knees slightly bent nice and straight back enjoying down dog okay let's go right foot forwards step that in pivot the heel hands go up strong in warrior one now we're gonna fold forward in the inside of that right knee find that fold then interlace the fingers send the fingers back and up over the head if you can breathing here let's come all the way up hands come back up down this time step forwards or half lift then we'll fold come up into chair and then stand yourself up three breaths here okay let's go arms back up sitting back into chair and then fold let's go for that half lift step or jump back if you're gonna jump back hands go down you're squatting down kick the feet back lower down lift yourself up and then back to down dog okay right foot comes forwards steps in this time we're not gonna step it as far though so step it back a little bit and we're gonna come forwards to take off here okay so let's come forwards I want you to lift that back leg and think about sending those hands behind you stepping back wobbling around good lifting up lifting up nice and strong here back leg hands backs okay if you wobble around on your mat that's good and then lower the hands down and we'll come down into more of a fold lifting that left foot up into a nice split here keep lifting that foot up doesn't matter if it's down here if it's up in the air where it is just keep lifting that folding the head down towards the toes good bring your weight back now and step back into plank lower down back up and back into down dog let's go the left side so instead of bringing that all the way in just bring that a bit shallow and then from here come forwards lift that foot off the floor and go back into the airplane pose lifting up wobbling around here a little bit up up up up lift lift lift and then fold into that split lifting heel high keep lifting that high up low in the head and then weight goes back come forth to plank lower down push up and then back to down dog really good work and this time we'll bend and jump to the top of your mat take a half lift and fold and all the way up into that chair so hands go up sitting back and come up just breathing where you are here for three okay let's come back into chair so hands get up sitting back take a fold let's go half lift step or jump back low yourself down back up and then lift the hips into down dog good just shorten that down dog a tiny bit more so your hands are a little closer to your feet and this time we'll try a bit of an arm balance here let's see how we get on don't have to do it perfectly so we'll step the left foot outside the left hand okay and then we'll drop that back knee all right and I want you to think about walking that left foot forwards and almost like you're going in front of your left hand here okay and the goal we've got here is to get the left elbow past the left knee under the hamstring and don't your elbows flared out when your elbow is pointing back at your back foot and now we're going to try and straighten that front leg see how that feels see if that's good maybe you can move that elbow a little bit more tuck it under more okay and what we're thinking here is I'm as I straighten my left leg I'm coming forwards I'm not doing a press up I'm not going down I'm moving forwards okay so watch me the first time then we'll do it together so I straighten and then I'm coming forwards and as I come forwards I think about straightening the left and lifting the right so straighten and lift and then back and that's what we're going for okay let's do it together this time so hands maybe a little wider but you want to think about getting this left elbow past the left knee and then start to send the left foot forwards as you start to send that forwards you bring your weight forwards as well so watch my nose it's over this point in the mat it's going to come forwards to this point so I'm under let's move forward and then maybe lift your back foot off up stay where you are and then lower down good and let's go back into down dog and we'll try the other side so let's take the right foot outside the right hand drop the back knee and just move my note pad and then again so my right elbow wants to go under my right knee and then still tucks back towards my back foot then I'm thinking about pointing my right foot it's very hard until I bend my knees bend my elbows and move forwards so think about pointing that as I've come forwards and then I try and come weightless on the left take a breath and then back good if you're watching that time let's go again so right elbow tucks right foot comes forwards as my nose comes forwards I lift up kick back back back and then slowly come back land come out of that just step the hands forwards keep the hips above the knees and lower down and just slow your breath down here we've probably all forgotten to breathe in that pose which is fine but just breathe good let's come back up to all fours now and we're going to do some floats so we're going to float five times and then we're going to float to a squat so what I mean by float is we're going to lift into down dog find a comfortable position for your shoulders then I'm going to lift and jump up just trying to bring my heels towards my hips in the air and find a bit of balance use your fingertips as breaks as well okay so we'll squat down nice and low in our dog and then you're lifting your hips above your shoulders and your shoulders above your wrists so down we go up and then down then we go up and then down then up again and down two more let's go up and down last one maybe hold good and down this time we'll jump up and when you try and land with your feet outside your hands so let's go up and then land in a nice deep squat and move from side to side and breathe just where you are okay let's sit ourselves down now and we're going to think of mini bird of paradise here okay so we'll forget about this leg for now we'll do that shortly but what we're going to do here is I want you to bring your right knee up towards the ceiling and you're sitting on both hips still then we'll take a binding so my right hand's going under my right tricep as my right foot comes off the mat and I'm tucking my right shoulder under my hamstring here then behind me I'm going to try and bind my hands together so I'm going behind and now I'm going to think about lifting my right foot up towards the sky as I open my chest out here so until here we'll take three breaths really opening out here this leg doesn't have to be straight you can bend it a bit but just think about opening your shoulders let's come out of that now bring that down and we'll go on the left side same thing here so sitting this down I'm going to lift this up tuck my shoulder under my knee getting that hamstring behind my shoulder then this hands going back and I think about binding as I kick that leg into the sky and I try and balance and wobbling around all over the place opening my chest out breathing again if this is bent that's okay you can open out more falling back good let's come down come out of that take a couple of breaths just set up nice and straight not worrying about keeping that grip opening out just for a few seconds okay we'll do some core so what I want you to do is we'll come to boat quickly lifting the shins shins parallel with the arms then slowly bend the knees touch the toes on the floor lift back up low down lift back up two more back up one more back up maybe straighten the legs for two breaths wobble around that's fine good low down and come forward this time let's take a grip with our fingers over our big toes okay bend your knees now and we're going to all wobble here that's fine keep a nice straight grip here start to bring your feet up to that low boat and if you want an extra challenge straighten up to that high boat and now open the legs into a straddle I'm wobbling around all over the place that's fine but I'm trying to center I'm trying to breathe here opening those legs and breathe breathing open out a little more try and get that back nice and straight let's go back into the middle bend the knees let go maybe hold for two more breaths where you are good work knees together keep breathing and slowly lower down across the shins sitting up nice and straight and breathing where you are good okay let's come up into a standing straddle so widen your feet out not as wide as your mat but just wide enough so we're not really opening out and like overstretching we don't want to be working the splits in this position we're just opening the feet nice and wide and from here I'm going to hinge at the hips and start to fold forwards and lower the head down hinging here don't worry about touching the top of your head on the mat okay now hands are going to drop down to the middle and then I'm walking my hands over to the left as I bend my left knee away from me so over to the left and I lift the toes on the side then we'll push back up into that standing straddle over to the right sitting back sending my knee out lifting the left toes that's what we're going to do we're going to flow between the two so push up walk along and down and lift and each time get heavier on that heel that you're sat on and get lighter on your hands so opening the calves out but also just getting the legs working a bit nice and strong so back up and over maybe sitting back back up and over nice and deep into that if we can then push up and down and back up and down and up and down and up down this time on the right side three breaths where you are let's come up into the middle over to the left and three breaths down on the left okay back up into the middle and three breaths in the middle just letting that head hang maybe grab your ankles try and keep your hands off the mat just breathe in here and we'll set ourselves back down onto the mat where our legs crossed okay so from here we're going to go into compass pose and then we'll work up towards bird of paradise okay so for compass pose we'll start off on the left side okay and I want you to just again heavy on the right and then I want you to think about what we're doing before with that mini kind of seated bird of paradise so I want you to lift up that left leg and scoot your left shoulder under almost like you're folding the knee or the leg over your shoulder and we'll just move from side to side here you can hug that in or even if you're not there yet you can always hug around the knee here just opening that hip out a bit as you move testing it being up this high seeing how you are and now we'll start to work into that pose okay so what I'm doing is my left hand is pushing under my calf and it's really digging that left shoulder in under the calf or the fold of the knee now when you take your right hand over the top of like your shoelaces or the left foot and grabbing around the like little toe side now this left hand is going back on the mat and straightening or you're working on straightening that left arm and then I want you to start to lift the left leg up if you get to here and that's a stretch and that's enough that's fine but start to open out okay and really try and straighten that left leg creep that left hand back maybe and then look under your right armpit and open out here and just breathe wherever you are in this pose if you're down here and opening out then breathe if you're here just whatever works for you today working on getting that left leg straight eventually maybe or or close to something that resembles that that's good one more deep breath wherever you are and exhale slowly bring that down hugging that leg around the shoulder and going from side to side maybe hugging around the knee and then just lower that left leg down see how you feel cross-legged obviously one side we've just done a bit more of an intense stretch on the other side so just check in notice any differences and we're going to change sides not both sides are different so look after yourself okay I'm tight at this side we'll be tighter or looser one side it's never going to be exact okay so hug that leg in either around the knee looking after that knee or punching under and hugging in okay we're stretching the hamstrings we're stretching a lot we're not stretching the knees okay we're never pushing into anything on the knees that hurts or feels feels like we shouldn't be going there so never never over test your knees good okay maybe tuck that even more and I'm using my right foot my right hand I'm really tucking in under under with my shoulder that leg makes it so much easier when you start to come up the other right hand grabs over the shoe laces and grips around the little toe part okay now my right hand goes back and that really helps that's an extra for like opening the leg out more so think about that hand on the mat bring it down then scoot it back like close to your hip then we'll start to straighten that right leg okay maybe you're here opening out just work from there but work on straightening that right leg and looking under your left armpit and just breathing when you get here just see how it feels today you'll get here again and exhale start to come out of that super slowly hugging that in wherever you are maybe hugging around the knee and lower that down and just see how your hips are now maybe wiggle around on the mat how's your back just some natural movements for a minute or two good okay now we'll work towards getting to that bird of paradise pose and we're working on a binding we're working on sitting down a little bit and lifting everything up so there's a lot of balance involved okay so we'll start off standing in here and it's almost like so i'm staggering my my legs so i've got my left leg back and the right leg's the one we're picking up first okay turn your right toes so they're pointing out slightly now start to squat down with your right hand between your feet and now squat down more and punch that around the back so you're almost with your right hand above your back hip now bind so you can grab that same side wrist and now i'm squatting down with the left and i'm lifting my right foot up okay from here i'm starting to lean my weight over to my left and i'm lifting that right knee up as i straighten the left leg okay find your balance when you get here and lift that right knee up even higher open the chest out and then the goal is to work on getting your right foot nice and high as you breathe and open the chest so we'll breathe okay two breaths here and then slowly come down i'm already falling out that's fine okay calm down when you're ready let's come out of that pose standing up nice and straight okay and then we'll just do a fold with both legs even and fold good if you can spend longer in that pose feel free just because i lose my balance doesn't mean you need to come out early and now we'll try the other side so again stagger the left step the right foot back right toes out slightly and then i'm thinking about my left hand on the mat in the middle that goes under then i'm grabbing above my left my left hip then my weight is over my right foot here i'm lifting off the left think about squatting down lifting that left knee up towards the ceiling you want to find your balance and your left knee in the air and then start to straighten that left leg obviously as you start to straighten the left leg the the weight is going to change so straighten and then on your way out bend the knee and start to come down and then out of the pose okay it's very hard it's very hard to keep your balance there but work towards that okay work towards keeping that balance point straightening that leg up okay pause the video for a minute or two and then we'll come back down to a cross-legged position okay play around with bird of paradise it's great fun it's great for building heat then hopping around on your mat as well okay okay now that you've had a couple of minutes to play around with bird of paradise we're going to work a quick inversion and then we're going to have some fun working towards the splits and then we'll have a quick cool down and and then we'll get out here okay so let's start off with a little headstand so we'll start off with the tripod with our head and hands so dropping the head keep that in line with the hands i want you to keep your elbows above your wrist and then start to walk your feet up so your hips are above your head and then we'll step our knees onto our triceps or the ends of our elbows creating a shelf with the with the triceps here then bring your knees into the middle if you're comfortable and start to straighten those legs up towards the ceiling pointing the toes keeping the core tucked in take two breaths in headstand and maybe another breath and then super slow knees into the middle come down knees onto the shelves step back walk the hips back and then down to child's pose and slowly very slowly sit yourselves back up obviously if there's another inversion there that works for you slot that in we don't all have to be headstanding all the time i just quite like that okay now we'll work towards a little split okay nice and light split we're not going crazy with them so step the left foot outside the left hand now start to drag that forward just like we're doing that flying split pose start to walk that forwards now the right knee walk it back step the left forwards and we're just going for like a wide split here instead of the foot on the inside it's on the outside so might make it a little easier and it's probably a little more relevant to that flying split and into bird of paradise as well because the foot is almost on the outside instead of on the inside here so just walk that away keep that right knee down on the mat we tend to start opening out with the foot but keep that right knee nice and strong in the mat start to posture up a little bit feel that in the back or sorry in the front of the right hip nice stretch move move from side to side good last two breaths here and slowly come out and now let's go right side so right foot outside the right hand slowly slip that right foot forwards send the left knee back get yourself to a comfortable point here breathe in here maybe posture up a little bit if it's too much in the hamstrings you're probably too far forwards if it's too much on the hips you're probably too upright okay find what works for you here and just breathe and lower into that split yeah let's come out of that super slow tuck your toes sitting back onto your heels sitting up good taking a breath and then bring your hips above the knees nice and strong bridging your hips forwards and i'm thinking about reaching back for my elbow for my heels not my elbows bridging forwards opening the chest shrugging the shoulders back and breathing here five breaths so let's come out of that how we came into it bring yourself down onto your backs lay on your back and then just bring your left ankle on top of your right knee open up your hands to the side and then start to drop your left foot over to the right into a nice twist and then start to send that left knee down towards the mat keep your left shoulder on the mat as well if you can and just breathe here and look over towards your left hand okay let's come out of that so turn onto the right push yourself up onto your back and then switch the feet so right ankle left knee turn to your left opening everything out nice twist here and then look over to the right and breathe so turn yourself onto your left push yourself onto your back but keep everything crossed for now but bring your knees up towards your chest and then just hug your feet up a little bit and then drop your knees away opening out here get your knees back in towards your chest just and switch the crossing of your legs grab your feet pulling them in slightly let the knees just away bring them back to your chest and then we'll come back with the knees in towards the chest lift the feet up grab the outside of the feet and see how you feel compared to the beginning of class yeah bring the knees together bring the feet over the head and then support your lower back here just start to send the feet over further and further until you get your toes into the mat lifting the hips up and our weight is on our shoulders and not our neck so your neck shouldn't be overextending here and you can either support your hips wherever you are here or straighten the arms out shrug the shoulders away from your ears and just breathe wherever you are and then super slow roll down all the way onto your back bring your feet down slide your feet away open the hands out no weight picking up in your shoulders so even let the shoulders relax down to the mat palms up and we'll just close our eyes and we'll breathe don't think the video stopped i'm just going to go quiet for a minute or two and all i want you to do is think about those big inhales and those big exhales every time something else comes in your mind i want you to push it out and feel your mind feel your body feel everything we're there thinking about that and relax and release that air ready for a fresh breath okay let's go for a few minutes so so so bring your attention back into the room back to your breath if your eyes are closed slowly open your eyes breathe and just begin to come back to a natural breath bend your knees lift your knees up towards the ceiling feet in the mat wiggle your knees from side to side just moving the hips a bit and then turn yourself onto your side push yourselves up and sitting up now okay good job wherever you got to today again you don't want to push yourself too hard i find bird of paradise very tricky i think i might always but i'm always going to keep working on it and seeing where i get to okay thanks for watching make sure you take some notes on this and keep practicing it keep trying it until you're confident enough teaching it and i'll see in the next video